Page 55 of Dead Man's Alibi

“I get it,” Hayes said.“They’re your friends.They’ve helped your grandmother, been there for you.I get the loyalty.I really do.But you do not know what you are getting into, and I’d highly suggest keeping far, far away from it.Let the Bennets hang themselves, Jill.”

She really didn’t care for the way he said that.The way he lumped them all together.The way he acted like they were somehow the enemy, when what he should really be concerned about was the truth.

Which gave her courage enough to say what she was thinking.“I wonder why anyone has to hang, Jake.”

His jaw was set.His gaze still hard.But she saw the flicker ofsomethingat that.Grandma suggested hisheartwas between the two sides of himself she’d seen.But Jill couldn’t get a read on that.At all.

Maybe he just didn’t have one.

So she stood, but she didn’t leave right away.Maybe it didn’t matter, but she felt like she had to say it.“I don’t believe Nate killed anyone.”

His expression didn’t change.He held her gaze.There was nothing smug about it.Nothing angry.Just a quiet, calm surety.“That’s a shame, Jill.Because I do.And I’ve got the evidence to prove it.”

Chapter Nineteen

Crawford County Courthouse

Nate knew thecuffs and the courtroom weren’tmeantto humiliate him, but they did all the same.The lawyers.The audience.

He could say with some certainty he’d never really thought about any of this from the perspective of the person in cuffs.The only time he’d been in a courtroom before had been to watch his father’s trial, and Benjamin Bennet had been infinitely worthy of the humiliation ritual.

This wasn’t a trial.Just an arraignment to enter his plea.Still, it gave him a sense of life outside jail and guards and everything he’d been trying to dissociate from for the past two days.

Being a former soldier was really coming in handy.

He was led over to where Cal was waiting, but Nate didn’t bother to look at him.Sam was sitting in a chair right behind where he’d be sitting with Cal.So all he saw was her as she got to her feet.

He ignored Cal, the chair he was supposed to sit in, and searched her face, much like she was searching his.Both, no doubt, cataloguing the way the other wasn’t taking care of themselves.

“Looking a little rough around the edges,” he managed to say without sounding too hoarse.

“I slept last night,” she told him.She was clutching her purse and clearly trying so damn hard to pretend this was all normal.Forhim.“And Aly makes breakfast every morning.The last thing you need to do is worry about me.”

He noted Alymakingbreakfast wasn’t Sameatingbreakfast, and sleeping didn’t mean she was getting enough, but she was at the ranch.That was something.“Worrying about you keeps me busy.”He tried to say it with a smile, but his face didn’t quite feel his in this moment.

He just wanted to reach out and hold her and go back to when thiswasn’thappening, but if he leaned too hard into that feeling, he might just break.And he wouldn’t.Not in front of Sam.

“You should worry about her,” Cal muttered while people shuffled around the courtroom getting everything ready.“She’s crazy.”

Sam rolled her eyes.“He’s just mad that I bit him.”

Nate blinked a few times.Bit him.“Why… why?”

Sam shrugged.“He pissed me off.”

“You should both be thanking me,” Cal said.“If I’d let her go, she would have assaulted Hayes, and you’d both be in jail.”

Nate was torn between worry and amusement.“Come on, she didn’t really…” He trailed off as Cal unbuttoned his shirt cuff, shoved his sleeve up to his elbow, revealing a clear bite mark on his forearm.

He stared at the mark, then Sam.Who looked belligerent and capable of both bitinganyoneand the assault Cal referenced.

Which was arelief.Fighting Sam wasSam.Fighting Sam was a woman who was a little bit more with it than she’d been before.

“Maybe we should keep the assaulting my lawyer to a minimum,” he told her.

“We’ll see,” she replied, clearly not the least bit remorseful.

He didn’t mind seeing the spark of fight in her.It was better than defeat.Better than the way she’d looked at him when suggesting she give him his ring back.