Page 23 of Tormented Hearts

“Maybe you should see an eye doctor.”

He looked at her in confusion.

“You did mistake the snake for a rattlesnake.”

He snorted. “I have perfect vision. Ask anyone in my Ranger unit.”

That made her quiet.

“I just want to copy down the coordinates on the deed.”

He enlarged the document and read through the records.

“The land,” she whispered. “It’s in my name.”

“Looks that way.”

“I knew about the land we’re sitting on. It’s possible I don’t know about it all. Before I left Wyoming, I requested more plot surveys from your local county clerk. They said it could be weeks.” She swallowed and met his gaze.

The fading light caught the flecks in her eyes, making them spark gold within the depths. Up close, he made out a myriad of browns, from a peaty earth to walnut brown the same shade as her hair.

He pulled in a breath, filling his nose with her scent.

She simply stared back at him. For once, there was no sharp comeback ready on her tongue. No attitude to cover what he knew was fear.

“The coordinates are on this property?” She dashed her tongue over her bottom lip, drawing his attention to the fullness. Some might call it too full.

He jerked his gaze back to the phone and checked the coordinates against the map app.

“Not here.” He angled the phone so she could see the satellite image. The pinned location sat miles deeper into the roughest country. There looked to be no roads, and he knew the area to be all ridges and rock.

Sinead stared at it. “That’s where he wanted me to go?”

His jaw tightened. Her father hadn’t sent her to one buried box. He’d sent her on a trail.

“Reaching it will be hard. I’ll have to hike in.”

“What do you mean you’ll have to hike in?”

“I’ll find whatever X marks the spot and bring it back to you.”

“And I’m just supposed to sit around like some princess while you’re out there?” She swung her gaze to the windshield and the world quickly being swallowed by shadows. She shook her head. “I’m going, Hawk.”

As her bodyguard, his role was to assess the risks from every angle. She’d already been shot at in the woods once. He didn’t like the odds.

He shook his head, and she snatched the phone out of his hand. “You can’t go if you don’t have the coordinates.”

He tipped his head to eye her. “Really, Ms. Winthrop? You’re going to pull that move?”

She tilted her chin a little higher. “Call me Sinead. And yes, I’m pulling that move. I’m strong and capable of hiking rough terrain.”

After studying her for several heartbeats, he realized he wouldn’t change her mind.

With a sigh, he shifted fully into his seat, though he missed the scent of citrus immediately.

“I won’t go as your guide.”

She started to shake her head.