Adam.
A microphone was thrust in Riley’s face. “Tell us where you’ve been since you left Santa Fe. Why did you go?”
Raul’s fingers tightened around her bicep. “Riley...” The warning in his voice was unmistakable.
She pivoted toward him, unsteady as he tried to propel her past the reporter. “Let go of me. I am not going anywhere with you.”
“Darling—”
If only she could get a fist free, she’d darling him right back, but his hands pinned her arms to her side. Not in a way that likely looked threatening. Just possessive. Supporting.
Why didn’t someone rescue her? All the cameras were filming. Best news story of the day. Probably of the year, but no one would interfere.
Raul leaned into the microphone. “As you can see, Ms. Dunning is beside herself with anxiety over her father, and we have a few things to work through. We’ll get a statement to you later. Excuse us.” He propelled her toward a gap forming between reporters. His sedan wasn’t far beyond.
Once in the car, he wouldn’t be as pleasant as yesterday when he still thought he could bully her. When Jodie had been with them. There was no way she was getting in a closed space with him again.
She dug the heels of her worn cowboy boots against the edge of the sidewalk and jerked loose from him. “Did you send Johnny Sanderson to ram my dad?”
A distraction. That’s all she’d meant it to be, but a cloud of fury crossed his face as he grabbed at her again. “You don’t know anything, little girl.” His voice was low. Undoubtedly too low for the reporters behind them to pick up.
A fist flashed past her head and rammed into Raul’s face. Her ex staggered back, blood spurting from his nose, then the rage turned to ice, and he rushed her.
Riley lunged aside but managed to leave her boot in Raul’s path. He tripped over it and right into her rescuer.
Adam!
She gasped, but he was busy. His next punch landed low in Raul’s gut, doubling the creep over.
“Call 9-1-1, woman.”
Good idea. She fumbled her phone out of her hip pocket and tapped the number.
“We’ve got all that on record.” A cameraman stood over her, his long lens pointed at Raul on the ground with Adam twisting his arm behind his back.
“You won’t get away with this!” gasped Raul.
“Don’t pretend you gave Riley that diamond. Don’t pretend you have any claim over her.” Adam applied a little more pressure to Raul’s wrist. “She’s free to choose whomever she loves, and it won’t be you.”
Riley’s heart leaped then stuttered. He’d come all this way to acknowledge that she had the right to let him go? But she didn’t want Adam free. She wanted him wrapped up in her arms, loving her like she meant the world to him.
His gaze caught on hers for a few seconds, but then a police officer elbowed in, dragged Raul upright, and snapped handcuffs on his wrists. Another officer pulled Adam aside and held him back. “What’s going on here?”
“I’ve got it all on tape, sir,” the reporter said. “Mr. Garcia seemed to be abducting Ms. Dunning until this man stepped in. I’m happy to share the footage.”
“I’m bleeding!” whined Raul. Red spattered his white shirt.
Riley dared to breathe. But, when she met Adam’s intense gaze, she almost forgot how again.
“You’re all coming with us.” The officer gave Riley a hard look. “You, too, Ms. Dunning.”
“Yes, sir. I do have one thing to say, though.”
“Speak.”
She turned to the reporter. “Thank you.”
“No problem, ma’am. What he did to you didn’t look right to me.”
“It wasn’t right. You know why?” She looked right into the camera, hoping it was still recording. “Because this man who came to my rescue? He’s the Montana cowboy I told you about. His name is Adam Cavanagh. I love him, and I intend to marry him.”
It took a couple of hours for Adam and Riley to be released. More turned out to be at stake than Adam’s altercation with Riley’s ex. The slimeball had tried to cover over his reaction to Riley’s accusation about hiring Sanderson, but it had been caught on record. His rebuttal hadn’t held water for long. Especially not after a detective visited Mr. Sanderson’s jail cell and asked a few pointed questions about his relationship to Mr. Garcia.
They were free to go.
Raul Garcia was not.
Adam ushered Riley outside the police station. He grasped Riley’s hand tightly in his own as though she were about to disappear again. After her