protect myself?”
He stood about two feet from her, his hand resting on the open door. “I don’t think you’re helpless, Cari. Look what you did to hide and become invisible to Dirk. You took action. Granted, you didn’t use a gun, but then, not every situation requires a gun to settle an issue, either. Sometimes just protesting with others, or using your voting rights, or making your voice heard to your political leaders in your town or state, is an act of defense or offense, depending upon what the situation is.”
“My mother and stepfather refused to go into hiding. I tried to persuade them to do it.”
“Dirk is after you, not them,” he said gently. “You are his target. And you did take prudent action, Cari. Luckily”—he looked around and then held her unsure gaze—“you landed here, with us. This isn’t the Wild West anymore, but ranchers and farmers tend to carry arms, have a rifle or a shotgun in their homes. We still get grizzly bears coming in from the nearby mountain range, but usually it’s black bears. We work with the state wildlife department to get such dangerous animals away from our cattle and other livestock. We don’t want to kill them, either. But in your case, our best defense is an offense, and that means the sheriff and Pepper Warner are contacting me weekly, and sometimes more often, on anything regarding Dirk. Until he’s caught, you’re not safe, and we all know that.”
She looked around and crossed her arms. “I feel I’ve been so lucky to have come here. Guns scare me. Even more since I saw Dirk murder his girlfriend. I know what they can do.” She halted, and frowned. “I just hate killing anything, Chase . . .”
“I know. Come on, climb in. Let’s get those other errands done and we’ll go back to the ranch. At least there you feel safe.”
“Oh, a hundred percent,” she assured him, getting into the truck. Strapping in, she turned as he started the engine on the truck. “I feel better by talking with you, Chase. I always do.” She managed a slight smile. “Are you sure you aren’t fey yourself?”
Laughing heartily, he drove the truck out of the parking lot and onto the street. “Mary used a lot of words to describe me growing up, but never used the word fey.”
“Well, there are male fairies,” she said. “You must have seen Legolas in a Lord of the Rings movie?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You remind me of Legolas, just a tougher, cowboy version, is all,” she said, watching him for reaction.
“I never had to swing a sword.”
“No, but both of you rode horses and did battle, so there is some kind of connection.”
“Very little.” He touched his short hair. “Legolas had really long hair. I don’t.”
“But he was a protector, too, just like you.”
He grinned and turned into the parking lot of the bank. “Don’t you think it’s sort of baked into male DNA to protect others? I’ll be back in just a moment.” He climbed out. “We’ll continue the conversation when I get back.”
Smiling, Cari sat back, watching the bustle of early afternoon traffic. Silver Creek looked as if it came straight out of the 1900s, the buildings all seemingly built around that time, but well cared for. It was a town thrown back in time, she decided. Catching a glance of Chase coming out of the bank, she admired how strong, tall, and confidently he walked. Unlike others, however, he looked around, was alert, and seemingly was still in sniper mode. Or, she thought, maybe he’d done that work for so long, it was a natural part of him now.
Chase climbed in, noting that there was a slight pinkness to her cheeks once more, and her beautiful, large, cinnamon-colored eyes had returned, the darkness no longer in them. Inwardly, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. He understood that it was good for her to get things off her chest, so to speak, to talk them out. His mother, Mary, hammered that into him, too . . . and forced him to talk about his feelings to her all the time. That, too, was baked into him, and this time her training was helping him to instinctually know where Cari was at, and the core of her fear was far more evident to him now than ever before. He really did need to initiate more deep, searching talks with her in the future.
Starting the truck engine, he twisted a