on the porch. “Gotta go,” she said. “Thanks for a very nice evening.”
“I’ll call you, okay?”
“Sure.” She let herself in and raced to grab her fleece-lined ranch jacket out of the hall closet. No time to change out of her dressy black sheath. If Erin needed her, she would get there as fast as she could.
Minutes later, she was in her station wagon, roaring down Main Street, past the Shop Mart, the drugstore, and the Blue Coyote bar, on her way out of town.
* * *
Standing outside the pickup, Will gazed down the road at the distant headlights. He hoped to hell it was Tori. He wanted Erin gone before the law showed up. The girl had witnessed next to nothing, and she didn’t need to be upset by the ugliness of a crime scene investigation. If the sheriff needed to question her, he could do it tomorrow, at home.
The dispatcher had warned him against touching anything. But Will had taken the liberty of dragging an old blanket out of the truck’s backseat and laying it over the dead man’s corpse. If he’d just contaminated the evidence, too bad. He didn’t need Erin seeing the body, or Tori, either.
He’d thought about phoning Beau, or even Sky, at the ranch, then changed his mind. His brothers had enough on their plates without his adding to the pile. This was his own mess. He would clean it up by himself.
But one question continued to chew on him. If the bastard he’d killed wasn’t the robber, who the devil was he?
The headlights were coming closer—a low vehicle going like a bat out of hell. That would be Tori, all right. The truck’s hazard lights were blinking. She should be able to see them. But just to make sure, he turned on the flashlight and waved it. Seconds later, the station wagon screeched to a gravel-spitting halt behind the truck.
Tori piled out of the driver’s side. Under her open canvas coat, Will could see that she was dressed to kill—tight black dress, dangling earrings, honey-blond hair flowing loose, the way he’d always liked it. And she was wearing those high heels that made her long legs look extra sexy.
All for another man.
But he couldn’t let that get to him now. What mattered was that she’d come as soon as she could.
“What’s going on? Where’s Erin?” Her gaze surveyed the tilted truck. At least, from the driver’s side of the cab, she couldn’t see the body.
“We hit something and punctured a tire. Erin can tell you more in the car.” He opened the driver’s-side door of the truck and swung his daughter to the ground. “Just get her out of here, Tori. You can take her to the ranch or home with you. I want her gone by the time the sheriff gets here.”
“I’ll take her home.” Tori caught sight of the motorcycle parked ahead of the truck. “Whose bike is that? Why’s the sheriff coming?”
“I’d just gotten out of the truck when that motorcycle pulled up. The man had a pistol and a knife. I had to shoot him.”
“Thank God you had a gun.” Wide-eyed, Tori clutched her daughter close. After taking a moment to compose herself, she spoke. “Are you in trouble, Will? Do you need me to stay as your lawyer?”
“I’ll be fine. There’s no way it could’ve been anything but self-defense.” Will glanced down the road and saw the flicker of approaching red lights. “Just take Erin and go. She doesn’t need to be part of this. I’ll call you later.”
Tori needed no more urging. She raced with Erin to her car, backed away from the truck and turned for home. Will stood watching her taillights as she drove past the oncoming sheriff ’s vehicle and the ambulance. No one tried to stop her.
Moments later, Blanco County sheriff Abner Sweeney pulled up in his tan SUV. A deputy rode beside him in the passenger seat. The ambulance parked behind him.
Sweeney, a short, pugnacious redhead whose manner had become even cockier since winning the recent election, climbed out of the vehicle. Trailed by his deputy, he stalked up to where Will stood.
“So where’s the body, Tyler?” he demanded.
“Around there.” Will nodded to the other side of the truck. “I covered him out of common decency, but I didn’t touch anything else. I admit to shooting the man, but I fired in self-defense.”
“How can I be sure of that?” Sweeny’s chin jutted as he glowered up at Will’s imposing height. His hand rested