She hadn’t even been aware she was crying until he massaged the back of her neck and his husky voice curled around her. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. It’ll be okay. Shh. Don’t cry.”
Her face was pressed against the muscled hardness of his chest, and his arms encircled her. She thought she could willingly stay like this forever. God, he smelled good, like clean laundry and the outdoors, mixed with a tangy scent that was his alone. But it was the way he made her feel that was having the strangest effect on her senses. She could hear the steady thud of his heart beneath her ear. He was strong and solid, and it felt so good to lean against him. For the first time in her life, she felt protected. As if she could finally relinquish all the burdens she’d been carrying for so many years and just breathe.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “Whatever the problem is, we’ll figure it out. I’ll make sure the police know I came with you of my own free will. I’m sure they’ll go easy on you.”
Maddie froze.
In an instant, all the good feelings vanished, leaving her cold inside. She pulled free of his arms and pushed past him to stand on the opposite side of the small kitchen. She swiped furiously at her cheeks.
“So what now?” she asked scathingly. “I’m just supposed to go with you to the authorities and let them put me in prison?”
Colton frowned, and even in her distress, Maddie recognized the real concern in his dark eyes. “They won’t put you in prison, Madeleine. I promise you that. The worst case scenario is you post bail until your court appearance, and you’ll get a suspended sentence with community service.”
She gave a short laugh that sounded slightly hysterical again. “You’ve got to be kidding.” She pressed her fingers against her eyes. “This is unbelievable. It can’t really be happening.”
“Madeleine.” He was standing directly in front of her now. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on. Maybe I can help you.”
His image wavered through the tears that filled her eyes. She smiled tremulously. “You can’t help me. Nobody can.”
“Well, I sure as hell can’t help you if you don’t tell me what the problem is. Explain to me why you were planning to hold up a diner.”
“I don’t know!” she cried. “There was that little boy on the bus, and he was playing with his toy gun, pretending to shoot me with it. I was sick of it, and when he left the gun on the seat, I just took it. I would have given it back to him in Reno.”
“But instead, you decided that robbing the diner was a good idea.”
“Yes. No!” She groaned and closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I saw the money in the register, and I had this gun in my belt, and—I’m not even sure if I could have gone through with it.”
“So you wanted the money,” he said flatly. “Why?”
Maddie turned away from him. She couldn’t think straight when he was so close, so authoritative and demanding. There must be some way to get away from him and avoid being turned over to the authorities in the morning. Even if the police were willing to help her, she couldn’t risk having them involved. The men who had her brother had said they would kill him if she called the police, and she believed them.
She just needed to get Jamie back safely, and then she’d willingly go to the police. But first she had to ditch the U.S. marshal, no matter how well meaning he might be.
“Okay,” she finally said, and drew in a deep breath as she spun around to face him. “You’re right. I want to end this thing, too.” She forced herself to smile, injecting what she hoped was just the right amount of regret and resignation into her expression. She held her wrists out to him. “Do you want to handcuff me to the bed tonight...you know, to make sure I don’t run away?”
Colton’s eyes widened fractionally, and Maddie was certain she saw his mouth twitch in amusement. “Uh, no,” he finally said. “I don’t think that will be necessary.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “I’m a light sleeper. You wouldn’t make it to the door. But just in case—” he held out his hand “—I’ll have my keys back.”
With a sigh, she fished his keys out of her pocket and handed them to him, then watched as he pocketed them in turn.
She wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself. Her eyes ached and her stomach felt hollow. “So now what?”
“Now you get to answer my questions. Why do you need money?”
Maddie glanced at him. His expression was inscrutable, but his jaw was set in hard lines. She didn’t dare tell him the truth, because if he decided to get involved, it could mean even worse trouble for Jamie. If she had learned one thing from her unconventional upbringing, it was to always stick as close to the truth as possible. If you told too many lies, you’d become so embroiled in them that you would lose track of what was real and what was fiction.
“I have some outstanding debt,” she finally said. “If I don’t pay the money I owe, I could lose everything.”
“Who do you owe the money to?”
“The bank,” she replied, tipping her chin up. “I got behind on some payments.”
“That’s it?”
She shrugged. “That’s it.”
His eyes narrowed as he considered her, and then he turned abruptly away. “It gets pretty chilly in the mountains, even at this time of year. Why don’t I get a fire started for us while you check out the sleeping arrangements?”
Maddie watched him. Did he believe her? She didn’t know. What she did know was that she wouldn’t be spending the night at the cabin. She had no time to waste, and she certainly wasn’t about to go willingly with him to Winnemucca. But she had to at least give the appearance of acquiescence.
“Okay, fine. There’s a loft over the living room where I used to sleep when I was a kid. My grandpa’s old bedroom is just beneath that.”
“Great. I’ll go check out the loft.”
Maddie followed him into the living room and watched as he lit several more lanterns. As the soft light slowly chased away the last of the shadows, she had to swallow hard against the sudden constriction in her throat. The place hadn’t changed at all in the years since she’d lived here as a kid. There was the old mission oak sofa with the plaid fabric and sturdy wooden arms, the braided rug, her grandpa’s favorite reading chair next to the stone fireplace. The flowered curtains she’d made as a teenager still hung in the windows.
Despite the homey feel of the room, Madeleine couldn’t summon any warm memories of the place. She’d been ten years old when her mother had died of cancer, and she hadn’t thought life could get any worse. But she’d been wrong. Now, looking around the small cabin, all she could remember was the horror she’d felt after her father’s sudden death, when she’d understood that this was to be her new home, living with a grandfather she barely knew. At first, she’d been terrified of his gruff manner, but she’d soon learned that he was just a pathetic old man incapable of taking care of himself, never mind a twelve-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. Her grandpa would drink until he passed out, leaving Maddie to fend for herself.
Unwilling to leave Jamie alone in the cabin with their unconscious grandfather, she’d take him with her down the mountain and hang around outside Zeke’s place. Back then, old Zeke had run the only gas station and general store in the area, and Maddie had discovered that she could often wheedle a few bucks out of sympathetic locals and vacationing tourists. Enough to buy a few groceries for herself and her brother.
As she’d gotten older, her grandfather had made several attempts to get sober, and those were the days Maddie preferred to remember. When there was enough food in the cupboards that she didn’t need to con