* * *
Heather tucked Colin back into bed. “You need your sleep, big guy. Tomorrow we’re helping Rob change out the village lights.”
Rob Zane lived in one of the houses on the property. Her parents had offered him the job of caretaker for the farm’s Christmas Village after he’d recovered from a house fire that had taken his own family nearly fifteen years earlier. A fire that some whispered he’d started. Her parents had stood by him through the arson investigation. And even though the fire had been deemed an accident, many in the area weren’t convinced. He’d been kind and generous to her family in return for her parents’ loyalty.
“And the decorations,” Colin said, the thrum of excitement in his tone. “Rob said I could help him with Santa’s house.”
“That will be fun.” This coming weekend they would open the farm up to the public to come enjoy the village and sleigh rides and to cut their own trees to take home. But first Heather had to get through Thanksgiving. The day wouldn’t be anything like she’d hoped, but she’d do her best to make it special for Colin, despite her sorrow over her brother’s death. Murder. She shuddered.
Careful to keep her expression from betraying the quiver of fear, she kissed Colin’s forehead. “You need to get some sleep so you’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow.”
“I don’t have a tail, Mommy,” Colin admonished her with a grin.
She laughed, thankful for his sweet innocence, and smoothed back a lock of hair, her chest crowding with a mother’s love. “No, you don’t, sweetie.”
Heather left Colin’s room and ducked into her own bedroom to change into comfortable sweatpants and a pullover hoodie. When she went back downstairs, she found Tyler had turned off all the lights except one lamp by the couch.
He stood looking at the family photos lining the mantel with his back to her. His feet were braced apart. He had wide shoulders and a slim waist. He clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides. With anger? Frustration? Perhaps both. The bandage she’d put on his head glowed in bright contrast to his short-cropped dark hair.
Part of her was so angry with Tyler for putting Seth in danger. And yet she was angry with Seth for not telling her what was going on and getting himself involved in something so dangerous. She might have been able to help him. Or at the very least talk some sense into him.
Tyler turned around. She glimpsed the tortured expression on his handsome face before he quickly settled his features into a shuttered look that hardened the line of his jaw. She resisted the empathy flooding her veins. What did he have to be tortured about? It was her brother who’d died because Tyler and his team couldn’t protect him.
Could she trust him to protect her and Colin?
What choice did she have but to put her life and that of her child into his keeping? “The only way you’ll get access to the farm is if you’re here on my say-so.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Meaning?”
“That we do this my way.”
“What’s your way?”
“I’ll hire you as the new foreman to take over for Seth. That way you could stay on the farm. I assume you have your team nearby. They could hire on as part of our seasonal labor.” They hadn’t hired enough people, and she hadn’t been able to think about the shortage the past few days as she dealt first with Seth’s death, then his burial.
He cocked his head to the side and appeared to consider her offer. “Only problem is I know nothing about tree farming. Anyone would see right through that.”
She thought for a moment. “An investor?”
“A business partner,” he countered.
“That would work. Then we’ll scour the farm until we discover where my brother hid the book.”
“Sounds like a great plan.” Tyler held out his hand. “Partners.”
After a brief hesitation—did she really want to partner with this man?—she slipped her hand into his larger one and repeated the word, answering her own question. “Partners.”
His fingers curled over hers, causing a riot of sparks to shoot up her arm. Disconcerted by the odd effect of his touch, she extracted her hand. “I’ll make the arrangements in the morning.”
He held her gaze. “I’d appreciate it. I’ll help you put the bookshelf back together.”
She glanced at the stacks of books on the floor. “I’ll take you up on the offer.” Only because she knew she wouldn’t get any sleep now anyway, not because she felt safer with him here.
Needing the calming properties of some herbal tea, she asked, “Would you like some tea?”
“Sure. I’ll try some.”
They moved into the kitchen. After taking two mugs from the cupboard, she dropped an herbal tea bag into each mug. Then she set the electric kettle to boil. “How are they smuggling the cocaine? And how do we stop it?”
“I don’t know.” Tyler leaned against the counter. “I’m confident Seth’s notes will give us all the necessary details.”
She poured hot water in the mugs, then slid one to him. “Hopefully this nightmare will end soon so no one else will pay the price Seth did.”
Unable to continue looking at him, she stared out the window over the sink. The back of the house faced the large horse barn to the left. And farther out to the right was the processing yard where the cut trees were fed into balers and stacked, ready to be loaded onto trucks for transport.
Within the next few days, hundreds of trees would leave the farm on trucks bound for destinations all over the country and up into Canada. Not to mention all the townsfolk who would come out to take a tree home and visit the Christmas Village, eat homemade donuts, drink hot cocoa and take a sleigh ride. The busyness would take her mind off her grief. But with so many people on the property, would the danger increase?
A shadow flickered near one of the balers and stole her breath. She leaned forward, straining to see. Was she imagining the movement? She’d dismissed what she’d seen earlier as paranoia, but now...
“Heather, what is it?”
No. She hadn’t imagined what she’d seen. There was definitely someone skulking around the balers. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. “Someone is out there.”
Adrenaline saturated Tyler’s veins at the prospect of an intruder lurking outside Heather’s farmhouse. He quickly set his mug down and gripped Heather by the elbow to draw her away from the window. “Turn all the lights off and go upstairs. Don’t come down until I tell you it’s clear.”
She blinked up at him with wide, stunned eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“Find out what’s going on.” Maybe this was his chance to capture those involved in the drug ring. If he could catch them in the act of hiding the drugs, then Heather and her son would be safe and he could move on to the next assignment. This one had grown exponentially more problematic. He’d rather be chasing down drug-pushing thugs than dealing with a protective mom.
He released Heather’s elbow and sent her up the stairs. Once she reached the top landing, he slipped out the back door, leading with his gun in a two-handed grip. The moon provided enough light for him to navigate his way through the yard toward the three hulking pieces of machinery where Heather said she’d seen someone. He paused with his back against the side of a baler and listened.
A breeze had kicked up, and it rustled through the trees. The howl of some creature sent a shiver down Tyler’s spine. Too close for his peace of mind. Had