“Good to see you back, Ryder.” Zack crushed Ryder’s hand with his massive paw. “Are you going to stick around this time or do you have another secret assignment coming up?”
Ryder squeezed back until Zack blinked his eyes and struggled out of his grip. Zack always had to prove himself, and he did it with a pumped-up physique and a macho swagger.
“Can’t tell you that, Zack. That’s why it’s called a secret assignment.” Ryder winked to take out the sting of his words. He could understand Zack’s effort to escape the shadow of a larger-than-life father.
Ryder’s own father, Ralph, controlled his ranch and his family with an iron hand. It was one of the reasons Ryder took a job with the CIA—the top secret stuff came later when he joined the covert ops division, Black Cobra…and met Jeremy Scott.
“You look good, boy.” Will pounded him on the back while he shook his hand. He drew his bushy brows over his nose. “I heard you know Julia.”
“I’d forgotten how fast word travels in this town.” Ryder glanced at Julia, who was biting her luscious lower lip. He wanted to protect her from the small-town gossip mill, but she’d probably had a starring role these past few years. This new trouble would only add to her fame.
“Is he clearing things up for you?” Will patted Julia’s shoulder.
“A few things.” She compressed her lips, and Ryder knew he hadn’t escaped her tough questions.
“Let’s get down to business.” Zack crossed his arms over his pumped-up chest. “A perp broke into Julia’s house? Should we seal off the crime scene, Pop…I mean Sheriff Ballard?”
Ryder knew he could count on Zach for some comic relief. He shot a quick look at Julia and her dancing eyes met his as the corner of her mouth twitched. He couldn’t allow her to snort at Zack and destroy his manhood, so he grabbed Zack’s arm and spun him around toward the hallway. “I don’t know if you need to seal off the crime scene, but I’ll take you to the evidence.”
“What’s all this?” Zack stood in the center of Julia’s bedroom, cocking his head, a furrow between his brows.
“It’s my underwear, and the scissors some maniac used to cut it up.” Julia waved her arm at the bed, and then pointed to her open dresser drawer. “He got everything out of that drawer. Ryder and I didn’t touch anything in case he left fingerprints.”
Will pulled out two pairs of gloves from his briefcase and tossed one set to Zack, who’d dropped to his knees by the side of the bed.
Zack snapped on the gloves and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he ran his hands through Julia’s sliced-up lingerie. It thrilled Ryder that beneath her jeans and T-shirt Julia still had a fondness of sexy lingerie, but that didn’t mean he wanted some other man to get a thrill out of it.
“The scissors, Zack. Maybe he left prints.” Ryder kneed Zack in the back.
Zack reddened to the roots of his receding hairline. He plucked the scissors from the mattress and then dropped them in the plastic bag his father held out for him.
The Ballards dusted the rest of the room for prints, including the ransacked dresser drawer, but came up empty. Ryder showed them the back door. The intruder hadn’t left any prints there either, but he had jimmied the lock.
“Do you have another evidence bag for this?” Julia held up the flowers by the end of the yellow ribbon. “It was on my porch when we got home. There was another one this morning, but it’s gone, and I threw away the other two I got in the past two weeks.”
“Looks like you got yourself a secret admirer, Julia. The flowers and the scene in the bedroom are obviously connected.” Will took the bouquet from Julia and dropped it into another plastic bag.
Julia hunched her shoulders. “The flowers were one thing, but why did he get violent?”
“Probably because you didn’t show proper appreciation for the offering this morning.” Ryder draped an arm around Julia, and turned to Will. “Julia stomped on the flowers the guy left this morning.”
“Seems like overkill to me.” Will jerked his thumb toward the bedroom. “Anyone ask you on a date, Julia? Someone you turned down?”
Leaning against Ryder, Julia shook her head. “N-no.”
Ryder clenched his jaw. Was she lying? Why would she lie to protect someone? Julia had been loyal to a fault. Her girlfriends in Paris tried to warn her about Jeremy’s cheating ways, but Julia shrugged them off. Until she walked in on the evidence.
Will grabbed his hat. “Get that lock fixed, and I know you always do, but keep your doors locked. Be aware of your surroundings and be careful going to and from that night class in Durango.”
Julia jerked beneath his arm, and Ryder slid a gaze to her face, which paled. “Anything else?”
Gripping her hands in front of her, Julia told them about the driver of a dark sedan trying to get her to pull over on the highway and the loose lug nuts on her wheel.
“Do you think he might have something to do with the break-in?” Her gaze darted between the three men, settling on Will.
“Maybe. Did you get a good look at the driver?” Will took a spiral notebook out of his pocket and scribbled a few notes.
“No. It was dark. He was wearing sunglasses, which was weird, and he had black hair, but it could’ve been brown.” Julia glanced at Ryder’s hair.
Great. Did she suspect him?
“Just be careful.” Will shoved his notebook back in his pocket. “We’ll run the scissors and the ribbons for fingerprints. Doesn’t help that we’re at the beginning of the summer tourist season. The hotels, B and B’s and dude ranches are already filling up, and we have plenty of strangers in town.”
“I’ll make sure she stays safe.” Ryder clasped Julia’s hands, still wound tightly in front of her.
Will’s brows shot up and Julia stepped back, snatching her hands away from Ryder.
Zack cleared his throat. “Don’t tell me you’re married to Julia, too.”
Will elbowed his son in the ribs. “Let’s get going, Zack. I’m sure Ryder and Julia have a lot to discuss outside of all this mess. We’ll let you know if we find anything, Julia.”
When the Ballards left, Julia peeked in on Shelby and then returned to the scene of the crime to sift through her shredded lingerie.
Ryder propped a shoulder on the door. “Anything salvageable?”
“Not much.” Perching on the edge of the bed, she held up two pieces of a bra, snipped in half.
His gut twisted and he dug his shoulder into the doorjamb to keep from rushing across the room and taking her in his arms. Did this attack have anything to do with her past? He owed her the truth. She’d be safer knowing the truth.
“Zack’s an idiot, but did you have a lot of men coming out of the woodwork claiming to be your husband?”
Julia fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah. The local papers ran my story and scores of people stepped forward to claim me.” Her hands clawed at the remnants of her underwear.
“I felt sorry for most of them seeking runaway daughters, missing wives, lost sisters. They all came looking for something. They all wanted me to be someone.”
A cold fear cinched the back of his neck. Any of those imposters could’ve fooled her. “How did you rule them out?”
“They had to have proof.” She scooped up the silky material and let it fall on top of her like giant, colorful snowflakes. “And nobody had it.”
“Have