She’d wondered if Russell’s brother would tell him about the pickup that had tried to run her off the road. It had surprised her she hadn’t heard from Russ. She’d expected him to come tearing up, angry and scared and dispensing more good advice.

One look at the expression on his handsome face now, though, and she knew he must have only just heard about last night.

She leaned against the side of the house in the shade and watched as he rode the large buckskin horse into her yard. He swung off the horse like a man as at home in a saddle as on a four-wheeler or driving a combine.

She hadn’t been able to help the small thrill she had felt seeing him astride the horse. Riding to her rescue, she thought with a grin.

“Something amusing?” he asked as he walked to the bottom of the porch steps.

“Just admiring you in the saddle.”

He climbed the steps in long strides that brought him right to her. She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t here to make love to her again.

“My brother tell you that he found the pickup that ran you off the road?” he asked. “He thinks some kids took it from an old barn, picked up some booze and went for a joy ride.”

Her brown eyes narrowed. “What do you think?”

“I think anyone who knows John knows about that pickup. They probably saw your car parked where we left it yesterday evening and just waited at a distance for you to return.”

“So you think it was a warning, too?”

He shook his head. “A warning would have been a note tacked on your door.”

She thought about the note Jolene told her had been tucked under her windshield wiper. Watch your step.

She nodded, her gaze locked with his.

He dragged his away. “You look good.”

“I’ll just bet after being in that house all day, digging into every dirty corner I could find.”

“I take it you didn’t find anything?”

She shook her head.

Russell glanced toward the house behind her. “You searched the whole place?”

She nodded.

“Then maybe it’s time for you to go back to Chicago.”

That took her by surprise. “Just when we’re having so much fun?” she said, trying to make light of it.

“I stopped having fun when someone tried to hurt you,” he said quietly, his incredible blue eyes locking with hers.

Dulcie swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw that he was no longer teasing. He was dead serious and she felt the intensity of his gaze all the way down to her toes.

“There is something I need to tell you,” he said and she felt her heart drop. “You’ve been trying to find out about Laura Beaumont’s past...”