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His muscles tensed at the mention of her staying with someone else. What was that all about? He didn’t need her around. Hell, he didn’t want her around.

If you’re gonna lie, at least don’t lie to yourself.

Fine. He hated the idea of someone else keeping her safe, though he didn’t want to think about why that bothered him so much. It was for her sake, not his. What if they didn’t do a good job? She’d be practically in the backyard of whoever was after her.

Did they know her? Did they know they’d have to keep an eye on her? Even as little as he’d been around her, he knew the person she needed the most protection from was herself. He still shuddered at the sight of her standing in front of Bullwinkle, damn it, Ironside.

Fuck. He’d known she was trouble from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. But he hadn’t expected anything this big. No way was he allowing that back on his ranch.

Like you are going to let anyone else try to keep her safe.

“You know that town she’s from, Nameless? You should look it up. It might give you a new perspective on Miss Joplin.”

What the hell did that mean?

“I don’t have time for games, Sam.IfI decide to let her back on the ranch, she’d only be there for a couple days. No need for me tobe looking stuff up about her for that. Out of curiosity, what made you call me?”

The sheriff shrugged. “Like I said, you’re the obvious choice. Even better now, since you’ve obviously met her. Now all we need to do is locate her. I checked the hotels, and they don’t have anyone registered who fits her description.”

“If they saw her, they’d remember it.”

A knowing gleam Chance didn’t appreciate filled his friend’s eyes. “Really? Good to know. I can help you look. There aren’t that many places in Wilder she could be unless she’s already left town.”

Chance’s gut clenched at the thought of her traveling around by herself. It was a miracle nothing had happened to her already. He wasn’t sure how she’d kept that car of hers on the road.

Why did his palm always itch within minutes of him thinking about her? The woman didn’t need a keeper; she needed a warden.

“I know where she is. At least I know where she’d better be.”

A slow grin spread over his friend's face.

Leaning back in his chair, Sam drawled, “I knew you were the right man to call.”

Standing, Chance said, “I’ll let you know when I find her.”

“Good deal. If she doesn’t want to stay on the ranch, let me know. I’ll try to come up with somewhere else.”

“She’ll stay.” He kept the “whether she wants to or not” to himself.

She’d made the choice to come onto his ranch in the first place. When it came to her safety, what she wanted took a back seat. He just needed to make sure she understood the rules before she agreed to stay. And the consequences of breaking them.

An hour later, Chance knew two things. Joy Joplin was no longer in the town of Wilder. And if anything happened to her, it was all his fault.

CHAPTER 5

Joy looked out the back window of the cabin she had found a week earlier. It wasn’t in the best shape, but she had learned many things since being there. Important lessons like wet wood makes more smoke. Like, a lot more. And buying toilet paper was more important than buying candy… even if the candy was on sale. And you can eat the rice you find in the kitchen cabinet and the meat in the freezer, but not all the berries you find in the woods. That’s how she learned the toilet paper rule.

Overall, it had been a great week. Swallowing to ease her throat, she whispered, “See, Puggles. There is always a silver lining. You just have to look for it.” Puggles agreed. She could see it in his eyes. “Oh, let’s see if our friend is here.”

The best thing of all was she’d made a friend on her second day there. She had a dog! He was just a puppy, and he was the cutest thing she’d ever seen. She’d always wanted a dog, but her parents were older and didn’t want the hassle.

Asking her boyfriend, Eddie, would have been a complete waste of time. When he took the time to answer her questions, healways said no. It was for the best. He treated his yes’s as favors. Favors from Eddie came at far too high a price.

She tried to speak, even though it came out raspy. “Oh! There he is! See him? He’s right where he always is.”

She couldn’t have a flare-up. Not now. She hadn’t had one in over two years. Of course, she ran out of her medicine a week ago. She hadn’t paid any attention to her fatigue and sore joints. She’d chalked that up to not being used to trudging around in the deep snow.

But then her hand started twitching. And the rash probably wasn’t due to the cold and snow as she’d tried to make herself believe. And now her throat was sore. If she wasn’t better by tomorrow, she’d have to find a free clinic in Wilder. Rheumatic fever was nothing to play around with.