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She nodded. Trust was always a challenge for her. As if reading her mind, Ford took her hand. “He’ll be good. Let’s just see.”

Marcus nodded. “He seems like a smart dog. I don’t think he’ll wander off. I didn’t think about bringing Finch with me. He’d love it out here.”

“Who’s Finch?”

The chief smiled. “He’s our Great Dane. He took care of three kittens in the wild when he was a half-grown pup. Now they all live with us and the poor guy needs a break from herding cats all day.”

Jolie laughed. “Sounds like he’d love it here. Bring him anytime. Both Hemsworth and Fox enjoy other dogs.”

Jolie’s phone rang with a video call from Amber. She smiled at the men. “It’s my sister. I’m going to take this.”

She wandered away and answered the call. “Hey, Amber.”

Her sister frowned into the camera, her worry face firmly in place. “Are you okay?”

Jolie sighed. “Knox told you what happened?”

“Of course, he told me. He told all of us. The question is, why didn’t you tell us?”

Jolie sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s been busy. Ford and I are with the Phail police chief right now. We just collected the game cameras from the woods.”

Amber nodded and studied her face. “I can’t believe you went through all of that yesterday. Knox said the jerk threatened you with a gun, but that Ford saved you.”

She doubted Knox had told her all the details and Jolie wasn’t volunteering that he’d pressed the gun into her forehead. There was a slight bruise this morning, but with her job, she was used to being bruised most of the time. She hoped Amber wouldn’t notice the mark was in the shape of a gun muzzle.

Instead, she responded to the last part of Amber’s statement. “He did save me. He and Knox saved us both. And the dogs helped too. It’s still all a blur in my head.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. You must have been so scared.”

“Terrified. But I also knew Ford and Knox would save us. I knew they wouldn’t let anything happen.”

Amber’s eyes filled with tears. “Did you tell him you’re in love with him yet?”

Jolie couldn’t stop the grin. “I did. He loves me, too.”

Amber laughed. “Of course he does. You’re the most lovable person I know, Jolie.”

Wow. That had tears forming in her own eyes.

Then her sister smiled. “I’m so glad for you. I can tell just by looking that’s there’s an excellent reason you didn’t have time to call me last night or early this morning. I bet you had the best time after telling each other you were in love.”

Jolie grinned. “The very best time. It was amazing, Amber. My body nearly melts just thinking about it.”

Amber smiled. “I’m so happy for you. For you both. I hope he knows how damn lucky he is.”

“You’re the best sister ever, Amber. I think you need to get yourself up here and get to know the man I love a little better.”

Amber rolled her eyes with a smile. “You’re even going to use your man to lure me there.”

“Absolutely. Whatever it takes.” Because despite Amber’s obvious happiness for Jolie, there was something sad in her eyes. Not everything was going well for Amber and Jolie wanted to change that.

“Burke wants to have a family video chat today. He needs to see and hear for himself that you’re okay. Lawson, too.”

Jolie nodded. “I should have thought of that myself. I haven’t seen Knox yet this morning. We headed down to tend to the ducks and then got caught up with Marcus.”

Amber’s eyes sparkled. “And you had far more interesting things to do than chat with your family.”

“I sure did.”