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Cade puffed up and folded his arms across his chest, stonewalling Clint. If the Sheriff wanted to search his house, he’d need a warrant and a posse. These two wouldn’t get through him. He would protect Jacqueline Oliver. She’d come to him. Not to Clint.
Clint looked him over, and Cade could see it cost him to clear his throat and say, “If you haven’t seen her, we need to keep looking. Appreciate the help searching if you have time. The last place her phone tracked was on the switchbacks south of your valley.”
Appreciate the help. Clint had humbled himself to offer those words. Cade should let down his guard. He wanted to protect and be there for Jacqueline, but he hardly knew her. If her mother’s henchmen were anything close to what the media portrayed, she was in a dangerous predicament.
He knew these two men weren’t the enemy. Jacqueline’s mother was. Clint and Walker would do everything in their power to help and protect an innocent lady. Clint had been his enemy in the past, but Sheryl had dumped and ditched Clint six months after she’d broken Cade. They’d eventually have to work that out. Not today. A momentary truce could be allowed.
Lowering his voice, he stepped forward onto the porch with them, shutting the door behind him. “She’s in my laundry room.”
Clint moved as if to go around him and retrieve her.
“Stop,” he said, still in a low tone.
Clint flinched and balled his fists. He didn’t like to be bossed around.
“She slid down the mountainside headfirst,” Cade continued rather than posturing against Clint like he’d grown accustomed to doing this past year. “She has amnesia, doesn’t even remember her own name. I didn’t know who she was until you started explainin’ and I put the horse and cart together.”
Clint and Walker exchanged a look and then focused on him. He and Clint might be at odds, but the Colevilles knew what kind of man he was, knew he told the truth.
“She’s absolutely terrified,” Cade continued. “She kept saying, ‘she will find me and injure you.’”
“That adds up,” Walker said, pushing a hand through his hair. “So do we try to shock her into remembering, or leave her here and let her remember gradually?”
Clint’s eyes narrowed. “She’s our responsibility, not Cade’s.”
Cade’s chest swelled. He could still remember Clint telling him that Sheryl was ‘my responsibility, not yours.’
“Sheriff.” He tried for cordial, proud of himself. His mama and the good Lord would be proud too. “She’s asked me to hide her and protect her. You know I won’t in good conscience push her away.” He gave him a challenging look, which Clint matched. “Her mind isn’t right, and she’s terrified. I don’t know the right path, but dragging her out of here won’t help her right now.”
“Her mother is extremely dangerous and proficient in killing, manipulating, and blackmailing,” Clint threw back at him, folding his arms across his chest. “She’s out there somewhere and has connections and resources not even my family can can match. This is bigger than the both of us. Even the tough lieutenant with a Silver Star.”
The tension between them was high. Not quite as high as when Sheryl pitted them against each other, but they might get close to that if they both refused to stand down. Jacqueline Oliver wanted Cade as her protector, not Clint. He couldn’t lie and say that didn’t feel good, but if this was bigger than the two of them … what was the solution?
“So do we call Sutton Smith?” Cade tried to joke, as if he had the famed billionaire security specialist on speed dial. He wouldn’t mind another fist fight with Clint, but Jacqueline’s health and safety was more important to him right now. That alone showed him how invested he was in a woman he’d discovered an hour ago. It had nothing to do with her fame and everything to do with her blue eyes, sweet smile, and stimulating touch.
“Quaid’s been in touch with Aiden Porter,” Walker said. He grinned. “Almost as good.”
“Oh.” Cade was impressed. Aiden Porter loved to claim he was the ‘second-best security expert in the world’ behind Sutton Smith.
Quaid Raven. Aiden Porter. Jacqueline Oliver. Names and faces off the television or cell phone screen. Not real people. But Jacqueline was real. He’d felt how real she was in his arms. Why did the first woman he considered breaking his self-made vow of bachelorhood for have to be in danger and infamous?
“Can one of you call Doc while I call Quaid?” Clint asked, taking control, as always. “Get Doc’s take on the amnesia situation and what’s best for her that way, either staying or coming with us. I’ll see what they think security wise. You can’t get more remote than this place.”
Cade thought that was a shot.
“I can monitor the entrance to your canyon with sensors and regular patrols, put some cameras and sensors up here if she insists on staying with you.” Clint didn’t ask if that was all right.
Cade met Walker’s gaze, and he knew his friend could see how close he was to telling Sheriff Clint off.
“Can you call Doc?” Clint asked them both, not oblivious to the tension but clearly trying to skirt it for Jaqueline’s sake.
“My phone’s in the truck. It’s almost dead,” Walker said, looking to Cade.
Cade wanted to retain his pride. He wanted to tell Clint he didn’t need his help, his sensors, or him taking charge. But Jacqueline Oliver and the danger his beautiful fugitive was in was bigger than both of them and their past. Was Clint interested in her? His stomach churned. What man wouldn’t be interested in a teasing beauty like Jacqueline who needed protection from a powerful criminal? Especially an overprotective man like Clint.
He dropped his pride, held Clint’s gaze, and admitted, “My phone is in the lake.”
“Excuse me?” There was laughter in Walker’s voice.
