Page 186 of Rangers Last Promise

Giving her plenty of time to move.

She doesn't.

My fingers brush a strand of dark hair away from her cheek.

Her breath catches.

“I think I'm staying because of you.”

Mara goes completely still.

So do I.

There it is.

The truth I have been avoiding since the moment I walked into the Last Stand.

Her gaze drops to my mouth.

Then rises again.

I lean closer.

The door behind us opens.

“Deputy Ellis?”

We jump apart.

A young deputy freezes.

His eyes move from Mara to me.

Then back.

“Oh. Sorry.”

15

MARA

“Ithink I’m staying because of you.”

Six words.

That’s all Doc said.

Six words that have been circling my brain for the last twenty minutes while Sheriff Tate talks about Robert Vance, roadblocks, search warrants, and approximately seventeen other things I should probably be listening to.

I’m not.

I’m thinking about Colin Shaw.

Which is becoming a problem.

A very large, broad-shouldered, irritating problem.

“Mara.”