Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

found you, if I noticed anything. It’s standard procedure.”

It might have been, but Summer feeling like this certainly wasn’t. She was already shaken up from the whole ordeal and now she just felt embarrassed by the way she’d treated Clay suspiciously, even after Tyler had managed to mostly convince her that he was one of the good guys.

“Fine.” She didn’t have anything else to say and ignored the tugs inside her heart urging her to apologize to Clay. She’d deal with those impulses later, but for now she wanted to stay focused on reporting what happened. It had been too long since she’d felt ready to move on with her life after what had happened in the past. Tonight she felt ready and she didn’t want this to slow her down.

He followed her into the building.

“Summer.”

Noah saw her before she saw him and swept her into a tight hug. Tyler was always the more demonstrative of her two brothers, so having Noah act this way surprised her. She hugged him back and tried not to shudder under the impact of realizing how deeply Noah had been worried. Her family had been her rock through all her troubles—she hated the thought of making them scared for her again.

“Come into my office.” He looked in Clay’s direction. “You too. Clay Hitchcock?”

Clay nodded and Noah gave him an approving smile. Any fears Summer had about him being on the wrong side of the law dissipated. To get past one of her brothers was difficult enough, but to get past both would be nearly impossible. Clay must be who he said he was.

Which left her really no reason to dislike him other than that she was still shaken up by him seeing her in such a vulnerable state—a state that had made her treat him rudely. It wasn’t his fault she’d been attacked, wasn’t his fault she’d learned several years ago that vulnerability with men was dangerous and to be avoided at all costs.

They went into Noah’s office and sat down in the uncomfortable wooden framed chairs in front of Noah’s desk. Noah went behind the desk, looking very officer-like and Summer felt a burst of pride in her brother. At least she knew he would do everything to find whomever had tried to attack her. The man who’d attacked her had really picked the wrong family to mess with.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

Summer did so, remembering all the details, which surprised her and the men also, judging by the looks on their faces. She even remembered to tell them that her attacker was left-handed.

“Not something that necessarily helps figure out who did it but it could help you narrow down a suspect list,” Clay said so quietly Summer almost didn’t hear. She was more convinced than ever that this was a job he was used to doing and surprised herself by hoping she’d get a chance to talk to him about it later. It didn’t have anything to do with him, really, or how attractive he was in his quiet way. She was curious. That was all.

She swallowed hard.

“It’ll be okay, Summer.”

Noah thankfully mistook her expression for worry about the case, which it should have been, not angst over how tangled up her emotions felt from being rescued by this man, whether she wanted to be the type that needed rescuing or not.

“I hope so.” She hoped everything would be okay.

“What did you notice?” Noah turned his attention to Clay, and Summer let herself relax a little. She hadn’t meant to close her eyes, but when she heard the words safe house and her eyes popped open she realized she must have been nodding off. Her adrenaline was crashing, no doubt.

“What?”

“I think we need to take you to a safe house.” Noah’s words were firm and Summer widened her eyes even further, then started shaking her head.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Someone is after you.”

“Someone was after me,” she corrected. “I got away. That’s the end of it...isn’t it?”

“Why would she need a safe house?” Clay asked Noah. It didn’t seem like he thought it was necessary, either. Good, maybe her brother was overreacting. Although, was it Summer’s imagination or did she see something in Noah’s expression? Something that implied a bigger issue he wasn’t telling her?

“I have reason to believe it would be a good idea.” Noah stood his ground.

Summer shivered. “Why don’t you tell me what that reason is?”

Noah shook his head. “Summer, listen, you’d go away for just a few weeks, okay? We will do our best to get this solved...”

A few weeks of isolation during her favorite season, missing mountain running, her hikes with the tourists, time with her family... For what? Yeah, this man was dangerous—she definitely knew that. The police department would need to catch him before he harmed anyone else. But this had been a crime of opportunity. As long as she didn’t make herself an easy target, there was no reason to believe this man would come after her again... Was there?

Not to mention, the thought of leaving town and going somewhere by herself made her seriously uneasy. She shivered at the memory of how alone and vulnerable she’d been when she’d run from her would-be killer. All she wanted right now was to go home and surround herself in comfort, familiarity and her siblings’ love until she felt safe again. The idea of leaving her support network behind felt chilling and wrong.

“I’m not going to a safe house, Noah. You’re going to have to figure something else out.”

A few beats of silence passed.

“Let me see what else I can work out,” Noah said slowly. “Summer, would you mind stepping outside with Officer Lee?”

She looked at her brother, looked at Clay and frowned a little, then looked back at Noah.

Then she nodded, stepped outside of the room with the other officer and shut the door. And hoped she might find an unlikely ally in Clay, that he’d be able to convince Noah to drop the