Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Dana Mentink (e books free to read TXT) 📖

providing privacy from the world, it seemed easier for him to share. “The water’s usually not a problem. Most of my job is by land. The forest service handles the rafting and river permits and, as you also know, the river patrol—when we have someone—handles the fishing permits and river data collecting, so I think this is the first time in years I’ve been on the river. Maybe that’s not the best thing. Face my fears and all that.”

“Well, I think you’ve done brilliantly.”

He smiled at her answer. While subtle, her verbiage sometimes shifted ever so slightly to British phrasing. She loved words like dodgy, brilliantly and rubbish. She’d probably watched every British drama that had been made. He’d painstakingly done his best to scrimp and save for three years, hoping to surprise her with a trip to England for their honeymoon. His chest tightened at the memory. The savings still sat, for the last three years since the split, untouched. When they’d first broken up, the temptation to use it on the best motorcycle money could afford almost won, but it hadn’t seemed practical, and the last thing he’d wanted after long days in the truck was a long drive, even if on an amazing motorcycle.

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you still consider teaching during the school year and being a river guide during summers?” He watched her spine straighten.

“Um, that had been the plan. But Aunt Linda needed me.”

He studied the water rushing past them. “I didn’t think she got divorced until recently.”

She shrugged. “I want her to be happy. I have plenty of time to get to teaching.”

He thought it actually became significantly more difficult to be hired the longer a person waited after getting a teaching degree, but he stayed silent.

Her sigh was so soft, he almost missed it. “I do miss spending every day on the river. Not with gunmen or discoveries of drugs, but…you know.”

“I’m sorry we haven’t been able to finish prepping all the sites.”

“At least I got farther down the river to know what to expect. It’s too bad we can’t go to the regular take-out to check that off my list. It was only one more past Sangster, but we would’ve had to go through another set of big rapids.” She exhaled. “How will the drugs we discovered help with the investigation?”

“The cache provides motive for why someone would want to kill Dexter. Beyond that…well, I’m not sure.” The canyon wall on the right disappeared. A light reflected off something metallic in the distance. “I think Zach is waiting for us.”

“About that. Do you trust him?”

He pursed his lips. Something about the way she asked gave him pause. “We’ve been over this, Nora.”

“Well, I’m just wondering. If you can trust him and Perry, even though they’ve given you reason not to, then what does that say about me? After years of giving you nothing but reason to trust me…” She pulled in a sharp breath and the paddle slapped hard against the water. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get into our past. I really didn’t.” She pulled the oar up onto the bow in front of her, so their speed slowed. “The point is I should probably tell you something before we pull up on the bank and see Zach.”

“Okay.” The wind gusted and chilled his already wet head, causing him to shiver. But the discomfort served as a reminder. Nora had likely saved both their lives. Despite the foreboding, he forced himself to remain calm. “What is it?”

“I hid the bag of drugs.”

“You did what?” His words came out almost as a shout, his peaceful intentions carried off with the breeze. Her braid flipped back. He only vaguely registered that his exclamation had likely startled her. “You hid evidence of a murder? That’s obstruction of justice, Nora.”

She twisted her torso so she could mostly look him in the eyes. “So, you going to arrest me? Again?” Her eyebrows raised in a challenge. She spun back around to face forward.

Despite the cold, it was as if his stomach suddenly held nothing but a plateful of habañero peppers and hot sauce. “For the last time, I didn’t ever arrest you. I took you in for questioning. I couldn’t be trusted to make a judgment.”

Her shoulders rose almost to her ears. “You might as well finally admit that I couldn’t be trusted.”

“Not a good time to make a point when you just hid evidence.”

“Someone wanted to kill us, probably me more than you. So, I hid the one thing that might be used as a bargaining tool to get away alive. Plus, I don’t trust Zach, and I wanted to see his reaction.”

Henry’s shoulders sagged as she picked up the oar and made her way to the approaching bank. He replayed the words in his head. From her point of view, her reasoning probably made perfect sense. Her father had walked out never to be seen again when she was only five. She’d grown up taking care of Maya while her mother had worked two, sometimes three, jobs. Even now, after her comment about her aunt, she seemed to think everything of importance was up to her to make happen and that no one wanted to help her when she had a need.

And he’d failed her. Again. He’d been the one to ask her, even after she’d witnessed a murder, to guide the boat. Every question she’d had, he’d taken as a commentary on his worthiness, on his capability to do the job. He took a deep breath, purposefully compartmentalizing the feelings for another day or never. “I understand your reasoning. But, Nora, even if Zach freaks out, a reaction isn’t proof of anything.”

“If he pulls a gun on us, we’ll know! Perry and Zach were the only ones who knew we found the drugs because you called them. Right? They knew where we were on the river. If one of them didn’t shoot at us, then maybe they gave the