âI donât have much time,â she said before he could speak.
âThatâs why I came to Silver Creek today. And thatâs why Iâll need your answer right away. I know, this isnât fair, but if you say no, Iâll have to try to find someone else ⦠though Iâm not sure I can.â She didnât stop long enough to draw breath, and her words ran together. âStill, Iâll understand if you want to say no, but, Grayson, Iâm praying you wonâtââ
âWhat are you talking about?â he finally said, speaking right over her.
âPerhaps you should sit down for this.â
âIâd rather stand,â he let her know.
âNo. Trust me on this. You need to be sitting.â
That took him several steps beyond just being curious, and Grayson sank into the chair across from her. Eve sat as well, facing him. Staring at him. And nibbling on her lip.
âIâm not sure how to say this,â she continued, âso Iâm just going to put it out there.â She paused. âGrayson,â she finally said and looked him straight in the eyes. âI need you to get me pregnant. Today.â
Silver Creek, Texas
Sheriff Grayson Ryland couldnât shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
He slid his hand over the Smith & Wesson in his leather shoulder holster and stepped from his patrol truck. He lifted his head, listening, and glanced around the thick woods that were practically smothering the yellow cottage. The front door and curtains were closed.
No sign of the cottageâs owner, Eve Warren.
No sign of anyone for that matter, but just twenty minutes earlier Eve had called his office to report that she had seen someone suspicious in the area.
Grayson knew this part of the county like the back of his hand. Along with his brothers, he had fished in the creek at the bottom of the hill. Heâd camped these woods. There were a lot of places to duck out of sightâ¦.
Plenty of memories, too.
That required a deep breath, and he cursed himself for having to take it.
The front door opened, and he spotted Eve. She was a five-foot-six-inch memory of a different kind. Sheâd obviously known he was there. Maybe that was the reason his brain was firing warnings on all cylinders.
âGrayson,â she said, her tongue flickering over her bottom lip. âYou came.â
That nervous little tongue flicker and the too-hopeful look in her misty blue eyes riled him. âYou called the sheriffâs office and asked for me,â he reminded her. âYou said you thought you saw someone.â
âOf course.â She nodded, swallowed hard. âBut I wasnât sure youâd come.â
Neither was he, especially since he was neck-deep in a murder investigation, but when heâd gotten her message, heâd decided not to send a deputy, that he would be the one to personally respond.
Well, respond to the call anyway.
Not to the woman.
Not ever again.
Itâd been over sixteen years since heâd last seen Eve. Sheâd been standing in a doorway then, too. Her blond hair had been well past her shoulders back in those days, but it was short now and fashionably rumpled. The last decade and a half had settled nicely on her curvy body.
Something he decided not to notice.
Since his eyes and body seemed to have a different idea about that not-noticing part, Grayson got down to business.
âYou reported someone suspicious?â he prompted.
âI did.â She scrubbed her hands down the sides of her pearl-gray dress. The cold December wind caught the hem, making it flutter around the tops of her knees. âI was about to call you anyway ⦠about something else ⦠and then I saw him. A man. He was down by the creek.â
Grayson lifted his shoulder and wondered why the heck sheâd intended to call him, but he didnât ask. âCould have been a neighbor.â Even though there werenât any close ones to the Warren cottage.
âI donât think it was a neighbor,â Eve insisted. âI got a bad feeling when I spotted him.â
Yeah. Grayson knew all about bad feelings. The one he had about this situation was getting worse with each passing moment.
âI didnât want to take any chances,â she continued. âWhat with the murder you had here a few days ago. How are you handling that, by the way?â
She probably hadnât meant to irritate him with that question, but she did. Hell, no matter what she said, she would irritate him. But Grayson didnât want anyone, including Eve, questioning his ability to handle a murder investigation, even if it was only the third one in his twelve years as sheriff of Silver Creek.