Close To Danger (Westen #4)(89)

Chloe was still steaming when the pair left. “How can he accuse you of putting me in danger? You were trying to keep me safe.”

“He’s right.”

The quiet words surprised her. Slowly, she turned. “What do you mean, he’s right?”

“You wouldn’t have been in danger if I hadn’t brought you back to Westen,” he said, sadness dimming his blue eyes.

Stalking back to her chair, she struggled to control the anger her brother-in-law’s comment stirred inside her, not wanting it to leak out and feed the obvious guilt now riding Wes. “You don’t know that,” she said, perching on the end of the chair.

“Hannah was out to torture and kill me, Chloe. You and W?den were collateral damage. Had I not brought you back here, you never would’ve been caught in her cross-hairs.”

“This is ridiculous. You’re no more responsible for her trying to kill all of us than you were for her brother dying. The decision to bring me here wasn’t based on her actions, but on the actions of the person stalking me.” She clenched her teeth for a moment at the stubborn set to his jaw. Taking a deep breath, she switched tactics. “Let’s look at this logically.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Hannah was hunting me.”

“True.”

“When I saw the slashed tires on your car back in Cincinnati, I assumed it was your stalker’s doing.”

“We both did.”

“But it wasn’t,” he said, focusing intently on her, wanting her to understand.

Tilting her head sideways, she let his words process. “You believe it was Hannah?”

“The knife she used on me was a tactical knife. More than capable of ripping through tires.” Again, he paused to allow the information to sink in, letting her come to her own conclusion.

“You think she followed you to Cincinnati, waited until we were together, then slashed my tires? Why?”

He gave a slight shrug. “To force us together. Probably hoping to push us back into her hunting grounds.”

Chloe studied him with her brows lowered in confusion. “But why would she do that, when she could’ve taken you out anytime in the months since she came to Westen?”

“She asked me how it felt to have someone I loved lying there bleeding out. At first, I’d thought she meant you. Then I realized it was W?den she was talking about. She told me she was going to make me lose everyone I cared about. She made an effort to shoot into the shack, not so much to kill me, but hoping she’d hit you, not knowing you’d already left.”

“Why would she think shooting me would make you suffer?”

“She saw us together before the wedding. Even waited on us at the Peaches ’N Cream. When she followed me to Cincinnati and realized I was there for you, she must’ve concluded there was something between us.”

Chloe sat back in her chair, her arms wrapped around her body as she contemplated all that he was and wasn’t saying. “I can see your point. Hannah probably did force us into her plans. But that doesn’t mean leaving me in Cincinnati would’ve been a good decision, either. Think about it. If you’d just taken me home, who’s to say she wouldn’t have followed us?”

“True.” It was his turn to concede a point.

“Worse. What if you’d taken me home and headed back to Westen? I could’ve been trapped in my condo with my stalker.”

“I don’t even want to think about that,” he said, his face going pale and his hand trembling as he held it out to her.

She took it in hers and climbed into bed beside him, curling into his uninjured side. “Trust me, neither do I. Despite what my big, bad brother-in-law and my sister might think, I was far safer here with you, facing down a crazed gun wielding woman than on my own back in Cinci.”

The question was, what was she going to do when she headed back home? Who was going to keep her safe?



*



It took three more days for the roads to clear for travel out of Westen and down south to Cincinnati. The first day they’d spent still in the little clinic, resting and tolerating Gage’s inquisition about not only Hannah, but who might be stalking Chloe.

When the doctor finally decided Wes and W?den could go back to the cabin, Chloe insisted on going with them, refusing her sister’s invitation to come stay with her and Gage. Wes knew she’d be better off with her family, more protected in town, but having her choose to be with him struck a chord deep inside him—one that both humbled and scared him senseless.

Humbled him because he’d never had someone so smart, so beautiful and so courageous put him before their family and their own needs. In the brief time they’d been together, she’d wiggled past his defenses. Like a slick cat burglar, she’d gone straight for his hidden secrets—his past sins and his heart—making them her own. That wasn’t what scared him, though. He knew she’d protect them both.

No, what scared him was that his past would rear its ugly head again and the next time he might not be able to protect her. Every time he thought of her lying dead somewhere, a cold sweat spread over him. If he did nothing else in this life, he had to find a way to keep her safe.

That is why they were finally on their way back to Cincinnati. He was taking her home.

“I have to confess it’s going to be nice to have some peace and quiet,” Chloe said beside him. “Don’t get me wrong. Your place is wonderful, all secluded in the woods, but for someone who was supposed to have rest after leaving the clinic, it was like living in a train station with everyone coming by to check on you and W?den.”