Freedom Sheriff’s Department had found during their search of Trevor Lewis’s apartment.
He pulled up the chair the governor gestured toward and put the manila envelope on the desk in front of him. Stacy slanted a curious look at the envelope, but Lila ignored it. “I hear the Freedom Sheriff’s Department raided Trevor Lewis’s apartment in the middle of the night. You have anything to do with that?”
Harlan glanced at Stacy. She didn’t look surprised by the governor’s words, so this wasn’t the first she’d heard of it. Why was she still upset with him, if she knew why he’d left?
“I was tangentially involved,” he answered, dragging his gaze away from Stacy’s down-turned face.
“Did they find anything connecting him to the bombing in Austin?” Stacy asked, still not looking at him.
“No. But he’s connected to Planet Justice, the group that’s going to hold a protest tonight outside the fundraiser.”
Stacy’s gaze finally rose to meet his. “You’re kidding.”
He shook his head. “That’s not the worst of it.” He opened the envelope and pulled out the photos. “The deputies found this in his bedroom.”
He watched as horrified realization spread over her face, wondering if he should have softened the blow somehow. Why had he just sprung the photos on her without any preparation?
Was he that desperate to make her look at him again?
“My God,” she whispered.
Lila Lockhart held her hand out for the photos. Stacy handed them to the governor, who slipped on her glasses and flipped through the photographs, her expression darkening.
“This may not be legally actionable evidence, but it’s enough for me. I’ll take my lumps and fire the creepy little SOB from the stables. If he wants to make a public stink, I’ll tell them all about this bedroom shrine, and if he thinks I don’t have the gumption to do it, he doesn’t know who I am.”
Harlan smiled at the governor’s outburst. “Good. That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
“He may end up at the protest anyway,” Stacy pointed out in a quiet voice, still looking shocked and disturbed.
Harlan fought the urge to pull her into his arms and comfort her. At least, not here in front of the governor.
“Stacy, I’m done with you for now-go ahead and get to the last-minute tasks you were telling me about. And don’t forget my hairdresser from Dallas will be here this afternoon to doll us up for the big shindig.” Lila flashed her aide a dazzling smile before her expression grew sympathetic. “Try not to worry too much about those pictures. If Trevor Lewis so much as steps foot on this ranch, I’ll make sure he’s kicked off, pronto.”
“Thank you,” Stacy murmured and left the office.
Lila turned back to look at Harlan. “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, Mr. McClain.”
“Yes, ma’am, I know,” he answered, aware that keeping peace at tonight’s fundraiser was only half the battle he had to win.
“Will you do me a favor, Mr. McClain?” the governor added as he headed for the exit.
“Of course, Governor.”
“Please have Mr. Cavanaugh with your agency give me a call. I have a project for him.”
“Sure,” he answered, heading down the hallway. He made a mental note to call Nick as soon as he got back to his office.
But first, he had someone else he needed to see.
SHE’D GOTTEN THROUGH seeing Harlan okay, hadn’t she?
Stacy gazed at her pale face in the mirror of her office bathroom, her haunted eyes accusing her of cowardice. She should be waiting in Harlan’s office to confront him about leaving her bed without even a note, not hiding in her office like a scared teenager.
But confront him for what? For doing his job?
“Still could have left a note,” she muttered aloud, but the gripe sounded petty in the face of the evidence the search warrant had unearthed.
Hearing footsteps outside, she dried her hands and left the bathroom to find Harlan standing just inside her office doorway.
He met her wary gaze with a look of sheer male intensity that made her insides quake and deliberately closed the door behind him. “Thanks for packing my bags.”
Looked like she was getting the confrontation whether she wanted it or not. “I figured with the fundraiser tonight, you might not have a chance to pack yourself.”
“Is that what you figured?” He stepped closer. “The danger won’t be over tonight. Whoever set that bomb in Austin won’t stop just because the party is over.”
“But the direct danger to me was getting the crank phone calls. And the flower on my porch-and clearly, that had to be Trevor, don’t you think?” She edged away from him, unnerved not by his nearness but by her nearly uncontrollable reaction to him. She felt a sensation low in her belly that was almost like a craving, a deep pang of need threatening to swamp her struggling self-control.
Last night, his lovemaking had been tender but demanding, pushing her to places, both physically and emotionally, that she’d never gone before, and her body seemed unwilling to walk away from that kind of experience unchanged, even if her mind was fighting hard to pretend it had been nothing but two bodies coming together to do what two bodies were created to do.
“You’re just coming up with excuses to make me go away,” he said in a low, sexy growl that made her bones melt. “I thought we were past that point in our relationship.”
She stepped away farther, turning to the window so she wouldn’t have to look at him. Outside, the long veranda was a hive of activity, workmen putting last-minute touches on the decorations on the ranch house’s exterior. “We don’t have a relationship,” she said aloud. “Until the party is over, you’re sort of my boss, I suppose. But that ends tonight.”
“So last night was, what? Scratching an itch?”
She grimaced at his hard words. “I guess.”
“I slept with you, Stacy.”
“Not for long.”
“And that’s the problem, right? I got up and left your bed without waking you?”
She forced herself to face him. “That’s pretty much always a problem for a woman, you know, waking to find the man she just had sex with couldn’t stick around for the cuddling phase.”
He arched his eyebrows. “We cuddled. Damned good cuddling, as I recall.”
He was trying to make her laugh now, she realized, as if he could cajole her into seeing everything his way. Anthony used to do that, and she used to let him. “Stop. Please.”
He released a frustrated sigh. “Tell me what you want from me. An apology? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to keep you out of what was going on. I should have awakened you, or at least left you a note about where I was going.”
She wanted to accept his apology, wanted it so much it felt like a fire burning in her belly. But what would forgiveness solve? Was she just going to fall into another disastrous relationship because he was charming and strong and great in bed? That’s what had happened with Anthony.
“I think we should forget last night ever happened. After the party tonight, there’s no reason we should see much of each other again.” Even as she said the words aloud, a hard pain settled in the center of her chest, making her queasy.
“So that’s it. You’re done.”
She nodded. “I’m done.”
He released a long, slow breath. “Okay.” She heard him walk toward the door, then stop. She looked up as he turned around to look at her again. “Can I tell Zachary goodbye?”
The look in Harlan’s eyes was impossible to resist. “Okay. Tonight, before the fundraiser, you can come say goodbye.”
Harlan nodded. “Thank you.”
Then he was gone.
She lifted shaking hands to her face, pushing her hair away from her forehead. Tears hammered her eyes but
