Mountain Secrets by Elizabeth Goddard (good books to read for teens txt) 📕

didn’t miss a detail. That could practically read her mind. She tried her best to shutter away her pain. And her secret.

“I don’t want to keep you,” she said. “I know you have a job to do.”

“You mean protecting Mountain Cove?”

“That’s the job, yes.”

“I can guarantee you that everyone wants Mountain Cove police to find the person who killed Jed Turner. To stop this person before someone else gets hurt or killed. This case is my priority. Nothing is more important to me.”

“And I’m...in the center of that.”

“You’re the target, yes. You’re my priority.”

Of course this would be his priority. But there was something else, some anguish winding through his gaze that told her this was personal. She averted her own. She didn’t want that from him.

That’s a lie...

Jewel had never been good at lying to herself. Okay, so maybe she would admit that she did want that from him, but what difference did it make? Wanting and having were two different things. She’d have to work harder to keep her distance from him. That was all. Yet the pain in his eyes reflected back to her and made her realize that she could hardly stand to hurt him any more than she wanted to risk her own heart.

He had read well enough she was hiding something, and that had hurt him.

Hurt him.

Oh, Colin, if you knew the truth...

She wanted to tell him everything. Her doubts and fears, but she’d already decided that telling him she’d stolen something years ago, even if it was from her family during a crisis, would dim the light she saw in his eyes.

As an officer of the law, he would think less of her. How could he not?

And Jewel couldn’t stand the thought of that. Since Buck didn’t seem to be her attacker, that meant the attacks had nothing to do with the stolen diamond, so she wasn’t hurting anyone by keeping her secret.

She remembered when Colin had found her today. She’d fallen against him in relief. Gone right into his arms, to an emotional place she’d never been before with him. She thought back to years gone by and realized that he’d been there for her so many times—just in the background, just on the edge, but he’d been there watching over her all the same.

“I’m taking you to the B and B now, but you should know, as long as you insist on staying there, I’m going to be there to watch over you myself. I’ll switch out with my officers and take the night watch. Nothing is more important than catching these guys and keeping you safe.”

“That would be like working two jobs. You can’t be my personal bodyguard and run the police department.”

“You might be surprised at what I’m capable of.”

Meral came rushing into the exam room followed by Buck. “Oh, Jewel, are you okay?”

Surprise and relief whooshed through Jewel as Meral hugged her, careful to avoid her back where the stitches had been repaired. Holding her sister, Jewel tried to determine if Meral had suffered an injury, even a graze from a bullet. The officer hadn’t been certain his shot had found a target, so Jewel couldn’t be certain about anything either.

Still, Jewel desperately wanted to believe that Meral could not be the woman in the monster Suburban who had rammed her vehicle off the road. Who had hunted for her in the woods to kill her. Behind her, Buck appeared concerned for Jewel’s well-being, as well.

In her peripheral vision, Jewel saw Colin stand back and study them. Scrutinize them as though he suspected them. Why? What reason could he have? He didn’t know Jewel’s secret. Then again, as chief of police, he was probably suspicious of everyone.

Meral released Jewel and brushed away her hair, like any loving sister. Not like a woman who had only appeared in her life to search for a small fortune or to stab her sister in the back. How could Jewel have ever suspected Meral?

Shame threatened to undo her, but she buried it. Fought to rise above all that pulled her down.

“Jewel, listen, Buck has come up with a great idea.” Meral looked at Colin. “I’m glad you’re here, too, Chief Winters. I think this could solve all your problems.”

Colin stiffened. Dropped his arms to his side.

“We’re chartering a boat to explore southeast Alaska. The Inside Passage.”

Jewel’s stomach lurched. “But...you’re leaving already? How would that solve any problems? I don’t want you to go yet.”

A grin slipped on to Meral’s lips. “You’re coming with us.”

“But I have a business to run and can’t abandon my guests.”

“You can’t stay in that house either. It’s dangerous for your guests, too. Wouldn’t you agree, Chief Winters?” Meral directed her question to Colin.

His lips pursed. “I can’t argue with that.”

Jewel wasn’t sure that leaving would make her any safer. But it might draw out her attacker and bring things to an end. It would mean she wasn’t just waiting around for another attack. That she was being proactive.

She pursed her lips.

“Don’t worry, Jewel. You can leave,” Meral continued. “I spent this afternoon talking to your employees, Jan and Frances, and to Tracy and Katy. You’ve thoroughly trained them to pitch in as needed. I think you can take a few days off, a week or even two, for your own vacation. That would get you away from this insanity. Nothing can happen to you on a boat with just your family.”

Meral stepped away from Jewel and into Buck’s arms. “Besides, we’ve already chartered the boat. We leave in two days.”

Jewel pushed her face into her hands. She couldn’t take all the eyes on her. Couldn’t take the pressure of having to make such a hasty decision in the face of everything that was happening. But Meral was right. She couldn’t keep her B and B open if she stayed there. She couldn’t expect the Mountain Cove police officers to continue putting themselves in harm’s way to protect her either.

And she had the feeling that Meral would go