Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Dana Mentink (good fiction books to read .txt) 📕

forward, intent on studying his cut knee. For a second, he was ready to let her tend his wounds—scratches, really—just to get closer. The realization disturbed him to his core. Would they have been able to get over their differences if he had handled that one night better?

Bobby appeared over her shoulder. “I got an urgent text for cake?” He lifted a paper plate with the largest slice of pineapple upside-down cake Henry had ever seen.

“I’m pretty sure the cake will help you more than these could.” Nora laughed, shoved the bandages at Henry, and made to leave the room, patting Bobby on the shoulder as she made her way past him.

Bobby beamed. “I’m glad you recruited him. You two are great at teamwork. I wasn’t happy about you prepping the sites alone tomorrow.”

Nora turned to Bobby, her face devoid of expression. “I didn’t recruit him.”

Henry’s gut twisted. She had planned to get back on the river first thing in the morning without him and prep all the sites herself? He could see it as plain as day in her face.

She whirled around as if ready to defend an argument he had yet to present. “Consider it as volunteering for river patrol—”

He shot to his feet. “That’s an excuse if I ever heard one. You were going to go out alone? When there’s—”

“Tell me this.” Her eyes flashed as she stepped closer to look him straight in the eyes. “Do you trust Perry?”

“I think the more important question is do you trust me?” The muscles behind his shoulder blades tightened the more he thought about the insinuation. He didn’t need Nora to tell him how to do his job.

“How can you trust someone who doesn’t trust you back?” She blinked rapidly. “Thank you for bringing the cake, Bobby.” Her voice warbled ever so slightly. “Good night.” She dashed across the hall, closing her door before Henry could formulate a response.

Bobby’s jaw couldn’t have dropped any lower. He placed the plate on the dresser and stepped back, hands up, as if it, too, might become as explosive as Nora and Henry’s conversation. “I obviously made an assumption.” He shook his head. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize.”

He nodded. “Yep. But not to me, and not about this.” Bobby sighed. “Look, man. It’s none of my business, but my nose is already stuck in far enough to know that you two are better together than apart.”

You’re right. It’s none of your business. Henry scratched his head and fought to keep the thought from flying out of his mouth.

Bobby stepped out of the room with a wave. “Good night, Henry.”

Except it wouldn’t be a good night. Henry had no guarantees he could keep Nora safe if she wasn’t willing to share her thoughts and plans with him. Her lack of trust in him was like a sucker punch, taking his appetite away even when the tantalizing scent of pineapple filled the room. He closed the door partially, using the desk chair to prop it open a fraction to better keep an ear out.

Actions brought results. So he would do whatever he needed to do to find the killer in record time, for both Tommy’s and Nora’s sake. He grabbed the piece of cake as if it were a slice of pizza and shoved a sizeable bite into his mouth even though at the moment his mouth refused to register any taste.

If he didn’t succeed, he feared his own heart was in grave danger.

CHAPTER SIX

Nora peeked out of her room to make sure no one was in the hallway before she left the lodge.

It was barely seven in the morning, and none of her employees stirred until sunrise, closer to eight at this time of year. She hitched the pack on her shoulder, still bristling over the exchange from the previous night, and made her way to the raft shed to grab her kayak.

“That better be for two,” a male voice said. A shadow moved from the space between the lodge and the shed, and her breath hitched.

She grabbed the pepper spray, hanging from a loop on her wrist, and flicked the lever to Armed. The shadow moved into the light, hands raised. Henry’s eyes flashed. “I’ve been trained to endure it but please don’t. It gives me a headache for, like, a week.”

She exhaled and lowered her arm. “You scared me!”

“That wasn’t my intention. I thought you would recognize my voice.”

Her chest tightened at the gap between what they used to be and what they were now. “You don’t usually sound so—”

“I haven’t had enough coffee. I really didn’t mean to scare you, but the point is I’m not letting you go on the river alone with a potential killer on the loose. Honestly, I don’t think you should be going out at all.”

She turned back to the oars. “I don’t have a choice. This place feeds too many mouths. Aunt Linda is counting on me and…” She didn’t want to voice her last reason. If she didn’t keep the rafting company open, her sister wouldn’t have a home to come back to. If she ever did come back. Every once in a while, usually at this time of year, someone from town would make some comment about seeing her sister in the area. After two years of getting her hopes up, Nora no longer imagined Maya would show up at her door. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to move on, either.

Henry tilted his head, studying her, but he seemed to realize she didn’t want to talk anymore. “Fine. Let’s go.”

“You don’t have—”

“Going with you will give me the chance to investigate more. Dexter would know all your normal stopping points, right? It’ll be due diligence.” He nodded at the pepper spray. “And while it’s still a mystery how the gunman used Dexter’s own gun on him, we can’t discount that the intruder had a gun. Spray is no match for bullets.” He patted his holster.

A cold shiver ran down