Shelter Mountain by Robyn Carr Page B

clue.”
    “There’re lots of towns…”
    “Jesus, do we have to make this about me? Your kid, he’s the only kid ever came near me. Christ, they hide behind their mothers when they see me.”
    She smiled at him. “You’re swearing like mad. I bet your mother’s turning in her grave….”
    “Spinning,” he agreed. Then, pleadingly, “I know you’re scared. Are you too scared to try to stare thebastard in the eye and face him down if I swear I have your back? If you have lots of help?” He took a breath. “Did you know, when you come face-to-face with a bear, you never run? You straighten up tall as you can. Puff up and try to make yourself big. Make a lot of noise. Act tough, even if you’re not tough.” He shook his head. “You’d have trouble doing that, little as you are. But you should think about the theory. If you act like you’re not scared and you have help, good and strong and smart help—you might get this behind you. We’ll help. The judge, Mel, Jack, Brie. Mike.”
    “Mike?” she asked.
    “My buddy the cop. Mike.” He swallowed. “He says what you really have to do right now is turn yourself in—maybe not to the police. But to someone in the law, someone who will listen to your story. I’m thinking a lawyer, or the judge.”
    “Okay,” she said.
    “Okay?” he repeated, surprised.
    “Okay. I’m terrified, but okay.” She shuddered. “It’s your way or running, hiding. Either way, the danger is pretty much the same. Him.” Then, quietly, “Thank you. For offering. To help.”
    “It feels good to help,” he said. “Just do it for Chris. Let’s get him outta this mess.”
    “Yeah, I’ll try that,” she said, but her voice was shaky.
     
    Preacher didn’t look like the kind of guy who could use looking after, watching over, but this is what Jack did. It was partly out of habit—he’d had the big man’s back since they were in the Marines together; Preacher had served under him twice, the first and second Iraq conflicts.
    There was another reason Jack was watching closely right now, and that was because Preacher was changing. Jack recognized it at once because it hadn’t been so longsince he went through similar changes—although Jack had known exactly what was happening to him, and he suspected that Preacher did not.
    After twenty years in the Marine Corps and three in Virgin River, Jack had never formed a strong attachment with a woman. It never occurred to him to settle down, commit to one woman. The closest he’d ever come was one woman at a time. And then Mel came to town to work alongside old Doc Mullins and before she’d been here a week, Jack was cooked. It was the right time, the right woman, the right circumstances. And while it shook him, startled him to feel what he was feeling, it never confused him. It was unmistakable. He’d fallen in love with such a horrendous crash it surprised him that the redwoods hadn’t trembled, as though an earthquake shook them.
    It had happened almost as quickly to Preacher. Paige appeared that rainy night just three weeks ago with her child and her bruises and Jack could sense a fire in Preacher right away. At first it appeared to be an intense need to right a wrong, to protect—typical of Preacher. He was that kind of man—tough on the outside and soft on the inside. Justice and loyalty—those values were everything to him. But in the days since what he saw had evolved. Preacher watched over Paige with an intensity that spoke of something more than the goodness of his heart. He would glance at her and his eyes would grow dark. Glow. He’d shake himself, look away, and his brow would furrow as though he were trying to make sense of feelings he hadn’t had before.
    Jack and Preacher had such different histories with the opposite sex. Jack had never done well with abstinence—he had always had a woman somewhere. He was driven by those needs. But Preacher was solitary. And while a very private person, he wasn’t