"It's okay," Grey said softly. "I'll look after you."

Grey looked at Wiley behind the bar. Wiley offered a timid smile and shrugged.

"Thanks for calling the house, Wiley," Grey said gently.

"Sorry to wake you," Wiley replied.

"I wasn't sleeping anyway," he responded. "I'm going to take her back to my house. The boys can wait until morning to talk to her. Give them the message."

Wiley nodded. Grey pried Dina from his body and guided her from the tavern with his arm securely over her shoulder.

Grey's jeep pulled up to the Remington farmhouse a little before three in the morning. The farm seemed particularly quiet, although several lights were on both in and outside the house. Dina got out the pa.s.senger side of the jeep and appeared almost sedate. That shot of whiskey and near exhaustion appeared to take its toll on her. The sound of thundering hoof beats were heard. Both looked across the farm toward the barn. Casey rode her large gray horse across the driveway at a fast gait and slid to a stop several feet before them. Her horse pranced around excitedly while she stared at both with surprise and concern.

"What's going on?" Casey suddenly asked.

Dina stared at Casey on her horse but was too tired to speak. Grey frowned while placing his arm around Dina's shoulder and pulled her to his side.

"Someone attacked Dina as she was leaving the tavern tonight," he replied then gave her an odd, nearly scolding look. "Where the h.e.l.l were you?"

"Attacked?" Casey suddenly demanded with a shattered look in her eyes that quickly turned to anger. "What do you mean attacked?"

"She's okay," Grey insisted. "She wasn't hurt, but the guy got away."

"Where?" Casey growled as her eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on the reins.

Storm's ma.s.sive body pranced as he snorted to her rising emotion. The horse was prepared to explode on her command, almost like a racehorse in the starting gate.

"You never mind where," Grey snapped. "Put the horse away and get your a.s.s inside. Let the law handle this."

"Let the law handle this?" Casey suddenly cried out. Storm slung his head in response and reared slightly. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Yes," Grey scoffed. "Your friend needs you. Make the right decision for once."

Casey stared at Grey with a wildly unpredictable look then glanced at Dina's sedate condition. She groaned softly and relaxed her grip on the reins. As her body sagged, the gray horse relaxed. She leapt off the horse's back without using the stirrups and headed for the barn, leaving the reins around the horse's neck. Storm turned and followed her without prompting. Grey guided Dina toward the house.

"Casey will draw you a nice, hot bath in the jetted tub," Grey informed her with a soothing tone as they approached the porch. "And I'm going to make you a special hot toddy to settle your nerves."

"Thanks, Grey," she said softly. "I don't know how to repay you."

"You're family, Dina," he replied. "We look out for one another."

Casey was once again alone in the cemetery. Several weeping willow trees were dripping with early morning dew and the ground was wet from the earlier downpour. She uncertainly looked around and her eyes gravitated to the two headstones several feet away. They were overgrown with vegetation. She approached the headstones and removed the plant life covering the name on the first one. She stared helplessly at her parents' names engraved in the whitish gray marble. It was a grim reminder that her mother and father were still dead. She allowed the grief to consume her for only a moment before focusing her attention on the second headstone. Grey was alive. She knew he had survived. Why was there a second headstone? She removed the vegetation to reveal the name engraved on front. Dina Crawford. Casey suddenly gasped and jumped away from the headstone. Her heart pounded roughly in her chest. She suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her lower abdomen. Casey clutched her abdomen and looked at the blood seeping between her fingers. She lifted her bloodied hand as it trembled and stared at it. She looked around with fright.

"Dina!" she cried out, but there was no one there. No one answered.

A faint, m.u.f.fled voice could be heard. It sounded like Dina screaming, but it sounded so far away. She looked around and attempted to locate from where her voice was emitting. Casey suddenly tensed and looked at the grave. She uncertainly approached Dina's headstone, knelt down, and listened. Dina was screaming from her casket! Casey cried out with alarm and began ripping through the ground with her fingers.

"I'm coming, Dina!" she cried out as tears streaked her face. "I'll get you out, I swear! I'll save you!"

"She's not in there," came a familiar, soothing male voice.

Casey suddenly looked up from where she knelt before the grave and stared at the shadow of a man standing before her. She stared at him and tried to make out his face. He had come to her once before in a dream she vaguely remembered. She remembered his voice but still didn't know who he was. Dina's screaming from the grave ceased and all was quiet. Casey looked from the grave to the shadowy figure standing over her. She slowly straightened. He extended his hand to her. She eagerly accepted his hand. She remembered the warmth of his touch from before. His touch soothed her and her anguish vanished instantly. She moved into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. She couldn't believe how good it felt being in his arms.

"I want to take care of you," he whispered softly while holding her against him. "Let me take care of you."

She slowly lifted her head and attempted to look into his eyes. Despite his shadowy appearance, she wanted this man. It didn't matter who he was. She wanted to feel his body against hers as he made love to her. He lowered his head to hers. She strained to meet the lips she couldn't see. A blinding light suddenly hurt her eyes. Casey slowly woke and looked across her bedroom at Ruger standing before the large window as sunshine poured in through the open curtains. He looked at her and grinned. She loved the man, but she felt an overwhelming desire to hit him for ruining her s.e.xually fulfilling dream.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Ruger announced a little too cheerfully.

She groaned and pulled the covers over her head. "Go bother someone else," she scoffed lowly.

She wanted to finish her l.u.s.tful dream with her mystery man in the cemetery. The covers were suddenly pulled back, causing her to jump. Ruger hovered over her and smiled in an almost sinister manner.

"We have matters to discuss," he informed her.

"Can't they wait until the crack of noon?"

"No, they can't," he replied firmly then suddenly turned serious and commanding. "We need to discuss what we're going to do about your friend."

Casey looked at the clock. It wasn't even seven! She groaned and slowly sat up. She was moderately disheveled from what few hours of sleep she'd actually gotten. There was no point to ignoring Ruger; he wasn't going to go away. He was annoying that way.

"What do you suggest?" Casey muttered. "Stuff her in the wood chipper and press puree?"

"You're disturbingly morbid in the morning," he casually replied while sitting on the edge of the bed near her.

"Fine," she scoffed. "We'll discuss Dina." Casey flopped back down on the bed and groaned softly. "And then I'm installing a lock on my bedroom door."

Chapter Nineteen.

It was 8:00 A.M. Sunday morning and only a few hours since Dina was attacked at the tavern. Despite the early hour and lack of sleep, Dina sat on the porch in a pair of Casey's borrowed shorts and t-shirt. She hugged her knees to her chest while her fixed gaze overlooked the pastures surrounding the Remington farmhouse. She looked exhausted from little to no sleep last night after her close call. The screen door opened. Casey walked onto the porch, eyed her quiet friend, and sat on the porch railing facing her.

"Did you sleep?" Casey asked gently.

"A little," Dina replied without looking at her.

Casey took a deep breath and looked across the farm. It was a difficult conversation to have with her friend. She finally looked back at Dina.

"I wish I could say what happened was just a random event," Casey announced with great seriousness, "but it wasn't. My return made you into a target."

Dina suddenly looked at Casey and appeared stunned. "Do you really believe that?"

"I don't have to believe it," she replied. "I know it. I returned to Darwood Falls with a stick clutched firmly in my hand and poked it at a hornet's nest." She rested her head against the support beam and sighed deeply. "Now they're going to hurt me by going through you."

There was an odd silence as Dina stared at Casey. She finally looked at Dina and appeared curious.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Casey asked.

"Actually, I do," Dina replied softly. "It was the Harford boys, wasn't it?"

Casey shrugged.

"So what do we do?" Dina asked.

"The guys think you should take a little vacation for a few weeks," Casey announced.

"Excuse me?" Dina suddenly remarked.

"Ruger has a nice place a few hours from here," she replied. "You can stay there until this blows over."

Dina stared at Casey a long, silent moment then finally responded. "Until what blows over, Casey?" she suddenly asked. "What are you really doing here?"

She didn't respond. She wasn't sure how to respond. Casey stared at her friend and felt responsible for last night's near miss. It was her fault, and she wasn't sure if she could live with herself if she got Dina killed. Last night's dream was enough to convince her that she couldn't handle the guilt.

"You need to go away for a few weeks," Casey informed her firmly.

"No," Dina replied and sat up straight while planting her feet firmly on the porch. "Two years ago, you ran away from your fears. Now you're back to face them. What happened to me last night was nothing compared to what you'd gone through. You need me. No matter what your reason for returning, I intend to stay and fight alongside you. I won't leave you."

Casey stared at Dina with little reaction. She sighed and returned her head to the support beam. "I tried," she announced simply.

The porch door slowly opened on cue. Casey didn't bother looking. Dina uncertainly looked back at the open door.

It was Tuesday evening and business at the tavern was starting to pick up despite the early hour. Melanie waited on tables while Wiley tended bar. Melanie hurried from table to table and appeared frazzled. She approached Wiley at the bar and exchange empty pitchers for full ones.

"Where's Dina?" Melanie scoffed. "She's an hour late."

"I don't know," Wiley replied. "I haven't heard from her since that business Sat.u.r.day night. She didn't call to say she was going to be late."

"She's doing this on purpose," Melanie whined. "She knows we get busy on bowling league nights."

"She'll be here," he a.s.sured her.

Vaughn and Tucker sat on the other side of the bar in their street clothing with mugs of beer before them. Vaughn scribbled on a piece of paper. Wiley approached, studied them with interest, and appeared curious.

"What's so interesting on the north side of the bar?" Wiley teased.

"Plotting our attack for the bachelor auction," Vaughn said without looking up from his paper.

Wiley held back his laugh and shook his head. "Are you seriously making Jeannie bid on you?"

Vaughn looked up and appeared serious. "It's the only way my a.s.s goes on stage."

"I think it's a lot of fun," Tucker remarked cheerfully.

"You would," Vaughn scoffed.

Tucker enjoyed making Vaughn squirm. "You're too image conscious, Vaughn."

"It's not my image," he retorted to his best friend. "It's my ego I'm worried about."

"Speaking of the fair," Wiley announced then grinned. "Have you seen the revised fair flier?"

Wiley placed the flier on the bar before them and pointed at the new addition. Both men studied the flier with shared looks of surprise. Tucker suddenly laughed.

Vaughn appeared stunned and looked at Wiley. "This is a joke, right?"

"Nope, no joke."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Vaughn scoffed and pushed the flier away.

Melanie appeared between the two men and clung to both their shoulders while looking at the flier on the bar near them. "Believe what?" she asked cheerfully.

"Casey's working the kissing booth," Tucker said while grinning l.u.s.tfully.

Melanie's expression suddenly dropped to something resembling a sneer. She s.n.a.t.c.hed the flier, looked at it, and then tossed it down with disgust.

"Someone put that in there as a joke," Melanie scoffed. "She'd never do that."

The front door was thrown open, causing several patrons to turn and look. Dina hurried across the tavern, paused before the bar, and handed Wiley her purse in exchange for an ap.r.o.n.

"I'm late, I know," she announced nearly out of breath while tying the ap.r.o.n around her waist.

"It's okay," Wiley replied with little concern.

Melanie glared her disapproval at Wiley. "Speak for yourself," she huffed then looked at Dina who stood alongside her. "Is Casey seriously working the kissing booth?"

Dina grinned and appeared pleased with herself. "Yeah, I talked her into it. Great, isn't it?"

"Well, bless you, Dina," Tucker said while raising his beer and chuckling.

Melanie turned to Vaughn and sneered at him. "Well, it looks like you might get your chance after all."

"Chance for what?" Dina asked.

Melanie folded her arms across her chest and glared at Dina. "Our sheriff has the hots for Casey," she snapped.