My silence was my agreement, but it still felt selfish. Selfish or not, though, Mason was here to stay.

Chapter Eighteen

Shortly before nine, Deputy Miller knocked on the front door and poked his head through a crack. “Mr. Deveraux?”

Mason and I were still on the sofa. He had an arm around my back and I was curled up against him. “Yeah,” he answered.

“I’m about to leave. I know you don’t want Ms. Gardner outside after dark so I thought I’d take Muffy out for her.”

Mason glanced at me for permission.

I nodded and turned to the door. “Thank you, Deputy Miller.”

“Do you want me to put a leash on her?”

My vision worried me, but I didn’t have a leash. “No. I think she’ll be okay.” Muffy was on the sofa next to me, so I looked down at her and rubbed her behind the ears. “Go outside with Deputy Miller, but don’t run off.”

She hopped off the sofa and ran to the front door.

The deputy opened the door wider to let her out and gave me a smile. “I’ll take good care of her, Rose.”

“Thank you.”

Mason’s arm tightened around me. “The two deputies who are replacing Deputy Miller for the night should get here soon.”

“And they’re here all night?”

“Yes, until nine tomorrow with their replacement shows up.”

I stood up. “I’ve taken up too much of your time. You need to get back to work.”

He got up and took my hands. “You haven’t stolen my time, Rose, so please don’t feel like you have. I was exactly where I wanted to be. Hearing Crocker threaten you was hard for me to take. I couldn’t have just gone back to work after that. I needed to be with you.”

I gave him a kiss, wanting to show him how grateful I was to have him here.

He leaned back and cupped my cheek. “You look exhausted. Do you want to go to bed soon?”

The thought of going upstairs and sleeping alone freaked me out, but I wasn’t going to tell Mason that. “Maybe in a bit. I want to wait for Muffy. I had a vision of her with Deputy Miller today. She was lost and he found her in the woods.”

Mason’s mouth twisted with worry. “Then we shouldn’t let her out without a leash.”

“The deputy who brought her didn’t bring one.”

“Tomorrow I’ll find some rope in the barn you can use. We’ll figure something out, okay?”

“Thank you for being so concerned.”

“Of course I’m concerned. She’s important to you and she’s growing on me. I don’t want her running off.”

“Thanks.” I picked up our empty wine glasses and the bottle and started for the kitchen. “I found some tea bags with the supplies, and I think I’m going to make some tea. Do you want some?”

He smiled softly and gave me a gentle kiss. “Yeah, sounds good.”

I was pouring hot water into our mugs when Deputy Miller walked through the back kitchen door with Muffy.

I looked up and smiled. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“No thanks, ma’am. I’m going home to get a good night’s sleep before I come back in the morning. I wanted to let you know that Muffy did both kinds of business—” his voice lowered “—if you know what I mean.”

I grinned. “Thanks, and I’m glad to hear you’ll be back.” And I was. Muffy trusted him so I did too.

“You have a good night, Rose.” He started for the door and stopped. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I noticed Muffy didn’t have any dog food here, so I’ll bring her some tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I finished making the tea and carried both cups into the living room. The front porch light was on and through the windows I could see Mason talking to two men on the porch. I set his mug down on his desk and headed upstairs.

I hadn’t taken a shower for two days, so I took a quick one in the bathroom off the master bedroom. Muffy stayed close, as though she could sense I was nervous.

While Mason had grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, he hadn’t included any makeup, not that I expected him to know what to pack. It wasn’t like I needed it for the morning anyway. I didn’t usually wear any when I was working on job sites, but now that Mason and I were beginning something, I wanted to look my best.

I had to wonder if he hadn’t packed makeup or sexy lingerie on purpose. I had a drawer full of sexy things I’d accumulated over the last several months. I still couldn’t help thinking it was odd that Mason choose the underwear I’d worn pre-Joe that looked like something Miss Mildred would wear. Was it insurance so he wouldn’t be tempted to sleep with me?

But I reminded myself that I was here because my life was in danger, not to impress my potential boyfriend.

Potential boyfriend. Was that what he was? I was amazed that kissing him felt so natural since Joe was the only other man I had ever kissed. Daniel Crocker didn’t count.

But the thought of Crocker reminded me of his phone call. He had been in Violet’s house and he’d specifically threatened Mason. What if he hurt someone I cared about because of me? As far as I could tell, the law enforcement agencies were no closer to finding him. Would it be selfish of me not to turn myself over to him? I took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure I could do it.

I pulled back the covers on the bed, but I knew I wasn’t tired enough to sleep. I decided to go down and get my discarded book. Besides, I wanted to tell Mason goodnight.