"The agreement Buffalo Gap has with Sanctuary requires you to step aside in this investigation," Jonas reminded him.
The sheriff snorted at that. "Look, Wyatt, we both know the city council. They're gonna talk out of both sides of their mouths and smile real pretty for both of us. They'll tell you they'll restrain me, they'll tell me they'll cover for me. So let's just cut the shit here and come to an understanding. This is my county, like it or not, hate me or whatever. I'm sheriff, that makes it, and the people living in it, mine. And that includes breeds. I have two of my people dead tonight. From all appearances, it was a professional hit. Your boy was shot in the back of the head at close range. An explosive device large enough to blow a hole in the parking lot and take out the library went off no more than half an hour later. Now you want to tell me what the hell is going on, or do I want to find the answers myself?"
"You want to let this go, Zane." Haley stepped into the kitchen from the washroom. Damn, he'd forgotten about the door that led from her bathroom and into a small washroom, then the kitchen that he'd found earlier while securing the house. Shiloh was moving through the hall from Haley's bedroom, a scowl on her face.
"Miss McQuire, this meeting can be conducted without you," Jonas told her, his frown fierce as Noble moved towards her.
"Like hell," she told him.
She had changed clothes and washed her face and arms. She was dressed in soft cotton pants resembling pajama bottoms and a long T-shirt. She looked like a kid. A hurt, frightened, angry kid.
"Haley." The sheriff came out of his chair as Noble passed him and shot him a warning glare. "Honey, are you ready to talk to me now?"
Honey? Noble's head jerked around as he barely caught the growl in his throat. What the hell was the sheriff doing calling Haley, "honey"? She wasn't his honey, period.
"I'm obviously in a bit of trouble, Zane." Her lips trembled for a second before she tightened them, seeming to ignore Noble as he moved behind her.
"No shit, little girl." Zane sighed. "Come on, tell me about it, so I can fix it."
"You can't fix this." She shook her head. "I want you to do what Jonas suggests. Let him handle it. I couldn't bear it if I lost you, too."
Noble could feel his jaw tighten at the emotion in her voice, at the statement. As though that damned sheriff was something to her. He wasn't. Noble watched her, he knew her. She wasn't dating anyone. She wasn't sleeping with anyone. She was free. He knew she was because if another man had f**ked her recently, he would have smelled the bastard on her.
Noble stared over her head at the other man, his lip twitching as he fought to hold back a silent snarl.
"Haley." Sheriff Taggart shook his head. "You know I'm not going to do that. And what's going to happen when your brothers find out about this? Your daddy? The McQuires are going to descend on Buffalo Gap like a Scottish hunting party, sweetie, and they'll likely bring reinforcements. Do we really want that to happen?
They'll talk to me first. If I have answers, they might listen and stay home." It was a bribe, and a warning. Noble heard it, but he didn't appreciate it. He could feel the worry rising inside her now. She needed rest. She needed to put some distance between her and the events of the night, to allow her to deal with the loss she had suffered.
"The boys are still in California," she said. "And Daddy flew to France last night to help broker a deal with the airlines. I have a few days before I have to deal with them."
"And then?" Zane asked.
"And then, perhaps Mr. Wyatt will have the answers you need. But I can't give them to you right now, Zane. Right now, they aren't my answers to give."
"But it's your life to give?" Zane suddenly snapped, despite Noble's warning growl at the tone of his voice.
"Son of a bitch, Haley, you were nearly killed. Don't tell me they aren't your answers to give."
"Son of a bitch, Zane." She was in his face, anger pouring from her. "I've already lost one friend tonight. Do you think I need nightmares of losing another?" She pushed against his shoulders, as broad as they were, even despite the height he had on her. "Go home. I can't deal with you."
"I'll call your daddy myself," he bit out furiously at that point.
"And risk his life? Or my brothers'? I don't think you will, Zane. But you will leave this alone for now. And so will you." She swung around to Noble. "Get the hell out of my house and out of my life. I don't need you here."
Silence filled the kitchen. Noble was aware of Jonas, Leo, and Dane coming warily to their feet. Tension spiked hard and fast, thick enough to cut with a knife as her gray-blue eyes pierced his.
Noble smiled at the demand, the angry exclamation. He was aware that it wasn't a pretty smile. He didn't do smiles well, unless they were the sort that came seconds before killing.
"You must have mistaken me for someone who obeys your orders," he told het softly. "Sorry about your luck there, sweetheart, but it's not happening. You're stuck with me, whether you want to be or not." Haley stared back at him furiously before swinging around to Jonas.
"He's your enforcer." She shoved a trembling finger in his direction. "I don't want him in my home, period. Get him out of here."
Jonas dragged his hand over his face, muttered something about women and heat that made absolutely no sense whatsoever before staring back at her.
"It's not that simple, Miss McQuire."
"Don't you 'Miss McQuire' me," she snapped back at him, ignoring Noble as well as Zane. "This is your mess, now you can fix it. And you can fix it without him being here."
She couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Noble. For one blinding minute tonight, she had felt the overwhelming pain of believing he was dead, because of her. She knew what that would have meant—a sorrow so bleak, so deep that she had almost sunk beneath the waves of pain.
"Well, looks like you're being thrown out in the cold too, lover boy." Zane's laughter was mocking. "We can share a beer and discuss her stubbornness, then we can get to the best way to protect her," he suggested.
"Stop being a smart-ass, Zane," she ordered him roughly, her eyes still on Jonas. "I helped you," she reminded Jonas. "You know I did. You owe me."