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the ditch.
    Ryan hooked his arm around her waist and got them out of the car and into the shadowy water. She pushed her feet against the side of the vehicle and used it as leverage to propel them forward. So did Ryan.
    Together, they surfaced.
    Delaney gasped, pulling in the much-needed fresh air, and she reached for anything she could use to haul herself out of the ditch. She managed to latch on to a handful of mud and grass. Unfortunately, the soft squishy mixture wasn’t good grasping material. It slipped right through her fingers, and she would probably have sunk right back into the water if it hadn’t been for Ryan.
    He stabbed his elbow into the muddy embankment, using it to anchor them, and in the same motion, he thrust them both forward. Away from the water and the car. And onto the gravel shoulder.
    To safety.
    Her lungs felt starved for air, and Delaney sucked in several feverish breaths. Beside her, she heard Ryan do the same. But other than that, he didn’t take any more time to recover from the ordeal.
    Scrambling to get to his knees, Ryan tried to position himself in front of her. But he couldn’t. It took Delaney a moment to realize why. Their hands were lockedtogether. Specifically, their fingers. She felt around and located the problem. The butterfly charm on her ring had somehow slipped beneath Ryan’s wedding band.
    He pulled his hand away, still trying to reposition himself. Delaney did the same. A few tugs, and she felt something snap. The butterfly charm broke off, and Ryan and she were free.
    Ryan immediately placed himself between her and the country road. Even through the rain and darkness, Delaney could see that he was searching for something. His eyes whipped first to one end of the road and then to the other.
    Delaney did the same, but she saw nothing other than the night and the rain. Even the momentary illumination from a flash of lightning didn’t reveal anything. Definitely no sign of the other car that had careered toward them.
    The car that had caused the accident.
    Ryan cursed again, and this time, there was raw, uncut emotion.
    Delaney wasn’t immune to emotion either as a sickening feeling coursed through her.
    Perhaps this had not been an accident at all.
    Â 
    â€œI’ LL BE RIGHT BACK with your statements,” Sheriff Dillon Knight informed Ryan. The lanky, denim-clad sheriff stood and headed for the exit of the interview room. “You and Ms. Nash can leave as soon as you’ve signed everything.”
    Ryan glanced at Delaney, who was across the room on the phone talking to her babysitter. She nodded, an acknowledgment that she’d heard the sheriff.
    Acknowledgement and relief.
    Relief was certainly a reasonable reaction considering they’d been at the Grandville hospital and then the sheriff’s office for two-and-a-half hours. During that time, they’d been questioned, examined by one of the local doctors, bandaged, and then questioned again. What they hadn’t had was a moment of privacy or peace. Delaney probably wanted nothing more than to get out of there and go home to her son. Ryan overheard snippets of her conversation with her babysitter to confirm that.
    Are you sure Patrick’s all right?
    Please tell him I’ll be there soon.
    Tell him I love him.
    Kiss him good-night for me.
    Definitely the words of a mother worried about her child, even if her child was probably too young to know what those reassurances meant.
    They’d been lucky. Damn lucky. They’d gotten away with a bruise on Delaney’s right arm, a scrape on his neck and some assorted nicks. They would no doubt be stiff and sore for a few days, but all in all, the injuries were minor.
    Lucky indeed.
    Ryan took a long sip of the sludge-black coffee that the sheriff’s deputy had provided. The too-strong brewwas bitter, obviously hours past its prime, if it’d ever had a prime. And yet Ryan welcomed the heat. Plus, it gave his hands