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been carved into two pieces of wood shaped like a railroad crossing sign.  He hadn’t ridden the property yet, but he could already tell there were way too many ways to sneak onto this place and get to Mia.
    “I need to exercise a couple of the horses before dinner,” she said.
    “Saddle them up while I check my computer and we’ll ride out together. Then we can meet up with the ranch hands for questioning.”
    She nodded. “I can’t let Geoff run my life again, Alex.”
    “No, but you also have to be realistic, Mia. He will come for you so we have to be ready.”
    Resignation flickered in her eyes, but she didn’t comment.
    He parked and climbed out, then grabbed his laptop and started around the front of the car to open her door, but she’d already slid from the seat and was heading up the porch.
    Just as he stepped up behind her, she suddenly tensed and gasped.
    “What is it, Mia?”
    She gestured toward the door with a shaky hand, and he moved up beside her and saw a bouquet of lilies sitting in front of the door.
    He knelt to pick up the card, his anger flaring at the words scribbled on the outside.
    “I know what it says,” she whispered in a tortured voice. “Nobody loves you like I do.”
    He glanced down at the card. She was right. He’d heard Jones say those very words to her in court. But instead of sounding affectionate, they held a creepy, sinister tone.
    “He told me that over and over during our marriage,” Mia whispered.
    And it was the last thing he’d said to her right before he’d beaten her and killed their child.
     

     
    He watched the Texas Ranger standing beside Mia on the porch, a surge of rage heating his blood. That was the same damn lawman who’d been with her in court.
    The same one who’d fastened handcuffs around him and hauled him to jail like he was some two-bit nobody.
    And now here he was with Mia. Doing what?
    The fucker had probably come to tell her that her loving husband was out of prison.
    Or had the asshole been seeing her the entire time he’d been in jail? The Ranger had acted possessive of her during the trial. Possessive and protective and a little too …cozy, always standing beside her, touching her back, keeping her away from him .
    Hell, Sgt. Townsend had probably crawled into her bed the minute they’d closed the cell door on Geoff.
    Mia backed away from the flowers as the Ranger carried them to the side of the cabin and tossed them into the trash.
    What the fuck right did that Ranger have to throw away the flowers he had sent Mia?  What right did he have to touch his wife?
    If Mia thought that piece of paper negated their vows, she was wrong. She was his wife. Always had been.
    Always would be.
    And no one would take her away from him again.

C HAPTER F IVE

     
     
    Mia tried to suppress a shudder at the sight of the lilies and card but failed. By themselves, the items didn’t look daunting. Or dangerous.
    But Geoff’s love had come with strings.
    And those flowers and the card meant that he’d found her.
    “Son of a bitch,” Alex said. “He’s ballsy. He wants us to know he’s been here.”
    Mia nodded, too breathless with fear to say anything else. How had he found her so quickly? Had someone been watching her all these months? Someone Geoff had hired?
    Had her sense of freedom and safety simply been a figment of her imagination?
    Alex took her arm. “Sit down on the swing, Mia. You look pale.”
    She did feel faint. Damn Geoff. She hated feeling powerless. Afraid.
    She thought all that was in the past.
     “Mia?” Alex said as he guided her to the swing.  “I promise you I won’t let him hurt you.”
    She raised her gaze to his, numb. “You don’t know Geoff like I do. When he wants something, he’ll do anything to get it.”
    “He’s a bully.” Alex stroked her arms. “But I’ll stop him. I swear it.”
    Regardless of all the strides she’d made in her recovery, unwanted tears pooled in her eyes.  Geoff would kill anyone