Free Heart of Rockies 03 - More Than a Feeling by Sara Richardson

flashed through Sawyer’s mind. Had she been sexually assaulted? God, he felt sick. On the way out the door he snatched his holster off the entry table and buckled it around his waist, still debating whether he should call the station.
    No cops. Just you.
    But if she’d been attacked they could get there faster than he could. Damn it! He threw open the door to his Tahoe and dug out his phone again.
    Ruby answered after one ring. “Sawyer? Are you coming?” She wasn’t crying anymore, thank god.
    “Yes, I’m on my way. Are you okay?” Because if she wasn’t, he didn’t give a damn what she said, he was calling in the big guns.
    “I’m okay. I need your help.” She still sounded shaken, but not panicked like she had been minutes earlier.
    “I’m on my way. Hang tight,” he said, then peeled out of the ranch’s winding driveway and used his authority to blitz down the highway well over twenty miles per hour above the speed limit.
    He skidded to a stop in front of the address she’d given him. Ruby stood next to a white picket fence staring at the house, which he knew for a fact wasn’t her house. She lived in Elsie’s duplex down the block.
    She was still wearing the clothes she’d had on earlier, but they seemed to have dried.
    “What happened?” he called before he’d even slammed the door.
    A blank look had taken over her eyes, and for the first time it occurred to him that she could have mental problems. Maybe that’s why she was on the run…
    “That man in there…” Her voice wobbled. “I saw him choke his dog.”
    Sawyer stopped halfway to her. Heat simmered in his gut. “His dog ?” Holy shit. He’d thought someone had threatened her, or attacked her…
    “He choked it and yelled at it.” Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, deepening the green hue of her eyes. “Then he kicked it into his house.”
    A dog . He didn’t open his mouth. Couldn’t. Instead of speaking he marched over to her.
    “It was horrible,” she continued, and when she looked up, when his eyes met hers, he saw a brand of heartbreak he’d witnessed only a handful of times. Usually on a victim’s face. The stern lecture building in his brain poofed into a fog of sympathy.
    “Sawyer, he choked it,” she moaned, then hid her face in her hands and sobbed.
    “Okay. It’s okay.” He gathered her into his arms, unprepared for the way it seared his heart. Whoa. Maybe touching her wasn’t the best choice, considering it was so easy to recall the image of her in that wet tank top. And that vanilla scent of hers…it made it hard to think a clear thought that didn’t involve him pinning her against the side of his SUV.
    “We have to do something,” Ruby insisted against his chest. “We can’t just stand here and let him hurt that dog.”
    The way she clung to him tempted him to draw his weapon, storm in there, and take the guy down. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t barge in and arrest some guy for animal cruelty with no hard evidence. He ran a hand over her soft hair. “Maybe it only looked that way,” he murmured over her head. “Maybe you couldn’t really see.”
    “No!” She thrust her palms into his chest and pushed him away. “I saw him. He kicked the dog. And when he dragged it with the leash, the dog whimpered like it was in pain.”
    Sawyer heaved out a sigh. He looked back and forth between her and the house. The broken look was gone from her eyes. Now they were steeled, daring him to argue again, to offer other possibilities. Determination screwed her face tight. She knew, damn it. And he didn’t have to be a genius to figure it out. This guy might not have hurt her, but someone had. Was it a parent? A boyfriend?
    “Please,” she whispered. “We have to get the dog away from him. Before he hurts it again.”
    “I can’t arrest him. And I can’t take the dog away from him, Ruby.” It wouldn’t be that easy. But he couldn’t do nothing. Not with her staring at him that way. He battled a sigh.