“Revenge! I’m a scholar. A boring historian.” The very idea overwhelmed her.

  “Not to me. There’s nothing boring about you. More has happened to me in the past month than the past several years.”

  His statement and look heated her cheeks. “If we rule out someone wanting revenge, then that leaves having a stalker. I would have known if someone was stalking me. I mean you’re talking years. Wouldn’t the person have shown himself by now? Isn’t the object of stalking to pursue a person and let them know it?”

  “Usually.” He pivoted away, plunging his fingers through his hair. “But we can’t ignore someone was in your house twice. Nothing was gone was it?”

  “Not that I know of, except maybe the photo.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “It’s just me standing in front of the house the day I had my first party there.”

  “You were the only one in it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” Hawke kneaded his neck. “I doubt robbery was the reason that person was in your house while you were in the canyon. And remember that time Sean called to tell you about seeing someone. Sean might not have been wrong. What if there had been someone and he had a key and knew your code?”

  “I don’t go around handing keys out and giving people my codes.” This has to be a horrible nightmare.

  “Except Marcus, but he didn’t have the new code. I even called the security company and changed my password.”

  “What’s the code?”

  “The day I moved into the house.”

  “There are ways to get them if someone wants them bad enough. Say someone obsessed with you.”

  His words chilled her to her bones. Her fingers dug into the wood of her desk, pain streaking up her arms. She wanted desperately to ignore what he was saying, but she couldn’t ignore the facts.

  Someone was after her.

  “Okay, then what do you suggest I do?”

  “Nothing. Let me handle it.” He stepped away as though he needed to put some space between them in order to don his cop facade.

  She closed the short distance. “No, we will. If this involves me, I want to know. If someone is stalking me, I want to find out who it is and put an end to it. We’re talking murder, Hawke.” Still stunned, she shook her head. It can’t be? Can it? “I’m having a hard time believing that’s what’s going on.”

  “Then you and I can start right now. The sooner, the better. I want you to tell me everything about your life.”

  “Everything? That could take a while.”

  “I have the time. Let’s go grab some lunch at the student union and talk.”

  His cocky grin made all that was happening better.

  “I never turn down food.”

  * * *

  The Guardian slammed his fist into the wall near him. Even several minutes after he’d listened to Kit and Lonechief talk, the rage boiled in his stomach.

  How dare they think I’m a murderer! Lonechief is. I’ll make her see that. She will appreciate me!

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Putting his tray, laden with his lunch, down on a table in the student union, Hawke sat right next to Kit. “Come stay at the ranch, Kit. Mom would love to have the company, and I’d feel better if you were near. I’d sleep better, too.”

  “I—” His presence so near robbed her of her next thought. He was one of the few people who could invade her personal space without bothering her. Amazed at how quickly he had become a part of her life, she covered his hands with hers. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “That’s easy. Say yes.” He grinned. “Besides, you need to practice climbing in case you’ll need to when you go back to the canyon.”

  “Oh, yay. Just what I wanted to do.”

  “I sense sarcasm.”

  “Duh. Remember I’m not big into exercise.”

  “It’s so much better when you exercise with a partner.”

  Partner! For a few seconds that word stunned her, but when she thought about it more, she liked it. They were partners, at least in determining if anyone was stalking her and who he was. “All this talk of working out is making me even hungrier.”

  As he took his dishes off the tray then placed it across from them, his laughter drifted to her. It was good hearing that. For a brief moment she had forgotten someone very likely was after her.

  But all too soon reality returned when Hawke said, “Eat up, then we’ll talk.”

  Her hands trembled as she picked up her hamburger and took a bite. Its unusual juicy flavor didn’t appeal to her. Even the fries tasted like sticks of chalk. Finally she shoved away her plate with her half-eaten food. “I’m done.”

  Hawke finished his last bite of his barbecue sandwich, set his notepad on the table and found a pen in his pocket. “Okay, let’s get down to business. Who’s been in your life for the past five or six years?”

  “That’s a long list.”

  “We’ll concentrate only on the men. We’ll start with your closest friends, then move outward from there, since someone possibly has a copy of your key and alarm code.”

  “My closest?” The very thought someone she called a friend could have killed people alarmed Kit.

  “You said he should have made himself known. I agree. What if he did by becoming your friend?”

  “No, I don’t think—” she swallowed hard “—I mean, wouldn’t I know if someone was a murderer? Wouldn’t there be signs of some kind?”

  “If only there were in all cases, the police’s job would be easier.” Clicking his pen open, he poised his hand above the paper.

  She slid her eyes closed and tried to keep the faces from intruding into her thoughts. The picture of Gregory’s shocked expression as he was shot formed in her mind. Although she’d later found out he’d betrayed their love, she would never forget the last time she’d seen him alive. If someone murdered him because of her, she owed him to discover who that was.

  Looking straight at Hawke, she said, “Okay, let’s get busy. The first one is my neighbor, Marcus Perry.”

  “How long have you known Marcus?”

  “Since I moved into my aunt’s house the last year of college.” Kit snapped her fingers. “Hey, he could exercise with you. He’s big into it,” she teased, needing to lighten the mood or all she would be able to do was focus on the fact someone was stalking her.

  “I’ll pass. Who else?”

  “Well, there’s Sean Sullivan.”

  “The mailman.” He jotted the name down.

  “I’ve known him almost from the beginning when I moved into my aunt’s house. Almost as long as Marcus.”

  “Tell me about the librarian.”

  “Samuel?”

  “Yeah. He certainly helped you with your research. Is he a close friend?”

  “He’s a friend, but I wouldn’t say we’re close.” She had a lot of acquaintances, but good friends were another thing. “Wes and I have worked together for a while. I suppose I would consider him close. We have the same interests in history.”

  “Early American?”

  “Yes. He needs to publish or perish, like me. He hasn’t yet. This is his first year teaching. I suspect he’s feeling the pressure, especially now with the administration reassessing all the positions.”

  “Do you know what he’s working on?”

  “Not really.” Tilting her head to the side, she recalled the time she’d found Wes in her office getting a book, or so he’d said. “He’s been more secretive than me.”

  “Another Lost City of Gold,” Hawke said with a chuckle.

  “Beats me. Usually he consults me. I was his advisor. That relationship has continued since he became a professor. But lately he’s been different.”

  “Different? What do you mean?”

  “Remember that time Wes was in my office right before we went into the canyon? He was acting strange, and the book he was borrowing wasn’t anything that he usually was interested in.”

  “How far would he go to further his career?”

  “Oh, I can’t see…”

  His sharp gaze whisked the rest of her sentence away. “Anyone is capable of killing under the right circumstances or at least going to great lengths to get what they want or think they need.”

  “Have you always had this jaded outlook? Is that what being a cop does?”

  “For me it was being a lawyer. The firm I worked for dealt with some unsavory people. I know they have to be represented, too. I just didn’t want to be that person. My wife couldn’t understand that. It was a source of many arguments.”

  Hearing the vulnerability in his voice, Kit took his hand. “Is that the reason you wanted to come back here?”

  “Maybe part of it, but I could have found a job in New York. I need the wide-open spaces, fresh air, the feel of a horse beneath me, the ability to climb a mountain and look down on the world.”

  “Although I wouldn’t recommend scaling the side of a building, you could use a skyscraper to look down on the world.”

  “Nope, I’m where I belong and for the first time in four years I feel I’ve really come home.” He laid his hand over hers. “Thanks to your stubbornness, you pushed me to put the past behind me. In the canyon I finally was able to put Pamela to rest and didn’t really realize it until I got back here.”

  “Thank you for the…compliment. At least, I think it was one.” The warmth from his touch suffused her.

  “We’d better get going.”

  The moment of closeness vanished. Kit wiped her mouth and tossed her napkin on her empty plate. “Yes, we have work to do.”

  “I don’t know about ‘we.’”

  In the process of sliding from the booth, Kit halted. “What do you mean? We agreed. We are a team.”

  “Most of what needs to be done right now is on the computer and making phone calls.” Hawke snatched up his pad. “Is there anyone else I should include on this list?”

  “Not close friends, other than my sixty-year-old minister. Do you think we should consider him?” She gritted her teeth, trying to decide how best to inform Hawke being a team meant dividing the tasks equally.

  “No, but we should also consider any unusual things that have happened involving you, like Hoffman’s accident.”

  “How about the other guide suddenly disappearing? What if something happened to him, too?”

  “I’ll look at these four men.” He waved his pad with the names of her friends on it. “And I’ll check out the two guides.”

  “There you go again, Hawke Lonechief.” She fisted her hand at her waist. “We’re a team, as in ‘work together.’ I’m competent on the computer. We can use my office at the college.”

  “No, I’m thinking we should go to my station. Get out of Albuquerque.”

  “Fine.” She headed toward the exit. “You can make the calls.”

  “I can?”

  His chuckle that accompanied that sentence tingled down Kit’s spine. “I’m glad you’re amused.”

  His hand on her shoulder stopped her progress. “If someone is stalking you or fixated on you for some reason we haven’t been able to figure out yet, this won’t be a laughing matter.”

  “I know.” Her throat closed around those words. She scanned the area.

  Am I being watched right now?

  * * *

  “I called James Harrison’s office, and his secretary said he’s back in town but can’t talk because he’s busy getting ready for a big trip to the Rockies. I think he’s avoiding me, but he’s alive at least.”

  Hawke stood at the door to his office with a paper in his hand. “I got the fax from the detective working on Hoffman’s wreck. They found the white truck abandoned in a parking lot near the college. Paint scrapes on its side match Hoffman’s car.”

  “That’s near where I work,” she murmured, sinking back in the padded chair.

  “It had been stolen. They’re running prints now, but nothing has come up except the owner’s and a couple of his friends’.”

  “Who?”

  Hawke read the names off. “Do you know any of them?”

  Kit shook her head. “So what does this mean?”

  “It means something is fishy with Hoffman’s accident and makes me even more suspicious. We’ll continue looking at all the men around you.”

  “What if it’s a stranger?” She latched on to that prospect, not wanting to think it was someone she knew, especially someone she was good friends with.

  “It could be. That’s why I want you at the ranch. I can keep an eye on you.”

  “You can’t be my bodyguard.”

  Ignoring her last statement, he continued, “You have to leave Albuquerque without letting anyone, and I mean no one, knowing where you’re going.”

  “Someone might see me with my suitcase and say something. Marcus is always outside.”

  “Which makes him the top of my list, and the first person I will be checking out, especially because he had the key and code at one time.”

  “Marcus? It can’t be him. We’ve been friends for—”

  “I suspect everyone until proven otherwise and it’s best you do, too.” Hawke balled the piece of paper in his hand and tossed the wad at his trash can. “I’m also checking out why Harrison is avoiding you. Did someone pay him to get lost?”

  “What if this is all for nothing? What if we are imagining danger where there isn’t any?”

  “Better safe than sorry. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  “If something’s going on, I can’t put you or your mother in danger. If something happened to either one of you, I could never—”

  With three long strides, he stopped in front of her and pulled her up and into his arms. “Don’t say it. Nothing is going to happen to any of us. Besides, you don’t know my mother. Evelyn Lonechief is one tough lady who can take care of herself, and she’d be the first one to tell you. If you don’t come to the ranch, she’d most likely come to your house and park herself in your living room.”

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” Kit said with a laugh, realizing all along she would end up at his ranch. “You’ve convinced me. When do you suggest I get my things? The middle of the night?”

  “No, I don’t want it to look suspicious. Instead, you’ll go home right now, pack a few things, using a big purse, no luggage, and leave as though you’re going to the store or somewhere you’d usually go in the late afternoon.”

  “You’re going to let me go back to Albuquerque by myself,” she said in a teasing voice while cuddling closer.

  “I’ll be around the corner. I’ll follow you there and back to the ranch. I want to make sure no one is behind you.”

  “Just like in the spy movies. I feel like a secret agent.” Laughter tinged her voice, his warmth seeping into her, giving her a feeling of safety.

  “If someone is obsessed with you, he has a way to keep track of—” He jerked away and hurried from his office, saying, “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

  “What?” Kit trailed after Hawke to the parking lot at the side where her Honda sat next to his Jeep.

  He circled her vehicle, then knelt at one tire and began feeling around it. “He could have put something on your car to track your whereabouts. Probably some kind of GPS locator.”

  “A bug!”

  “Something like that.” He sent her an exasperated look. “You’re much too distracting. That’s my only excuse.” When he reached the third tire, he produced a contraption the size of a cell phone. “Bingo.” He put it back.

  Stunned, she stared at Hawke for a few seconds before rushing forward. “I don’t want that thing on my car.” Anger gushed through her, especially when she thought of some unknown lurker nearby waiting for his chance to secure it to her car.

  “I don’t want the person to know it was found and run. I want to catch him. At least now there’s no doubt someone is stalking you. I’ll start investigating who might have bought the GPS tracking device. It’ll take time, but we may be able to locate the person because of this.”

  “Why didn’t Bud find it when he worked on my car?”

  “Good question. It’s not near the gas tank. But there’s always the possibility it wasn’t there when Bud was repairing your Honda.”

  “So he hasn’t been tracking me for long.”

  “Or he took it off after disabling your car.”

  “Why?” Overwhelmed with all that was happening, she collapsed back against the hood. An image of a stalker watching her at Black Horse Pass where she’d been alone, miles from civilization, scared her as nothing had before. She really was in danger!

  “Another good question and one I don’t have an answer to. But you can be assured I’ll ask when I get a hold of him.” His fervent tone blazed with a chilling, unstated threat. “This only confirms what we suspected. Now I want you to pack a bag and drive to the airport. It’s possible that break-in was to plant a bug in your house or even a camera, so while you’re getting your things together, make it clear that you’re leaving town. Come up with some excuse for the sudden departure. I don’t want him to suspect we’re onto him. Remember he may be hearing you as well as seeing you. I’ll follow you to the airport parking lot and pick you up.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening.” Kit massaged her temples, the drumming in her head making pain shoot down her neck. The very idea that someone could have been watching her in her house numbed her with fear.

  “This is a good thing.” He gestured toward where he’d put back the tracking device. “It’ll give me and the police time to investigate who is stalking you. I have a friend on the Albuquerque police force I’ll call on the way and explain what’s going on. We’ll stop at his station before heading back here.”

  Hawke took her into his embrace, securing her against him, while bringing his mouth down on hers. So many emotions swirled through her that for a brief moment she did nothing. But his kiss managed to drive the anger, fear and shock to the background for a few precious minutes.

  “I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered against her lips.

  * * *

  Kit kept repeating in her mind, I’ll keep you safe, as she unlocked the door to her house and entered a place that no longer felt like a haven from the world. The only thing that kept her functioning halfway normally was the thought that Hawke was sitting in his Jeep around the corner and in a few minutes she would receive a call from him, their conversation planned ahead of time, a performance for anyone who might be listening.