The room emptied out. "What can I do for you?" he asked, stepping too close to her.

The stench of cigarette smoke and body odor assaulted her but she didn’t want to risk offending him by backing off. "I just thought you and I could finish our conversation from this morning."

"I don't have anything else to say." He folded his arms across his chest.

"That's not like you. How about we talk about your son?" She chose his favorite topic, knowing he'd couldn't stay silent for long.

"What about him?" Roy asked warily.

"I thought we could revisit how much he'd benefit from Vaughn's taking that coaching position."

Roy tossed the box cutter onto a windowsill and Annabelle breathed easier. He rolled his head from side to side as he contemplated her topic. Finally he nodded. "So I'm not the only one who thinks it Vaughn's life is football. He ought to make coaching a full-time job."

"So you thought you'd make your point, right?” she asked gently, hoping Roy was more delusional and misguided than violent. "You thought if you could just get Vaughn frustrated enough to give up on the lodge, he'd come to his senses and coach."

Roy narrowed his gaze.

"I know, Roy. When I saw you smoking, it clicked into place."

"You're just a dumb broad and you don't know what you're talking about." He spat on the floor her feet.

She stepped backward. "Unfortunately for you, I do. What do you think would happen if I gave the police the cigarette butt you crushed outside Cozy Cups and they compared it to the one they found at the fire's point of origin?" she asked, hoping she sounded sure of herself when she was anything but.

For one thing, she hadn't picked up Roy's butt this morning, and for another, she had no idea how a fire marshall determined what started a blaze. She didn't even know if they'd found the actual cigarette butt at the lodge. The only thing she was suddenly certain of was Roy's guilt.

His current pale coloring confirmed her already strong hunch. "Talk to me, Roy. Because you seem like a decent man. You love your son and you want what's best for him. Nobody can fault you for that."

His hands shook as his bravado and arrogant demeanor began to falter. "I didn't mean for it to go so far."

"I know you didn't." She reached out a hand but he didn't take it.

"Do you really understand? 'Cause all I meant was for little things to happen. Like missed deliveries, people not showing up for work. Even cutting the wires before the inspection was ingenious, wasn't it?"

"I'm not sure I'd call it that," she murmured.

Roy wasn't really listening. Though his expression was sheepish, his eyes glittered with barely veiled pride at his plan. "I knew I could get the place up and running again after that damage but I figured I wouldn't have to. That Vaughn would see he was meant to coach and that the lodge was nothing but one big hassle and not worth the headaches."

Annabelle nodded. "But it didn't work, did it? Vaughn was more dedicated to his dream than you thought, so you decided to torch the whole thing and end it once and for all?" Her mouth ran dry at the thought.I

"Hell, no!" Roy said, actually affronted.

From the corner of her eye, Annabelle saw Vaughn approach and quietly enter the room. She couldn't signal him to remain silent so she kept focused on Roy and prayed Vaughn would stay in the background.

"What really happened last night? Tell me so I can help you."

Roy's hands waved fast and furious as he tried to explain. "It was supposed to be a small fire. Just a warning. A final frustration. But the wood's dry and it caught faster than I thought. By the time I got to my car to call the fire department from my cell phone, the north side was nearly gone and the fire engines were roaring in." He shook as he explained. "I never meant for it to be so bad. I felt so guilty and-"

Vaughn chose that moment to move forward. His boots creaked against the floorboards.

Roy lurched around, took one look at the man he admired staring at him as if he were pond scum, and all Annabelle's hard work drawing him out vanished in an instant.

In the second it took for Annabelle to look from Roy to Vaughn and back again, Roy had reached for his box cutter and pulled her tight against him.

She froze at the realization a frightened man had a blade against her throat.

"I never meant it to go this far. I swear I didn't." Roy's voice shook and Annabelle didn't know whether it was his sweat or tears she felt against her skin.

Vaughn raised both his hands in blatant supplication. "Do not do anything stupid, Roy."

"You mean don't do nothing dumber than what I've done so far? Tell me you didn't hear everything. That this bitch didn't set me up by bringing you here."

"I didn't!" If anything she'd gone out of her way to avoid telling Vaughn until she was sure.

"Shut up." Roy pulled her tighter against him. "I gotta think and I can't think when you're talking. It's like my wife. Talk, talk, talk."

"I agree with, you on nagging women, Roy." Vaughn looked paler than Annabelle felt at the moment. "Come on. We've known each other a long time and you'd never intentionally hurt anyone."

She felt Roy nod but he was tense and his knife; was still against her throat. She shut her eyes and assessed her situation. Her legs were too close to Roy for her to get a good kick in. She had one arm locked between her body and Roy's.

"I'm so sorry," Roy muttered. "One day I think you're incredible for all you do for my kid and the next I'm so jealous I could spit because Todd loves you and can't stand being around me." He'd begun to ramble.

Vaughn still stood, hands in front of him. "That's not true and you know it. All kids go through a period when their parents embarrass them. I remember it, don't you?"

Roy was silent.

"And I understand Todd because I'm dyslexic, too. Did you know that?" Vaughn asked Roy, admitting his biggest weakness to this man. "And I'm sure that's why he thinks he can talk to me. But it doesn't leave you out in the cold, Roy. You're his dad."

"I am, aren't I?" Roy asked, sounding almost dazed.

With the man's focus on Vaughn, his idol, Annabelle took a deep breath for courage and with her hand, she grabbed him by the balls and squeezed hard.

He yelled in pain and Annabelle let her body go slack so she fell out of his arms and to the floor at the moment he let her go.

VAUGHN'S GAZE NEVER LEFT Annabelle's and though she caught him off guard, he dove for Roy, knocking him to the floor and wrestling him for the weapon. He'd taken control of both the box cutter and Roy at the same time the police barged in. They quickly took over, leaving Vaughn free to go to Annabelle.

She glanced over his shoulder to where the police were subduing Roy with handcuffs and reading him his rights. "Don't hurt him," she called as the police led him away.

"Don't you think you ought to be worrying more about yourself than Roy?" Vaughn asked her as he pulled her to her feet. "And what the hell were you thinking by confronting him alone?" he asked her, all the fear he'd felt on seeing Roy grab her descending upon him.

"I know how much damage he caused but he isn't dangerous. He just needs psychiatric help." She stared at him, those deep blue eyes begging him to understand.

He doubted he could invest that much faith but he wasn't about to argue over it either. "You call holding a box cutter to your throat not dangerous?"

"I think he just panicked. And I-"

"Didn't believe in me enough to come to me with your theory? You didn't think I'd trust you or your instincts?"

She shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous. I didn't want to burden you with a crazy notion that might not be true. You had enough to worry about, what with the police suspecting Laura, her asking you for money, and the lodge still at risk." Annabelle sighed and lifted her hand to her neck.

For the first time he realized she'd been grazed by Roy's blade. He reached out and touched a finger to the reddened skin bruising her flesh.

"He hurt you." The thought caused anger and a primal feeling of possessiveness to sweep through him. As if no one had the right to touch this woman but him. Ever. Such an instinctive desire to protect and to cherish was as alien to him as love.

Love.

Love?

"I'm really okay," she said, unaware of the emotional turmoil taking place inside of him.

"Vaughn?" Nick interrupted, coming up beside them. "The cops want a word with you and Annabelle."

"Not now. She was hurt and shook up. I'll bring her by to talk to them later."

"But I'm fine," she insisted.

He ignored her protests and grabbed her hand.

"We're going home." He wanted, no needed, to see for himself how fine she was.

ANNABELLE HAD NEVER seen Vaughn in such an intense, dark mood before. And though she won the argument and they gave their statements to the police before leaving the lodge, she let him take charge afterward. Despite that she was more than okay, he insisted on leaving his car and driving hers back to his house for her. If she didn't know better she'd think the incident with Roy had shaken him up more than it had her.

They drove home in silence and Annabelle assumed he was contemplating the unexpected resolution to his problems. A man he'd trusted had turned on him.

But at least now he was free to finish the job at the lodge without worrying about sabotage or delays- and without the need for further crisis management from her. Beyond a statement that they'd succeeded in catching the culprit as they'd anticipated they would all along, Annabelle's job here was complete. If Vaughn wanted basic PR for the lodge, she'd be happy to continue working on his behalf but she didn't need to do that from here. Her heart squeezed tight as she accepted the fact that it was time to go home.