“Sir.” The manager grabbed Joe’s arm. “You need to leave before we call the authorities.”

Violet, who had been standing behind Joe in horrified silence, jumped into action. “Do you have any idea who he is?”

Joe kept his gaze trained on me. “Violet, enough. We’ll leave.”

“But, Joe!”

“We’ll leave.” His voice was serious, but it lacked the usual air of authority he laced with it. He put his arm around Violet’s back and led her to the foyer.

“Oh, my stars and garters,” Neely Kate said, waving a hand in front of her face. “I’m feeling a little dizzy from all that excitement.”

Then she fell over in a faint.

Chapter Eleven

We got Neely Kate revived and Ronnie took her home. He promised me he’d call the doctor when they got home even though Neely Kate insisted it was just part of being pregnant.

Mason insisted on paying for their meal as well as ours, but he was so startlingly quiet and reserved, he frightened me. As soon as we got out to the parking lot and next to his car, I pulled him into a hug.

He stiffened in my arms. “How can you want to hug me after what I just did?” His voice broke as he pulled away.

“He goaded you into it, Mason. This is not your fault.”

“Of course it’s my fault! I’m a grown man. In control of my own actions. For God’s sake, I prosecute people for doing what I just did in there.” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “I should be in prison right now. But I’m here. Doing it all over again.”

Oh, God. He was talking about the beating he’d given Savannah’s killer. I grabbed his cheeks in my hands. “No. This was different.”

He looked into my face, his eyes full of fear. “Was it? I didn’t want to stop hitting him, Rose. I probably would have beat Joe senseless if you hadn’t stopped me. What kind of monster am I?”

“No, Mason. Don’t say that.” Tears burned my eyes. His reaction was scaring me. “You’re not a monster. I know your heart. You’re an amazingly good person. If anyone’s to blame it’s me. He goaded you to get back at me for telling him off earlier today.”

His eyes widened slightly. “When did you see him earlier?”

“He stopped by the house before you came home with some trumped-up reason to see me. I suspect he knew you wouldn’t be home.” His body tensed. “But I told him if he didn’t stop harassing me, I’d get you to file a restraining order. He wasn’t happy when he left. And I’m sure it wasn’t an accident that he showed up tonight. I told him he had to leave so I could get ready to go out for dinner. I let it slip that we’d be here. I’m sure he brought Violet because of my argument with her earlier. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head, bringing his forehead down to mine. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Rose. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

I stood on tiptoes and pressed my lips to his, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He groaned and placed his palm on my back, tugging me firmly against his chest and kissing me with abandon. “Let’s go home,” he grunted.

“Yes,” I sighed against his lips.

The fifteen-minute drive home felt longer than usual, but when he pulled up in front of the house, he got out of the car faster than usual with his brace and his cane. I met him at the front of the car and he grabbed my hand, leading me to the porch.

He opened the door, and we let Muffy out to wander around the yard while we stood on the porch making out like we were teenagers and he’d brought me home from a date. But just as we were about to go inside, headlights appeared in the drive.

“Muffy!” Mason called out.

She’d been sniffing something in the yard, but her head jerked up and she came running to the front porch. She sat next to my leg and issued a low growl.

“Rose, take Muffy inside.”

“Mason, we don’t even know who it is.” But as the car got closer, I could see there was a light bar on the top. It was a sheriff’s car.

“Rose.”

“Okay,” but I only went inside because I was sure it wasn’t Joe. The only reason he would have shown up in a sheriff’s car would be to arrest Mason. But if he’d had any intention to follow through on his earlier threat, I was certain he would have arrested him in front of the diners in the restaurant to add to Mason’s embarrassment. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of fallout Mason would face for punching the chief deputy sheriff. He’d apprehended one. Hit another. Things weren’t looking so good for his relationship with the Fenton County Sheriff’s department.

We’d left on a lamp in the living room. After all my previous break-ins, I hated walking into a dark house. But tonight I wished it were dark so I could spy out the window without being obvious. I parted the curtain anyway. Mason knew me well enough to know I would be watching, and I didn’t care what the deputy thought. Mason was leaning in the window of the patrol car, but after a moment he straightened and hobbled to the porch.

Several seconds later, Mason came inside and closed and locked the door behind him.

“Everything okay?” I asked. “Why is the car here?”

“Everything’s fine. It’s the patrolman Joe sent to watch over you.” He reached a hand out to me and I walked into his arms, then he kissed me.