Baylee, her four-year-old nephew and two-year-old niece.
A.J. took in a shallow breath. “Lauren’s having a hard time with this,” he said, referring to his wife of five years.
“I’m sorry, A.J.”
“Never mind. We’ll get through it. Take care of yourself, Rose. Let us know if there’s anything we can do.”
“I will. Thanks.”
He left her by the fire to join his wife and children in the dining room. Rose quickly got Ranger onto his feet, acknowledging with a little jolt of surprise as they headed out that she felt better for having seen her brother. She didn’t lack for offers of company, friendship, solidarity and even protection, but she was looking forward to being back on her hill, alone, with her dog.
She drove out to Four Corners and turned up Cameron Mountain Road. Her small house was tucked onto a hillside, with expansive views of the surrounding mountains and valley. Anyone could stand at the top of her driveway with a pair of binoculars and see people getting in and out of cars in the Black Falls Lodge parking lot.
Which was what Lowell Whittaker had done in November.
He’d waited, watching for Melanie Kendall, one of his hired killers, to get into her car. When she did, he’d set off the crude pipe bomb he’d assembled and placed under the driver’s seat. She’d screwed up an assignment and the penalty was death.
Rose had been out of town at the time. When Hannah and Sean had uncovered Lowell’s role in the violence in Black Falls, they learned that he himself had killed Melanie Kendall.
But what if he’d had help?
As Rose pulled into her steep driveway, she noticed Nick’s rented car parked close to a snowback and eased in next to it, sighing at Ranger. “We have company.”
She noted smoke curling out of the chimney and figured Nick, being a bold type, had built a fire in her woodstove and made himself comfortable. Maybe he was taking a nap. He’d be jet-lagged, after all, and he hadn’t had a good first day in Black Falls.
She and Ranger took the stone steps to the back door. She kicked off her boots in the tiled mudroom, grabbed a rag from a peg and wiped off his wet, muddy paws, then went through the cozy kitchen into the adjoining living room.
Nick was stretched out on the couch with his ankles crossed. He hadn’t taken off his boots.
“Locks, Rose,” he said, sitting up. “Locks.”
Ranger seemed unoffended by Nick’s presence and collapsed on his bed by the woodstove, a brisk fire burning behind the glass doors. Rose stayed on her feet. “I have locks.”
“Doesn’t matter if you don’t use them.”
“How much difference do you think locked doors would make if someone wanted to get in here?” She gestured out at her view of the mountains, shades of white, blue and gray in the afternoon sun. “I have no neighbors. There’s no one else close enough to hear someone break a window.”
He rolled up onto his feet, his dark gray sweater—probably cashmere—falling neatly over his flat abdomen. “You’re obviously not afraid living up here by yourself.”
“Why should I be afraid? If you want to check the cellar and closets for intruders, go right ahead.”
“Maybe I already have.” He pointed to her small flat-screen television. “No cable?”
“I have DVDs, and I love to read.”
“I’ve been through your DVDs. You have the entire collection of the new BBC Jane Austen videos and all four
She smiled. “Good.”
He glanced out at the mountains. “Nightfall comes early up here in the winter. Do you have an extra bedroom or do I get the couch?”
“You get to go back to the lodge.”
His eyes skimmed over her, as if he were gauging just what tone he should take with her. “Then you’re staying at the lodge tonight, too?”
“I didn’t say that—”
“I’ll sleep in my car at the bottom of your driveway if I have to, Rose. You found a dead man this morning. Either he wanted you to find him or someone else did.”
“Or his death was a terrible accident.” She spun over to her woodbox and saw that he’d refilled it. “Or you were meant to find him. Have you considered that, Nick? I hadn’t run into so much as a dead chipmunk at the Whittaker place. Then you show up in town, and look what happens.”
“Then maybe I should stay here so you and Ranger can protect me.”
“Give it up.”
She felt as if she were talking to a sexy stranger, not a man she’d slept with.
Nick walked over to the front windows. “Sean mentioned that he, A.J. and Elijah read you the riot act about spending so much time alone.”
“I’ve traveled a lot this past year with my work, but I haven’t gone anywhere this winter.”
She knew she’d taken on more than she’d needed to—that she’d been running away from her past with Derek Cutshaw, her grief over her father’s death, even the scare over nearly losing her brother Elijah in combat. Since Lowell Whittaker’s arrest in January, she’d made a conscious effort to refocus on her work with the lodge and reconnect with her hometown and even her family.
Nick continued to stare out at the mountains. “Tell me about you and Derek Cutshaw.”
His question caught her off guard. She felt her entire body stiffen and shook her head. “This isn’t happening.”
He glanced back at her and shrugged. “Okay. I’ll get one of your brothers to ask you.”
“You’re missing an important point here, Nick. My brothers and I may fight among ourselves, but we’re loyal to each other. You’re the outsider.”
“Cutshaw was, too.”
“You can go now,” she said coolly. “Ranger and I are fine here on our own.”
Nick walked over to Ranger and crouched down to pet him. “I had a golden retriever as a kid. Nothing cuter as puppies. How old was Ranger when you got him?”
“Twelve weeks.”
“Here locally?”
“Woodstock. From friends. They’d already named him Ranger, which has earned me some ribbing in the search-and-rescue world since it’s almost a cliche.”
“Did you know he’d be a search-and-rescue dog?”
“That was the plan.”
As Nick stood up, Rose noticed he moved smoothly, with no hint of fatigue or stiffness, and reminded herself that he was held to a high standard of fitness as a smoke jumper.
Not a man to underestimate.
“I’m not distracted, Nick,” she said, as much for herself as for him. “You can afford to buy half of Black Falls, so you can afford another night at the lodge.”
“Fair enough.” His eyes, even darker in the afternoon shadows, lingered on her for a few seconds longer than she found comfortable. “I’ll go if you agree to have dinner with me at the lodge. You can come early. Really early.”
“That’s blackmail. You’ll go even if I don’t have dinner with you.”
He reached for his jacket on the couch. “Get some rest, clean up and meet me there. If you don’t show up,” he said, heading for the front door, “I’ll come find you.”
“We’re not talking about anything serious over dinner.”
“Sounds good.”
She sighed. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re completely relentless?”
He winked at her. “All the time.”
Only after he’d left did Rose acknowledge that she wouldn’t be spending the evening alone, wrapped up in an
