Cody turned, shielding Shay behind him. “What are they doing here?”
Marcas and Lachlan stared, mouths open. Marcas found his voice first. “Uh… should we leave?”
“Leave?” Lachlan pulled off his shirt, and his necklace caught the moonlight. “We just got here,” he said, unsnapping his jeans.
“No,” Cody barked. “We’re getting out. I was helping Shay.”
Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “Helping her do what?”
“She twisted her ankle. What are you doing here?” Cody’s voice was curt.
“That’s a dumb question. You’re the one who asked us for help,” Lachlan said. “We had to come home and pack—”
“I mean at the lake?”
Marcas hooked his thumbs in his pockets, quietly surveying the scene. “Lach thought he heard someone in the woods when we got out of the car. Figured it might be a bow hunter scouting out a place to hunt. Probably heard you two.”
“Somebody run around to the other side of the lake and get Shay’s clothes,” Cody ordered.
Marcas nodded and trotted off.
Lachlan snapped his jeans and snatched up his discarded shirt. “What brings you all the way from Scotland, Shay?”
Lachlan was the daredevil with the mischievous twinkle in his eyes—and his foot in his mouth, although his laid-back attitude was partly an act. Marcas was the sensitive one, serious. He usually knew what people were thinking before they did, one of the reasons Shay had avoided him nine years ago, and one of the reasons she hadn’t come back. Marcas was twenty-nine, one year older than Cody. God, she’d missed them all.
“I was on my way to see Renee,” she said, shivering with cold. “I thought I’d stop by for a visit.”
Lachlan asked about Renee and Scotland as they waited for Marcas to return. “About time you came home. Hope you’re planning to stay awhile.”
“It d-d-depends.”
Cody’s arms were covered in chill bumps as well. He took a step back and stopped. He’d put his arm around her hundreds of times over the years to keep her warm, but they weren’t grown up and naked then.
“Why don’t you go help Marcas?” Cody said to Lachlan. “Never mind. Here he comes.”
Marcas trotted up, not even winded. All the brothers were fast, although she could almost keep up. Marcas dropped Shay’s clothes next to Cody’s. “Better get out of there before you end up with pneumonia.”
“How about some privacy?” Cody grumbled.
“Want us to leave?” Marcas asked.
“No,” Shay said, quickly. “You don’t have to leave.” The last thing she needed was to be alone and naked with Cody.
Marcas and Lachlan turned around, but Shay could hear them whispering. Cody scooped her up. She squealed and grabbed his neck, to keep from falling. She saw Lachlan start to turn, until Marcas kicked him. “What are you doing?” she whispered furiously, trying to cover all her pertinent parts.
“Getting us out of the lake before we freeze our asses off.” He trudged through the water, keeping his gaze straight ahead. “Stop squirming. You’re slippery as a bloody eel.”
At the water’s edge, he set her gently on her feet. He helped her into her sweater, and she was so cold she let him. She didn’t bother with her bra.
“Here,” he said, handing over her panties.
She snatched them from his hand, afraid he would offer to help with them as well. She wiggled into them, trying not to look at his bare backside as he dragged his underwear over damp skin.
“You decent yet?” Marcas asked.
“No!” Cody said, after glancing back to see Shay tugging on her jeans. He was already snapping his.
After Cody and Shay dressed, the brothers discussed the best way to get Shay back to the house. “We could haul her out on the four-wheeler,” Lachlan offered.
“Battery’s dead,” Marcas said. “We can carry her back to our house. It’s closer.”
“Thanks, but it’s really not that bad.” Shay pasted a blank look on her face as she slid her throbbing foot inside her shoe. “See?” She moved around a few steps, gritting her teeth so she wouldn’t wince. “You go on. I want to sit here awhile and enjoy the night.” She needed to be alone so she could think. Her homecoming was turning into a nightmare.
“I’d rather you came back with us,” Cody said. “You don’t have a flashlight, and your ankle—”
“I’ll be fine,” Shay insisted.
He glanced at the sky. “Don’t be long; a storm’s blowing in.”
“You want to tell us what that was about?” Lachlan’s voice carried on the rising breeze.
Shay sat down on the pier and shook her head. What was she doing here, besides leaping from the frying pan
