Chapter 1
JOSEPH
The half a deer carcass in the back of the pickup bumps up and down as I drive over the uneven surface of the mountain road. I watch it in the rearview mirror, wondering if I should have strapped it down better or if it’ll jump right out of the crate.
It’s a fresh kill from today, and I’m making good on my promise to give a shank to Kobe. He’s got a baby on the way, and I don’t mind sharing my meat with others on the mountain who need it.
The private gravel road that leads to Kobe and Hailey’s cabin is lined with tall pine trees and scraggly bushes that scrape against the pickup as I turn in.
The driveway opens up to the front of their classic log cabin, and as I pull up out front, I note that Kobe’s pickup isn’t here.
I guess I should have called ahead, but I like doing things the old-fashioned way.
I grew up in the mountains, and if you wanted to visit your neighbor, and by neighbor I mean any other mountain dweller, you just turned up.
As I cut the engine, I realize there’s someone sitting on the front steps.
A woman is hunched over on the stairs that lead down from the front porch.
She’s clutching something close to her chest, and her brown eyes are wide and staring.
She’s as frightened as a deer in the forest, and the way she’s poised, with a hand on the banister and one foot on the bottom steps, ready to leap up at any moment, she’s just as flighty.
We stare at each other, her breathing hard, clearly wondering if she should make a dash for it, and me paralyzed by the vision before me.
Because she is a vision. Sunlight dances off her long golden hair as it cascades over her shoulders.
She’s got pale, smooth skin and full, youthful lips.
Hell, she’s at least ten years younger than me, but there’s something in the set of her eyes, a wariness that makes her look older.
I don’t know who she is or why she’s here, but my instinct tells me any sudden movement could scare her off.
Instead of getting out of the car, I wind the window down and we stare at each other. My mouth goes dry as I drink her in. I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful, and I’ve got no clue what to say to her.
I clear my throat, and she startles. Christ, the woman’s jumpier than a newborn fawn.
“Are you a friend of Hailey’s?”
I take a guess that she’s here for Kobe’s wife. They look about the same age, and I figure if I drop Hailey’s name she’ll realize I’m not a stranger.
The woman pulls her eyebrows together and adjusts whatever it is she’s clutching to her chest.
“Who are you?”
Her voice is bold, and I like that. She may be trembling like a deer, but she’s putting on a show of bravado.
“Name’s Joseph. I served with Kobe.”
She relaxes a little. Being ex-military has that effect on people.
They feel they can trust you because you served their country.
But the things I saw people doing to each other over there made me lose all hope in humanity.
It’s why I live deep in the mountains, why I only come out for my motorcycle club or to run errands like this.
The rest of humanity can go to hell. I’ve seen too much madness. I’ve seen what people can do to each other, and I’d rather keep my own company with the animals of the forest.
If it weren’t for the Wild Riders MC, I’d never leave my patch of forest at all. I hunt or grow most of the food I need and live off the grid with my own set-up. There’s not much I need people for. But Kobe was a brother in arms, and we hunt together sometimes.
“Do you know where Kobe and Hailey are?” the woman asks without telling me her name.
She’s afraid of something or someone, I’d bet my best gun on it. A wave of protectiveness hits me so suddenly that I sit back in my seat. I don’t know this woman, but I want to keep her safe from whatever she’s scared of. I just need her to trust me.
“Dunno. I stopped by to drop some meat off.”
Her shoulders sag, and the thing she’s holding to her chest moves. She glances down at it and readjusts herself. She’s got something alive there, I’m sure. Maybe a puppy or something she found in the woods.
“You been waiting long?”
She stares at me long and hard, and I get the feeling she’s assessing me. I tug on my beard, not sure how I measure up. A grizzled mountain man with half a deer in the back of his pickup. If I’d known I was going to meet this beauty today, I would have trimmed my beard and put my best flannel on.
Still, something must work in my favor, because she lets out a long breath and relaxes a little.
“I’ve been waiting for a few hours.”
As she says it, a breeze rustles the surrounding trees, and whatever adrenaline she had warming her veins when I showed up dissipates, because she shivers and hunches over.
As she shivers, the bundle in her arms wriggles again and a thin cry pierces the air. Her attention snaps to the bundle and she bounces it up and down, making shushing noises.
Realization hits me.
“You’ve got a baby?”
She turns away and pulls the thing closer as if I’m going to jump out and snatch it. My mind’s working overtime wondering what the hell this young woman is doing sitting out in the cold with a baby for hours on end in nothing but a thin coat.
I glance around the area in case I’ve missed something, but there’s no sign of a car. No indication of how she got here or what she’s doing here. But she’s cold and she’s got a crying baby. She needs my help.
I open the cab to the pickup and she stands up and backs onto the deck, the flighty look coming into her eyes.
I hold my hands up.
“I’m not gonna hurt you. The wind’s picking up and you look cold.”
She bounces the baby and stares at me but doesn’t respond. Tiny cries echo around the forest, and the sound is so alien to me it makes me wince. I turn away before she can see and get the blanket from the back.
I want to wrap it around her myself, take care of her so she can take care of her baby. But I sense any movement might scare her take off. And it’s important to me that I keep talking to her.
I walk to the bottom of the stairs and hold the blanket up. She snatches it off me and retreats to the deck. Ignoring herself, she wraps it around the child, tucking it around the small body and leaving half of it trailing down her hip.
There’s a small backpack leaning against the front door, but she doesn’t appear to have anything else with her. I wonder again who she is and what she’s doing here and why I feel so damn protective of her.
I can’t leave her here on her own, especially with a baby.
“You want to call them and see if you can find out when they’re coming home?”
She nods. “My phone’s out of battery. I left in a hurry…” She snaps her mouth shut as if she’s said too much.
I want to admonish her for venturing into the mountains on her own with only a light jacket and no means of communication. But she’s obviously not from around here and doesn’t know how dangerous the mountain can be. She probably doesn’t even have bear spray.
I slide my phone out of my pocket.
“I don’t have Hailey’s number, but you can call Kobe.”
I hold out the phone, and she takes it with her free arm. I’m rewarded with a small smile.
“Thank you.”
I can hear the tone indicating that the call’s not connecting. Wherever Kobe is he hasn’t got signal, which isn’t unusual. Parts of the mountain are blissfully still dark spots.
She hands back the phone, and her eyebrows are knit together with worry. The baby scrunches up its face and lets out a bellow.
“She’s hungry.”
There’s a desperate tone to her voice, and I guess she hasn’t got any food with her.
“I’ve got deer in the back if she wants some?”
It’s meant to be a joke, even I know you don’t feed raw meat to a baby, but the woman frowns. “She’s not on solids yet. I’ve got milk in my bag but no way to heat it.”
She sticks her chin out, daring me to call her a bad mother. Hell, I’m not judging. I don’t know her circumstances, but I guess she wouldn’t be out here in the cold with an infant if there wasn’t a damn good reason for it.
“I can call some people and see if anyone knows where Kobe and Hailey are.”
She tugs on her lower lip and looks away. She’s worried about something. Maybe she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s here.
“I’ll call Symon, the ranger. He knows the comings and goings of everyone on this mountain, and he’s discreet.”
She looks back at me and nods.
I bring up Symon’s number as she jiggles the baby on her hip.
“Who will I say is looking for them?”
She bits her lip again, leaving imprints from her teeth. She worries it a lot, and I long to run my thumb over the puckered skin and smooth it out.
“Trish,” she finally says. “I’m Hailey’s sister.”
“Trish.” I like the sound of her name. It’s fierce like she is. “I’ll call the ranger.”
I make the call to Symon, but no one picks up. I leave him a quick message without mentioning Trish.
Next, I call the Wild Taste Bar and Restaurant.
It’s where the HQ for the Wild Riders MC is based.
Kobe and Hailey often come over for lunch or a drink.
Every man in the MC is ex-military, and Kobe knows a fair few of us.
He’s social for a mountain man and likes to keep in touch, but we all know he’s checking in on us.
Making sure no one falls over the edge of the precipice that so many of us came back tottering along.
Kendra picks up the phone. She’s Barrel’s sister and Hops’s old lady. That caused a huge stir and nearly got Hops banished from the club, but luckily they sorted out their differences.
“Are Kobe and Hailey up there?”
Kendra checks the restaurant, but no one’s seen them. Hops is speaking in the background, and Kendra must hand the phone across to him.
“They’re away for the weekend. Went to the coast.”
That will explain the phone. They’ve probably got a remote spot where there’s no signal. Having some time together before the baby arrives.
“I went up there to give Kobe some deer meat and found a girl on their doorstep. Says she’s Hailey’s sister.”
Trish gives me a worried look, but I can trust my MC brothers. They won’t breathe a word.
“Is she okay?” Kendra asks.
I glance at Trish, and she’s cradling the baby. The shushing seems to have worked, but all of a sudden the infant lifts its tiny pink head and gives an almighty wail.
“Is that a baby?” asks Hops.
The pink mouth is contorted into an angry cry that’s so loud it’s scaring the birds away.
“Yup, she’s got a baby with her.”
Trish bounces the infant on her shoulder as she paces the porch.
Tiny fingers grasp at her hair, and she looks down at the pink scrunched up face with love.
Even though the thing is screaming at her, even though it’s cold and windy and I just felt the first drops of rain, all I see emanating from her is love.
A bolt of realization shoots through my veins. I want that love trained on me.
The thought is so strong it makes me stagger. I don’t know anything about this curvy beauty, but she’s vulnerable out here. Her and the baby, they need me. My heart does a little flip, and my chest swells with new purpose.
Whatever this woman is running from, whatever she and her baby need, I will provide. A surge of protectiveness rushes through me, and I know I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Trish and her baby safe.
Kendra’s saying something on the other end of the line, asking if they need help, but I barely hear her. I know my purpose; I know what I need to do.
“She’s fine,” I say. “I’ll take care of it.”
I hang up the phone and slide it back in my pocket. I’ve never been around a baby, and it’s been years since I was with a woman. But I’ll do whatever I need to do to take care of these two.