Chapter 7
Silence fell in the cabin, the occasional crackle of the fire muffled by the glass doors of the woodstove. The air was finally warming up, and beneath the thick wool blanket I wasn’t toasty, but no longer freezing. Shivers racked me, my body doing its best to warm up. My eyes flicked to the door. Hawk was out there. Alone. Hunting for the man who’d tried to…what, kidnap me? What was he going to do with me? Maybe he was going to kill me, but he wanted me tied up first so he could?—
What if he took Hawk by surprise? What if he shot him? What if he?—
I forced myself to draw in a long breath on a count of six. I held it, counting to four before I exhaled on another count of six. This wasn’t an avalanche, a flood, a sinking boat, or an animal attack. I’d taken every wilderness survival class I could, and not one of them covered scary kidnappers in the woods. I carried my gun and knew how to use it, but when I needed it, I never got the chance. Remembering the way he’d hit my wrist, making my hand go numb as I dropped my gun, I shivered.
I counted to four, then started again with a six-count inhale. And again, until the panic cleared from my head.
Hawk knew what he was doing. If he thought he needed to scout around the cabin, I wasn’t going to stop him. The only helpful thing I could do was calm the fuck down. Hysteria was not going to help anybody. A clear head was the most important asset in a crisis.
I counted in another slow breath, thinking of Hawk. His controlled expression, his dark eyes always alert, taking in every detail around him. At first, I’d thought he was missing a personality. Then I’d seen it. His sly sense of humor so dry it was easy to miss. The way he grinned at Griffen when he thought no one else was looking. He was professional to the core when it came to the rest of us, but with Griffen, he was different. Relaxed. Or as relaxed as a man like Hawk ever got.
After our encounter this morning with the mama bear, I’d had a fantasy of Hawk in the early morning, this time without the mama bear and cubs. I’d pull him into my hammock and finally get my hands under his snug T-shirt. After years of seeing men as a take-it-or-leave-it kind of deal, Hawk sent my hormones straight to a simmer.
And now he’d seen me wet and bedraggled, nose running, crying from the pain of a stupid twisted ankle. I sighed. That was not the plan. To tell the truth, I didn’t have a plan. I’d never intentionally seduced a man before, and I’d never been involved with anyone as intimidating as Hawk.
I glanced at my watch. It was closing in on thirty minutes. Why wasn’t he back yet? What if?—
No.
Breathe and relax, I ordered myself. He’ll be back. Nothing is going to happen to Hawk. He’ll come back and we’ll be alone in this cabin until the weather clears. Alone with Hawk. The possibilities made my head spin.
I liked sex. It was fun, most of the time. I wasn’t desperate without it, but it had been a while. Maybe that was why Hawk had gotten so deep under my skin. I rolled my eyes at my excuses. It wasn’t a lack of sex, it was Hawk. He was compelling. Magnetic. I’d wanted him since he set foot in Heartstone Manor. There didn’t need to be a why. He was Hawk. That was enough.
Three quick taps and the scratch of metal on metal sounded at the door. The key turned in the lock. Hawk opened the door, snow swirling in behind him.
“Did you see any sign of him out there?” I asked.
Hawk shook his head, stopping to hang his wet jacket on the hook by the door. He pulled his boots off, knocked them together, and placed them in the boot tray beneath the jacket hooks. Silently, he padded across the floor in his socks and retrieved my jacket and boots, putting them away next to his.
“Thanks,” I said, my lips curving at his nod.
I wasn’t obsessively neat, but I was careful with my gear. I kept my things organized, and I couldn’t stand cleaning up after other people. It looked like that wouldn’t be a problem with Hawk.
“Is the snow slowing down any?” I asked.
Hawk stood beside the woodstove, soaking in the heat. “Not slowing down. It’s hard to say since it’s getting dark, but it looked like it’s coming down harder. As soon as it stops, we can head back.”
“What? I’m not heading back,” I said.
“Quinn, someone tried to kill you. You can’t stay out here by yourself.” Hawk glared at me, his chin jutting out. Obstinate.
I could be obstinate, too. “I can stay wherever I want. And don’t try to tell me the Manor is safer.”
“It is safer, and you know it.”
I raised an eyebrow, thinking of the previous attacks inside the Manor while I’d been safe outside in my hammock.
Hawk shook his head. “It was never about you before. Now it is.”
“It’s not?—”
“Why?” Hawk interrupted. “Why did he come after you? Who is he?”
“I have no clue,” I said, startled by the idea that I might know anything about the stranger in the woods. I hadn’t taken the time to think about it, but I realized that from the start I’d assumed it was random. That whoever he was, he’d seen an opportunity in a lone woman in the woods. Why would anyone come after me specifically?
Crossing to the sofa, Hawk pulled the bag of melted snow off my foot, carrying it to the sink. Leaving the bag to drain, he came back to the sofa, sitting on the arm.
“Are you sure you don’t know him?” Hawk asked, his voice deadly serious. Before I could answer, he ran a finger along the bottom of my toes, the flesh tingling with heat under his light touch. “You feel that?” he asked.
I nodded. “It”s not broken.”
His eyes lifted to mine. “You’re sure?”
I shrugged again. “As sure as I can be. I’ve broken bones before. This feels like a gnarly sprain. It hurts, but everything”s in working order.” I wiggled my toes, bracing for the flash of pain. “It”s good. See?”
Hawk nodded and stood, moving to the armchair set at an angle to the sofa. I wanted him to stay, to sit on the sofa and pull my legs into his lap. But this was Hawk, and right now he was all business.
“You’re sure you didn’t recognize him?” Hawk asked again.
I shook my head but made myself think back to the look I’d gotten at his eyes. The rest of his face had been hidden by his camo balaclava. “I don’t think so. I only saw his eyes clearly, and I didn’t recognize them.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No. Not a word.” And wasn’t that weird? I hadn’t had a chance to think about it until now.
“You have no idea what he wanted?” Hawk asked, his eyes taking in every nuance of my expression.
I made myself think before I answered. I wanted to say that I didn’t know. And I didn’t, but I could guess. “I think he wanted to take me somewhere. Kidnap me.”
Hawk’s head tilted to the side as he absorbed that information. “What makes you think kidnapping?”
“He was focused on getting the zip tie on my hands. If he wanted to kill me, he had that knife. He could have just slit my throat. He probably had a gun. He could have shot me before I saw him.” Option number two had to be addressed, as much as I didn’t want to. “And he could have been getting my hands out of the way so he could—” My words cut off. I didn’t want to say it. “But he didn’t touch me that way. I don’t think he wanted that.”
Hawk nodded, not pushing further. I didn’t want to think about what could have happened. I wasn’t sure the man in the woods hadn’t planned to kill me, eventually. But his hands on my body had been efficient. Clinical. He never lingered, never grabbed my breasts or anything else, even once my hands were tied. He’d had me pinned. He could have done anything he wanted.
“I don’t know where he wanted to take me or what he planned when he got me there,” I said. “But I’m glad I didn’t find out. I’m pretty sure you saved my life.”
Hawk didn’t say a word.
“Thank you,” I said, inwardly squirming under his heavy gaze.
More silence.
Finally, Hawk said, “What if he was taking you here?”
Icy shock washed through me. It made a sickening kind of sense. The cabin was the closest place to hide out, and no one else was headed this way. If the weather hadn’t changed, if Hawk hadn’t decided to come after me, I would have been alone, with no way to contact the Manor if I needed help.
But what would he want with me? Unless this wasn’t about me, but about who I was related to? What if he wanted to kidnap me to get something from my family…and when he’d failed, he’d gone after them directly?
“Can you reach your team at the Manor? Did he go there after you shot him? Is my family okay?” I asked, suddenly afraid.
“I checked in while I was scouting the woods. The sat phone’s signal is spotty but good enough for texts. Everything is quiet at the Manor. We considered a rescue, but they can’t get to us on foot with the snow this thick, and with the wind, coming in by air is too dangerous. I told them we’d sit tight and head back as soon as the snow clears enough to see where we’re going.”
Reality slammed into me. In this weather, I’d be forced to sleep in the Manor. And it wasn’t just the weather. Someone had tried to kidnap me. Kidnapping was the best-case scenario. His plan probably hadn’t included my survival.
Griffen had been cool about me sleeping in my hammock, but that had been before. Now? There was no way. I hadn’t missed how protective he was since he’d come home. He’d let me sleep in the woods because he understood I needed it. But if my life was on the line, he’d lock me in my bedroom if he had to. Despair flooded my heart. Before it could settle in, I pushed it away. Later. I’d think about it later.
Hawk must have agreed. We could fight this battle when the snow let up. For now, the storm made leaving an impossibility. “How safe are we here?” I asked.
“Safe enough as long as the weather stays like this. After it clears?” Hawk shook his head. “Depends. Not safe enough.”
I chose not to say anything to that. We were safe for now. That was good enough for me.
“And you don”t know why?” Hawk asked. It took me a second to realize he was asking about the man in the woods.
Automatically, I shook my head. “Why would anybody try to hurt me?” I was the lowest profile Sawyer. I didn”t have any enemies. I didn”t do anything to piss people off. I took people fishing and hiking. I was friendly and nice and helpful when I could be. I shook my head again. “I don”t have any idea?—”
And then this morning clicked into focus.
“I— This morning?—”
“What? What happened this morning?” Hawk demanded, leaning forward.
“I— I went to see Harvey about—” My words stuttered as my brain flew through the conversation with Harvey and the reason I”d been there, pieces coming together in my head. “I went to see Harvey about a necklace I found in the cabin. This cabin.”
I looked around the main room.
“This isn”t what this place looked like when I was a kid,” I explained. “It used to be a regular hunting cabin. There was a basic woodstove and a basin in the kitchen instead of a sink. Some folding chairs and a card table. When I was a kid, I would sneak over and look through the windows. There were rough bunks in the bedroom. Four of them. Gun racks everywhere.”
Hawk nodded. I figured he’d seen a hunting cabin or two.
“When I came back after Prentice died,” I said, “he’d turned it into this.”
Together we looked around, taking in the leather armchairs and couches. The solid table and chairs. The sink in the kitchen.
“The woodstove is new and much nicer than the one that was here before. There’s a real bathroom with a composting toilet and a propane water heater. He even put in running water from a stream nearby. And a queen-sized bed.”
At that, Hawk fully got my meaning. “Prentice was meeting somebody out here. A woman.”
“That”s my guess. He sure as hell wasn’t out here hunting. Griffen said I could do whatever I wanted with the place, and I was gradually cleaning things out, bringing my stuff in. Last week I moved the bed. Prentice had it facing a mirror.” I rolled my eyes. “I moved it to face the window so I could look out at the woods. When I did, I found a necklace. A gold oak leaf on a chain.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t your mother”s?” Hawk asked.
“I can’t be positive, but I don’t think so. She wasn’t into the outdoors, and she liked pretty, sparkly things. I can’t see her wearing a leaf as jewelry.” It disturbed me a little to know that my father”s lover and I shared the same taste in jewelry. Considering how much he’d hated me, it felt odd that he’d chosen a woman who was anything like his most despised daughter.
“So you brought it to Harvey?” Hawk pressed.
“He and Griffen went through the family jewelry collection after we all came home,” I explained. “I thought if the necklace was part of that, he”d know. Or there might be matching pieces. I didn”t know what else to do with it. We”ve been looking for the woman Vanessa mentioned in those blackmail letters. Maybe the same woman who bought all those baby things Savannah and Finn found in the attic. And I thought, I don”t know, maybe Harvey…”
I trailed off, and Hawk asked, “Who was there when you went to Harvey”s office?”
“Just his receptionist. She saw me come in. Harvey might have mentioned why I was there, though I doubt it.”
“Just the receptionist and Harvey? That was it?”
I nodded.
“We don”t know who Harvey talked to,” Hawk said. “He was going to try to find out where the necklace came from?”
“That was the idea,” I said slowly, understanding what Hawk was getting at. “He could have called anyone. Do you think that”s what this was about? The necklace?”
Hawk shook his head. “We don”t know, and as long as we’re stuck here, there isn’t much we can do to figure it out.” He stood. “Are you hungry?”
I started to shake my head. I was warm, finally. And thirsty. And starving. “I could use some food. I have a good dinner for tonight.”
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
“New York strips from the butcher in town. There are mushrooms and an onion. And butter.”
“You brought steak?” Hawk asked. “Where?”
“In the front pocket of my pack. I picked it up this morning. The rest of the stuff is on the shelf in the kitchen. There’s a propane stove and a cast-iron pan hanging on the wall. I brought two steaks, so there’s enough for both of us.”
Hawk unzipped the front pocket of my pack and pulled out the package wrapped in brown paper stamped with the logo of the local butcher shop. “What else did you bring up here?” he asked, crossing to the kitchen.
“I stocked it with canned and freeze-dried food a while ago, but this week, I brought up the butter and eggs. There’s powdered milk and cocoa. Under the counter, there’s a dual-zone cooler hooked up to propane. I don’t usually use it, but I turned it on yesterday when I brought up the ice cream.”
“You bring steak and ice cream camping?” Hawk asked, finding the cutting board and the veggies I’d stocked. He seasoned the steak with the bottle of salt and herbs on the shelf and went to work slicing the onion.
“Not usually,” I admitted, “but this was supposed to be my vacation.” I glanced down the sofa at my bandaged ankle. “I’ve been injured on trips before, but never on the first day. Not even that. On the hike in.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “I won’t get another break for months.”
“At least you’re alive,” Hawk said.
“Good point,” I said. I was all about counting my blessings. I’d almost been murdered, and I wasn’t going to be exploring the mountain until my ankle healed. But I was alive and warm.
And I was snowed in with Hawk Bristol.
At that moment, being stranded with Hawk felt like a hell of a blessing. I thought about the way Hawk had lost his cool that morning when the bear cubs got too close. The way he couldn’t look at me after he’d helped me change. Maybe I didn’t repulse him. Maybe he was as aware of me as I was of him.
There was only one way to find out.