Chapter 3
Three
William
My heart slams against my rib cage. It’s not every day you find a trespasser lurking in a tree in your front yard.
In fact, this sort of thing never happens in Mercury Ridge.
What does this guy want? Is he staking out my house for a burglary? Or did he have more nefarious plans in mind?
I squint against the snow to try to get a better look at him, but the snow is falling thick and fast now. The sun has started to set behind the house, casting the front yard in shadow. Dressed in all black, the trespasser is difficult to see.
“Who’s up there?” I bellow again.
I pause, waiting for an answer. There isn’t one.
“William,” Sierra calls from the porch, uncertainty and fear in her voice, “what’s going on?”
All my training for the Mercury Ridge Search and Rescue Team erupts to the forefront of my brain. Objective 1: make sure Sierra and the baby are safe.
“Stay in the house,” I yell to her. “Lock the door. Call Sherriff Abrams. Tell him there’s an intruder.” I circle the tree, still trying to get a clear view of the man. “Did you hear that? The sheriff is on his way.”
“I heard you, and that’s really not necessary,” the trespasser says.
My mouth falls open, and you could knock me over with a feather right now, because the voice is female. I was not expecting that.
“Why are you in my tree?” I demand.
“To get away from the vicious dogs, obviously.”
I glance at my dogs, my eyebrows popping up in surprise. “These dogs?”
“You should keep them locked up. They’re very mean.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “They’re corgis.”
“Just take the dogs inside, and I’ll happily leave. We can forget this ever happened.”
The fear-fueled burst of adrenaline in my system starts to fade, replaced with amusement. I know better than to underestimate women—anyone who knows my sister, Macbeth, could never make that mistake—but this woman? She’s afraid of corgis. How tough could she be?
“I don’t think so. Not until you tell me what you’re doing here.”
“I told you already,” she says slowly, making it clear what she thinks of my IQ level, “those monsters chased me up the tree.”
“Monsters?” I scoff. “Corgis aren’t exactly the stuff of nightmares, tottering around on their stumpy, little legs.”
“Ever heard of the T-Rex? It had tiny arms, too.”
“Good point,” I say, feeling the corners of my lips twitch into an involuntary smile. “So, for the sake of argument, let’s say the dogs did chase you up the tree—”
“They did!”
Ignoring her, I continue, “—why are you on my property in the first place?”
“I came to visit an old friend,” she mutters. “I realize now that it was a mistake.”
“Wrong address?”
“Not exactly.”
I frown. “I built this house myself. So, unless you’re here to visit me…”
Again, the woman doesn’t answer. Wait…is she here to see me?
I step closer to the tree, shielding my eyes with my hands, trying to see her better. “Who are you?”
She raises her chin, her face clearly visible for the first time. Round cheeks, soft lips, and eyes the exact same shade of blue as Lake Mercury on a sunny summer’s day. I can’t actually see her eyes, since her face is cast in shadow, but there are some things a man never forgets.
Carly Ormsbee’s face is etched into my long-term memory as permanently as a name scrawled in wet cement.
I gasp, my breath causing a small circle of fog in the chilly air. “It’s you.”
“It’s me,” she says. “Now, can you please call off the hounds so I can get out of this tree?”
Memories of Carly come flooding back. Hours of kissing beneath the old willow tree at my dad’s house. The first time she let me touch her boobs. The day she took my virginity—and gave me hers.
And oh, right. She’s afraid of dogs. I command my boys to sit, and they obey.
Carly eyes them warily. “Shouldn’t you tie them up?”
I shake my head. “They’re well-trained. They won’t move until I give them permission. But you don’t need to fear them. They won’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, right. They were plotting to maul me and drag me into the woods for a midnight snack.”
I stifle a laugh. “You always did have an active imagination. Now, come on down. I won’t let you fall.”
Carly climbs down until she can reach my arms, allowing me to help her the rest of the way. When her feet are firmly on the ground, I stare down at her beautiful face.
Carly Ormsbee is finally back in Mercury Ridge. Where she belongs. With me.
“William…” Sierra shouts to me from an upstairs window, startling me. I’d forgotten she was here.
I pry my gaze away from Carly to look up at her. “Yeah?”
She cocks an eyebrow. “I couldn’t reach the sheriff, but Romeo’s on the phone. He’s on his way. Should he call in the cavalry? Or is everything good here?”
I look back at Carly with a smile on my face. “What do you think? Do we need the cav—" My voice trails off abruptly as I truly take in her appearance for the first time.
Her hair and clothes are soaked through, and her jacket looks very thin—ill-suited for fall, let alone winter. She’s shivering.
Just how long was she stuck in the tree?
A second later, the shivering worsens. She’s shaking as hard as a fish trapped in a net.
“I’m c-c-cold,” she says, her teeth chattering.
Several emotions crash over me at once. I try to sort through them for the most helpful, but anger bursts to the surface like the goddamn Kool-Aid Man. “What in the hell are you wearing?” I roar.
Without waiting for an answer, I throw her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and run toward the house.