Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sebastian loved her.
Her.
How was that possible?
Could it be real?
Despite her tendency to doubt everything, she thought it might be real. For now, anyway.
It was terrifying, especially as he knew the worst about her and seemed to care anyway. An enormity of emotion hit her—and scared the crap out of her. She’d been let down by people who’d claimed to love her in the past.
She hurried back through the trees, brain jumbled from everything that had happened over the past few days.
Love was risky. It didn’t always last. It didn’t always work out.
But what if…what if this was real? More importantly, what if this was her one chance of it?
They’d only known each other a few days, but it felt as if she’d known Sebastian forever—or had been somehow waiting for him to arrive.
Which was impossible because she hadn’t even suspected he existed and didn’t believe in fate or kismet or anything else fantastical.
At least, she hadn’t used to.
She’d never connected with anyone in such a powerful and absolute way. As if he were the missing pieces of her jigsaw and together they made a completely different picture.
She frowned. She didn’t have time to think about this now.
Thoughts jumbled inside her head as she stripped off the winter camo and headed deeper into the trees to circle around. She hadn’t told him how she felt. It had been too sudden and the situation all wrong. But she felt as if she might be in love with him too.
It bothered her that he was braver than she was when it came to something she figured neither of them had much experience with. Would it make him doubt the depth of her feelings for him? What if she died, and he never got to hear the words back?
Another good reason not to die, Nora.
She pushed thoughts of Sebastian out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on Summer now. Summer and Glenn. Sebastian and whatever might happen with him was a decision for the future, after Summer was safe.
She examined herself quickly as she skied to a small beach area where she could make it look as if she’d come down from the north.
Black pants, green jacket, but not NPS uniform.
Badge was in a black leather case attached to her belt but tucked under the jacket, as was her pistol.
Earpiece was visible but not from a distance and hidden under her hair and black wool hat.
She carried her black SAR backpack, clearly obvious with the white first aid symbols on the side.
Glenn’s back was visible to her now, head down, limping as he walked out onto the ice. He looked done. This did not look like a man intent on escape. This was a man at his end.
What did that mean for Summer?
Fear squeezed her windpipe and made her vocal cords freeze. A face flashed like a polarized memory. John Kingston—or his ghost.
She straightened her shoulders. That motherfucker would love for her to die in a situation like this.
He didn’t believe women should be in positions of power.
More, he’d insisted she belonged to him on some eternal level—to be reunited in death.
He’d told her that, thoroughly expecting her to be the one who died first, at his hand.
It was utter bullshit. The same sort of baloney Eastman was feeding himself about the rights he had over his daughter.
Fuck them.
“Hey, you there!”
Eastman’s dog barked and rushed toward her and then back to Eastman as if he couldn’t decide what to do.
Eastman whirled and pointed his pistol at her. Exhaustion carved his features, but it was the desolation in his eyes that exposed the terrible toll the past few days had taken on him.
“Whoa. Dude.” She could practically feel Sebastian spitting in his comms even though they all kept their silence. The angle still wasn’t great, and Eastman had pointed a gun at her, but she’d expected that.
Woof. Woof. Woof.
“Easy now.” She hoped she could talk this man into surrendering if possible. If not, she had absolute faith in her backup team—and that level of trust was new for her.
What if she was wrong?
She wasn’t wrong. Sebastian had her back. They all did. She wasn’t on her own any longer.
“No need for that, sir. Didn’t mean to scare you.
We’re looking for a female skier who got lost up here three days ago.
She’s white, about five-eight. Brunette.
One-fifty pounds. Pilot dropped her off backcountry skiing four days ago, and no one’s heard from her since.
Last seen on that mountain.” She tipped her pole to the peak behind her.
“Didn’t take a satphone and didn’t arrive back when she said she would.
Now we have another storm coming in and forty volunteers out searching for her when we could be home in front of the fire, ya know? ”
“What?” He lowered the gun.
“A woman. Don’t suppose you’ve seen her? Red jacket, black pants.” Her breath formed a cloud around her.
Even from this distance, she could see the calculation that ran through Glenn’s eyes, but she kept her expression as a tired but wary professional. “I saw movement on the lake and thought maybe I might have found Candace, but obviously not.”
The dog barked incessantly.
“Trapper, hush,” Eastman snapped at the animal.
“Obviously, that’s not my missing twenty-four-year-old extreme sport enthusiast, but is she okay?
” Nora took a few steps forward on her skis and nodded at the child he held.
“Is that your kid? Did they get hurt? I heard someone firing a gun earlier.” Nora let her eyes go wide in alarm and back up a little.
Eastman seemed outraged by the implication he’d hurt the child. “She’s asleep. I saw a pack of coyotes following us and scared them off.”
He was quick on his feet too. She gave him that.
She frowned. “Is she hypothermic because I have some warming packs in my gear.”
His brows went high. “Yes. That would help. We ran out. She’s a little cold and sleepy. Thank you.”
“Put her on the sled, and I’ll get them out.
Wish I had some hot tea to offer her, but one of my SAR buddies drank the last of mine, and I’ll have to wait a couple of hours until we get back to the cabin for a fresh batch.
You are welcome to join us there.” She spoke earnestly.
Maybe she could persuade this guy to walk into the lion’s den.
“Not a lot of floor space, but we can always squeeze in a couple of weary travelers seeking shelter from a storm.”
Eastman moved toward the sled, and Nora almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost. She wasn’t a bleeding heart. She had too much life experience to retain any vestige of naivety. She began to open her backpack. The girl wasn’t moving, and Nora hoped to hell they weren’t too late.
Eastman didn’t holster the gun, and she could hear Sebastian muttering in her ear. Then he went dead silent, and she knew he was looking down his scope for the best way to end this nightmare.
She looked up at Eastman. “You can put away the weapon. I’m unarmed and not a threat, and no one likes a gun pointed in their direction.”
He was about to do so when he got a better look at her face. He paused and backed away a step. Raised the weapon, and her skin went cold, her feet rooted to the ground.
“I recognize you.” He swirled to look around them, but Summer was on his right shoulder where she flopped lifelessly, blocking the shot.
“Er,” She pulled a confused face—not difficult. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen you before in my life, dude.”
He aimed the gun at her face.
“Whoa.” She threw up her hands in surrender. “Easy. I don’t recognize you. I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal. I’m not good with faces.”
“You were on the trail the other day. I saw you with a black dog.”
“Oh, yeah.” She frowned. “I have a dog, and we walk a lot of trails, but I don’t remember seeing you. Sorry. Whereabouts?”
He didn’t say anything, just stared at her with suspicious eyes.
She glanced at Summer. “Look, I’m trained in first aid, and your daughter doesn’t look great. She has a touch of frostbite on her nose and cheeks. Would you like the warming packs I have or not, because I can just leave if you’d rather?”
She’d made sure to pack a bunch after her ordeal in the river.
“Papa?” Came a croaky voice.
Eastman jolted. “Yes, honey?”
“I’m cold.” She kicked her legs weakly, pink camo ski pants covering her legs. “Put me down.”
Eastman’s grip tightened as his eyes darted around.
“Sir, please lower the gun. I can help your daughter, and afterwards, you can go on your way. No questions asked. I need to rejoin the search for Candace Munroe before my team comes looking for me.”
He hesitated, then gently lowered Summer to the sled. She let out a sigh of relief. Gentle was good. Gentle helped prevent cardiac arrest.
“Please don’t shoot.” She wasn’t talking to Eastman. Maybe she could talk this guy down from the edge he so clearly teetered on. “You need to keep her horizontal if you possibly can.”
She bit the plastic wrap off one hand warmer, shook it, and passed it to Eastman so he could give it to Summer.
He slipped it into her mittens. Nora handed him another and let him do the same again. They took a minute to really heat up. She opened a couple more and stuffed the garbage into her bag. “Put them under her armpits and on her stomach. I have an energy gel here she can suck on if you want it.”
She handed it across so he could examine it and decide. He wanted to control everything that affected Summer, so she’d give him that for now.
The dog sniffed around her heels. “What are you guys doing out here?” Because it would be suspicious not to ask.
“Planned to do some camping, didn’t we, honey?” He ripped the end off the gel pack and handed it to the kid. “Eat this. It’ll make you feel better.”
Summer didn’t reply. She wasn’t shivering, which was a bad sign. She licked at the pack with zero enthusiasm.
“That must be nice.” Nora managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but barely.
Summer opened her blue eyes a slit. “I wanna go home.”