CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE RAIN CHANGED to snow so quickly that Jace didn’t realize the temperature had dropped until he felt the first snowflake land on his cheek. He’d retrieved his horse, hating that he had to awaken Bo after a couple of hours, but they had to keep moving. He’d dried out her clothing as much as he could by the fire and then woke her.
They’d covered more ground. He hoped they were putting distance between them and the two men he believed were after them. But then the snow had begun to fall in huge lacy flakes that would soon obliterate everything.
“We need to find shelter,” he said to Bo now as snowflakes began to whirl around them.
“But if we don’t keep moving—”
“We won’t be able to see anything in a few minutes. Come on.” He headed for another band of rock towering over them. He could barely make out what appeared to be a cave-like hole in the cliff as snow began to fall harder.
The grass and rocks were already slick from the rain, making climbing difficult. Behind him, he heard Bo struggling to stay on her feet. He reached back and took her hand, pulling her up onto a rock shelf.
“We’ll get back in here,” he said. The cave was narrow, but as they slipped through the crevice, it opened into a larger space. The ground was dry back in there. He looked up to see a large rock wedged in between two larger rocks high above them. Only a small slice of white sky could be seen. “We should be able to stay dry in here and have a fire.”
He opened the pack and pulled out the sleeping bag. It felt cold but not wet. He spread it out along with the rest of their dwindling supplies and tried not to think about what they would do when they ran out. He’d have to kill something and cook it. Which would have been fine if they hadn’t had the Spencers after them.
Kneeling, he began to rake up leaves and twigs to build a fire. He wouldn’t think the worst. Senator Buckmaster Hamilton would be moving heaven and earth by now to find his daughter. There were people looking for them. The storm was supposed to let up by morning. The searchers would be able to see their tracks in the snow. But so would Ray and his father. If they were both alive. If they were both still trailing them.
The crackling of the flames and the flicker of the golden light on the rock walls almost made it feel warm and cozy inside the small cave. He watched the smoke curl up and disappear through the crack overhead into a sky the same color as the smoke. No one could see it in the storm raging outside.
He turned to look at Bo. She stood hugging herself at the narrow entrance, her back to him. Past her, he could see that a blizzard had blown into the mountains. Late June in Montana, he thought with a sigh.
“Are we ever getting out of these mountains?” she asked without turning to look at him.
He moved up behind her and put his arms around her. She leaned back against him. Her hair glistened with melting snow. She felt small in his arms.
“We’re going to get out of here,” he whispered as he slowly turned her to face him. “Do you trust me?”
She raised her head to meet his eyes and held his gaze for a long moment. “With my life.”
He smiled at that.
“I’m so sor—” Her voice broke.
Jace kissed her as her green eyes swam with tears. She softened against him, melting into his arms, into his kiss. Her arms encircled his neck as he picked her up and carried her deeper into the darkness of the rocks to the outstretched sleeping bag.
He could tell she was exhausted but fighting it. Her strength and determination continued to amaze him. He peeled off her wet clothing. But as he started to lower her onto the sleeping bag, she pulled him down with her.
“Jace.”
He heard the plea in her voice and saw a raw need in her gaze. His own need was like a storm inside him. He lay down beside her and stroked her wet hair back from her face. Her green eyes were huge. She was pale in the firelight, her freckles golden. She looked so vulnerable.
“Please, Jace,” she whispered as she reached to unzip his coat.
He caught her hand in his. “You’ve been through an ordeal. I know you aren’t thinking clearly. And I would use this situation to be with you, but you have to know that if you and I ever make love again, it has to be for the right reasons.”
“We might be dead before daylight.”
He put his finger to her lips. “We’re going to survive this and then you’re going to regret—”
“My only regret is losing you.” Emotion made her voice hoarse. “Jace, I was such a fool five years ago. I was...scared. I wasn’t—”
“You weren’t ready for marriage.”
“No. I needed to do something with my life, to prove to myself that I had...value.”
“Value?”
“I didn’t want to be that spoiled little rich girl. I wanted to be my own woman, prove that I could...” She shook her head. “That’s why I wanted to run the foundation, and look what a mess I’ve made of that.”
“That’s not true. Emily’s told me about all the businesses you’ve helped start and others you’ve helped through hard times.”
Bo didn’t seem to hear him. “But the worst part is that I messed up things with you. By the time I felt ready, you were gone. You were so hurt and angry and...” She locked eyes with him in the firelight. “I knew I’d lost you, and it broke my heart.”
He smiled ruefully. He’d never believed in fate, but here they were. As crazy as the circumstances were, they’d been given another chance. He had no idea what tomorrow would bring. All they had was tonight. “I never stopped loving you. I damn sure tried, but, Bo, there is no one like you.”
She smiled through her tears as he pulled her to him.
“Promise me that we can put the past behind us when we get off this mountain,” she said, drawing back to meet his eyes. “That we can start over, no regrets?”
If they got out of the mountains alive. “I promise.”
“And we can make love in a real bed, promise?”
He chuckled. “In a warm, soft bed. I promise.”
* * *
BO HAD DREAMED of being in Jace’s arms again, but she’d given up hope of it ever happening. She unzipped his coat and helped him shrug out of his wet clothing. He joined her on the sleeping bag in front of the fire. Wrapping her arms around his hard body, she smiled as he met her gaze.
His kiss sent desire racing through her like flames. She felt his hand cup her breast, the nipple springing up hard as a pebble. He drew back to slide down to take first one hard nipple in his mouth, then the other.
She arched against him, sensations rippling along her skin as hot as the fire blazing next to them. He pressed kisses along her naked flesh, leaving a trail of heat before he reached her center.
“Oh, Jace,” she breathed as he kissed the most intimate part of her. His tongue licked at her, making her cry out as she rose higher and higher, quaking with the release that had her clutching at Jace.
He slid his body along hers, coming back to kiss her now achingly hard nipples before reaching her mouth. As he entered her, she felt as if everything in the world had suddenly righted itself.
She clung to him as he made love to her, taking her to places she’d never been, as the fire crackled and the storm raged beyond the rocks. Wrapped in Jace’s arms, Bo closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.
* * *
SARAH COULDN’T SLEEP. For several hours she had lain awake, listening to the rain. She finally got up and went into the cabin’s small kitchen to make herself some warm milk. She used to make warm milk for one of her children who couldn’t sleep. Ainsley? Or was it Kat or Bo? That she couldn’t remember broke her heart. It felt like a lifetime ago.
She’d missed so much of her daughters’ lives. There was no way to catch up. She couldn’t blame them, though. She was a stranger. Worse, she was responsible for them now all hiding out from the press. She shouldn’t have come back. Why had she?
When she thought about what the sheriff had said—that she was dropped from a plane, parachuted into a spot far from everything and wandered through the woods until she hit the road—and Russell Murdock almost hit her with his pickup, it scared her more than she wanted to admit. How was it that she couldn’t remember it, if true? Or had someone just wanted him to believe that’s how she’d returned?
Wasn’t it possible for someone to set the whole thing up—including putting some of her DNA and blood on the parachute harness?
She let out a laugh. She was starting to sound like Russell with all his conspiracy theories.
But if true, then it made no sense, no matter how many times she went over it. Why wouldn’t she have been able to remember jumping from a plane? That didn’t sound like something she would forget—unless she’d done it so many times before...
Her milk began to scorch. She quickly pulled it off the burner, no longer interested in warm milk. Instead, she took the nearly empty bottle of wine that Russell had brought to go with dinner and poured the last of it into a glass. Wine in hand, she moved to the couch. The copy of the photo he’d taken of her tattoo was lying on the table next to the couch’s armrest.
Picking it up, she stared at the pendulum design. Needless to say, she had no memory of ever getting a tattoo, especially such a strange one. Everything about the past terrified her. Lately, she’d been getting more...flashes. She couldn’t call them memories. What had happened to her? How had she ended up like this?
Russell was so sure that Buckmaster was behind it—
Her cell phone rang, making her jump. She pulled it out, expecting the call to be from Russell. He often checked on her to make sure she was all right, but usually not this late.
It was Buck. That was even odder at this hour.
“Hello?” she asked tentatively.
“For some reason I thought you might be awake, too,” he said. His voice was soft as if he didn’t want to awaken anyone in the house. As far as she knew, the only other person in the ranch house was Angelina, his wife.
“Why can’t you sleep?” she asked.
“Bo is still missing in the Crazies.” His voice broke with emotion. “I thought you might have seen it on the news.”
“What? Bo is still missing? You were so sure when we talked before that she would be back by now.”
“A snowstorm in the mountains stopped search efforts and would have kept her from getting out, as well. As soon as the weather breaks, we’re going back up to look for her.”
“Oh, Buck, she has to be all right.”
“She’s smart, and Jace Calder went up looking for her. If he found her... I just hope they’re together at least. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you, but—”
“She’s my daughter, too.”
They were both silent for a long while.
“I miss you, Sarah.”
His words made her heart ache. “I miss you, too.”
“I wish there was some way—”
“There isn’t. Even if you weren’t with Angelina...”
More silence.
“I didn’t mean to call and upset you. I should let you go.”
“Please, call me when you find her.”
“I will. We’ll find her. I can’t lose her. I’ve already lost so much.”
She disconnected and sat holding the phone to her chest. No matter what Russell said, Buck couldn’t be the monster he believed him to be. That would mean she was in love with a monster who’d taken away twenty-two years of her life.
* * *
THE SNOW IN the mountains had changed everything. Frank swore as he listened on the phone to the head of search and rescue describing the conditions they’d run into on the other side of the Crazies.
“The terrain is too dangerous,” Jim Martin said. “Even experienced ground crews found many areas too difficult to traverse with the snow.”
“What about the searchers in the helicopters?”
“They should be able to see tracks in the snow once the clouds lift.” Jim didn’t sound optimistic. “The storm isn’t moving on as fast as the weatherman predicted.”
Helicopters were standing by.
“We had search dogs, horse teams and hikers up there but had to bring them all back when the weather turned,” Jim was saying. “All trailheads were monitored overnight in case they tried to come out a different way. The helicopter used thermal imaging technology until almost midnight when the weather got too rough.”
Frank knew everyone was doing what they could given the conditions. Improved weather in the next day or so would allow an expanded search, but could Bo and Jace wait that long?
“I’ve already spoken to the media and told them that, due to the dangerous conditions up there, we can’t use any volunteers for the search at this time,” Jim said.
Not to mention there was at least one killer up in those mountains, Frank thought. He’d never felt more helpless, but until the weather broke...
He’d been fielding calls all evening, ever since the media had picked up the news. Senator Buckmaster Hamilton’s daughter missing in the mountains of Montana was hot news—especially since Sarah Hamilton’s return from the dead was now becoming old news. Everyone had written her off as a head case. Everyone but Frank.
It had been a long day. He couldn’t wait to get home to his wife, already anticipating the beef roast she’d said she was cooking—along with a cold beer. He hadn’t realized how late it was, though. The way things were going, he’d never get out of here tonight.
When he looked up from his desk, he was surprised to find Russell Murdock framed in the doorway.
“I saw your rig parked outside. I know it’s late and you’re busy with trying to find Bo Hamilton...”
Frank waved him into the office. Hat in hand, Russell stepped in and closed the door behind him. The sheriff’s interest was piqued as Russell nervously took a chair across from his desk and rested a stack of papers on one knee. Sarah Hamilton was still staying with Russell. In fact, Frank was pretty sure Russell had been protecting the woman. Which made him wonder just what the man knew about her that Frank didn’t and why exactly Russell was so protective of the senator’s wife.
“What’s up?” Frank asked.
“We’ve known each other a long time. Not well, but I know what kind of lawman you are. I trust you.” Even after that buildup, Russell still looked hesitant. “I think there’s something you should know about Sarah.”
There was a lot he should know when it came to Sarah. The mystery of Sarah Hamilton was the real reason he told himself he couldn’t even consider retirement. Not yet anyway.
“I hope you know me well enough that you trust I’m not some wacko.”
Frank had to smile. Russell Murdock was as far from a wacko as anyone he knew, and he said as much.
The rancher let out a long breath. “Then I hope what I have to tell you won’t come as too big a shock.”
Frank doubted anything the man would tell him about Sarah Hamilton would come as a shock.
“I think I know why Sarah can’t remember the past twenty-two years, and I also believe I know who is behind it. The esteemed Senator Buckmaster Hamilton.” He held up a hand as if expecting Frank to object. “I’ve been doing some research.” He spread a stack of papers out on the sheriff’s desk. “What do you know about brain wiping?”