“On a pond near our house. My cousins and I would play hockey for hours.”
“Of course you did. I bet you wanted to go pro.”
“On no, that was Moose. Still addicted to the sport.”
“Yeah. I get that. Something that gets in your blood, you can’t escape it. Oh, by the way. I fixed the ham radio and got ahold of Moose.”
Silence, and she tested the water. Warm. “You can add more hot water when your body adjusts.”
She got up, but he was staring at her, frowning.
“What?”
“You got ahold of Moose?”
“Yeah. He said he knew about Wren. And that he was on his way to get us.”
He looked at her, then sat on the edge of the tub. “When was this?”
“Just before—hey, where’s Caspian?”
He blinked and seemed to come back to himself, looking around. “Caspian?”
“I’ll find him. Don’t worry. Take a bath. I’ll see if I can steal some clothes for you.”
She went out into the bedroom, rooted through the standing closet, and found a pair of flannel-lined jeans and a thermal shirt.
Then she knocked on the door. “I’ll put them on the floor in the hallway.”
Barking sounded outside.
“Thanks,” he said through the door. “Keely, um—are you sure you talked to Moo—”
“Just a second. I think I hear Caspian.”
She headed for the door and opened it.
Her mouth gaped in a scream that didn’t emerge as Thornwood reached out and grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket and pulled her into the night.
13
SOMETHING DIDN’T FEEL RIGHT.Even after Dawson shut off the bath faucet and turned on the shower. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her feelings, but he wasn’t a child anymore.
Still, as he stood in the spray, his feet warm in the receding bathwater, he could admit to needing the heat to rewarm his bones.
He’d been perilously close to hypothermia, probably.
As he let the water warm him, her words sat in his brain.“Hesaid he was on his way to get us...”
Except, how could Moose be on his way to the cabin when he was supposed to be getting Wren?
Or maybe she hadn’t talked to Moose, but to Dodge, Echo’s husband, who ran one of the other rescue choppers in the area.
He turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist. The heat sank into his bones, and he’d stopped shivering, although a cold nip still hung in the air, seeping through the bottom of the door.
She’d said she’d left clothes for him outside. He opened the door, found them.
The fire still flickered in the hearth, but a chill hung in theroom, the blizzard a little louder. The wind must be whipping up with the night. And maybe the steam had overwarmed him.
