He dunked under to get rid of the snow stuck in his hair. By the time he surfaced, I was out of the tub, and had my loose, long sweater over my head. I was already sticking my arms into my coat.
“You are going to pay for that.” He rose up out of that hot tub like an artist’s vision of a Greek god, steam curling away from that fine, fine body of his.
“Winner,” I said, pointing at my chest while I stomped my wet, cold feet into my dry, cold boots. “Loser.” I double-gunned my fingers at him then I made a dash for the stairs.
“Oh, run as far as you like.” Ryder’s voice was as low and dark as winter honey. “No one’s gonna hear you scream way out here. Plus, I know where you’re sleeping tonight.”
“Who said anything about sleeping?” I was at the sliding glass door, my hand on the handle.
He hadn’t even put on his shirt yet, so I wisely spent a portion of my escape time ogling his muscles. My heart thrummed and every nerve in my body zinged with joy, and need, and, okay, a glass of wine.
“You think that’s how it’s gonna go?” he asked. “I’m just going to forgive your betrayal and let you ravage my body?”
“Nothing you can do about it,” I said. “Winners make the rules.”
A scream broke through the night, freezing us both in place. The adrenalin pumping through my veins switched todanger, save, protect.
“Shit,” I tugged the door open and ran into the house, searching for my gun.
Ryder was on my heels, his shirt only over one arm so far, his boots in his hands.
“Cell reception?” I took the time to kick off my boots and get into pants. I couldn’t help anyone if I went out there with my pants off and froze to death.
“Out on the main road.” He was in his pants, shoving his feet in boots, but still hadn’t gotten his other arm in the shirt. “And no, I’m not calling in the cavalry while you go out into a dark forest on your own.”
“I can take care—”
“I know. The answer’s still no.” He tossed a hat and gloves my way. “We do this together. Got that, Mrs. Hyphen Reed?”
I wanted to be annoyed, but he was doing the right thing, making the right choice. In extreme conditions like this, bad weather, terrible visibility, out in the middle of nowhere, it was stupid to split up before we knew what we were dealing with.
“Fine.”
A second scream called out, this one lower, more guttural.
We scrambled into our gear, grabbed the emergency flashlights hanging near the sliding door, and pushed into the night with speed.
My head had been a little floaty from the wine but was now brutally clear as I jogged down the deck steps and onto the new fallen snow, flashlight turning the white into diamonds, crystals, glitter.
I took three steps and immediately sank up to my knees. “Sonofabitch,” I growled. “It came from over there, right?”
“I think so. The clearing.”
Another scream busted through the stillness. I angled in that direction, lifting my knees almost to my chin for each step, trying to break a path as quickly and quietly as possible and despairing that I could accomplish neither.
“There,” Ryder pointed. “I see light.”
I followed his hand and made for the line of trees to our right.
My breathing was loud in my ears, my heart hammering so hard, I could feel it in my throat.
Another scream called out, then another, and I broke into an awkward run, the only thought in my head to protect, to save, to help whoever was out here, in the middle of nowhere, screaming in the night where no living being could hear them.
The trees lined the edge of a hill and peppered down the slope. I was willing to throw myself down that hill, skate, sled, slip and slide to the bottom and deal with whatever danger I found there.
But Ryder’s big hand grabbed at my arm, missed, and hooked the edge of my coat instead.
“We have to—” I said.
