She sat up all the way, her heartbeat racing. Who was it, and how had the person known she was here?
Hyacinth thrust off the covers and sat on the edge of the bed.
“It’s me. Sterling.”
A strange wave of emotion rushed through Violet, making her weak and sending tears to the backs of her eyes. Sterling had come after her. The good and decent man she’d gotten to know last year was still there inside him after all.
She blinked hard to keep the tears from flooding her eyes, then she nudged her sister. “Go let him in.”
Hyacinth didn’t move. “I despise him.”
“We need him. And he came all this way to help us.” She knew it deep in her heart.
Hyacinth scooted forward but hesitated.
The pounding on the door grew louder.
Violet pushed her sister again, and this time Hyacinth rose and shuffled forward slowly. A moment later, Violet could hear her jiggling the lock. As the door swung open, light filled the cabin along with swirling snow.
Sterling shook the snow from his coat and hat, then stepped inside and shut the door. He locked it before turning and lifting the lantern so that the light spilled across the cabin, revealing Hyacinth standing by the table, glaring at him.
Sterling examined her quickly before scanning the rest of the cabin. His gaze was almost frantic until it landed upon Violet in the bed. As he took her in, some of the tension seemed to ease from his face.
Once again that strange emotion welled inside her. Maybe he did still care about her more than he’d let on. At the very least, he was a decent man who was willing to help her during her moment of trouble.
She wanted to sit up and prove to him she was capable and dependent and just fine. But she couldn’t get her injured leg to move, so she remained motionless. “Hi, Sterling.”
He didn’t respond. Instead, his gaze went to the unheated stove and the pile of damp matches on the floor beside it. He hung the lantern on a hook in the beam above the table, then he shed his mittens, dug in his pocket, and produced a match.
Grabbing a handful of shavings from the wood box, he opened the stove door and set to work adding kindling to the small pile Hyacinth had formed earlier. Within seconds, he had a blaze going, then he continued to add wood from the stack beside the door.
Hyacinth had edged closer to the warmth but held herself stiffly away from Sterling.
When finally the flames were crackling high, Sterling stood, glanced at Violet, and motioned toward the stove. “Come get warmed up.”
Embarrassment pulsed through her. She didn’t want Sterling to know how utterly helpless she was and how she’d gotten into an impossible situation. So she did the first thing she could think of. She changed the subject. “How did you know we were here?”
“I saw the missing food and skis.”
She should have guessed she couldn’t get anything past Sterling. “I’m surprised you braved the storm to travel here.”
He took off his hat, then he nodded at the stove again. “Come on. You need to warm up.”
“Don’t misunderstand me. I’m grateful you came, since we had no dry matches left. But you took a big risk heading up here in this storm.”
“It’s a good thing I did.” His eyes were dark and filled with frustration.
She wrapped the blankets tighter around her. “We would have been fine for one night.”
“Do you think you could have skied out of here tomorrow?”
“Maybe.” Probably not. But she wouldn’t admit that to him.
He shook his head, his expression grave. “I barely made it here. There’s no way we’ll make it out tomorrow.”
She didn’t quite know how to respond. One way or another, she and Hyacinth probably would have frozen to death if Sterling hadn’t come after them.
As he held her gaze, the seriousness in his eyes only confirmed the danger.
