“I’ll take care of it.” Harvey didn’t know Ranger Simpson well, but from what he’d heard, the man took every case of his personally. It wasn’t any surprise he’d volunteered to make the call. Simpson searched every section of the bag, setting out a water bottle, a handful of snacks and sunscreen. “No ID or phone. It’s possible they’re at the bottom of the pool.”
“In most cases of drowning I’ve come across, we can get an ID from dental or DNA. Fingerprints will take a couple days of dehydrating the skin on her fingers, but I’ll keep in touch with any updates our office has for you. I’ll need help getting her to my van at the visitor’s center.” Letting her camera drop to her stomach by the strap around her neck, Drennan shoved herself to a standing position, then tipped to one side. Her hand shot out, meeting nothing but air.
Harvey rushed forward before she hit the ground. He caught her around the middle as both other rangers moved in forsupport. All too aware of how perfectly she fit against him. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. Thanks.” Her exhale tickled along his jaw and reinvigorated his senses with that hint of perfume. Righting herself, Drennan shook her head. “Guess I’m just not used to the elevation out here yet.”
She pulled a folded black bag from her duffel bag of tricks. Throwing out one end, she laid it parallel to the body, zipper side up. “I have what I need from the remains for now. I’ll get her back to Hurricane to assist Dr. Yarrow with the autopsy in the next couple of days and send any findings to your law enforcement division.”
“Don’t you need to clear that with her family first?” A restlessness flooded through him at the idea of her walking out of here after without another word. Some small part of him wasn’t willing to leave them in this distant, emotionless, professional emptiness they’d found. Though Harvey knew that was exactly what he should do.
“Not when a death is considered suspicious. You see this thin layer of foam around the victim’s mouth?” Drennan crouched beside the body, pointing to a collection of froth he’d assumed had come from buildup at the waterfall’s base. “It’s called hemorrhagic edema fluid. Mucus in the body mixes with the water in her lungs. She was alive when she went into that water. Considering the lack of blunt force trauma to her head, the depth of the water and the weight of her pack, she should’ve been able to stand on her own two feet to get out. But these bruises on the back of her neck?” She shifted the victim’s hair out of the way, displaying a clear outline of a handprint spanning the waxy skin. “They tell me she was murdered.”
Chapter Three
She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking.
Drennan slammed the door to the van closed, sealing the young woman from the emerald pool inside. It’d taken all four of them to get her remains down the trail and a whole lot of maneuvering on the narrower edges of the switchbacks, but they’d done it in less than an hour. She’d had to record the temperature of the water the victim had been found in, weather conditions and the rangers’ statements before leaving with the body. There was no way she’d be able to manage getting back up there a second time. The tiny life form growing in her uterus was already demanding a second breakfast and a nap and wanted her to throw up all at the same time.
Clutching the van’s door handle, she tried to breathe through her nose. Crisp fall air helped with the permanent acid lodged in her throat but did little to ease the shock assaulting her every few thoughts. She could only imagine what her baby would think of all the embalming fluid and bodily fluids that made up her day when she got the body back to the office. Drennan swallowed a rush of nausea, slapping her hand against her mouth.
A baby. She was going to have a baby. There was no denying the symptoms anymore. No trying to blame the flu or some other kind of illness.
“You okay?” The deep rumble of his voice soothed her stomach.
She’d recounted that voice so many times in the past two months. Imagined how it would sound whispering all the wordsshe craved to hear. Not just from that night, but if they’d ever come into contact again. Drennan forced herself to face him.
Harvey. The name fit him. Rough around the edges, kind of like him, with a shadowed side and a fierce expression. His thick beard worked to hide his expression, but the deep tan he’d gained on the trails and the lines between his brows told her he much preferred to be outside than be cornered and forced to make conversation. He’d swiped his styled hair back away from his face. Not a hint of gray despite her guess putting him closer to forty than thirty. Then again, what did she really know about him other than the feel of his body pressed against hers, how it felt to have his mouth at her neck, his heightened breathing etched into her memory. He was even more handsome than she remembered. A mountain of muscle stretched against his ranger uniform. One wrong move would split the seams, and a flush of heat washed over Drennan at the random thought she’d pay good money to see that.
He’d said something. Right? Oh, hell. He was staring at her with nothing but expectation and disappointment—a look she’d come to know all too well—as if she’d grown two heads. Wait. Did she technically have two heads right now? No. It took more than eight weeks for the baby’s head to develop. “What?”
“You look like you’re going to throw up.” Harvey offered a metallic water bottle. The black exterior was dented and scratched up. Used. His. “It doesn’t take long for dehydration to set in, even in these cooler temperatures. It’s all about exertion.”
It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how thirsty she really was. She took the offering, slugging back three huge mouthfuls of ice water. Streams escaped from the corners of her mouth. She swiped at her face with the back of her hand as embarrassment charged. Her mother’s voice instantly scolded her to clean herself up. To stop acting like a child who couldn’t control herself. Drennan practically shoved the water bottleinto Harvey’s chest as embarrassment overheated into shame. “Thanks. Do you usually offer your personal water bottle to anyone who feels like they might die out here?”
“Only the ones who’ve been in my bed.” One corner of his mouth turned up, though it would’ve been impossible to catch with the amount of facial hair if she hadn’t been looking right at him.
“Right. Listen. I’m sorry about before. Ambushing you like that. I’m sure the last person you expected to see today was one of the women you took home from a bar two months ago.” Oh, no. Why did that make her sound so needy? He’d probably taken a half dozen women home since the night they’d shared. He probably didn’t even recognize her. She wasn’t anything special. To anybody. The ground went unstable under her feet. Only this time she couldn’t contribute it to the pregnancy. She just wanted nothing more than to get in her too-hot van and shut herself inside the office with no plans to ever leave. Drennan took a deep breath and spun for the van’s driver’s side door. “You know what? It’s been a long day, and you said you wanted to talk about this later. Now that you know who I am, you can call the Metland Mortuary and ask for me when you’re ready to talk.”
Her hand was on the door handle. She was almost free of one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.
“The only woman.” He didn’t have to raise his voice for her to hear him over the traffic coming in and out of the visitor’s center, as though her senses were intently tuned to him.
The breath rushed from her lungs as Drennan angled away from the van. He’d closed the distance between them, settling his hand against the driver’s side window beside her head. Caging her. Not in intimidation or dominance but like he couldn’t stand for a mere inch between them. “What?”
“You said one of the women I took home from the bar.” His gaze locked with hers. Unwavering and confident. Just as strongas the night he’d caught her attention across a dark, crowded pub when she’d needed it most. “I don’t make a habit of bringing women back to my place. You’re the only one.”
Okay. Why did that make her heart rate do a little dance in her chest? Drennan pressed her shoulders into the van for some added support, but it didn’t do a damn bit of good. Because she’d learned real fast when this man infiltrated her personal space, physics no longer had a say. “Oh. Why?”
Instant regret hollowed through her. And then reflected in Harvey’s expression. He added a couple of inches between them, removing his hand from beside her head. The cage was open, but she found herself missing it. Just as she’d missed it since backing out of his driveway two months ago without even knowing his name. She could’ve gone back. She remembered the exact location of his cookie-cutter house in the middle of a cookie-cutter neighborhood in Springdale, but that night… It’d been special. A once in a lifetime experience she didn’t believe could be replicated or should be replaced with new memories. But if she hadn’t sounded needy before, she certainly did now. “I mean, why me? Not that you couldn’t or shouldn’t take home whoever you want. From bars or the grocery store or work. You’re handsome and attractive, and I bet you can get any woman you want if you put your mind to it.”
Wide blue eyes narrowed on her, and the random thoughts in her head disappeared. “Take a breath, Drennan.”
Her name on his lips shot something electric and addictive straight to her low belly, which she was sure was not his intention in the least. Her body seemed to obey his command all the same, and she drank in a full inhale, letting it out with an exaggerated sigh. What on earth had he seen in her that night he’d taken her home? She was a mess. And things were about to get much worse.
“Are you sure you’re pregnant?” Harvey sounded so calm, her nerves automatically settled, which didn’t make sense. This situation they were in was anything but calm. “You said you were on birth control.”
The ego it’d taken to be one of the best emergency room physicians in the country wanted to take offense at that, but it was a valid question. She couldn’t blame him for wanting confirmation. “The six tests I took seem convinced I am. Not to mention all the fun stuff coming out of my body.”
