Page 70 of K-9 Prime Target

She closed her eyes. “This feels like a nightmare that will never end.”

He dumped chocolate powder into two mugs, then added hot water and a slug of peppermint schnapps and brought the drinks to the sofa, shifting Angel over so that he could sit beside Nina. She opened her eyes and accepted one of the cups. “How are you doing?” he asked. “Did he hurt you?”

She sipped the cocoa. “He didn’t hurt me. Not really. He slapped me once and chained me to the wall in that cabin, then told me how we were fated to be together and had been through a bunch of past lives. He said we were going to drive to Mexico and get married.”

Liam almost choked on his cocoa. “Married?”

“I think he’s lost touch with reality. Which makes him all the more frightening.”

He set aside his mug and pulled her close. She laid her head on his shoulder. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t showed up when you did,” she said.

“You’d have kept fighting,” he said. “You’d already gotten away from him, just like you did the last time.”

“I don’t want there to be a next time.”

“No. We won’t let that happen.”

She raised her head to look at him. “He told me you couldn’t help me. I thought that meant you were dead. I was so terrified. And I had no idea what happened to the dogs.”

“I heard you scream right after I came to,” he said. “I tried to get to you, but he had you out of the hut and onto that snowmobile before I could get close enough to stop him.”

“So you followed us.”

“There was no time to get anyone else up here to help,” he said. “It was me or nobody.”

“No one would have blamed you if you waited for law enforcement to arrive. You could have frozen to death. Or Nicholson could have killed you when you did find us.”

He took her cold hand and warmed it between his own. “I love you,” he said. “I don’t want to think about a world without you in it.”

She set aside her mug, then pulled his head down and kissed him. “As much as I hate other things about this marketing campaign, I’m so glad it put us back in touch and that you gave me a second chance.”

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world,” he said. No matter his neck would ache for days and he was still half frozen. He had Nina back, and they and the dogs were safe. They were going to get out of here in the morning. He went in for another kiss. No more fretting over the past or worrying about the future. He was going to focus on every moment they could spend together.

* * *

Raz had just squeezed in next to Renee in the crowded ski patrol office the next morning when the door opened again and the sheriff walked in. He wasn’t tall or burly, and he sure wasn’t good-looking, but she had to admit the lawman had presence in spades. Maybe it was the uniform, but more likely the bulldog expression he wore, and the swagger in his walk as he moved to the front of the room. Everyone fell silent as he surveyed them. “Where’s Nina Rose?” he asked.

“Nina’s been put on leave by the resort,” Connor said.

The lines around the sheriff’s mouth and eyes deepened. He looked like a walnut. Raz bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at this thought.

“She’s not at her house,” the sheriff said. “Her car’s in the garage, but she isn’t answering her phone.”

Raz put her hand up. “Nina and Liam are spending a couple of days at a backcountry ski hut,” she said. “There’s no phone service up there, and they probably took Liam’s rental car.”

The sheriff nodded. “That’s good. Nicholson’s not likely to find them up there.”

“Do you have any more information about Nicholson?” Connor asked. “Have you managed to track him down?”

“A man fitting his description rented a snowmobile yesterday evening,” the sheriff said. “He said he wanted to try out the trails over in Rabbit Basin. We’ve got a couple of deputies there watching for him. If Ms. Rose gets in touch with you, you can let her know we’re on this.” He nodded to them and started back toward the door.

Raz jumped to her feet. “Wait!”

The sheriff stopped and looked at her, silent. Everyone was staring at her, and her face grew hot, but she pushed on. “Last night, at the Trail’s End, some of us were talking about Nina and Liam and their plans to stay at the ski hut. And right after that, we saw a guy in a black ski helmet with a Mt. Hood Meadows sticker—the same kind of helmet Nina said her stalker was wearing. We tried to follow him, but he ditched us in the crowd.”

“What time was this?” the sheriff asked.

“Maybe, uh, five thirty?” She looked to Connor for confirmation.