Chapter 37

37

His little bestie definitely was not made for the snow. Dylan was shivering like crazy next to him. They'd come outside to escape the inn, he thought. Quade reached out and readjusted the hat covering Dylan's wild hair. She called it her wacky hair and complained about it quite a bit, but he liked it. It gave her definite character. His own hair curled a little and stuck up in weird places, too.

It wasn't straight like his brothers' at all. He'd always wondered why until his new aunt had told him his grandfather had had curly hair, too. Same crazy cowlicks. Heather had had one of those cowlicks, too. Right at her left temple. She'd pointed it out. Quade's was in the exact opposite place.

It had made him actually feel like he hadn't just hatched for a minute there. His baby cousin Ember had the same cowlicks. Quade had seriously gotten a kick out of seeing those. Ember was the first cousin he had really ever met. Ember and Frankie, Heather's three-year-old. Frankie was Quade's brother Royal all over again. Talk about freaky to see—Royal's eyes in a tiny girl's face. Even her hairline was a match for Royal's.

Dylan claimed she was the only one with her particular hair. He had just told her it made her unique.

He didn't even know how they had ended up out there behind the inn, anyway. He had been back there before, but it hadn't been snowing and damned cold out there like it was now. But she had wanted to show him the little cave she had found recently. Or so she said.

He had his suspicions. She just wanted to get away from the inn and her family—they could be kind of intense, he had noticed before. Especially her father.

He had been in the dining room today for lunch with Dylan's mom.

Quade had never spoken with him, but he had heard from Charlotte that the guy was fighting with Dylan about a lot of things right now. Making it hard for her.

Dylan hadn't mentioned her father even once, but it was obvious something was on her mind. "Here's the cave. I am not going in—I'm not stupid. But doesn't it look beautiful here?"

It did. Quade just looked around them. There were a lot of heavy pines where they were. And there were handrails. Signs reminding guests to stay on the paths. It wasn't like they were off wandering alone in dangerous territory. They were between the inn and the ranch or farm or estate or whatever it was that Brandt Barratt had purchased recently. There were even two city streets running on each side, he thought.

But with the fresh snow that had just stopped falling that morning, everything seemed silent.

It should have been beautiful.

But it almost felt evil.

Quade shook that off. He wasn't the type who believed in stuff like that, even though he was sure some people were just born with darkness in their souls. No denying that after recent events.

That's why they were out there, he suspected—she was trying to distract him from worrying about his aunt in Finley Creek. Dylan was one of the kindest women he had ever met. Quade was sure of that. Big-hearted. Compassionate.

He just hoped that didn't get her into trouble someday.

"You good?" she asked, looking adorable in a red knit hat with Prince Rufus on the front. He'd have to get her the blue one with Wonkus on it when he could. She collected everything Wonkus and Rufus she could find, he had learned.

"Yeah, I guess so."

She looked at him and grinned, then bent down. A snowball came at his head. Quade ducked just in time. Her laugh made him want to smile. No denying that.

He wasn't ready for romance—and that wouldn't be fair to her. He wished he was. But it was just too soon. As long as he made sure neither of them got hurt—especially her—he wanted to spend as much time with her as he possibly could.

She made him want to smile again. He needed that most of all.

He feinted left. She squealed and laughed, took off in the snow.

Quade chased her. "Be careful! I'm not sure what all is out here?—"

His words were cut off when she went down to her knees. Then pulled back sharply—too sharply.

Her scream was a sound he knew he would never forget.

Quade ran. He wrapped his hands around her and yanked Dylan behind him, ready, willing to protect her no matter what.

Then he looked down.

The dead man frozen in the snow was a sight he would never forget, either.

And then he stumbled back.

And found the next one.