"Not a hard thing to do with that kid," Adam said, with affection. He stood, then kissed his grandmother on the cheek and said, "Thanks for not telling me to pull my head out of the sand."
Maureen looked up and patted him on the face, and replied, "Maybe there's a grand plan in the scheme of things we humans don't understand. If it's meant to be, it will be. So, go do what you have to do to keep Emily safe, but don't forget to guard your heart. You can do both."
Adam wasn't sure how to reconcile that last piece of advice, but the message behind it was typical of her counsel. His grandmother, in her wisdom, opened his eyes to the possibilities, yet didn't shut any doors to a future the others might not see. With that thought foremost on his mind, he left the house, mounted his horse and headed back to the cabin.
A little over an hour later, as he crested the hill and came to the snow-blanketed clearing, what caught his attention was the sight of Emily standing on the porch, shaking out a small rug. He pulled his horse to a halt and sat looking at her for a few moments, knowing she was unaware of him. As he watched, she stepped to the front of the porch, curved her hand around a post supporting the porch roof, and gazed out across the snow. She looked like she belonged there, and he could imagine them living in the cabin, away from the world, just him and Emily.
And her son, he remembered. But he could come to terms with raising Erik's son. The boy was small, and he wouldn't be subjected to his father's influence.
Then it came to him that, however Emily managed to get away, Erik could still want to be a part of his son's life. And that, Adam couldn't reconcile.
On urging Max into the clearing, Emily looked his way and smiled. She looked happy to see him. And more beautiful than he could remember. But as he came closer, her smile faded and her eyes looked troubled. "I'm so glad you're here," she said in a heartfelt voice. "It's been three days since you left and I was worried that something happened to you."
Adam dismounted, and as he walked toward her, he said, "Why would you worry about me?" It was a loaded question, and he was digging for only one answer.
Because I love you...
Emily's lips parted, as if she might say just that, then she blinked several times, and said, "A little while after you left, when I was returning from the outhouse, I heard a terrible sound, like a scream, then when you didn't come back for three days I thought maybe something out there could have followed you and, well, I was just very worried." She held her hands clasped together and pressed against her chest, and he resisted the urge to unclasp them and put them around his neck and pull her into his arms and hold her and kiss her, because he had a gut feeling she wouldn't push him away, and might even welcome his kiss.
Do what you have to do to keep Emily safe, but don't forget to guard your heart...
Easy to forget, he realized. "Don't worry about me," he said. "I've been roaming these hills since I was a kid and I'm still here."
Emily unclasped her hands and reaching out, took him by the arm, and said, "There's something I want to show you. It's around behind the cabin."
"Something like what?" Adam asked, acutely aware of Emily's hand on his arm as she tugged him around the corner of the cabin.
"I don't know," Emily said. "Maybe like something was dragged across the snow into the woods. I saw the path but I was too afraid to go any further. The noise I'd heard the day before was very close, and there were big animal tracks, like maybe a pack of wolves."
"We don't have wolves around here, but how close were the sounds?" Adam asked, alarmed.
"Just inside the woods."
"Go get the shotgun," Adam said. When Emily returned with the gun, Adam nudged her around behind him, and said, "Stay back. I'm going to yell and make a big racket in case we're being watched."
Emily poked her head around him. "Watched by what?"
"A mountain lion." Raising his arms and waving furiously, Adam yelled, "Hi-ya, hi-ya, hi-ya," in the high pitched voice he used to move cattle or turn a challenging steer, then rushed towards the underbrush at the edge of the woods while flailing his arms. When he heard or saw nothing, he said, "So where are the tracks?"
Emily took him by the arm and pulled him back around the cabin, and said, while pointing to an area not more than fifteen feet from the woods, "Just over there."
Adam started walking to where Emily pointed, and when he saw the first tracks, those of what was undoubtedly a moving lion, he paced between them and said, "The tracks are at least seven feet apart, which puts the length of the lion roughly around seven to eight feet, and probably weighing upward of a hundred and eighty pounds. Undoubtedly a male."
He knew only one lion that size roaming the mountains in the area. Knowing the lion had come right up to the cabin, and had been there within the last few hours, meant he was probably still around, and waiting. The tracks in the immediate area were too deep and chaotic to study, so he walked over to just inside the woods, where several of the tracks made clear imprints in a blanket of snow protected by a canopy of trees overhead.
Crouching on his heels, he studied the imprints. It wasn't long before he knew precisely which lion it was. The thought sent a chill through him that had nothing to do with the cold. "Three Toes," he said, in a voice that held no doubt. "My father and the other ranchers around here have been tracking him for years. He lost a toe in a trap, so there's no mistaking him. He's also a very dangerous animal, and not just because of his size."
"What do you mean?" Emily asked.
Adam stood. "Most mountain lions kill to eat. Three Toes kills for sport. When he hits a ranch, he leaves behind a string of carcasses, many of them untouched." He followed the path in the snow to where the lion had dragged his prey, and said, "From the looks of the size of the prey, it was probably a full grown deer. We'll most likely find its remains nearby. He'd want a secluded place to feed." He kicked aside brush and spotted a mound covered with twigs and leaves. Scraping off the debris with his boot, he uncovered the carcass of a deer that had been gutted, most of the major organs consumed, and a good portion of the rump muscle eaten away. "It's pretty fresh, probably killed early this morning," he said. He scanned the area for territorial markings, seeing the usual scrape marks, feces, and urine, yellow against the snow.
Emily walked over to where Adam stood looking around, his hands on his hips, and said, "Do you think he'll be back?"
"The kill's fresh and he isn't done with it yet, so yeah, he'll be back. He's probably still in the area, maybe even watching us now, so no matter what, don't let your son outside. A child's a target. And I'm staying here with you tonight." It was a snap decision, but Adam had no intention of leaving Emily and her son alone.
When he turned to see Emily's reaction, and caught the worried look on her face, he said, "Don’t worry, Em. I'll be on the couch." He hadn't planned to sleep anywhere else. Still, it bothered him that Emily hadn't given the slightest indication that she wanted him there with her at the cabin. Then she shifted her eyes from him to a point behind him, and her face looked stricken. When he turned to see what had captured her attention, he had to blink several times to clear his vision. Standing, not more than ten feet away, was a boy, with dark wavy hair and large brown eyes who could have been any one of his younger brothers at that age.
And then he was hit by the sudden reality of exactly who the boy was.
BECOMING JESSE'S FATHER to be continued...
If you want to read on, here's the link to Amazon
BOOKS BY PATRICIA WATTERS
DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES
Prequel: Justified Deception
Book 1: Righteous Lies
Book 2: Pandora's Box
Book 3: False Pretenses
THE LIES UNCOVERED TRILOGY
Book 4: Uncertain Loyalties
Book 5: Becoming Jesse's Father
Book 6: Bittersweet Return
CUTTING THE TIES TRILOGY
Book 7: Cross Purposes
&n
bsp; Book 8: Dancing With Danger
Book 9: Bucking the Odds
BOUND BY LOVE TRILOGY
Book 10: Forbidden Spirits
Book 11: Imperfect Magic (late 2014)
Book 12: Sheer Combustion (early 2015)
Sequel: Finding Justice (mid 2015)
Colby's Child
Perilous Pleasures
Miss Phipps and the Cattle Baron
Her Master's Touch
Come Be My Love
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
In Hot Pursuit
Broken Promises
Adversaries and Lovers
Never Too Late
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Patricia Watters gave up city life and now writes from a log cabin nestled in the evergreen forests of Oregon. An author with Harlequin and Avon-Harper Collins in the past, Patricia specializes in romance, and she invites you to visit her website and drop her a line. She responds to all notes. http://www.patriciawatters.com/