Page 44 of Mountain Men Heroes

Amixture of fog from the surrounding mountains and mist from the lake rolled in sometime during the night. Heavy weighted sheets of the stuff collected in the valley like some botched science experiment to create one hell of a freaking wall he couldn’t see through. Every damn shadow had him on high alert. Why the hell did he agree to risk her safety for a few samples of water? He could have easily come here alone for whatever she needed.

His gaze shot from one side of the tree line to the other. Off in the distance, the low call of an elk bull sounded off before everything grew quiet again. Above, endless blue sky woke from the night’s slumber with an array of blue hues.

His legs trembled and his heart felt like it wanted to either come to a full stop or explode from the strain of his efforts. But he’d shake this off like he did everything else—it was just taking longer.

Fear for him drove her out here and his fear for her wouldn’t keep him pinned down for the world.

Her silence as they made their way to the lake carried a heavy weight, and he flirted with the idea of slinging her over his shoulder and doing what he promised. She would be mad as a hungry grizzly, but at least she’d be alive.

Maybe he’d picked the wrong time to drop the question on her. Hell, he knew he had, but she had a way of riling him up.

He took another step and then another, shoving down the bolts of white-hot pain that blazed up his left leg every time his foot connected with the solid ground. He’d found another staff to serve as a cane, but at this point, nothing really helped.

He pushed harder and worked to steady his trembling heartbeats, but it didn’t seem to work.

“You grit your teeth any harder and they’re gonna crack.”

Ethan tore a hand through his hair and squinted one eye closed as a drunkard would to help counteract the seesawing motion of the ground.

He ached to reach out and pull her in close, but she kept a solid three paces in front of him since stepping off the back porch thirty minutes ago. “We’re almost there. Then I can rest.”

Normally at this hour, robins and hares would be out foraging for berries and little insects to feed on. Instead, everything was quiet, even his little minx.

“Are you okay,” he asked when she slowed to walk beside him.

“I’m just focusing on what I need to do.”

Ethan took a couple of deep breaths. Sunlight twinkled between the branches to softly stroke along her exposed shoulders and kissed the lobes of her ears. The effect settled in his mind and worked like a painkiller.

But he couldn’t fight back the anger as it slipped deeper in his gut and wrapped around his insides until he could barely breathe. Brax, the fucker, had almost taken her away from him yesterday.

Ethan wanted blood. Today he and his brother would put a stop to him and whatever the hell he had up his sleeve. One way or the other, which worried him, too. The man had been part of their family for so long he felt like a brother.

He’d sensed a shift in the man’s attitude toward the family months ago at the onset of winter. When he disappeared three months ago, none of them knew what to make of it. The second he showed his face, filled with scars and strange bruises, to Drake a couple weeks back, he and his brothers knew something was up. His explanation of a tussle in a bar up north didn’t fly then and made lesser sense now.

He frowned. “Let’s pick up the pace.”

She had the ends of that damn scarf of hers wound tight around her fingers and her glasses perched slightly off-kilter. A vision of adorable geeky beauty. He wanted to smile but couldn’t find the energy.

Remy pegged him with a curious, worried expression. “You sure?” Though his command grated on her judging by the way her steps faltered, she didn’t miss a beat and kept up with his long, lopsided strides.

He reached for her hand and gave her fingers a light squeeze.

Sweat dripped down his back and his hold slipped on his wooden cane, forcing him to refocus and tighten his grip. Erratic heartbeat after erratic heartbeat had him breathing heavier than usual, but they didn’t have time for him to stop and rest.

He hunched over briefly and stumbled over an unexposed root that poked out of the heaving ground that wouldn’t stay still no matter how many times he blinked.

He grimaced.

“We have to stop. You can’t go any further. I’ll go ahead and get the samples. You stay here and rest.”

“No.” He gathered the last of his strength and she slipped beneath his other arm and helped steady him. “We go together or we don’t go at all.”

“That’s not an option, Ethan.”

“Exactly. Now let’s go, Doc.” Her back grew rigid, but she didn’t press him for more. Thank God. He didn’t have the strength to argue with her and walk at the same time.

The small trail through the tall grass rounded a bend that cut through the trees and came to the open field hugging the lake. Unease settled between his shoulder blades as though someone watched.

---