Page 43 of Must Love Mistletoe

“I only left him for twenty minutes,” Beth said when he reached her, her eyes blown with panic, and he pulled her into a fierce one-armed hug and kept right on moving.

“Which means he’s close by. Last I knew, he couldn’t fly, so let’s get tracking.”

Adrenaline would be coursing through her, same way it was raging through him. “That fool puppy probably went haring off and Sam went after him.” It was the only thing he could think of that made sense. “I’m sorry, Beth. I should never have left Sam in charge of him. Blame me.” His shoulders were broad enough for that. “Sam!” he bellowed. “Bo!”

Nothing.

Okay, then. “C’mon Chess, where’s Bo? Where’s Bo and Sam?”

They found Sam’s footprints readily enough, and Bo’s, too, and with that came an element of relief. One boy, one pup, heading away from the barn, through one of the horse yards and toward the nearest stand of trees. Chessie had their scent.

“Of all the reckless, idiotic—He promised me he wouldn’t go anywhere by himself!” Beth railed as she stormed along beside him. “Hepromised! AndIpromised I wouldn’t turn into a raving shrew, annihilating everyone in my path when something goes wrong! Why didn’t he stay in the barn? Why am I a thumbnail away from a breakdown? What good are promises if they’re not kept? Tell me!Why can’t people keep their promises!”

Not that he was the intelligent type, but he had an inkling she was talking about more than just today. “I keep mine.” He’d made one today that he didn’t intend to break. “We’ll find him.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Just did. I wasn’t there for Red, but I’m here now. People liken me to an ox because I’m big and stubborn, and they’re notwrong. Dumb as one, too. Slow. That’s me. I’ll own to all of that—but don’t underestimate me. I will never give up on you or Sam. I won’t stop until I find him. That’s my promise. So, when I say believe me,believe me.” Who was the overemotional one fighting invisible demonsnow, he wondered grimly. Because it wasn’t Beth. “Promisescanbe kept.”

She slowed and grabbed him by the arm, urging him to do the same. “Wait. Please. It’s important. Let me say this.” She put a gloved hand to his chest and searched his resolute face. “I love you. Not the time or place, I know, but I do. And no matter what we find… no matter what, or when… I’ll continue to love you, because you’re the kindest, most steadfast, most loving man I’ve ever known. You big ox.”

Well, then.

Well. “Glad we cleared that up.”

Her laughter was ever slightly on the hysterical side.

He raised her gloved hand from his chest and pressed it to his cheek. “I love you, too. You should marry me.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve thought about it?”

“So many times.”

“Then I will.”

He’d hold her to it. “You ready to keep tracking?”

“Yes.” This time she was the one with the one-word answer.

Cal reached for the flashlight when he spotted some new tracks up ahead. A lot of them. The light created an arc in front of them and his heart sank. The prints that flanked them on either side looked like dog prints, only bigger. But Sam’s footprints were still there amongst them, and that was something.

“Are they wolf tracks?” Beth asked, her voice small and scared.

“Yes. But Sam’s still walking. He stopped here, see?” He shone the light on a set of footprints. “He stood still for a bit and then started moving again. There’s no blood. No scuffles. That’s not what the prints show. They’re all just moving along. Loping.”

*

I will notbe a bitch. I will not be ruled by fear.Beth had returned to that thought so often in the last thirty minutes that it was in danger of becoming her mantra. “You mean to say my son just joined the wolf pack?” Was that meant to be reassuring?

“He’s alive.”

With the wolf pack.

They were approaching the trees and there was movement up ahead. Beth could pick out the dark shapes now, those that hadn’t blended completely into the twilight landscape. But she couldn’t see Sam, or Bo, and whatever this was, they were striding right into it.

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