Page 54 of Burnin' For You

Holding on, protecting her.

And, strangely, she sank into him. Just let the past shudder out against him.

Yes, maybe Reuben was exactly the man to keep her safe, help her finally break free of her fears.

The door creaked open then, and she took a breath, started to untangle herself from Reuben’s embrace.

But oddly, he didn’t let her go. Instead, he put her behind him, stepping out in front of her.

“Hey, Patrick,” Reuben said calmly. “Why don’t you put that gun down, huh?”

Chapter 6

To Reuben’s eyes, Patrick looked a little like old Custer the bull, blood in his eyes. He’d come in while Gilly was tucked in his arms, holding on, and it took Reuben a full second to realize that Patrick wasn’t fooling around.

Patrick wore his hair high and tight in a military shave, a goatee, a dirty green flannel shirt, and jeans. And a dark-edged anger in his expression.

If he had the power, Reuben would, in these moments, rewind time and choose differently.

Like not letting Jock run into a fire that could kill him. Or not giving into Gilly’s demand to hike out with him. And especially the moment when he should have listened to her silent pleading not to get in the station wagon.

Because even if Patrick was just protecting his land—which Reuben completely doubted—Reuben had somehow put Gilly in danger.

Again.

Reuben had dredged up all her nightmares of being attacked.

I vowed that I’d never let anything like that happen again.

“Don’t move, Gilly,” Reuben said quietly.

“Reuben, don’t be silly—it’s Patrick.”

Gilly tried to come out from behind him, but he had hold of her arm, held her securely in place.

Patrick had kicked the door shut behind him, his hands full with a lever-action .22 rifle.

The kind of rifle used for shooting the wolves which came after their cattle.

At this range, the bullet might go through both of them.

Reuben raised one hand. “I’m not sure what you think is happening here, Patrick, but your father picked us up on the road, and we’re just here to use the radio. The jump plane crashed and—”

“I know.” His tone said more than that, however, and the words settled into Reuben.

He knew. Because—?

“Oh good—I wasn’t sure anyone caught our transmission before we crashed.” Gilly slipped out of Reuben’s grip, grabbing the pack from the counter. “We need to get back to the team.”

She took a step toward the door.

“Stop, Gilly. Now,” Patrick snapped.

That’s exactly what Reuben was going to say. Because even he could see that Patrick’s words weren’t meant to convey that help might be on the way.

On the contrary, Reuben suddenly had a dark, gut feeling that Patrick had something to do with the fact that half his team was scared and dying in the woods.

“We just want to use the radio, and we’ll be out of here,” Reuben said. He kept his voice calm, centering himself, just like he would before settling upon a bull. He needed to think. Still his breathing. And an eye on Patrick’s gun told him to approach softly, with no recrimination in his tone.

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