Page 56 of Shrouded Past

“Good idea.” Rachel followed him and Piper while continually checking her phone. “Still nothing. Service could be down for days.”

Days! With the damage that would come from the hurricane, no one could get on the island and no one was leaving.

“Without cell service, we don’t have access to our data on the case.” Janine closed her laptop. “Anyone want to play a boardgame?” She jutted her chin toward the bookcase stuffed with games.

Several people laughed. Katrina went over to the bookcase and named off several. “I’m for Monopoly.”

Janine rolled her eyes. Rachel gave a half-hearted consent.

“Oh, come on. We can’t do anything else but worry.” Katrina brought the game over and set it up on the coffee table. “Who wants to be the shoe?”

While the game proved entertaining, Piper couldn’t really concentrate. The shrill winds outside made it sound like the world would end.

She noticed Bryce checking for service throughout the game. Time seemed to crawl by.

“How long does it take for a hurricane to pass though?” Piper rose and stretched. Sitting beside the coffee table, her legs had gotten stiff.

Rachel stood as well. “Several hours usually. Sometimes longer depending on how bad it is.”

And this one is bad.

“I wonder if the owners have a sat phone?” Janine’s question drew both their attention.

Rachel explained a sat phone was a satellite phone that usually provided better service than cell phones. “And they do.” She answered Janine’s question. “I remember them telling me once they kept a couple at the house. Let’s check to see if they left one behind.”

“Why don’t we check in the kitchen?” Bryce suggested, and Piper readily agreed. She needed something to take her mind off everything.

She started with the drawers near the sink, searching each one carefully for something that looked like a phone.

“It’s really raging out there,” Bryce commented without looking at her.

She stopped what she was doing. “I’m worried, Bryce.”

He turned her way. “I know. Tell you the truth, I am too.”

She slowly closed the space between them. “I’m sorry I brought you into this.” Piper searched his handsome face and knew her feelings for him had deepened, and it wasn’t because he’d rescued her or the kindness he’d shown. It was Bryce. He was a man worth loving.

“Don’t be.” He clasped her arms and tugged her closer. “We’ve been connected all along. I had no idea when I stopped and found you how connected our lives really were.”

Would he blame her for Jenna’s death? She couldn’t ask the question, but he guessed.

“This isn’t your fault, Piper. It never was. Some very bad men are the ones responsible. They’ve taken enough from you and from me. Don’t let them take any more.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to be free of the darkness once and for all and live in the promise she saw in Bryce’s eyes.

She put her arms around his waist and held him close. Her strong cowboy would protect her to the end, and that’s what worried her the most. She couldn’t lose him. Not when she’d just found him.

“We’ll get through this, Piper. I promise we will,” he whispered closer to her ear. The husky sound of his voice sent goosebumps down her arms.

He tipped her chin back and touched his lips to hers.

Piper’s eyes closed. Her pulse went ballistic at the gentleness of him. She framed his jaw with her hand and got lost in the kiss. For the moment, the storm faded from her concern along with the killer hunting them. She loved this man. She didn’t understand it, but she loved him.

Somewhere in the house, a noise pulled her from Bryce’s embrace. It sounded like glass breaking.

“What was that?”

The words had barely cleared her lips when a far more deadly danger poured into the house.

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