Page 1 of Moonlit Colorado

Prologue

Grace, Last Year

I was in the kitchen,staring into a glass of water, when Emma came in. I startled and looked up.

“Don’t mind me,” Emma said. “I’m on a quest for sugar. I heard a rumor about chocolate in the pantry, and I figured I’d better get to the bottom of that before the kids beat me to it.”

I smiled, setting aside my glass. “I’ll be your wingwoman. Chocolate is exactly what I need.”

We went into the pantry to search the shelves. Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the garish bruises on Emma’s neck, making any interest in food vanish from my stomach.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting better every day,” she said softly, with a cringe that showed she was still in pain.

She had almost died a couple of days ago. And the thought of what she’d gone through, who had hurt her… It was too much to take. Someone we’d all trusted had tried to silence Emma permanently to stop her from revealing some dark secrets. And here Emma was, smiling as we looked for sugary snacks.

Talk about brave.

And then she asked howIwas doing, which made me feel even worse. “Me? I’m fine. I have nothing to complain about. I was incredibly lucky.”

But as we spoke, a tear slipped down my cheek. Because I had trusted the person who hurt Emma, too. I hadn’t seen this coming.

I should have seen it.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” I said. If my brother had lost the woman he loved, it would’ve destroyed him.

Emma put her hand on my arm. “Thanks. You’ll be all right too.”

I sighed and nodded. Even though I wasn’t sure I believed that.

Emma and Ashford had each other, and I was grateful for it. Someday, Emma was going to be an amazing stepmom to Maisie, my niece. But they were the exception that proved the rule.

Love was too much of a risk.

There was no way I’d ever be able to trust someone with my heart.

ONE

Dane

I’d always loved mountains.As a child, those had been my favorite vacations. Skiing in Zermatt, Park City, or Banff. I would stare out the window as the plane descended, watching the shapes below turn into jagged peaks and deep valleys. All of it blanketed with a thick layer of white.

And later, when the mountains had been in Afghanistan, their beauty had been equal even though I’d otherwise been surrounded by danger.

Well, maybe vacations with my family weren’t entirely safe either. Just for different reasons.

“Mr. Knightly? We’ll be landing shortly. May I take your glass?”

Sharon, the flight attendant, hovered by my seat. I smiled at her and nodded. I hadn’t been drinking the bourbon anyway, though it was a Pappy Van Winkle 23 year Family Reserve.

Wasn’t the bourbon’s fault. It was everything else on my mind.

As we descended onto the private airstrip, I studied the mountains outside my window, and the pressure seemed to lift. I was finally here in Colorado. I took a photo of the view and sent it off via text.

A minute later, a wi-fi call came in, and I answered it, unable to hold back my grin.

“You asshole,” Ashford said. “You said you weren’t coming.”

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