Page 16 of My Three Mountain Men

“Open. Wounds,” I enunciated slowly. “Do you know what those words mean?”

Her eyes hardened. “I’m not an idiot. I know what an open wound is.”

“Good. Then do what you’re told,” I retorted, waiting.

She returned my stare. “I… why?”

Rolling my eyes, I tossed my cousin an exasperated glance, but before I could bark at her again,

Brooks answered. “You could get an infection, Simone,” Brooks explained quickly. “We have no idea how long you were out there, and if you have cuts, they should be treated.”

She bobbed her head slowly, but the nod turned into a shake of the head. “I would know if I had any injuries,” she muttered, her eyes shadowing as if she were trying to feel her body for the first time.

“Do you have to argue with everything?” I demanded. “Just undress and check.”

She whipped her head toward me. “In front of you?”

I balked, and Brooks dropped the pile at the foot of the bed, nudging me. “No,” he said, urging me toward the door. “We’ll be right outside. Call us when you’re done.”

Simone didn’t respond, her sleek profile turning defiantly, but her gaze caught mine, the glitter of her irises catching mine before her tangled blonde mane covered her high cheekbones.

In the hallway again, Brooks closed the door and grinned sheepishly at me.

“She’s probably okay with that attitude,” he offered weakly. “She has a lot of fight in her.”

I didn’t smile back. Instead, I leaned against the wall and folded my arms over my chest, staring blankly at the railing overlooking the front hallway. Just ahead, the chandelier dripped from the tip of the roof archway, casting rainbow rays from the crystals as night fell over the winter landscape beyond the halfmoon windows of the entranceway.

“We have supplies, anyway,” Brooks rambled on, my silence enhancing his nervousness. “The first aid kit hasn’t been touched in forever.”

“Which means it’s outdated,” I fired back. That shut him up for a minute.

“Does that stuff expire?” he asked.

“Medication does,” I replied shortly, angry again that I hadn’t thought to check those supplies recently. That was on me. We’d gotten too comfortable in our seclusion.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Brooks said. “I didn’t see any blood when I found her. She’s eating and speaking. I didn’t notice any obvious signs of frostbite. I thought her fingers were showing discoloration at first, but they seem to have regained their normal color now.”

Grimacing, I fell quiet once more. Maybe Simone was fine now, but we still had an entire winter ahead of us and an extra body to worry about with outdated medical equipment. There were traps to check and hunts to endure. There was wood to chop and fires to start. There were a million ways a person could get hurt in the remote mountains as seasoned survivalists. And now we had a frilly city girl among us.

That wasn’t even accounting for any sickness that might trickle through. For all our modern amenities, we were on our own.

I pushed myself off the wall as Simone called out from the bedroom. “I’m fine. No open wounds.”

“Where are you going?” my cousin asked as I moved toward the stairs.

“You deal with her,” I replied shortly, without turning around. “I’m going to recheck our stock.”

“Ry—”

Ignoring him, I took the steps two at a time, eager to be alone again. I had to focus my attention on reorganizing the house now. The reality of the situation suddenly hit me with some force, stealing my breath and making it hard for me to breathe. I had another orphan to care for. Karma was still punishing me for my misspent youth.

I was never going to have paid the price enough, it seemed.

CHAPTER8

Simone

Although I never admitted it aloud, the sandwich and bowl of canned peaches that the men had left for me to eat made me feel eighty percent better after I polished them both off, followed by the rest of the water.

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