Page 16 of Montana Freedom

My eyebrows rose into my hairline. “How long?”

“A while,” he shrugged. Which likely meant longer than he was comfortable saying.

Mara had been a quiet and steady presence at the ranch nearly since the beginning. Just recently, she’d started to talk more, and the night of the fire and Riders’ raid, she’d surprised the hell out of me by calling me and saying more than I’d heard from her in the last three years.

“You seem worried about it.”

He sighed. “We’ve talked a little. I go out of my way to do it when I can. But I know enough about where she came from. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries. And if she doesn’t want the advance, I don’t want to turn Resting Warrior into a place that feels unsafe for her. It’s her home too.”

I smiled. Liam might goof off and be the joker of the bunch, but he had a good heart. His considerations alone proved that. “I understand the hesitation. But if she said no—”

“That would be that. Of course.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry too much about making this place feel unsafe for her. But I still get the risk, with her background. Let me think on it? Maybe there’s a way to approach it and get your answer and keep everything well insulated.”

“I appreciate it.”

I chuckled. “You’ve certainly hidden it well.”

“Not well enough. Jude and Noah have both figured it out. I thought Jude was going to spit it out at Thanksgiving when I was giving him and Lena shit.”

That made me laugh fully. We’d noticed Liam had backed off the jokes he’d long promised to make about the pining couple. But what he’d just admitted was nowhere near the reason I’d assumed. “I don’t think Jude would do that.”

“Probably not, but I’ll be on my best behavior, regardless.”

“Noted.”

I weighed Liam and Mara together in my mind. It wasn’t the first pairing I’d single out, but it did make sense in a way. Much of Liam’s bluster and joking was to hide exactly how much he cared about others and a shield against getting too close to anyone who could hurt him.

Mara had been hurt too, and the past few years of seeing her slowly heal and become more confident, and even talk a little bit, had been nice. Maybe not an easy path to pursue, but if she was open, I could see them being a good match.

He certainly talked enough for the both of them.

“You should go get some rest, Daniel,” he said finally. “You’ve been here all day, and you and I both know this means more to you than you’re willing to admit. Which also means you won’t leave unless I make you leave, and you’ll be back here at the ass-crack of dawn.”

“Am I that transparent?”

“People get more obvious as they get older.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t push your luck.”

He laughed.

“I’ll just look in on her and make sure she’s not awake.”

“Sure. You can leave the door open a little. I don’t want to scare her if she wakes up to another strange man in the room, but that could let her know someone’s here.”

A good plan. I eased the door open, and the knob pulled out of my hand with suction. I saw the open window first, and my stomach plummeted. The bed was empty, the IV bags were gone, and Emma had disappeared entirely.

I cursed, grabbing for my phone. How long had she been gone? Between the pizza and talking, I’d left her alone for at least an hour. She could be practically anywhere at this point.

Especially if she hitched a ride.

Don’t think about that.

I should have expected this. She’d literally fought to get away when she was practically dead on her feet. Why wouldn’t she run now? She wasn’t well enough to be on her feet—both of us knew that—and she’d still left.

“What happened?” Liam asked, already on his feet.

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