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not wanting to lose the connection.
    “Thank you,” she whispered. “For getting me out of the tree. For taking me to the Donovan cabin. For getting me away from the fire. For caring that my feet are going to be wet and cold. I’m grateful, Ethan.”
    She leaned across the foot that separated them and kissed him. Her lips were soft and warm and he desperately wanted to pull her into his body, to have her wrapped around him.
    But he forced himself to just stand still, and when the kiss ended and she pulled back, he was proud that he didn’t beg her not to stop.
    She didn’t say anything.
    He wasn’t sure his throat would work.
    After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, he pulled his hood up and started walking.
    * * *
    F OR THE MOST PART , she kept up pretty well. There was no conversation as they walked, him leading, her following close behind. She figured he was concentrating, trying to make sure that he had his bearings. She simply focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She was bordering on exhaustion and her shoulder hurt like hell.
    But even that couldn’t keep her from thinking about what it had felt like to kiss Ethan Moore.
    It had been impulsive and a little awkward. At the same time, it had felt completely right.
    Not that he’d seemed to feel the same way.
    Maybe he’d been embarrassed. It was hard to say. Certainly, he hadn’t seemed inclined to discuss it, and that hadn’t changed over their mile walk.
    He’d been right about the emergency crews. There were flashing lights and voices calling out to one another, their language indiscernible, their presence on the normally quiet mountain horribly intrusive.
    While she didn’t know the terrain nearly as well as he did, she wasn’t surprised when she realized that they were approaching the property from the rear, where a bluff butted up to the McCann property. It was the most logical vantage point.
    That worried her some, because what if someone else had the same perspective and with each step, they were closer to stumbling over the creeps who had pushed her off the road and most likely firebombed the cabin? It was almost enough to make her run the other direction. But she didn’t. She had Ethan next to her and he made her feel safe.
    When they were still a little ways away, he held up his hand, stopping her. “Close enough to see. Far enough away not to be seen,” he said quietly.
    “Is it safe?” she whispered back.
    “The only way up onto this bluff is the way we came. You have to know the property really well to know that. It’s the best place for us.”
    He looked through the binoculars, studied the scene for a long moment, then slipped the lanyard off his neck and handed the binoculars to her. She assessed the situation below.
    The snow was so heavy that it was difficult to see. But it appeared that her family’s cabin was destroyed. Whatever had caused the explosion, it had been effective. The modest structure had imploded, with side walls and ceiling collapsing upon one another. There had been a fire, that was evident, but it appeared to have been contained within the structure.
    The emergency vehicles they’d seen were gathered around the perimeter. One firefighter continued to douse the structure with water coming from the tank. The others were standing around, talking to one another.
    She couldn’t stand to look at it one more minute. She handed the binoculars back to Ethan and closed her eyes, trying to block the horrific image. What was she going to tell her father?
    She opened her eyes when she felt Ethan shift. He had the binoculars up to his eyes.
    “What?” she asked.
    “Activity,” he said. “One of the guys just answered his cell phone and suddenly, everybody is running for their vehicles. The two smaller vehicles are leaving. If I had to guess, I’d say somebody just reported your car in the trees. I suspect they’re going to leave the fire truck here to make sure the fire doesn’t reignite, and the