Their mission is clear.

Stay low. Catch a killer.

When Badlands ranger Felicity Harrison finds two bodies while hiking, she’s shocked to discover she’s being framed for murder. Family friend and sheriff’s deputy Gage Wyatt vows to help Felicity find the real killer. But their camping escape into the Badlands will mean facing the elements, their growing attraction and a madman who doesn’t just want Felicity framed—but silenced for good.

NICOLE HELM grew up with her nose in a book and the dream of one day becoming a writer. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, she gets to follow that dream—writing down-to-earth contemporary romance and romantic suspense. From farmers to cowboys, Midwest to the West, Nicole writes stories about people inding themselves and inding love in the process. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two sons and dreams of someday owning a barn.

Also by Nicole Helm

South Dakota Showdown

Covert Complication

Wyoming Cowboy Marine

Wyoming Cowboy Sniper

Wyoming Cowboy Ranger

Wyoming Cowboy Bodyguard

Wyoming Cowboy Justice

Wyoming Cowboy Protection

Wyoming Christmas Ransom

Stone Cold Texas Ranger

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Backcountry Escape

Nicole Helm

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90522-4

BACKCOUNTRY ESCAPE

© 2020 Nicole Helm

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Felicity Harrison had learned two things since coming to live with Duke and Eva Knight when she’d been just four years old, with a broken arm and black eye courtesy of her father.

First, she loved the outdoors. She could hike for days and sleep under the stars every night given the chance. Didn’t matter the season or the weather. In her mind the winds of the South Dakota Badlands had made her, and she was part of that stark, awe-inspiring landscape.

The second thing had taken her a little longer to figure out, but once she’d hit puberty she’d been sure.

She was desperately, irrevocably in love with Brady Wyatt.

Despite the fact she was nearing thirty and he’d never shown any interest in her that he didn’t show all of her foster sisters, Felicity hadn’t fully given up on the prospect that Brady might notice her at some point.

It was possible. She had made changes in her life the past few years. Between her epic shyness and intermittent stutter, high school and college had been a bit of a disaster but she’d found her passion in parks and recreation—as much as people would laugh at her zeal for nature.

In finding her passion at an early age, and making it her career, parks and rec had ended up being the thing that gave her some confidence. The drive to succeed had helped—or maybe forced—her to overcome some of her issues and bumps in the road.

After years of seasonal work in the national park system, she’d finally landed her dream job as a park ranger at Badlands National Park, her home. The job had been hard and challenging, and it had changed her.

She wasn’t the same Felicity she’d been.

Brady hadn’t noticed yet because he was so busy. Being a police officer and EMT in Valiant County took up a lot of his time. Plus, he lived a good hour away and spent free time at his grandmother’s ranch even farther out.

She just needed the opportunity to show him who she’d become, and surely he’d fall for her the way she’d fallen for him all those years ago.

She daydreamed about that opportunity while she took her normal morning hike. Summer was inching its way into the mornings so she didn’t need her park jacket over her sweatshirt. It was her favorite time of year, and that put a smile on her face and pep in her step.

The sky was a moody gray. Likely they’d have storms by afternoon, but she imagined the sky was a bright summer blue and Brady was hiking with her. He’d hold her hand and they’d talk about what birds they were hearing.

Her fantasies about Brady were always just like that. Soft, sweet, relaxing. Brady was steady. Calm. His five brothers were wilder or edgier, even Jamison. As the oldest, Jamison was serious, and seriously noble, but there was a sharpness to him that had taken Felicity time to grow accustomed to.

But Brady? He was even-keeled. He didn’t shout or swear. He believed in right and wrong, and he appreciated the importance of his duties as an EMT. He took care of people. Healed people.

Calm and good and healing were definitely things she wanted in her life.

She was so caught up in her fantasy she almost tripped over the boot in the middle of the path.

She regained her footing and looked down at the brown boot. It was unlaced, and the soles were caked with dirt.

Felicity stared at it as the slow roll of cold shock spread out through her body. For a second her vision blurred and sound disappeared. She couldn’t suck in a breath. She could only stand and look at the boot.

She’d seen this before, done this before. It was happening again.

No.

Her mind rejected the possibility and she managed to breathe in, let it slowly out. It was just a boot. People lost weird things on the trail all the time. Maybe it had gotten too heavy. Maybe it was broken.

There were a million reasons. A million. Besides, it wasn’t even the same kind of boot as…the last time. This one was clearly a woman’s, if the bright pink laces were anything to go by. It was an accident. A coincidence.

You have to check.

She nodded to herself as if that would make her move. Make this okay. As if she could will away all the similarities to last year.

There wouldn’t be a body this time. Couldn’t be.

Just keep walking.

You can’t just keep walking!

Her mind turned over and over, reminding herself of a Felicity she didn’t like very much. She stepped purposefully away from the boot. It wouldn’t be like last year. She would turn to the right and look off the path. She would see nothing but rocks and the stray scrubby flora.

First she looked left. Because…because she had to work up to it. There was nothing but mixed grass prairie that existed on that side of the trail. It was fine.

The right side was where the last body had been. There wouldn’t be one. There couldn’t be one. She forced herself to turn, to take the few steps to the very edge of the trail.

This side was rock, geological deposits that brought people to the Badlands in droves every summer. There wouldn’t be a body. Couldn’t be.

But there was.

She stared at the mess of limbs all at wrong angles. She stared, frozen, willing the image to disappear. The canyon to the side of the trail was narrow and deep, but you’d have to be sincerely not paying attention to fall down it, or…

Or.

She finally managed to squeeze her eyes shut, last year’s memories rushing back like a movie in her head. Unseeing eyes and a black beard then. Now, a woman facedown in the rock, hair moving in the wind.

Nausea rolled through her, but she swallowed it down and tried to think. Tried to remember where and what she was.

Don’t touch anything. Don’t touch. Don’t touch.

She took a few stumbling steps back on the trail.

Last time, she’d checked the body with a thought to help. Last time, she’d compromised the crime scene trying to identify the person while waiting for the cops. Last time, she’d made so many mistakes.

Not this time.

She nodded to herself again. This time she’d do it right. Not mess with anything. Not ruin anything.

How could it be happening again?

“One step at a time, Felicity. One step at a time.”

She was calmed by the sound of her own voice, even if there was no one around she was talking to. She pulled out her phone, called the local police department and radioed her boss so he could get someone out to seal off the area.

Then she called Brady. She couldn’t help it. When she was in trouble—when she or any of her foster sisters were in trouble—they always turned to the Wyatt boys.

They always came, and they always helped. Because they were good men, and Brady was the best of them, in her estimation.

When he answered, she managed to tell him what had happened, though she felt detached and as if she was speaking through dense fog. He promised she wouldn’t have to be alone.

She tried to allow that reassurance to soothe her, but mostly she settled in to wait, hoping she wouldn’t throw up.

“SHE CALLED YOU,” Gage Wyatt grumbled at his brother through the phone receiver tucked between his ear and shoulder as he navigated the highway in front of him.

Summer had turned the hills green, and the tall grass waved in the wind. Gage had always gotten a kick out of the fact that’s exactly what his ancestors would have seen when they’d arrived here by cart and horse.

He couldn’t find amusement today as his twin brother tasked him with something he most especially did not want to do.

“I can’t make it,” Brady lectured. “I called Tuck, but he didn’t answer. He’s likely on a case. You’re closer than Jamison, Cody and Dev—not that I’d send Dev. She needs someone there ASAP, Gage.”

Gage swore inwardly, not sure how out of the six Wyatt brothers he was the only one available. He kept his voice light and offhanded, the Gage Wyatt special. “She’s moon-eyed over you. That’s why she called you.”

There was only the briefest of pauses in return. “She found a body.” Brady’s tone was flat, the kind of flat his voice got when no amount of coaxing, arguing or nonchalance was going to irritate him into caving. “Another body.”

“All right, all right,” Gage muttered. “I’m not too far off.” At least in the grand scheme of things in South Dakota. An hour, tops. “Same place?”

“No.” Brady related where exactly in the park Felicity had stumbled across a body. Not too far from her park ranger cabin.

She’d found another body. The same thing had happened to Felicity last year, and it was horrible, to say the least, that she was dealing with that again. Gage listened as Brady explained where he’d need to go to get to Felicity. He turned his truck around and started heading for the park while Brady spoke.

“Be gentle with her,” Brady said. “You know Felicity.”

“Yeah.” He did, he thought grimly as he hung up and tossed his cell phone onto the passenger seat. He knew her better than his brother did apparently.

Felicity wasn’t the same shy wallflower she’d been growing up. Ever since she’d gotten that job at Badlands and moved home—well, closer to home—she’d been more sure of herself, more…something. He didn’t like to dwell on that considering she was so hung up on Brady.

Who apparently didn’t even notice she’d grown up, no matter how long it had taken her.

She’d held up really well last year when she’d found the body. It had seemed like a freak accident, and she had seemed able to handle it, especially admirable since she wasn’t used to dealing with dead bodies. As a police officer, he had dealt with quite a few, not always violent or tragic. Sometimes as simple as someone going to sleep and not waking up.

It was part of the job, and even if it wasn’t, he’d grown up in a biker gang until his oldest brother had gotten him and Brady out when they’d been eleven. He’d seen worse there living among the Sons of the Badlands those eleven years, especially considering his father ran the group. Ace Wyatt didn’t deal in mercy—he dealt in his own warped version of justice.

Thanks to his oldest brother, Jamison, Gage had never believed in his father’s justice. But he’d had to survive it, and the body count, before he’d had the maturity or the badge to cope with it.

Now he had both, but no matter how much Felicity had come into her own lately, she wasn’t supposed to have to deal with dead bodies.

Plural. The pattern here made him uneasy. It was rare park rangers found bodies when not part of a search for missing people. Rarer still to have it happen to the same ranger twice.

She did need someone, but Gage didn’t know why Brady hadn’t called one of her foster sisters. Most of them would do better with the whole soothing and reassuring task ahead of him.

Likely Brady had called him because he knew some of the police officers with Pennington County, and none of the Knight fosters would. They might soothe, but Gage would be able to get some answers.

Gage would get those answers for Felicity. It was the soothing and reassuring part he wasn’t so keen on. He tended to keep a hands-off policy as much as possible when it came to her.

“Grown woman,” Gage muttered to himself, tapping his agitated fingers against the wheel as he drove. “Did this before. She’ll do it again.”

He pressed the gas pedal a little hard.

“Didn’t she just help save Cody and Nina’s butts?” he demanded in an imaginary argument with Brady. “She’s capable. More than.” Wasn’t that half the reason he kept his distance? Capable Felicity in love with his twin brother was dangerous to his well-being.

He muttered to himself on the long, empty drive to the Badlands. Usually he’d marvel at the scenery. Even living here his whole life, he didn’t take for granted the rolling grassland that turned into buttes and the grand rock formations that made up the park and its surrounding areas. But he was working up a good irritated steam—mostly as a defense mechanism against Felicity in particular.

She was moon-eyed over Brady. So it made sense that since she’d grown a spine and begun showing it off, Gage had started having a little more than friendly thoughts about her. What didn’t make sense was harboring those more-than-friendly feelings knowing full well she worshipped the ground Brady walked on.

Who could blame her? His brothers were saints as far as he was concerned. Oh, Cody and Dev had a bit of an edge to them, but at the heart of it they were all good men.

Then there was Brady, something better than a good man. Smartest of all of them, honorable without being hard about it. By the book and serious, yet affable enough that everyone loved Brady. He never said the wrong thing, never offered an inappropriate joke to ease the tension. If all his brothers were saints, Brady was the king saint.

On the other hand Gage was the one who said the wrong thing for a laugh. Who didn’t take anything as earnestly as his brothers took their breakfast choices.

Of course Felicity had a thing for Brady, and it seemed inevitable that Gage had the bad luck to be hung up on someone in love with his perfect twin.

He rolled his shoulders as he pulled into the parking lot for the trail Felicity had been hiking. This wasn’t about him, his issues or even his stupid feelings.

This was about Felicity. Helping her with a sad coincidence. Coming across her second dead body in as many years.

He ignored a tingly this is all wrong feeling between his shoulder blades and flashed a broad grin to the cop stationed at the blocked-off trailhead.

He pulled out his badge, did some sweet-talking and was heading toward Felicity in a few minutes.

Once he reached the area where the cops and park rangers were huddled, he stopped short and took a minute to observe Felicity. She sat on a rock away from the circle of people. She was deathly pale, her fingers twisted together, and she stared hard at them.

His heart ached, very much against his will. As a sheriff’s deputy for Valiant County, he’d dealt with his share of victims and innocent bystanders of awful things. He knew how to deal with the walking wounded.

But he actually knew Felicity, and had since he’d escaped to Grandma’s ranch. He’d been eleven to her nine. He’d witnessed her nearly mute elementary years, an awkward-at-best adolescence and then eventually this change in her. Now, in front of him sat a woman who was not falling apart though she had every right to.

That twisting feeling dug deeper so he pushed himself forward. “Hey.”

She looked up slowly, her eyebrows drawing together in dawning confusion. “I called Brady.”

The twist grew teeth, and he might have grinned negligently in a different situation. But she’d just found a body, so Gage shrugged instead and didn’t let the burn of her disappointment settle inside of him. “He sent me. I was closest.”

She stared at him for a few seconds before she finally jerked her chin in some approximation of a nod. “They already—” she swallowed, a slight tremor going through her body “—moved the body out.”

“Any ID?”

Felicity shook her head. “Nothing on her.”

“Her. So, this is different than…” He winced at how insensitive he sounded. Sure, it worked when you were a cop. Not so much when you were here as a friend.

She paused. “Yes,” she said finally, in a way that was not convincing at all. “Different.”

“Let’s get you back to your place, huh?”

She gestured helplessly at the team of cops and park officials. “I have to…”

“They know where to find you if they need more information. Come on. You probably haven’t eaten since breakfast.” He pulled her to her feet and easily slid his arm around her shoulders since he knew she’d balk at moving if he didn’t give her a physical push.

She smelled like flowers and summer. Quite the opposite of the situation they were dealing with.

She pressed a hand to her stomach, her heels all but digging in where she stood. “I couldn’t eat. I can’t.”

“We’ll see. You want to walk back?”

She looked around, dismay clear as day on her face. “No, but I need to.”

He understood that. If she didn’t walk back the way she’d come, she’d be afraid of returning this way even when her job necessitated it.

Still, he had to give her a push, and he tried not to feel a bit sick over the fact he was forcing her to do something she didn’t want to do. Even if she needed to. He followed the trail back toward her cabin, keeping a tight grip on her shoulders as they walked.

A cold drizzle began to fall, but neither of them commented on it or hurried their pace. It felt like a slow trudge through chilled molasses, and Gage didn’t have the heart to speed her up even as she began to shiver.

When they got to the authorized-user-only trail, Gage took it without qualm. It would lead to her park housing, and he’d get some food in her. Encourage her to rest.

Then, when she wasn’t so pale, he’d head back to the ranch. Felicity wouldn’t want him to stay anyway. She’d either handle it on her own, or he’d call one of her sisters for her.

Her little cabin was situated in a small grove of trees. It was old, but she’d infused it with a kind of hominess, though he couldn’t identify how. Just that it looked like a nice place.

He reached the door and waited for her to pull out her keys. She unlocked the door and stepped inside.

He’d hoped the walk would have helped put some color back in her cheeks, but she still looked pale as death and like a stray wind might knock her over. Her red hair was damp, and the tendrils that had escaped her braid stuck to her ashen skin.

“Go change into something dry.”

She looked up at him, her green eyes lost and sad. She didn’t say anything, just stood there looking at him.

“Go on. I’ll fix you something to eat while you change.”

She shook her head. “I’ll just throw it up.”

“We’ll see. Go on now.” He shooed her toward where he figured her bedroom was, down a short, narrow hallway.

He went to the cramped kitchen and poked around for something to make that would go down easy. He found an unreasonable amount of tea and picked one that looked particularly soothing. He followed the instructions, trying not to feel claustrophobic in her closet of a kitchen.

When she returned she didn’t look any less lost, but she was in dry sweatpants and a long-sleeved T-shirt for Mammoth Cave National Park. She stood at the entrance to the kitchen taking in her surroundings like it was somewhere she’d never been before.

“Sit,” he ordered, uncomfortable with how fragile she seemed.

She nodded after a time and then took a seat at her tiny table. He set the mug of tea in front of her. “You’ll drink all of that,” he said, trying to sound as commanding as his grandmother did when she was forcing food on someone.

She didn’t drink, just stared at the mug. “They think I have something to do with it,” she said, her voice so quiet he almost couldn’t make out the words. “I can tell.”

“No. You’ve been through this before. You know how it goes.” He found a loaf of bread and dropped a slice in the toaster. “They have questions they have to ask just to make sure, but—”

“It’s the second time.” She lifted her gaze to meet his, and there was nothing timid or uncertain about her, as there had been in the past. No, she was in complete control, even lost and scared. “The questions were different. And they’re right. It does. It has something to do with me. I know it does.”

Chapter Two

Something about Gage’s large form taking up almost the entire space in her tiny kitchen made Felicity want to blurt out everything that was going on in her brain.

He was making her tea and toast. She wanted to lay down her head and cry. She expected her sisters to take care of her. She even expected Duke to take care of her—he’d had to step in as mother along with father when Eva had died. He’d done his best.

Her foster family had always done their best, just like their friends the Wyatts.

But this was Gage. Gage always made her feel edgy. Like she was on uneven ground. You never knew what Gage was going to do or say, and she preferred knowing exactly what was going to happen.

Sometimes she blamed his size for the discomfort she felt. He was so tall and broad and, Lord, he packed on the muscle. But Brady was the exact same size, just as strong and broad, and Brady only ever made her feel safe. Comfortable.

Gage set down a plate with a piece of buttered toast in front of her. Her cheap, cute floral dishes looked all wrong in his hands.

Today was all, all wrong.

“Why do you think it has something to do with you?” he asked as he took a seat across from her.

“You made me tea and toast.” She could only stare at the wisps of steam drifting up from the mug. Gage Wyatt…had made her tea and toast?

“You’re lucky. If Grandma Pauline was here, she would have made a five-course meal and insisted you eat every bite.”

It was true. His grandmother soothed with food—whether you wanted food as soothing or not. Tea and toast was a lighter option, and her stomach might actually be able to handle it. So she sipped the tea, took a bite of toast and avoided the topic of conversation at hand.

“Felicity.”

She winced at the gentleness in his tone. “Why did Brady send you?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. That sounds ungrateful.”

He shrugged again, just as he had outside when she’d made a point of telling him he wasn’t who she’d been expecting. There was something in his gaze when he gave those careless shrugs that made her heart feel weighted. Like she’d said something all wrong and hurt his feelings.

Which was ludicrous. Gage did not get hurt feelings, especially at her hands.

“Like I said outside, I was closest.” He tapped his fingers on the table, the only sign of agitation.

“You’ve been very…nice,” she said, not even sure why she wanted to try to make him feel better when any hurt or agitation had to be her imagination.

“I’m always nice.”

“No. That is not true. Not that you’re mean, but I’m not sure anyone would describe you as nice.” Gage was challenging. He was irreverent. He made her jumpy. Even when he was doing something nice.

“Felicity. Why do you think this crime connects to you?”

The toast turned to lead in her throat and she had to work to swallow it down. She didn’t want to talk about it, but she needed to. She needed help. From someone in law enforcement who would listen to her. “It was the same.”

“A woman this time,” he noted. “So, not exactly the same.”

“Maybe not the who, but it was my morning hike. My routine. I’ve changed it a little since last year, but I always have a routine.” Routine steadied her. Made her feel strong and in control, and now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to have one or feel that ever again. “The last time, it was my routine hike. My personal routine hike—not work related. Just like this time.”

He nodded and waited patiently for her to work up to say the rest of it.

“The boot in the trail. Unlaced. That happened last time, too. I stumbled over the boot last time. This time I saw it in the nick of time—probably the pink laces.” Those laces would haunt her forever.

“Okay. So you saw the boot, and then what?”

She’d already told the Pennington County deputies and her boss the answer to that question. Over and over in a circle. But she hadn’t explained to them what she was about to explain to Gage. “I told them I looked on the sides of the trail to see if anyone had had an accident.”

“You told them…”

“I knew where the body would be. I looked on the left side first because that wasn’t where the body was last time. I looked to the left and there was no one there, but I had to check. It would be on the right side of the trail. I didn’t want there to be, but I just… I just knew the body would be where it had been last time. Only a few feet off the trail.” She shoved away the tea and the toast and got to her feet. “I can’t…”

There was nowhere to go in her tiny cabin. Stomp off to her room like a child? Tempting.

But Gage walked right over to her, putting his big hands on her shoulders and squeezing them enough to center her in the moment.

He was so dang tall, and it was unreasonable how broad-shouldered he was. When he was clean-shaven, he looked so much like Brady it got hard to tell them apart. But their eyes were different. Brady’s hazel edged toward brown, and Gage’s green. Gage’s nose was crooked, and he had a scar through his eyebrow.

Brady’s face was perfect. Gage’s was…

“You know, Brady told me I needed to be gentle with you.”

Those words felt like cold water being splashed in her face. “I’m not a shy little girl anymore,” she snapped, trying to shrug off his hands. When would they all see that? It wasn’t enough she’d helped save Cody and Nina from one of the Sons last month? Honestly.

“That’s what I told him,” Gage said, which had her looking up in confusion.

“You…”

“Anyone who’s paying attention can see you’ve changed, Felicity. You’re an adult. You’ve found yourself or whatever you want to call it.”

Did that mean Gage was paying attention? Impossible.

“Now. You’ve done this before. So, don’t say you can’t when we both know you can and you will.”

She sucked in a breath. He was right. It didn’t quite steady her, though. Why was Gage of all people right? And why were his big hands on her narrow shoulders?

As if he’d read her thoughts, his hands slid away and he stepped back, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Why couldn’t it be random? I mean, it looks like the killings connect. It’s not accidental and it’s not suicide. It’s murder—even I could see that no matter how much they tried to BS me. But just because it’s murder, doesn’t mean you’re the key. Maybe Badlands is the common denominator. Maybe you’re just…”

“Unlucky?”

“Sure. Why not? The bodies aren’t showing up on your doorstep.”

“Just on trails I walk as a matter of course,” she returned, wishing she could believe his coincidence theory. “That boot wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t placed there yesterday when anyone could have come across it. It was put there so I would come across it.”

“Okay.” He nodded, taking a few more steps away from her.

It seemed odd, the forced distance, but she could hardly think about anything going on with Gage when she had a dead body to worry about.

“If you’re being targeted…why?”

“I don’t know.” She didn’t have a clue. Maybe she’d believe it was her connection to the Wyatts. She’d shot one of the Sons of the Badlands men to help Nina and Cody escape Ace Wyatt’s machinations. Except she’d never had a personal interaction with Ace Wyatt, the president of the gang and Gage’s father, who was now in jail.

But jail hadn’t stopped Ace from making things happen on the outside last month. Why would she think he couldn’t reach her now?

The problem was that last month was the first time she’d ever interfered with Sons business, which didn’t explain the first body from a year ago.

Unless that had been an accident and this was a copycat?

“You think it’s Ace.”

Felicity looked up at Gage because his voice was so flat. Even when Gage got angry he usually hid it under that natural irreverence. It was why she preferred Brady. Brady was rather stoic, but when he showed an emotion you knew what emotion you were getting. Gage was unpredictable.

Even now. She didn’t know what that cold, flat voice meant. She only knew it was possible this connected to his crime boss of a father, even if Ace was in jail and the Sons of the Badlands seemed to be getting weaker.

“I don’t know. I don’t know, but I interfered last month.”

“It wouldn’t connect all the way back to last year.” He kept talking before she could offer her theory. “But it wouldn’t have to—it would just have to look like it. Sounds like Ace.”

She nodded. “I need you to help me figure out if it is, Gage. I can’t trust the local police to do it. I’m sure they’re fine at their jobs, but they don’t know Ace, and they’re afraid of the Sons. You aren’t.”

“Everyone is afraid of the Sons, Felicity. It’s stupid not to be.” He sighed, presumably at the horrified look on her face. “We’ll figure it out. Okay?”

SHE WAS STANDING still as a statue, looking at him like he’d slapped her across the face when he’d simply told her the truth.

Even if the Sons were weaker than they’d been, they were still dangerous. Too dangerous, and anyone with a connection to Ace Wyatt was definitely in the most danger.

They were working on getting more charges leveled against Ace, thanks to three of the men who had been arrested after trying to hurt Cody and Nina and their daughter last month. But it still wouldn’t add up to a life sentence, even if he was found guilty at his upcoming trial for the first round of charges.

Unfortunately, no matter how sure Jamison and Cody were that the law would keep Ace powerless—when Ace had already proved jail couldn’t—Gage had doubts.

Major doubts.

Felicity had been integral in the arrest of one of those men who was potentially going to take the stand against Ace. It made sense she’d be targeted.

Gage’s phone chimed and he looked down at the text from Brady.

I can relieve you if you want.

Felicity would want Brady. She deserved the Wyatt brother she preferred even if her crush was hopeless. Brady didn’t have a clue who Felicity really was. Gage wasn’t convinced his twin could ever look at the Knight fosters and not see a sister. Or at the least think, Hands off.

Brady would always toe the unofficial line. Gage never did.

No worries, he typed and hit Send before he could talk himself into doing the right thing.

Maybe Felicity wanted Brady, but Gage would be the better helper in this situation. He was willing to bend a few more rules than Brady. Besides, she’d said she needed his help. Maybe it was only because he was here, but hell, he was here.

“Once they ID her, we’ll want to see how she connects to the first victim.”

Felicity shook her head and took a seat. “I don’t think the victims matter. I mean, they matter. To their families. To me. But they’re not the point to whoever is doing this.”

“Maybe not, but we’ll research it all the same. We’ll go over things. Maybe you should stay at the ranch until this blows over.”

She was shaking her head. “I have a job to do. If I run away from that—”

“They’re going to put you on leave. They did last time, didn’t they?”

“They can’t. It’s summer this time. It’s busy season. I’m scheduled for programs and…” She trailed off as her phone buzzed. She swallowed and looked at the screen. “It’s my boss.”

Gage didn’t say I told you so. He didn’t need to. Didn’t want to after having to stand and listen to her desperate attempts to change her boss’s mind.

When she finally hung up, she stared at her phone. “I can’t work for at least a week.”

“That’s not such a bad thing.”

Her head whipped up, fury in her green eyes. “It’s a terrible thing. On every level. I can’t be here. It will haunt me—her body. Every night. You can’t get rid of something you never face. It puts my job, my dream job, in jeopardy. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to get this position?”

The color had come back to her face, the faintest blush rising in her cheeks. She was breathing a little heavier after that tirade, and she had her fingers curled into fists.

She was possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he knew that made him a jerk. “Yeah,” he finally managed. “You worked your butt off.”

His simple affirmative had her slumping in her seat. “I don’t want to go to the ranch. Duke will worry. Sarah and Rachel will worry and fuss. Your grandmother will make a feast for seventy and expect a handful of us to eat it all. Worst of all, you Wyatt boys will push me out of this when it is my fight.”

“It’s our fight.”

“And yet I’m the one with blood on my hands.” She held them up as if she’d been the one to do any kind of killing.

He knelt in front of her and, though he knew it would be a mistake, took both her raised hands in his. “There’s no blood here.”

“There might as well be,” she returned, her voice breaking on the last word. She blinked back tears. “I can’t sit idly by. If you take me back there, you’ll push me out. All of you.”

Brady would lead that charge, but Gage didn’t tell her that. He held her hands in his, irritated that both were so cold. She should have drunk the tea. He should have made her.

“No, you can’t sit idly by,” he agreed, if irritably. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t go to the ranches and work through it. Let the police do their jobs here. Let your boss do his job for the park. Back home, we’ll work together to figure out what this really is. Together. I promise. No one will push you out.”

She stared at him, eyebrows drawn together, frown digging lines around her mouth. Her eyes were suspicious, but she sat there and let him hold her hands. She sat there and stared at him. Thinking.

While she was thinking, he was feeling quite a bit too much.

She tugged her hands out of his grasp and stood abruptly. She stalked away from him, though it ended up being only a few steps because the cabin was so small. She whirled and pointed at him. “You promise?”

“I promise,” he replied solemnly.

Because Gage Wyatt would break rules and didn’t mind lying when it suited, but he wouldn’t break a promise to Felicity. Not even if it killed him.

Chapter Three

Felicity sat in the passenger seat of Gage’s truck, brooding over the lack of her own vehicle. The lack of her job for at least a week. The lack of her little cabin that wasn’t her home exactly. It wasn’t hers to own—it was the park’s.

But neither were the ranches hers, though they made up the tapestry of her childhood and adolescence. The Wyatt boys and the foster girls of Duke and Eva Knight had run wild over both ranches. They were a piece of her, yes, but she didn’t own them.

She’d gotten into the wrong business if she was worried about owning things, though. Apparently, the wrong business if she didn’t want to find dead bodies.

She closed her eyes, but that only made said bodies pop up in her head, so she opened them and leaned her forehead against the window. She watched the scenery pass, from the stark browns, tans and whites of the Badlands to the verdant green and rolling hills with only the occasional ridge of rock formations that would lead them to the ranches they’d grown up on.

“Brady said for us to meet at my grandma’s.”

Felicity sighed. “I don’t want a fuss.” She didn’t want all the attention or the attempts at soothing. Right now she wanted to be alone.

Except then her company would be the images of the dead bodies she’d found, and that didn’t exactly appeal, either.

“Maybe it’d be a good time to tell them about our Ace connection theory,” Gage offered as if he was trying to make her feel better. Which was odd coming from Gage, who was known more for making a joke out of serious things. Still, if she really thought about it, he often did that in a way that made people feel better, even if only momentarily.

“So it’s our theory now?”

Gage lifted a negligent shoulder. “We can call it yours, but I agree with it.”

“Will they?”

“Not sure. Don’t see why they wouldn’t. It makes sense. We’ll look into it one way or another.”

“We or you guys?”

He spared her a look as he pulled through the gate to the Reaves Ranch. Pauline Reaves had run this ranch since she’d been younger than Felicity, and though she’d married, she’d kept the ranch in her name and never let anyone believe her husband ran things.

As the story went, her late husband had been in love with her enough not to care. Felicity had never met the Wyatt boys’ grandfather, who had died before Felicity had come to live with the Knights.

Felicity loved Grandma Pauline like her own. Not such a strange thing for a girl who’d grown up with the care and love of foster parents to love nonfamily like family. Pauline had always represented a strong, independent feminine ideal to Felicity. One she’d thought she’d never live up to.

But the older she got, the more Felicity felt that if she worked hard enough at it, she could be as strong and determined as Grandma Pauline. She could forge her own path.

Thoughts of Pauline’s strength disappeared as the line of cars in front of Pauline’s old ranch house came into view. Despite its sprawling size, piecemeal additions and modernizations over the years, and the fact only two people lived full-time in it, the house was well cared for. The boys always made sure repairs were done quickly, and Grandma kept it spick-and-span.

Still, it showed its age and wear. There was something comforting in that—or there would be if there wasn’t this line of cars in front of it.

“Everyone’s here.”

“I mean, not…everyone,” Gage said, trying for what she assumed was a cheerful tone.

He’d failed. Miserably. Everyone or almost everyone’s vehicle being here meant something…something big at that. It was more than her stumbling across a dead body.

Felicity frowned as Gage parked in line. Based on the vehicles she recognized, Tucker and Brady were here, as was Duke and potentially Rachel and Sarah if they’d driven over with him. Dev and Grandma Pauline lived on the property, but it was Cody’s truck that really bothered her. Why would he come all the way out from Bonesteel? The only vehicle missing was one belonging to Jamison and Liza. Hopefully they were at home in Bonesteel, safe and sound, taking care of Gigi, Liza’s young half sister. “What is all this? Why is everyone here?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, sounding confused enough that she believed him. He got out of the truck and she followed. Dev’s ranch dogs pranced at their feet, whimpering excitedly as they’d been trained not to bark at Wyatts or Knights.

Felicity wanted to dawdle or trudge, spend some time playing with the dogs, or maybe make a run for it to the Knight Ranch, where she knew she still had a bed waiting for her.

But that was cowardly, and it wouldn’t change whatever this was. It would only avoid it for a while.

She followed Gage’s brisk pace to the back door, which led to a mudroom. The dogs wouldn’t follow inside at this entrance since you had to go through the kitchen to get to the rest of the house—and Grandma Pauline did not allow dogs in her kitchen.

Felicity stepped into the kitchen behind Gage. A very full room.

Duke and Rachel were there, sitting at the table. When Felicity had been younger, she’d been jealous of Rachel. She was Duke and Eva’s only biological child, and she looked like she belonged in the Knight family. Even though with the fosters they’d been a conglomeration of black, Lakota and white—no one looking too much like anyone else—Felicity had always felt the odd man out with her particularly pale skin and bright red hair.

But she was older now, and today she was glad to see the people who were her family.

It was a little harder to be grateful for the presence of the Wyatt brothers. All of them being here in this moment only meant trouble. They brought it with them, and though they fought it as much as they could, it was always there.

Tucker stood next to Cody and Jamison—so they must have driven together from Bonesteel. Dev and Brady sat at the table while Grandma Pauline bustled around the kitchen.

They all looked at Felicity with smiles that were in turn sad, sympathetic or pitying. Felicity’s chest got tight and panic beat through her, its own insistent drum of a heartbeat. “What’s going on?”

Grandma Pauline all but pushed her into a chair and set a plate with a brownie on it in front of her. Duke took her hand and patted it.

All the eyes in the room except Gage’s turned to Tucker.

His smile was the most pitying and apologetic of all. “When Brady told me what happened I asked a buddy over in Pennington County to let me know if they found anything out.”

Felicity had to pause before she spoke. Getting upset often made her stutter return, but if she kept herself from rushing, she could handle it. “And they did?”

“The victim’s name is Melody Harrison.”

Everyone was quiet. So quiet and this was usually a noisy group.

“It’s a common enough last name,” Felicity forced herself to say slowly and calmly. “It might be a coincidence.” She didn’t know anyone named Melody, even if they shared a last name. Of course she’d been taken away from her abusive father at four. She hardly knew her biological family.

“It is common. Unfortunately, the next of kin who identified her…” If it was possible, the pitying expression grew worse. “He was her father. Michael Harrison.”

“M-my father. B-but that’s common, too, and—”

Tucker nodded grimly. “I confirmed it, Felicity. Your father. Melody was twenty-two, so she was born after you were placed with the Knights.”

“Y-you’re s-saying that…” She winced at how badly the stutter sounded in the quiet room. She made sure to take breaths between each word as she spoke. “The dead body I found is my sister.”

“At least by half. Which means…” Tucker scraped a hand over his jaw.

She didn’t let him say it. She might have before last year. Let him say it. Let the Wyatt boys take care of it. But no one could really take care of what was going on in her head. Even when she was weary enough to wish someone else could.

“The cops will try to connect me to it even more now.”

GAGE SWORE AND felt a stab of guilt when Felicity flinched as if she’d received some kind of blow.

This was ludicrous. “How? When she didn’t even know the sister existed?” Gage demanded.

His brothers gave him that look. The you should know better, Gage look. Because he was a cop. He knew how to investigate a suspicious death, and Felicity tripping over her alleged half sister was certainly suspicious.

He looked at Felicity. She’d made him promise that she wouldn’t get elbowed out of dealing with this herself, so he waited for her to bring it up.

Though mostly he wanted Grandma Pauline to shove her full of brownies while he took care of everything.

However, he had enough women in his life to know they didn’t particularly appreciate that method. Besides, he’d promised. So… He all but bit his tongue.

He gave Felicity a go-ahead nod, and then gestured when she simply stared at him. She blew out a slow breath.

“It could be Ace,” Felicity finally said. She looked down at the plate and the brownie on it, but her voice was clear and steady no matter how little eye contact she made.

“How?” Jamison returned.

She looked up and met Jamison’s gaze. “I interfered. I helped Nina and Cody. I don’t know how it’s Ace, but I know why it could be. It makes sense.” Her gaze shifted to Gage, looking for some kind of support or backup.

Me not Brady. Which was very much not the point. “Obviously, the timing of the first one doesn’t work, but it could be a copycat type thing. It could be a way to make it look like she’s involved—and I think the family connection only makes that more plausible.”

His brothers mulled that over.

“Possibly a setup. To get Felicity in trouble. A punishment for interfering,” Jamison said, clearly trying to work out the logistics. “I buy that. It’s Ace’s MO. But how would he have orchestrated it? Since the attempt on Nina’s life, we’ve been keeping tabs on everyone Ace talks to.”

Gage had thought about that on the long, silent drive over to Grandma Pauline’s. “We keep tabs on everyone who visits him in jail. Not who he talks to inside. He could be paying off a guard or threatening another inmate. Problem is, until Ace is sentenced and sent to a more secure facility, he has ample ways to outwit the system and us.”

“His lawyer keeps getting the trial pushed back,” Tucker said, disgust lacing his tone. “They’re going to drag it out as long as they can.”

“Don’t you have any informants on the inside, Detective?” Gage asked, infusing the word detective with only a little sarcasm.

Tucker rolled his eyes. “Not anyone I’d trust enough to tangle with Ace.”

“What do we do?” Duke asked. Demanded.

“The park forced me to take a week’s leave of absence, and then they’ll reevaluate,” Felicity said miserably.

“So, you’ll be home.” Duke didn’t have to say where you belong for it to be heard echoing in the silence.

Felicity smiled at Duke, but surely everyone saw how sad that smile was.

“There’s not much we can do right now,” Jamison said, always the de facto leader, no matter the situation. “Tucker will keep his ear to the ground when it comes to the investigation. Cody and I can look into getting some more information about who Ace talks to in the jail.”

“What about…” Gage hesitated at the word father, considering he barely liked to call his own one. “Michael Harrison. Where did this guy come from?”

“He was the victim’s father.”

Gage shook his head. “That’s an awful big coincidence. There was a reason Felicity was removed from his care. Was this girl?”

“Okay, point taken. We’ll look into both of them.”

“And what will I do?” Felicity asked, and though Gage thought she tried to turn it into a demand like Duke had done, it didn’t quite hit the mark.

“Come home and rest, girl,” Duke instructed.

Gage opened his mouth to come to her defense because he’d promised, but she shook her head.

She smiled at her foster father. “That’s a good idea, Duke.”

They both stood up from the table, and since she hadn’t taken even a single bite of the brownie Grandma had put in front of her, Grandma immediately shoved a plastic container full of brownies into her hands.

Felicity smiled and gave Grandma a one-armed hug. “Thank you, Grandma Pauline.”

“You eat, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Felicity glanced back at Gage. “Keep me up-to-date?”

He ignored the fact he got a little something out of her asking him and not Brady. He was very good at ignoring things he didn’t particularly care for.

He gave her a nod, and Duke, Rachel and Felicity left Grandma’s kitchen. Leaving Gage with his brothers and Grandma.

Dev stood first. “I’ve got work.”

“I’ll help,” Gage offered. “I was supposed to anyway.” He paused and looked at Jamison, Cody and Tucker. They had the best ways to get information. Gage had a few buddies over at Pennington, but Tucker knew the detectives. Jamison and Cody had been integral in getting Ace arrested in the first place, so they had a lot of ways to find information on the Ace side of things.

Gage rode the road. He had a bit too much of a mouth on him to receive the promotions Tucker and Brady seemed to rack up without even trying.

It didn’t bother him. He preferred the in-the-trenches view from the bottom, but right now the lack of resources to get information made him superfluous.

So why not sweat away some frustration on ranch work? He’d spend the night, check in on Felicity tomorrow morning, then head back to his apartment to pick up his take-home car for his evening shift.

If that itch between his shoulder blades stayed there all through the afternoon and night, well, he’d deal.

WHEN HE WOKE up the next morning and trudged down to breakfast, Brady was waiting at the breakfast table. Gage rubbed bleary eyes and knew the news was bad without even a word passing between them.

“They searched Felicity’s cabin,” Brady said without preamble.

“And?”

“They found evidence of clothing being burned in the fire grate outside the cabin. They’ve collected some hair they found—clearly not Felicity’s.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s that woman’s hair. That doesn’t mean anything. Good Lord, she’s not a suspect.”

“They’ve sent the hair and what was left of the burnt clothes in for DNA testing,” Brady said, his calm poking at Gage’s agitation.

Brady sighed and shook his head, showing his first sign of emotion. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“So do I.” It smelled of a setup. But not enough of one to tip off cops who didn’t know Felicity. Or Ace, for that matter.

“We’ve got to get her a lawyer,” Brady said. With a straight face and everything.

“A lawyer? Are you insane? We have to get her out of here.”

Brady’s expression went carefully blank. “You can’t run from the police, Gage. You are the police.”

“Yeah, and I know this is garbage. You know it. Felicity wouldn’t hurt a fly, and I’m not going to let her be arrested and God knows what else. Can you imagine her stuck in a cell somewhere? It’s not happening.”

Brady didn’t move even as Gage paced the room. Cody often called them two sides of the same coin. The way they reacted, or acted in general, was often in big sweeping opposites, but when it came to it—twin junk or just the way life worked—they were the same deep down.

They might not react the same, but they understood.

“Where would you go?” Brady asked, without Gage even having to say he’d be the one to hide her.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

He had to.

Chapter Four

Felicity woke up in her childhood bed. There was a deep, soothing relief in that familiarity, that cocoon of safety…for about five seconds before the anxiety started to creep in.

Luckily, there was plenty to do to keep a mind occupied when you woke up on a ranch. Though Duke and Sarah ran the cattle operation with their seasonal workers, Felicity knew a chore or two could always be picked up.

It wouldn’t keep her mind from running in circles, but it might help exhaust her enough she could manage a decent night’s sleep tonight instead of tossing and turning as she’d done last night.

She rolled out of bed and looked around the empty room. She’d once shared it with Sarah, but when Liza, Nina and Cecilia had all moved out, each of the remaining girls had gotten their own room instead of sharing with one other sister.

Felicity had learned how to be alone, but she did it best and most comfortably when she could be outdoors. When she could listen to birdsong and watch the stars move across the sky. When the fresh air and unique landscape made her feel awe at her place in the world.

Indoors, alone was just alone. Too quiet and too claustrophobic.

The thought had her walking into the hallway, determined to find someone to eat breakfast with and then find chores.

She ran into Rachel in the hallway and raised an eyebrow at her notoriously bad-at-mornings sister. “Aren’t you up early.”

“That class I’m teaching at the rez this summer started last week.” Rachel yawned. “It might kill me.”

“I thought you were going to stay with Cecilia while you did that.” As a tribal police officer, Cecilia lived on the rez. Though she wasn’t Duke’s biological daughter, she was Eva’s niece. Neither Cecilia nor Rachel would have ever said it aloud, but they had more of a connection with each other than with her, Sarah, Liza and Nina. Blood mattered, even in a foster family.

“I’ve been spending weeknights with Cee, and weekends here. But Daddy was grumbling last night so I stayed an extra night. I’m staying there the rest of the week after class today.” Rachel yawned again, then her eyes brightened. “Hey, drive me over instead of Sarah? You can spend a few nights with us at Cecilia’s, take your mind off everything. We’ll have a sleepover. Sarah won’t stay because of the ranch, and Liza and Nina have their girls to worry about, but the three of us could have fun.”

“I don’t—”

“I won’t take no for an answer.”

Felicity smiled. It wasn’t such a bad idea. She could clear her head, enjoy her sisters. Maybe Rachel and Cecilia had a deeper connection, but Felicity only seemed to feel that when she was alone and overthinking things. When they were all together, they were sisters.

Maybe all those thoughts about deeper connections were more her own issues than the truth.

“Well, then I guess… Damn, I don’t have a car.”

“We’ll take Duke’s. He can use Sarah’s truck for the weekend. You drop me off at the school, then you can do whatever. I’m sure the park will let you go back to work next week once the police have figured this out.”

Felicity smiled, though she was not at all sure. Nothing about what was going on felt like last time. Last time had been a shock. It had been scary and a little traumatic, but she’d been able to convince herself it was a one-time thing. She’d just had the bad luck to be the one to find him. Bad luck was life.

Twice in two years felt a lot less like random bad luck.

“Come on,” Rachel said, slipping her arm around Felicity’s taller shoulders. “I’ll make you breakfast. Pancakes.”

“You don’t have to go to all that trouble.”

Rachel shrugged. “Daddy and Sarah will sing my praises. Neither of them are very good at taking care of themselves.”

“What do they do when you’re not here?”

“I’m hoping one of them learns through sheer necessity. I guess we’ll see.”

They headed downstairs together. Though Rachel was legally blind, she knew the house so well she didn’t need her support cane when walking around inside and most of the grounds outside, as well.

Duke and Sarah were likely already out doing chores, but they’d be back in a half hour or so to eat and get more coffee. Felicity set out to help Rachel make pancakes and they chatted about Rachel’s art class.

It felt good and normal, and Felicity almost forgot all her worries. Everything would be fine. She had a great family. Maybe the real issue wasn’t so much what had happened, but how she’d allowed herself to feel solitary and singular when she had so many people who cared about her.

Since she hadn’t done anything wrong, she just had to wait out the investigation. Maybe the time off would even be good for her. She’d been so focused on having her dream job that she’d neglected her family.

She’d spend time with her sisters, with Duke, do some work around the ranch, and when she was cleared to go back to work, she’d focus more on balance.

As she turned to put the bowl of strawberries she’d just cut up on the table, she saw a truck cresting the hill to the Knight house. Not one of Duke’s trucks.

“Who is it?” Rachel asked.

“Gage.” Why he was suddenly the one in charge of this whole thing, she didn’t know. She’d called Brady originally because she’d wanted someone to take care of it, but Brady wouldn’t have just taken care of it—he would have taken over.

She’d thought she’d wanted that in the moment, but she realized as Gage’s truck pulled to a stop in front of the house, she was glad Gage had included her. He’d encouraged her to speak. He believed her theories. It felt more like she was on even ground with him.

“It’s early,” Rachel commented. “But that doesn’t mean—”

“It means he has bad news. If it’s bad news, it’s about the dead woman.” My sister. Felicity really couldn’t wrap her head around that part yet, so she kept pushing it away. Kept pushing the involvement of her father out of her mind. Over and over again.

Despite knowing it was coming, the knock on the door made Felicity jump.

“We could pretend we’re not here,” Rachel offered.

“It would only delay the inevitable. Besides, he knows we’re here.” Felicity steadied herself on a deep breath before opening the door.

Gage looked disheveled, which wasn’t that out of character for him, but considering the circumstances it felt foreboding. His grave expression didn’t help. Gage was almost never grave. He was the one who cracked a joke to break the tension or told a bizarre story to take everyone’s mind off things.

Brady was the grave twin, the one who took everything seriously and was weighed down by it. She’d always admired Brady’s willingness to accept responsibility.

But wasn’t trying to lift the weight of a room its own kind of responsibility?

“Pack a bag,” Gage said, his voice rough. “You’ve got five minutes before we need to be on the road.”

Those harsh words, with no preamble, had Felicity frowning at him. “What are you even talking about?”

“We have to go. Now. Unless you want to spend the night, or a few nights, in jail.”

GAGE SHOULDN’T HAVE put it so bluntly, but time was of the essence. He hadn’t even had his coffee, which might have accounted for some of the bluntness.

“Go pack your things, Felicity,” Rachel said when Felicity stood motionless.

Felicity left the kitchen at Rachel’s words, and Rachel turned back to whatever she’d been doing. It looked like making pancakes.

Gage didn’t know what to say in the face of a nice domestic morning Felicity should have been able to share and enjoy with her sister. This was really more of a do situation, and the fewer people who knew what they were doing, the better.

When Rachel turned back around, she held two travel mugs he was pretty sure were filled with coffee. Thank God.

She held out both to him. He stepped toward her and took them. She angled her head up, looking at him thoughtfully even though he knew she couldn’t see him clearly.

The scars that had caused her loss of sight were such a part of the face he knew so well, he only noticed them now because things were bad. It made him think about all those years ago when a freak mountain lion attack had taken Rachel’s sight.

Grandma had started teaching them all to shoot the next day—Wyatt brothers and Knight girls side by side, armed with various guns and starting at ten paces away from a row of tin cans balanced on a fence.

When bad things happened, you did what you could to learn how to protect yourself from the next one. That was the lesson of his life. That was why he’d become a police officer. He knew what awful, horrible things could happen—from animal attacks to cold-blooded murder—and he’d wanted to be one of the ones who set things to right.

Sometimes he had. Sometimes he hadn’t. Life wasn’t perfect, and being a cop didn’t mean he could fix everything, even if he wanted to.

But he could fix this for Felicity. First, he had to get her out of harm’s way. Then the Wyatts would work to make sure this got cleared up. But he simply couldn’t stand the thought of her in a holding cell. Not Felicity.

“You’ll take good care of her,” Rachel finally said.

It wasn’t a question, so he didn’t answer it.

Felicity returned with a backpack. She’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt and was wearing her hiking boots, which was a good thing. They’d be doing some considerable hiking. “You’ll need a coat. Light one, but a coat nonetheless.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll talk about it in the truck.”

She blew out an irritated breath as she walked away and then returned with a windbreaker. “Good?”

He nodded.

Felicity turned to Rachel. “Duke is going to—”

“I’ll handle Daddy. You be safe.”

They hugged briefly, then Felicity turned to him, grasping the straps of her backpack, a grim determination on her face. “All right. Let’s go.”

He led her out to his truck. He’d fixed Dev’s camper shell onto his truck bed and stuffed it full of a variety of things. Hunting gear, fishing gear, ranch supplies. Hidden under all of that were two backpacks set up for backcountry camping. Brady was under strict orders to pick up the truck at the drop-off point and park it at the local airport. Make it look like he was really taking the vacation he’d lied to the sheriff about.

They reached the truck and got in. Felicity hadn’t asked any questions—not that he would have answered them until they were in the truck and on their way.

She hefted her backpack into the back and folded her hands on her lap. She looked straight ahead as he started the engine.

Gage began to drive, knowing he should explain things. Instead, he took a few sips of coffee to clear his morning-fogged brain and waited for Felicity to demand answers.

“Where are you taking me?” she finally asked, which wasn’t the question he thought she’d lead with.

“I figure you know some pretty isolated areas in the park we could hike to and camp without anyone finding us.”

“If you backcountry camp you have to get a permit,” she said primly.

He wished he could be more amused by it, but in the moment he could only be a little harsh. “Felicity. You don’t honestly think I’m going to waste my time with a permit.”

“It’s about safety and the park’s environmental integrity. We have to know how many people—”

“Well, safety and the damn environment are going to have to take a back seat.” He spared her a look, hoping it got across how dire this situation was.

“I’m a suspect,” she said flatly. “We already knew that was a possibility.”

God, he wished that was all it was. He rubbed a hand over the scruff on his jaw. He hadn’t had a chance to shave this morning, and it didn’t look like he’d be shaving any time soon.

“It’s worse than that.”

She swallowed. Her words were careful as she spoke, and he knew she was trying to keep her stutter under control. “How so?”

“The investigators searched your cabin.”

“I d-don’t have anything to hide. What does that matter?”

“They found some things anyway.”

“What? How?” Felicity demanded, outrage making her cheeks turn pink. He liked it much better than the stutter, which sounded more like fear than fight.

“Someone is setting you up as a murderer.” He shifted his gaze to the road. “Still want to get that permit?”

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