Cam had hoped to get farther, but even at a walk now he was afraid Hilly’s father was going to keel over.
“Let’s take a break,” he offered.
“Not on my account,” the man huffed in return.
“On all our accounts.” Cam stopped, pulling Hilly onto a rock. Free whimpered and curled up at her feet. They all needed water, but they wouldn’t be able to get any until they got to their destination.
“Dad, sit,” Hilly implored, and the man finally took a seat next to her on the rock.
Cam pulled the map Zach had given him out of his pocket. It looked like they had a few miles to go yet before they reached the cabin Zach had assured him would be a safe place to stay.
It didn’t sit right with Cam. It was still hard to trust Zach entirely, even though he had orchestrated the escape by calling an emergency meeting at the compound. And they’d escaped. Here they were, all three of them safe and sound.
Was Zach?
He shook his head. Hilly was his prime concern, and because her father was her prime concern, Cam had to care about the two of them over anyone else.
“Quick break, then back to walking. We’re heading for a small cabin, so you’ll want to keep an eye out. Best to get there before dark.”
“Whose cabin?” Hilly asked, scratching Free behind the ears.
“The man who helped us escape. This is going to sound a little strange, but the guy who found us earlier today? He helped me. I don’t know that I trust him fully, but he didn’t want to hurt us. He led me to you, and he created the diversion so we could escape.” Cam let out a breath. “None of this makes sense,” he muttered. It rankled, but his focus had to be getting them to safety. Then he could work it out. Once Hilly was tucked away and safe.
“You shouldn’t have stuck your nose in it,” Hilly’s father muttered irritably.
In the daylight, Cam could see how badly he’d been hurt. Which was the only thing that kept Cam from making his own snide comment. He glanced at Hilly. Okay, not the only thing. He’d do just about anything for Hilly.
The intensity of that feeling was concerning, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. “We should get back to it if we’re going to make it before sundown.” He held out a hand to Hilly and helped her up off the rock.
“There will be food and water and supplies there. So, we just have to grit it out a few more miles.”
Hilly didn’t withdraw her hand from his. Instead she leaned against him on a sigh. She was exhausted—physically and no doubt mentally. She needed comfort and he so desperately wanted to be the one to give it to her.
He brushed his mouth across her temple. It felt...necessary. Right to give her that physical comfort. Even if it wasn’t. “You’re holding up like a champ,” he murmured.
She leaned harder, sighing against his neck. God, what he wouldn’t give for some non-dangerous time with this woman.
On a deep breath, she straightened, seeming to draw some strength from him. Which pleased him far too much. “All right. Let’s get going,” she said with a nod to her father.
The man was still sitting, glaring at Cam. Which didn’t concern Cam much, considering the man was the reason they were in this mess. Maybe he could learn a thing or two about how to take care of his daughter.
Cam looked forward, focusing on the task at hand. He consulted the map once more before heading out across the rocky, uneven ground. The primary objective was safety before sundown. So, he kept them headed west. He noted the landmarks Zach had outlined for him, and then, with the sun nearly gone, the cabin appeared on a rocky rise.
No one said anything. They just kept up their grim hiking until they reached the door. Cam counted the boards, up then over, just as Zach had instructed, then pulled a key out of a small indentation between the boards.
Cam unlocked the door and stepped inside first.
Inside, the cabin was small but cozy. There was a case of water bottles in the corner of the tiny galley kitchen and Cam pointed to it.
“Hydrate,” he demanded, already searching the cupboards for a bowl for Free while Hilly handed her father a bottle and then one to Cam. Cam poured half of his in the metal bowl he’d found and put it on the floor for Free.
The dog drank greedily, and Cam finished his own bottle off in no time flat. Hilly and her father sipped theirs, both eyeing the cabin suspiciously.
There was a living area off to the side of the kitchen, then two doors—both open to show a tiny bathroom and a small bedroom mostly taken up by a bed.
When Hilly’s gaze met his, she looked at him a little helplessly. Except she wasn’t helpless. She was getting through all of this as though she was trained for intense physical demands, confusing, dangerous situations and even attacks on her person.
Because the idea of anyone laying a hand on her made him white-hot with rage, he compartmentalized that thought and emotion away. He’d deal with it later, when there was time to be angry. Right now it would only get him, and more important, Hilly, in trouble.
“What now?” she asked quietly.
“We wait.” He didn’t tell her that if Zach didn’t appear by morning, Cam was going back for him. That could wait. “We’ll spend the night here and decide what to do in the morning.”
“They’ll come after me,” Hilly’s father said gruffly.
Cam nodded. “Undoubtedly, but I left behind some confusing clues that should keep them busy elsewhere, at least for a while.” He and Zach had laid fake tracks back to the vehicle Zach had used to bring them to the compound.
He could only hope they followed those tracks rather than search the back of the building and find the other real ones and that the encroaching dark would halt their efforts.
“We’ll eat and then we’ll take turns sleeping, always having two people on lookout. We won’t take any chances. Once we get back to Bent we can figure out the whys. For tonight, we rest, we recharge and we prepare to get home in one piece.”
“I’ll figure out the food,” Hilly said, moving for the kitchen. “Both of you sit.”
Cam wanted to argue with her, but he also wanted to talk to James out of her earshot. He pointed to the small living room area in the far corner—a chair and a couch arranged around a fireplace.
Cam decided to get the fire going as the evening would be cold. Since it was getting dark, the smoke wouldn’t be visible as long as he put it out before sunrise. “Maybe you’d like to fill me in on your connection to the Protectors,” he offered, picking a few logs from the stack on the floor.
“Maybe I wouldn’t.”
Cam eyed the man who’d settled himself into the chair. He looked exhausted, beaten. And pissed.
“It would help me keep your daughter safe if you filled me in on what I’m dealing with here.”
“Who asked you to keep her safe?”
“Someone needs to care enough to.” He picked up a long match from a box on the mantel and lit the fire.
Something fired in the man’s eyes, warning and violence, but exhaustion seemed to blank out both quickly enough. “You dragged her into this. God help you if you can’t drag her out.”
“No, James. You dragged her into it when you left her defenseless and alone,” Cam replied, keeping his tone equitable.
James’s face went mutinous, but he said nothing else. Which was good. Hilly didn’t need to hear them have an extended argument. There was a time and a place for it, and Cam would make sure he had the opportunity. But it wasn’t here.
He stoked the fire, letting the warmth of it seep into his skin and remind him how much walking he’d done today. Exhaustion threatened, but he pushed it away. James would take the first sleep rotation, then Hilly. Ideally, Zach would be back by then and they could decide what to do from there.
“Chili seemed to be the best choice out of the canned goods,” Hilly said, moving into the living room. She handed her father a bowl and then him one. Hilly went back to the kitchen and returned with her own bowl before curling up next to Cam on the couch.
They ate around the fire in sleepy silence. If Cam could forget about everything else going on, it might even be nice. Maybe when this was all over he and Hilly could...
Well, thoughts for another time.
Once they’d eaten, Hilly collected the empty bowls. “Dad, you should rest. You’re injured,” she said.
“I’m—”
“Hurt,” Hilly insisted. “Take a nap. We’ll hold down the fort, and once you’ve slept some, we’ll switch.”
She moved to the kitchen and James grumbled as he got to his feet. He moved to the bedroom, though he shot Cam one killing look. “Keep your hands off my daughter,” he muttered, then stepped into the room, Free at his heels. When they were both inside, he shut the door with a firm slap.
Cam sighed and got to his feet. He wasn’t worried about the man’s warning. He’d touch Hilly if he damn well pleased, and, yes, he rather pleased. But now was not the time nor place.
Hilly moved into the living room, wringing her hands. Her worried glance was on the bedroom door.
“You don’t think he’ll make a run for it, do you?” Cam asked, only half kidding.
Hilly shook her head. “I’m not sure what he’d get out of that. They were going to kill him, Cam. I know they were.”
Sympathy and affection wound so deeply inside of him it was hard not to stagger from it. He wanted to take that pain and fear away, and he couldn’t.
Just another failure.
He swallowed at the pain lodged in his throat. All his failures on complete display, but Hilly looked over at him like he had the answers, and he wanted to. He wanted to be strong and the person she leaned on.
The only way he could be that was to get over the guilt. He hadn’t thought that was in his control. Guilt existed, whether he wanted it to or not, but he realized in this moment as Hilly watched him that he’d used guilt for the past year as an excuse and a shield. Guilt was safe, because it meant you didn’t have to accept you couldn’t control everything.
He couldn’t, though. He hadn’t been able to control how Aaron felt about ending his life, and when Hilly was looking for answers he couldn’t give her. He knew there was nothing he could have done then.
There was nothing he could do now. He couldn’t control this situation he was in. He could only roll with it, react to what came and do everything in his power to get Hilly home safe.
He’d do his best for Hilly, and if it wasn’t good enough... That was life.
He shuddered out a breath. Guilt didn’t get a person anywhere. It held them back. That had been good enough in his first year out of the military, but it wasn’t anymore.
Not with her standing there, needing him.
He gestured her to the couch, where she sat back down. He took the seat next to her. What he wanted to do was pull her into him, let her sleep against his shoulder and assure her everything would be okay.
He clasped his hands together behind his neck, staring at the fire. “If they wanted him dead, why is he still alive?”
She shook her head, but he could tell she knew something. Something she wasn’t ready to tell him. He could see the marks on her wrists where they’d tied her up, and it reminded him to be patient. To give her space and time. They had that now.
Once Zach met them as he said he would later tonight, they’d be able to plan how to get back to Bent. They needed to make full use of this short respite.
“You should rest, too.”
She shook her head. “Too wired. Too...” She shook her head again, but she moved closer to him on the cushion. She looked up at him, searching his face for something. If he knew what, he’d give it to her, but as it was, he just held that warm brown gaze.
She leaned into him with no warning and brushed her mouth over his. It shocked him, not just because it was so familiar when it shouldn’t be, but because the small kiss rocketed through him like a meteor. Big and bright and changing.
His skin tingled with the contact, and his mouth was greedy for more, but he held himself back with that iron will he’d developed as a Marine.
“What was that for?” he managed to ask.
“I’m pretty sure the knight in shining armor always gets a kiss from the princess he saves.” She smiled up at him, soft and sweet. “At least, that’s what I always read.”
He found himself smiling in spite of everything going on around them. “I think you’re delirious.”
“Probably,” she agreed with a laugh. “But you could kiss me again just to be sure.”
It was too tempting to resist. She wanted him to kiss her, was hopeful for it. In what world would he ever refuse that?
He dropped his mouth to hers, softer and slower than he might have been with another woman. But she wasn’t timid. Unpracticed, maybe, but not timid at all. She met his mouth with hers, exploring with a curiosity that aroused him beyond measure.
Too much, too potent, and not just causing that iron tightening of his body, but clutching something deeper in his chest. In his heart.
Far too much to take, and yet far too much to resist.
She let out a shuddery sigh against his mouth and he had to remind himself Hilly had no experience with people, let alone men. Like this.
He opened his eyes, trying to center himself in the moment. In remembering that no matter how strong or in charge she appeared, she’d spent a lifetime sheltered away from the reality of life.
Slowly, she opened her eyes when he stopped. They were brown and luminous and it was hard to believe the truth of her being sheltered, because the woman with those eyes knew exactly what she was doing.
Or maybe he just wanted her to. “Hilly.”
“I know,” she said on an exhale. “It’s not the time or place.” She closed her eyes, and she let the exhaustion slump her body against him. She leaned into his shoulder, placing her hand over his galloping heart. “I just wanted to pretend like it was all over for a second.”
Tempting, tempting to let her—to let himself. But not yet. “We’re getting there.” It was hard to think about what would come after, when there was so much in the here and now that didn’t make sense, but eventually it’d be over. He’d just be Cam Delaney, and she’d just be Hilly Adams, and maybe those two people could...
“Is it always like that?” she asked, studying his face. “A kiss. Does it always feel like...”
“No. Not always.” Never. Never had a kiss turned him inside out.
She rubbed her hand against his heart. “This is special. It feels special.”
He closed his hand over it. Special. It seemed like a weak word, like a child’s word, but whatever this was, this hard, twisting thing in his chest that felt like some mix of terror and elation, it was special, and it was important. “It is, Hilly. It is.” He pulled her hand off his chest. “But—”
“But we’re in the middle of danger.” She sat up, off his shoulder, met his gaze. “That’s the only thing holding you back, isn’t it?”
Cam blew out a breath. “No. Not the only thing.” He knew the next words would hurt her, but he also knew she needed to hear them. Maybe coming from him it wouldn’t be so bad. He could hope. “Hilly, you don’t know who you are.”