* * *
Sitting in the warm cab of his truck, Cade glanced at his passenger. He hated the awkward silence, but what had he expected?
Snow filled his headlights as he drove away from Mountain Cove on the one road out of town. The only problem was that the thirty-mile road didn’t go anywhere. Just came to an abrupt end. To say the town was isolated was an understatement, but this was southeast Alaska where “remote” took on a whole new meaning. The only way in and out of Mountain Cove was by boat, floatplane or helicopter.
At least Cade could get to the road to Devon’s cabin this way. Accessing most off-grid cabins required serious trekking by snowshoeing, skiing or snowmobiling for miles.
Up in the mountains, sometimes even the cabins got buried in the snow. That’s why uncertainty about Leah’s stay in the place gnawed at him. Devon had known how to dig himself out of the snow up there, but Leah looked like anything but a mountain girl.
It didn’t help that his protective instincts had kicked up a few notches after he’d pulled her from the snow, and they hadn’t shut down. No. In fact, if anything, the thought of her staying in that cabin in the heart of avalanche country—especially with another storm rolling in—put his protective instincts on high alert.
He reminded himself he didn’t know enough about her to make that kind of judgment call. She might be completely capable of handling a stay at the cabin during a harsh winter—and this one was certainly looking that way.
“You warm enough?” he asked. “Need more heat?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
That was all she said. His neck tensed. How did he get her talking? He wanted her to open up for a lot of reasons. For one, he wanted to know what she’d been doing out there today. She’d almost died. The panic and fear he’d seen in her eyes was because she’d been shell-shocked from having barely survived an avalanche. But the natural disaster didn’t explain all of her reactions. When she’d asked about the witness, and he’d told her, she’d all but freaked out. He’d seen her eyes before she’d turned her face from him in an attempt to hide her reaction.
What was that about? Cade couldn’t shake the sense that she knew something vital she had no intention of sharing.
He pursed his lips and watched the road, the glow of the dash lights contrasting to the darkness outside. He had to be honest with himself. Sure, he wanted to help her, but he also wanted to know whatever Leah could tell him about Devon Hemphill and why she was in his cabin.
More than anything, he wanted answers to the story behind his father’s quarrel with the man. He wanted answers to explain the reasons behind his father’s tragic death. Those were answers he doubted he’d ever get. But he had to try. Leah might know something. She might be able to give him a clue.
When Cade finally made the turnoff to the cabin, he was surprised to see the drive had recently been plowed, but snow was already piling up again. He glanced at Leah. Maybe she was more capable than he’d given her credit for. Still the new snowfall would make the drive long and tedious.
He stopped.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Have to engage the plow.” He climbed out, lowered the blade and then got back in the truck, Leah watching him.
“So, I knew the guy who used to own the cabin where you’re staying. Devon Hemphill. You related to him or something?”
Leah stiffened and grabbed the armrest. Whether from the question or the slipperiness of the road, he couldn’t tell.
“A friend inherited the place. They are letting me stay for a little while.”
Cade glanced over again. A friend, huh? She conveniently left off if the friend was male or female. Not that it mattered to him. All he cared about was finding answers to his questions and making sure she was safe. He had a feeling, a very strong feeling, her life was in need of rescuing again. Cade scraped a hand down his face—was he even up to that task?
More importantly, did it matter if he wasn’t up to it? He couldn’t abandon someone who needed help. He just wished she’d tell him what was going on. Maybe if he gave up something private and personal, she would, too. Reach out to her and then she’d reach back. He could pull her the rest of the way.
What are you doing?
“Devon Hemphill and my father knew each other well.” Maybe a little too well. “They had an ongoing disagreement about something. I never could figure out what. It seemed to escalate as the years went by.”
He’d tried to ask about it so many times but all his father would tell him was to mind his own business. Completely out of character, considering Cade and his father were close. So Cade had tried to learn more by digging for answers in other ways, but none of them had panned out. “My father and I argued about that the day he died.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He waited, hoping for more.
“I didn’t get the chance to say anything else to him before he got the call for a search and rescue. Didn’t get the chance to say I was sorry.”
He kept his eyes on the road, reliving that day. In his peripheral vision he saw Leah watching him, waiting for the rest of the story. He wasn’t sure he could keep going, especially with a perfect stranger. But maybe that was exactly the person he could tell, say it out loud to. Face his battles head-on.
“The stranded person was Devon.”
Leah gave a slight gasp. “What happened?”
“I never saw my father alive again. Devon walked away and my father died during the rescue mission to save that man. A man he detested. I still don’t understood why.” Cade blinked back the memory of pulling his father’s body from the avalanche and pushed the rising anger down. “My father liked everyone, and was liked by everyone. Except Devon.”
He felt as though he’d said too much. But maybe in the telling he could stir things up and get information. “I never got an answer from Devon about what had happened between them, and then he died, leaving me with nothing but questions.”
“Now here I am, staying in his home,” she said.
Cade didn’t reply. It was her turn to talk.
When the truck’s high beams illuminated Devon’s cabin in the distance, Cade thought he saw someone in the trees behind the pile of old tires and barrels of diesel for the generator. Had to be the shadows dancing off his lights. Who would be out here at this hour in the middle of nowhere, especially with a storm moving in? Unless Leah wasn’t alone in the cabin. But that couldn’t be the case, could it? She’d told him there was no one he could call.
Stopping the truck at the end of the drive, he shifted into Park but left the motor idling. A soft glow emanated from one of the cabin windows. At least she wouldn’t have to enter a completely dark house, although she’d have to hike the final twenty-five yards. He couldn’t get the truck between those trees.
“And here we are at Devon’s once-empty cabin, now your vacation home away from home.” He repeated what she’d said earlier, thinking that might ignite more conversation on the topic. He hid a wince at the sound of his own gruff tone, which had been way more accusatory than he’d intended.
“Look, I didn’t happen upon the cabin and find it empty and decide to stay.”
Yeah, she’d heard it in his voice, too. “I didn’t mean to insinuate otherwise.” He blew out a breath, hoping she understood. “Thinking about everything that happened frustrates me in ways you can’t understand.”
“You’re wrong. I do understand. You blame yourself for your father’s death. You think you should have been with him that day.”
Cade