Page 67 of Shared By the Mountain Men Triplets

“Are you hit?” he demands.

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

His eyes still scan me, fast and clinical, maybe purely out of habit. His face is stripped of every ounce of charm that usually makes people underestimate him.

A shot cracks from above, and I flinch.

“It’s Cade.” Boone’s hand tightens on my arm. “Let’s go.”

Without waiting for me to agree, he pivots, keeping himself on my exposed side as we move.

“Lead is down but moving.” Cade’s voice in my ear is flat and almost calm. “Second target broke west. I have him pinned.”

Rhett answers. “Hold high ground.”

“Copy.”

Another shot cracks from Cade’s position, and Boone pushes me lower as we head through the trees. “Head down.”

When we finally reach Rhett, I have the absurd thought that he and Boone look exactly alike in a deep way I’ve never seen. The way they plant themselves between me and danger, they’re more like barricades than men.

Rhett’s eyes flick to me for half a second. “Can you walk?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Then we move.”

Nobody asks if I need a minute, and I’m glad, because if I stop, I’ll start shaking.

Rhett leads us out, with Boone at my back, and Cade a shadow above us. By the time we reach the truck hidden below the service cut, my lungs are raw, and my legs are trembling. Boone opens the rear door and guides me in with a hand at the small of my back. Rhett stays outside, scanning the treeline.

Cade appears three minutes later and immediatelylooks for me.

When I tell him I’m okay, his eyes close for a second, then he turns to Rhett. “They knew her route.”

I curl my shaking hands into fists and look out the windshield as the men get in and Rhett drives us home.

CHAPTER 30

CADE

I keep seeing him at twenty yards. Every time I blink, the lead attacker clears the granite again.

Twenty yards from Wren. Twenty yards from putting his hands on her.

Twenty yards because I missed the angle.

By the time we get back to the cabin, I’ve replayed the approach a dozen times. Maybe more. The outcrop blocked the draw, but I knew that. We planned around it, but they used it anyway.

Rhett parks tight to the cabin instead of in his usual spot. Boone’s out before the engine dies, rifle in hand, eyes on the treeline. I step down on the passenger side and scan the cabin, then the other side of the property.

Wren opens the rear door before Boone can reach it. Her face is pale, but her head is up, and her eyes are clear. There’s dirt on her face and pine needles in her braid.

I want to touch her, but I don’t, because I might not stop.