Cowboy Who Came For Christmas. Lenora Worth

was he here now and when would he leave? Who was out there taunting her? Her mind skittered over memories still too fresh to tuck away completely. Did someone know her sins?

      Sophia stared at the sink and decided it was clean enough. She rinsed away the cleanser and washed out her dish towel, then dried her hands and grabbed her lotion bottle to moisturize them. Then she turned to tidy up the living room. Adan had folded his bedding and pillows and left them on the sofa. She touched a hand to one of the pillows and remembered his head touching that same spot.

      The bathroom door opened, causing her to jump back like a kid caught with her hand in the candy jar.

      Adan walked into the room, chewing up space with each step. “I’m gonna walk down the mountain to check on my truck.”

      Relief flooded through her. He’d be out of her hair for a couple of hours so she’d have a chance to talk to Bettye. Trying not to sound too happy, she said, “Oh, okay. Be careful.”

      “You’re going with me.”

      Panic scurried across Sophia’s nerve endings. “What? Why?”

      He stood by the fire, his hands in his pockets. “Don’t look so scared. I need you to be my guide and to help me with spotting any signs of activity out there. You know these woods better than me.”

      She did know these woods. She also knew how to steer him away from places he didn’t need to go. Her heart beat in little skips and jumps, but she didn’t have a choice in this matter, either. She would have to serve not only as Adan’s guide, but his guard, too.

      She ran a hand over her hair. “I’ll get my gear.”

      He gave her a puzzled glance. “I figured you’d protest and stomp your foot and come up with some good excuses.”

      Sophia quirked an eyebrow. “Would that have worked?”

      He laughed at her remark. “No. I’d still take you with me.”

      “Even if I refused to go?”

      “That would only make me suspicious.”

      “You mean even more suspicious than you already are?”

      “Yeah. Even more.”

      She went about putting on her hat, gloves and coat so she could hide the fear and disappointment his words brought out. “Why don’t we get going while the morning sun is bright and shiny? The snow won’t melt completely. Too cold out here.”

      “Fine.”

      That sun might shine a light on things she wanted to hide. But if she kept him on the road and out of the woods, they should be okay.

      She should be okay.

      He grabbed his coat and hat. Then he turned to holster his gun. “Let’s go then.”

      Sophia felt as if she was about to go on a death march. How could she keep up this charade until the winter mix had melted completely? Until she could wave goodbye to Adan? Until she found out for sure if a criminal who wanted her dead was still out there somewhere?

      With weak cell signals and frozen roads below them, Sophia figured he’d be here for a couple of days, at least. No snowplows or tow trucks would dare come here, anyway. This mountain was too remote for any kind of county maintenance.

      She was juggling a lot of snowballs and they could all come crashing down on her if she wasn’t careful.

      * * *

      THEY WALKED DOWN the curving mountain road in silence.

      Adan wondered what Sophia was thinking. She’d been a bit too keen on escorting him to his truck. Probably afraid he’d stumble on the place she’d obviously hidden a criminal. Or possibly, she was trying to stall him while the others helped that criminal get away.

      But he still couldn’t figure out how anyone could have found a hiding place out here in this whitewashed world. The only visible cabins were up the ridge on a flat incline. He’d checked around the area when they’d first walked outside. Sophia had pointed out the circle of cabins and mentioned again the people who lived here year-round.

      “The last cabin’s vacant. The owners usually come up here in the spring and summer.”

      Adan should have searched more last night, but the driving snow and the possibility of getting lost in whiteout had held him back. “I’ll want to check the cabins before we head down the road to my truck. He could have broken into one.”

      She’d obediently followed him, her gaze cutting here and there through the ice-covered trees. When they’d searched around the vacant cabin and glanced in the windows, Adan decided he could rule out anyone hiding inside. No signs of forced entry in the windows or doors.

      So what would he find on down the road?

      Now they were headed past the little community and down the sloping road, the way slippery with ice patches and thick with snowdrifts. So far, they hadn’t seen a soul. The woods were quiet and settled in a blanket of fresh, powdery snow.

      “It rarely snows this heavily here,” Sophia said, her breath wispy around her. “I need to take some pictures.”

      “It’s cold,” he said, hoping to rouse her into more small talk. “And beautiful.”

      “Yes.”

      She said that in a way that implied he might be stupid.

      Adan smiled at her attitude. If he could trust her, that kind of sass might be cute. But since he couldn’t trust her, it only managed to irritate him.

      He tried again. “Did you have any big plans for today?”

      “No.”

      “So do you try to work every day?”

      “Most days, yes.” She actually cut him a glance. “I like to take long walks and find different things to include in my work. Twigs and leaves, old buttons and scraps, feathers. I never know what I’ll find.”

      “My job is kind of like that, too,” Adan replied, glad for the comparison. “I have to put together bits and pieces of different things to come up with a way to solve a case.”

      She slanted her gaze toward him again. “Are you comparing your job to art?”

      “I guess I am. It requires a certain amount of artistic persuasion to find out what I need to know.”

      “Oh, is that what you’d call this? You questioning my every move and badgering me to come clean on something I don’t even know about? That’s your kind of art?”

      “I am painting a picture in my mind, yes.”

      “Are you always this funny?”

      “I have my moments.”

      She gave him a harsh glance followed by a wry smile. “At least you’re not boring.”

      “You might change your mind on that after I’ve been around a few days.”

      She stopped on the snow-packed road so fast ice chips flew out around her boots. “Are you staying that long?”

      He gave her a frown. “Ah, tired of me already?”

      “Yes,” she said much to his surprise. “I want my nice, quiet life back. You’re annoying.”

      “You make me laugh in spite of myself,” he admitted.

      Then he decided while he had her out here in the open, he’d level with her. But he made sure they were in the middle of the slippery road and not near a plunging ravine before he confronted her. “Sophia, we really need to talk.”

      She looked up at him, concern filtering through her poker face. “This is no laughing matter, is it?”

      At least she knew the situation was dangerous. But she also needed to know he was serious. Dead serious. “No.