Alaskan Hideout. Sarah Varland

he could do that.

      No emotions involved. At least where Emma was concerned. Tyler’s eyes moved to the boy who looked so much like both of them and he swallowed hard. He had plenty of feelings where Luke was concerned. Not that he was sure what all of them were yet, but one was a pretty strong fatherly love. No matter what had happened between himself and Emma, the hundreds of ways their imploded relationship had affected their lives, he was glad Luke existed. Couldn’t wait to get to know him. After he’d ensured Luke and his mom were both safe.

      “What do you want?” she whispered, drawing his attention back to her more than Tyler would have preferred. Just the sound of her voice still gave him shivers, starting in his shoulders, down his chest to his toes.

      Yeah, maybe talking to her alone was a bad idea, after all. All Tyler had wanted was some answers, ones that weren’t pertinent to the case, that he hadn’t gotten earlier.

      “Never mind. Sorry. Stay safe, okay?” He turned, was halfway down the hallway when he heard her door shut. He exhaled.

      And jumped at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder.

      He whirled and Emma jumped back, eyes wide.

      “I’m sorry. You scared me.”

      “You thought I’d just go back to my room, ignore whatever you came here to ask me?” Her eyebrows raised.

      “Why do you think I wanted to ask you anything?”

      She stared at him. “I know you, Tyler. I used to, anyway, better than anyone maybe.” Emma cleared her throat, expression and confidence wavering. “Maybe I don’t anymore but... I expected you’d have questions.”

      “I do.”

      She nodded. “Want to go downstairs?”

      Was it too open down there? The windows behind the great room of the lodge and the family’s private living room looked out on the dark woods. If they sat down there with any lights on, anyone watching would be able to see straight into the room, which struck him as a bad idea. Bedrooms weren’t appropriate.

      The balcony off the hallway? It faced the parking lot, where at least one policeman, Officer Rogers, was watching. Maybe that was their best—safest—option.

      “Follow me.” He led her down the hallway, staying on alert as he knew that nowhere was one hundred percent safe. He’d listened to what she’d told Noah that afternoon and felt his heart sinking the more she spoke. She’d had to go and witness a murder. And murderers didn’t tend to like witnesses. At least not ones left alive.

      Tyler opened the balcony door, stepped out and shut off the hall light behind them.

      “What are you doing?” Emma’s whisper was accusatory, untrusting.

      Tyler flinched.

      “I’m making sure we aren’t backlit. No one needs to be able to see us out here.”

      “You think someone is watching?”

      “I don’t know, Emma.” Her name fell off his lips so easily, like he hadn’t gone eight years without saying it, no matter how many times he’d thought about her. “We can’t be too safe.”

      She followed him out and they each took an Adirondack chair. When it was light outside, this spot had a view of the parking lot and, beyond that, of Hope Mountain and Sunrise Ridge. Halfway up Sunrise Ridge there was the tarn he’d imagined taking Emma to. Emerald Lake, which almost glowed, the color was such a pure, brilliant blue-green.

      It hurt to sit here with her, so close physically but far away in every other way that mattered. Tyler wrestled in his mind. What did he do? Noah had assumed that Tyler would be involved in protecting Emma, that he’d want to be. Tyler appreciated the vote of confidence from his law-enforcement brother, the acknowledgment that he was capable. But maybe he should step away, let someone else take this on. How was he supposed to spend so much time with her?

      Then again, there was Luke to consider. Did he want his son to grow up thinking he was a coward who ran from trouble, who’d left his mom to fend for herself?

      No, he didn’t want that. He had to think of Luke, had to think like a dad. Something that still made his head spin.

      “Where do you want to start?”

      Emma’s voice was soft, not defensive. He didn’t know how to respond to her softness. If she’d been angry, upset the way she had been the last few times they’d spoken...

      “You knew about the baby. Didn’t you?” It hadn’t been one of his planned questions, but it had popped out just now as he’d thought about the way she’d talked to him at graduation, the way she’d reacted.

      Her shoulders fell. “Yes. I found out that morning.”

      He replayed everything he remembered about the day, which was most of the details. The way his tie had been too tight. The way he’d stood a little taller, proud of his academic accomplishments and ready to close this chapter so he and Emma could move on.

      The angry, accusatory words she’d said to him. Her assertion that she was never moving to Alaska. That his family was more important to him than she was—a statement that had seemed unfounded to him but had hurt nonetheless. That they’d had a nice few years but, you know, maybe they should both move on.

      Move on. As though they’d had some kind of casual, passing relationship.

      “But you didn’t tell me.”

      “No.”

      “You should have.”

      “Yes.”

      Their words were quiet in the night, barely breaking the silence. Tyler kept his tone low, determined to keep his emotions under control and needing all the help he could get with that. He also hesitated to alert anyone that could be watching nearby that they were relatively exposed. He didn’t know if that was why Emma kept her voice whisper-soft or not.

      “I’m a dad, Emma. And I didn’t know.”

      She didn’t say anything. He looked in her direction, wanting to know how she was feeling. As he shifted his gaze, something caught his eye in the darkness beyond the parking lot. Officer Rogers patrolling?

      Or someone stalking them in the darkness? Stalking Emma?

      “Tyler...”

      “Shh.” He held his hand up in front of him. She blinked at him, kept going.

      “No, you have to let me.”

      “I see something. Someone.”

      She went silent. Still.

      His heart thudded in his chest. His hand moved toward the gun he’d left in his waistband holster, concealed by the fleece vest he’d worn today for warmth.

      “What is it? Should I go inside?”

      She cared what he thought, wanted to know his opinion.

      Tyler scanned the darkness in front of them. The wrong choice could be deadly. Move quickly inside and they’d have cover. Even if it had seemed safe, he never should have brought her out here without the benefit of walls to stop or to at least slow a bullet.

      Stay still and they might escape notice, might see the person coming after her.

      Tyler didn’t know which option to choose. So he chose the second. Kept them still, didn’t flinch.

      The shadow stopped moving. Maybe he’d been imagining it, was jumpy from the adrenaline rush of this entire thing.

      And then the shooting started, the first two shots coming in close succession, cracking in the night, shattering the quiet and the windows. Wood flew off the balcony railing in front of them.

      Emma screamed.

      “Get inside!” Tyler yelled and reached