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A groan sent his heart soaring, but she didn’t rouse. Her pulse was strong, and he didn’t see any blood or injuries apart from the knot on her head that swelled beneath his fingers. Her dark-blonde eyelashes lay flat on high cheeks.

What had happened to her? And where was the cameraman?

The rain intensified.

After assessing her injuries, he deemed it safe to move her, so he hoisted her up and cradled her in his arms.

She never woke or even flinched.

Grizz headed back to his ATV, making each step deliberate so as not to slip. His head swiveled on alert, looking for danger but also for the man that had been with Dani. Where was the preppy one with the camera?

And how had she slipped and slid down the mountain in a mudslide?

He looked up the mountainside but didn’t see anything alarming.

Then the hair on his arms rose, and Grizz’s instincts all went on high alert.

Someone was watching them.

Dani still wasn’t moving. Grizz made the decision to get her off the mountain and get help. As he hoisted her up in his arms, he craned his neck around the area. Where was the cameraman? He’d have to go back once he got Dani out of the pelting rain and made sure she was stable.

The mountain was too quiet, other than the trickle from the flowing mud. Grizz marched one foot in front of the other, each step planted firmly to keep from stumbling while carrying Dani.

The sound of a gunshot sent him sprinting down the mountain. Bark exploded from a tree in front of him, sending shards of wood flying.

This wasn’t some hunter mistaking him for a caribou. Had Dani stumbled into something?

Grizz doubled his grip on the reporter and zigzagged his way down the trail, toward the ATV. He thought about taking her rental car but didn’t have the keys…or time. Whoever was at the end of that high-powered rifle might give chase.

Grizz set Dani in the front of his ATV, sandwiched between him and the handlebars. Her head lolled to the side, and he wrapped his arm around her, letting her fall against his chest.

Not that he’d talked with God much lately, but he sent up a quick prayer that the trail hadn’t washed out with the mudslide like he’d anticipated.

When he got to the narrow trail, it was filled with muck. Dani’s SUV was sitting in the equivalent of swamp water. No way would her car make it down the only access road to civilization. At least he’d parked his ATV on higher ground.

“Just great.” They were cut off from the main way up and down the mountain. Why would he expect God listen to him? Grizz had been radio silent for a long time.

The rain intensified, and Grizz pointed his ATV toward his cabin.

A little farther up the mountain, he could pick up another paved trail that led home.

He’d just have to off-road it for a bit.

At least it would get them out of the rain and away from a shooter.

Dani could be dry and warm when she woke up, and he could figure out a way to call for help.

The ATV wheels flicked dirt and mud behind him while his racing mind conjured up scenarios as to what had happened to the other guy—her friend.

After thirty minutes of navigating on and off the trail through the rain, Grizz parked the ATV and killed the motor.

Home sweet home.

He hadn’t laid eyes on his cabin in a few months. Plenty of forest fires had kept his team round-the-clock busy.

The cabin lay on five acres of pristine forest nestled in the heart of Copper Mountain.

The pine trees acted as a wall all around his cabin, offering protection with their thick branches and foliage.

In the distance, several mountain peaks broke through the horizon.

The cabin was Grizz’s safe haven in the middle of the untamed, unspoiled wilderness.

His nearest neighbor was the perfect distance of two miles away.

His grandfather had built the cabin when Grizz was young and left it to him when he passed away. Once Grizz had returned from serving in the Army, this had been the closest thing he’d had to a home.

With its espresso-colored wood-grain finish and wraparound porch, Grizz’s place might not have all the modern amenities like some of the other monstrous summer homes rich people built farther down the mountain, but it was all his, complete with a few personal touches he’d added to the outhouse.

He smiled. Now, that was special—not a functioning outhouse like when his grandparents had lived here, but definitely very useful.

Grizz lifted Dani and carried her into his house—across the threshold, even though he wasn’t the marrying kind and she wasn’t the kind of woman for him.

He couldn’t wait to kick off his muddy boots and line them up under the hooks where he kept his winter gear.

At home, he could be himself. Kick back, relax, yet still be on high alert.

If that shooter came looking for Dani, Grizz would be ready.

The main room consisted of a living room, complete with wood-burning stove in the right-hand corner, which heated the whole place in the winter, and a kitchen area on the left wall, where his grandmother’s mustard-yellow refrigerator rattled and hummed.

Probably nothing compared to Dani’s expensive tastes.

But Grizz took good care of his cabin after inheriting it from his grandparents.

He set her on his grandpa’s denim-blue couch, covered her with a fleece blanket, and let out a deep breath. Her presence threw off the vibe of his cabin. Despite his love for his team, he rarely had any visitors to his place.

He strode across the room and tossed the useless phone with no bars on the circle dinette table that overlooked the front window, then sat to unlace his muddy boots.

Should he leave her here and hike to his neighbor? The guy was a medic. He might know how long it would take her to wake up.

But a scream answered his question.

Dani bolted upright, her eyes wild.

He took a step toward her, about to speak, when she screamed again.

“Stay away from me. Help!”