Page 80 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

TWENTY-THREE

Alex blew out a breath and lifted his gaze to meet Mackenzie’s beautiful eyes, so filled with concern. And tears.

For him? She suddenly jumped up and rushed around the couch. But he caught her wiping at her eyes. He hadn’t meant to add his pain to her burden. Alex got up and followed Mackenzie, who had moved past him and stepped out onto the porch. He waited a breath or two to regain his composure after what he’d just shared, then joined her.

She leaned against a pine post, and he did the same against the opposite post.

She sighed. “Would you look at that? They set up the cabins to have the perfect view of the sunset, didn’t they?”

“Looks like it.” Bright purple and reddish-pink colored the billowing clouds that remained after the storm had moved out. He drew in the fresh scent that came after a drenching rain. The pines and spruces and cedars.

Memories of his past life in Montana rushed over him. He missed this place so much, but everything had changed. He’d learned too late that he couldn’t go off for a few years and come back and expect to find things the same. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t. Dad was gone from his life before he’d even left. He might have stayed otherwise. Then he wouldn’t have met Mackenzie. Not that anything would come of meeting her, but why had their paths crossed twice—and this second time in such a spectacular way?

God working all things for good, as Dad used to paraphrase from the Bible.

While Mackenzie stared at the sunset, Alex took the opportunity to look at her. Her thick brown hair was a jumble of long curls, and he thought back to the kiss they’d shared.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yes.” His throat constricted with that one word so that it came out too husky.

She turned to look at him, and he knew she hadn’t missed his tone. Her expression could undo him.

She averted her gaze. “But ... we’re not staying here to enjoy the scenery.”

He couldn’t help the half grin that emerged. “That’s too bad, because it’s pretty amazing from where I’m standing.”

She stared at the ground. And he’d made her blush again. He wasn’t making this easy for either of them. Mackenzie was right. They weren’t here to enjoy the moment, but it was so tempting. How much life had he let pass him by already? He needed to make the hard choice here—life was filled with hard choices. Why couldn’t they explore this connection they had with each other? Enjoy the time together—short or long?

But no. They were caught up in danger that neither of them had asked for. And after this was over, then what?

A horse whinnied in the distance, snapping his attention back. Alex pushed aside the errant thoughts, held out his hand, and led her back inside to sit on the sofa. She didn’t resist.

“Are you ready to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“You learned something today while at Hanstech. What is it?”

“I learned two things. First”—she rolled her head to look at the ceiling and sighed—“the guy who died. He knew why I was there. He was going to tell me something.”

“What do you mean he knew?”

“We were standing in line, waiting to take our turn on the zip line. We started up a conversation. He knew I was Rowan and Nora’s sister even though I had been using the name Calhoun, which Nora had asked me to use.”

“Come on, she had to know that wouldn’t work around a bunch of brilliant people.”

“It could work for a while. The point is that I wasn’t supposed to draw attention. Knowing I was a Hanson would make people ask too many questions.”

She was right. “So what happened next?”

“He leaned close and spoke so only I could hear him and said, ‘I know why you’re here.’”

Alex sat back. “What did he mean?”

“I didn’t get the chance to ask. I had no idea if it was meant as a threat, but honestly ... I don’t think it was. He seemed like he wanted to help. Like he knew something. Now I’ll never know what he might have told me.”

Alex wanted to question the zip-line company workers about the incident, but he knew the local detectives would do that. But it could have been Mackenzie who fell. Had she thought of that?