Page 4 of Winter’s Heart (Three of Hearts #1)

It mirrored his own hut, the only other habitation within miles in this isolated little nook of the country.

And the sole reason he’d been called in from his involuntary holiday to rescue this lady.

Jacob grunted at the irony of it all. He and M?rten had been forced to take a paid leave of absence after their last mission had ended in tragedy while the details were investigated.

Jacob had chosen to go to his family’s winter hut, a completely off-grid location, where he could unwind by getting back to nature and reconnect with his family traditions.

But only two short days into his leave, the call had come in.

He’d like to bet that it grated on the deputy commissioner to have to call him for a favor, when Jacob was so decidedly out of favor right now.

He continued to scour the countryside through the windows, but nothing moved, nothing seemed amiss.

The pristine white blanket of snow remained unmarked.

He would be able to see if anyone approached; their footprints would’ve announced them already.

And he’d be able to spot an assailant before they got anywhere near the house, as the building sat in the middle of a large, cleared field with the lake to the right, forming another natural barrier.

But he continued to stare out the windows, jumping at every whisper of wind in the eves and every flicker of a leaf on a branch.

He was as jumpy as a cat on a hotplate. He needed to stop second-guessing himself and just keep reminding himself he was damn good at his job.

Last week had been an unprecedented situation, and he would never allow himself to become distracted like that again.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, a small voice mocked him silently. Fann . He hated that traitorous voice.

After many long minutes, so long that Jacob was about to go up and rap on her door, Nikki emerged from the bedroom.

Her eyes were red from more unshed tears and her face was pale and drawn, but there was resolve in the lines around her mouth.

He was pleasantly surprised to see she’d dressed appropriately in hiking boots, blue waterproof pants, a thick yellow jacket, warm gloves, and a hot pink knit hat to finish the outfit.

He couldn’t help the grimace that flashed across his features, however.

She’d stand out like a beacon with all that bright clothing against the white terrain.

He couldn’t help it. If only he’d thought to bring his spare snow camo outfit for her to wear.

He’d have to take extra care on the trek back to his hut.

“What?” she demanded, seeing his look of consternation.

“Nothing.” It’d do no good to scare her any more than she already was.

He was usually an excellent judge of character, and while on the outside she’d reacted badly to his news of her friends’ deaths, he sensed a core of steel inside this woman.

Closing the distance so that he stood directly in front of her, he waited until she was looking at him.

“My hut is about two miles from here. We’re going to hike through the forest to get there.

It should take us around an hour and a half.

” He’d completed the journey in less than forty-five minutes, but he needed to allow for the fact she was a civilian, unused to hiking through the snow and these intense cold temperatures.

“I want you to do exactly as I say. Okay?”

“What? Don’t you have a snowmobile or something?” She stared at him incredulously, completely ignoring his request for her cooperation. “You tell me I’m in immediate danger, but then you expect me to walk out of here?”

“Yes, I have transport. Back at my hut. That’s why we’re headed there,” he explained.

The terrain was too rough and the forest too thick to have ridden his snowmobile through it.

He’d had to run cross country to get here, and planned on retracing his path to get back.

The only problem was that whoever was after Nikki might also follow their trail.

Again, there was nothing he could do about it.

While he was capable of traveling through snowy terrain leaving the barest of traces, he hadn’t been careful this time; the urgency of his mission overriding everything else, and now they might very well pay the price.

She puckered her lips in displeasure but, to his great surprise, decided not to argue with him this time.

“So, will you do exactly as I tell you? Your life may depend on it,” he reiterated. He had his doubts that she’d comply. In the few minutes he’d known her, she’d been nothing but stubborn and argumentative.

She glared at him but nodded slowly in reply, and he hoped she meant it.

“Right. Stay close behind me. Do everything that I do. Step in my footsteps when you can.” He led the way to the back door, bending down and squinting through the glass window to check they were still alone, expecting her to be right at his heels.

Instead, when he turned his head, she was nowhere to be seen.

Va’ fan? They hadn’t even left the safety of the house yet, and she’d already disobeyed him.

He stood up straight. Where was she? He broke out in a cold sweat. That was exactly what Tristan had done. Disobeyed a direct order to stay put. And he’d ended up dead.

A second later, she emerged from her bedroom, slinging a backpack over her shoulder. “I couldn’t leave my computer,” she said, ignoring the murderous look he sent her way. “My life is in here. All my work. I can’t lose it.”

This woman was going to be the death of him. Of them both. She came and stood behind him, calm as could be, and cocked one eyebrow when he continued to stare at her. “Are we going, or what?”

Tamping down his rising irritation, Jacob opened the door slowly and peered outside.

When he was sure everything was clear, he beckoned for her to follow him down the steps and back along the pathway that led to the sauna.

This way, they avoided making fresh tracks away from the house that would be easily spotted.

Once past the front of the sauna, he veered to the right and into a small copse of birch trees, happy to see Nikki finally sticking to him like glue.

Anyone who made the journey down to the small sauna would probably see their tracks leading off around the edge of the lake.

All he could do now was get her back to his hut as quickly as possible and hope they weren’t discovered too soon.

He did wonder about this undefined threat to Nikki’s life.

So far, he’d hadn’t seen or heard anything that might suggest someone was watching, or that anyone was even in the vicinity.

It didn’t mean they weren’t coming, however, and he should just be grateful they were getting out of the hut without incident.

For the next few minutes, the only sound was the crunch of snow beneath their boots and her breathing, which got heavier the farther they went as he navigated around the edge of the frozen lake, setting a pace he hoped she could keep up with.

But she didn’t complain or ask him to slow down, and true to her word, stuck to his heels, never once veering from his footsteps.

“Are you okay?” he asked, risking a quick glance behind to see how she was doing.

“I’m fine,” she replied, puffing hard. “But it might pay you to remember your legs are longer than mine.” It was only then that he realized she found it difficult to stay in his footsteps, having to stretch her legs considerably to make sure her gait matched his.

No wonder she was out of breath. Without slowing down, he altered the length of his stride, taking shorter, sharper steps.

“Thank you,” she muttered. “That’s better.”

Good. Her cooperation meant he had one less thing to worry about.

As long as she stayed right behind him, he could keep her safe.

Casting his awareness out into the snowy forest, he used all his senses to make sure they were alone.

His Sámi heritage stood him in good stead when it came to moving through the forest. Growing up with family who still lived and worked in the traditional ways meant that he’d been hunting moose by the age of nine, tending herds of reindeer and driving dog sleds when he turned ten.

Thirty minutes later, they were deep in the forest, trudging through snow drifts beneath low overhanging branches of evergreen needles. The pine trees closed in on all sides, blocking most of the dying sunshine, which would be gone in the next half an hour.

He glanced behind to see how Nikki was going. She had her head down, making sure she matched her steps with his, and didn’t look up until he came to a complete stop. “How are you going now?” he asked. He swung a small backpack off one shoulder and pulled out a water bottle, offering her a drink.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, taking the bottle from him and gulping water in greedy sips.

“You concentrate on not getting us lost, and I promise I’ll keep up with you,” she said, handing the water back.

He noted that her breathing was accelerated, but not labored; much the same as his own.

She was clearly fit, then. Those long, slender limbs he’d noted while she had been naked in the sauna hid muscular thighs beneath the soft skin.

“Can you go any faster?” he asked. “The sun is setting soon,” he added.

“I’m a field scientist,” she replied. “I hike up mountains and along beaches for a living.” When he stared at her blankly, she added. “Yes, I can keep up.”

Choosing to forego concealment for speed, he made a choice. “Stay as close to me as you can, but you can make your own path, if that’s easier for you.”

“Oh, gee, thanks.”