At her words, Jacob paled and then flushed, an apology flashing in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Nina. And you too, Em. I have no excuse.”
Nina glared at him for a second more but then sighed. “Just drop the attitude, Jacob. I have enough to worry about without worrying about you too. If it wasn’t for him, I would probably be frozen stiff right now. You might not thank him, but I do.”
Again, Jacob flushed and then turned to Rob and held out his hand. “I apologize and do thank you. Not friends but truce?”
Rob was silent for a moment and then chuckled, shaking Jacob’s hands. “Not friends but truce,” he repeated, chuckling some more.
Just then, they all heard a rumble from the forest, but before the three of them could panic,
Rob was quick to reassure them. “Don’t worry. That’s just Danny. He’s here to help me get you all to the resort. Jacob, he’s going to take you back to your car on the road, and for whatever reason if it’s not there, he’ll take you to the resort himself. It’s a straight shot to the main building from that road. We don’t get a lot of thieves, but you never know. Nina, I can just imagine that Joan is beyond worried now, so let’s load up.”
“I can just imagine,” she said, sighing at worrying her friend but anxious to see her and truly warm up, not to mention she was starving, and she knew her daughter had to be as well. They had had a few snacks yesterday but nothing substantial or filling.
Within an hour, they were loaded up and headed toward the resort of Vail Mountain. After the small hike to the vehicles—Nina, Emily, and Rob on one ATV and Danny and Jacob on the other—the two machines parted ways soon after the engines started rumbling.
Chapter 5
By the time she saw the roofs of the buildings in the distance, Nina felt as if she was going to pass out, barely able to keep her eyes open and back straight as they bumped across the rocky ground.
The hypothermia blanket was still wrapped around her, and her clothes were dry. Shivers still racking her body, she could just imagine how chilled her poor daughter was. She was situated between her and Rob on the ATV, her dark head buried in his back to minimize the chilled wind.
Nina hadn't really taken any notice of her surroundings on the journey to the resort, as the biting wind of the mountain made it crazy to lift her head from her daughter's back. They had been forced to walk two miles to where the two men had parked the ATVs and then drive the two hours to the resort. It hadn't been a pleasant experience.
The other man, Danny, had returned that morning to the site of where they were stranded and had taken Jacob back to his car where it was parked on the side of the road, and Rob had said that he had already made it back. She didn't know how she felt about that. He was a friend, but she knew the questions were coming. His words back at the cave had confirmed that. Her father's murder had been discovered. She blanked her mind from remembering, at least for a little while longer, but her time was running out.
Spying Jacob's unmarked cruiser in front of the door, she sighed as Rob slowly pulled up in front of the porch. She saw Joan and her fiancé standing beside Jacob, her face pale as the woman shifted on her feet impatiently. As soon as Rob braked, Joan ran over to her, hugging Nina before helping her down. Nina turned to help her daughter, but Rob was already assisting the little girl to the ground.
"Let's get everyone inside to warm up," Joan said quickly. Grabbing Nina and Emily by the arm, she escorted them to the door and inside as if they were children, but it didn't really bother her. She could barely stand as it was, and shivers still racked her body.
"Oh my God, Nina! I know you have to be exhausted!" Joan exclaimed, her face pinched with worry and concern as she looked between Nina and Emily.
"Maybe just a little," Nina said tiredly. She would have stumbled if Joan hadn't caught her. She tried to straighten, but the world started to spin, and voices faded. She faintly heard her daughter cry out as the world grew dim, and she would have laughed at the thought of blacking out for the second time in her life if she had been conscious.
Rob was the closest and had seen Nina's eyes roll back in her head. Acting quickly, he caught Nina before she hit the ground, swinging her up in his arms. Shifting her light weight, he looked over at Joan, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide as she looked down at her friend.
Before she could say anything, Rob began to bark orders, and everyone scattered but Emily, her focus completely on her mother.
"Is she going to be all right?" she asked, fear in both her eyes and voice as she stayed close.
Rob smiled down reassuringly at her as he walked to the staircase. "Your mom will be just fine. She's just exhausted, sweetheart."
He hadn't noticed Jacob until then, following behind them. Rob turned and raised an eyebrow. "She's exhausted," he said bluntly. "She can answer your damn questions later, man."
Anger flashed in Jacob's eyes, but then a shutter came down, concealing his emotions as he nodded curtly.
Pivoting on his heels, Jacob stalked back toward the lounge area, and Rob turned, carrying Nina into a guest room at the top of the stairs, Joan and Emily following closely behind. Nina was still passed out, her face pale, and Rob laid her down gently on the bed, Emily and Joan hovering nearby.
Rob didn't want to leave her. He found himself gazing down at the woman with an intensity that shook him, an unfamiliar intensity that wasn't normal. He was thirty-two years old, and yet the feeling he was consumed with was new.
Forcing himself to move aside and walk away from her, he left Nina to the care of her friend and daughter and headed back downstairs, his own feet dragging. Before he could think about sleep, though, he had to check on the campers and get the jealous idiot settled into a room. He had seen the love and possession flash in the other man's eyes every time he looked at Nina, especially back at the cave when Nina and he had both caught Jacob's look. She may have thought they were just friends, but if Jacob had anything to do with that line of thought, the two would be more than that. A better man would have stepped back and given the other who had known her the longest a chance, but Rob had never claimed to be the better man. Granted, he lived on a mountain, and it was often times dangerous, and those facts alone should have stalled him or at least caused him to think long and hard, but he didn't.
There was something about Nina, about the love she clearly felt and demonstrated for her daughter, and for some unknown reason, he was more than attracted to her. He didn't quite understand it, as he had just met her the night before and not in the best situation. They had barely spoken and yet something was there, something he found himself desperate to pursue.
Sighing at the insane direction of his thoughts, he hit the foyer of the lounge and spied Jacob near the fire, staring into the orange and red blaze of the flames. His face cast in the flickering shadows erupting from the fire, Rob walked over to him, resigned to being the respectful host he didn't feel like, not when the other man was in love with Nina.
"There's a room upstairs, the last door on the right. Why don't you get some sleep?" he suggested.
Jacob didn't answer for a minute, but then his voice filled the silence.
"She's never looked at me the way she does you," he said quietly, still staring down at the fire.
Rob didn't know what to say to that, so he remained silent.
The other man sighed and then glanced up with a rueful look. "I have a murder to investigate, so as soon as Nina is awake, I need to talk to her."
Rob nodded, still silent. It sounded as though Jacob was going to concede to what Rob felt was between him and Nina, and he felt sorry for the other man but not sorry enough to back down, and the other man knew it.
Without another word, Rob watched Jacob head for the stairs, his back straight and proud. He could almost like the other man.
Almost.
After checking on the status of the campers and their locations within the resort, he headed for his room in the back. It was only ten in the morning, but with the exhau
stion that had taken hold of everyone, it was going to be a quiet day, and Rob was thankful. He didn't remember anything as his head hit the pillow.
Chapter 6
Nina opened her eyes and squinted at the bright rays of sunshine that streamed in through the blinds of the large window.
Groaning, her whole body felt as though she had been hit by a train and could just imagine the mess she looked.
I'm worried about my looks? she wondered, shaking her head as she got out of bed. She flinched at the aches and pains that erupted from every muscle in her body. It was hard even to move without wanting to cry out in pain. She saw a door off to the right and opened it to reveal a bathroom, and the alluring thought of a hot shower teased her dulled senses. She didn't have any clean clothes, but that wasn't going to stop her from taking a very hot shower. First, she had to go check on her daughter. She turned and spied some folded clothes on a chair by the window. Her desire to be clean won out over her motherly instincts. Suddenly, her stomach gave a harsh growling sound, filling the silence, and even though no one was in the room, she flushed and looked around in panic.
Food or shower? she thought as her stomach let loose another growl, this one more insistent than the last.
Damn it, hold your horses! I'm not going to be seen looking like a homeless ragamuffin!
Confident that her daughter was being taken care of, she quickly grabbed the clothes on the chair, and she made her way to the bathroom. Walking in, she happened to glance in the mirror and gasped at the sight.
Her brown hair was tangled and wild as if it hadn’t seen a brush in years, and her pale face was littered with scratches and faint bruises. When she took a deep breath, she smelled mud and stale water, causing her to flinch yet again.
Fuck food! I'm not being seen like this!
Nina undressed quickly and took a hot shower, the sounds of her stomach louder than the noise of the spray of water. Once dry, she put on Joan's clothes. They fit her tightly, but at least they were clean. She brushed the tangles from her hair and then flinched again at the bruises that were clearly visible, and for one who wasn't vain about her looks, she still wished for makeup and concealer.
Oh well. Time to face the music, she thought, reluctant to face what she knew was coming.
The questions, the rehashing of what had happened, and forced to recall her father's death. She hated it but knew it couldn't be avoided.
There was nothing she could do about that, but she did know one thing. She wanted the bastards to pay for killing her father, a man who had never harmed anyone in his life and who would have given the shirt off his back to anyone in need and often did.
Resigned to the inevitable, she made her way downstairs, her feet dragging as the varied voices drifted toward her. She must have made a noise on the staircase, as all eyes focused on her, watching her descend and arrive in the lounge.
“Mommy!” Emily squealed, rushing over to hug her. Even that small tightened hug hurt like shit, but she hugged her back and breathed in shampoo and cleanliness, beyond thankful that her daughter was okay given everything that had happened. It could have been so much worse, and Nina blocked that line of thought before it could fully form, refusing to think of the what ifs that could have happened but didn’t.
She saw Jacob next to the fire beside Joan, looking as though they had been in the middle of an important conversation, and Nina could just guess as she saw Joan’s eyes fill with tears and sadness. Her own eyes burned at the memory of all she had lost, but she blinked furiously, determined not to lose her cool. Stephen wasn’t in the room, and she hadn’t officially met the man yet, but from what Joan had written to her in the previous months, it was a match made in heaven.
Her friend was extremely happy, and Nina was generally happy for her. Joan deserved it after the cheating bastard she had married right out of college and then his death months ago.
Rob was also missing, but given he was actually the owner, Nina wasn’t surprised. There were three other people she hadn’t met yet either, sitting on the couch and chairs situated around the lounge—a woman and two men.
Joan walked over to her, leaving Jacob standing by himself and gave her a tight hug, again hurting her, but Nina welcomed the show of support and affection. She had missed her friend and returned the hug.
“How are you holding up, Nina?” she asked quietly, the sadness still in her eyes.
Nina tried to smile, but the slight curve of her lips could hardly be called that. She sighed. “I’ve seen better days, Jo, but I’ll be okay. I just hope Em will be.”
Emily had gone over to the strange woman sitting on the couch, and they were coloring, causing Nina to frown slightly.
Before she could ask, Joan cut in quickly and made the introductions. “Nina, this is Connie”—she motioned toward the woman sitting with Emily—“and these are her friends, Dale and Barry. They were camping on the mountain when they got lost a few days ago.”
“And I still feel embarrassed about that,” Barry piped up, shaking his blond head ruefully as he sat in the high-back chair in the corner, away from the crowd.
Nina smiled at everyone and relaxed. She seriously doubted the killers would have a woman in their group. Besides, she had seen them, so she knew what they looked like, but Nina vowed silently to be more careful and keep her eyes out. She would have to warn Joan as well but saved that conversation for later.
Or not, she thought, spying Jacob heading her way. Just then, her stomach growled again, this time much louder than in the bedroom upstairs, and Jacob froze halfway to her, a grin splitting across his lean face.
She flushed, mortified as everyone looked over at her, even her daughter. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten and barely remembered eating any of the snacks she had bought at the convenient store, and that was two days ago.
“Come on. You must be starving! Everyone has already eaten, and I saved you a nice hot plate for when you woke up,” Joan said, leading the way past the smiling faces and toward the kitchen.
“What time is it?”
“Around noon. You slept all of yesterday and half of today, hon.”
“A day and a half?” she asked incredulously, shocked.
Joan nodded with a smile. “You needed it, hon. I kept Emily company, and I made sure everyone left you alone.” For some reason, Nina had a feeling Joan was talking about Jacob. The short reprieve had been nice, she had to admit.
She hadn’t slept that hard in years. It didn’t take her long to wolf down the food, and her stomach made noises throughout the whole thing, but she was grateful no one was in the kitchen to hear it. She could have been even more embarrassed, and as it was, she still flushed with each sound and gurgle, but that didn’t stop her from shoving more food in her mouth.
Twenty minutes later, Nina returned to the living area, and no one had moved from their positions, still talking quietly among themselves and Emily coloring with the woman, Connie.
She must have the patience of a saint, Nina thought as she heard her daughter ramble on without taking a breath. Jacob spied her in the doorway of the living room, this time, headed her way with determination. Nina sighed. Her time was up.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly, his dark eyes intent on her face.
She nodded and looked over at Joan. “Do you have a room where we can have some privacy?” she asked.
Joan raised an eyebrow suggestively, and Nina shook her head. “Not like that!” she protested. What the heck was it with everyone insisting there was something between her and Jacob?
Jacob looked confused for a moment, but then he chuckled, hiding whatever emotion he had felt with a quick flick of his eyelashes.
Joan smiled but then pointed down the hall to their left. “First door on the right is a small conference room. You two can use that one,” she offered.
Nina nodded her thanks and led the way, Jacob closing the door behind him.
He didn’t waste time and launched into his line
of questions immediately. “What the hell happened, Nina?”
She sighed and walked over to the large window facing the high mountains in the distance. For the first time since arriving, Nina took in the breathtaking sight before her while she tried to gather her thoughts. Finally, she began, and Jacob listened intently behind her.
“It was around nine that night, and I was helping Dad with some inventory while Emily was coloring. Everything happened so fast. I’m still unclear on a lot of it, but one minute I was on a ladder putting stock away and the next, Dad was shoving Emily and me in the back room. I remember opening the door because I was worried and didn’t know why he could be so upset. I saw him at the counter and…” she paused, her throat working to swallow as she remembered that night, remembered her father jerking with the impact of the bullet and falling.
Remembering it all and her heart hammered in her chest as she continued, her voice harsh and trembling in the silence of the room. Everything else faded but her low voice.
“I saw Dad get shot, and so did Emily,” she choked, struggling not to let the tears fall as she stared out at the mountains and the beautiful peaks of snow on the tops that she glimpsed from miles away. The resort felt as though it were on top of the world, and Nina fell in love. Even the cold weather, now that she had the option of cold and hot, was alluring. She loved the fact that she was away from everything, away from the traffic, away from the busy atmosphere of the city, and away from the brutality of the human race.
“She saw the man who had helped me raise her, her grandfather, shot before her eyes. My baby girl…” Tears choked her, and she had to take a deep breath, but she felt Jacob behind her, offering his silent comfort as best as he could. She knew he was only doing his job. He was investigating her father’s death, and she was thankful that at least it was Jacob asking the questions and not some stranger, a man who didn’t understand.
“We stayed that way until after the killers left,” she whispered. She felt Jacob stiffen behind her, and he moved to stand in front of her.
Trapped on Vail Mountain Page 5