Hot as Sin

Sam raised an eyebrow at the obvious implications of such a trail system.

Peter answered his unspoken question. “Personally, I’ve never witnessed anything illegal on the trail. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, however.”

Her hand on the doorknob, clearly antsy to get out on the trail right away and search for April, Dianna said, “I’m going to finish getting dressed.”

Instead of following her, Sam wrote Will’s name, cell phone number, and Rocky Mountain station contact number down on a piece of paper for Peter.

“Honestly, I don’t expect this anonymous tip to come to much of anything, but in the event that Dianna and I don’t come back by tomorrow morning, I’d appreciate you giving my friend a call. He’s a helicopter pilot with the local hotshot crew. If anything happens, he’ll be able to find us before anyone else.”

Peter’s eyebrows raised. “You don’t think this is a trap, do you? The police wouldn’t steer you wrong, would they?”

“No, the cops definitely wouldn’t mess with us, but then again, I doubt they’re expecting to see us up there on the trail looking for April ourselves, either.” Sam ran a hand through his hair, frustrated by the lack of good leads. “Problem is, Dianna isn’t just some random person looking for her sister. She’s a public figure and I can’t discount the chance that someone has gone to all the trouble of kidnapping April as a way of getting to her.”

He leveled a hard gaze at Peter. “At this point, I don’t know that I should be trusting anyone we’ve met so far. Even you.”

“Then why are you giving me this?” Peter asked, holding up Will’s information.

“All I’ve got is what my gut tells me.”

“Which is?”

“In a nutshell, you make a bad first impression, but I think you’re all right. I also think this place you’ve got up here might have been shady at one point but isn’t anymore.”

Dianna was putting her hair up into a ponytail when he walked back in to the guest house.

“What should we bring with us?”

Sam took her backpack from her and put it down on the floor. “Slow down. We’ve got to be careful and think this through before running off after some anonymous tip.”

“What is there to think through?” she countered, her soft mouth now hard and unyielding. “Someone saw April on that trail and we need to go see if she’s still there.”

“We don’t know who we’re dealing with or what their motives are. For all we know this story has leaked to the press and anyone could have called this tip in to the police.” Wanting to make himself perfectly clear, he said, “What if some deranged fan of yours thinks this is the perfect way to finally meet you, way up in the Rockies with no one else around?”

Her cheeks flushed, her fists clenched, she said, “Can’t you see that I can’t even think about something like that right now? I’m not going to sit around when I finally have somewhere to look for my sister. I’m sick of taking time to think things through. Where has that gotten us so far? Nowhere! April’s still missing. Anything could be happening to her right now. I’m going after her, Sam. I have to.”

She dropped her hands to her side. “I’m sorry,” she said in a hollow voice. “I shouldn’t be yelling at you. You’re only trying to help.”

He put his arms around her. “You don’t have to apologize to me for anything, sweetheart. You’re right; we don’t have any other choice but to get out there on that trail. Hopefully April has left us a clue.”

For the past three days Dianna had faced constant physical tests and challenges she’d never planned to tackle. River rafting, rock climbing, and long, steep hikes on extremely narrow trails like this one, where one misstep sent loose rocks falling hundreds of feet.

With Sam’s help, she’d partially faced her fear of heights before getting to the Farm, but it still killed her that she had to go slow, when all she wanted was to race up and down the trail to find April.

“I think we should take a breather,” Sam said after they’d been creeping along the trail for the better part of two hours.

She shook her head. “I really want to get to the main trail the police said she was spotted on before we stop.”

Stepping carefully, she continued to move forward, making sure to keep one hand on the rock wall beside her at all times to feel more stable.

Thank God Sam was less than a foot behind her. She knew, without a doubt, that he’d be there to catch her if she started to fall.

She’d never been comfortable with how much she needed him. But this search for April had broken through what was left of her foolish pride. She’d had no choice but to accept his offer of help in the hospital. Three days later, her previous independence seemed less impressive and more lonesome.

She finally had something real to hold on to. She had Sam’s love.

He loved her.

Just thinking the sweet words took her breath away.

Ten years after the first time they met, considering all the different ways their lives could have turned out, instead of having found love and creating families with new people, they’d rediscovered each other.

It was a second chance, after all.

And it was nothing short of a miracle.

Dianna wasn’t blind to the fact that they still had a lot of decisions before them. Where to live, how to manage their very different careers. But she felt confident that they’d figure it all out. And that they’d truly transcended their past.

If only she felt as confident about finding April.

Please, she silently prayed, I need to find April today, up here in these mountains.

Her plea had barely floated up into the universe when she rounded a corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

The narrow path they’d been following had been swept away. The mudslide looked fresh, probably having occurred during the previous night’s storm.

“The trail’s gone, Sam,” she said in a hollow voice. Unable to keep from spiraling off, she said, “What if other sections are washed out and the police can’t get up here either?”

In lieu of answering, Sam unclipped his backpack and pulled out several rock-climbing bolts.

“I’m going to climb up and over to see how far it is until the trail picks back up.” Before he went, he lifted her chin with one finger. “Don’t you dare worry; this is just a minor bump in the road.”