Corey and she were kin.
Family had always been important to her—something she didn’t take for granted. What if her mom and dad hadn’t adopted her? Then where would she be? Until she’d begun the search for her biological parents, she hadn’t really thought much about where she’d come from. When her birth mother rejected the offer to meet with her, it had devastated her more than she thought possible. And after hearing about Fletcher, she didn’t think meeting her birth father would be any different. The thought saddened her.
She shouldn’t unpack. Instead, she should just leave when her car was fixed. She should forget the father who had never cared for her—and, from what she was discovering about the man, would never care in the future. He’d turned his back on a ten-year-old cousin. She always tried to look for the good in others, but with each bit of information she found out about her father, it was becoming more difficult. Lord, how could Fletcher Phillips do that to a child—in fact, to a whole ranch full of boys in need?
She didn’t realize she had slowed her step until suddenly Nick was several yards in front of her. She hurried her pace and the toe of her boot caught on a root, throwing her off balance. She floundered and nearly fell.
But Nick grabbed her, halting her ungraceful descent. “You okay?” He steadied her, close enough that she got a good whiff of his citrus-scented aftershave.
Her heartbeat picked up speed. “I tripped. That’s all.” She needed to keep her thoughts centered on finding Corey, not why she came to Haven—or the man she was with. There was something about Nick—the way he talked about Corey—that attracted her.
Her breathing shortened. He was too close for her peace of mind. “Thanks.” She stepped back and inhaled deeply. “Are we near the place Corey was talking about?” she asked, wanting to focus on the child, not the racing of her heartbeat. “I noticed a few snowflakes falling.”
“I know. His fort should be up ahead. I just hope he’s there. If not, I’ll call Mrs. Scott and see if Corey has been found.”
“What if he hasn’t been?”
“Then I think we really need to comb these woods. He uses it as a shortcut from school as well as to his friend’s house. It’ll be harder in the dark. We’ll need a lot more people. I’m glad they’re using some tracking dogs. In the meantime, we can at least rule out his fort and this part of the forest.”
Darcy scanned the towering trees, some leafless, others evergreens or ones that retain their dead leaves until spring. A black veil dominated the area beyond the glow of their flashlights. She quaked. “I guess for a boy this would be a great place to play in during the daytime.” But not at night.
“But not for a girl?” Nick continued forward, glancing back to make sure she was behind him. Even from a distance she sensed the concern that gripped him.
“No, for some it would be. Not for me though. I wasn’t much of a tomboy, except when it came to fishing. I love to go fishing. My dad owned a boat, and we often went out in the Gulf of Mexico. So much fun. What did you do for fun growing up?” Maybe concentrating on something other than Corey’s predicament would reduce Nick’s stress. She’d learned in her work that tension only made a situation worse, sometimes leading to bad decisions.
“I played football and baseball. I was also part of the junior rodeo.”
“I took ballet and played the violin. I did learn to ride a horse English-style.” As a teen she gave up the other two interests to focus on her mare and going to horse shows.
“We come from different worlds.”
The more she was around him, the more she realized that, and yet there was something about Nick that intrigued her. He’d made a promise to a comrade to take care of his little brother, and he was determined to keep it. Like her, he fought for the underdog. She admired him for that. For that matter, he’d stopped to help her when her car died even though he was going the other way.
Finally Nick halted and pointed to a large thicket of bushes up ahead. “That’s the fort,” he said and then he called out loudly, “Corey, it’s Nick.”
Darcy held her breath. Please, Lord, let him be here and okay.
Nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the woods.
Nick closed the distance between them and the dense undergrowth. “Corey, I want to help.”
“I’m glad it’s cold enough that things like snakes are hibernating,” Darcy said as they approached.
“So am I.”
“Are you scared of snakes?”
“Nope. But we have a lot of rattlers around here, and I don’t want Corey to encounter one. Oh, and by the way, snakes don’t hibernate. I’ve seen some in the winter.” He winked and then started to the side. “You stay here. I’m gonna circle this brush and see if there’s an easy way in.”
Oh, good. He’d said that bit about the snakes on purpose and then left. She scowled at his back. As Nick moved farther away, Darcy hugged her chest and tried to see through the green-and-brown barrier in front of her where she was shining her flashlight. What if a rattlesnake was keeping warm under the thicket—and Corey had been bitten by it? What if...
Darcy quickly shut down those thoughts. She liked frills and lace. She liked girly things, and a snake wasn’t one of those. She and Nick were definitely opposites and that was fine by her. And yet, she remembered his quick reflexes when he caught her before she could hit the ground. Okay, they might be opposites, but there was an appeal to the cowboy who dropped everything to look for a child.
Whoa. Where were these thoughts coming from? Exhaustion after driving all day? She wasn’t in Haven for anything but gathering information about her birth father. She was going to be here only a short time. The more she heard about Fletcher the less she wanted to talk to him, but it wouldn’t be right to pass up discovering what she could about her biological family since she wanted children of her own.
To her left Nick shouted, “Stop, Corey!”
The next thing Darcy saw was the boy rounding the end of the undergrowth, coming to a halt when he spied her and then darting to the side to avoid her. Nick closed in on him from behind. Darcy shot forward, trying to block his escape. When she was within a few feet of him, she took a flying leap and tackled Corey to the ground.
“Get off me! Get off me!” the child yelled.
Still clutching her flashlight, Darcy threw her body across his stomach while Corey wiggled and twisted. Was this what riding a wild bronco felt like?
Through her strands of blond hair she saw two cowboy boots planted near Corey’s shoulder, a pool of light coming no doubt from Nick’s flashlight. She thought it was safe for her to sit up, but the second she did, the boy jumped to his feet and tried to race away.
With lightning speed Nick grasped the child’s upper arms and held him still. “What’s going on with you, Corey?”
“I don’t want to go back. I’ll run away again if you make me go.”
The anger in the boy’s voice made Darcy forget about the dead leaves clinging to her coat and the bruises she was sure to develop from stopping him. Beneath his fury was desperation. She’d heard
