set his mug on the table. “You can show me where the locals hang out on the weekends. We might catch some rumors about the murder that could prove useful.”
Not a date and that was good, right? Why did she feel disappointed? In the space of a couple hours, her emotions had been slammed around inside her, leaving her off-kilter. Fear. Excitement. Lust. Confusion. “Going into town has nothing to do with the trail.”
“You can point out the people who have stayed here and I can talk to them about what they’ve heard about the Huntsman. With the number of investigation vehicles here, rumors will run wild. People will want to talk to you about the murder and I can ask them what they know.”
Autumn swallowed hard. She avoided going into town for a number of reasons. Among them was keeping away from gossip and crowds. Dealing with everyone knowing a body had been found at the Trail’s Edge was overwhelming. She hadn’t processed the events of the night and wasn’t ready to discuss them in public. “I don’t want to talk about the murder.”
Nathan inclined his head. “I’ll deflect the questions from you. You won’t have to say anything.”
But she’d have to hear it. The gossip. The slander. She was best staying at the Trail’s Edge. “I’ll take you to an available cabin and give you a list of places to eat in town. I’ll give you directions and you can go on your own.”
He shook his head. “I won’t know whom to talk to and insiders won’t talk to an outsider like me. I need you with me, Autumn. You’re honey to the bees.” His voice was low and smooth, rolling off his tongue, utterly persuasive. It wasn’t what he said; it was the smooth way he said it. He could have told her he wanted to go for a hike naked, and she’d strip out of her clothes and sprint toward the trail.
Perhaps she was making a big deal about nothing. She could go into town this once and get it over with, show the town she was fine after her broken engagement and a murder at the Trail’s Edge. She’d face the gossip head-on, set the record straight and not let it blow out of control. “We can have dinner in town. A quick dinner.” Of course, showing up in town with a handsome stranger would set off rounds of new gossip, but Autumn would hold her head high.
Nathan radiated an air of authority, and in combination with his good looks, he could talk his way into anything. Autumn didn’t care for that. Daniel had been that way, charming and sweet. But he wasn’t ready to settle down, a fact he’d hidden from her but not many others in town.
“I’ll show you to your cabin.” Autumn set her mug on the counter and grabbed the key to the cabin she’d rented him. The paperwork could wait. She’d put some distance between them before he talked her into doing something else.
She and Nathan trudged outside. The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. Many nights, Autumn had enjoyed sitting on her front porch rocker and drinking in the tranquility of her slice of heaven. But tonight, for the first time in years, she was afraid of the woods and of what she couldn’t see. The perfect, soothing darkness was now a hiding place for a killer.
Autumn ignored the people milling around, tried not to think about the body and pretended Nathan was another guest renting a cabin. “Have you ever been camping before?” Autumn asked. If she were alone, she would have cut through the woods, but she made it her policy to teach guests to stay to the marked trails. Staying to the trails meant she and Thor could find them if they were lost, versus attempting to locate someone in the vast forest that lined the trail for miles on either side.
“This case has required I spend a good number of nights under the stars. But I’m not really the camping type.”
Mother Nature was strong, swift and unforgiving. “I’ve marked the paths through camp. I recommend you stay on them whenever possible.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, sounding serious.
If he did as she asked, she wouldn’t spend the night wandering in the dark looking for him. Desire edged at the fear inside her. Finding Nathan Bradshaw in the dark could have some interesting possibilities.
“I plan to have my trusty trail guide with me if I venture onto the trail,” Nathan said.
She stopped and faced him, feeling uneasy about the idea of Nathan depending on her too strongly. “I said I would help you, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do. Don’t get your hopes up.” Set the bar low and be pleasantly surprised if things went well.
Nathan touched her upper arm and heat waves shuddered down her body. “You’ve already helped more than you know, and I have confidence in your outdoor skills.”
She gave him a wry grin and stepped away from him. “Usually people assume when it comes to the trail, I’m incapable and incompetent.”
“Why’s that?” Nathan asked.
Was he digging into her psyche or did he really not know? “I’m a woman, which many people assume means I don’t know how to rough it or that I’ll complain if I can’t wash my hair. Also, I’m what my dad used to call ‘scrawny.’” All her life she’d been waiting for curves that hadn’t come. “I don’t pack a lot of muscle but I’ve got endurance, and on the trail that can be important.”
Autumn took the stairs to the front door of the cabin. She looked around and noticed that Roger Ford was watching them. Why was he opposed to Nathan working the case? Did he worry that Nathan would undercover something he couldn’t?
“I don’t think you’re incompetent or incapable, but I do want you to be cautious.” Nathan was standing close behind her, his breath hot on her neck. “I’ll be watching over you, and I take that job seriously. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
A warm shiver ran down her spine. She fumbled with the keys trying to make them work, her hands behaving as though disconnected from her brain. With Nathan standing behind her, she felt jittery and nervous in a very feminine, giddy way. “I will advise you to do the same.”
His fingers reached and covered her hand, taking the keys from her. “Let me try.”
The brushing of his hand against hers sent electric currents moving from the point of contact all the way to her toes. She released the keys and he unlocked the door quickly, pushing it open and stepping inside.
She could feel the heat radiating from his body, and she fought the impulse to lean close. Entirely inappropriate. Uncalled for. She had more control than this. Nathan would think she came on to every man who stayed here. She shoved her loneliness into a deep, dark place and slammed the door on it.
“Nice place,” he said, no hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I’ve stayed in motels less inviting.”
It had been Autumn’s idea to remodel the cabins and outfit them with modern-day luxuries—coffeemakers, microwaves and quality linens and curtains to create a sense of home away from home. She did the cleaning and maintenance herself. Though the cabins were small, she’d arranged the furniture into a small eating area and a sitting area and placed a queen-size bed in the alcove opposite the fireplace. Two additional single beds folded out from furniture in the sitting area for children. The pellet stove in the middle of the room generated enough heat to keep the cabin toasty in the winter, and the shade from the trees kept it cool in the summer.
Autumn walked to the far end of the room where a double bay window gave an amazing daytime view of the forest. “This cabin
