Her heart flooded with relief and she closed her eyes and almost involuntarily whispered “thank you,” though she didn’t know if she was trying to talk to God or just speaking her thoughts aloud.
Before she could think anything else, the pressure on her hair was released. She stumbled back in time to see Wyatt’s fist connecting with her attacker’s jaw.
A growl and a flash of white and she saw Willow out of the corner of her eye launch herself toward the man. Her good dog had been trailing them all this time, waiting for the right moment to save her.
“Willow, come.” Elsie said the words firmly, not wanting her to be in Wyatt’s way and accidentally get one of them hurt.
Willow seemed indignant to have been taken out of the fight, but she obeyed and ran to Elsie’s side. Elsie watched as the two men continued to fight. She was fairly certain Wyatt was winning.
Finally there was no doubt. Wyatt had the other man pinned to the ground.
“Call the Troopers,” he said to her, panting from exertion.
“I don’t have my cell phone. It’s in the cabin.”
He nodded, pulled his out and tossed it in her direction. She scooped it up and made the call, quickly relaying their situation and location.
“Someone is on the way,” the dispatcher said.
Elsie hung up, then wondered briefly if she should have stayed on the line. Her gaze fell back on the man Wyatt had pinned.
“Who are you?” Elsie asked. Seeing him like this, she realized he wasn’t a mysterious voice in the woods anymore. He was a real human, just as defeatable as anyone.
Still, he must have wanted to maintain some level of power, because he wouldn’t answer her. Even after Wyatt yanked off the ski mask, he said nothing. She didn’t see anything remarkable about his features that would help her to identify him.
Worse yet, he didn’t look much older than she was. Which meant that he would have been too young to have been involved in what had happened to her all those years ago.
“You’re working for someone, right?” Wyatt asked, and Elsie waited to hear if the guy said anything.
Still, he stubbornly refused to talk.
Frustration rose within her, pressing on her temples. She wanted to make him answer but knew there was nothing she could do. She hated being powerless.
The troopers appeared faster than she’d hoped, breaking the strange tableau of Wyatt holding down the masked man, Elsie and Willow watching in silence.
They hauled the man away, and Elsie and Wyatt were alone.
“You’re okay?” she asked him, her voice quiet.
“Yeah. He doesn’t punch that hard.”
“Still.” There was so much she could say. He was still very possibly a murderer, if he’d been the one responsible for Rebecca Reyes’s death.
“I can’t believe I left you alone.” His voice was anguished. There was no other way to describe it.
“I’m okay.”
“I should never have left you. What if...?”
“Nothing happened,” Elsie insisted, then hesitated and reached up to rub her head, which still burned. “I mean, he hurt my head when he yanked my hair. And my arm is pretty bruised, but I think it’s all right. I’m fine overall.”
“I still shouldn’t have left.”
“Did your walk...” She trailed off. “...help at all?”
“I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I told you I’m fine—”
“I don’t want to see you hurt by me.”
She stared. “Why would you hurt me?”
“I...I think I’m falling in love with you, Elsie.” His voice was steady, his face serious.
Elsie’s heart fluttered.
“I think it might be mutual,” she whispered back, leaning a little closer to him before stopping.
This time, Wyatt was the one who initiated the kiss, and it was gentle, slow and curious, his lips moving against hers carefully. Cherished. That was the word for how she felt right now.
When he broke away, Elsie wasn’t ready for it to end.
“We have to get back inside. Just in case that’s not the only guy after you.”
The worry in his tone was very real, but somehow his concern made her smile. “I’m okay. You don’t have to be so worried about me.” She meant it in multiple ways but he shrugged it off.
“Please? For me?”
