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Chapter 1

The Whippoorwill hooted its low rhythmic tones into the starry night as Vidalia Ann Minton dragged her heavy suitcase out of the passenger’s side of the four-wheel drive pickup truck and then looked around. The tones of the whippoorwill were haunting, making her feel uneasy.

Some legends say the whippoorwill hoots when a death is imminent. If so, they were a little late, she thought. Death had already placed its cold finger in the fabric of her life and changed everything.

Placing a mental lock on that thought, she concentrated on the storm coming in. The wind in the pine trees was picking up, urging her to get inside as quickly as possible.

Vidalia had packed plenty of provisions in the back of the pickup, enough to last several days, maybe even the entire two weeks she’d planned to be here if she wanted to stay that long. She was still undecided about that, but this spot was about as far from civilization as she could get.

Just what she needed.

She grunted as she tugged the heavy, soft-sided luggage up the wooden steps and over to the door of the cabin and then fished in her pocket for the key. Swearing softly, she wiggled it around inside the keyhole impatiently until it finally opened. The sense of urgency to get inside was escalating as the low growling of thunder rumbled across the heavens. “Thank God,” she muttered as she felt for the light switches on the inside of the door jamb.

The soft glow of a yellow bulb lit up the murky evening above her head with the first switch. The second switch sent light beyond the open doorway, challenging the creeping darkness. Heaving a sigh of relief, Vidalia stepped into the beckoning stillness and out of the whipping wind. The protection was short-lived as she set her suitcase down and headed back to the truck to get her food supplies.

By the time she brought in the last load, the inky blackness of the Rocky Mountains had closed in around her, and the small oasis of light burning from the cabin’s interior was extremely appealing. She shivered as the cool evening air nipped at her slender arms in the short-sleeved t-shirt. She should have worn jeans, she reflected, but back in Fort Collins this afternoon, the denim shorts had been perfectly reasonable.

After shutting the door against the brisk winds behind her, she leaned back against it, the box of canned goods crushed against her chest, and closed her eyes. The approaching storm was creating anxiety that led to things she didn’t want to think about. “Compartmentalize,” she muttered to herself. “Getting settled in is the priority at the moment.” As usual, her mind didn’t want to cooperate. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the kitchen area, set the box of canned goods on the small table, and began inspecting her surroundings. The first thing she did was turn the heat up on the thermostat.

When her friend Dax had offered her the use of his cabin, she’d jumped at the chance, desperate to get away. She needed to think, to figure out where she was going with her life, and most importantly, how she was going to forget the horror of one awful night.

Shuddering as the memories tried to close in on her, she plugged in her stereo and stuffed in a copy of Neil Diamond’s Coming to America CD, then began to rummage around for kindling in the wood box to start a fire. Music was always a distraction for her and a fire in the fireplace always felt good. Both spoke to her soul in so many different ways.

 Her friends all thought she was crazy for liking an old geezer like Neil Diamond. After all, that was her grandmother’s time. Vidalia was only twenty-three and Neil Diamond was old enough to be her grandfather.

She loved it though.

In fact, she loved a lot of the seventies and eighties music, feeling a kinship with Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s the Night and Lionel Ritchie’s Dancing on the Ceiling. It was feel-good music, as her mother always said, and in her young opinion, it lived up to its name. She turned it up as loud as her ears could stand—anything to drown out the intrusive memories and the increasing windy fingers making the glass rattle in the patio door and around the windows.

 The cabin wasn’t huge, but it had a loft upstairs with a couple of beds, one bedroom downstairs, and a huge fireplace in the middle of one wall. The downstairs area was open to the kitchen. A small table and chairs sat near the patio doors to the wrap-around deck, and a nice, light brown leather sofa with matching recliners adorned the living area.

The huge beams above her head looked like knotty dark pine, and the floor was done in the same wood. The walls were painted a deep creamy color. The huge fireplace on one wall with bookshelves on either side and the plush tan rug between the sofa and the fireplace gave the cabin a cozy, homey atmosphere. 

A large screen TV hung above the fireplace. Dax had told her there were movies in the bookshelves or she could bring some of her own if she wanted to. She’d brought a few of her favorites, although she wasn’t sure how much television she would be watching. Hiking and photography were a huge interest of hers and she intended to spend as much time outside as the weather would permit.

 As the trees outside the windows dipped their branches in deference to the wind, Vidalia was thankful she’d made it in ahead of the gathering clouds. It had looked like rain all afternoon on the drive in from Fort Collins and air had started cooling the minute she’d began her ascent into the mountains.

 The flames were just shooting up from the kindling and catching on the bigger sticks when a horrendous pounding began on the door. Startled, Vidalia whirled around, her heart rate increasing dramatically. Who in God’s name would be out in the middle of nowhere in the dark? She hadn’t heard a vehicle in the driveway and surely no sane person would be on foot in this weather. Quickly, she sped to her purse and took out her pepper spray, her hands shaking badly. 

 All the stories she’d heard about being confronted by a stranger raced through her head. She picked up her cell phone. The commercial message can you hear me now raced incongruously through her mind as she checked for a signal. She didn’t have any bars. “Damn,” she muttered softly. She’d wanted to be away from civilization, she just hadn’t envisioned someone actually disturbing her commune with nature.

 “Dax! Dax! You in there?” The loud voice was definitely male. “Turn off that racket, buddy, I can’t hear crap out here with the wind.”

 Vidalia quickly turned down the stereo, her slender frame tense. Was this man someone Dax knew? “W-who are you? And what do you want?” Her voice came out weak and quivery, and she despised the gutless sound of it. Gripping her pepper spray, she forced herself to march to the door and spoke again. “Who are you and what do you want?” 

“Dax?”

 “No, I’m not Dax,” she replied. “But Dax is here, so go away and leave us alone.” It was worth a shot if this person was up to no good, but it didn’t work.

 There was a slight pause and then an amused chuckle. “You must be Vidalia. And if Dax were in there, he would have already been to the door, so give up the lie and open up.”

 “Who the hell are you,” Vidalia challenged, irritation taking over at the sound of the obviously amused male on the other side.

 “I’m Dax’s neighbor. We could talk a lot better face-to-face. I can barely hear you over the wind out here.”

 Vidalia wasn’t totally convinced. “Dax never said anything about someone coming over, so why should I believe you? Maybe you just want to rob his place while he’s not here. Knowing his name doesn’t make you trustworthy in my book.”

 “If that were so, how would I know your name is Vidalia?” He asked from the other side of the door.

Whoever he might be, he was starting to sound impatient now.

“Dax told me you were coming and asked me to check on you and make sure you got here safely. Since you’ve got Dax’s truck, I thought he might be here after all. There’s a big storm brewing, and the electricity could go out any minute. In fact, I’m not even sure I should start back to my own cabin now, it’s coming in fast.”

 Vidalia could indeed see the tree limbs waving ferociously back and forth, some of their leaves brushing against the rails on the deck. If the lights went out, it would be rather eerie up here in the mountains alone. Surely the man was telling the truth, how else would he know her name? Or recognize Dax’s truck? 

 “Come on, Vidalia, open the door,” he yelled. “It’s starting to rain out here!”

 He was right, she could see the water drops slamming against the patio door, their beads of liquid glistening in the glow from the lights as they began to run down the glass panes. If he was a friend of Dax’s, she couldn’t leave him out there in that storm. Quickly, she unlocked the door and opened it, the wind almost blowing him forward as he ducked inside and slammed it behind him.

 She stared at him suspiciously, inspecting the smoky stone color of his eyes and the dark waves of hair that were askew from the wind. He was well over six-foot, rugged jawline, and a sexy light covering of five o’clock shadow on his lower face. His nose had been broken at one time, she decided, noting the small ridge in the cartilage. Dark chocolate brows were an accent to an arresting face, giving him a powerful aura. The rest of his body was dressed in jeans, tan work boots, and a gray sweatshirt, his muscled physique obvious even beneath the loose-style clothing. A small sliver of attraction knifed through her.

 “Well? Do I pass inspection,” he drawled, his lips quirking in amusement.

 Embarrassed for acting like an enthralled teenager, Vidalia held up the pepper spray. “If you hadn’t, I was prepared. Believe me, I won’t hesitate to use it if I have to.”

 His eyes narrowed at the threat, and for a moment, Vidalia had a weird sense of impending danger. It was gone as suddenly as it came so she thought she must have imagined it. She didn’t imagine the next instant though. Suddenly she found herself twisted around in a powerful grip, the pepper spray taken from her fingers, and then quickly released. It had happened so fast it left her mortified at how easily she’d been defeated.

 “You…you…” she sputtered. “Give that back!”

 He slipped it into the pocket of his pants. “You won’t need this while I’m here,” he replied. “I’ll just keep it for you so you don’t get trigger-happy unexpectedly,” His white teeth flashed in a wicked smile as he took his turn inspecting her.

 “Maybe you should go,” Vidalia replied acidly, her upturned nose shooting into the air. She couldn’t help the shriek that erupted from her throat when a huge blaze of lightning split the dark sky and thunder boomed so loudly it hurt her ears. “Oh my God!”

The electricity went out and they were instantly pitched into inky darkness, the only light being the flickering firelight casting eerie shadows everywhere. She was trembling so badly she didn’t even question the man when he put his arms around her, she just buried her head in his shoulder, whimpering like a small child.

Her mind shifted. Whimpering like that small child. The one that haunted her. Dani had been out in weather like this, but there’d been no one to hold her. Only a voice on the phone in the darkness. Her voice.

Vidalia felt her knees giving out on her, and she didn’t have the strength to protest when the stranger picked her up and took her to the sofa, easing down onto it with her on his lap. A warm thumb reached out and caressed her cheek, trailing down the coolness of her soft skin.

 “Hey, are you okay? You’re awfully pale. That was a doozy of a lightning crack, and it sounded pretty close, but we’re safe in here.” When she didn’t answer, he shook her slightly. “Vidalia?”

 It took a tremendous effort, but Vidalia willed herself to pull it together. Taking deep breaths, she eased herself off his lap and into a corner of the sofa, pulling her legs up beneath her. With her fists knotted on her knees, she strove to put the lid back on the canister of emotions the lightning bolt had opened up. It was all right. She was all right. It would be okay. At the back of her mind, she refused to give life to the thought that had raced through her mind every day, every hour of her life since it had happened.

Little Dani Owens would never be okay again—and it was her fault.…read more