She jerked away, and her foot slipped off a rock, plunging her underwater. She flipped, trying to regain her balance. Strong hands grabbed her, setting her on her feet. She spat out a mouthful of water as Cody’s hands gripped her waist. His hand moved lower to her hip, gently steadying her. The front of his body brushed her back. His skin was warm and hard. Something touched her shoulder. Hair? Lips?

When she was eighteen, she had fantasies of this: him and her in the lake with no clothes. She wasn’t eighteen anymore, and she couldn’t risk another heartbreak. She pulled away, putting some distance between them, but her ankle gave out when she turned.

He steadied her. “You okay?” His voice sounded strained.

“I twisted my ankle. It’s no big deal.”

“I’d better carry you out.”

“No. It’ll be okay in a minute.” Up close, he was even more intimidating. Broad shoulders, well-used muscles, and tattoos that made her want to run her fingers over them, caress them with her lips.

His gaze moved from the water skimming her breasts to her mouth. His eyes darkened as a low rumble rolled from his throat. She was trying to decide if her head was spinning or his was lowering, when a stunned voice came from the shore.

“Hell’s bells… Shay? I thought you were in Scotland.”

Cody turned, shielding Shay behind him. “What are they doing here?”

Marcas and Lachlan stared, mouths open. Marcas found his voice first. “Uh… should we leave?”

“Leave?” Lachlan pulled off his shirt, and his necklace caught the moonlight. “We just got here,” he said, unsnapping his jeans.

“No,” Cody barked. “We’re getting out. I was helping Shay.”

Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “Helping her do what?”

“She twisted her ankle. What are you doing here?” Cody’s voice was curt.

“That’s a dumb question. You’re the one who asked us for help,” Lachlan said. “We had to come home and pack—”

“I mean at the lake?”

Marcas hooked his thumbs in his pockets, quietly surveying the scene. “Lach thought he heard someone in the woods when we got out of the car. Figured it might be a bow hunter scouting out a place to hunt. Probably heard you two.”

“Somebody run around to the other side of the lake and get Shay’s clothes,” Cody ordered.

Marcas nodded and trotted off.

Lachlan snapped his jeans and snatched up his discarded shirt. “What brings you all the way from Scotland, Shay?”

Lachlan was the daredevil with the mischievous twinkle in his eyes—and his foot in his mouth, although his laid-back attitude was partly an act. Marcas was the sensitive one, serious. He usually knew what people were thinking before they did, one of the reasons Shay had avoided him nine years ago, and one of the reasons she hadn’t come back. Marcas was twenty-nine, one year older than Cody. God, she’d missed them all.

“I was on my way to see Renee,” she said, shivering with cold. “I thought I’d stop by for a visit.”

Lachlan asked about Renee and Scotland as they waited for Marcas to return. “About time you came home. Hope you’re planning to stay awhile.”

“It d-d-depends.”

Cody’s arms were covered in chill bumps as well. He took a step back and stopped. He’d put his arm around her hundreds of times over the years to keep her warm, but they weren’t grown up and naked then.

“Why don’t you go help Marcas?” Cody said to Lachlan. “Never mind. Here he comes.”

Marcas trotted up, not even winded. All the brothers were fast, although she could almost keep up. Marcas dropped Shay’s clothes next to Cody’s. “Better get out of there before you end up with pneumonia.”

“How about some privacy?” Cody grumbled.

“Want us to leave?” Marcas asked.

“No,” Shay said, quickly. “You don’t have to leave.” The last thing she needed was to be alone and naked with Cody.

Marcas and Lachlan turned around, but Shay could hear them whispering. Cody scooped her up. She squealed and grabbed his neck, to keep from falling. She saw Lachlan start to turn, until Marcas kicked him. “What are you doing?” she whispered furiously, trying to cover all her pertinent parts.

“Getting us out of the lake before we freeze our asses off.” He trudged through the water, keeping his gaze straight ahead. “Stop squirming. You’re slippery as a bloody eel.”

At the water’s edge, he set her gently on her feet. He helped her into her sweater, and she was so cold she let him. She didn’t bother with her bra.

“Here,” he said, handing over her panties.

She snatched them from his hand, afraid he would offer to help with them as well. She wiggled into them, trying not to look at his bare backside as he dragged his underwear over damp skin.

“You decent yet?” Marcas asked.

“No!” Cody said, after glancing back to see Shay tugging on her jeans. He was already snapping his.

After Cody and Shay dressed, the brothers discussed the best way to get Shay back to the house. “We could haul her out on the four-wheeler,” Lachlan offered.

Great, she thought. Like a deer carcass.

“Battery’s dead,” Marcas said. “We can carry her back to our house. It’s closer.”

“Thanks, but it’s really not that bad.” Shay pasted a blank look on her face as she slid her throbbing foot inside her shoe. “See?” She moved around a few steps, gritting her teeth so she wouldn’t wince. “You go on. I want to sit here awhile and enjoy the night.” She needed to be alone so she could think. Her homecoming was turning into a nightmare.

“I’d rather you came back with us,” Cody said. “You don’t have a flashlight, and your ankle—”

“I’ll be fine,” Shay insisted.

He glanced at the sky. “Don’t be long; a storm’s blowing in.”

“You want to tell us what that was about?” Lachlan’s voice carried on the rising breeze.

Shay sat down on the pier and shook her head. What was she doing here, besides leaping from the frying pan into the fire? She couldn’t trust her emotions where Cody was concerned. Had she not learned this lesson before?

She sat for several minutes, trying to decide if she had the guts to stick with her plan and make peace with her past—especially given the fact that her past wasn’t what she had believed—or just cut and run. She stood up, turned to go back, and found herself face-to-face with a tall, white-haired man.

***

“It was nothing,” Cody said.

Lach snorted. “Didn’t look like nothing to me, both of you stark naked in the lake.”

“She fell.” Cody gave them the nonchalant look he’d practiced while dressing, but his face felt like dried cement.

“I guess the water dissolved her clothes,” Lach said.

Cody thumped Lach on the shoulder. “I was taking a swim and didn’t know she was there. Mind your own business. I don’t ask about every girl I see you with. That’d take the rest of my life.”

“They’re not Shay,” Lach said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You two looked pretty cozy.”

“He’s got you there,” Marcas agreed. “This isn’t just any girl. Shay’s family.”

Family. If only they knew, but they didn’t, and he wasn’t about to explain it now. “It was nothing,” he said again, though it felt like a whole lot more than nothing. “But just for the record, hands off, Romeo.” He gave Lach a hard glare.

“Hey.” Lach threw his hands up. “I wasn’t the one plastered all over her at the lake.”

***

A moment’s panic turned to recognition, though Shay hadn’t seen him in years. Old Elmer was tall, with the kind of face that looked ancient but never seemed to age. When Shay was a toddler, she thought Old Elmer was Santa Claus, and when she got older, she decided he was Merlin. He’d lived in these woods for as long as she could remember, though he was rarely seen. What was he doing here now?

“Elmer, you startled me.”

“Haven’t seen you around for years,” he said.

“I live in Scotland now. I just came for a visit.”

“Scotland.” His green eyes were steady, penetrating. “Your home’s here.”

Shay glanced in the direction Cody, Marcas, and Lachlan had gone. She wasn’t feeling good about either place at the moment.

“You ought not come in these woods alone. Bring one of them boys with you. There’s dangerous creatures out here.” He stared at the woods in front of her, as if he could see through the curtain of darkness. “There’s a storm coming. You best hurry home.”

She followed his gaze, and when she turned back, he was gone. Shivering, she wished she’d gone with the boys. Her ankle was throbbing. She limped along the path, occasionally reaching out to caress a clump of pine needles or the bark of a favorite tree. She loved the rugged landscape of Scotland, but she’d spent most of her life in these Virginia woods. The memories here were part of her soul. She heard a whisper. Old Elmer? Cody? Had he come back for her?

“Cody?” She stood still and listened, but there was only silence. It must have been a dead tree creaking. There it was again. “Cody, is that you?”

A tree limb snapped close by, and she jumped. An animal out for a midnight snack, she thought, limping faster. She didn’t want to be that snack.

Shay peeked behind her and saw a shadow dart across the path. It stood upright. Human. “Lach, if that’s you, knock it off.” Another whisper sent her scampering behind an oak. She flattened her back against the rough bark. Calm down, Shay. You’re in the woods. Animals live in the woods, and a lot of them are nocturnal.

But animals didn’t whisper.

She scurried from her hiding place at a fast hobble as leaves swirled angrily around her ankles and trees twisted in the wind. She heard another sound, like breathing. Or was it her? The moon had vanished, leaving the night black as she moved off the trail, taking a shortcut back to the house. She felt something closing in behind her, but was too frightened to turn. She ran faster, sweat beading her brow, drying in the wind that whipped at her like claws. A white owl swooped down, and a sharp pain shot through her arm as she dove to the ground. Screeching noises echoed around her in the darkness, like birds of prey fighting. Tearing at the dirt, she scrambled to her feet and ran. Branches clawed at her face and arms. A figure stepped onto the path in front of her, and she screamed as strong arms grabbed her.

Chapter 2

“Shay?”

She gripped Cody’s waist, trying to catch her breath. “You scared the daylights out of me. What are you doing here?” And where were you ten minutes ago?

“I came to make sure you got home before the storm hit. You okay?”

“I heard something and got spooked.” She should have stepped away, but she stayed a few seconds more, comforted by the solid feel of his body, his steady grip on her arms.

“You? Spooked?”

“This big white owl almost took my head off.”

“I’ve spotted one around here, but they usually avoid people. Let’s hurry; it’s going to rain.” His hand dropped to her back, but after all the running, all she could manage was something between a drag and a hop. He turned the flashlight toward her feet. “Damn it, Shay. You’re still as hardheaded as a bloody ram. Why didn’t you tell me it hurt that much?”

“It wasn’t that bad then.” Before her mad sprint through the woods. For the second time in one night, Cody scooped her up in his arms.

“Put me down.” She hoped the request didn’t sound as halfhearted to his ears as it did to hers.

“No,” he said, stepping over a fallen tree. “I do believe my lady lies about her ankle.”

He was one to be accusing her of lies. She wanted to be irritated, but he was so darned warm, and she was cold and tired. “My lady?”

“What? You thought I’d forgotten Lady Shay?” The lights from the airstrip behind Cody’s house came into view. Nina’s wasn’t much farther. “I didn’t forget. You made us play knights at least once a week.”

“I got sick of always playing soldiers and spies. At least knights dressed fancy.”

“You were never a proper damsel, anyway. You were too good at fighting and throwing knives.”

It hadn’t helped her handle a real-life threat.

Cody kept the conversation flowing as they continued toward the gate leading to Nina’s house. He carried Shay across the yard and inside the house, closing the door with one foot before mounting the stairs.

“Thanks for checking on me. I’m just going to take a bath and snuggle up in bed.”

He pushed her bedroom door open with his shoulder. “You got a man hiding in the closet?”