Amily Ward froze in the steaming water beneath the wooden floor, her heart hammering as three unfamiliar voices rose through the blizzard outside.
“OPEN UP, HARLON! WE DIDN'T COME JUST FOR THE WOMAN!”
The second blow shook dust from the timber ceiling.
Above her, the enormous mountain man stood motionless beside the open hatch. His long dark-brown hair hung around his rugged face, and his pale-gray eyes were fixed on the cabin entrance.
Amily had known him for less than an hour.
She knew he was thirty-nine years old, lived alone in the Colorado Rockies, and possessed shoulders broad enough to nearly fill his cabin doorway. She knew his hands were scarred, his voice was deep, and he had welcomed a freezing stranger without asking what she could offer in return.
She also knew something she hadn't expected to feel again.
Safe.
But safety had lasted only minutes.
“Harlon!” a man shouted through the door. “We know you've got her! Give us the woman and the survey book, and nobody needs to get hurt!”
Amily looked sharply upward.
Survey book?
She had been running from those men for nearly four hours. They had attacked her stagecoach, threatened its passengers, seized her by the wrist, and chased her through a mountain storm.
Until that moment, she had believed they wanted her money or her belongings.
Now they were demanding something from the man who had saved her.
Harlon looked down through the hatch.
“Amily.”
His voice was low but firm.
She lifted her frightened eyes.
“Yes?”
“There's a dry wool blanket on the stone bench behind you. Put it around your shoulders.”
Her lips trembled.
“What are you going to do?”
“Keep them outside.”
Another blow struck the cabin door.
Amily flinched.
“Harlon, there are three of them.”
“I counted.”
“They have guns.”
“So do most men foolish enough to ride these mountains in winter.”
His calmness frightened her almost as much as the voices.
She reached toward the edge of the stone basin.
“Please don't fight them because of me.”
Harlon's expression softened.
Then he answered with a certainty that made her chest ache.
“They came to my door threatening a woman under my protection. That's a decision they made, not you.”