Page 62 of Stud Ranch

The simple answer? Damage control to her heart.

Long minutes turned to an hour. Then two. She had no water, and come sundown, it would be cold. She shut off the radio to preserve the car battery, but every time she got bored, she turned it back on for a minute or two.

Her phone was dying too, and she rummaged in her bag for a charger. Once in a while, she attempted a call out. Something had to be pinging off a tower, so she kept trying. For her child, she wasn’t going to give up.

Dylan and Shaw’s faces loomed in her mind as if they were standing right in front of her. She’d always loved Shaw, but loving Dylan never entered her mind. Now the thought of never seeing him again, feeling his touch or looking deep into his brown eyes, left her with a deep ache.

She would fight for Marigold…that was a given. What she never expected was her drive to fight for Shaw and Dylan.

She never expected that she would fight to have it all.

Was having it all even possible?

* * * * *

Dylan’s eyes weren’t burning with tears. Nope. It was the brightness of the Alaskan midnight sun.

Even though it wasn’t anywhere near midnight and the sun was pale and dim, it was causing him to blink. A lot.

However, there was no excuse for his heart pounding other than fear and adrenaline.

Shaw’s fingers whitened on the wheel. “We’re going up and finding her. Send search and rescue behind us.”

The park ranger shook his head. “I can’t let you go up there.”

Oh damn. That was a red flag to a bull. He’d seen Shaw walk away plenty of times, but that was a challenge. A man like Shaw didn’t walk away from those.

Dylan gave him the side-eye. “Drive,” he muttered from the corner of his mouth.

Shaw stepped on the gas. In seconds, the vehicle was deep in the fog and the ranger’s truck invisible behind them.

“Hang on.” Shaw picked up speed despite the lack of visibility.

Dylan gripped the handle above the door and rocked forward in his seat, peering hard at the road to alert Shaw of dangers in case he spotted them first.

“I think you should slow down.”

“I can’t. That ranger will detain us, and nobody is stopping me from reaching Sloane.”

“A fucking mudslide.” His throat closed on the syllables, unable to even think about what could have happened to her. It made Dylan want to jump out and run through the forest, screaming her name.

Now he understood the wild look in Shaw’s eyes earlier. They were both losing their minds.

“When we find her, we’re not letting her go.” Dylan’s vow came with a tight squeeze of his heart.

“Never.”

“I don’t know how we’ll make it work, but I’m done running away from my feelings and letting life take over. I’m in charge now.”

Shaw brought a hand down on Dylan’s thigh. “We’re going to figure it out—together.”

He started to speak, but something caught his eye ahead. “Stop! Those are trees down on the road!”

“Oh fuck!” Shaw stomped the brakes and for a heartbeat, they gaped at the scene in front of them. Trees crisscrossed the road, and the gap of light on the side of the road where they’d once stood made Dylan’s blood freeze.

At the same time, they leaped from the vehicle.

“Be careful!” Shaw’s call came at Dylan’s back as he sprinted away.

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