“Dude. I’m sorry you saw that. About Sasha...” Ryder at least had the gall to look guilty. For once, his perfect brother looked disheveled. Of course, that was probably more from the frantic make-out rather than guilt.
“No. That’s just messed up. What about Claire?” Despite what had happened between them, he wasn’t going to say anything to throw her under the bus until he talked to her.
Ryder’s face contorted incredulously. What did he have to be mad about? He was the one caught cheating with the stablemaster. “What about Claire?” he fired back.
Jaws and fists clenching, images of the last time they’d fought over a woman came crashing back. Black eyes, swollen cheeks, his hand fracture that still nagged at him now and again.
“Where is she?”
“Hell if I know,” Ryder said.
The disinterested shrug was more than Grady could handle.
“You’re necking with a family employee while your fiancée is inside, enduring Patricia’s wedding plans for her?”
“Whoa, what? No. First, Sasha is a grown woman, and what happened in the barn is between us. Second, Claire’s not here—”
Grady’s heart plummeted. “Where is she?”
Frozen, Ryder’s skin paled. “Hiking.”
“You let your fiancée go out in the middle of a blizzard?” Fuck it. Grady’s fist flew.
Smashing into his brother’s jaw, the force rattling them both. Unsatisfied, he swung with the left.
Ryder let the first one land, but he dodged back before Grady nailed him with the second.
“I had no idea it was coming down so hard—”
“Because you were too busy nailing someone else—”
“Whoa. I wasn’tnailingher, nor was I planning on it, not yet anyway. And why are you so messed up aboutmysex life?”
“Why? What? You’re missing the point. Again. If you’d stop and think before screwing around—” Grady shook off the rage and backed toward his car, blowing right over Ryder’s response. “Where is she? I’m going after her.”
Ryder’s phone rang.
Grady looked around. The snow was coming down so hard now he couldn’t see the barn anymore. Sasha came running up behind Ryder. Her face was scrunched up in remorse, but her flushed cheeks told a different story.
Ryder looked worried. “Claire? Where are you? It’s really coming down out there.”
He could barely hear her on the other side of the call. Stepping closer to his brother than he liked, he could hear her shaky voice. “I was out hiking, and there were a few flakes, but now... I can’t see anything. This stupid car is so utterly stupid I can’t get enough traction to get up this stupid hill.”
“Where are you right now?” Ryder interrupted.
“I was hiking at the Riverside Trail and I started back when the snow hit. I turned onto the main road a few minutes ago. The last landmark I saw clearly was the bridge and I think I passed the sign for the park, but now all I can make out is the edge of the road, but it’s becoming less visible by the minute.”
Without thinking, Grady ripped the phone out of Ryder’s hands. “Claire, how far back is the bridge?”
She started at the sound of his voice, but didn’t hesitate. “I’d say I’m about a hundred yards past it.”
Ryder took off into the house at full speed.
“You’re only two miles from Asher and Sophie’s place. They’re at the top of the hill. Think you can make it that far?”
He heard the overpowered engine whining. “I can’t get this stupid car up the hill. I can walk it.”
Grady dove into his SUV and started the engine, shoving into gear without pausing to consider. “I want you to roll back down the hill and park next to the trailhead sign before the bridge. There’s a wide gravel turnoff right at the sign.”
