Lost in Shadows by CJ Lyons Read Free Book Online

can take it from here. Give me a map and show me where to go, and I’m out of your hair.”
    She arched an eyebrow at him and glared. Did he really think he was going to ditch her, that she would let him go and get himself killed? Idiot. City boy.  
    He wouldn’t make it a hundred yards without getting lost, map or no map. Her gaze raked over him. Skinny, lean body, he was in good shape, but those clothes, those boots, totally unsuitable for moving across rough terrain. Especially with one arm out of commission, courting sepsis, near to shock with blood loss.
    He met her stare, his hazel eyes flashing with gold flecks in the glow of the overhead light. Vinnie startled as he reached out a hand, stroked her left ring finger. 
    “Go on,” he urged. “You’ve got a husband to get home to.”
    She blinked hard against the tears his words triggered and turned her head away. He lifted his hand to gently cradle her chin, moved her to face him. 
    “Hey, did I say something wrong?” His voice was filled with regret, and he leaned forward so that their foreheads were almost touching. “I’m sorry, Ryan, I didn’t mean—”
    “Michael,” his name emerged tangled with unshed tears, “my husband, is dead. Was killed, shot.”
    His face registered his shock and regret, and his hand fell away from her. “Hell. I’m sorry.”
    She shook free of the wave of grief that had ambushed her and busied herself cleaning up the first aid supplies. “You couldn’t know.” She handed him the Camelbak once more. “Drink all you can while I pack.”
    “Hey,” he called after her as she left the back seat and ventured out into the snow to open the hatchback where most of her gear was stowed. “I meant what I said. I’ll go alone.”
    “You won’t make it alone,” she told him.
    “I can make it—” He opened his door. He started to stand but slipped in the snow, and she rushed to keep him from falling. 
    “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” he said, leaning against the car, his breath forming little clouds that the wind scudded away in an instant.
    “You want to wait here, shoot it out with them, cowboy?” He frowned at that and she returned to her packing. “You got a better idea, tell me now.”
    “I vote for calling the auto club, snagging the presidential suite at the Ritz, ordering champagne and strawberries from room service and sharing a long hot soak in a Jacuzzi,” he said. “What do you say?”
    She smiled at his resilience. He had to be in pain and obviously wasn’t relishing a night bivouacked on a mountain in the snow. “Sounds great. Tell you what, Cavanaugh, we get off this mountain in one piece, and I’ll take you up on that.”
    “I’m going to hold you to that promise, Ryan,” he said. Something in his voice made her look up, but his gaze was focused into the darkness before them.
    Vinnie busied herself with the gear. He was a strange bird. She’d thought he almost kissed her, before she told him about Michael. She was glad he hadn’t, she didn’t need that kind of complication in her life. It hurt too much to even contemplate getting involved with another man. No one could ever love her like Michael had. 
    She was an all or nothing kind of girl—at least that was what Michael said. He told her she wasn’t a girl he could date or be casual friends with, announcing his intentions to marry her a few hours after they first met. 
    At first, she’d been turned off by his outspoken aggressiveness. His Irish temper and her Italian one mixed like whiskey and fire, leading to furious battles and even more intense reconciliations. He’d proven to be just as stubborn as she was, eventually wearing her down until she relented. Only time in her life Vinnie had ever given in, but it was worth it. Together they had made a life so rich, so full, as if the whole was far greater than the sum of the parts. 
    Right up until the night she watched him die. And was helpless to save him.
    Vinnie blinked