LITMIR.BIZ

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Shayne had the grace to wince, realizing that both his children were there, listening.

      Shayne hunkered down by Genevieve. “Hey, guys, remember the rules at Gram’s house—you don’t come outside without someone here. What’s the other rule—do you remember, Connor?”

      Connor nodded gravely. “Never take the side path out to the garage or shed in winter. Never. Never, never, never. The snow hides the slope and we could fall and get hurt.”

      “Good,” Shayne said. “Now, Genevieve?”

      Genevieve giggled. “Oh, Daddy! We know where the path is!”

      “Genevieve, don’t come outside without an adult ever,” Shayne said. His voice had taken on an angry tone. “I’m serious.”

      Connor came closer to his sister. “She knows, Dad. She just likes to argue lately. It’s a kid thing.”

      Shayne nodded, looking at his son with gratitude.

      Genevieve hugged him. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I wish Mommy was here, too. She makes good snowmen.”

      Shayne nodded. “Yes, she makes good snowmen, but she is off on a trip, so we’ll have to make do with whatever Uncle Bobby and the rest of us can come up with. Now, run in and give big smooches and hugs to Gram and Gramps, okay? You’re going to be the best surprise for them!” Shayne said.

      “Shayne,” Bobby said quietly. “You’ve got to be careful.”

      “I know, I know. Sometimes I can’t help it,” Shayne said.

      “Shayne, damn it. Bobby is right!” Morwenna said firmly. “Cindy is not a bad human being, and she was never a bad mother. I told you, she needed more time from you. She held down the fort when the kids were babies—I doubt if you ever changed a diaper—and—”

      “Stop it, Morwenna! I changed plenty of diapers,” Shayne said. “You weren’t around much, so how the hell are you going to tell me what I did and didn’t do! I was working—”

      “Come on, Wenna,” Bobby said. “Shayne was a good dad—you really do work a lot—”

      “Better than you, who can’t even get the hell through school?” Morwenna interrupted angrily.

      Before he could answer, they all froze in silence.

      They’d heard … something.

      “What was that?” Morwenna asked. She frowned, turning around. “We’re the only shack up here!”

      “House,” Bobby said.

      “Whatever. You have to head down to the lower peak just to get to the tavern,” Morwenna said.

      “Maybe it was nothing,” Shayne said. “Or,” he added, giving her a rueful smile, “the voice of God, warning us not to go inside like squabbling children.”

      “And lay off each other,” Bobby added softly. “We are supposed to be adults.”

      “No … toward the trees,” Morwenna said, frowning.

      The sound came again. It was definitely a groan.

      “There is someone up here,” Shayne said. He started walking.

      Morwenna ran after him, leaping like a rabbit through the snow. “Shayne, stop. Let me get Dad, and his gun.”

      “Morwenna, let’s see what it is,” Bobby said.

      “It’s a man—I can hear human groans,” Shayne said.

      Bobby rushed past Morwenna and grabbed her hand. “Come on—he wouldn’t be groaning if he was dangerous!”

      “It could be a criminal,” Morwenna warned.

      “Up here? A criminal came all the way up here to groan by our shack? Please!” Bobby said.

      Shayne was in the lead, striding through the snow, with Bobby—dragging Morwenna along—following.

      Right at the copse that bordered the snow-driven path, there was a man half buried in the drifts. As Shayne hunkered down by him, reaching for a pulse, Bobby studied him.

      He appeared to be about thirty, with tawny blood-matted hair and a face with aesthetic contours, although they were half concealed, since he was on his side in the snow.

       Good profile, though.

      “He’s alive,” Shayne said. “Steady enough pulse, though it’s slow.”

      “We’ve got to get him in,” Bobby said.

      “In! He could be a criminal,” Morwenna insisted.

      “Wenna!” Shayne looked across the fallen body at his sister. “What should I do? Leave him out here to freeze to death? I’m a doctor. I can’t do that.”

      “Well, of course, we can’t let him freeze to death,” Morwenna said. “It’s just that … he’s a total stranger.”

      “So what other choice do we have?” Shayne asked.

      “Morwenna, it will be okay,” Bobby assured her. “Hey, there’s a pack of us, and one of him. It’s going to be all right. And Dad does have his shotgun.”

      “Can he actually shoot?” Morwenna asked.

      “Well, I’ve seen him go skeet shooting,” Bobby said, grinning. “I think he hit a few plates.”

      “What? When?” Morwenna asked.

      “When we were kids, remember? We were in Memphis. The parental units brought us all on a canoeing vacation, and we went to see Graceland. It was great, if I recall.”

      “Yeah,” Morwenna said, lowering her eyes. “It was great, wasn’t it?” she said softly.

      “Doesn’t matter right now whether Dad can hit the eye of a needle or miss the side of a barn, it’s freezing out here,” Shayne said. He had deftly run his hands over the stranger, checking for broken bones or other injuries. “Seems like just his head is bleeding. Maybe he got stranded, got out of his car and fell. God knows, this place has lots of rocks, for certain. Wenna, back up. Bobby, get around over there.”

      “I’m not puny—I can help,” Morwenna said.

      “I know that you’re the queen of Pilates, Morwenna, but let Bobby help me right now,” Shayne said.

      “All right, all right, I’ll get the door. Be careful, you two. Maybe he’s faking it.”

      “One, two, three … lift beneath the shoulders,” Shayne said.

      “Your children are inside that house,” Morwenna said worriedly.

      “You know he could sue you if we injure him more, Shayne,” Bobby said, still not having moved.

      “That can’t be helped—he’ll freeze. He might be in shock … he might well be on the way to hypothermia,” Shayne said. “Look, we have to move him, or he’ll die.”

      “I guess that we really have no choice. We can’t—”

      “No, but … we can’t let him just stay here. I guess we can’t ask questions or get to know him,” Morwenna said.

      “I just hope we don’t hurt him worse,” Bobby said.

      Bobby did as his brother instructed, dipping low, and sliding his arm beneath the stranger’s back while Shayne carefully did the same from his angle. The stranger groaned again as they managed to get him to his feet.

      “It’s all right, it’s all right!” Shayne said quickly. “We’re bringing you in. We’re trying to help you.”

      The man had green eyes, Bobby noted. Strange green eyes. They were actually a greener color than he’d ever seen before, and also

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