Page 181 of Rangers Unexpected Return

“That doesn’t make it acceptable.”

His mouth curved slightly. “I’ll speak to him about his aim.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“No.”

The humor disappeared.

His eyes held mine.

“You’re shaking.”

“I’m not.”

He looked at our joined hands.

I released him.

“That was adrenaline.”

“That’s shaking with a medical explanation.”

I folded my arms. “You don’t know anything about medicine.”

“I know when someone’s cold.”

“I’m standing beside a fire.”

“Judy.”

The softness in his voice almost broke me.

I turned toward the camp office before he could see how close I already was.

Trigger and Wolf carried an old metal cabinet away from the building while Havoc and Blaze dragged a hose across the clearing. The Eagle River volunteer fire department had reached the camp, but the narrow service road had slowed the trucks. Two firefighters were cutting a path around the burning grass to keep it from reaching the cabins.

Rylie stood beside Carson with Emily’s letter sealed inside an evidence bag against her chest.

Max remained pressed against her leg.

He watched every person who moved near her.

Judy stepped beside me.

“Is she all right?” he asked.

“She survived.”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

I looked at Rylie.

Her face was streaked with soot. Her hair had fallen loose around her shoulders. Trigger stayed close enough to touch her but didn’t hold on to her. He understood she needed room to breathe.

“She found out one of the Mills brothers may have terrorized her friends for years,” I said. “She learned Emily died because she discovered something inside that cabinet. Then someone tried to burn the evidence with Rylie inside the building.”

“So no.”