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I nodded. “Of course.” When she looked at me, I sighed. “No. I’m always on edge, waiting for the next thing to happen.”
“Me too,” she admitted. “But at the very least, I don’t think there’s much chance of Nathan sneaking up on us out here.”
Evelyn was right about that. Out here we could see all around us, and there wasn’t enough cover for anyone to surprise us. We’d kept it that way intentionally. The woods had been much thicker when we’d bought the property. “That’s true.”
She looked at me with a small gleam in her eye. “It’s beautiful out here too. Like the lake.”
I raised an eyebrow, and I couldn’t stop the smile that came to me. It would always be one of my favorite memories, and I couldn’t wait to take Evelyn back there. But we could recreate some of that magic here, if we wanted. “The lake, huh?”
Her cheeks tinged pink, and she looked at the ground. I took Dove’s reins along with Storm’s and looped them over a nearby branch before I pulled her away. The tree that I picked stood alone. I wasn’t going to put her in danger.
But as I backed her up against the tree, I savored the fact that I could have these moments with her. The longer I spent with Evelyn, the more she meant to me. She was already smiling when I leaned down to kiss her.
That was one of my favorite parts of this, seeing her open up and learn that love and pleasure didn’t have to hurt.
Her lips parted under mine, and I took the time to run my hands along her ribs. She was beautiful and strong, and I couldn’t get enough of her. Every moment we were alone, I thought about doing this, and though it wasn’t the primary reason I didn’t want her to move out of my house, I would miss this if she left. And I couldn’t wait for the day when we could do this freely, with nothing hanging over our heads.
But we were completely alone. So I let my hands creep up under her shirt, and I pressed myself against her so that she could feel how hard I was. Evelyn gasped. “Here?”
“Everywhere,” I whispered against her lips. “There’s nowhere that I wouldn’t take you.”
Her body arched into me in response, but her eyes flicked around us. Nervous. Though we were safe, there wasn’t an absolute guarantee that we were alone like there had been at the lake.
“Too open?”
She bit her lip. “Is that okay?”
“Of course it is,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I’ll have to remember to finish this the next time we go back to the lake. There are plenty of trees out there that will do just as well. And in the meantime, our bed might be lonely.”
Her blush deepened as I pulled her back to the horses. I loved that reaction as long as she wasn’t truly embarrassed. Right now, she wasn’t.
We rode back to the stables. Tonight was a community dinner that we both planned to help with, and we needed to get stuff from the house first. Though we had enough time to make our bed very not lonely. But when we approached the stable, Daniel, Harlan, and Jude were all waiting for us. That wasn’t good.
My stomach dropped, and my senses went wide, searching for anything that I’d missed. The only reason I didn’t speed up to meet them was that I was keeping pace with Ev, and I wasn’t about to leave her alone.
Their faces were grim. They weren’t meeting us out here to invite us to a party. I rode up and dismounted. “What happened?”
Harlan nodded to Evelyn. “Get her off the horse first.”
The words were quiet and firm. My eyebrows rose, but I nodded, helping her down off Dove as she slowed to a stop. I felt her hesitation. She knew as well as I did that this kind of welcoming party wasn’t good.
Jude took the horses from us, his eyes roving over the both of us like he was making sure we were whole before disappearing into the stables.
“What’s going on?”
Daniel handed me two white envelopes. These weren’t normal letters, they were thick stationery, like formal invitations for a wedding. My name was printed in calligraphy on one, and Evelyn’s was printed on the other. No addresses. “They were delivered today. By hand, as far as I can tell.”
“You know what’s in them?”
Harlan nodded. “Everyone got them. The seven of us, Evelyn, Lena, Grace.”
Evelyn appeared at my side. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. She saw the envelope with her name and took it from me. “Ev—”
But she was already tearing it open. I rushed to get mine open too. My instinct was right. It was like a wedding invitation, but it wasn’t for a wedding.
White cardstock and curling black script matched the envelope.
