Cold River by Carla Neggers Page A

and you’ll be spending the night on the mountain. Elijah would have your head for hiking up here by yourself.”
    “I’m prepared for the conditions.”
    “Of course you are. You’re always prepared for anything.”
    She gave him a sharp glance, but she didn’t see the slightest hint of impatience in him.
    Just pure, uncompromising Cameron determination.
    “You choose the route,” he said. “I’m going with you.”
    Hannah reached for the ski poles leaning against the cabin. Now that she’d been still for a while, the cold wasseeping into her. Even so, she felt the blood rush hot to her face. “I’m not going to get rid of you, am I?”
    There was just the glimmer of a smile. “No.”
    “Why, because I’m alone—or because you don’t trust me?”
    “Something’s on your mind, Hannah. You ran out of the café this morning right after Bowie left and headed straight up here.”
    “I didn’t run.”
    “Does he blame you for his arrest?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t asked him. This morning was the first time I’ve talked to him since his arrest. You were there. You all heard what we said to each other. We talked about the leak in the cellar.”
    “You went looking for him. The leak’s not a crisis. You wanted an excuse to talk to him.”
    “I’ve known Bowie since I was a tot. I don’t need an excuse to talk to him, and the only way to get hold of him is to go looking for him.”
    Sean sighed. “All right. I give up. I’d rather argue with you someplace warm.”
    “Sounds like a plan.” She’d meant it as a light comment but saw his mouth twitch with sudden humor and immediately realized what she’d said. She decided she’d only make matters worse by trying to explain. “Supposedly the Cameron who first built up here was a bit of a hermit. Makes sense, considering how isolated it is.”
    “It wasn’t as isolated then. The land was cleared for farming, and there were houses scattered along the river and up onto the mountain slopes.”
    “It was never crowded, that’s for sure. You Camerons always have liked things a little rugged. You might live in Beverly Hills and not be used to Vermont winters anymore, but you fight wildfires.” Hannah started across the clearing.“I’ve never been west of the Mississippi.” Thinking of Toby’s imminent departure, she glanced back at Sean. “Would I like Southern California?”
    “To visit, at least. Everyone likes Southern California to visit.”
    “I hope Toby likes it,” she said in a half whisper, but knew she couldn’t let that line of thinking take hold.
    She paused, looking out at the snow and the mix of evergreens and hardwood trees, really feeling the cold now. She knew Sean wasn’t going to leave her to head back alone. Never mind his questions about her motives for coming up here, his father had died on this part of the mountain.
    She turned to him, her ski pole striking a rock or ice under the snow. “Since I’m on Cameron land, I suppose I should do as you suggest and go back with you.”
    Sean tilted back his head but said nothing, and she followed her tracks back through the cluster of spruce trees. A rabbit scampered in front of her, then disappeared under drooping, snow-covered branches as Sean came up next to her.
    Hannah glanced up at him. “Being here can’t be easy for you,” she said quietly.
    “It isn’t.”
    “You and your brothers and sister have enough on your minds without beating yourselves up because your father didn’t come to you for help.”
    “He wanted the cabin to be a surprise,” Sean said. “We get that.”
    Hannah angled a look up at him. “I don’t mean just with the cabin. He went to Washington two weeks before his death to talk to Alex Bruni. I hear investigators speculate at the café, and I’ve talked to enough of them myself. They believe whatever your father discussed with Ambassador Bruni ultimately got them targeted by these killers. Whatever it was, neither of them realized it