and put the phone in her pocket.
Isadora wet her dry lips. “What do we do now?”
“First, we’re going to sit here and rest a while. Are you okay?”
Their eyes met. Isadora’s teared over and then droplets spilled down her cheeks. She reached out and gripped Lauralee with what was most likely the last of her last reserves as she burst into tears.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart. You did something no one else would do for me in all those months I was locked in that room. I… Thank you.” She choked on sobs, and Lauralee wrapped her in her arms and held her through the storm.
“It’s going to be all right now. You’re away from him, and we will help you.”
“He’ll come after me.”
Lauralee shook her head. “We won’t let that happen.”
“What will happen to me now?” Her voice trembled.
“We’ll help you get a new identity. Start over.”
Isadora fell silent after that response, and Lauralee was glad for the moment to compose herself. After all, she was pretty damn scared too. What if they couldn’t manage to get off this mountain? How would she find Boone again?
She hid the tremor in her fingers from Isadora by clenching them in her lap.
“Are you part of WEST Protection too?”
“Yes. Though I’m not usually on the physical end of things—I’m behind the scenes in the tech branch.”
Isadora stared at her. “And you managed to get me out? Alone?”
“I—” She started to say she had help, but truth was, she’d been alone in that corridor, and she wasn’t as helpless as she’d once believed herself to be. She was strong, powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Just ask Thornburne.
She steeled her spine. “Yes. But I never would have had the guts to do such a thing if not for my h-husband.” Oh God, her husband. She wanted Boone so bad. Her throat closed off, and this time Isadora embraced her through her bout of tears in a bond of sisterhood.
“We’re going to get off this mountain.” Isadora gave a watery laugh. “I don’t even know your name.”
She found herself laughing too. “It’s Lauralee. Lauralee Wynton.” The last name rolled off her tongue with pure, natural ease. She may not have come to be a Wynton in a conventional way. She didn’t have a white dress or a reception with some drunk aunts doing the chicken dance. But she was no less of a Wynton.
At least, she hoped when this was all over, and they went home…that she still would be something more to Boone than a coworker. She prayed that he still saw her as his wife.
* * * * *
“Yahh!” Boone dug his heels into his horse, spurring it faster.
“Christ, Boone, killin’ that horse won’t help you reach her any sooner.” Noah’s shout came from far behind, but he couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t stop. He had to reach Lauralee.
Had she even made it to the mountain? The trail was rocky and from what he guessed, neither woman had a saddle. Could Lauralee even ride bareback? Shit, now he was about to explode again. His heart raced and his blood pressure made his ears pound.
Mathias pulled up beside him, reached over and grabbed Boone’s reins. He gave them a tug to slow the horse.
“What the hell are you doin’, man?” Boone narrowed his eyes on his cousin, who he’d rather punch than look at right this minute.
“Taking over where your good sense is lacking. Now slow this horse before you injure it! This isn’t you, Boone.”
His chest felt ten times too big, swollen with fear and rage at the situation he’d put Lauralee in. If he’d been there for her… Hell, if he hadn’t dragged her into this in the first place…
Against his urge to again spur the horse faster, he took his cousin’s advice and slowed the pace. The others caught up to them, and the four rode in silence for a hundred yards. The morning had faded to afternoon, but the overcast sky and darkening clouds didn’t bode well for a campout for two women without so much as a horse blanket between them.
His chest heaved as he struggled to draw a full breath of air. “Fucking hell.”
“She’s probably fine. They’re probably both sitting on a rock up there, bitchin’ about what’s takin’ us men so long to rescue them.” Noah’s quip didn’t ease Boone, though the other guys laughed.
“That’s not Lauralee. She doesn’t wait for someone to rescue her unless it’s to get