That’s right. She’d somehow managed to block the memory, the pain of it, for a few moments. What kind of person was she anyway to even want to forget?

Tears surged. No, no, no, no . . .

Not here. Not now.

And then she lost it.

Alex set down the bike and lifted an arm. The next thing she knew, she was sobbing against his skin-tight shirt. She’d never wanted to be so vulnerable in front of anyone—let alone Alex Knight, of all people. A guy she barely knew.

When the tears finally subsided enough, she heard the pounding of his heart. Felt his chest and the muscles in his arms wrapped tightly around her. The heat of embarrassment flooded her. She remembered the reason she was back in Montana. Fighting the need to stay where she was a little longer, she stepped out of his arms and glanced up.

“You’re vulnerable to deadly attacks. They’re taking the stronghold!”

She peered up through the trees and thought she saw something. Eye in the sky? A drone watching her?

This almost-a-stranger special agent man was here for a reason—what was it? She could feel him staring at her, and she let her gaze drop from the treetops to his face. She locked onto his intense gray eyes that held her captive.

And she doubted she could free herself if she wanted to.

Mackenzie was vulnerable, alright.

FIVE

Though difficult and slow, hiking the trail with a bike across his shoulders was a great upper body workout, if he could maintain control over his inner green monster superhero for the next several miles. He plastered on a smile for Mackenzie’s sake. At least he’d been there for her and convinced her to let him carry the broken bike.

She was strong and capable, but that mountain bike was heavy and awkward, especially with the twisted front wheel. There was no leaving it behind to fetch later. Plus, it gave him a good excuse to stick close.

He suspected the drone was still up there somewhere watching. He couldn’t catch sight of it through the trees, which meant the drone likely couldn’t see them either. Someone just out having fun with a new toy? If so, he would think that since they had spotted the drone, it would move on. There was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He hoped the thing would lose its charge, crash, and burn. Maybe he should grab his off-duty Glock and shoot it out of the sky.

“You never told me why you followed me.” She followed him now.

At this rate, they wouldn’t make it back to civilization within the next couple of hours.

“I was on the trail, and I saw the drone and then I saw you. That’s all.” Partially true.

“You’re on private property, you know that, right? This trail is part of the family property.”