Sam was back at the hotel two hours later with her purchases—flannel pajamas, underwear, shoes, slacks, sweaters, and a navy blue pea coat. Before she’d left the store she stopped for bath salts, bubble bath, scented soap, shampoo, and conditioner. At the last second she’d bought a bottle of perfume and some scented body lotion.

A nice hot bubble bath, a glass of wine, some television, room service, and a soft bed. A real bed—not a cot—with silk sheets. She almost swooned at the thought. Tomorrow she would shop and work on the laptop. Tomorrow would be soon enough to tighten the noose around Douglas Rainford’s neck. If that was even possible.

Back on the mountain, Pappy walked around aimlessly in the snow, Alpha at his side. His front window was being boarded up as he made his rounds. Never in his life had he seen Alpha in such a frenzy. The bigger question was, how had it happened? It really couldn’t be something as simple as Samantha Rainford’s smelling like Adrian. That was almost too stupid even to consider. Alpha had liked Adrian, but he’d never crashed through a window when she left on the helo. He’d never let Adrian do anything but scratch him behind his ears.

Pappy wondered what Samantha was doing right that moment. Jump my bones! Yeah, right. She must be a sadist of some kind.

Then there was that sly wink. She was playing with him, toying with him. He didn’t know what to think about that.

Alpha barked, alerting him that someone else was in the compound. Pappy looked around to see his father walking toward him. He stopped and waited.

“It’s a little unnerving to realize there’s no one else on this entire mountain but you, me, and the dogs. I was a little sorry to see the staff leave on the cable car,” Kyros said as he hunched his thick neck deeper into his down jacket.

“It is a little quiet on the mountain, isn’t it? Snow, on the other hand, muffles all sound. Do you remember Christmases when I was little, Pop?”

“Every single one. You used to get sick the night before because you were so excited about St. Nicholas. It was a long time ago, Kollar. Are you trying to go back in time? Do you want to talk to me about something?”

Yes, he did want to talk to his father. Pappy knew whatever he told his father would go no further. He led the way over to the bench where he always sat with Alpha before he turned in for the night.