She’d lasted until nearly 2:00 a.m. before sleep had claimed her. Bryan couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept, but he couldn’t rest yet.
She looked so much like Chloe, he thought, studying Grace’s face in the soft glow of the only lamp he’d left on in the room. And yet they were so different. When he was with Chloe, he always felt comfortable. Peaceful.
Peaceful was not the first word that came to mind when he thought of Grace. Neither was comfortable. He felt as though there were several large strips of his skin missing after spending the past several hours with her. She most definitely blamed him for the danger her sister was in now.
He’d held on to his patience only because he understood how greatly she had suffered today as the hours had crept by with no word of Chloe. He’d talked her out of calling her parents, but there’d been no way he could make her stay home and leave everything to him. She had insisted on joining him here, on knowing every detail of what he was doing to find Chloe.
There had been no further ransom calls, and that was starting to make him even more nervous.
The kidnappers should be pushing him, demanding that he hand over the money immediately. Even if—and he had to swallow at the thought—even if Chloe and Donovan were dead, the kidnappers should be bluffing, working to convince Bryan that they were unharmed and would stay that way if he paid the ransom.
But something was very wrong on that other end. He knew it…and so did Grace.
Rubbing his forehead, he wondered how he could live with himself if anything had happened to Chloe because of him. And losing Donovan was something he couldn’t even think about right now.
Grace shifted on the couch, opened her eyes, then sat straight upright. “How long have I been asleep?”
“A little over an hour.”
She looked at the phone in his hand. “Have you…?”
“There’s been no word yet. I had the phone set to vibrate so it wouldn’t startle you if it rang.”
She shoved the afghan away. “What time is it?”
“Just after 3:00 a.m. Are you sure you won’t lie down upstairs for awhile? I promise I’ll wake you if I hear anything at all.”
Wearing the stubborn look he’d come to expect from her, she shook her head. “I couldn’t sleep in that room with Chloe’s things all around me.”
“You could take one of the other rooms.”
“I don’t want to sleep. I want to find my sister.”
“We’re doing everything we can, Grace.”
“Then do more.”
“I know it looks as though I’m not doing enough, but believe me, I am. I’m just trying to keep it quiet. I want to keep the media away from this as long as possible. It hasn’t been easy doing so this long, and we won’t be able to hide it much longer, but if the press gets wind of what’s happened, we’ll have a circus on our hands. That could be dangerous for Chloe and Donovan.”
He’d explained that to her before, but he figured it was worth reiterating. Grace had never experienced the press in full feeding frenzy. He had.
She started to say something else, but was interrupted when Jason Colby walked into the room, a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
Bryan jumped to his feet. Across the room, Grace did the same.
“I’ve got news,” Jason announced.
As if she needed reassurance—even if it came from him—Grace moved closer to Bryan. “Tell us,” she said, her voice strained. “Where is my sister?”
With Chloe cradled in his arms, Donovan watched the gray light of another cloudy dawn creep slowly into the shallow cave. The temperature had dropped during the night, and he’d sensed Chloe shivering in her sleep.
He still had the old vet’s matches in his pocket, and he had considered building a small fire. But since the cave wasn’t ventilated and he was more likely to asphyxiate them than warm them, he’d turned to the only other source of warmth he’d had to offer—body heat.
Chloe hadn’t roused when he’d pulled her into his arms, which only proved the extent of her exhaustion.
He decided the cool nights were much preferable to what they’d have been suffering if they’d been stranded in the forest in August rather than April. Dangerous heat, burning sun, higher risk of dehydration, more problems with insects and snakes…he supposed if they had to be lost in the woods this was the best time for it to happen. The biggest problem with spring was the threat of severe weather—and he’d been hearing thunder rolling in the distance for about an hour now.
Though Chloe still shivered occasionally, her face felt warm when he laid the back of his hand against her cheek. He hoped she wasn’t getting sick, though he wouldn’t be surprised if she was.