Free Rocky Mountain Wedding by Sara Richardson Page A

ass.”
    “Excuse me?” He ripped off his helmet to release the heat that built against his skin. “My daughter is gone .”
    “No shit,” Bryce said, ripping off his own helmet and cutting the engine. “And we love her, too. So stop acting like you’re the only one who cares. I know you’ve already lost a baby, but—”
    “Oh, so now we’re gonna have a counseling session on the side of a damn mountain?” Screw that. “I don’t have time for this.”
    “You’re gonna fucking make time,” Bryce shot back. “I saw what you did to Ruby down there.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?” What about what Ruby had done to him? Completely disregarding what he’d asked her to do. Putting herself and the baby in danger?
    “I’m talking about shutting her out.” Bryce glared at him the way only a cousin who was more like a brother could. “I’m talking about how you tried to make her stay home while you ran out to be the hero again. I’m talking about how you just pushed her away in the park. That kind of thing doesn’t work in a marriage.”
    His hands fisted. He’d never hit Bryce. Well, not in anger, anyway, but he was this damn close. “She has to think about the baby,” he growled. “This is too much for her.”
    “You’re not gonna lose the baby,” he cousin said, backing down. “I know you’re worried because of what you went through with Matthew. But you won’t lose this baby, Sawyer.”
    How the hell did he know that? Ruby had had problems in the past. She wasn’t even supposed to be pregnant. Yesterday it had seemed like all of their dreams were coming true, and now everything was falling apart, piece by piece. And he couldn’t stop it.
    A crushing sorrow gripped his windpipe. “What if she does? What if she loses the baby? And what if we don’t find Brookie?” That was it, what he feared the most. The one fear he couldn’t face. Losing these children who already owned his heart.
    “We’ll find her,” his cousin said again. “But only together. All of us. And you and Ruby fighting on the same side.”
    Guilt wormed through him, tunneling through the walls he’d built around his heart to protect it from this kind of pain. Bryce was right. He never should’ve shut her out. The memory of her broken, sad eyes came back to haunt him.
    “You’re about to get married,” his cousin reminded him. “You don’t get to take things on your own anymore. You’re a team. No matter what. Especially when life sucks.”
    “I wanted to protect her.” Ruby had survived so much already. He wanted to give her a happy life, a life where she didn’t have to suffer anymore.
    “She doesn’t need you to protect her,” Bryce said, pulling his helmet back on. “She needs you to love her.”
    He did. He loved her more than he loved his own life. That’s what he should’ve told her. Regret pounded through him as he gazed down at the town below. Where was she? “I should go back.” He had to apologize. He had to let her in.
    “I’ll let Ben and Isaac know we’re heading down,” Bryce said before he peeled out.
    Just as Sawyer went to slip his helmet back on, the radio clipped to his belt crackled.
    “Hawkins? This is Officer Gonzales.”
    His heart stopped. He let the helmet fall to the ground and ripped the radio off his belt. “This is Hawkins. Go ahead.”
    “Need you to meet me at the gas station over on Maroon Bells Road. I think we might have a lead.”
    *  *  *
    Wind. Oh, that cold fall wind. It bit at Ruby’s cheeks, chilling them until they tingled. A warm fire burned inside of her, fueling her to keep walking, to keep looking, to keep herself upright and moving. Brookie would freeze if they didn’t find her soon. The temperature couldn’t have been more than thirty degrees with the wind chill. And a billowing gray haze had replaced the friendly blue sky. Aspen had yet to see its first snowfall of the season, but it didn’t look to be too far off.
    Yanking up the