Stay detached and tamp down her emotions. A good plan. One she followed for years only to have Gabe blow it apart in a matter of weeks.

“Oatmeal?” Gabe’s deep voice cut through the cabin.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw him shake a packet of instant chalky-tasting food at her. She had no idea how he managed to stand there in a thermal Henley and jeans and look so adorable. He could shoot, stalk, hide, cook and make her body tremble from the inside out. His skills crossed the spectrum, and as someone who benefitted she appreciated them all.

“Sounds delicious.” She totally didn’t mean that but didn’t want to see his smile fall. But, really, the thrill of oatmeal had worn off on day two of being on the run.

He winked at her. “Liar.”

She glanced out the cabin’s front window then did a double take. There, at the edge of the trees, right before the open area of packed snow, stood a man. She could only tell that much from his build. Broad through the shoulders with a hood pulled tight against his face. High boots and a gun in his hand.

He stared at the cabin and didn’t move. His presence could be random or just a matter of a local passing through. Then her gaze went back to the weapon. No, this wasn’t someone stopping by to say hello—at least she hoped they and this guy were not that unlucky.

Shock grabbed her. Her body went numb, and the mug slipped from her hand. The metal clanged against the hard floor and hot coffee splashed up her leg.

Before she could blink Gabe was at her side, guiding her away from the spill. He stepped in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone breached the perimeter.” The alarms didn’t ring, which only highlighted the danger.

Her mind blinked in and out. This couldn’t be the guy who watched before. That man would not be so stupid as to take the risk of closing in a second time. And to stand there? No, this person wanted to be noticed. Probably welcomed a fight.

“Impossible.” Gabe stepped in front of her. A gun appeared out of nowhere. That lazy satisfied-from-sex expression disappeared, and he switched to protector mode.

Not one to wait behind she grabbed her gun off the table and joined him by the window. “How did it happen?”

“Fuck me.”

That struck her as the right reaction. She just wasn’t sure what it meant. “What?”

“He’s not inside the perimeter.”

She looked again. Maybe her eyes played tricks on her, but he seemed to have cleared the trees.

“I can’t see . . .” Her voice trailed off as she took a good look at Gabe. Watched every muscle stiffen. He knew something, and it was not good. She’d bet money on that. “What is it?”

“Rick.”

That guy was a pain in the ass on every level. “Another one of his men?”

“No, I mean actually Rick. He’s here.”

The words rang in her head. She tried to make sense of why that would happen or how Gabe could know. She’d seen his brother’s photo. Finding intel on him proved tougher thanks to his black-ops work. He knew people who could bury his information and keep him off the grid to aid in his work. But she’d seen early ID photos.

That’s what confused her now. With the hood and jacket she couldn’t even tell what color this guy’s hair was. “Do you recognize the coat or something?”

Gabe checked his gun as he grumbled under his breath. “The cocky way he’s standing there.”

“That’s not enough.” When Gabe didn’t answer, she tried again. “Right?”

Could it be? She tended to study people, looking for identifying traits. With all her training even she couldn’t see through inches of down and make out a face intentionally covered. Certainly not from a distance of fifty plus feet away.

“For better or worse, he’s my brother. I can pick him out of a crowd.” Gabe didn’t stick around and debate the point. Didn’t even put on a coat. He unlocked the door and opened it.

A rush of cold air blew over her. White flakes danced on the air as a new round of flurries swirled. She reached out to grab his arm but missed. He moved fast and sure. Lunging steps took him to the small porch then down two steps. The cold didn’t affect him at all. He tightened the hold on his gun and fended off the wind with a shirt meant to layer under things.

She started after him then stopped. Scrambled to find her boots. Shoving her feet in them, half turning her ankle as she tried to stomp her right foot in over the stiff material. Then she was off, trying to keep up.

Gabe might be sure about their newest watcher’s identity but she wasn’t. Not yet. Until a lightbulb turned on for her, she planned to keep her gun close and be prepared to fire. If that guy—whoever he was—lifted his weapon, she would blow a hole through his hand. That would teach him to sneak up on people.

She hit the snow and her boots sank up past her calves. She immediately regretted not grabbing her coat and thicker socks. The delay would have limited her time refereeing this showdown.

Not that Gabe acted as if he needed any help. “Hey, wait.”

He didn’t even spare her a glance. “Get back in the cabin.”

No way was that happening.

She kept making her way, ignoring the burning cold assailing her limbs. With each step the walking got harder, but she pushed on. Catching up proved tough, but that ceased being a problem when Gabe stopped ten feet away from their unwanted visitor and aimed a gun at the figure bundled in a jacket.

This close she could see the man stood right on the edge of the safe side of the perimeter. She had no idea how Gabe had spied that from the distance to the cabin. Eyesight issues aside, she did understand how the protection barrier worked. Gabe said he’d set traps and warning sensors a certain number of feet apart, all around the cabin right where the wooded area broke open. The guy’s foot had to be near the line. Natalie half wished he’d touch it.

“Gabe, no.” The man didn’t put the gun away, but he did reach for the string keeping his hood tight against his head and shoved it back on his shoulders. “It’s me.”

Gabe didn’t lower his weapon. Kept it leveled right at his brother’s head. “I know.”

So much for the concept of brotherly love. Not that she could blame Gabe. Not after what he’d shared.

The informal ID proved correct. Natalie really didn’t need an updated photo to confirm this one. Rick and Gabe looked alike. Rick was a bit slimmer with more of a lean runner’s body. A narrower face and lighter hair, but the same stern expression and a familiar way of standing.

She decided to try to slice through the suffocating tension. “Why are you here?”

Rick finally looked at her. His gaze traveled over her then over Gabe. “We should go inside before you two freeze.”

Not a bad suggestion, but she didn’t want him inside or anywhere near the place where she’d been staying with Gabe. Welcoming Rick felt like a betrayal even as her toes began to tingle.

She tried a more tactful approach, though she had no idea why she bothered. If these two planned to kill each other, she’d stand back and watch . . . then jump in to save Gabe. They had reached that point. The one where she couldn’t stand to think of anything happening to him. Damn him.

“If you step across that line you run the risk of—”

Rick cut her off while his gaze traveled back to Gabe. “It’s a warning perimeter. You have weapons set up to fire at other spots, but not here.” The man had the nerve to smile. “I’d say someone taught you well, but since most of that came from me, I’ll refrain.”

She made a mental note not to call Gabe a dick again. This guy was a dick. “How subtle of you.”

“I have never been accused of that, sweetheart.”

Make that a sexist dick. She started to wonder how Rick and Gabe came out of the same household. “Well, sweetheart, even without traps, Gabe and I still have guns.”

“Gabe might be pissed, but he won’t kill me.”