But she didn’t make a move toward him, nor did he toward her. “I have a job here, at least for the moment, remember?”

Yes, she remembered. She didn’t know why she’d expected him to walk away from it. She should have known that Cade, like her, had changed. Just as she’d learned to let people inside, he’d learned to not blame himself for his family’s death. As a result, he would never walk away from something he started, especially not at the Triple M, not when he cared so much about her sisters and Ty.

“I’m taking two of the guests on a snowmobile trip today,” he said. “We’re cruising the back country, going to tear up some of this new snow.”

He looked so good standing there, in his snowmobile gear and boots, with attitude written all over him. Tell him, the voice inside her head urged. Tell him all the things you promised yourself you would tell him if only you could have the chance.

But before she could open her mouth, he crossed to the counter, set down his coffee and headed for the door, almost as if being with her was too much to bear.

“Cade?”

He didn’t even look at her. “Have a good day, Delia.” Then he was gone.

Four hours later, with no warning whatsoever, a rogue storm hit.

At the ranch house, the windows rattled and the lights flickered.

Radio contact with Cade was abruptly lost, which at first was no cause of concern. Everyone knew they were fully equipped to spend the night out in the wilderness, if they needed to.

The storm took a turn for the worse, and unforgiving and fierce, it raged on. Everyone in the house, including the two guests’ wives, bit their nails as the wind and snow pelted the house.

They lost power, and the opaque darkness felt all-consuming, even more so because everyone knew there were three people out in that storm, people they cared deeply about.

Ty had the generator up and running in no time, but nerves were strung tight as everyone worried.

Actually “worry” didn’t come close to describing what Delia felt-“terror” was more like it-and she didn’t draw a single breath without thinking about Cade, out in this dangerous storm.

To help occupy their thoughts, Delia dragged out her old beauty supplies and gave the wives manicures, but it didn’t help ease her own fear one bit. Still, the women were suitably distracted with the service. So were two of the other guests.

Zoe and Maddie jumped on the opportunity, showing off some of Delia’s designs and handmade clothes. Every single female guest ordered something.

Ironic, Delia thought, with more than a little bitterness, that she’d found her niche on the ranch, that she finally had worth, that she actually felt as if she belonged-and none of it mattered. Not without Cade.

She made her way down the hallway to the kitchen, where she stared out the window into the wicked storm.

Please be okay, she prayed silently. Please come back to me, safe and sound. I’ll never push you away again. I’ll even tell you how I feel, without hesitation.

“Delia, honey, you okay?”

Delia didn’t have to turn to see Maddie’s face to know that she was deeply worried, too.

“I want him back, Maddie. I want him home and dry and warm and not hurt.”

“You love him.”

She felt Maddie’s arm slip around her waist, and because she could, she leaned on her sister’s shoulder. It felt good to be able to do that. “I let him leave angry and hurt,” she whispered, her throat tight. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“You can tell him when he comes back. He is going to come back, Delia. You won’t lose him, not now that you’ve learned to let him love you.”

Delia’s vision blurred as tears gathered. “I…I didn’t tell him.”

“He knows.”

But Delia was sure he didn’t; she’d been too stingy with her affections for him to know. And as the long day continued, she did her best to keep the guests and her brother busy. For Jacob, that wasn’t too difficult, this ranch living was new enough that everything was an adventure. When she ran out of fingernails to paint, she switched to toenails. Her sisters enjoyed it, too; she could see the approval in their eyes. Even Jacob thought she was cool.

But she wanted Cade.

The truth was, she loved him with all her heart, and she was pretty sure she had since he’d first flashed his killer smile. No, she would never have control over him-or the elements, she thought with another wry glance out the window. She wouldn’t be able to control her future, either, but she thought that was okay, maybe even good, because wasn’t risk-taking a part of life?

Of course it was, and that it’d taken until now to see it made her angry at all the time she’d wasted. And as the day dragged on into night, and the night dragged on, too, tearing at her nerves, she used every excuse possible to stay glued to a window, torn between fear and anticipation, because she couldn’t wait to have Cade back at the ranch and have the chance to tell him what she should have told him long ago.

It was a morning of new beginnings, Cade told himself, as he and the two guests he’d taken out the day before rode their snowmobiles toward the ranch.

The day was glorious, the sun on the newly fallen snow making it shimmer like a sea of crystal.

It was almost as if the raging storm had never happened. But yesterday, Cade had found himself many miles from anywhere, completely responsible for Mike and Tim, two winter novices. They couldn’t ride back, not in the whiteout, it was far too dangerous.

Thank God he hadn’t caved in and taken Jacob as the boy had wanted. Cade broke out into a sweat just thinking about it.

In the end, they’d done all right, thanks to the emergency kit Cade always carried in his backpack and his ability to dig them a warm cave beneath a clump of trees.

But they were hungry, wet, cold and exhausted as they rode within sight of the Triple M. It was early-they’d headed out before dawn, as soon as the storm had broken-but every light in the ranch house was on and blazing a bright welcome.

When they were close enough to see clearly, Cade saw everyone standing in the yard, waiting anxiously. And when they came to a stop, Mike and Tim were mobbed by their wives, who’d no doubt been terrified by the experience.

Cade regretted that, just as he regretted his radio failure. But he couldn’t regret the experience, he thought, as he looked at Delia, standing on the porch, apart from her sisters and Ty, watching him as though if she blinked he might disappear.

Maddie and Zoe flung themselves at him, hugging and crying and laughing and talking all at the same time. Even Ty gave him a hug, and Cade knew a barrier had been crossed in his own mind.

He let go of his past. He’d never forget, but he could let go, and most important, he had room in his heart to love again.

Unfortunately the woman he wanted didn’t want that love, but he would survive that, too.

He broke away from the happy group to head inside, wanting food, a shower and sleep, and not necessarily in that order.

Delia was still standing there on the porch, and as he moved past, his body brushed hers.

“Cade?”

God, that voice. In all his life, no matter where he ended up, he knew he’d never forget her.

When he looked at her, she said, “I’m so glad to see you.”

Great. He was dying here at the all-too-welcome sight of her. He wanted to shake her and demand she love him back. He wanted to grab her close and never let her go.

And she was “glad” to see him. “Me, too,” he managed. “I’m going in.”

He made it upstairs to the room he’d been given before letting his weary body sag with more than just the physical exertion. It was seeing her again, because the terrible yearning she always caused in him hadn’t diminished. He flung off his clothes and let them stay where they fell, then stepped into the adjoining bathroom for a shower. He was so shaky that he wasn’t certain he shouldn’t sleep for a year first, but the promise of hot water warming his chilled body was too much to pass up.