Ryder woke to the low rumble of a diesel engine coughing to life outside, the sound rattling through the thin trailer walls like thunder before dawn. He blinked into the gray morning light, the taste of dust still in his mouth, and looked down.

Isobel lay curled against him, her breath steady, her skin pale as moonlight where the bedspread had slipped aside. One long leg draped over his, the soft weight of her body pressed into him like she was made to fit there. For one tender second he let ...