In the quiet hours before dawn in Evergreen Hollow, the February snowstorms had finally relented, leaving behind a crystalline landscape that sparkled under the weak winter sun. The town stirred slowly, with smoke curling from chimneys and the distant hum of snowplows clearing the roads. For Holly Winters, the morning after her intimate night with Rowan Kane brought a whirlwind of emotions—elation from their deepening connection, mingled with a gnawing anxiety that clawed at the edges of her ...