He smiled for her—that smile boasting warmth and dimples, edged with the pain and exhaustion of the last few days. Longing filled his gaze, emanated from his presence, and maybe he didn’t have the strength to hide from her something she knew had been there just under the surface the whole time since he’d returned to Montana.
Terra stood on her toes and leaned in to kiss Jack. He reeled her in much closer and kissed her. Gently—Owen stood there, after all—but she sensed the love Jack held back, the passion he reined in.
She ended the kiss. “Where do we go from here?”
Flashlights shone in the forest. A helicopter suddenly swooped in close and shined a line directly on them. Terra and Jack stepped apart.
Nathan rushed forward from the forest and shouted over the noisy chopper. “Oh, thank goodness, you guys are safe. I thought we were going to be too late to save the day.” He directed the beam of light to the ground. “I see you got Briggs.”
“I shot him in self-defense,” Jack said. “He shot at Terra. So, yeah, self-defense.”
Nathan holstered his weapon. “Terra, your dad is in the hospital. He’s going to be okay. Except he could be charged because of his involvement in the trafficking. I don’t know what will happen, exactly. The FBI is involved now.”
“As I figured they eventually would be. The artifact. Does anyone know where it is?”
“I think I might,” Owen said.