Unshakeable Pursuit (Christian Romantic Suspense)

Chapter 3b

They both froze. Maylin's mind raced. Who would be here? No one else was supposed to know about this cabin.

Then they raced for the back door, leaving the water containers, and into the house. Geoffrey grabbed the shotgun and doused the lamps. Maylin grabbed an iron poker near the fireplace, using it to scatter the small fire so it wouldn't emit as much light, and doused the last lamp.

Geoffrey stood to one side of the front door. Maylin hid to one side of the back door that led from the kitchen, in case someone tried to sneak in that way.

The rocky cliffs on either side of the house seemed to magnify sound. They heard the crunching of boots against the gravel as at least two people approached the cabin. Maylin tried to swallow, but her throat was tight and dry. Her hands clenched and unclenched around the iron poker.

It sounded like the men were going to the front door and not the back. She could only see a dim outline of Geoffrey in the pitch blackness, but she heard his sharp intake of breath as the door handle moved a fraction of an inch, as if someone were testing to see if it were locked.

The wooden door creaked as it opened, and Maylin saw the slash of grayness from the night outside, which was quickly blotted out by a shadow.

Then the sharp sound of the shotgun being primed cut through the air. "Stop right there."

The shadow in the doorway stilled. "You wouldn't shoot your favorite brother, would you?" The man's voice was similar to Geoffrey's but a little lighter.

"I don't have a favorite brother," Geoffrey growled, but she saw movement as he lowered the shotgun from where it had been pointed at the open doorway.

"But he has a favorite sister," said a cheerful woman's voice from behind the man in the doorway.

"I only have one sister," Geoffrey said, still in that low voice.

"That makes me favorite by default."

Geoffrey sighed. "You idiots. What are you doing here?"

"We could ask the same of you."

There was a fumbling sound, then light blazed from the lit lamp.

The man in the doorway had lighter colored hair than Geoffrey, with a more angular jaw and a nose that had been broken once, but his eyes and the smile he gave his brother was the same. As he noticed Maylin, she saw that his eyes were a lighter green than Geoffrey's, with an adventurous gleam.

"Move, you big oaf." Someone behind the man pushed at his back, and he stepped into the cabin. The young woman didn't much look like her brothers except for her eyes. Her small, round face only emphasized the brightness of her wide smile as she threw herself at Geoffrey for a bear hug. Her long, straight hair was a lighter shade of brown, with the faintest hint of red.

There was a strangled sound from Geoffrey at her arms squeezed tight around his neck, then she saw Maylin. "Hi there, I'm Olivia."

Her brother, catching sight of the bruise on Geoffrey's face from earlier that afternoon, interrupted before Maylin could respond. "Whoa, I hope the other guy looks worse, because you look like he chewed you up and spit you out."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him, Geoff, he's just feeling inferior because I beat him on the rock climbing wall today."

"I'm not feeling inferior," he complained.

"Maylin, the guy with the rude manners and the inferiority complex is my brother, Lincoln," Geoffrey said. "You'd never know we were related ..."

"Because I'm so much more handsome." Lincoln grinned.