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unannounced.”
    “Who brought you?” The question was clipped, angry.
    “Sawyer. He tried to reach you, but you didn’t pick up and—”
    “How much did you pay him?” he asked, cutting her off.
    “Well, nothing yet. I told him I’d square up with him in the morning when he returns to pick me up.”
    Finn snickered.
    Carrie wasn’t sure what that meant. “We discussed terms, and I found his price reasonable.”
    “What did he charge? Thirty pieces of silver?”
    “No, no, it was nothing like that.”
    For the first time she noticed a small nook on the other side of the room. He had another table set up there, with a lone chair. On the table was a computer and what she assumed was a radio. If she’d had his email address, she might have been able to convince him to give her the interview. Then again, probably not.
    “Your cabin is amazing … all the conveniences. You actually have a computer, but then I shouldn’t be surprised, right? I know that you worked with your publisher via email.”
    Nothing. This one-sided conversation wasn’t going the least bit well.
    “I read your book,” she said, trying again. “It was wonderful. The stories are detailed and rich. You make the reader feel part of the story as well. That’s a rare gift. My dad read your book, too, long before me. In fact, Mom mentioned that he purchased two additional copies as gifts this Christmas. Alone is still on the bestseller lists and has beenfor months, but then you probably already know that.” She realized she was chattering away and stopped.
    “I’m grateful you found me when you did,” she said, trying again after several tense moments of silence. “Sawyer wanted to stay, but the storm was fast approaching and he needed to get back to Bad Luck.” What an unusual name for a town.
    “Hard Luck,” he corrected.
    “Right. Hard Luck.” That wasn’t much better. It was difficult to maintain this cheerful facade with little to no feedback.
    “I bet you’d like to know how I found you.” She thought it might work out better if she asked questions.
    Nothing. Unfortunately, she’d supposed wrong. Finn Dalton had no interest in speaking to her, no matter how she directed the conversation.
    “If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, I understand,” she said with a labored sigh. “I mean, I’ve intruded on your life and it’s unbelievably rude of me, I know.”
    They sat in silence for several minutes, but the tension between them was so strong it felt like overactive bass pounding from a speaker. Carrie was quickly losing patience. She hadn’t come this far and jumped through all these hoops to be thwarted now.
    “You wouldn’t believe all the different ways I tried to find you,” she said. It felt like a shallow victory now, seeinghow uncooperative Finn was. But then, this should have been expected. While she was jubilant, he, on the other hand, was hostile.
    Hennessey kept his gaze focused directly on her. “Good boy,” she said, and made sure her voice was soft and cajoling. “You’re a friendly dog, aren’t you?”
    Like his master, Hennessey gave no indication that he’d heard. The canine’s eyes steadily regarded her, watching her every move. With Finn freezing her out, she looked to his companion for some connection. At this point she was willing to accept whatever Hennessey was willing to give her.
    “I hope you know you practically gave me a heart attack, racing up on me like that,” she told the dog. She bent forward and stretched out her hand, making sure he understood that all she wanted was to pet him.
    “He bites,” Finn warned, and from the way he clipped out the words, it seemed he would welcome the sight.
    Hennessey’s gaze flickered to Finn and then back to Carrie.
    “Are you a big, bad wolf?” Carrie asked Hennessey softly.
    The dog’s eyes met hers, and then Hennessey moved to rest his chin on his paws. Then, to her utter amazement, he wagged his tail. Just one wag, one single