Not wanting a confrontation with Cade over moving out of the house without his almighty consent, she’d sneaked to a side window. The tall window would open enough to let her slip the screen off, crawl out and disappear into the night unnoticed. Yeah, he’d figure it out and give her hell, but that was fine. That would happen later, and she’d surely be more prepared later. Slipping her hands behind the curtains, she flipped the window latch and pulled it up as gently as she could, pulling harder as it went higher. And then it got stuck. She couldn’t get it to budge, neither up nor down, and cursing it hadn’t made a bit of difference. It was well and truly wedged in place. A hard yank and the bottom of the screen popped off. Emma caught it seconds before the whole screen flopped—loudly—onto the ground. “Note to self,” she whispered, words hard-edged. “Check all cabin windows for functional emergency egress before escape proves necessary.”
