“That’s right. You mentioned that.”
Harper started to get up from the ground. Nash put one strong hand under her arm to support her. “Take it easy.”
They walked to the snowmobile, which she could barely see even when she came upon it. Then she positioned herself on the back, but Nash urged her forward.
“You sit up front.”
“Oh, I don't think I have the energy to steer this thing.”
“You don't have the energy to hold on to me either. If I have you in front of me, I have a better chance of keeping you from falling off if you get dizzy.”
“Oh, okay. I guess you're right.”
“Take it easy. You don’t want to hurt yourself. As soon as you’re settled in the seat, I’ll climb behind you and you can lean back against me. If you need to hold on to something, hold on to my arms.”
Within a few minutes, Nash had climbed on and turned on the engine. Then he flicked a switch and the lights went on, illuminating the narrow road in front of them.
“Is it safe to ride like this?” she asked.
“We'll see in a few minutes I guess.”
She heard the amusement in his voice but couldn't see his smile.
“I guess there wasn’t any way for you to call into the station about the accident, huh?”
She heard his chuckle then. “You take your job seriously. But no. I did try the radio in the truck when I got the cabin. As you warned, there was no service. I’m sure the storm is making reception worse. I’ll try it when we get back. Who knows, we might get through to someone.”
It took another fifteen minutes for them to ride on the snowmobile up to the cabin. By the time they arrived, Harper’s hands and face felt like an ice cube. Unlike Nash who'd been equipped to handle the harsh elements. She only had a jacket and some gloves, although the gloves hadn’t done much good.
When she'd left the house that morning, she thought she'd only need to drive to work and back. The forecast was for flurries, not a blizzard. But as the day went on, that changed. She knew better than to be unprepared even for a spring blizzard. People died this way. If Nash hadn't been renting the cabin, then no one would've found her for God only knows how long. She knew that there was no way she would've been able to get out of that car and climb up the embankment herself. Not in the condition she was in. But then again, if Nash hadn't been renting the cabin, there would've been no reason for her to be traveling up the mountain.
“We’re here,” Nash said.
Somehow, he was standing next to her and she hadn’t even known he’d gotten off the snowmobile. She could smell the scent of fresh snow and the smoke from the wood burning in the stove inside. Sweet relief filled her.
As soon as Nash opened the door, Harper walked inside the cabin and wanted to weep. It was a common thing for her to be able to get through crisis, remain calm, and then fall apart later. This cabin was so familiar to her. And it was warm. To Harper, this was like home even though Nash was the one renting it. It was his home at least for the summer.
“You never said what you were doing on the mountain road. Were you coming to see me for something?” Nash asked, leading her into the living room area and easing her down to the pull out sofa.
Harper groaned. “Not again. I left the linens in the trunk of my car.”
“Linens?” He stood up straight and frowned as he pulled off his snow-filled scarf and hat.
“The cabin doesn’t have any blankets, sheets, or towels. I was supposed to give them to you when you came to get the key.”
“I hadn’t even had time to check. I have a sleeping bag. But that only takes care of one of us.” He turned and held his hand out to the wood stove. “The stove is starting to go out. I started it as soon as I got to the cabin. But the wood was a little wet. I wasn't sure if it would take. These might be a little dryer now.” He rummaged through a pile of wood next to the stove and picked two pieces.
When he opened the stove door and positioned the two new logs on top of the embers, she breathed in deep. “I always loved the smell of this woodstove.”
Still crouched down, he turned to look at her. “Did you spend a lot of time up here when you were a kid?”
“Mostly during the summer months. We didn’t come up all that much in the winter because the snow made it hard to get through. It made it difficult for my dad to get to work and he didn't want us stuck up here by ourselves in case we had another blizzard, which was pretty much all the time as far as I can remember.” She chuckled, but it was bittersweet.
Nash seemed to notice he’d hit a nerve. His eyes grew warm with sympathy. “That's Montana for you.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Nausea and dizziness crept up on her until it was almost too overbearing and she had to hold onto something to keep herself upright. Except when she reached out her hand there was nothing there. Instantly she felt Nash's hand on her arm giving her some stability.
“Just lean back against the sofa.”
“I guess I hit my head harder than I thought.”
“Either that or the ride to the cabin was a little too much too soon. As soon as this stove gets a little hotter, I can warm some water for a bath for you.”
“It’ll take a while for the water heater to warm enough water. But it doesn’t matter. The towels are in my trunk.”
He smiled. “I have one you can use.”
She leaned forward on the sofa and looked around. “Wait. Did you get the solar system running? We have lights.”
“No. That’s a battery-operated lantern. I didn’t have time to get the solar system working. We have plenty of snow to melt and lots of heat to melt it with, so you should be able to clean up and ease some of the aches in your body from that tumble. You’re going to feel it otherwise.”
“That still leaves just one sleeping bag. Did you buy any perishable food?”
He smiled. “Not much. But there’s enough snow outside that we can pad the icebox to keep what I have fresh. And I have plenty of MREs. We won’t starve.”
“We? Are you here with anyone else?”
The sudden worried look he gave her was troubling. “I’m here with you.”
She shrugged and instantly regretted it. Leaning back and resting her head on her hand as she leaned against the sofa, she said, “Yes, but I won’t be staying. If we can call someone on the radio in your truck, someone can pick me up before things get too bad.”
He smiled again. “It’s too bad.”
“What is?”
He pointed toward the window. “The weather. You must have hit your head pretty hard. No one is going to get up this mountain road until the storm blows over.”
She gasped. “No. That’s impossible. It wasn’t bad when I left work. I mean, I know there is a lot of snow out there, but—”
“That was hours ago. Trust me. No one is getting up that road. I barely made it with the snowmobile. Like it or not, you’re stranded here with me.”
“No, no. That can’t be.”
Harper tried to get up from the sofa and then fell back.
“Easy now.”
“Easy nothing. My grandmother is alone.”
“I’m sure she is fine.”
“She’s going to worry.”
“You’ll call her.”
“Up here? There is no service at the top of the mountain.”
“We’ll try the radio to get a message through if we can. But no one is going to be able to get up that road to rescue you without risking their own life. Not even a plow. You’re stuck with me.”
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Four
A lot of women may dream of being stranded with a gorgeous stranger like Nash Webber. If she weren’t so worried about her grandmother, maybe Harper would be one of them.
The wind howled wickedly through the rafters. Harper hadn’t heard that sound for many years and it instantly transformed her to a time when she was a child when she and Gail used to lay in the bed under the covers, afraid that the
windows would burst open suddenly.
She chuckled at the memory.
“What?” Nash asked.
She shook her head. “Just remembering.”
He nodded. “I’m sure there are lots of good memories if your family has owned the cabin for a long time.”
“Most good. Some not so good.”
“Really? Well, I guess you can’t be happy all the time.”
She shrugged. They were going to be stuck here together until the storm passed. She hadn’t quite reconciled herself to that fact, but as the ache and bruises from the accident began to surface, along with memories, it was clear she was.
She didn’t want to talk about it now so she turned the conversation to him.
“What kind of work are you doing up here? I mean, I know that you're some sort of a scientist, but I can’t imagine what you’ll be doing here.”
“My work is usually in the mountains. I’m a geologist.”
She nodded and felt a little embarrassed that she wasn't exactly sure what a geologist did. But at the risk of sounding like an imbecile, she stayed silent and gave him an opportunity to talk about his work. Most people like to talk about the jobs. But when he said nothing more, she fought for something else to talk about.
“My grandmother also told me you were some sort of a survivalist, too? What's that all about?”
“Surviving.” He’d been stacking and restacking logs next to the wood stove, which was finally pushing out some serious heat now that he’d stoked it and added more logs.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he rearranged the logs again.
“I can’t decide which one goes better with my eyes,” he said.
“Your what?”
His smile was slow but when it came, she realized that was his way of teasing her.
“I’m seeing which are the driest and spreading them out so they’ll dry faster. I’ll put the driest in the stove tonight while we sleep so they’ll burn and create more heat. Wet wood doesn’t create as much heat.”
“I see.” She shrugged. “I'm not the greatest with small talk.”
“I think you doing okay.”
“I'm used to people calling me in crisis situations. I'm used to asking detailed questions about bleeding and wounds and passing out and oh, you know what I mean. But I don’t know anything about being a survivalist or scientists. Do you travel a lot for your work?”
“For the most part. I don’t stay in one place very long. But I'll be here in the Rocky Mountains for at least a couple years with the work I'm doing now.”
“Dare I ask what you're doing up here? Or is that going to go too far over my head?”
He chuckled. “It’s not that technical at all. But unless you’re an insomniac and need to fall asleep, you probably don’t want to hear about. I find that once I get started talking about my job people tend to nod off. I've been told I should bottle a few speeches and give them away as sleep aids.”
She chuckled.
“I'm surprised you're up here alone. Don't geologists normally work in teams? I mean, I don’t know that much about that sort of thing. Or anything at all. But I’ve seen some people from the Environmental Agency come through town.”
“Some do.” He shrugged. “Most do. But I'm more of a scout these days.”
She frowned. “Scout for what?”
“Changes in environmental activity. Shifting of the earth’s plate. Signs that there may be volcanic activity that is unusual.”
“There are lots of people who work in Yellowstone and all the Rocky Mountains that do that kind of work. Isn't it kind dangerous for you to be working out here alone?”
His voice lowered just a bit as he sat down on the sofa, abandoning his log sorting. “No more dangerous than if I was with the team. If something is going to happen, it'll happen whether I'm with the whole group of geologists or if I am by myself.”
She thought about it for a minute. “Sure, but something happens to you out in the wilderness there won't be anybody there to help you.”
He grinned if you could really call it that. It was more of a half grin that was somewhat cute and super sexy at the same time. “That's where the survivalist part comes in. I'm used to working alone. I know how to take care of myself. I can even sew up a wound and perform some minor surgery if I have to.”
He laughed at the face she made.
“My knees are getting weak just thinking about the possibilities. I'm totally grossed out with the image of doing self-surgery.”
“Luckily it’s not something I’ve had to do.”
He looked around the cabin and seemed completely at home. Maybe even more so than she was, which was odd.
“Your grandmother said you mostly rent out the cabin these days. Your family doesn't really come up here anymore?”
“We don’t. We used to when I was a kid.”
“What made you stop? This place is great.”
“Memories can be painful,” she said quietly.
His expression changed to one of concern.
She hesitated a minute remembering her thoughts earlier. She was never good at talking about her parents deaths. And knowing how close she came to going over the side of the cliff on the mountain road only brought her memories back to the forefront of her mind. “I haven’t been up here since my parents died.”
“I'm sorry that I made you visit a painful memory.”
“It was a long time ago. Sometimes it feels like yesterday. I don't think death is something people ever get over no matter how much time passes.”
His eyes grew dark. “I think you’re right,” he said as if he had some experience with it himself.
Everyone did. It was hard to escape the pain of losing someone you loved.
“We don’t have to talk about it.”
She smiled weakly. They couldn’t ignore the obvious. “I know this stove pumps out some good heat, but it’s going to get cold during the night. One sleeping bag?”
“Unfortunately, just the one. You are welcome to it,” he said with a shrug.
“A gentleman. That’s nice. But I can’t take it from you. I’m the one who forgot the blankets. I can sleep here on the sofa and just cover myself with my jacket.”
He frowned. “You were in an accident. You have a head wound and most likely a few more bruises. You’re body temperature is already lowered from being in shock and being out in the cold. I insist you take the sleeping bag. It’s warm.”
He stood up and put his hands in front of the wood stove.
“It’s getting hotter,” he said. “I’ll get a few buckets of snow and put them on the stove to heat up. Then we can clean up that wound on your head.”
He was scrutinizing the spot on her head that she’d felt was sticky and bloody earlier.
“Does it look that bad?” she asked.
He shook his head. “You have a good lump and it will hurt for a bit, but it doesn’t need stitches.”
Her eyes widened as she peered up at him.
He grinned back at her. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to get out a needle and thread. Unless I really had to.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Do you know where there might be a few buckets or pans?”
Harper turned as Nash walked to the kitchen area and started opening cabinets. “No buckets. But there are two big pots in the last cabinet by the stove.”
He found them quick enough and held them in his hand. “I’ll just be a minute.”
He opened the door and a flurry of snow whooshed inside the room.
“This storm is starting to be a doozy,” he said. “How good is this roof? I didn't have a chance to check it out when I first got here.”
She thought about Caleb Samuel, an officer at the police station who was injured over the winter when a section of the roof of the chapel he was renovating with his fiancée collapsed on him. She was glad they didn’t have to worry about that here.
“It was replaced
four years ago. I don't think we’ll have a problem with it. Besides, the snow usually slides off it because it’s so steep, especially this time of year.”
He nodded. “In that case, it’s probably best you steer clear of the sides of the cabin until it does. Heavy snow in motion is not something you want to be near.”
Nash disappeared outside for a few minutes. Harper took those minutes to ease herself up from the sofa and test how steady she was on her feet. She stood and felt stable, but her whole body felt stiff. A hot bath might be just what she needed to get out the kinks. Until the solar system was running, the only hot water they’d have would be from whatever they boiled.
She thought about her grandmother and knew she was probably frantic by now. Harper hated the idea of her being alone in this storm.
The door swung open again and Nash carried in the two pots now filled with snow. He shut the door with his foot.
“This will get you started. It may take a while to get enough for a bath though. But you may get enough for a sponge bath. I can get more when I get back.”
She’d been rubbing her hands in front of the wood stove, but she stopped and turned to him. “When you get back? Where are you going?”
“To your car. I’m going to see if I can retrieve those blankets. The temperature is dropping and I don’t have enough wood to keep the cabin warm even if I keep adding wood all night. The wet wood will dry out eventually, but it won’t burn hot. By morning this cabin will be like a freezer.”
“But it’s bad outside. My car is so far down the hill that you might…”
He glanced at her and waited for her to finish her thought. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. It meant explaining to him her fears.
“I’m only going to be gone for about an hour or so,” Nash said. “It will go much faster for me because I’m alone.”
“Do you really need to go? I mean, you said you had a few things here. We can make do. I’ll sleep right here by the fire.”
He shook his head. “Both of us will sleep out here. Unless you want to share the sleeping bag with me, it makes sense for me to make the trek out to your car and get those blankets so we both have a good night’s sleep. It’s going to take some work to dig us out if you want to get home when this storm ends tomorrow. If it ends tomorrow.”
Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Page 24