“Is this yours?” She slapped the side of the Jeep.
“There was an accident.” Although she looked harmless, he didn’t trust anyone, and yet he didn’t have the luxury of denying that she could be a big help to him.
“Obviously.” She smiled wider. “Never know what, or who, you’re going to run into and why I make sure I check the roads for accidents in bad weather. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rescue people. Now I know you weren’t driving both vehicles.” She nudged her chin toward the sportscar. “Looks like it started for you.”
Maybe she was a bit more observant than he first gave her credit for.
“The woman who was driving the other vehicle, she and I are staying up the mountain at a cabin.” As of right now, she was a savior on a snowmobile, even if she was a complete stranger. “We don’t have cell service and we haven’t been able to reach out to anyone. Would you happen to have a phone I could use? One that has service.”
“Not on me. If you need to make a call, you’ll have to go down the mountain.”
“That’s more than five miles away.” No way did he want to hike in the snow with a hurt knee for another five miles.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway. I’m afraid everything is shut down. Business owners tend to do that around these parts. Not like they’d miss any business. Bad weather’s coming again soon and you should be back at your cabin hunkering down.” She must have sensed his disappointment. “Consider this a friendly act of neighborly kindness. I have a landline. When I left, it was working, and it’d be the Godly thing for me to offer it.”
He looked up the incline toward the cabin where Stormy waited. “You say your place is a few miles that way?” In the opposite direction, of course.
She dragged on her helmet and flicked up the face guard. “Now or never. Time’s a ticking and Mother Nature has a mind of her own.” She started toward the snowmobile, and stopped, looking back at him. “Do you have a problem with taking the rear?”
What choice did he have? He needed to contact his team. Climbing onto the back of the snowmobile, he hoped the snow held off for a few more hours.
Although her cabin wasn’t large, it was comfortable and warm. There weren’t any personal effects that told him anything about the woman, except that she had an open suitcase sitting on the floor with a pair of handcuffs and dark wig sitting on top. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d met a woman who liked a bit of kink.
“Is your husband here?” He didn’t need to know everything because he was only there to use her phone, but because it was embedded in him to suspect everyone, he had questions.
“Are you worried…it’s Gray, right?”
He nodded. “Not worried. Just curious.” He swiped a hand down his whiskered jaw.
“Knock that snow off your boots and come on in.”
He stomped the snow off his boots on the knubby welcome mat as she placed her helmet on the table and shook out her long, tangled hair. “Nice place you have here.”
“Yeah, real nice.” She smiled. “I hope you don’t mind if I climb out of this wet snow gear.”
“Sure, go right ahead.” He turned just as she unzipped the thick coat and dragged it off. She wore only a red bra underneath. When her fingers landed on the waist of her pants, he removed his gaze and looked for that phone he was promised. “I won’t come in and get your floor wet, ma’am. Will your phone reach?”
“A gentleman, huh?” She winked. There was something different about her here in her own element. “Don’t see very many of those around these parts. Most men are asking how they can get me—well, my floors wet. I tell you what, stud. I’ll forgive a wet trail of snow tracks across my wood if I can ask you an itty-bitty favor.” She stepped across to the mini bar, wearing only her matching bra and panties and a grin.
“Uhh…” Although he couldn’t miss how blatantly sexual she was, he had a timeline.
“Relax.” She strolled over to him and held out one tumbler filled with ice and Scotch.
Although his body begged to kick back the alcohol, he denied the offering. Even one drink could lessen his instincts. “I’ll pass.”
With a pucker of her plump bottom lip, she placed the glass on the table and emptied her own. “I have a leaky faucet. Know anything about plumbing?” She rolled a tendril of her hair around her finger. “I had a man here and he was worthless. Didn’t know a thing about pipes…or the ones under the sink.” She smiled and gave one hip a seductive tilt.
“Not a lot.” He started to look at his watch but remembered he wasn’t wearing one.
“You won’t take an itty-bitty teeny-weeny peek at the pipe?”
He scratched his temple. “Sure. I’ll check under the sink after I make a call, but I can’t promise anything.”
“The phone is over there.” She pointed to the small table in the living room. “While you’re taking care of business, I’ll grab some rags for the sink.” She shifted her eyes down him and smiled. “I tag you as a coffee man. I’ll brew us some.”
“You don’t have to go to the trouble, ma’am.”
“No trouble whatsoever. Black is it?”
“That’ll work.”
“I’m pretty good at guessing a man’s coffee preference. Five years as a barista will do that to a person.” He heard a slight southern twang to her voice. “Believe it or not, it’s helpful when it comes to dating.”
He looked at the phone and hooked his thumbs in his front pockets. He was obligated to enquire, although he wanted some privacy so he could make that call. “How’s that?”
She measured out coffee granules and smiled. “A man who likes his coffee black is strong and determined. Now, if a man asks for extra sweet, he will cheat.”
Gray blinked. “You get that all from a man’s choice in coffee?”
Her laughter echoed off the walls. “I’m just kidding you.”
As she flitted around the kitchen, Gray went to the phone and looked over his shoulder to make sure she wasn’t listening in. Although he wanted to call the office, this wasn’t a secure line. So, instead he called the private number and left an encrypted message on the machine. They would get the update soon. That took some weight off his shoulders.
10
THE CABIN WAS eerily quiet when Gray stepped inside. The fire had been allowed to go out and all that was left was a few burning red embers. He took his gun from his waist, aimed it toward the floor as he moved quietly through each room, coming up empty.
Where was Stormy?
The snow had started again and was coming down fast, but he didn’t see any footprints outside the front door. He flung open the backdoor and there, in the fresh snow, he found what looked like the last remnants of prints made by snow shoes and another set of what looked like dog tracks.
His heart pounded. If he hurried he might be able to follow the tracks before the snow covered them.
Closing the door behind him, he zipped his coat all the way up to cover his face and stepped out into the blustery wind. “Stormy?” he yelled, but the wind caught his voice and tossed it back into his face. His mind scrambled with questions. Did she leave the cabin on her own? Or did someone come and take her? How did the dog play into all this?
He made it almost to the wood’s edge when the footprints stopped. The snow was coming down so fast. He couldn’t seem to get enough air into his lungs. If something happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
“Stormy? Where are you?” He didn’t know if it was possible for anyone to hear in the wind, but he had to try. He scanned the area frantically, but visibility made seeing very far impossible.
His mind raced. What could he do?
He had to find her…
Then he heard something. Maybe a dog’s bark?
Ice crystals formed around two shadows and then he saw her.
Gray didn’t wait for Stormy, but he dashed forward through the snow and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her in close and hugging her. He heard a faint growl of protest and Stormy
saying, “It’s okay, girl. He’s friendly.”
Gray pulled back, looking down at her, barely able to keep his concern from his voice. “Where were you? What the hell were you doing out here? You could have gotten lost.” He was at a cross between yelling and never letting her go again. “Do you not realize how dangerous this storm is?”
Her gaze narrowed. “You’re late. You told me three hours. I’ve been waiting forever. Do you know how hard that is when you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere?” She stomped around him and he saw the snow shoes. Those would have been nice to have earlier. He grimaced and followed her inside. And the dog.
He closed the door against the wind and toed off his boots, depositing his jacket on the counter. “Stormy?”
Once she had the shoes off and the plastic bags she’d wrapped around her feet she looked at him. “What?”
“I wasn’t gone that long, and you have a dog and snow shoes? What did I miss?”
Her face softened some. “She showed up on the doorstep. I couldn’t allow her to stay out in this weather. She was freezing. I found the snow shoes and the rope in a storage space in the closet. And a bottle of whiskey stashed in the back of one cabinet.” She untied the rope from the dog’s collar. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”
She could have easily reached in and squeezed his heart. “Is that why you took off into the snow? You didn’t give me much credit before you decided I wasn’t planning to keep my promise.”
“I thought I should take Lola out and just see if there was any sign of a neighbor. They could be worried sick about her. We didn’t get far when the snow started and thankfully, she helped me find my way back.”
“Lola?”
“I couldn’t just keep calling her dog.”
He noticed that her fingers were pale blue, and so were her toes. “What in the hell were you thinking?” Stomping across the kitchen, he lifted her into his arms.
*
“Wh-What are you doing, Gray? Put me down. Right now.” She pushed against his chest, but not hard enough because he didn’t budge. Lola growled, “Hush, Lola. It’s okay.”
“You’re not supposed to do that.”
“What?”
“Name a dog that doesn’t belong to you.”
“Fine. Now put me down.”
He didn’t listen but sat down in the chair closest to the fire depositing her in his lap. It took her a good three seconds to gain use of her voice. “What are you doing?”
“I’m warming you up. You’re blue. It wasn’t safe for you to be out in the weather wearing only a blanket and plastic bags as booties. Don’t you ever take your safety into consideration?”
“I was only out there for fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty.”
“Yeah, and believe it or not, that’s long enough for frostbite to settle in. You’re an ice cube.” He took her hands between his larger ones and rubbed them. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, it felt good to have him touching her. She immediately felt warmer, satisfied. “Are you mad at me?”
She lowered her gaze, but he placed his thumb on her chin and gently lifted her face. Their gazes met making her inner thighs tremble. “Not mad…just…” She sighed. “Well, I was worried. I really wasn’t sure you would come back. A person can spin many tales when they’re left alone in a snowstorm.”
“Didn’t I promise that I would?” His soft voice reached in and soothed her doubt.
“Yes, but I don’t know you.”
“Maybe not a lot, but this should prove that I can be trusted.”
She nodded. “I really didn’t go very far. I couldn’t just stay here and pace the floor. You went in search of that man you’re looking for, didn’t you?”
He reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “No. But, I did get this.” He reached in and took out her bag with medicine. “And your clothes are sitting by the door.”
“Thank you.” She took the bag from him.
“I did make a call.”
“Really? Your cell worked?” She was teetering between joy and sadness. Right now, having contact with the outside world meant soon she’d never see him again. They’d go their separate ways.
“No, but someone just happened along on a snow mobile. It was quite crazy that it happened, but I can’t complain. Anyway, I was able to contact my team.”
She circled her mind around his words. “You didn’t call a tow truck? The snow patrol?”
He laughed. “The snow patrol doesn’t make house calls, sweetheart.”
Stormy leaned in close, getting a whiff a woman’s perfume. “So, who was this hero who happened along in the snow?”
“Her name was Dory Shewalter and she lives on Whispering Mountain all year long in a cabin a few miles from here.”
“Hmm. Is that where you made the call?” She plucked a long blonde hair from his collar.
“I also fixed her pipes.”
Blinking, she scooted off his lap and stood before him, hands on her hips. “Let me get this straight. While I was worried sick for five hours you were with some snow queen in her cabin fixing her pipes?”
He chuckled “She did let me use her phone and gave me a ride back here.”
She wasn’t sure what was happening to her. Anger rushed through her as she tugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders. Taking her bag to the kitchen, she took her medicine, not looking at him, even though he was standing a few feet away.
“As cute as this blanket looks on you, you now have a change of clothes. I’ll get the fire started again. It’s cold in here.”
Reluctantly, she had to admit that taking the dog out in the snow was a bad idea, and instead of giving him a hard time, she needed to be grateful he had help getting back to the cabin. “Is your knee okay?”
“It’s not bad.”
Would he tell her otherwise? She doubted it. Gray wasn’t a man who seemed like he would complain.
In the bedroom, she dropped the blanket and dressed into a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She was grateful she finally had something to wear besides a towel and blanket.
In the living room, she found Gray squatted beside Lola, petting her. Stormy stood staring for the longest time, admiring how gentle he was with the dog. Duncan hated animals. Another check against him and one in Gray’s favor.
Now she was keeping track of the pros and cons of each man? Grr.
“She’s sweet, isn’t she?”
Gray lifted his gaze to her, smiling. “She’s okay.” He winked. “I see she has a collar but no tag. Although she’s a little on the skinny side, I don’t see her as a stray living off the land.”
“That’s what I was thinking. She’s not unhealthy.”
Gray stood and hooked his thumbs into his front pockets. “Problem is, we’re not close to any neighbors and I don’t see why, or how, she would have come this far in this weather.”
“Maybe someone dropped her off, but she’s so sweet. I can’t imagine who would do that to her.”
Lola laid down in front of the fire and stretched out.
Stormy watched Gray lean on the counter. She wanted to step over and walk into his arms, knowing that his touch could melt away any of her doubt about her future, but she couldn’t rely on him. She had to stand on her own two feet. How could she though when they were stuck on a mountain.
Yet, hadn’t she always been independent? Always responsible? Even when she could have enjoyed life a little more, she instead stayed focus.
“You okay?” he asked.
Could she tell him that she was pondering her future again? He’d get tired of hearing her sad story. “I guess I’m just considering what I’m going to say to Duncan when I see him.”
“So, you plan on seeing him?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I? It’s the right thing to do.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
11
PHANTOM ROLLED HIS finger around the rim of the glass as he stared at the pretty blonde sitting across from him. “I
said make contact with him, not invite him here,” he growled. “That was dangerous.”
The blonde crossed her legs, then uncrossed them showing off the crotch of the panties. “He asked to use the phone. I didn’t want to seem suspicious.”
Phantom tugged on his cuff. “And you don’t think it was suspicious that you show up out of thin air at the accident?” He snapped up a groomed brow. “Or that you have your freak show out for anyone to see.” He jutted a chin toward her suitcase.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard you complain about my freak.” She snorted. “You should be thanking me. I bet in your wildest dreams you didn’t think you’d be so close to the very man who wants to put you behind bars for life. He didn’t even have a clue that you were within his reach. Those acting lessons I took paid off. He fell for every word.”
“Where did the big tits come into play?” He shook his head in irritation.
“My big tits always play a role. They should because they cost enough.”
The gray-haired man tapped his fingers on the table, a sheen of sweat on his brow. “It was risky. Carlisle is smart.”
“Oh? I thought that’s what this was all about. To see how far you can press your luck,” she slurred. “You didn’t tell me he was a sweet bit of eye candy. A cross between the Terminator and Jason Momoa.”
“I think you’re trying to push my buttons. Do you realize how long I’ve planned this? How many nights I’ve lain awake waiting to seek my revenge. It has almost come full circle.”
“I guess the weather is something you can’t control because you certainly didn’t expect another snow storm.” She twirled a wisp of her hair around her finger and let it drop. “It’s coming down again.”
He caught the sarcasm in her tone.
“There’s still time.” He grinned. “When one door closes another door opens, and the change of plan could be better than I thought possible. Everything is falling into place like pieces to a puzzle.”
“I don’t understand. He was here. Why didn’t you just off him while you had the chance?”
“Because killing him softly wouldn’t be as fun as making him feel pain. And although you were amazing, darling, the next time you decide to take a detour from my plan, you might not be so lucky.”
SEAL by Fate Page 9