No reason to follow Cassie so closely that she’d make him, because he knew where she was headed. Soon, though, he had her Tahoe in sight. Maybe he was a little more anxious than he thought. He eased up on the accelerator and followed at a safer distance up the mountain watching as the taillights of her vehicle made a left turn at the pass. He navigated the same turn two minutes later and opted to switch to the truck’s running lights so as not to frighten her. Some of the ruts in the road were bone jarring. Maybe he could have the lane to her cabin graded for her early this summer. Of course, she probably knew how to avoid the ruts with her eyes closed. He was driving half blind in the evening dusk.
Her taillights disappeared around the bend, and he sped up a little to make sure he had the cabin in sight before she got out of the Tahoe and heard his engine. He didn’t want her getting spooked—again. Then he’d head home himself. Not the night to be out in the passes like this.
A glimpse of the sketch of Maggie and their baby flashed across his mind. He hadn’t seen or dreamt of Maggie since last fall and felt a little guilty that he’d barely noticed she wasn’t part of his daily life anymore; he’d thought of her every day for seven years. He’d been so busy with the horses, a dream Maggie had once shared that they hadn’t had the time or finances to pursue. New orders for furniture were coming in all the time now, too. Maybe his mind had been too busy to be quiet and let her talk to him. Or maybe she’d said her good-byes when she’d inspired Cassie to draw that sketch, and she’d moved on.
“Maggie, darlin’, I hope you found whatever it was you kept searchin’ for.”
The ominous crack breached the still air leaving no doubt what had happened. A mountainside of snow roared toward him. He floored the accelerator, and his head jerked back as the truck shot forward. He hoped he was moving away from rather than into the avalanche—and that he wasn’t hurtling off the side of the damned mountain. Hell. Maybe following Cassie up here without headlights wasn’t the smartest move he’d ever made.
Luke turned on the low beams and saw the bend in the road half a football field ahead as the roar grew louder. Sounded like the worst of it was behind him, so he must be moving in the right direction. “Come on, Betsy. Give it all to me.”
When the snow pack crushed against the bed of the truck, Luke lost control and veered off the rough grade in slow motion. He flashed back to the sound he heard when another avalanche took Maggie from him. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and his heart thudded to what seemed an abrupt stop.
Was he dead already? Would anyone find his body? He hadn’t promised anyone he’d check in when he returned home from Cassie’s mountain.
Had Cassie made it past the tumbling snow pack? She must have. He hadn’t seen her taillights even when he gunned the engine. She was safe. God, he hoped so at least.
The avalanche shoved his truck off the roadway as if it were a diecast toy. How far down the mountain would the snowpack carry him? A second later, as if the mountain answered his question, his body slammed against the door, his head hurtling toward the window as the truck came to an abrupt stop against something. A tree maybe.
His head banged against the glass, and Luke heard the window shatter before everything went black.
* * *
“Luke, open your eyes!”
Cassie heard him moan. Thank you, goddess. At least he wasn’t dead.
Karla’s frantic phone call had sent Cassie outside searching for Luke. She’d never expected to find him up here, certain her friend had been mistaken that he would follow her home. What possessed him to do that? He had to have been up to no good. He’d also shown up at the gallery reception last winter. Was he stalking her?
Maybe not, if he’d told Karla and Adam of his plans. Stalkers didn’t do that, as far as she knew.
“Hell, woman. Let me sleep. No more dreams, damn it.”
Dream? Freaking nightmare, more like it.
She struggled to pull him out of the truck. The dried blood on his temple indicated a scalp wound of some sort; he might even have a concussion. He was lucky he hadn’t been killed. What was she going to do if he needed more medical attention than she could offer up here? The avalanche would keep the road blocked for days if not weeks. There was no easy way off this mountain other than the road or backcountry hiking. Normally, being snowed in didn’t bother her, but she’d never been sick or injured before with no way out.
Damn fool. She fought to support his weight, but he was practically dead on his feet. No, don’t think about him being dead. She didn’t wish that on him. Still, the fact that he had followed her home didn’t sit well with her. She didn’t get any particular creep vibe from him, no more so than any other man. Maybe even a little less than most men. He didn’t push her, and she liked talking with a fellow artist who could understand her world a little better than most of her acquaintances. But knowing he’d followed her home just put her on edge.
What was she going to do with him when she got him to her cabin? No man had ever invaded her sanctuary, well, except for Eduardo. But she trusted her brother with her life. He’d saved her once before.
A chill ran down her spine.
“What are you doing out here, Luke?” she muttered, straining under his weight. Looking up at the hill in front of her, she wondered how she’d ever get him up to the roadway.
“Makin’ sure you got home safe.”
She hadn’t expected him to answer but was glad he was at least lucid. A shiver racked his body, and he pulled her closer as his muscles went into spasms. The breath left her body, and she placed a hand on his chest to keep him at as much of a distance as possible. Not that she could keep from touching him. He was all over her. She needed him to move on his own steam and give her some space.
“You’ll need to help me here, Luke. I can’t lift you up the hillside.”
“No worries.” He released her body and wobbled on his feet before crouching to pull himself up the slope. Maybe he wasn’t too badly injured. She helped him along by placing her hands on his backside before realizing touching his butt wasn’t the safest move she’d ever made. She let go and watched him crawl the remaining few feet on his own. Scrambling up the crest of the bank, she found Luke with his head pressed against the roof of her Tahoe. He must be exhausted.
“Here, Luke, let’s get you inside.”
She figured he might feel more comfortable stretching out in the back seat, but he had other ideas and opened the front door, crawling inside. He grinned a dopey smile at her before she shut the door. Resting his head against the window, he closed his eyes.
“Please don’t pass out on me, Luke. I need to get you inside and warmed up.”
What on earth was she going to do with him once she got him inside? She had a twin bed and a tiny cabin. Her studio took up more than half of the floor space, because that’s where she spent most of her time. The thought of any man other than Eduardo invading her space made her stomach queasy. Sure, Luke would be easy to fight off now, but what would happen when he regained his strength?
How long was he going to be here?
She hoped she wouldn’t have to use the self-defense skills she’d learned while in college with Karla before this nightmare was over.
Cassie got in behind the wheel and put the SUV in reverse, careful to follow the dimly lit roadway back to the cabin, but there wasn’t enough room to turn around without risking sending them hurtling down the hillside, too. Luke groaned each time she hit a rut. She’d planned to have the annual grading done once the permafrost heaving was over.
“I’m sorry.”
Luke grunted. She glanced over at him and saw he still leaned heavily against the window. At least he wasn’t pressing against the cut he’d gotten from hitting the driver’s side window in his truck. She hated to see any living thing in pain, even a man.
Luke had never done anything to hurt her, either. She needed to stop assuming every male on two legs was out to harm her the way her ex-boyfriend and his drunken friend
s had during that college break in Peru.
Cassie shuddered and closed the lid on the memories of that horrific ordeal. At the cabin, she put the gearshift in park and exited the vehicle. Before she could get to his door, Luke had opened it, and she watched in horror as he started to tumble out. “Luke!” She charged underneath him to break his fall, but the man’s weight came down on her full force. She flashed back to the scene in the Andean bar for an instant before she could regain her equilibrium.
You aren’t in that place.
Never again. With strength that could only have come from an adrenaline rush, she shoved him back toward the cab of the truck.
“Sorry, darlin’.”
“I’m not your darling. Now, put your arm around my shoulder, and let me get you inside the cabin before you hurt yourself even more.”
“Yessss, mmmma’am.”
He slurred his words. “Don’t you pass out on me, Luke.”
Luke grunted but leaned more heavily against her. She needed to get him into bed before he fell to the ground. Briefly releasing her hold on his belly, she reached for the doorknob, wrenched the cabin door, and returned her hand to his abs to steady him. She propelled him forward with an arm around his lower back and waist. The man was as cold and chiseled as a marble statue.
Shivers wracked his body telling her she needed to get him warm and soon.
“Just a little bit farther, Luke.” She steered him through the tiny living room toward her bedroom before remembering there wasn’t a fireplace in there to keep him warm. However, his long frame wouldn’t fit on her loveseat, so she was just going to have to tuck him in the bed and find some other way to raise the heat level in the bedroom.
She lifted the alpaca-fiber blanket that covered the doorway to the bedroom and felt a blast of cold air. Normally, she preferred to sleep in a cold room under lots of handwoven blankets, but she’d never had hypothermia before.
Her brother had, though. She remembered the winter he had been injured while backpacking with the family. Papá had stripped both of them and had given his own body’s warmth to his son until the wracking shivers had stopped.
Cassie shivered, and not because of the temperature in the room or Luke’s chilled body.
I can never do that.
Another shudder even more intense than the earlier ones went through him. Goddess, she was going to have to do something to warm him up. A hot-water bottle? Heating pad? Maybe the space heater?
“Why me, Luke?” Why did he have to follow her home and get himself into this predicament?
“My dream.”
Once more, the question had been rhetorical. At least she knew he was still semi-conscious.
“What dream?”
“You were in…my dream.”
“I’m nobody’s dream, Luke. You’re delirious.”
He chuckled, giving her a squeeze on her upper arm that prompted her to release him like a hot potato. He swayed back and forth on his feet, and then he sighed as she relented and caught him. She guided him onto the bed before he could fall face first onto the floor. His grip remained on her arms, though, and she toppled onto his chest. The breath whooshed from her lungs, and his grunt of pain soon turned to a murmur of appreciation that sent chills up her spine as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Let go, Luke.” She ground the words out, hoping to convey how close he was to losing a part of his anatomy he probably fancied.
Another wracking shiver coursed through his body, and he held on even tighter, nearly smothering her. Involuntarily, she reminded herself. He wasn’t making a pass. Still, she fought to escape the confines of his arms, trying to control her breathing before going into a full-blown panic.
“I…said…let go of me.” She tried to yank herself away.
“Yes, ma’am.” His arms slackened and his head lolled to the side.
“Don’t you dare go to sleep, Luke! Do you hear me?” She raised her voice, “I need you to stay awake.”
He moaned, but his eyes remained closed.
Cassie needed to call for help. She had no idea how to handle someone with a probable concussion and hypothermia. Going to the blanket chest in the corner, she pulled out several more heavy wool covers, since he had fallen onto the ones she used herself. She spread them over his body before running to the living room to call her friend.
“Kitty! I have him. He’s hurt but alive.”
She heard her friend muffle the receiver to announce, “Adam, Luke’s alive!” Then her voice came through more clearly. “How badly is he hurt, Cassie?”
“Concussion, I think. Hypothermia for sure. He needs medical help, but the road’s blocked.”
“Let me have Marc talk with you. He’ll know what to do.”
Cassie didn’t want to do anything; she just wanted someone to come and take this giant of a man off her hands.
“Listen, he’ll call you back on his phone. Let’s hang up.”
With reluctance, she said good-bye and carried the phone into the bedroom where Luke lay sprawled on her bed, shivering uncontrollably now. She knew there wasn’t anyone else around to do this. Luke could die without treatment, and she didn’t want that karma marring her soul’s journey.
She hurried into the kitchen to get the space heater. At least this would raise the temperature in the room a little bit faster. The phone buzzed just as she turned on the heater and pointed it toward Luke on the bed.
“Cassie, this is Marc. Tell me what’s going on.”
After filling him in on how she’d found him and the visible injuries, she added, “I think he might have a concussion.”
“First I need you to help me evaluate his condition.”
He walked her through several things to check, and she reported that his pupils both contracted normally in the light and he had a steady pulse. “He’s shivering non-stop now, Marc.”
“A concussion isn’t my biggest worry. I need you to keep him from falling into a deep sleep, though. The main concern is warming him up fast. First, get him out of those clothes. They’re probably wet and leaching what little warmth he has left in his body’s core.”
Strip off his clothes? She didn’t want to even consider that notion. She was an artist, not a nurse. But in actuality, she simply didn’t want to deal with touching or seeing him that intimately. She remembered the camping experience with her father and brother.
Skin to skin.
Bare skin to bare skin.
Why me, goddess?
Dharma or karma, it didn’t matter. She did not need this on her soul’s chart.
Care for him.
She sighed. “Let me put you on speaker phone, Marc.” After doing so, she set the phone down, tossed the blankets aside, and went to work unbuttoning Luke’s shirt. His coat must have been on the seat in the car. The sleeves of his denim shirt were cold and wet from his climb up the embankment. She could only imagine how wet his jeans must be.
Why me?
“How are you doing, cara?”
Trying not to freak out about the very real possibility of having a naked man in my bed in a few minutes.
“I’m…getting him out of these…wet clothes.”
“Luke!” A woman’s voice came over the speakerphone. Angelina. “You do whatever Cassie says, you hear me? I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”
Luke smiled, but didn’t open his eyes. “’K, Angel.”
At least he was still halfway aware of his surroundings. That had to be a good sign. He grimaced as another shudder coursed through him. She needed to hurry.
“I need you to sit up, Luke. We need to get this wet shirt off you.”
Another grin, and he opened his eyes. She felt his wicked leer.
Don’t even think it, mister.
She helped him sit up and stripped away his shirt, leaving his chest bare. He had little to no hair on his chest. Several scars made her wonder how he’d gotten them, but she averted her gaze. Easing him back onto the pillow, she unbuckled his belt and tug
ged it from the loops, tossing it aside. She undid the button at the waistband and unzipped his fly without looking at what she might reveal underneath. Turning her head, she worked the jeans over his tight butt. Repositioning herself at the foot of the bed, she tugged off his boots and then followed with the cold, wet jeans.
Thankfully he wore boxers. No way was she removing those. Warming up his chest and extremities was more her concern, not his…
“When you get everything off, you’ll need to strip, too, and crawl under the covers with him.”
She wasn’t surprised by Marc’s command, she just didn’t welcome hearing her greatest fear put into words. Relieved to see Luke’s eyes had closed again, she removed her clothes quickly but kept her bra and panties on as symbolic protection at least. She grabbed the cell phone.
“Okay. I’m going to disconnect now. I’ll call you back if anything changes for the worse.”
Marc told her the signs to look for to indicate a worsening of his condition, but said helicopters wouldn’t be able to come in to airlift him out for days, not if the blizzard conditions predicted for tonight came about. No surprise there. More bad luck.
Cassie ended the call before stretching out beside Luke. The sheets were damp from his clothes, so she got up and maneuvered a blanket under him, rolling his body back and forth until he no longer made contact with the sheets.
His body temperature was frigid and she couldn’t suppress a shudder of her own. Pulling several heavy blankets over them both, she curled up beside this near-naked man who had invaded her sanctuary.
When black spots clouded her vision, she realized she’d stopped breathing. Drawing slow, ragged breaths helped clear her mind and vision, but the thought of lying next to him, touching her body against the length of him, sent her mind into the depths of hell.
Cassie fought to keep the memories from overwhelming her. At least she wasn’t underneath him.
Luke wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She pushed him away instinctively before realizing she needed to get closer if she was going to do him any good. Why couldn’t he just lie still and keep his hands off her? The urge to squirm out of her skin almost overtook her, and she fought to fill her lungs to keep the panic at bay.
Somebody's Angel (#5 in a Military Romance / BDSM Romance series) (Rescue Me) Page 34