At Wolf Ranch (4 page)

She wondered if he’d shut up and let her answer. Not that she wanted to, but if keeping him talking kept him from staring at her breasts and his eyes on the icy roads, she was all for chitchat.

“I flew in today from New York City.”

“I took you for a city girl.”

What gave her away? The suede boots. Her too thin slacks and sweater. The full-length coat more suited for a night out to dinner in the city than a snowstorm.

“Why are you headed out to Wolf Ranch? Wolfs haven’t been back since the plane crash. I heard they might sell the place. Is that why you’re here?”

The pain of her parents’ death felt as raw today as it did when she was fourteen. Today, though, that pain mixed with the loss of her sister and the dreams they’d had for their future together, finally taking the helm of all their parents left behind.

“Um, yes,” she choked out. “The company sent me to check on the house. For the family.”

“Are they thinking of selling?” he asked again.

No way would she ever sell the house. In her mind, it held all the memories of her and Lela with their parents. Those were the happy days when her father didn’t work and her mother didn’t rush off for luncheons with friends. At the ranch, it was just family.

God, how she missed those simpler times.

“No. The ranch will always belong to the Wolf family.” Well, to her. She was the only one left.

“That’s what I thought. So, how long are you staying? Did they ask you to check on anything else besides the Wolfs’ home?”

That sounded odd, but she didn’t know what else her family owned here besides the house. If memory served, they’d only ever come to spend vacations together, riding the horses in the spring and summer and skiing in the winter.

“Right now, my only concern is the house. Why?”

“No reason. Just making conversation.”

The tires rolled on over the road and she focused on the fluttering snow and hoped they didn’t hit a patch of ice and crash. That would make her uncle happy, and the last thing she wanted to do was please him in any way. No, she planned to destroy him one way or another. He thought she’d spent the last years of her life fooling around and playing the party girl. Well, he didn’t know who he was up against, and his ignorance and indifference to her would serve her well.

“I am so tired of the cold. Once the sun goes down, temperatures plummet this time of year.”

“I guess I should have packed my warmer coat,” she said lamely, turning to the side window and rolling her eyes. Nothing about this guy appealed to the senses. Unpleasant to look at, his gut hung over his waistband, and his overstretched shirt rode up on his hairy belly. His ruddy cheeks and nose made the rest of his face look pasty white. If that wasn’t enough, he needed a shower. Bad. But the way he kept looking at her made the creepy crawlies dance up her spine and over her skin. She hoped the roads stayed clear enough for them to make it to the ranch quickly. “How much farther is it?”

“Only about another twenty miles. Don’t worry. We’ll make it. I drive through thicker stuff than this all the time.”

“It’s just I’m cold and I can’t wait to be inside so I can warm up by a hot fire.” She only hoped the house still had the electricity turned on and wood for the fireplace. Either way, being at the house would be better than sitting next to Travis.

“If you’re cold, come on over here, darlin’. Ol’ Travis will keep you warm.” He reached over and traced his fingers over her shoulder and down her arm.

“Really, thank you, but I’m fine.”

“You’re all wet, ain’t ya?”

She didn’t like the suggestive way he said “wet.” It made her feel as dirty as the look in his eyes.

“Best way to get warm in weather like this is to use each other’s body heat. Lord knows this old truck’s heater can’t keep you as warm as I can.”

While she thought of a response, he reached over, grabbed her thigh, and pulled her leg closer to him. Too intimate and totally inappropriate. Fear washed through her chest, and she gasped, swatting his hand away. “Stop that.”

All he did was chuckle, but she didn’t find any comfort in the creepy sound.

“Come on, honey, scoot on over here and give ol’ Travis a little somethin’, somethin’.”

“Look, I’m not interested in anything but a ride.”

“I’ll give you the ride of your life.”

After the day she had, her trepidation turned to anger. “Really. This is how you think women want to be treated?”

“The way I see it, honey, you’ve got two options, me and this truck, or that there snowstorm.”

Trying to appeal to his sense of decency, if he had one, she said. “What will sweet Bev and all those other customers back at the coffee house say when they find out you dumped me on the road?”

“All they’ll know is what I tell them. That I fucked the hot chick in the front seat of my truck.”

“Not a single one of them will believe I gave into your
charms
, big guy.”

“Think you’re something special, do you?” He reached for her again, but she smacked his hand, stinging her fingers and hopefully his hand as well. He pulled back from her, but checked the mirrors and slammed on the brakes in the middle of the deserted road.

“If you haven’t noticed, bitch, we’re alone out here. No one will know if you and I did the nasty, so stop all this fussing. Come here and show me some appreciation.”

“All I want is a ride. I’m willing to pay you for it, but I am not sleeping with you to get it.”

“Just a little somethin’ for my trouble.” He reached for her again. This time his fingers dug into her thigh. He pulled her closer, leaning in to kiss her.

She leaned back, out of his reach, and pushed at his shoulders with her hands. The fear returned. Her heart thundered against her ribs. “Travis, stop. You don’t want to do this. You don’t even know me.”

“I know you’re probably the most beautiful woman who will ever come through here, and I want you.”

“Well, you can’t have me, you bastard. Let me go.” Her voice pitched high. Her nails dug into his hand, and his fingers clamped around her leg. Since he kept pulling at her, she unlatched her seat belt, turned her legs toward him, brought her feet up, and smashed them down into his lap, her heels digging into his groin. He bellowed in pain like a half-mad bull.

She scooted back into the door and turned back to sit in her seat properly, her feet tangled in her bag strap.
What am I going to do?
She stared out the window; nothing but empty land quickly disappearing below a blanket of white snow. Not a building or another car in sight.

Travis leaned forward, moaning and holding his nuts, rocking back and forth. “You bitch. That fucking hurt.”

She didn’t expect the big guy to move that fast, but he lunged across her, grasped the door handle, opened the door, and shoved her out before she could grab on to anything. She landed hard on her hip and side in the ice slush. Her foot remained stuck on the strap of her tote. Travis tried to close the door on her leg, but only managed to twist her ankle and bruise her more. Frustrated, he shoved her bag out with a grunt and slammed the door. She scrambled back farther into the snow to avoid getting run over when Travis hit the gas, spun the tires in the ice, and took off, leaving her in the middle of nowhere.

The snow fell thick and steady. She tried to stand, but slipped and fell onto her bruised side again. She needed to get help. If she was cold before, she was freezing now. No way she would survive the night in this weather. The temperature had already dropped several degrees since she arrived at the coffee shop an hour ago. With little traffic out on the roads, she’d be lucky to flag someone down. Her best hope was for a snowplow to come by.

Did they even run those this far out of town?

Her spirits dropped with each passing moment that no headlights appeared from either direction. She held out hope that someone would pass by on their way home.

She thought of her cell phone tucked in her bag. If she turned it on and the detective helping her uncle discovered where she was, she’d be alive, but she’d have to leave Montana, which meant losing her chance at learning what Lela had found—and any hope of nailing her uncle to the wall.

If things got worse, she’d have no choice but to risk turning on the phone and trying to call for help.

Probably no cell service out here anyway.

Options limited and getting worse, she limped along the road back to town. It didn’t take long for her feet to freeze. Her ears stopped burning. Numb. She was numb from the inside out. She tried to keep her coat tucked around her neck and body, but the whipping wind pulled it this way and that, letting the icy breeze and snow down her neck and shoulders. If only Travis had tossed out her suitcase, too. Then she could use the spare clothes and socks to keep warm. At this point, the rain and snow soaked every article of clothing she wore.

She might not have a lot of survival skills for wilderness life, but she could add cold and wet and come up with death.

She needed a miracle. With every step she took, she prayed, “Someone, please, help me.”

Over time, that prayer became more than just someone to save her from this icy road. She needed someone to help her prove her uncle’s guilt. With the cops in his back pocket and who knew who else, she was in over her head.

Her gaze wandered back up to the sky and the falling snow, and she begged, “Please.”

The headlights came out of nowhere. Or maybe she lost focus again as the cold sapped her energy and made it more and more difficult to take a step. Everything inside her wanted to sit down and rest, but she pushed on toward those headlights and hoped they were real and the person stopped.

Hope rose up in her chest as the truck drew closer. She waved her arms to get the driver’s attention. They didn’t slow down. Oh God, they didn’t see her!

“Stop. Please,” she screamed.

Chapter 4

G
abe shook off thoughts of beautiful, rich women he’d never have a chance with or see again and focused on the road. Snow danced across his windshield, swept away by his pulsing wipers. Hungry, he reached across the seat for the paper bag of snacks he picked up on the trip down to see Blake. He came up with an empty bottle of water and tossed it to the floor. His fingers brushed over the bag of pretzels, but he couldn’t quite reach them. He leaned to the side, grabbed his prize, and brought the bag to his mouth, tearing the corner. He spit out the wrapper and dumped a few into his mouth. He chewed, eyes glued to the road ahead, focused on the thickening snow. He slowed even more. Caution over speed the better choice in weather like this.

A strange blue object flashed momentarily in front of his headlights on the side of the road. Surprised, he reflexively hit the brakes, but the truck slid on a patch of ice, swerved, and glided to a stop.

“Shit. What the hell was that?”

Unnerved, he hit the emergency lights and got out to investigate. He pulled his coat around his neck to keep the snow from running down his back. Cold, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and made his way on the slippery pavement back to the trailer. Sully whinnied and stomped a hoof on the metal floor.

The wind shifted and whipped the snow this way and that. He swept his gaze along the road, looking for any sign of the mysterious blue thing. Flurries obscured his view, making visibility difficult. Then, he saw it. Something flapped and fluttered in the breeze on the side of the road about fifteen feet away. Everything inside him stilled. He narrowed his gaze on the blue splotch, quickly fading beneath the dusting of snow. The wind kicked up again, pushing on his back, and making him take a step forward. In that moment, his gaze traced the outline in the snow, and he registered what he was looking at. A person.

He ran before he knew what he was doing and fell to his knees beside the crumpled figure. He reached out and ran his hand over the coat he recognized from the woman who wore it, sitting in her vehicle, telling him to stay away from her, now his, house.

“Lela.” Her name barely made it past his lips. The woman with the green eyes that haunted his thoughts. He couldn’t figure it out. Beautiful. He’d appreciated the way she looked, but he hadn’t felt the pull the way he did right now.

Gabe ran a shaking hand over her frozen hair and pushed it away from her face, practically buried in the snow. He pressed his hand to her shoulder. She moaned and turned to her side, flinching and letting out an anguished gasp when she rolled over her hip. He helped her settle onto her back. Her ice-covered lashes fluttered and those green eyes stared up at him, though just like the strange feeling he got, they weren’t exactly the same as he remembered.

“Lela, are you okay? What the hell are you doing out here in this weather all alone?”

Tears filled her eyes and rolled down the sides of her face into her hair, the moisture freezing on her face.

“Are you hurt? Can you get up?” He didn’t wait for an answer and ran his hands over her arms and legs. Her thin black slacks were soaked through, along with her boots. Wet and heavy, her coat had a thick layer of ice on it. She shook all over, her teeth chattering. He cupped her freezing face in his hands and hoped she focused on him. “Lela, are you okay?”

Every time he said her name, she cried harder. He didn’t know what to do, but leaving her lying in the snow wasn’t an option. Her lips had gone blue along with the tips of her fingers. If he didn’t act fast, she’d die of hypothermia.

He slid his hands beneath her, pulled her to his chest, and stood with her in his arms. She let out another gasp and locked her jaw in a grimace that made his chest ache. She surprised him and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. Her ice-cold face pressed to his skin. He leaned into her to give her what warmth he could without pulling her close and hurting her more.

Heavier than he expected, she didn’t seem that big. He took two steps and realized something kept bumping against his calf. He kicked his leg out and felt the bag hit his leg again. He glanced at her feet and the strap wrapped around her ankle. No time to free it now, he ignored the nuisance and hurried to get her into his truck. Not so easy to get the passenger door open, but he managed without dropping her. He planted one foot on the running board, shifted to the side, and hauled both of them up and slid her onto the seat so her head lay at the driver’s side. With the wind blowing at the other side of the truck, the cold worked its way into the cab, but not the snow. Thank God.

Standing on the running board, he got to work, pulling her short boots off first and then her soaking socks. They landed next to the empty water bottle he tossed to the floorboard earlier. He unwound the huge purse strap off her leg and ankle and dumped the bag on the floor with a heavy thud. She lay quiet on the seat. Though he hated her crying, he found her silence even more disturbing. He didn’t like the look of her pale, grayish-yellow toes. He rubbed his hands over her feet to get her circulation moving. Still, her wet pants remained plastered to her cold legs. With a shake of his head and a determination to save her, he reached up to the button on her slacks and undid them. He pulled the cold, wet material down her too pale legs and tossed the wet mess to the floor, too. His gaze swept up her toned legs to the black lace panties that made her skin look even whiter. His stomach turned over when he saw the huge splotch of red and purple on her hip.

“What the hell happened to you?”

He laid his palm over the nasty bruises and pressed his fingers into her hipbone and down the top of her thigh, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. She squirmed and moaned, but didn’t really wake up.

Thank God he’d barely been crawling home in this storm, or he might not have seen her. If she spent another minute in the storm, she could be dead. The thought nearly stopped his heart. Sick with worry, he wished his cell worked out here. He’d call the police, an ambulance. In this weather, they’d take nearly an hour to get here anyway, and Lela didn’t have that kind of time. He needed to take care of her and get her to the clinic. Fast.

Both his hands lay on her thighs. He squeezed and whispered, “What the hell were you doing out here, walking on the road in the dark, during a snowstorm?”

She didn’t answer, so he refocused his thoughts to saving her. He needed to get the soaking wet coat off her that did nothing to keep her warm at this point. Water dripped off the ends onto his boots. He pulled the sleeves down each of her arms, trying not to move her too much. He wrapped one arm under her knees and lifted her slightly to pull the coat out from under her. Her head rolled to the side and she tried to pull her legs free. Now that he had the wet clothes off her, he reached over, turned the key, and started the truck. He adjusted all the vents to blow down on her and soon the heat pumped out at full blast. All he had to do now was keep her warm and get her to the clinic.

An idea sparked, and he leaned over the seat and rummaged through the back, pulling out two flannel shirts, a pair of sweatpants, and, yes, a thick flannel jacket he wore to his buddy’s place for poker night last week.

He laid the jacket over her chest and tucked it around her arms. She still wore her gray sweater, but it wasn’t thick enough for this weather. City girl. Didn’t know what she was doing out here in the country during a snowstorm. He’d thought she left after he saw her at the house. Guess not. But how did she end up out here without her car? Maybe he’d find it broken down up the road. Still, she should have been smart enough to stay in it and not try to walk back to town in this weather.

He slid his hand down her calf to her ankle and took hold to push her leg into the sweatpants. A hell of a lot easier to undress a woman when she was awake and participating. Redressing one while she was passed out took a hell of a lot of work and was a lot less fun. Still, he managed to get both her feet in the legs of the sweats. Bruises marred one of her ankles, along with a mark from the strap of her huge purse. He didn’t like the way it looked, but couldn’t do anything about it now. He pulled the pants up past her knees, but needed to jostle her to get them over her hips. He barely got them to the tops of her thighs when her eyes popped open and the girl came to life, grabbing at his hands to push him away.

“Stop. Don’t. Leave me alone,” she pleaded, pushing him away and trying to kick and push him out of the truck with her feet.

To stop her from fighting and hurting herself, he lay down the length of her and took her face between his hands, making her focus on his face just inches from hers.

“Lela, it’s me, Gabe. We met the other day at the ranch.” Her eyes went wide, and she stopped pushing against him. Everything in her went still. Her eyes swam with unshed tears. “I found you collapsed on the side of the road. I’m trying to get you warm.”

“C-c-cold.”

Her body shook beneath his. “I know, stop fighting me, and I’ll get you warm. I’ll take you to the clinic to get you checked out.”

“No!”

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Your lips are blue, you’ve got frostbite on her toes, and your fingers don’t look much better. How did you get out here?”

“He left me.”

“Who?”

Her eyes fell closed. He wanted to shake her and get her to wake up and tell him who the hell left her in the middle of nowhere. She could have died. That thought pulled a tight band around his chest and made it impossible to breathe.

He tucked the coat around her again, making sure her hands were lying on her stomach and warm beneath the coat. He pulled the sweats up and over her hips and took the two flannel shirts and wrapped one of each around her feet. Hanging out the door, he pulled her legs up and turned them so her feet lay on the seat. He slammed the door shut and ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in beside her. With her head at his hip, he stared down at her too pale features. Drawn to her, he traced his fingers over her beautiful face.

The urge to protect and help her pushed him to hurry. He maneuvered the truck into an odd three-point turn that took a hell of a lot more than two or three forward and backward moves due to the trailer and the two-lane road. Most of the shoulder was covered in thick snow and the last thing he wanted to do was get stuck. He headed back to Crystal Creek and the clinic that was luckily on this side of town.

Worried like he’d never felt before, he brushed his fingers through Lela’s wet hair, pulling it off her face. The heater pumped out hot air, making him wish he’d taken his coat off and put it over her too, but he endured the heat because she needed it. He laid his warm hand on her cheek and hoped that little bit of comfort helped. He didn’t know what else to do.

He pulled into the nearly deserted lot and hated to leave Sully in the trailer, but Lela needed to see a doctor. He shook Lela’s shoulder to wake her. Warm now, her eyes fluttered open, locked on him, staring down at her from over her, and she shot up, twisted, and leaned back into the passenger door in a defensive position that made him hold up a hand to let her know he meant no harm.

“Easy, Lela, it’s just me, Gabe. We’re at the clinic.”

“I’m not going in there. Just let me out.” She looked down at the clothes he put on her and frowned, obviously not remembering him undressing and redressing her in his clothes.

“I’m not keeping you here, but you need to see a doctor before I let you go anywhere on your own.”

“I can’t.”

“I’m not giving you a choice.” He turned and opened his door, slipping out and shutting it. He made his way around the front of the truck and pulled open the passenger door. She sat with her hands in her lap, head down, a look of utter desolation on her face.

“If I go in there, and they take my name and my credit card for the bill, he’ll find me.”

“Who?”

“Please. I have to go. I can’t be here.”

Every instinct in him wanted to protect her from whoever she thought was after her, but he needed to make sure she was really okay. Her color looked better, but nothing could make him forget the horrible black and blue marks on her hip. What if she had internal injuries? In her weak state, she didn’t have much fight in her, so he took the decision out of her hands and picked her up, pushing the door shut with his back.

“Please, put me down. I have to go.”

“You’re not going anywhere without shoes.” The shirts had fallen off in the truck when she woke up. Her small feet didn’t even poke out the bottom of his sweats, which under any other circumstances would have made him smile, but not when she winced and tried to hide the pain every time he took a step and jostled her in his arms.

He hooked his finger in the door handle, pulled it open enough to get his foot inside, and kicked it open wide enough to allow him to get past without hitting her.

“Put me down, please.”

She must be feeling better to use that uptown tone with him. She wanted down, but some part of him wanted to keep her close. She wiggled in his arms, so he held her firm to his chest. She let out another pained moan and collapsed into him, laying her head on his shoulder. She hadn’t lost all her fight though.

“Please get me out of here.”

“In case you forgot, my name is Gabe. Gabe Bowden. I live near your place, so the neighborly thing to do is make sure you’re okay.”

“I just need to get to the ranch.”

“Let the doctor check you out, and I’ll take you there.”

“Promise?”

At this point, he’d promise her anything to get her in a room with a doctor.

“Hey, Gabe, who’s this?” Tina, the receptionist, asked. He’d been in here enough times for stitches or a cold or flu bug over the years. Small towns, everyone knew everyone. Except he didn’t know the woman in his arms, but he wanted to.

Lela stiffened, so he avoided saying her name in the lobby filled with a couple and their coughing kid, the older couple huddled in the corner, and a guy holding up his hand, a dish towel wrapped around it.