Fate and Destiny (4 page)

She said nothing, regarding
him with only a glare. The soft light seemed to hurt her eyes,
causing a twinge and grimace, but her gaze didn’t waver from
Andrew.

“
If I was going to harm
you, would I give you my bed while I slept on the
floor?”

A sweeping motion of his
hand indicated the crumpled blanket and pillow in front of the
fire.

 “
Would someone who
intended to cause you harm have a dog like that?”

He pointed towards the
enamored Shadow who lazily lifted one eyelid to look at Andrew but
didn’t attempt to show allegiance to his master.

The woman’s eyes broke
contact with Andrew, looking down at the dog then quickly back at
the man. A bit of the ice in them melted as she looked away without
answering, her eyes coming to rest on the clothes hanging near the
fireplace. She immediately recognized the familiar
items.

Andrew watched her reaction
out of the corner of his eye as he headed into the kitchen to start
a pot of coffee. He almost chuckled aloud at the redness of her
cheeks as she realized he had changed her clothes.

 “
Are you hungry?” he
asked without turning around, hoping the edge in his voice sounded
irritated instead of amused. 

Her only reply was a sharp
“No!” but he braced himself, expecting something to come hurtling
at his back from the bed. He picked up the frying pan. For a
fleeting moment, he wondered if another bump on the other side of
her head would do too much damage.

This woman had gone through
more emotions than a man who just caught his wife and his mistress
in bed together. Now she was mad at him again, only this time, at
least she had a reason to be mad. He sighed. She would just have to
deal with it. He couldn’t let her freeze to death or catch
pneumonia from remaining in wet clothes. He was starting to think
he should have just left her where he found her. Fate may have
saved this woman, but it cursed him!

4.

Refusing to take her eyes
off him and lower her defenses, she found her gaze traveling from
his eyes to his bare chest. She could not help herself. How did he
keep from freezing in the cabin? He wore only a pair of sweatpants.
No shirt covered his silky skin. Muscles corded around tight pecks
and smooth, wide shoulders, defining the shape of his chest.
Definitely strong enough to inflict bodily harm on an injured and
defenseless woman. The fireplace tools remained out of reach. If
she could stay alert and ready, she may have the opportunity to get
her hands on the poker.

She surveyed him again out
of the corner of her eye while he clanked pots and pans around in
the small kitchen. The aroma of coffee teased her nose, the
sensation quickly followed by the wonderful smells of breakfast.
Her stomach grumbled, warning she should not have been so quick to
refuse food. Despite the rumbling in her stomach and the pains in
her body, another, more urgent need grabbed her attention. She
looked around the cabin for anything that resembled a bathroom
door, hoping and praying the cabin didn’t rely on an
outhouse.

“
Please don’t let that be
a closet,” she whispered, spotting the door in the corner. Gently
pushing the blankets back, nudging the dog out of the way in the
process, she placed her unhurt foot on the floor. If she kept her
balance, she could quietly hop on one foot all the way over there.
She could discreetly travel to the door and back without the man
noticing, and maybe even have a chance to grab the fireplace poker
on the way.

Making breakfast and
humming to himself, Andrew turned just in time to see the woman
trying to push back the blankets and stand up. She was halfway to
her feet when he moved to catch her.

“
Hey! You probably have a
concussion. Good Lord, woman. Sit back down!”

She wobbled, her eyes
rolling back as she slumped towards the floor. Reaching her as her
legs gave out, he wrapped his arms around her, supporting her slack
weight. Gently, Andrew eased her back onto the bed, holding onto
her, ensuring she didn’t topple forwards off the edge.

She seemed confused and
lost, so he spoke gently.

“
Honey, what are you
trying to do?”

Finally focusing on him,
she blinked a few times before casting her eyes down to study her
hands.

“
I need to use the
bathroom.”

Her voice was almost a
whisper while she avoided looking at his face.

 
A red blush spread
from her long graceful neck and across her face. She stared at her
hands intently wringing in her lap and could not see the smile that
crossed his face at her predicament.

“
Why didn’t you ask for
help?”

Without waiting for an
answer, Andrew slid one arm under her knees, the other around her
back, slowly and easily lifting her from the bed. Nudging the door
open with his elbow, he lowered her feet to the floor, keeping his
arm around her waist for support. He didn’t let go completely until
she balanced on her good leg, showing no signs of
fainting.

“
Don’t try walking on that
leg,” he pointed at her swollen ankle, “and don’t move too fast or
you’re going to faint again.”

She looked at him as if he
had horns and four eyes were growing out of his
forehead.

He refrained from smiling
at her.

“
Do you want me to help
you with anything else?” He asked, mischievously.

She glared at
him.

“
No, I think I can handle
this part myself.” 

“
Are you sure? Because I
can help if you can’t do this alone.”

Unable to contain the
smile, he moved to lift the lid.

“
No! I won’t faint again.
I don’t need your help! Get out!”

“
Okay then,
honey.”

He moved towards the living
area.

“
Just yell when you’re
done and I’ll come back in to help you. Unless you plan on evening
out your face by putting a nice bump on the other side to
match?”

He barely escaped before
the door slammed behind him. He barely heard her words through the
closed door.

“
Unbelievable
jerk.”

It took her awhile to
figure out how to painlessly do what she needed to do. Sweatpants
that didn’t take a lot of effort to remove then put back on made a
big difference. She didn’t need him. She could crawl back if she
had to. Hopping wouldn’t work. Her head would bounce off her
shoulders if she tried. She couldn’t simply walk back with her
ankle unable to bear her weight. Crawling would make it difficult
to get back on the bed.

“
Damn him. He knows I
can’t get around without his help.”

Resigned to her choices,
she opened the door. Andrew returned, easily scooping her up and
carrying her back to the bed. She crossed her arms in front of her
but could feel the warmth of his body through her flannel shirt.
She was angry with him, but angrier with herself for noticing he
put on a sweatshirt, and wishing he hadn’t. Sitting her down on the
edge of the bed, he walked to the kitchen, returning with a cup of
coffee and a plate of sausage and eggs. Sitting on the floor
directly in front of her, Andrew placed the coffee cup next to him
and began eating.

Her stomach loudly
protested at the delicious scent. Maybe she should play the
helpless victim or ply him with sweetness. He would have mercy on
her and offer her food. Who was she kidding? She would not be
acting as the helpless victim. It seemed to be a role she was
destined to play whether she wanted to or not.

“
I want to thank you for
helping me.”

She imagined the huge lump
of pride she swallowed tasted like sausage. Andrew stopped moving
eggs into to his mouth, glancing at her, he took a sip of coffee,
then went back to eating.

“
Not only for helping me a
few minutes ago, but also for bringing me here.”

He glanced up at her,
thoughtful as he chewed, but making no motion of sharing with
her.

She tried again.

“
Maybe I was too hasty in
my refusal of food. I didn’t realize how hungry I am.”

She took her eyes from
Andrew to look at the dog. She had to look away before she actually
batted her eyelashes at him like a lovesick schoolgirl.

“
That wasn’t so hard now
was it?” He flashed a wicked grin at her. “You only had to
ask.”

Putting his plate on the
floor next to his coffee, Andrew rose from the floor and went back
into the kitchen. Opening a small cabinet, he revealed a steaming
cup and a plate heaped with sausage and eggs. 

Pulling a chair from next
to the fireplace, Andrew sat down, tipping the chair back on two
legs so it leaned against the wall near the bathroom door. He
finished eating while she wolfed her breakfast down.

Although she could feel his
eyes on her, she avoided meeting his gaze. Unsure what he was
thinking or planning, she didn’t know if she should be afraid or
stick with her wounded bird act. Glancing at the fireplace poker
again, she wished she had a way to get her hands on it.

Finally, he broke the
uncomfortable silence.

“
Well, you know who I am.
You mind telling me who you are so I don’t have to call you
‘honey’? And it might be nice to know how you got here so I can
tell the sheriff.”

A new fear gripped her. He
was going to tell the authorities she was there. Why hadn’t they
already come for her? What was he waiting for? She couldn’t trust
him. How would she be able to make this man understand how deep in
trouble she was?

“
My name is Destiny
Rosen.”

She waited for his
reaction, surprised yet relieved when no flicker of recognition
passed his face.

“
Three men kidnapped me
from my home in Las Vegas. They forced me into a car. The next
thing I know I woke up here.”

“
They just broke into your
home and kidnapped you?”

His hands were waving, his
voice disbelieving. Her heart sank. She only nodded in reply to his
incredulous look.

“
Why would anyone kidnap
you, bring you clear out to Colorado, then just dump you on a
mountain in the middle of a blizzard?”

She shrugged, refusing to
voluntarily offer any additional information.

The stubborn woman knew a
lot more than she was telling, but Andrew decided to wait for her
to give him the answers he sought. It would be nice to know what he
was dealing with. She looked up at him from under her lashes. He
thought there were tears on her cheeks reflecting in the glow from
the fireplace.

“
What day is today?” She
asked abruptly, desperately attempting to change the
subject.

Looking down at his watch,
needing to remind himself, he informed her it was Tuesday, February
10th. Raising her head, her mouth opened then snapped shut
again.

She lost an entire week.
Several days of her life simply vanished. Gone. She frantically
tried to recall the days since she had been home.

“
They took me from home on
the first of February, and I know it didn’t take ten days to get me
here.”

Shadow, sensing her
despair, leapt onto the bed where she sat, her good leg folded
under her, the other leg stretched out. Carefully avoiding her
injured limb, the dog managed to lay his head in her lap. She
absentmindedly scratched behind his ear, as large brown eyes
flicked back and forth from the woman to his master. Andrew leaned
forward, placing all four chair legs steadily on the ground, not
quite sure what to say. He couldn’t explain anything to her except
for discovering her the morning before, and that was no
help.

“
His name is
Shadow.”

“
What?” Startled from her
thoughts, Destiny looked back at Andrew.

“
The dog,” he explained,
“his name is Shadow.”

She looked back down, just
then realizing he was there, a slight smile flitting across her
face.

“
I like that. Shadow. I
think it suits him very well.”

Andrew was glad to see her
smile, temporarily ceasing her disturbing thoughts.

“
Originally, his name was
Bear, but as a puppy, he would follow me everywhere. I couldn’t
even take a shower without him sitting outside the door and
whining. He was my own little shadow, and the name just kind of
stuck.”

Andrew couldn’t take his
eyes off her as she watched the dog. Shadow rolled around slightly,
exposing his soft underbelly, which she obligingly scratched.
Andrew hoped she would share another of her sweet smiles with him,
but she sat stiffly, lost in thought.

He urged her to lie back
down and get some sleep while he tended to chores yet to be done.
She gratefully agreed and Andrew called the dog. Shadow reluctantly
jumped down and stretched before looking back up at the woman with
longing. He hated to leave his warm spot, but he did as Andrew told
him.

The storm outside was once
again in full force, the cabin dark from the low clouds and the
weakening fire. Destiny snoozed on the bed while Andrew put another
log on just to make sure that the fire didn’t go out completely. It
was important to keep the heat level up. After cleaning up the
cabin and the breakfast dishes, he showered and shaved.