Snowbound Baby (Silhouette Romance) (2 page)

Adrenaline pumped into her bloodstream and she remembered the gun in her jacket pocket. As a single mother, who lived alone on the edge of a small town that was too close to the turnpike, she frequently carried. Her cousins had shown her everything she needed to know about guns when they’d taught her to hunt, so she wasn’t an amateur. And she also wasn’t a hothead. She wouldn’t arbitrarily shoot this trucker, but if he tried anything she wouldn’t hesitate to defend herself and her daughter.

But right now, because they weren’t too far from her car, simply running back to her vehicle and locking herself in was much smarter than shooting somebody.

She was formulating her plan of how to most effectively bolt when he said, “I’m Cooper Bryant.”

So grateful she nearly collapsed with relief, Zoe said, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Cooper Bryant.”

But Cooper Bryant
said nothing. Either he didn’t agree that it was nice to meet her or he wasn’t the kind of guy to make small talk. Fine. She’d already figured out he was a loner. She respected that. He would probably jump for joy when she told him she preferred her own cabin and was perfectly capable of keeping a fire going all night.

They struggled another ten feet down the mountain. With every step they took, the temperature seemed to fall. The inside of Zoe’s nose began to freeze. She huddled the baby carrier closer to her chest, protecting Daphne. She didn’t need a thermometer to know it was much colder than it was even ten minutes ago. This storm was worse than any she’d ever seen.

The stranger beside her tapped her arm. Rather than try to speak above the wind that now roared through the trees and hollows, he pointed to the left. Cuddling Daphne’s carrier against her, Zoe squinted, trying to make out what he apparently saw, but the only things in her line of vision were the black trunks of barren trees and swirling white snow. Visibility was down to about three feet. And that was another problem. If the wind and snow took away their ability to see, they could easily get lost in the woods.

She shook her head, indicating she saw nothing, and he caught her arm and hauled her across the road and up the slope into the woods.

Clinging to the baby carrier, which bounced precariously because of the trucker’s hold on her arm, Zoe barely kept up with him. Fear churned through her at the way he was dragging her as if she were a kidnap victim. In her head she said every prayer she knew, hoping she hadn’t gotten herself and her baby into terrible trouble, as the stranger propelled her through the woods, almost toppling her when he turned her to walk into the oncoming wind again. She gasped for breath, and righted herself, tightening her hold on Daphne. But as she did, she suddenly saw what he must have seen—what had motivated him to shove her through the forest.

A
house!

Even if they had to spend
the night, they would have a bathroom, food…and be among people! She wouldn’t be alone with him!

Trying to run in the deep snow while hugging a bulky baby carrier, Zoe nearly fell twice. But her escort was running, too. She’d never felt the temperature fall so quickly and knew they had to get to shelter
now
or die.

With her boots clumped with snow, she stumbled on the front porch steps. When Cooper Bryant reached the top, he turned and grabbed the baby carrier from her hands, hauling it to his side before he caught Zoe’s hand and pulled her up, too.

Still holding Daphne’s seat, he ran across the plank porch to the door and pounded. Huddling into her insubstantial leather jacket and shivering violently, Zoe noticed there were no lights on in the house. A new fear tumbled through her. If there was no one home, they were in big trouble. God only knew how far they would have to go to the next shelter. And even if they did easily find another building, there was no guarantee it would have a stove. And if they found a cabin with a stove, there was no guarantee it would have wood.

If this house didn’t pan out, there was a very good possibility she and Daphne would die.

“Here!”

Cooper Bryant shoved
Daphne’s baby carrier at Zoe and she caught it in trembling hands, again clutching Daphne close to her to protect her from the freezing wind. Cooper Bryant reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. Just as quickly, he pulled out a credit card. Before Zoe realized what he was doing, he was sliding the card into the space between the doorknob and wood frame.

“You can’t!”

He peered at her from beneath his Stetson. His green eyes glittered with annoyance. The angles and planes of his face were drawn in stern lines. Yelling to be heard above the roar of the wind through the trees, he said, “In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have a choice.”

He shimmied the card a few times, jiggling the doorknob as he did. The wind howled. Frigid air pricked at Zoe’s cheeks. The lock on the door gave and Cooper shoved against the wood closure, opening it.

He grabbed Daphne’s seat and Zoe’s arm, propelling both Zoe and her baby into the house before him. Still holding Daphne, he slammed the door closed and for ten seconds or so they stood in the entryway of the simple two-story frame house, just breathing.

When it sunk in that they were out of the cold and safe, Zoe reached for Daphne, taking the handle of her baby carrier from Cooper Bryant’s hand. They might be out of danger from the elements, but the ease with which this man had gotten them into a locked house increased her fears about him. Worse, she couldn’t send him out into the cold to look for another shelter. Visibility was so bad now that he might not get back to the road.

“You’re very good with a lock.”

He returned the credit
card to his wallet. “I knew this probably wouldn’t be much of a lock.”

She swallowed. “Really?”

He sighed. “I’m not a criminal. It’s just that this house is so far out in the woods I’m surprised the owner bothers with locks at all. I’m from a very small town in Arkansas where locks are more or less for show, so people frequently forget their keys. Everybody in Porter’s good with a credit card.”

Cooper reached for the light switch. At his touch, the entryway lit. “Hey, we’re in luck. If the electricity is on, that means there’s likely a furnace and maybe even food in the fridge.” He walked down the corridor and flipped a second switch, turning on another light and revealing the square corner of a bed in the room at the end of the hall.

“And here’s a thermostat. It’s set at fifty-five—just enough to keep the pipes from freezing. The person who owns this place obviously planned to be away awhile.” He shifted the knob of the gadget to the left and the sound of a furnace rumbling to life came up from the basement.

Zoe glanced around nervously. “I don’t feel right about this.”

“You’d rather freeze to death?”

“No. But this is somebody’s
home.”

Cooper tossed Daphne’s diaper bag to the floor along with his backpack before he removed his jacket, revealing a red plaid work shirt and nice-fitting jeans.

Zoe blinked. She’d already noticed that he was handsome, but in the silence of the foyer she was suddenly taking note of other things. For one, he was older. He had the air of experience that made a man sexy. Add that to his dark, dangerous, mysterious personality and he was one seductive guy.

She swallowed. Luckily, that
was exactly the opposite of the kind of man she wanted. She was no longer “into” sexy guys.

Once he’d hooked his coat on a peg, he glanced around. “I don’t think this is somebody’s home. From the setting on the furnace and the dust on that TV,” he said, pointing into a sitting room off to their left, “it looks more like a weekend retreat.”

“It still belongs to somebody.”

“Who would probably welcome us to spend the night in his house rather than freeze to death.” He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then like a boss accustomed to giving orders, or a chauvinist who thought all women were pea-brains, he nudged Zoe to look down the hall. “There’s your bedroom. You can have the one on the first floor to be closer to the kitchen since you have a kid. I’m going upstairs.”

She tried to pretend she didn’t notice his high-handedness and smiled graciously. “Don’t you want to wait until I fix us something to eat?”

He patted the backpack. “I have a thermos of coffee and two sandwiches. No need for us to even speak another word.”

Though Zoe had planned for them to separate, something about his tone confused her. She hadn’t asked for his help. He had volunteered it, yet he was acting as if she was an unwanted thorn in his side. “You’re leaving?”

“Think of it as me giving you your privacy. I don’t need to entertain you just because I rescued you.”

There was that tone
again, the one that said having her around was a huge inconvenience. She couldn’t argue that he hadn’t rescued her. Not realizing the severity of the storm, she would have waited for LuAnn until it was too dark to find shelter. So, technically, he had rescued her. But she’d certainly never asked him to entertain her.

“No one said you had to. In fact, I was going to suggest you find a different cabin once we were settled.”

“Right,” Cooper scoffed, starting up the steps.

Zoe knew she should have let him go, but she hated that she’d never gotten the chance to prove to her ex-husband that she wasn’t a wimp, that she wouldn’t have smothered him, that he could have stayed with her if he’d just given her a chance. She wasn’t letting another man on the face of this earth believe she was a clingy female. She was defending herself. “I did intend to take care of myself.”

Cooper stopped walking and sighed. “Oh, come on. A woman who looks like you doesn’t ever have to worry about taking care of herself.”

Zoe felt her eyes widen at the insult. “I’m a single mother. I have to know how to handle anything that comes along.”

“And that’s why you called somebody—a man, no doubt—and were waiting in your car.”

“LuAnn would be insulted to hear you call her a man.” Zoe drew a quick, bolstering breath. “I didn’t realize the storm was as bad as it was or I would have looked for shelter, not called someone to come and get me.”

He shook his head, and didn’t even try to hide his smirk. “Right.”

She gaped at him. “What
kind of experience do you have with women anyway?”

“Enough to know that the really good-looking ones take advantage of their assets.”

This time her mouth fell open. “As if good-looking men are any better! I married a good-looking man and he left me alone to have his baby. While I was fighting morning sickness and wondering how I’d pay the bills, he used
his assets
to very quickly replace me, as if to prove to me he didn’t need me. So don’t stand there like the pot calling the kettle black.”

Clearly exasperated with her, he said, “Look, I’m—”

Zoe didn’t want to hear what he had to say. The best way to prove she could handle any problem that came along would simply be to do it. To hell with him and his opinion. “Save your piddly explanation for someone who cares. You and your thermos of coffee can go upstairs. I want a good man, not just a good-looking man. You and
your assets
aren’t needed down here.”

A
t the top of the steps
Cooper found two bedrooms. He peered into the first, which had two single beds, then looked into the second and found a queen-sized bed with a thick comforter.

If the huge bed hadn’t won him over, the thought of being wrapped in a comforter would have. His toes had long ago frozen. He didn’t think the inside of his nose would ever be the same and he was sure his Arkansas-transplanted-to-Texas bones now had ice chips for marrow.

He tossed his backpack on the dusty dresser and sat on the bed to pull off his work boots and rub his feet. Though he had ratcheted up the furnace, the house wouldn’t be warm for a while, if it truly heated up at all in the face of the biting wind. He massaged his sock-covered feet, trying to increase circulation, but in the quiet of the bedroom, he could hear Zoe Montgomery’s movements below him.

Guilt tapped him on the
shoulder, but he ignored it. He hadn’t come upstairs because he liked to be alone. That was just a perk. He’d left to show her she was perfectly safe with him. She was a pretty girl with a face and figure that could set any man to drooling, and her physical appearance probably caused most men to make at least one pass at her. That was the best explanation for why she was skeptical of help from a man. Undoubtedly lots of the men who had offered her assistance in the past had counted upon something in return—most likely sex.

But Cooper wasn’t interested. Well, he
was
interested if she was looking for a quick roll in the hay. But he was just about positive she wasn’t. She’d admitted in her parting shot that her marriage had failed, so she was available. But she’d also said she wanted a good man, not merely a good-looking man, and when a woman said that it usually meant she was seeking a commitment. Rolls in the hay were not commitment-based. The way Cooper had it figured, she was one of those women who was searching for that special man who could make her trust again.

And Cooper was not anybody’s special man so it was best to nip that fairy tale in the bud. God only knew how long they would be stranded together. Having felt the sting of the cold and seen the rapid rate of the snowfall, he was beginning to understand the biggest difference between a “storm” and a “blizzard” was that storms were a nuisance and blizzards were deadly. Smart people stayed indoors for the duration of a blizzard.

On top of that, as a trucker, Cooper
had enough experience with highways and departments of transportation to realize that rarely traveled, two-lane roads used for shortcuts weren’t the first to be cleared. He and Zoe were stuck in this house for the next twenty-four hours—at least. His actual guess was that they were here for the weekend. He didn’t anticipate getting back to his truck before Monday morning.

But as long as he and Zoe had minimal contact, that might not be a problem. It was December twelfth. Though his brothers had bought the mortgage to his ranch and given him until Christmas to pay it off, he still had thirteen days. It would take him three to deliver his load and only another two to drive his certified check to Arkansas and put it in the hands of his brothers’ lawyer. He had absolutely no intention of placing the check in Ty’s hands, as he had been instructed in the letter advising him his brothers were calling in his debt. No court in the land would side with them if they tried to take his ranch just because he’d given the check to the lawyer, rather than directly to his brother.

Thirteen days was plenty of time. Technically, he had eight days of wiggle room. The storm wouldn’t last eight days. The department of transportation crews wouldn’t forget this road for eight days. There was no reason to be concerned about being stranded for a day or two. Particularly since he already had the check in hand.

Thinking about the check made him reach for his backpack. His partner wasn’t involved in his family’s feud, so Cooper had taken it upon himself to find the money for the balance of the mortgage. He’d cashed in his savings account and IRA, and had been forced to use the herd money, but he had almost every dime. All he needed was the pay from this delivery to add to the certified check. Then his brothers couldn’t hurt him anymore. He’d never again be so stupid as to give them an opportunity like a mortgage to find him.

He unlatched the closure
of the backpack, lifted the lid and slid his hand inside to get the white envelope containing the check he’d had prepared at the bank. When his fingers found only two sandwiches, a coffee Thermos and a Twix bar, his heart stopped and he dumped the contents of his backpack on the bed.

But as everything came tumbling out, he remembered he had put the check in the safe in his truck. A new kind of panic tightened his chest. But he reminded himself the truck was locked. Hell, the safe was locked and it was hidden, camouflaged as the seat back. On top of that, conditions outside weren’t fit for man or beast. Nobody was going anywhere near his truck. His money was fine. There was absolutely no reason to freak out.

He sighed. He might not freak out, but he sure as hell couldn’t feel comfortable about leaving a check worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in an abandoned vehicle. Still, since there was nothing he could do about that until morning, there was no sense dwelling on it.

After eating his sandwiches and returning the candy bar to his backpack, he lay down on the bed and angled his Stetson over his eyes, but from downstairs he heard the baby cry. The sound got louder and louder until little Daphne was screaming, sounding like she was testing out her lungs.

Cooper squeezed his eyes shut. Great. As if it wasn’t bad enough he had a constant niggle of doubt about whether his check was safe, he was stuck with an oversensitive woman and a crying baby. If he had any tolerance for cold at all, he’d go back to his truck, get his money and find another cabin.

But he couldn’t handle the cold and
it was getting dark, too dangerous to go outside even for a few minutes. He took a breath, pretending he couldn’t hear the crying baby or the soothing voice of her mom and that he truly believed no one would steal his money, but he knew it would be a long, long night.

When Cooper opened his eyes again, muted light was edging into his bedroom through the dusty blinds on the window, and he bounced up in bed. He’d chosen this room for the thick comforter, but had drifted to sleep on top of the covers and spent the night without it.

He couldn’t believe he’d fallen into such a deep slumber that he hadn’t heard a screaming baby. Positive that something had happened—like maybe the storm had stopped and his roomie had gotten curious about what he had in his truck—Cooper rolled out of bed, bounded down the stairs and made the sharp left into the kitchen.

Zoe stood at the sink, washing dishes. Without turning around she said, “Don’t worry. I didn’t run out to your truck and plunder for valuables. The baby’s just asleep.”

He stiffened. The clock on the stove said seven-fifteen. It had only been light for about twenty minutes. If she’d gone to his truck, she’d still be shivering. His check was safe.

But her reply reminded him that she was one incredibly defensive lady. He couldn’t even give her her privacy the night before without her jumping him about his motives. She might be among the world’s most beautiful women but she was pricklier than a cactus and suspicious as hell. And if he didn’t say something, he would alert her that there really was something of value in his truck.

“I wasn’t worried.”

“Sure you
were. That’s the only explanation for why you ran down the stairs like your feet were on fire.” She paused, then added, “Unless there’s no bathroom upstairs.”

Confused, Cooper said, “I didn’t see a bathroom.”

“Well, there’s a bathroom in the bedroom I’m using. It’s the only one I found. This is a really old house. I’m guessing it was built before indoor plumbing because the bathroom was built in the corner of the bedroom.”

Cooper suddenly understood what she was talking about. He’d been so focused on making sure she hadn’t gone to his truck that he’d forgotten nature’s call. He said, “Thanks,” and left the room.

Glad for a few seconds to collect himself before he faced Madam Cactus again, Cooper conceded that he had all but told her he had something important in his truck. That meant at some point he would have to brave the storm, get his check and pin it in his underwear for safekeeping because he was absolutely positive that was one place she wouldn’t look.

But after he stepped into her bedroom he forgot all about the check, the temperatures and even nature’s call. He could smell her. He didn’t know if she had special soap or shampoo or maybe perfume that she carried in her purse, but the room already smelled intimately of something light and tropical. Oceans and coconut oil. Suntan lotion.

His mind jumped to a
hot beach and Zoe in a bikini and he squeezed his eyes shut. But he forced them open again. He was not attracted to her…well, he was attracted, but he knew he shouldn’t be and he wasn’t giving in to this…this…base instinct.

So, he held his breath as he quietly slid around the bed and into the small bathroom, which—just as she said—was built in the corner of the bedroom. He left as quickly as he could but as soon as he walked into the kitchen, the scent found him again because she was wearing it. As she stood at the sink, with her back to him, his gaze slid down the sleek locks of her pretty yellow hair, down her slim back, along the dip of her waist to her perfectly rounded backside, showcased in tight jeans.

Turning from the sink, she said, “There’s bacon on the table.”

Her silky blond hair curved around her cheeks and chin and then fell in lazy curls to a point somewhere between her collarbone and her breasts. When his gaze reached the bottom of the very last curl, he had to fight his eyes to move upward again.

“You found bacon?”

If Zoe noticed the way he had ogled her, she didn’t let on. “There’s plenty of food in the cupboards. Even meat and bread in the freezer.”

After her reaction to being in someone’s house the night before, that cheerful observation surprised him. “You looked around?”

She sighed. “I have a baby. I have to care for her. I had to see what was available and what wasn’t. Besides, I’ve been up since five. Daphne went back to sleep but I couldn’t, so I explored. You were right when you guessed this was a weekend retreat. But it’s not for hunters. I think it belongs to a family. Though there’s a poker table in the corner of the great room, the games in the cupboard are actually kids’ games like ‘Candy-land’ and ‘Yahtzee.’”

She dried her hands
on a dish towel and walked past him. Not giving him a chance to comment on her discovery, she said, “If you don’t like bacon, there’s sausage in the freezer. Make anything you want. I intend to leave cash on the table to pay for everything we use.”

With that she walked out of the room and into the bedroom. She closed the door, effectively shutting him out the way he had shut her out the night before.

He shook his head in wonder, not sure if he was more surprised by her sense of responsibility or by the fact that she clearly wanted nothing to do with him.

Well, whatever. She couldn’t have missed the way he’d taken inventory as if
she
were the breakfast buffet, so he didn’t fault her for wanting to get away from him. He should be happy she’d removed the temptation of her fabulous face and figure. More than that, he should be absolutely joyful that she was making reparation for the bacon and bread. If she couldn’t take a couple of food items without a conscience flare-up, he didn’t have to worry that she would run to his truck and steal his money.

He grabbed two slices of bread, piled bacon on one and used the other for a lid, making himself a sandwich, and walked to the sink where he looked out the window at the storm.

He didn’t even bother trying to stifle his groan. He could actually see the wind because it was picking up the icy snow pellets and tossing them around, as if the falling snow wasn’t creating enough havoc on its own. That certainly proved there was no need for him to brave the elements to get his check. If there was anybody outside, they weren’t plundering trucks. They were racing for shelter. As long as the wind wailed and the snow fell, his money was safe.

He ambled into the great
room. A sofa and chair sat in front of the fireplace along the back wall. He saw the poker table Zoe had mentioned in the far corner. But he was more interested in the television.

He walked over, fell into one of the chairs in front of the TV and grabbed the remote from the end table. He pushed the power button and the screen came to life.

He almost hooted with joy. Not just entertainment, but satellite TV! In a few flicks of the remote he found sports, movies, reruns of old sitcoms. With something to do other than snipe at each other, he and Zoe could be in the same room.

Not that he wanted to be in the same room with her. He didn’t. He simply didn’t want to force her to stay behind a closed door with nothing to do, as if she were in prison.

But he also didn’t want to give her the wrong impression about the two of them spending time together. If he invited her into the great room now, with the promise of television, it wouldn’t appear he had changed his mind from the night before and now wanted to chitchat. His invitation would be to watch TV.

He bounced up from his seat. Sandwich in his left hand, he tapped on her bedroom door with his right. “Hey, the television works. If you want to come out and watch TV that would be cool. I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Thanks, but I’m going to take a shower.”

Shower?

Instantly a vision of Zoe
naked popped into his head. He could see her glorious yellow hair cascading around her. Her perfect pink skin. Her shining blue eyes. Her nice round…

He squeezed his eyes shut. He would like to blame that quick mental image on her for saying the word shower. But he knew hormones or maybe his gender were at fault. Still, smart men didn’t chase after every good-looking woman they saw. They reminded themselves they were adults and also reminded themselves of all the reasons they couldn’t act like sex-crazed teenagers. Lord knows, he’d fought this battle before. He’d simply used logic and proper behavior. And this time around he had plenty of ammo.