He landed halfway between sitting and lying, with Lisa’s weight knocking a soft “umph” out of him. Snow caved in on them, falling in their faces.
Startled, Lisa shrieked. To Jack’s disgruntled ears it sounded like laughter.
Lisa sputtered and wiped snow from her face. She looked at Jack and burst out laughing. “Are you all right?” she managed.
Slowly he reached up with one gloved hand and pushed the snow off his face to reveal a frown of disgust. “I was going to ask you that same question, but I have to figure that if you can laugh like that while my butt’s buried in snow…”
“I’m sorry.” She howled with laughter again. “You should have seen the look on your face when your feet went out from under you.”
“You know,” he said, raising a snow-covered brow, “it’s really not wise to make fun of a man who has all this snowball-making material at his disposal.”
“Same goes, Mr. Wilder, for men who threaten women who not only have access to that same material, but who aren’t being held down by a whale and are therefore freer to move around.” Her left arm was still behind Jack’s neck, but while she spoke, she had a devilish gleam in her eye, and her right hand kept sifting through the snow, bringing up a handful and letting it drift down again.
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t.”
“Is that a dare?”
“It’s more like a plea. The last time I got in a snowball fight I was outnumbered three to one. At my age, defeat is humiliating.”
Lisa chuckled and brushed a clump of snow from his forehead. “Who beat you—your brothers?”
“Worse. My nephews.”
At the sight of the smile that lit his face, something inside Lisa shifted. She was afraid it might be her heart. Had she ever met a man like him? He was so kind and strong and honorable, so thoughtful. He was fun to be with. He made her laugh and wasn’t afraid to laugh at himself. And he was so…masculine. Rugged. As if he could withstand anything the world might throw at him and shrug it off.
Oh, Lisa, this isn’t smart.
No, she thought, hearing that warning voice in her head, this wasn’t smart. She shouldn’t be caring so much about a man she barely knew.
On the other hand, she thought with chagrin, he was, for right now, the only man on the face of the planet she did know.
But it wasn’t smart to feel these things about him when her life was a mess and her memory nonexistent. Good heavens, if she wasn’t mistaken, she was, at this very moment, on the verge of leaning over and kissing him. How could she be so drawn to him when she couldn’t even remember her baby’s father? Was she fickle? A woman of loose morals? Did she have no sense of honor?
And how, she wondered, did a woman this pregnant, with no memory at all, cope with these sexual stirrings? Stirrings for a stranger.
“How about a truce?” she offered quickly. She had to get away from him, had to put some distance between them and keep it there.
“A truce sounds fine with me,” Jack said. He wondered what thoughts were going through her mind to make her blush and look away like that. Or maybe it was just the cold stinging her cheeks that made them look so rosy.
Funny, but he couldn’t remember ever having so much trouble taking his gaze off a woman before, or taking his arms from around one to let her go. He didn’t want to let this woman go.
The truth settled over him as lightly as the snow falling from the sky. She was important to him, this woman with no memory. She tugged at something deep inside him he hadn’t known was there and couldn’t name.
He couldn’t love her; he didn’t have it in him to bare his emotions to a woman. But he could take care of her, help her, watch out for her. She was too vulnerable right now, physically because of the baby she carried, emotionally and mentally because of her memory loss. She needed looking after. If, in the end, he had to hand her back to a husband or lover, so be it. That was the best thing for her, anyway. She needed a man who could give himself to her, and that man was not Jack Wilder. She wasn’t his for the keeping, only for the care he could give her for a little while.
“Come on,” he said, shifting his feet for better purchase in the snow. “Let’s get you back to the house before you catch a chill.”
Lisa huddled before the fire trying to get warm. It wasn’t so much the cold she’d brought in with her from outside that kept her shivering as it was the realization of just how much Jack had come to mean to her in such a short time.
Where was her common sense? What had happened to that warning she’d issued to herself when she first met him that reminded her that men were not to be trusted, that they were only nice when they wanted something? She’d trusted Jack from the beginning, and look where it had gotten her, with these odd yearnings to feel his lips on hers, to cuddle in his arms, to see his smile, hear his laugh.
Lisa, Lisa, get a grip.
She was worrying for nothing. Her hormones were fluctuating, that was all. As for Jack, he was just a nice man trying to make the best of an awkward situation.
She prayed that her baby’s father was as nice a man as Jack. Yet that one troubling thought she’d had from out of nowhere—a thought she’d expressed—that her child would never know the father if the man didn’t back off, ate at her. What did it mean? Had she left him? Was she hiding from him? Was he abusive or just a jerk? If he was either of those things, why in the world had she let him close enough to get her pregnant?
God, the questions were tormenting her. She wanted answers. She wanted her memory back.
Soon, she promised herself. Surely soon.
The blizzard had stopped. With any luck, they’d be able to get out of here tomorrow and she could…what? Where would she go? What would she do? She didn’t know a single person on earth beyond Jack.
The stark reality of that thought sent another shiver racing down her spine.
From the corner of her eye she saw him come and stand in the doorway. “There’s a bathtub filled with hot water with your name on it, if you’re interested.”
Her mind had been a million miles away; it took a moment for his words to register. Even when they did, they made no sense. “What hot water?”
At his small smile, she knew what he had done. She’d heard him clanking around in the kitchen but hadn’t paid any attention. He’d said he had to clean the snow out of the lantern, take it apart, dry it off. She’d thought that was all he’d been up to.
But now she recalled he’d also been making several trips into the bathroom. She could see the bright glow of the lantern spilling from the bathroom doorway just around the corner in the hall. He’d been heating water on the stove and carrying it into the bathroom. Quite a bit of water, if the tub was hot, as he’d said. He’d done it so she could have a hot bath. If that wasn’t the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her…
“Oh, Jack…”
“Go on, before it cools off. But don’t pull the plug when you’re finished. I’ll take my turn after you.”
As much as she wanted to linger, to lie back and soak in the water until her fingers and toes wrinkled, Lisa hurried through her bath so the water would still be at least warm for Jack. When she left the bathroom, she was still so confused about her growing feelings for him, her reaction to him that afternoon in the snow, that for the first time she felt shy around him. She ducked her head and told him it was his turn, then made a beeline for the mattress before the fire.
When Jack came out of the bathroom a short time later, he found her curled on her side facing the fire, her eyes closed. But she wasn’t asleep. She was gripping the top edge of the covers so tightly her knuckles were white.
He started to ask her what was wrong, but swallowed the words. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know she’d read his mind that afternoon when they’d fallen into the snow and she’d ended up on his lap. Surely his wanting her had been plain on his face.
No wonder she didn’t want to look at him. No wonder she didn’t want to talk.
Chapter Six
Sometime during the night the snow finally stopped. The sky was cloudless, and at dawn the sun was a winter-yellow ball rising out of the snow.
“What happens now?” Lisa asked, stirring her oatmeal to help it cool. They were the first words either of them had spoken since they’d awoken. “Since the snow’s stopped, will someone come after us, do you think?”
“Maybe, but there’s no sense in waiting around to find out.”
“You mean we’ll leave? How?”
“I’ll ride to headquarters and come back in the truck.”
Lisa looked down quickly in hopes he wouldn’t see the sudden panic in her eyes. He was going to leave her here? Alone?
Be careful what you wish for.
She had wanted more distance between them. She was about to get more than she’d hoped for.
But this was for the best, wasn’t it? She was in danger of becoming entirely too reliant on Jack. Was she the type of woman who needed a man to lean on, to do for her, take care of her? Lord, she hoped not. She much preferred to think of herself as a strong independent woman who could stand on her own.
It didn’t seem as though she was very independent or strong if the thought of being left alone for a few hours could panic her. She had thought it before, and it seemed now to be true. Lisa Hampton was something of a wimp.
But she didn’t have to be. She wouldn’t be. Squaring her shoulders, she looked across the table at Jack. “There’s no need for you to hurry on my account. I imagine you’ll have plenty to do once you get home.”
Jack eyed her carefully. “What do you mean?”
Striving for a casualness she didn’t feel, Lisa gave a shrug. “I mean that I don’t see any reason for you to have to come all this way back to get me. I obviously came here on purpose, with the intent of staying by myself for a while. There’s no reason I can’t stay here and do as planned.”
“With no electricity? No water? No phone? No way.”
“Are any of those things likely to be working at the ranch headquarters?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “But if you think I’m leaving a pregnant woman out here alone in these conditions, you’re out of your mind.”
She hadn’t counted on his getting angry, hadn’t considered that he would. But he was, there was no mistake about it. Those dark blue eyes were shooting sparks at her. A muscle in his jaw flexed, and his lips thinned to a hard line.
Lisa searched inside herself but found no fear of him. Instead, she found fascination. Not because of his anger, but because it was a side of him she’d not seen before.
When she didn’t argue with him, Jack visibly relaxed. It seemed to take him some effort. Then he said more easily, “If that’s not good enough for you, how about hot and cold running water?”
“Won’t the electricity be out there?”
“It might, but we have a generator for the well.”
Oh, my, she thought, so much for independence. Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She should be thinking about her baby and making sure she didn’t put herself in a position to do it harm. Even if she had electricity and running water, she did not have transportation. Deliberately trapping herself here, with no means to get to a doctor if anything went wrong, was just plain foolish.
She gave him a nod of capitulation. “I’ll be packed by the time you get back.”
It didn’t take Jack as long as he’d estimated to get back to Lisa. When he’d left her, he’d taken the road because it was safer for the horse. There were gullies and washes around the section house that he knew would be filled with snow, impossible to detect until it was too late. He wouldn’t risk Skeezer breaking a leg just to shave half a mile or so off the ride.
About a mile before he would have reached headquarters, he ran into Stoney, who was in the process of plowing the road.
“Where ya headed?” Jack asked when they met.
“Got us a city gal, friend of Belinda’s, stayin’ out at the section house,” Stoney told him. “If she ain’t froze to death by now. Figured I better get out there and check on her, bring her back to the house.”
“You figured right.” Jack told him what had happened, then the two men traded places. Stoney rode Skeezer back to headquarters while Jack climbed into the rig and plowed his way back to Lisa. The county would plow the highway and other county roads, but private ranch roads were left to the ranchers. Every winter the Flying Ace attached a plow blade to the front of every rig to keep the ranch roads passable.
As he started slowly down the road, Jack glanced in the rearview mirror and watched Stoney ride back toward headquarters. Stoney had known Lisa was here, said he’d met her the day she arrived. He was shocked to learn about her accident and her memory loss, but he didn’t know anything about her except that she was Belinda’s friend.
Other than having her identity confirmed, Jack had learned nothing.
His eagerness to get back to her worried him. It wasn’t for her sake, to get her to the house, where she would be more comfortable, that he was so eager. He just didn’t like being away from her. And that scared the hell out of him.
It was midafternoon by the time Jack got Lisa settled into Ace and Belinda’s house. The electricity was already back on there, although it would probably be another few days before it was on at the section house.
He gave her a quick tour and showed her where everything was, then he had to get to work.
Trey and Stoney had been out most of the day checking on the herd. It didn’t matter how much grass was under all that snow; a cow would stand and starve to death rather than paw the snow aside the way a horse would. So the men hauled hay and prayed they wouldn’t find any dead cattle. They always found at least a few after a storm this bad, but they prayed, anyway.
By the time the three men made it back to headquarters and compared notes, it was nearly dark. Among them they’d counted ninety-three head dead, most of them yearlings. It could have been worse, much worse, but this was bad enough. They would probably find more when the snow melted.
Exhausted, each man made his way home. Trey had his own house on the north side of the ranch so he could be close to his wheat and alfalfa fields. Stoney lived in the bunkhouse and was eager to settle in front of his television, now that the power was back on, and watch that night’s episode of Nova on PBS.
Jack lived in the foreman’s house, about a quarter of a mile from the main house. When he’d first come to the Flying Ace, Stoney, of course, had lived there.
When King and Betty Wilder had been killed on the ice-slicked highway coming home from Jackson Hole the winter Jack was seventeen, it had been Stoney who’d held them all together while twenty-year-old Ace got his feet under himself and took control of the ranch. It had been Stoney who’d taught all four Wilders everything they needed to know to stand on their own and keep the Flying Ace prospering.
As far as Jack was concerned, Stoney Hamilton was the Flying Ace. Jack, Ace, Trey and Rachel had been shaken the day eight years ago when Stoney had announced his retirement. He’d looked Ace in the eye and said, “If even half of everything I’ve taught you has sunk in, you’ll make Jack the new foreman. He’s the man for it now.”
For as long as he lived, Jack would never forget that day. The sadness at the thought of Stoney’s putting himself out to pasture because he was getting too old to do the job. The pride that the old man thought Jack could handle it. The fear of trying to step into the boots of the man who’d been more of a father to him than his own father had.
They’d tried to talk Stoney into staying in the foreman’s house. Hell, it had been built for him; he’d done most of the work himself.
But Stoney had insisted he was tired of living by himself. He would move into the bunkhouse. He wa
sn’t leaving the ranch. There was still plenty he could do around the place, plenty he could teach the youngsters, as he called anyone under fifty.
So Stoney had moved into the bunkhouse. Jack had been living in the foreman’s house now for years. He liked it, liked his privacy. But tonight when Jack stepped into his house, it felt different. It felt…empty. Lonely.
He told himself it wasn’t because he missed Lisa. He didn’t miss her. Didn’t miss her smile, her laughter, that sudden softening in her eyes whenever she felt the baby move. Didn’t miss her sweet feminine smell or those crazy yellow slippers.
No, it wasn’t his house that felt empty, it was the ranch itself, without Ace and Belinda and the boys. That was it.
When did you start lying to yourself, pard?
All right, dammit. He missed Lisa. He was worried about her being alone the whole day in a strange house with no one to talk to. He couldn’t help it. It was the caretaker in him.
When he passed through his kitchen, he spotted a note taped to the table. It was from Belinda, telling him that her best friend, Lisa, was staying at the section house and asking Jack to keep an eye on her and make sure she had everything she needed.
Hell. What Lisa needed was her memory, and there didn’t seem to be anything Jack could do about that.
At the bottom of the note, Belinda had left the phone number of the resort where she and Ace were staying. Without trying to talk himself out of it, he picked up the phone and dialed.
He got the voice mail for their room.
He didn’t want to leave some cryptic message that he wouldn’t be able to explain in the short amount of time the machine allowed, so he hung up. He would try again later.
He showered and shaved and put on clean clothes. He would go to the main house and tell Lisa there was nothing to eat in his kitchen and he’d come to mooch a meal.
Sounded good to him.
Lisa vowed she would never take such things as central heat, electric lights, hot and cold running water or toilets that flushed for granted again.
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