“You don’t want me to slap your face either,” Maia said, her gaze flicking coolly over his face. “Let’s go.”
chapter
3
“DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN,” Maia warned. She paused just outside of the bar to take a deep, calming breath of the night air. “I know something upset you, and believe me, that’s the only reason I’m out here with you right now. I am not the kind of woman you can order around.”
Cole looked down at her, at the smoldering anger he saw in her eyes. It was snowing large flakes, falling softly and mutely between them. He reached out, his fingers curling around the nape of her neck, and pulled her toward him, his mouth taking possession of hers before she could protest.
She expected his kiss to be as wild and dominating as he was, but it was just the opposite. His mouth was incredibly gentle on hers, soft but firm, a whisper of fire, his lips brushing at hers with a disarming tenderness. He lifted his head, his blue eyes nearly dazzling her.
Cole could feel his heart thudding hard, too hard. There was a curious melting sensation in the region of his stomach, and his body reacted instantly to the close proximity of hers. He knew immediately he had made a big mistake. Maia Armstrong was no ordinary woman, and he was going to get burned if he didn’t regain some control, and fast. His fingers massaged the nape of her neck, brushing caresses in her soft hair. He was renowned for his control, yet she seemed to turn him inside out. His careful defenses didn’t work with her.
Maia managed to pull away from him. “If this emergency is some sham to get me to your ranch for more of that . . .” She glared at him and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, desperate to remove his taste. His kiss had felt like a brand, making fire race from his lips and tongue to her belly, lower still, so that she’d felt her body go liquid with desire for him. And he’d barely touched her.
“That was an apology. And stop trying to wipe it off.” He caught her wrist, pulling her hand away from her mouth, satisfaction mixing with something else in his eyes, something that could have been alarm. He led her across the parking lot. “I’m used to giving orders and getting things done. We have to get to the ranch immediately and telling you to come seemed like the fastest way to accomplish that.”
Maia bit down hard on her lower lip. She should have stopped him, slapped him, done anything besides participate. She touched her mouth. It was still burning. She’d definitely participated. Where was her pride? Her outrage? The man was more dangerous to her than she’d realized. With an effort, Maia found her voice again. “You might want to give me the particulars.” She sounded a little husky. “What type of animal, and what’s the injury?”
“A horse. Jase’s favorite horse Celtic High, although he won’t admit it. Unfortunately, there’s a blizzard coming, a bad series of storms that could hang you up for days. I can’t trailer the horse out during the storm, so I’ll need you to come with me now. I can only promise that if it’s at all possible, I’ll have the roads cleared for you to return.”
Maia glanced upward at the rapidly falling snow. “I thought the storm wasn’t supposed to hit for several hours.”
“It’s early. We’ve got to move fast to stay ahead of it.”
“I’ll need my rig. I can follow you out,” Maia said, switching directions, the professional taking over. “I have the drugs and everything I need in the sterile packs. I have to call the service and let them know and get Dr. Stacy to take over while I’m gone. He’s able to work on an emergency basis. If we’re lucky, we’ll beat the storm.”
“I’ll drive. We keep the road to the ranch plowed, but it can get rough in spots,” Cole said, easily keeping pace with her. “And there’s no way to plow during a blizzard. Jase said the bay went through a fence and that it has multiple injuries, gashes down to the bone and splinters of wood embedded in it. He said he thought the horse was suffering and should be put down, but he couldn’t do it.”
“And you want me to save the horse even if it can’t ever be ridden again?” Many ranchers put down a horse that was no longer a working animal.
“Absolutely. Whatever it takes, as long as the horse isn’t suffering,” Cole said. “We’ve got a big ranch. He can live out his days there.”
Maia nodded. “Okay then. And maybe we’ll be lucky, and it won’t be as bad as it looks. Horses can sustain heavy injuries, and if you keep them from getting an infection, can come back quite sound.” She glanced back toward his truck, white from the fall of snow. “I’m used to driving in the snow. You don’t want to leave your truck here.”
“I have plenty of vehicles at the ranch, including a helicopter. And no one’s going to touch my truck.” His gaze met hers squarely.
Maia couldn’t prevent the small shiver that went down her spine. Cole was right. Maia knew most of the townspeople feared him. There was always that dangerous edge to him he couldn’t hide, and he didn’t bother to try. Recognizing there was little use in arguing, she pulled out her cell phone and made the call to her service. The snow fell into her hair and down the neckline of her shirt while she gave the necessary instructions.
As she pushed the small phone back into her pocket, she reached for the driver’s door just as Cole did. Maia pulled her hand back to avoid contact. “My rig,” she said.
“But I’m driving. I know the road, and the storm is coming in far faster than we thought. It’ll be safer with me driving because I know every rut and curve in that road.” Cole swept the snow from her hair, sheltering her with his body from the worst of the flurries. “We don’t have much time. Give me the keys.”
Maia paused, her hand gripping the keys. “Why were you in jail?” She didn’t want it to matter, but it did. She wasn’t about to become another victim because she was too stupid even to ask.
Cole yanked open the door on the driver’s side, swift impatience crossing his face. “Not rape, if that’s what you think. I don’t abuse women.” He slid behind the wheel and slammed the door with unnecessary force.
“Oh, really?” She hurried around the vehicle to slide in beside him, handing him the keys. “All those poor women you take to bed must feel pretty abused when you never call them again.” The moment she closed the door she felt trapped. He was potent up close, intensely male. His shoulders were wide, and his chest thick and well muscled. She could smell the faint scent of his aftershave. And his kiss lingered on her lips.
His gaze dwelt on her face for a long moment as he turned the engine on. Immediately “White Christmas” blared out of the speakers, filling the Toyota Land Cruiser with music. Cole winced and turned it off.
“We need to get one thing straight right now, Maia,” he said. “When I take a woman to bed, she never feels abused. And I detest Christmas music.”
“That’s two things,” she pointed out, furious at herself because she was tantalized by the very thought of going to bed with him. He was far too arrogant and sure of himself for her liking. And he was a bad boy. Trouble. The kind of man a smart woman stayed away from. “And I love Christmas music.”
“You would.”
“What does that mean?” He’d dragged her off before she could grab her jacket, and the temperature had dipped sharply leaving her cold and shivering. Maia switched the heater to full power and rubbed her arms for warmth.
“It means you’re one of those sappy women who get all gooey around little kids and animals and you love the holidays. You probably give the garbageman a present.” With something close to impatience, Cole tossed her his jacket. “Put it on until it gets warm in here. And you do, don’t you?”
“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with giving the garbageman a present. He works hard.” She took the jacket only because she was freezing, “Why?” she asked.
“Why what?” He kept his eyes on the road, picking up speed and heading out of town, pushing the speed limit as well as the margin of safety.
“Why do you detest Christmas music?” Maia watched him closely. His expression didn’t change, but t
he tension in the Land Cruiser went up a notch.
“Doesn’t everyone detest Christmas music?” he countered.
“No, most people love it. It’s a happy time of year.”
“Is it?” His voice was grim. “Maybe to you. To me, it’s a damned nightmare.”
“I take it you don’t buy gifts for your lady friends,” she teased.
He glanced at her then, his gaze ice-cold as it moved deliberately over her body. “I might be willing to come up with a gift or two for you if that’s what it takes.”
Maia locked her fingers together to keep from smacking him and turned her face away to stare out the window at the white world around her. If not for the injured horse and the thought of the boy waiting for them, she would have told Cole Steele to go to hell, pushed him out of her truck and driven back to town.
Cole felt the silence cut between them like a knife. He preferred quiet. He was never uncomfortable with it. Yet with Maia, he found himself wanting to reach out to her, to bridge the gap he was creating between them. He was fighting for the life he was familiar with, the one he knew and could survive in. He didn’t trust things like laughter and warmth, had never thought about having them for himself until he’d pulled her into his arms and held her against his body. His body had demanded hers, and that should have been enough. No-entanglements sex was all he ever wanted, yet he didn’t think it would be enough with Maia. She touched him in ways that were unexpected, intriguing, and frightening all at the same time.
He turned off the main highway onto the private road that led to the ranch. The snow was heavier than he’d counted on, but he knew every twist and turn. The snow-plow had cleared the road before he left for town, but already, the surface was covered with a thick white blanket. He peered out at the snowflakes bursting at the windshield. Maia suddenly tensed and pulled back, making herself smaller in the seat, throwing up a hand to shield her face. A huge owl nearly slammed into the window, wings outstretched and flapping, head back, talons extended as if going in for the kill. It had come at them swiftly and silently, an apparition swooping out of the blinding snow.
The wicked talons reached straight toward Cole’s eyes with only the glass separating them. Beside him, Maia gasped. He swerved, nearly losing traction, a string of curses erupting from him until he felt the tires grip and hold. The owl just cleared the top of the vehicle, and Cole breathed a sigh of relief. The bird had been so close he had been able to see individual feathers on its body.
Maia huddled inside Cole’s jacket, closing her eyes, trying to calm her pounding heart. The owl had shrieked a warning to her, risked its life to caution her to go back. She glanced at Cole’s face, the lines etched deeply there. The owl had flooded her mind with quick, flashing images of violence. It happened so fast, Maia hadn’t gotten a clear glimpse of the animal’s projection. Only the ominous warning. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to sort out what the bird was striving to communicate. Darkness. Horses moving. Men. Flashes of lights that could have been rifle fire. None of it made sense.
“That’s never happened to me before,” Cole said. “Maybe it was confused by the storm. Owls see and hear so well, I imagine accidents would rarely happen.”
“He was in hunting mode.”
Her voice was so low, Cole barely heard her. He flicked a quick glance her way. She looked pale, her eyes clouded with fear.
“I’m a good driver, Maia. I’ll get us there.”
She didn’t answer. Cole sighed. She was doing him a favor, coming out to the ranch in the middle of what was rapidly becoming a mean blizzard. He should have been more polite. She’d probably worked all day, and she had a long, cold night ahead of her, trying to save the horse for Jase.
“I shouldn’t have said that about buying you.” Cole glanced at her. It was always so easy with women. He looked at them, they fell into his arms. They had sex, they went home, and he didn’t think about them again. That was how it was supposed to work, but Maia seemed to blow his carefully constructed barricades all to hell.
For a moment he thought she wouldn’t respond. She didn’t turn her head to look at him, but stared out the window at the flurry of snowflakes. “Why did you?”
“You get under my skin, and I don’t like it,” he answered truthfully. “I’ve never met a woman like you.”
“You’ve met a million women like me. It’s just that none of them ever stood up to you before.” Her voice was low and half-muffled by his thick jacket, but it found its way into his body, past his skin and muscle to his very bones.
She turned back toward him, and his breath left his lungs in a rush. He wasn’t used to anyone having that kind of effect on him, and it shook his usual calm. He kept his expression carefully blank, his warning system shrieking at him that he was in trouble. “You’re an interesting woman. Anyone else would have jumped on the fact that I admitted you get to me, but not you. You have to be different.”
“It wouldn’t serve any purpose to discuss it. I’m not going to sleep with you. I don’t do one-night stands. I’m not at all into casual sex.” She managed a small smile. “But I’ll admit you’re a terrible temptation.”
He glanced at her, felt the wheels slide in a particularly heavy drift of snow, catch, and propel them forward. She flung out her hand to grab the dashboard, but she didn’t tell him to slow down.
“I always get what I want, Maia.” He said it with complete confidence. He didn’t know if it was her cool refusal, the warmth in her small smile, or the stark intensity of his desire for her, but he was determined she wouldn’t elude him. Even when he knew he was risking more than he should.
“Well, want something else. I don’t have a lot of energy to put into fighting with you. You’re the kind of man who normally sets my teeth on edge.”
“And that would be why?”
“You’re arrogant, bossy, too rich for your own good. Sexy as hell, but you know it, so you don’t even bother to be polite. There are a lot of willing women out there, Steele, go after one of them. I told you, straight up, I’m not a one-night-stand kind of woman. That should be enough for you.”
“It should be, shouldn’t it?” His gaze slid sideways toward her for a brief moment. Her hands were twisted together to keep them from trembling. The vehicle slid several times, but he kept it on the road. “I’m a good driver, Maia,” he reiterated. “Relax. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She tensed again, pushing back into the seat and bracing one hand on the dashboard. He tapped the brakes, slowing the Land Cruiser just as several deer leapt in front of them. The snow nearly coated them, giving them a ghostly appearance, eyes shining, tails flicking in alarm. Cole swerved again, barely missing the high embankment. The deer were gone as silently as they appeared. Maia’s breath was audible in the close confines of the car.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on tonight. Usually the deer are bedded down and under cover during a storm.”
Maia huddled inside the jacket. The images were more vivid this time, but still jumbled. Fists pounding into flesh. Blood on the grass. On the rocks. Her mouth was too dry to speak. She could feel a bead of sweat trickling down the valley between her breasts, but she shivered with cold . . . with fear.
Cole slowed the Land Cruiser, anxiety creeping into him. “Maia, are you all right?” He couldn’t really take his eyes from the road, just small glances at her, but she was definitely frightened. “I know it looks bad out here, but I know the road. This is a good rig. The drifts are so high on the embankments, we can’t possibly get lost, even with the road covered. You must be used to animals rushing out in front of the truck with all the driving you do.” What he wanted to do was stop the truck and pull her into his arms.
Maia felt suffocated by the snowy white world enclosing - them. “Maybe we should turn around.” The panic in her voice made her wince.
“We’re closer to the ranch than to town. I can’t leave Jase out there alone, not with a wounded horse. I hope he li
stened to me and got Al to help him. By now, the ranch hands will have gone home to avoid getting caught in this blizzard.” He reached out to comfort her, but she shrank away from him, and he gripped the steering wheel, angry at himself for the gesture. “Is that what you really want? To turn around?”
Maia made an effort to pull herself together. What could she say in her defense? That animals were warning her away from the ranch? He’d have her thrown in a padded cell. “No, of course not. I take it that this horse is very special to Jase.”
“He won’t admit it, but yes,” Cole answered. “If it’s at all possible, save the horse for him. The cost doesn’t matter. And if you could make Jase a part of it in some way, maybe have him assist you in treating the bay and caring for it afterward, that would be great.”
There was something elusive there. Maia heard it, but couldn’t grasp it. “Have you always been close to Jase?”
“We met when I was given guardianship over him. We had different mothers, and I didn’t know he existed until I was contacted by the private investigators the lawyers hired to find me.”
“How could you not know you had a brother?”
Cole shrugged. “I checked out of that life a long time ago. When the lawyers told me about Jase, I was shocked.” He frowned. “The snow’s really coming down. I left Jase out there with Al, my foreman, to watch over him.”
“Weren’t you afraid you’d get caught in town?”
“I knew the storm was coming, but I thought I had a couple of more hours before it really hit. I’d never allow Jase to spend the night alone there, so one way or another, I would have gotten back to the ranch.”
Maia heard the note of honesty, of absolute determination in his voice, and she believed him. Cole was such a deceptive mixture. He’d come to the bar hunting for sex. He made no apologies for it and cared little what others thought of him. He exuded complete confidence, even a coldness, yet there were terrible shadows in his eyes. And there was Jase. He barely knew the teenager, yet he looked out for him with a fierce protectiveness she would never have credited him with having. She believed Cole would have tried to walk back to the ranch rather than leave the boy alone with just the foreman. Things didn’t add up.
Rocky Mountain Miracle Page 4
