by Cora Seton
Hope pulled out her cell phone—
But she still didn’t have service.
If they did go off the road, they could be in trouble.
The minutes ticked by into an hour, and she wasn’t sure they’d made much progress. Curtis was right; the plows had been by here—but it must have been ages ago. While the level of snow on the road was lower than it had been on the other one, it was quickly piling up again as the blizzard continued.
They crept along, only seeing headlights of a plow going the other way once. No one else seemed to be on the road.
Curtis, who had joked around plenty last night, was dead serious now. In the back seat of the extended cab, Raina was curled into a ball, solemnly watching the snow outside her window. Their slow progress and the whirling white had almost lulled Hope to sleep when Raina lurched upright and screamed, “Stop. Stop!”
Curtis jerked. The truck hit an icy patch and skidded.
“Hold on!” Curtis yelled, spinning the wheel and trying to control their trajectory. The truck slid one way and then the other before coming to rest askew halfway off the road.
Before the truck had come to a complete halt, Raina undid her seat belt, fumbled at the door and burst out a half second later, Daisy following at a flat-out run, barking all the way.
“Raina—what are you—?”
“Daisy, get back here!” Curtis hollered.
Hope could only gape as Raina dashed back the way they’d come. Curtis swore and put the truck in reverse, but the wheels spun and the truck didn’t move. Hope reached back and pulled the door mostly shut, but sat half-turned in her seat trying to see where Raina was going. Curtis threw the truck into drive, edged his foot down on the gas, and the truck rolled forward an inch or two. Hope braced herself; they were about to go right into the ditch—or where one would be if it wasn’t covered in snow.
Curtis reversed again.
The wheels spun.
“Better get out and get clear,” he said.
Hope did so, leaving him to extricate the truck, racing to find Raina and Daisy, who’d all but disappeared in the driving snow behind them. Her boots sank almost to the top, and she whimpered as some of the ice-cold precipitation made its way inside.
“Raina!”
Daisy barked several times, and Hope followed the sound.
“Raina!”
“Hope! Come here!”
Hope’s heart squeezed in relief as she caught up to Raina and found her safe and sound, a large, bright red plastic sack in her arms. Daisy ran circles around her ankles, whining and yipping.
“What is that?”
“Help me get it open! Hurry!” Raina shrieked.
Hope lurched forward to help, her heart in her mouth when she realized the sack was writhing. A sudden fury gripped her. Something was alive in there. Something that had been discarded like trash by the side of the road in a brutal snowstorm. What if it was—?
She pulled the sack from Raina’s arms, dropped to her knees and set it on the ground, scrabbled at the twine that held it shut and finally ripped off her gloves to get more leverage at the icy fastening.
Raina knelt beside her and helped her steady the shifting bag. A soft mewling from inside drove equal parts relief and anger through Hope. It wasn’t a baby. Thank God it wasn’t a baby.
But it was still one of God’s creatures—
Hope fought to get the bag open.
Finally, she worked one loop of the twine off, and then the slack made it easy to get the rest free. “Careful,” she told Raina. “We don’t want it to run away. Let’s get back to the truck.” They carried the bag together awkwardly, Hope realizing there was more than one creature inside, and made it to where Curtis now had the truck safely on the road.
“Hurry up,” he called. “Someone could come barreling at us and hit us before they even saw we were here. What the hell is that?” he added as the two women lugged the bag into the back of the extended cab, and Hope managed to shut the doors behind them after Daisy leaped inside, too. Only when Curtis had begun to drive slowly down the road again did she open the sack and peer inside.
“Kittens!” Raina cried, looking over her shoulder. “Four—no five.” Her voice broke on the last word, and Hope saw why. Four of the tiny animals were moving and mewling, climbing over each other in a pathetic search for warmth and comfort. A fifth was lying still in the bottom of the bag. “Hope,” Raina’s cry slid upward. “Do something!”
Hope was already in motion. She scooped the lively ones out of the sack and handed them to Raina.
“Wrap them up in your scarf, keep them warm,” Hope said. Raina quickly obeyed, gathering the four little bundles of fur into her lap and twining her fuzzy wool scarf around them.
“Daisy, down. Get in the front seat,” Hope commanded as she pulled out the fifth kitten. Daisy sat but continued to watch the squirming bundles in Raina’s arms and the limp little shape in Hope’s, refusing to jump into the front seat. Hope met Curtis’s gaze in the rearview mirror and braced for his scorn that they’d wasted their time saving the animals when it was obvious they hadn’t been wanted.
“Put that one inside your jacket,” he said. “Close to your heart. If it’s alive, that might help.”
“I don’t think it’s alive.” But she was already following his instructions.
“The others are. You never know.”
Grateful for his optimism, Hope cradled the small animal against her chest and zipped up her down jacket around it. Daisy whined again, and Hope would swear she was worried about the little creatures.
Raina cooed to the kittens she held, rocking them gently in her arms. Curtis turned up the heat in the cab, and Hope gently stroked the limp kitten with a finger. “Come on, little one,” she whispered. “Fight.”
Chapter Three
‡
Kittens.
Curtis sighed and kept his eyes on the road. Kittens were his Achilles’ heel. He loved dogs, especially Daisy, who’d adopted him on sight, but kittens tugged at his heartstrings in a way few animals could match.
They were so vulnerable. So… furry. So damn cute. He knew the world was full of cats, but that didn’t stop him from appreciating the little bundles of mischief.
He knew he needed to pay attention as he inched forward, his vision blinded by the heavy precipitation, but he couldn’t help looking back at where the two women were hunched over their furry charges.
Where the hell had they come from on a day like this? Had someone set out to deliver them to the pound and given up part of the way there, consigning them to death on the side of the road rather than taking them back home again?
He couldn’t stand the thought of it.
Raina literally had her hands full trying to keep the kittens from climbing right out of her lap. Hope was whispering to the limp little bundle tucked inside her coat.
“Will Daisy hurt the kittens?” Raina asked him.
“I don’t think so.” He glanced back to check that Daisy was still sitting politely in the space by Hope’s feet. Her interest in the goings-on was clear, but while she was watching all the activity avidly, she wasn’t getting too close.
“I’m going to see if they’ll drink something.” Raina searched around in her backpack for a bottle of water. She poured a tiny bit into the palm of her hand and held it near to one of the kittens in her lap. It sniffed at her hand but didn’t drink.
“They’re too little for that,” Hope told her. “Dip a piece of cloth in and see if you can get the kittens to suck it.”
Curtis concentrated on the road. Silence filled the back seat. Even Daisy kept quiet. As the minutes stretched on, Curtis’s heart sank.
A sudden cheer from both women made him jump.
“One of them is suckling,” Hope told him excitedly. “Raina, make another piece of cloth for me. Let’s see if that wakes up this guy.”
“We need to find a vet,” Raina said, but Curtis could tell she was fishing around for another piece
of cloth.
“Where are we going to find one of those?”
“In Bozeman,” Curtis said. “We can’t get off the highway any sooner; we might not be able to make it back on.”
“Come on, little guy,” Hope crooned at the kitten she was holding. “Come on. You can do it.”
“Can’t you drive any faster?” Raina asked Curtis.
“I’ll try.” But the snow was falling harder than ever.
Hope didn’t realize she was crying until a tear splashed onto the nose of the kitten she was cradling and it jerked, its tiny eyes opening in surprise. She sucked in a breath. He was still alive.
“Raina. Raina!” she cried.
“Oh, my goodness!” Raina passed her a handkerchief dripping with water, and Hope stuck one corner into the little creature’s mouth. To her surprise, the kitten immediately began to suckle.
“It’s working!”
“Curtis, he’s doing it,” Raina exclaimed. “Edgar’s doing it!”
“Edgar?” Hope asked with an unsteady chuckle. She met Curtis’s gaze in the mirror again, not ashamed he might see the tears on her cheeks. After all, he’d already seen her cry once. The kitten was alive, and that was miracle enough to celebrate.
“His name’s Edgar,” Raina told her firmly.
“I need more water.” Of course Raina would have named the kittens already.
For a long time they passed the handkerchief back and forth, Raina taking turns to feed the other kittens while Hope concentrated on the one tucked into her shirt.
“Maybe they were just dehydrated,” Hope said as Edgar wriggled around in her jacket.
“Feldspar’s doing the best of mine.” Raina indicated a tortoiseshell-colored kitten who was climbing over the others to get at the handkerchief she held. “Minna, Louise and Reggie can’t keep up.”
“I wish we had food for them. Or at least milk.”
“We’ll get some when we can,” Curtis assured her from the front seat.
Hope was grateful he was here to drive. It took both her and Raina to wrangle the cats. She found her gaze straying to the mirror again and again, though, watching Curtis when he wasn’t looking. He was concentrating so fiercely on the road he didn’t even realize she was staring.
He was a good man.
They were very lucky to have found him.
It occurred to Hope as the miles passed that she didn’t know what they’d do with the kittens when they reached Bozeman. Would Ben be willing to take in five felines? How long would it take before he and Raina found a house?
She couldn’t take on a cat right now—not with her future up in the air the way it was. She supposed she could bring one back to Skokie, but not to Yellowstone. Who knew what her quarters would be like there.
This wasn’t the right time to be forming any new attachments—to cats or men.
She glanced at Curtis again, noticing the way his eyes scanned the road constantly. He was alert for any sign of trouble. Ready to take action if a problem came up. Unlike Raina, he was an asset in an emergency.
All man.
She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t attracted to him—she was. Normally Hope considered herself to have a very good head on her shoulders. She judged potential dates on their intelligence, job prospects, whether they donated to good causes and were up-to-date on current events. She was a modern woman and expected any man she was with to be socially conscious and smart, too.
Hope didn’t know enough about Curtis to judge his mental acuity or even his political leanings—although if he was dedicating his life to sustainable processes, she supposed that told her something about his view of the world. It wasn’t any of that which attracted her though.
It was Curtis himself. His… essence.
No, that was far too New Agey to be the right word. It was his presence that had hooked her. His solidity. The way his hands gripped the wheel. The way he sat in his seat like nothing could shift him. The way he glanced at her in the mirror from time to time. Something in her that was purely female was reacting to the part of him that was purely male.
Pheromones? Maybe. Whatever was happening to her felt like a chemical reaction—or rather, a biological one. Something so basic it eluded thought and consciousness. She wanted to touch him. To try him out.
A flush spread through her veins, and suddenly she was far too hot in her parka. She could imagine ways to try Curtis out. Ways that left her breathless and sure her cheeks were tinged with red.
A fine time for her hormones to go haywire. It must be all the talk about weddings and forever. Raina had been a tizzy of love and matrimonial excitement for nearly a year. Hope had taken it all in, and now she was being overwhelmed by it. Her fantasies about Curtis were just that—fantasies. She knew nothing about him, and she never would.
Would there be men like him at Yellowstone when she was ready to look for love a decade from now? Or would the guys in the park be self-absorbed, the way most of the men she met seemed to be? She hadn’t had much luck in the dating department.
Raina had done far better for herself.
It didn’t matter, Hope told herself. In a few more hours, they’d reach their destination and she’d say goodbye to Curtis. She’d become a park ranger two years early, which meant she’d be ready to look for love in… eight years.
Glancing down, Hope’s heart seized when she saw Edgar’s eyes were closed again, the handkerchief slack in his mouth. Then she took in the rise and fall of his flanks; he was breathing deeply.
Asleep.
Hope leaned back, let loose the breath she’d been holding and soaked in the sweetness of his soft little weight resting on her chest. She hoped he’d grow stronger soon.
Even if she couldn’t keep him.
She wouldn’t worry about that now. Plenty of time for all that later, when they reached Bozeman. Along with everything else she and Raina needed to do before the wedding.
Shifting slightly, she reached for her planner, never far from her. Opening it to the correct page, she sighed to see how off-schedule they were.
Curtis met her gaze in the mirror. “Something wrong?” he asked softly.
Hope realized Raina’s kittens were sleeping, too.
“We’re late, we haven’t gone to the dress fitting, or stopped at the florists, or—”
“Relax,” Raina said. “We’ve met Curtis and saved five kittens. That’s what really matters.”
Hope opened her mouth to disagree…
And realized she was right. Despite all the reasons it wasn’t a good time to allow romance into her life, meeting Curtis had already changed her. Already got her thinking about things outside her life plan.
Her gaze flicked up to Curtis’s again. He smiled, and her heart flip-flopped.
No, she told herself. No, no, no.
Her heart didn’t want to seem to listen.
Curtis glanced in the mirror again when Raina said, “You might as well put that planner away, Hope. We can’t accomplish anything on this ride.”
“I can reschedule all the things we missed.”
Raina made a noise that made Curtis bite back a smile. “You should see her,” she said to him in exasperation. “I swear she plans when to go pee.”
“Raina! I do not.”
“Do, too.” Raina adjusted the kittens in her lap. “She plans when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat, when to exercise, when to work, when to read. It’s a good thing she doesn’t have a boyfriend or she’d plan when to f—”
“Raina!”
Hope’s face was crimson. Curtis decided he wouldn’t mind if she scheduled when to fuck him in that book—
But no, he wanted a lot more than a quickie with Hope. He needed a bride, but it wasn’t just that. He found he couldn’t stop watching her, especially when she’d bent over Edgar, nursing him back to health. When she’d been worried the kitten wouldn’t make it, a crease had furrowed her brow and her jaw had set in a determined line that told him she didn’t give up easily
when life thwarted her.
Hope was a woman who fought for what she wanted. If he had her on his side—
She wouldn’t leave him standing at the altar.
He sure as hell wouldn’t leave her.
He forced his gaze back to the road, the raw ache in his heart far too powerful an emotion for the short amount of time he’d been around Hope. He didn’t know anything about her except that she cared for kittens. And for friends. He’d wager she’d fight a battle or two for Raina’s sake any day.
She was loyal. Loving. Committed.
Those were things he wanted in a wife, Curtis admitted. When he’d first realized Fate had deposited a single woman in his way last night, he’d been thinking practically. He needed a wife, and here Hope was.
Now… well, now he had to admit he was curious about Hope herself. What was important to her? What did she want from life?
How would she feel in his bed?
Curtis stifled a groan. It didn’t help he’d been celibate these past six months and more, even when he was planning a future with Michele. Neither of them had even brought up sex, which should have told him a lot, he supposed. Now his body, already on alert because of the need to find a wife, was going all kinds of crazy so close to Hope. He couldn’t help the leap his mind made from thinking about marrying Hope to thinking about what else he could do with her.
She’d feel good in his arms; he knew that already. She’d… fit.
How would a woman who clung to her planner like a lifeline react to an unexpected wedding, though? Would she rise to the occasion, or panic?
When he let her know he was interested, would she meet him halfway, or run like hell?
He supposed he was going to find out.
Soon.
“I still can’t get reception.” Raina pocketed her phone again. “I want to tell Ben what’s happening. He must be worried.”
“He knows we’re doing our best to get there,” Hope assured her, but Raina was right. Those two talked all the time. Ben would be worried about his bride.
“I want to text Avery, too. I wonder how Byron’s doing.”
