Rancher's High-Stakes Rescue

by Beth Cornelison

  “That was really brave, what you did, taking on the bear like that,” she said, hoping to boost his morale.

  “Some would call it stupid. Reckless.”

  She paused, frowning at him. “I’m sensing a trend here. And I think you’ve fallen into the trap you advised me to avoid.”

  “Huh?” he grunted, clearly distracted.

  She took hold of his chin and met his gaze to be sure she had his attention. “The labels you allow yourself to believe. I think you were told you were reckless or irresponsible as a kid and you believed it.”

  His brow dented. “I...I don’t think those words were ever used to my face. But...”

  He fell silent and finally she prompted him. “But...?”

  He pulled his chin free of her grip. “Well, if you hear often enough how great your twin brother is, you can read between the lines. We’re supposed to be the same. We have the same DNA. But I’m not the model student and businessman. I don’t have his knack for details.”

  “Who says you have to be the same? Being twins doesn’t mean you have to follow the same path in life.” She took one of the clean strips of T-shirt and began wrapping his shoulder. “You have your own strengths. Just because you don’t excel where he does doesn’t mean you’re...deficient somehow. Like you told me, you are not your label.”

  “Actually, I earned my label. I did things as a kid and teenager that...I’m not proud of.”

  She hummed an acknowledgment, remembering some of the tales he’d told her of his mischievous stunts. “But were you maybe...rebelling? Seeking attention in a way that would set you apart from Zane?”

  He scoffed and wagged his head. “No.” Then, a beat later, “Not intentionally.” Then, after a moment when she could all but see the gears turning in his head, “I don’t think so.”

  Josh tipped his head as he looked at her with an expression that said her suggestion was taking shape in his head, and he was readjusting his perspective on events in his past. She gave him a moment to process her point, taking the time to fit the T-shirt strips and tie them off.

  “For the record,” she said as she finished her bandaging and worked on creating a sling from the shirt she’d worn the day before, “what you did with the bear was not recklessness. She came at us. You had no choice.” She stilled, her hands going limp in her lap as she replayed the events in her mind and shuddered. “And I know you put yourself in front of me on purpose.” Her throat clogged with emotion, and she had to clear it before adding, “You saved my life...again.”

  Gratitude and affection swelled in her chest, to the point of pain. The emotion tightened her lungs and choked off her air. A longing pounded through her veins with an urgency she couldn’t deny. Plowing her fingers into his hair, she cupped the back of his head and hauled him closer. She took his mouth in a hungry kiss, and at her core, ribbons of desire unfurled and flowed through her.

  Josh returned her fervor, framing her face with one palm and slanting his mouth to deepen the kiss. Unable to maintain the awkward angle of her body, she toppled onto the mossy, vine-strewn floor of the woods. Josh followed her down, covering her body with his, bracing his weight on his good arm.

  Kate shut out everything but the warm, satin feel of his lips on hers, the press of his hard body pinning her against the cool earth, the insane sense of security she experienced in his arms. Which was totally crazy, considering they’d just been attacked by a bear.

  But he’d protected her. And she’d dived in to rescue him without a thought to her own safety.

  She must have made some small sound of humor or pleasure, because he lifted his head to look deep into her eyes.

  “What?”

  She shook her head, confused. “What what?”

  “What were you just thinking about?” he asked, his thumb stroking her cheek. The soft rumble of his voice mesmerized her, and she had to shake off the muzziness to answer his question. “Just replaying it all. The bear, the sounds...”

  “Well, stop. Don’t dwell on it.” He kissed her temple.

  “I hit a bear with a stick,” she murmured in awe. Then, because it was so insane-sounding, she repeated, “I fought off...a bear...with a stick...”

  He smiled at her, his eyes glowing. “You did. You’re a total badass.”

  “Or insane.” A fresh ripple of fear rolled through her when she realized how terribly wrong things could have gone. If the cub hadn’t rejoined his mother, if the sow hadn’t given up the fight as quickly as she did, if she hadn’t found a sturdy enough stick to swing at her...

  A prickle chased through her, and she shifted her head left and then right, casting a wary gaze around. What if the bear came back? What if—

  A shudder seized her, and Josh’s hold tightened.

  He shook her gently. “Kate, you’re doing it again. Letting the fear hijack you. Living in the coulda beens instead of holding on to the reality. We’re okay.”

  She snorted and motioned to his shoulder. “A mauled and dislocated shoulder is okay?”

  He ignored her sidetrack. “You found the courage you needed when it counted, and we are fine. This—” he indicated his injuries with a tipped head “—is typical for me. A bull bumps you when you’re working the chute, a colt bucks you when you’re breaking him, a jump on a dirt bike doesn’t go quite the way you planned...” He lifted his good shoulder in dismissal. “I’ve had plenty of broken bones and bruises in my day.”

  She stroked his bristly jawline. “It must drive your mother nuts.”

  He flashed an unrepentant grin. “Used to. Now she pretty much expects it.”

  “That doesn’t mean she doesn’t worry.”

  Another one-shoulder shrug. “Ready to move on? We still have about four miles to go to the pickup point.”

  About an hour later, the first drips of rain splattered on them from the gray sky.

  She slowed her pace, and tipping her head back to glower at the clouds that were literally raining on their parade, Kate said, “I should probably warn you. My hair tends to frizz when it gets damp.”

  Josh moved up beside her and raised an eyebrow. “Thanks for the heads-up, but, well, that horse left the stable a few hours ago.”

  She met his gaze, her nose wrinkled in confusion for a split second before his meaning dawned on her. With a gasp, she smoothed her hands over her hair and could feel the kinks and waves that had already popped out from the humid air.

  Josh circled her waist with his good arm and hauled her in close for a kiss. “Don’t sweat it, Kate. I love that look on you.”

  “Oh, you have a thing for hags?”

  He laughed. Then, letting the backpack thud to the ground, he kissed her again—a deeper, lustier kiss. “Not hags. Just one particular beautiful woman in her natural state. Wild and without pretense. Her cheeks warmed by the sun, and her eyes full of life and lit with the spark of adventure.”

  She wrapped one arm around his waist, the fingers of her other hand combing lazily through his own windblown and rapidly dampening hair. “You’re no poet, Josh McCall,” she said, laughing. “But...I love it anyway.” And I love you.

  Her heart leaped when the words sprang so easily to mind. Fortunately, she caught them before she said something so ill-advised. Had she really gotten so lost in Josh’s charming smile and hot kisses, his protection and comfortable rapport, that she’d allowed some part of herself to believe she was in love with him?

  Rather than give any further credence to the mental slip, she captured his mouth again in another lip-lock that chased sidetrack ideas from her mind. She poured her full attention into the silky glide of his tongue as he caressed the recesses of her mouth. She flattened her hand against his chest and focused on his body heat that seeped through his rain-chilled shirt and the strong and steady thudding of his heart beneath her palm.

  A moment later, Josh backed away
from the kiss, regret heavy in his expression. “As much as I hate to end this, you need to put on your poncho before you get wetter.”

  “Poncho?”

  He gave her a half smile, half scowl. “Did you not inventory your backpack supplies like you were asked to? Every hiker pack includes a rain poncho.”

  She squatted to rummage through the pack he’d dropped at their feet. “I inventoried.” She shoved aside the first aid kit, which still sat at the top of her supplies, dug past the plastic bag with snack bars and sack with her dirty socks. “I just didn’t remember seeing...” She found a small plastic pouch with a picture of a woman in a rain cape and extracted it. “Aha. No wonder I didn’t remember it. It’s tiny.”

  “I thought women believed size doesn’t matter...” He flashed a naughty grin. “If it gets the job done.”

  Arching one eyebrow at him, she opened the pack and began unfolding the tightly compressed layers of plastic. As the proof of the rain poncho’s size became more evident with each new flap that was unfolded, Josh’s smirk brightened, as well. “You see? Sometimes the packaging can be deceiving, and what’s inside might be bigger than you imagined.” He waggled his eyebrows as the rain splattered his face. “Much bigger.”

  She couldn’t help it. As if by its own volition, her gaze slid down to the fly on his hiking shorts. Her brain conjured an image of him at the swimming hole, when his wet underwear kept few secrets about his...er, size.

  He’d also hidden no secrets from her backside that morning when they’d woken, spooning, snuggling to ward off the morning chill. Heat flashed through her now as it had then, and she curled her fingers into the plastic drape so hard she almost tore a hole in the protective covering.

  To mask her reaction to his teasing, she snorted a laugh and shook her head. “Yeah, yeah, sport. Help me get this thing on, huh?”

  With his good hand, Josh helped her tug the poncho over her head and straighten the folds.

  “What about you?”

  He shrugged his right shoulder. “I guess I get wet.”

  “But...” She fumbled for words, a sense of selfishness weighing on her. “You’ll freeze!”

  “Better me than you. I have more muscle, more body heat. And you’re the guest. This whole boggled trip is on me.” He picked up the pack again, slung it over his good shoulder and started walking.

  “You didn’t cause any of this to happen,” she argued, falling in step behind him. The patter of the rain on the hood of the plastic rain gear made it harder to hear his response, but she caught, “I can’t...blame...job to...home safely.”

  She shook her head, knowing that Josh would feel guilty for the many ways this trip had gone off course no matter what she said. Yet when she analyzed her perspective on the past few days, she saw so much in a different light now.

  While his fledgling adventure company bore the primary responsibility for the failure of the zip line, saboteur or not, she still held Josh in high esteem for the way he’d rallied in every situation. He’d been truly devastated by the zip-line disaster, rattled to his core and desperate to make amends. She knew, having seen some of the notes he’d made in a small notebook the first night, that the company would be making serious operational changes as a result of the tragic experience. Since the accident he’d been far more careful, and he’d put her needs, her safety first.

  He’d even made her mental health, her battle between her old fears and her buried longing for adventure, a priority. She acknowledged that she’d made small strides in understanding her phobia and chipping away at the doubts that held her back. She had Josh to thank for that.

  A sweet mellowness filled her chest. Her feelings for him, she realized, were more than gratitude and a sense of security. She liked him. He was kind, funny, encouraging...and, of course, sexy as hell.

  I love you. Heaven help her, she thought, remembering how easily those three simple yet complicated words had come to her just moments before. Her pulse spiked as she trudged along behind her cowboy guide. Despite her better judgment, she was falling in love with him!

  * * *

  As they trekked farther downstream, Josh noticed that the water level in the river was rising at an alarming rate. He slowed for a moment and turned full circle, casting a hard look around them and trying to pinpoint where they were, how much farther they needed to go to reach the spot where he’d told Zane they’d meet him.

  Kate moved up beside him, and she studied him with a penetrating stare. “Is something wrong?”

  “Mmm, not really,” he replied distractedly.

  “Josh?” Her tone was stern. “You promised full disclosure. Remember?”

  He angled his head to meet Kate’s gaze, and he expelled a harsh sigh. “I was just noticing the rising water. This river is fed by a number of streams from the mountains. Runoff from all the higher elevations to the northwest.”

  She sent a side-eye glance to the roiling rapids. “And?”

  “Well, judging from the dark clouds behind us and the increased volume of water in just the last half hour or so...” He bit the inside of his cheek, hedging mentally. He didn’t want to alarm her.

  She stepped closer to him. “Josh? Spit it out!”

  He gritted his back teeth for a moment, then decided she deserved his candor. “The conditions are good for a flash flood through this river valley.” He scratched his chin as he eyed the water. “Thanks to the bowl shape of the terrain in this stretch of the river, with the bluff on one side—” he aimed his thumb at the sheer rock wall “—and the steep hill on the other—” another flick of a finger toward the dense trees and boulders that rose at a sharp angle to a jagged peak “—the rising water has nowhere to go. It can only flow so fast, and so the runoff will get deep and turbulent quickly.”

  She surveyed the landscape with wide eyes. He read her understanding of their predicament in her creased brow and flared nostrils. “You’re saying we could drown.”

  Chapter 11

  “That would be an extreme case,” he said, adding a brief grin. But indirectly, yes, he was saying that, although he wouldn’t give the threat any power by speaking the words. Such bluntness would only frighten her needlessly. Impressing the urgency of a hasty retreat from the area was good enough.

  Josh adjusted the backpack on his shoulder and took her hand. “What I’m saying is we need to pick up our pace. There’s no telling how much or how quickly the water will rise, and I don’t want us to get trapped or caught up in a washout.”

  Almost as soon as he finished his explanation, the skies opened, and rain poured down on them in sheets of fat drops.

  Kate gasped as the cold rain soaked her head. She hunched her shoulders and blinked as the rain splashed in her eyes. “Was rain even in the forecast for today when we left the ranch?”

  Josh removed his hat and shoved it on the crown of her head. It would help shield her face from the worst of the downpour. “If I remember right, there was like a thirty percent chance. But you know how quickly a forecast can change in the spring.”

  “I do. Texas is notorious for strange weather shifts.”

  She looked especially fragile, peering at him from under the wide brim of his cowboy hat, her hair wet and feminine curves lost under the man-size poncho. Vulnerable came to mind, though he was learning just how much of a misnomer that was for her. She’d proven tougher and more capable than even he’d imagined when they started the trip. The kind of hiking they were doing was far more difficult than a tourist’s day hike. She’d roughed it without a tent, sleeping bag, decent supper or bathroom without complaint. Yep, Kate Carrington definitely had a core of strength and courage. If only she could see it, believe it about herself.

  They hiked on for several minutes in silence, hunched against the rain and deepening chill. He kept a wary eye on the river flow and didn’t like what he saw. He stopped and faced her when he realized
how swift the current was getting.

  “Things are already picking up.” Josh swiped his own soaked hair back from his eyes and studied the water, the depth, the available stones for crossing the river, weighing it against what he knew of the terrain ahead, and the location of the pickup spot. “We need to cross to the other side before it gets deeper.”

  She gaped at him, then at the river. “Cross the river?” Squinting against the driving rain and angling her head to look past him, Kate appraised their surroundings. “But won’t hiking be easier on this side?”

  “For now.” He forcefully swallowed his impatience. Her skepticism was understandable, but it chafed that she still didn’t trust him enough not to question him. “The landscape changes not too far ahead, and by the time we hike that far, the river might be impassable. Besides, we have to be on the other side to reach the pickup spot.”

  Her gaze shifted to the swift water, and resignation shadowed her face. “All right.” Her tone was weary, her posture defeated. “How do you propose we do this?”

  He gripped her hand as he led her down to the water’s edge. “We’ll use these rocks as stepping stones,” he said, pointing out the ones he meant, “until we get to that gap in the middle. It looks like there’s a sandbar where it won’t be as deep, and we can wade through until we get to that big rock over there.” He aimed his finger toward the far bank.

  He felt her shiver, though he couldn’t be sure if the shudder was from the cold or from fear. But she squared her shoulders, gave a tight nod and followed him onto the first rock without protest or hesitation.

  They leapfrogged from one slippery rock to another, their feet sliding a bit with each jump, but with some tottering and foot-shifting to catch their balance, they made it to the midpoint. But when Josh stepped down into the river, midstream, the water was deeper than he’d anticipated, reaching his waist. And faster. And colder. He’d forgotten that the runoff from the higher elevations would include a large amount of snowmelt. The chill stole his breath for a moment, and he was considering a different way across when Kate splashed down into the river next to him.