in here. I don’t recommend running it all night, but it’ll do for now.”
“Why don’t we get out of here?”
“It’s almost dark and it started snowing pretty hard, I can barely see my hand in front of my face. It’s hard enough to find my way out here in daylight. I’m not trying in the dark and especially not in North Dakota blizzard conditions.”
“I need to let the base know what happened.” He glanced around. “Do you have any kind of radio or cell phone?”
“I have a cell phone, but it won’t work out here.” She shrugged. “No towers nearby.”
His body shook, his head ached and his vision was hazy. “I need to get back.”
“Tomorrow. Now go back to bed before you fall down. I’m strong, but not strong enough to pick up a big guy like you.”
Dante let Emma guide him back to the bed and tuck him in. When she smoothed the blankets over his chest, he grabbed her hand.
Her gaze met his as he carried her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles. “Thanks for saving my life.”
Her cheeks reddened and she looked away. “You’d have done the same.”
“I doubt seriously you’d be shot down from the sky. Your feet are pretty firmly on the ground.” He smiled. “Paleontologist, right?”
She nodded.
“Isn’t it a little late in the season to be at a dig? I thought they shut them down when the fall session started.”
She shrugged. “With our unseasonably warm weather, I’ve been working this dig every weekend since the semester started.”
“Until recently.”
“Since it snowed a few days ago, I figured I’d better get out here. I’d heard more snow was coming, and I needed to dismantle my tent and bring it in.” She stared toward the window as if she could see through the blinding snow.
“I take it you didn’t get the tent down in time.”
She gave him a little crooked smile. “A downed helicopter distracted me.”
“Well, thank you for sacrificing your tent to be a Good Samaritan.”
Her cheeks reddened and she turned away. “Let’s get that shoulder cleaned up and bandaged.”
She wet a cloth and returned to the bedside. Pushing the fabric of his thermal shirt aside, she washed the blood away.
Her fingers were gentle around the gash.
“It’s just a scratch.”
Her lips quirked. When she’d washed away the drying blood, she applied an antiseptic ointment and a bandage. “As it is, it was just a flesh wound, but it wouldn’t do to get infected.” Patting the bandage, she stepped back, the color higher in her cheeks. “I’ll make you a cup of hot tea, if you’d like.”
Studying her face, Dante found he liked the way she blushed so easily. “Have any coffee?”
“Sorry. I didn’t expect to have guests.”
“In that case, tea would be nice.” Dante glanced around the tiny confines of the trailer. “Aren’t you afraid to come out to places like this alone?”
Emma reached for two mugs from a cabinet. “Why should I be? It’s not like anyone else comes out here.”
“What if you were to get hurt?”
She shrugged. “It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
“As close as it is to the border, you might be subject to more than just an elk hunter or farmer.”
“I have a gun.” Emma opened a drawer and pulled out a long, vintage revolver.
Dante grinned. “You call that a gun?”
She stiffened. “I certainly do.”
“It’s an antique.”
“A Colt .45 caliber, Single Action Army revolver, to be exact.”
Nodding, impressed, Dante stated, “You know the name of your antiques.”
Her chin tipped upward. “And I’m an expert shot.”
“My apologies for doubting you.”
The wind picked up outside, rocking the tiny trailer on its wheels.
Emma struck a long kitchen match on the side of a box and lit one of the two burners on the stove. A bright flame cast a rosy glow in the quickly darkening space. She filled a teakettle with water from a large water bottle and settled it over the flame. “I have canned chili, canned tuna and crackers. Again, I hadn’t planned on staying more than a couple of nights. I was supposed to head out before the weather laid in.”
Despite his injuries, Dante’s stomach grumbled. “I don’t want to take your food.”
She leveled her gaze at him. “I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t have enough.”
“Then, thank you.”
She opened two cans of chili and poured them into a pot, lit the other burner and settled the food over the flame.
Before long the teakettle steamed and the rich aroma of tomato sauce and chili powder filled the air. Emma moved with grace and efficiency, the gentle swell of her hips swaying from side to side as she moved between the sink and the stove. Dante’s groin tightened. Not that she was his typical type.
Emma appeared to be straitlaced and uptight with little time in her agenda for playing the field, as proved by their one date that had gone nowhere. Still, it didn’t give him the right to go after her again.
He shoved aside the blanket and tried to stand. “I should be helping you.” A chill hit him, penetrating his long underwear as if he wore nothing at all.
“Stay put.” She waved in his direction. “There’s little enough room in the trailer without two people bumping into each other. And I’ve got this covered.” She shed her jacket and hung it on a hook on the wall.
“I can at least get the plates and utensils down and set the table.” He glanced around. “Uh, where is the table?”
Emma grinned. “It’s under the bed. You were lying on it.”
He gave her a half bow. “Where do you propose we eat?”
“On the bed.” She grinned. “Picnic-style.”
“Do you always eat in the bed?” Images of the slightly stiff Emma wearing a baby-doll nightgown, sitting on the coverlet, eating chocolate-covered strawberries popped into Dante’s head. He tried but failed to banish the thought, his groin tightening even more. The slim professor with the chocolate-brown hair and eyes, and
