up, stinging her eyes and choking her breath. “Okay.” She coughed. “I’ll behave.”
The man’s weight left her body and he jerked her to her feet.
As soon as she stood, the storm unleashed its full power in a deluge so thick she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face.
“Get in the cabin!” her captor yelled over the roar.
Water streamed down her face, blinding her.
A shove from behind sent her stumbling toward the open door. Her heart hammered against her ribs; fear of the storm nothing compared to fear of being trapped with this strong, dangerous stranger inside the small confines of the cabin.
He stepped around her and dragged her along behind him.
Sophia planted her heels in the mud and jerked hard.
The rain allowed her to slip free of his grip, but she hadn’t accounted for how easily. She teetered backward and landed hard on the ground, mud sluicing over her clothes, soaking her all the way to her skin.
The cowboy stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. “If you’re not struck by lightning, the flash floods will get you!” he yelled.
“I’ll take my chances.” Sophia scrambled to her feet, slipped, almost fell and steadied herself.
The cowboy’s lips quirked, and he shook his head. “Stubborn woman.”
Sophia’s chin tipped upward. Before she could think of a scathing reply, the cowboy moved, leaving the protection of the cabin to scoop her up. He tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of onions and spun back toward the cabin.
The wind again knocked out of her, Sophia bounced along with every one of his huge steps until they entered the cabin.
The brute of a man kicked the door shut behind him and set Sophia on her feet in the dark.
The temperature had plummeted with the rainfall, cooling her body. She shook, her teeth clattering against each other. “Don’t try anything or I’ll...I’ll...” She strained her eyes to search the room for a weapon, the darkness hampering her efforts and only flashes of lightning giving limited relief.
Finally she straightened, holding her head high, not that he could see her. She’d come too far to fall victim to yet another man who wanted to use her. Sophia dropped her tone to one she hoped sounded tough and menacing. “I’ll kill you.” Too bad a shiver shook her as she said the words, making them sound weak and quivery.
“Sweetheart, I have no intention of ‘trying’ anything with you. You look like a drowned rat and you’re covered in mud. You’re about as appealing as a pig. Less so. I could at least eat a pig.” He shuffled around the cabin, bumping into things.
Sophia stood close to the door, debating how to make her escape. The bellow of thunder and the rain pounding the roof intensified, making her think again.
Something rattled to her left, then a scraping sound rasped in the darkness and a match flared. The cowboy held it up and stared at the potbellied stove. “Here, make yourself useful.” He handed her a box of matches. “Light one.”
She took the box from him as the match he held flickered out. Hands shaking, she removed a match from the box and scraped it on the side. The blaze from the match circled her and the cowboy in an intimate glow.
He grabbed a candle from the mantel and held it to the match, then stuck it in a tin holder. “That will do for a start, but it’s cold, we’re wet and we’ll need a fire or we’ll have a really bad night of it.” He lifted the lid off a box beside the stove and grunted. “Nice.” Several logs lay in the bottom, along with old newspapers. “Hank knows how to stock a cabin,” he muttered as he lifted the logs out and stacked them in the stove.
Sophia’s heart skipped several beats. “Hank?”
The man wadded up newspaper and jammed it beneath the logs before responding. “Yeah, you’re trespassing on the Raging Bull Ranch. I take it you were the one to cut the fence?” He shot a narrowed glance behind him. “Illegal alien?”
She refused to be intimidated by his glare. “I am an American citizen.”
“Even American citizens don’t have the right to destroy other people’s property or trespass. You can take it up with the law in the morning.”
Could it be she’d found her way to Hank Derringer’s land? Hope rose inside her. “I’d rather take it up with this man Hank.”
The cowboy shrugged. “Suit yourself, lady. I don’t care.” He held out his hand. “I’ll take those matches now.”
She handed him the box and stood back.
He got the paper burning and the dry wood caught soon after, crackling and popping. He left the door to the stove open, the blaze lighting the interior of the tiny cabin in a soft, cozy glow.
The heat didn’t extend beyond a few feet from the stove.
Still leery about the cowboy’s intentions, Sophia remained outside his reach, her arms clutched around her body, her teeth chattering.
The big man stood, holding his hands to the fire. “Sure is warm over here.” He cast a glance at her and shook his head. “Good grief, woman, you’re freezing. Get closer before you catch your death.”
“I’m f-fine,” she insisted, her gaze on the flames, mesmerized by the thought of warmth.
The cowboy unbuttoned his soaked shirt and peeled it off his shoulders.
Sophia gasped and backed even farther away until the backs of her knees ran into the side of the bed and she almost fell. “What are you doing?”
“Getting out of my wet clothes. I don’t plan on freezing all night.” He scooped her backpack off the floor and opened it. “Do you have any dry clothes in here?”
She darted forward and snatched at the backpack. “That’s mine.”
He held on to the strap, his eyes narrowing. “Seeing as we have to share this cabin for a night, I’d like to know you’re not hiding a knife or another gun in here that you plan on using on me in my sleep.” He peeled her fingers off the other strap and dumped the contents of the backpack on the closest of the twin beds.
Foil-wrapped tortillas, a can of frijoles pinto and two bottles of water fell out on the bed. Enough food for two people for a single day. Beside them, a flashlight, fifty dollars of American money and one extra T-shirt was all she had to her name.
“Not much to go cross-country on.”
“I was backpacking in the canyon. I didn’t plan on staying,” she lied.
He dug in one of the side pockets of the backpack and brought out the wire cutters. “Something you carry on hikes?”
She shrugged. “A girl never knows what tools she’ll need.”
“Anyone ever tell you it’s not safe to travel alone in this area? Especially if you’re a woman.”
Sophia
