nodded. “I’ll start a fire. If you get through, I need to call the ranch, let ‘em know I’m okay and to get us when they can.”
“Fire!” That was what she heard. “Yes, please. A fire.”
He went inside, and she turned on the phone and dialed. There was a ton of static on the line, a couple of seconds when she thought she heard Blake, frantic and calling her name, and then nothing.
Finally, on the fourth try, she could hear him.
“Hey, sorry about that. I got caught in the storm, but I’m fine,” she yelled into the phone.
“What?”
“I’m fine!”
“Paige—”
“Out of the mine, taking shelter in a cabin. I’m fine.”
“Cabin?”
“Yes. I’m in a cabin. We’ll wait out the storm here. I’ll call as soon as I can. Don’t worry. And don’t do anything stupid, like send someone to get me. You’ll give our whole plan away. Blake? Blake—”
But he was gone. There was nothing but static now.
Oh, well. He got the important parts, she thought. She was safe, out of the mine, out of the storm, and he didn’t need to do anything.
Which would be incredibly hard for her big brother, but Paige had to hope that he’d sit tight.
She clicked off the phone and opened the door to the cabin to find no real light, just what she had from her own helmet lamp. Slowly panning the room, she saw a roughly made wooden bed in one corner, a giant fireplace, two chairs, shelves with dry stores of food, a sink and what she really, really hoped was a bathroom behind a door in a corner.
She was still standing on the threshold, literally dripping wet, when the door opened and out came her cowboy, already out of his wet clothes and into a pair of dry jeans, pulling on a dry flannel shirt.
“I’m afraid there’s no electricity, and I was making too much of a mess to do the fire first,” he said. “Stay where you are. I’ll bring dry clothes to you. Believe me, it’s going to be easier this way.”
She didn’t argue, feeling like a drowned rat and looking away, not wanting anyone, especially him, to see her looking this bad and grateful that there wasn’t much light in the cabin yet.
He came back a moment later with a pair of sweatpants and another flannel shirt, even a pair of men’s boxers.
“Best I have to offer,” he said. “Now, my advice to you would be to get naked right here at the door and drop your clothes where they are. Because there’s only one dry towel left, and I imagine you’d rather have it for yourself and not bring all the water and mud into the cabin.”
“Did you strip at the door?” she asked.
“No, I just wish I had.”
Paige laughed and motioned for him to turn around so she could start stripping. She’d do anything right then to be warm and dry.
He turned to the side and held up the towel between them. She didn’t think she’d ever taken her clothes off that quickly. Not that it was easy, since everything was heavy with water and her fingers were practically numb.
But she got them off, leaving them in a sopping pile on the floor in the doorway, then took the towel and wrapped it around herself.
He just grinned and handed her the dry clothes.
“Is that a real bathroom over there?” she asked.
“There’s no hot water, if that’s what you’re asking. But there is running water. Rainwater collection system on the roof, so there’s no shortage of water now. Some semblance of a shower, if you could stand the cold. But there is a toilet that flushes and everything.”
“That’s it. I’m in love with this place,” she said, heading across the room for the bathroom. “If there were dry socks somewhere, I’d be in heaven.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised.
“And a fire? Dry socks and a fire? You are my hero!”
“Simple girl, are you? Easy to please?”
“Today I am,” she promised, shutting herself into the tiny bathroom.
He’d found a candle in the bathroom and left it burning. The room was tiny, primitive, but clean. She rubbed herself down briskly, dismissed completely the idea of a cold shower right now. Maybe once he got a big fire going, she’d try it. For the moment, she hurried into the boxers, the sweatpants and the flannel shirt.
They felt fabulous. Better than any designer gown she’d ever tried on.
Then she went to work trying to squeeze what water she could out of her hair.
Finally, she wrapped it in the towel and went into the main room.
He had a fire just starting to burn in the giant stone fireplace and she knew they’d soon be warm, given how small the cabin was, once the fire really got going.
She sat down on the raised stone hearth, and her hero presented her with luxuriously thick, warm socks.
“Ahhh!” She moaned in pure ecstasy, then exclaimed, “That’s it. It’s official. I would do absolutely anything for you!”
“Red, I haven’t even made you a cup of hot coffee yet, but I’m about to. What is that gonna get me?”
“I don’t know. What do you want?”
“Well, if that fire was going and this place was even halfway warm, I’d have dried you off myself and not given you any clothes to wear. I’d have taken you straight to bed. But I was planning on being gentlemanly about it and warming the place up first, maybe getting some food in you, and then getting you naked. That was my plan.”
“That sounds like an absolutely glorious plan.”
Okay, just like that.
They had a plan.
A highly satisfying plan.
Travis figured there was only one other thing he absolutely had to do before hauling her off to bed, and that was to try to get hold of someone at the ranch house, just so they’d know he was okay and not waste time trying to find him.
He was sure they had better things to do right now, to make sure everything else on the ranch was okay. He could wait. He might be very happy waiting here with her, letting someone else take care of things for a change.
After all, how many times did he find himself stranded with a gorgeous, willing woman?
It was definitely a first for him. Years of good clean living and hard work were being rewarded right here, he decided. He deserved it and he intended to enjoy it. She would, too. He’d make sure of it.
But
