01 Maggie's Man by Scott Alicia

Author:Scott, Alicia [Scott, Alicia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 9780373077762
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 1997-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“All right. Give it some gas.”

Inside the relative warmth and shelter of the car, Maggie obediently pressed on the pedal. Behind her, Cain pushed against the tiny vehicle, his face contorted with fierce effort. The tires spun in the rich red mud. Cain pushed harder, his broad shoulder pressed against the muddy bumper, and Maggie could feel the vehicle rock and buck as if even it felt tired, wet, filthy and ready to get on with it.

But the greedy mud didn’t release its grasping, sucking grip.

“Stop,” Cain called out at last, his voice frustrated. Maggie’s foot obediently slipped away. She studied him in the rearview mirror as she sat quietly, waiting for the next command. He was soaked to the bone now, his clothes molded to his solid frame and liberally streaked with mud. Rain dripped steadily off the black rim of his baseball cap, hammering against his cold white cheeks and running down his strong, corded neck. He didn’t seem to notice the discomfort or chill. He simply stood there, his green eyes narrowed as he contemplated his options.

He looked strong and enduring against the dark night sky, calm and steady. The Rock of Gibraltar, Maggie thought. He spoke like that, too. He looked her in the eye and, even under the worst circumstances, maintained a low, rumbling baritone that soothed.

It was her fault they were in this mess, so to speak. But he hadn’t yelled at her—as her mother would have. He hadn’t turned away from her stonily—as her father would have. He didn’t try to protect her from the consequences or tell her it wasn’t really her fault—as Lydia, C.J., and Brandon would have.

He had simply looked at her levelly and said, “I guess we have a new vehicle now. Let’s get it on the road.”

Now, he crossed his arms over his chest, still analyzing the car speculatively, as if it were some riddle that would be easily solved if he could just deduce the key. Then abruptly, he scowled and raised his foot to kick the car, in the universal gesture of “logic be damned—let’s kill the beast.” Safely ensconced in the front seat, Maggie placed a hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

Finally, she popped open the door. He looked up immediately.

“I’ll help push,” she said, planting her first foot outside the car. The wind had picked up, and it slapped the rain against her bare calf like an angry, hissing woman.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said immediately. “Honestly, Maggie, I don’t think it will make a difference.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” she said haughtily, bringing up her chin as she got out of the car anyway. The rain hit her hard, instantly molding her silk blouse against her arms and torso and chilling her to the bone. Despite her best intentions, she shivered, then crossed her arms across her chest for warmth.

Though he didn’t say anything further, Cain still looked skeptical, which aggravated her bruised pride. “I will have you

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