Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense October 2020--Box Set 2 of 2 by Debby Giusti

Author:Debby Giusti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Shawn woke up in a sweat. He ached everywhere and felt a giant weight on his chest. He blinked slowly. The dim lighting made it hard to identify his surroundings, but he was dry and warm, and staring at a wooden ceiling. Something shifted next to his legs.

“You’re awake.” Jackie sat propped upright, her back up against a wall, underneath a massive set of windows. From his vantage point, prostrate on the floor, he spotted blankets of vertical fog—likely snow—coming down on the mountain peaks in the distance. The sky looked precariously close to darkness.

“This place faces west, so we can keep an eye on what’s going on,” she said. “Unfortunately, you can’t see as far as the geothermal plant. I think we need to get to that plateau you were talking about to get a good look.” She put down what looked like a pamphlet, shifted and moved to her knees. She placed a warm palm on his forehead. “Your fever broke.”

She stood and moved to the smallest stove he’d ever seen, where she picked up a cast-iron kettle and poured liquid from it into a metal cup. “The Bureau really needs to reach out to the college students that built this warming hut so they can build more of them in the area. I’ve been reading about it while you slept. They built this as an experiment to see if a solar heating pump would work for a warming hut for snowmobilers. Then the trail society put in a propane stove as an added bonus.” She crossed the room and set down the cup. “Do you think you can sit up?”

He yawned. The smells of pine and cedar and faint remnants of the fire ashes filled the room. He replayed everything she’d just said when he was barely awake. “Yeah.” His voice sounded more like a frog croaking.

She tried to reach for his arm to pull him up, but he didn’t need the help. He had a headache, his muscles felt a little sore and his skin a little tingly, but other than that, he seemed back to normal. “I can’t believe it’s actually toasty in here.”

She cringed. “I’m afraid we might be running out of heat soon. I cranked the radiator to the max setting. The brochure says six hours of use with the solar pump.” She pushed the warm mug into his hand. “Drink. Warm liquids will make me feel better about your core temperature.”

The water was, in a word, disgusting. The metallic taste didn’t help his mood, but the rest of his body seemed to appreciate it. The next few minutes he endured her orders to eat and drink more until his mind finally cleared enough to engage.

“I’m fine, Jackie.” He reached for her hand, then looked out the window and groaned. “Any sign of the gunmen? What time is it?”

She shook her head and powered up her phone. “Still no signal, by the way. It’s just after four o’clock.”

He groaned again. “That means we only have an hour before sunset.

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