Renegade Bride by Barbara Ankrum

Author:Barbara Ankrum [Ankrum, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780821738139
Goodreads: 8097894
Published: 1991-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Creed closed his eyes, willing himself to concentrate on something besides the painful numbness of his fingers and the slick of frost forming on his face. He was trying to picture a place which, out of long habit, he shunned the way a wise man did a house riddled with pestilence. To call it up intentionally, to own it, he thought, was the height of desperation. But desperate was precisely what they were.

He visualized the cabin, detail for detail, saw himself approaching it in the snow. There was the huge ponderosa pine sheltering one corner of the roomy log cabin. The small shed for stock thirty feet away.

The image flickered like a shadow, fading.

Focus, Devereaux. Concentrate!

Mariah shook him from behind. "Creed! What are you doing? Don't go to sleep for God's sake!"

"Quiet," he snapped. "I'm thinking." There above the door in a place of honor, the pair of deer antlers—his first kill-now whitened with age.

"The snow's drifting around Buck's knees! We need to keep moving!" The pitch of her voice told him she was on the edge of panic.

There—the path that led to the feeder-creek and the odd rock formation: an old man bent with the weight of a heavy pack—along the north shore.

"We're lost. You can tell me the truth, Creed."

And the ancient broken tree lying at right angles to the earth pointing directly at the cabin.

Her arms tightened around his middle and she dropped her forehead against his back.

He opened his eyes, leaving that magical place in his mind behind. "No, we're not lost. Unless the curse has failed me at last."

He turned Buck sharply right and headed through an unlikely thicket of trees that opened up onto a creek where the banks were tufted with snow. They had only followed it for five minutes before spotting the rocks, the fallen ponderosa, then the cabin tucked safely beneath a sprawling pine and a ring of younger trees.

Le bon Dieu. He felt Mariah's sigh of relief more than he heard it. Pulling to a stop at the door, he helped her down; then, with deliberate, stiff movements, he dismounted. Brushing the snow off the rough-hewn handle, he pushed open the unlocked door. It creaked in protest and he ushered Mariah inside the dark cabin.

Their steamy breath mingled in the dark room. He rubbed his hands together and blew on them until he could grip a match.

Clumsily, he touched the flame to the wick of the glass-domed coal oil lamp on the small table near the door. The glass rattled against the metal in his shaking hand as a soft yellow glow filled the room.

Her lips were tinged blue with cold and she was shivering despite the heavy robe that still enshrouded her. His face was covered with rime of white. He could feel the glacial cold heavy on his lashes and eyebrows and still numbing his cheeks. He wiped his face against his shoulder but found no relief in the stiffened fabric.

"H-how did you do that?" Mariah asked, clutching her hands to her sides.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.