Snowbound Escape by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-07-19T19:46:39+00:00

NINE

Mara drained every drop of her tomato soup, sopping up the remnants with a pancake. Tanner did the same, and his delight warmed her soul. The food combination would have been strange in every other circumstance, but for that moment, it was manna. God had provided. Again.

When the meal was done, she wiped the tin cups with a paper towel she’d packed and used the clean cups to heat some of the bottled water, refilling the thermos and stowing it in the backpack. She wondered if she’d ever unlearn the habit. When the stove was cool she packed that too. Since she was wearing every item of clothing she’d brought including her pink hat, there was nothing else left to tidy up. She and the backpack would be ready to flee with Tanner and Britta in seconds if their attackers returned, but it would take a minute to climb aboard the snowmobile, start the engine, assess the storm-ravaged terrain. Would seconds be enough if Eli found them?

Cleanup complete, they wrapped themselves in the silver blankets as the temperatures continued to drop. Even with all the tent flaps zipped tight, frigid air seeped up from cracks between the wooden floorboards. All three of them shivered uncontrollably.

“D-do you think Eli will track us here?” Her breath puffed a white cloud into the air.

“No, but I’m going to scan every couple hours. Hoping we can ship out before dawn. As soon as there’s a break in the storm, we need to make tracks for the B and B. I’ll wake you when conditions look acceptable.”

“Let me help keep watch. I can do a shift.”

This time Tanner held up a finger. “I’m rested, I’ve been fed and my wound is healing as well as can be expected. My watch. No arguments.”

She was too cold to put up a fuss anyway. Cocooned in her silver blanket like a human baked potato, she rolled into a ball on the hard wood support, ruing the missing mattress. Like countless nights over the past seven months, the frigid conditions seemed to worsen with every passing moment. There had been some endless, lonely hours when she’d wondered if the morning would ever come, or if she would live to see it. But this time, she was not alone. Her shivers intensified. She barely felt the tap on her shoulder.

“Britta needs a pal.” She lifted her arm and Britta burrowed in next to her. The warmth of that furry body touching hers was exquisite. Britta pressed her cold nose to Mara’s chin and she scrubbed the dog’s neck gratefully. He draped the second silver blanket over them.

“Don’t you need...?” she started.

“Get some sleep.” Tanner’s tone was almost curt so she decided not to press. With her warm companion, her misery subsided enough that she drifted off.

Hours later she heard Tanner get up from his bed and felt the blast of air from the tent flap opening. He could not hide the violent chattering of his teeth when he returned.

“Tanner?”

“A-all c-c-clear.”

“You’re frozen.

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