Patricia Thayer, Donna Alward by Montana Mistletoe Marriage

Author:Montana, Mistletoe, Marriage [Montana, Mistletoe, Marriage]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THREE

“POWER’S OUT.”

“Thanks, Einstein.” She put the knife back on the counter next to the warm quiche and tried to cover her sudden unease.

His form was dark, his face shadowed in the dimness. The intimacy of earlier was back, sharp and immediate. She tried to make her heart stop pounding so furiously, make her breaths regular. She put several feet of countertop between them.

Mack was already searching the end table beside the bed for matches, and she watched his shadowed form with her heart in her throat. She tried to push the memories away. He was not Wilcox, and this was not an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere.

This was Mack, in a motel room; in the dark; in the middle of the first big blizzard of the year. Her heart pounded against her ribs painfully.

“Any luck with matches?” he asked.

She jumped at the sound of his voice. “Not yet,” she croaked, opening a single drawer with shaking fingers. A part of her wanted to reach out and let him shelter her. And yet the thought also scared her to death. She didn’t know him well enough. His caring had drawn her to him tonight, but how well did she really know him? She didn’t.

“Do you have a flashlight anywhere?”

His voice sounded huskier in the darkness and she swallowed thickly. “I think there’s one in the truck. I can go look.”

“In this weather?

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A BRIDE FOR ROCKING H RANCH

“But we can’t just sit here in the dark!”

She could tell he was grinning, even though she couldn’t make out the details of his face.

“Why not? I do some of my best work in the dark.”

“Stop smiling. This isn’t funny.” Indeed it was not. She was torn between fear of being alone and fear of being with him, and she was becoming more tied up in knots by the moment.

“Okay,” he relented. “Look, the meal is cooked.” He moved to stand beside her and picked up the knife. “Can you see enough to get some forks? We might as well eat while it’s warm.”

She nodded, but he caught her hesitancy. “Are you scared of the dark, Kelley?”

A tiny thread of hysteria bubbled inside her. The dark? That and then some. “A little.”

“I used to be, too. I was hoping if I made light of it… But it didn’t work, did it?” He reached out and kneaded her shoulders and she closed her eyes, focusing on the reassuring sound of his voice and not the horrible memories she kept trying to push away.

“How did you stop?” There was no sound in the room beyond their breathing. And then she held her breath and there was just him.

“I don’t know. I guess I just stood up to it.” His fingers rubbed the tendons on the side of her neck and she exhaled slowly. “It’s okay. You’re not alone in here. We’ve got shelter from the storm and we’ve even got dinner. You don’t need to be afraid.”

But she was afraid. “The walls feel small,” she whispered, and to her surprise, he rested his chin on the top of her head.

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