The Eligible Suspect. Jennifer Morey
his truck free from snow. A lot of good that would do. What did he think he’d do once he dug himself out of the ditch? Drive a few feet and get stuck again? Four-wheel drive or not, this snow was deep enough to stop anyone. She really wasn’t in the mood for company. Putting her annoyance in check, she committed herself to helping someone in need.
He quit working when she neared. At the truck, she halted the big horse. He was a giant of a man. Probably six-four. She amended her earlier assumption. This guy could probably have walked through the deep snow all the way to her house.
“Are you lost?” she asked.
He stepped through the deep snow and stopped next to her. “I made a wrong turn.”
“Where were you headed?” Her neighbor ran a yurt touring company on his ranch. He’d converted his eight bedroom house into a bed-and-breakfast. Maybe he was trying to find it.
“A friend of mine has a cabin near here.”
She looked through the snow at his truck. There was no one else inside. “Who?”
“Julio Chavis.”
The name sounded familiar, but she hesitated. Gandalf stomped his foot and snorted, eager to be moving in the heavy snow.
“It’s his vacation home,” the man said.
Savanna patted Gandalf’s neck as he stomped and snorted again. “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
Why would anyone come up here to be alone? Recalling her conversation with her mother, she realized that may not be so unusual. Besides, she knew of a man who owned a cabin two miles up the highway from her road and across from the yurt touring lodge. She’d never met him. He rarely came here; at least that’s what Hurley over at Lost Trail Lodge had told her.
Reluctant to open her home to a stranger, she looked at his truck again, buried to the top of the wheel wells in snow. He wasn’t going anywhere tonight.
“Do you have a plow?” he asked.
Returning her gaze to him with a frown. “No. I hire out for that.”
“When will you hire out to plow it this time?”
He seemed as annoyed as her, wishing she’d have kept her road passable.
“I can have someone out here in the morning.”
He nodded with a grim line to his mouth. He wasn’t keen on being stuck here. He’d rather be at his friend’s cabin. Alone. She could relate to that.
In her silence, he twisted to look back through the falling snow. “It wasn’t as deep through the trees. Should have turned around in there.” He tipped his face up to the sky. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“Common for this area.” She contemplated him some more, Gandalf shifting his feet with another snort. Well, there was nothing else that could be done. “Get your things and climb on. You can stay here for the night.”
“Maybe if I could use your phone.”
And do what? Call a cab? “No one will come out here tonight, not in this storm.”
After a few seconds of internal debate, he went to the truck and retrieved a duffel bag, then turned off the engine and locked the vehicle.
Rather than take her hand, he grabbed the saddle horn and propelled himself up onto the horse’s back behind her.
Gandalf pranced through the snow and then leaped into a trot, his gait smooth and belying the deepening snow.
Turning her head, she asked, “What’s your name?”
“Korbin Maguire,” he answered. He had a deep, gravelly voice that tickled her senses and caught her off guard. “And you are?”
Still grappling with her reaction to him, she squinted against snowflakes and said, “Savanna Ivy.” Had his voice changed because of a similar reaction to her?
“Nice to meet you, Savanna. I’ll thank you in advance for your hospitality.”
He sounded more professional now, as though he’d checked himself. “Well, I couldn’t leave you out here in this storm.”
“I would have hiked up to your house. Would have been a workout, but you wouldn’t have had to ride out in this.”
“Gandalf loves a good ride.” She patted the stallion’s neck.
“He’s a big horse.”
“That’s why I bought him. He’s well suited for these mountains.”
They both had to turn away from a gust of wind that pelted them with snow.
“How long is this storm supposed to last?” he asked.
“At least tonight. Another storm’s headed this way after that. A bigger one.”
They reached the barn.
“Isn’t this one big enough?” Korbin asked as he dismounted.
Savanna climbed off after him and led Gandalf through the corral gate. Korbin closed that while she opened the barn door. When they were all inside, Korbin shut the door. Instant relief from the billowing snow made Savanna sigh. Other horses nickered and snorted and moved in their stalls with the new activity. During the day, their outer doors were opened to individual corrals with enough room to move around.
While she pulled off Gandalf’s saddle, Korbin surveyed the barn. It was a nice barn. Savanna would make no fuss over that. Money had not been a factor when she’d built it. If she was going to have horses in this climate, they would be safe and comfortable.
“Where’s the spa?” Korbin teased, grinning.
And oh, what a hot grin that was. Savanna stopped brushing Gandalf to stare. She had noticed how in-shape he was back on the road, but he’d removed his hat and unzipped his jacket and she could see more of his face. What had begun with the sound of his voice now sparked into a tickling sensation.
This was how she’d fallen for her last two boyfriends. That initial attraction. Masculine, handsome face. Eyes she could melt into. Then letting her guard down. Trusting a little too much.
Snapping out of her trance, she looked around at the other five stalls, heads of varying colors poking out to observe them. Just because he was handsome didn’t mean he was worth exploring. She had to get better at that—not letting her guard down too soon.
Turning back to Gandalf, she finished grooming him, ever aware of Korbin. He’d sensed her reaction, and it wasn’t to his joke about spas. He said no more.
Going to a cabinet at the back of the stable, she reached into a basket of fresh carrots she kept there and took out two. Korbin waited at the stall, watching her feed the horse the treat.
“What do you do?” she asked. If they were going to be spending the night together, they might as well get acquainted.
When he didn’t immediately answer, her wariness sprang up. She looked at him.
“I’m a computer scientist,” he said. “Currently between jobs.”
Why had he hesitated? Had he contemplated lying? Was he lying? Why would he lie about being a computer scientist?
“What kind of job did you have?”
He seemed to think first before he said, “Systems engineering.”
“Were you fired?”
“No. I left. I’m taking a break for a while.”
Why did he feel he needed a break? The same reason he needed to spend time alone in remote wilderness? There was something about him that made her wary, the way he hesitated before answering her, why he was alone up here.
“What about you?” he asked.
She