Colton 911: Cowboy's Rescue. Marie Ferrarella
she could make out what looked to be a small cabin up ahead. For a second she fought the impulse to turn around and ask her white knight if what she saw was indeed his cabin. But considering the fact that her words would probably be lost before he even had a chance to hear them, Maggie decided that it would be in her best interest to just be patient and see if this was the actual final destination.
At this point, Maggie was grateful for any place that could keep them even moderately dry. She wasn’t picky.
When they came to a stop, Maggie saw that they were right in front of the cabin. Up close, it looked less rustic and more modern, but as long as it kept them dry, that was all that mattered.
Maggie could feel her white knight dismounting. She was right—this was their destination. At least until the storm had passed.
Holding on to Cody’s reins, Jonah faced her, waiting. “Need any help dismounting?” he offered.
She looked at him as if she debated whether or not to be offended.
“I’m Texas born and bred, so no,” she replied. The next second, she got off the horse as gracefully as possible. But when her feet hit the ground, she found that her legs were a lot less sturdy than she’d thought. The honest truth was they were downright wobbly, and she almost sank straight down to the ground.
And she would have if he hadn’t caught both her arms in an attempt to steady her.
“Careful,” Jonah cautioned.
Embarrassed, Maggie murmured a stricken, “Sorry about that.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. You spent a day up a tree. You’re lucky you still remember how to walk,” Jonah told her.
She took one tentative step only to find that her legs still insisted on buckling rather than supporting her.
“Not so sure I do,” she admitted.
There was a part of him that couldn’t believe he was actually holding Maggie Reeves like this, the way he had once dreamed of doing. Usually, dreams had a way of not measuring up to long-cherished expectations. However, in this case, holding Maggie Reeves against him was everything he had thought it would be—and more.
Her heart was doing a glorious, uninhibited dance in her chest and just for one wild moment, Maggie thought that Jonah was going to kiss her.
She could feel her breath all but backing up in her throat, held perfectly still by sheer anticipation. She wasn’t sure but she thought she might have even leaned in a little to offer him a better target.
And then nature interfered.
Again.
“The wind’s picking up again,” Jonah told her, pulling his head back. “We’d better get inside before it gets any worse.”
Maggie nodded, knowing that he was right and that in all likelihood, the weather had just stopped her from making a huge mistake.
She told herself that she was relieved but wasn’t altogether sure if she was.
In contrast with the chaos that was going on directly outside, the moment that Maggie walked into the cabin, she was struck by its strong, clean lines. There were no unnecessary extras visible anywhere, nothing personal that pointed to the man who lived here whenever he was in town. It could have been a rustic hotel room waiting for someone to come and inhabit it. And at least for now, it had been spared by both the hurricane and the ensuing flood that had come in its wake.
If there was any detraction at all, it was that very little light came into the cabin.
“I don’t suppose the lights are working,” Maggie said. To test her theory, she hit the switch by the door. Nothing happened when she did. “Apparently not,” Maggie said with a resigned sigh.
Jonah looked up at the living area’s vaulted ceiling. “At least the roof is intact and not leaking,” he told her.
“There is that,” she agreed with a smile as she glanced up.
Jonah made his way over to the gray flagstone fireplace. “I’ll get a fire going. That should warm us up a little.” He turned toward Maggie. His eyes slid up and down the woman and for the first time since he’d finally managed to locate her, he realized that she was drenched and dripping. “Why don’t you go look in the bedroom closet and see if you can find something to change into?”
Almost self-consciously, Maggie glanced down at herself. There was a pool of water forming on the wooden floor just around her feet. She looked up again.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’ll change my clothes, too. But first I have to go back out and put Cody up for the time being.” He could see she was about to ask him where he planned to put the horse. There was no barn on the premises. “The shed behind the house is still up.”
“That’s a piece of luck,” she remarked.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a laugh. “Otherwise, I’d have to bring Cody in here with us.” He saw the surprised look on Maggie’s face. The way he saw it, he wasn’t suggesting anything that unusual. “I can’t take a chance on losing our only means of transportation. Otherwise, we’ll be stranded.”
Made sense, she thought. “Need any help?”
Jonah sat back on his heels and watched as the bits of paper he had tucked in between the firewood began to burn. The flames spread, greedily consuming the wood that was all around them.
“No,” Jonah answered, rising once he was sure that the fire in the hearth wasn’t going to go out. “I got this covered. You just do what you need to do to get dry. The bedroom’s back there,” he added, pointing toward the rear of the cabin.
Not that it would have taken her an inordinate amount of time to find the room. The cabin consisted of the living area with a kitchenette on one side and a bedroom along with a three-quarter bath tucked directly behind the back of the fireplace.
Maggie looked after him uncertainly. “You sure you don’t mind my rummaging through your closet?” she asked just as he crossed back to the front door.
Jonah smiled, surprised that she was standing on ceremony, given the unusual situation they found themselves in. “There’re no skeletons in there if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Maggie flushed slightly. “It’s not that. I just thought that...”
Feeling awkward—after all, she didn’t know the man that well—her voice trailed off, letting him fill in the blanks for himself.
“And you won’t find anything in there to embarrass you—or me,” he assured her. Turning up the collar of the all-but-useless rain slicker, he put his hand on the doorknob, turning it. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Jonah promised.
The next second, he pulled open the door and stepped out into the gusting rain.
Maggie hurried over to the front window to watch Jonah for as long as she could before he disappeared around the side of the cabin. From what she could see, it didn’t look as if the hurricane was going to double back. With any luck, she thought, crossing her fingers, Brooke was done with them.
Now if the rain would just let up...
Backing away from the window, Maggie glanced down at the wooden floor she had just traversed. Her entire path was marked by drops of water.
“Time to stop leaving puddles,” she murmured. “Guess I’ll go see what he does have in his closet.”
She’d thought that maybe Jonah would have some items of clothing that an old girlfriend had left behind—or perhaps even a current one. The way she saw it, it