Czytaj książkę: «Sheltered By The Cowboy»

Chapter 1

Amanda Wright hummed the tune of “Let It Snow” under her breath as she stamped her feet in an effort to get warm.

The short red Mrs. Santa costume she wore with the white faux fur around the bottom, the neckline and at the cuffs looked cute but did little to provide any real warmth. Wearing flesh-colored tights was almost like being bare-legged, and the short black leather boots on her feet were fashion-forward, but definitely not keeping her toes warm.

She could always step into the small wooden booth’s tiny back room, where an oil heater spewed out a bit of warmth, but it was almost time for her to pack it in for the day and she didn’t want to miss her last chance to help make a difference.

Darkness had fallen an hour before, and yet the streets of Bitterroot were aglow with the merry lights of the Christmas season. Illuminated red-and-white candy canes hung from every light pole and shoppers still scurried along the sidewalks, trying to get in last-minute supplies before a predicted big snowstorm struck.

Mandy loved this time of year, when the air smelled of evergreen wreaths and cinnamon sticks, and Christmas carols spilled out of every store doorway. Even though the holiday was still a little over two weeks away, Bitterroot was already in the spirit.

She smiled as she saw Butch Cooper approaching the booth. She had dated Butch for about a month and had only recently broken up with him. Thankfully, despite the breakup they had remained good friends.

“Buy a kiss for a dollar,” she said. “All proceeds go to the youth program.”

Butch pulled his wallet out of his pocket and withdrew a five-dollar bill. “I’ll just donate this to the cause,” he said and handed her the money.

“Thanks, Butch,” she replied. He was such a nice guy, but it hadn’t taken her long to realize he wasn’t the Prince Charming she was waiting for. Although she’d enjoyed his company, there just hadn’t been any real romantic spark with him. “How are you doing?”

“I’m getting by. What about you?”

“The same. I’m keeping busy between the café and this booth,” she replied.

“You’d better think about getting yourself home soon,” he said. “There’s freezing rain moving in and then it’s supposed to snow like the devil.”

“I’m planning on packing it up in just a little while. I’m hoping to make a little more money before I close down for the night.”

“Just don’t wait too long. You know Seth wouldn’t want you to put yourself at risk for a couple more dollars.”

“I know. Thanks, Butch.” She watched as the tall, nice-looking cowboy walked away. She released a deep sigh, her breath coming out in a big, frosty puff.

The old saying was that you had to kiss a lot of toads before finally finding a prince. She’d dated most of the single men in town but had yet to find that special toad.

When Seth Richardson had asked her to donate her spare time in a kissing booth for charity, she’d instantly agreed. She knew how important the youth program was in town. She only wished there had been some kind of a youth program when she’d been growing up.

For the past couple of days, when she wasn’t working as a waitress at the café, she’d been in this booth. There were two other young women who worked the booth, as well. At least the red-and-white-painted booth was located between the feed store and the mercantile, which meant it got a fair amount of foot traffic.

She stamped her feet once again and mentally cursed the cold. Yes, she loved this time of year and she especially loved to watch it snow, but at the moment, with her fingers and toes half-frozen, she wished it was seventy degrees.

Thoughts of the cold faded away as she saw another handsome cowboy approaching her. The Christmas lights on the buildings flickered and highlighted his strong, bold features in shades of green and red. He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders, and wore his black cowboy hat pulled down as if to warn people away.

Brody Booth.

Just seeing him warmed her a little bit even though they’d scarcely ever exchanged more than a handful of words. He was definitely one sexy cowboy.

“Hey, Brody. How about a kiss for a dollar?” she called out to him. “It’s for charity.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. “No, thanks, Mandy. I kind of like being the only man in town you haven’t kissed.” He turned and continued on his way.

She stared after him in stunned surprise. “You’re a jerk, Brody Booth,” she called.

His words stung with their implication. She knew her reputation in town was for being fast and loose, a reputation that had begun in high school and had haunted her ever since. Of course, she hadn’t helped matters by kissing so many toads.

Brody was one of the best-looking jerks she’d ever seen, but she told herself now that she didn’t give two hoots about what he thought of her.

What she’d better start thinking about was getting home. The ping of sleet against the wooden booth was a definite warning that it was time to get out of Dodge.

She closed the awning, stepped into the back space and turned off the heater and the battery-operated light that cast a dim glow. Her coat hung on a small hook next to the back door, and she quickly pulled it on. Then she shoved the small metal money box into her purse, locked up for the night and left the booth.

The sleet stung her face as she hurried to her car. The icy mixture was piling up fast. She probably should have left half an hour before.

The scent of snow whirled on the wind that had picked up, and she was suddenly aware that the streets were virtually deserted.

She hurried to her car and got inside, rubbing her hands together as she waited for the heater to blow hot air. Ice already glazed her windshield, making it impossible for her to see out and drive. Hopefully, between the wipers and the defrost, she could get it cleared off as soon as possible.

Still, by the time she finally crept out of her parking space, the sleet had turned to snow. It wasn’t a fluffy, pretty event. Rather, the snowflakes were small and icy and wind-driven.

Visibility was almost nonexistent and the back tires slid each time she tried to accelerate. She was going to be far later getting home than she’d told her father.

Although she lived in a small apartment above the detached garage on the property, when she could she cooked and cleaned for her father.

Of course, he had probably prepared for the snowstorm by buying plenty of liquor. If she was lucky he’d already be passed out by the time she got home. At least she’d thought ahead and had brought home a meatloaf dinner from the café. It sat on the passenger seat in a foam container inside a white bag. When she did get home, if her dad was waiting for her she could have his dinner ready in mere microwave magic minutes.

At the moment his meal wasn’t her concern. Just getting home in this mess was her main issue. The snowflakes were now bigger, but coming down at an alarming pace. Her muscles tensed as she hunched over the steering wheel and squinted to see the road ahead.

She hadn’t even made it out of town when she felt the disheartening slide of her tires against the pavement. The car was moving sideways. Frantically she turned the wheel first left and then right to straighten out. In horror she realized she was no longer in control.

She knew better than to apply the brakes, but she was sliding on pure ice and headed for a ditch. Her heart hitched in her chest and she braced.

She squealed as the car hit the ditch and came to a dead stop. She tried to move forward and the tires spun impotently. She threw it into Reverse with the same results.

“Darn, darn!” She hit the steering wheel with her palms. She was good and stuck.

She’d have to call for a tow. She unfastened her seat belt and pulled her purse onto her lap, rummaging around inside it until she grabbed her cell phone.

Before she could dial a number, she glanced in her rearview mirror and gasped in renewed horror. Twin headlights were careening toward the back of her car, and she couldn’t move out of the way. Objects in this mirror are closer than they appear. She read the words on her passenger mirror just before she squeezed her eyes tightly closed.

Bracing once again, she expected a crash, but it was more like a hard bump. The pickup truck hit her hard enough to throw the meatloaf dinner off the passenger seat and onto the floor, but thankfully not hard enough to injure her.

She looked in her rearview mirror once again and saw Brody getting out of the truck that had hit her. Great, just what she needed to make a bad situation even worse.

She rolled down her window and heard his muttered curses as he made his way to her driver side. “Sorry,” he said. “That patch of road is pure ice. Are you okay?”

“Tell me about it. I didn’t exactly drive into this ditch on purpose,” she replied drily. “And I’m fine, but frustrated.”

“It looks like I’m going to owe you a bumper.”

“Right now I’m not worried about a bumper. What I need is a tow out of this ditch.”

“That makes two of us. Mind if I get in?” He gestured to the passenger seat.

“Knock yourself out,” she replied. She rolled up her window as he left the driver side and walked around the front of the car to get into the passenger seat.

“What’s this?” he asked as he maneuvered his feet so he didn’t step on the bag on the floor. Once he was in, he moved the seat back to accommodate the length of his legs.

“Oh yeah, you owe me a bumper and a meatloaf special from the café,” she replied.

He filled the small interior of the car with the scent of the outdoors mingling with a woodsy cologne. Snow clung to his slightly shaggy dark hair and sinfully long dark eyelashes. He also wore the same frown she always saw on his face.

“I’ll call for a tow truck and we’ll worry about the bumper and meatloaf dinner later. The snow is really starting to pile up.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in a series of numbers.

“Larry, it’s Brody Booth. Amanda Wright and I are stuck in a ditch just past the turnoff to the motel. We need a tow.”

It was obvious by his deepening frown that he wasn’t happy with whatever he was hearing, and a ball of anxiety unfurled in her chest.

“Okay, I understand. Yeah, I’ll be waiting for your call.” He hung up and pocketed his phone. “Larry and every other tow person in town is busy working the highway, which he said looks like a skating rink, so basically we’re on our own.”

“On our own?” She echoed his words as she stared at him in horror. “For how long?”

“It might be morning before somebody can finally get to us.”

“Morning? We can’t stay out here all night. I don’t even have a blanket in the car,” she said.

“You’re right. We can’t,” he agreed. “I suggest we walk to the motel. We can get rooms for the night and be out here first thing in the morning when help finally comes.”

She stared over her shoulder, where the motel sign blinked faintly like a red heartbeat through the haze of the falling snow. The snow. A shiver swept over her. It was deep enough now that it would swallow her little boots with the first step.

“Do you have some pants you can put on?” Brody asked. Was there a slight hint of disdain in his voice or was she only imagining it?

“Nope, just these sexy flesh-tone tights,” she replied flippantly. “Don’t worry about me, Brody. I’m used to taking care of myself.” She buttoned up her coat and mentally prepared for the cold trek to the motel.

“Wait for me. I need to lock up my truck.” He left the car and a gust of frigid air blew in.

She should have left the booth earlier. She should have been smart enough to keep a survival bag with blankets and bottled water and protein bars in the car. Sometimes she could be so stupid.

It didn’t take long for Brody to come back. He pulled open the driver’s door, and precariously she stepped out of the car. The icy wind instantly stole her breath, and she slid unsteadily with her first step.

He must have noticed because he grabbed her firmly by the upper arm, and together they made their way out of the ditch and back to the road.

It was impossible to speak with the howling wind in her ears and the driving snow hitting her in the face. She was just grateful for Brody’s strength as she slipped more than once and would have landed on her face or her butt if he hadn’t steadied her.

She was an icicle, frozen from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. All she could think about was a nice warm room, a very hot shower and then a bed to snuggle down in to wait out the storm.

She might have sobbed in relief when they reached the motel office but she was too frozen to cry. Brody immediately released his hold on her as he greeted Fred Ferguson, the owner of the motel.

“Heck of a night,” Fred said, his gaze behind his dark-rimmed glasses drifting from Brody to Mandy.

“The road is definitely treacherous tonight,” Brody replied.

“So are you both stuck?”

“Yeah, we’re both in a ditch down the road. We each need a room for the night,” Brody replied.

“That’s going to be a problem,” Fred replied.

Every frozen muscle in her body tensed. What now? “A p-p-problem?” she managed to stutter through her chattering teeth.

Fred nodded. “I’ve only got one room left.”

Brody visibly stiffened. “Only one?”

A wave of dread swept through Mandy. Apparently she would be spending the night with a man who didn’t like her and definitely didn’t respect her. Could this night get any worse?

“A double?” Brody asked hopefully.

“Nope, it’s a single with a queen bed.”

The night just got worse. She watched, dumbfounded, as Brody slowly pulled his wallet out of his pocket and released a deep, audible sigh. “I guess we’ll take it.”

* * *

Brody had had a long, rough day and the idea of being locked in a motel room with the voluptuous, beautiful Mandy Wright was a candle on the top of a crap cake.

He grabbed the key Fred placed on the counter and then headed out the door with Mandy trailing just behind him. There was no way he was going to crawl into bed with her tonight. Hopefully there would be a comfy chair in the room where he could sprawl until morning.

He had a feeling if he found himself under the sheets with Mandy, something would happen and they would wind up having sex, and he refused to be another cowboy she’d bedded and then tossed aside.

At room four he unlocked the door and opened it, reached inside to turn on the overhead light and then stepped aside so she could go in before him. She walked into the center of the room and turned to face him.

Her full lips were blue and her dark hair hung in wet strands around her shoulders. She shivered uncontrollably, and he shut the door more forcefully than he intended. “Go get in a hot shower,” he commanded. “You’re soaking wet.”

“But... I... I don’t have anything else to put on,” she replied, her lips barely moving.

Brody frowned, then walked over to the bed and yanked off the blue-and-gray spread. “Use this to wrap up in until your clothes can dry.” He thrust it into her arms.

As she turned and disappeared into the bathroom, he released another deep sigh. He shrugged out of his own coat and then turned up the heat in the room.

The room was one of the smaller ones the motel had to offer, and the chair, which he’d hoped would be big and comfortable enough for a night’s sleep, wasn’t. It was a spindly straight-backed chair in front of the window that would assure no sleep at all for the night.

He held his hands over the heat that had begun to blow from a vent. He could still smell her, a scent of brown sugar and vanilla that was intensely appealing.

At the sound of the shower running, he tried hard not to visualize a naked Mandy. Far too often in the past he’d fantasized about a naked Mandy. Jeez, this was going to be tough.

A glance out the window showed him that the snow was still coming down. The snow wasn’t so bad, but the icy mixture that had preceded it would have the whole town at a standstill.

He sat down on the edge of the chair and pulled off his boots. The bottoms of his jeans legs were wet, but there was no way in hell he intended to strip down. It was bad enough that Mandy was going to wear only a bedspread when she got out of the bathroom. A wave of warmth swept through him at the very thought.

Of all the women in town he could have been snowbound with, why did it have to be the one woman he was attracted to? A woman who, rumor had it, ate men for breakfast and spit them out by dinner? Not that he would care. He didn’t ever want a relationship with a woman.

At least she hadn’t moaned and groaned on the miserable trek to the motel. She’d soldiered up, lowered her head and had done what needed to be done without a single complaint, although she had to have been miserable.

He looked at his watch. It was just six thirty. What were they going to do to pass the rest of the evening? His stomach growled and he almost wished he’d picked up that meatloaf dinner from the floorboard and brought it to the room. He’d not only skipped dinner but also missed lunch. He wondered if she’d eaten dinner.

Maybe he’d check out the motel vending machines and see if he could grab something there. With that thought in mind he pulled his boots on once again.

A vision of Mandy clad in a red, white and blue sparkly bra exploded in his mind. It wasn’t just a fantasy. It was what she’d worn at the Holiday Ranch barn dance the month before. She’d been a sizzling sight as she’d danced and laughed and stirred something inside him that had been dormant for years...desire.

It had been a costume party and she’d come as a patriot, and since that night he’d had a hard time getting her out of his head.

As the sound of the shower stopped, his entire body tensed with an uncharacteristic anxiety. He quickly moved back to the chair and picked up the television remote from the table. She’d be coming out of the bathroom at any minute. At least the television would provide a welcome distraction from her. He punched the on button and stared at the message that danced across the screen.

No Signal Detected.

The bathroom door opened and she walked out, a vision wrapped in a bedspread.

This was definitely going to be a long night.