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“Are you injured, ma’am?”
“No. Just anxious.”
“What kind of a car are you driving?”
“It’s a dark blue 1989 Honda Civic.”
“Stay put. In this kind of weather you never know what’s moving out there.” Stefanie shivered, wondering if the man was talking about wild animals, like a bear or something. “We’ll get help to you as fast as we can.”
She swallowed her fear. “Thank you so much.”
When Gabe’s cell phone rang, he’d been riding through fresh snow in the lower pasture, checking to make sure there was enough feed for the herd. No one from the ranch house would be bothering him during this blizzard unless it was important.
He reined in his horse, then pulled the phone from his jacket. Another gust of snow forced him to lower the tip of his Stetson as a shield so he could be heard.
“Gabe here.”
“Gabe? It’s Marva. A minute ago the sheriff’s office phoned the main house. Apparently a woman named Teri Jones, driving a blue Honda, is stranded on the road near the gate to the ranch, but it seems all police rescue vehicles are out on emergencies right now. Since they’re shorthanded, the dispatcher wondered if somebody around here could investigate. Whom shall I send?”
His horse pranced in place. Every available stockman and ranch hand, including Mack, were checking for strays in the other pastures, making sure there was plenty of feed. Gabe realized he was probably closest to the main road.
“I’ll see about it. Keep the coffee hot.”
“You bet.”
“Thanks, Marva.” He slipped the phone back in place. “Let’s go home.”
He hurried back to the barn where he asked one of the hands to take care of Caesar. Within minutes he’d climbed in the Explorer. Fortunately in that short amount of time the wind had died down and the worst of the blizzard seemed to have passed over.
One thing about the early spring storms. They didn’t last long. A strong sun had been making inroads on the snowdrifts built up over the winter. Large patches of green meadow were springing up everywhere. He’d even seen some yellow primroses at the higher elevations, pushing through the ice. The sight had been glorious.
Still, the sun was nowhere to be found right now. He imagined the stranded woman was wondering if help would ever arrive. It was past dinnertime. If she hadn’t planned for an emergency, she was probably hungry and frightened.
The seven-mile drive to the gate through the wet virgin snow presented little problem. But after reaching the main road, he didn’t see a sign of a car or any tire tracks. Deciding to take a right, he proceeded in that direction for a couple of miles. When nothing showed up, he turned around and headed back the other way.
A mile past the gate he spotted a snow-covered vehicle, which had gone into the ditch headfirst. He pulled up alongside and turned on his hazard light. Still keeping the engine running, he levered himself from the seat and walked over to the car.
“Ms. Jones?” After knocking on the left rear window to announce his arrival, he climbed into the shallow culvert. With a gloved hand, he started removing snow from the driver’s window so he could see inside. Before he’d finished the job, the glass slid down.
“Thank you for coming!” she cried with undisguised relief.
For a brief moment his eyes glimpsed the profile of a stunning woman with short, glossy black curls. Combined with her husky voice, he was strongly reminded of someone else whose beauty had taken his breath the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her.
He thought he must be hallucinating until she turned to face him. The seductive floral scent that had enticed him on too many other occasions drifted past him.
Her makeup and earrings might be different, the brown lenses fake, but he’d know the bewitching lines of that exquisite face and mouth anywhere.
The blood pounded in his ears.
“Stefanie?”
“Yes,” came her terrified whisper. Beneath the makeup, her complexion had paled. “Please don’t be angry with me, Gabe. Please.” Her gently rounded chin quivered. “You have to hear me out! No one knows I’m here. Your secret is safe. I swear it!”
He was so shocked to see her, the meaning of her words didn’t register right away. All this time he’d imagined her in Paris, charming every damn male in sight.
His gaze followed the involuntary movement of her hand to her heart, drawing his attention to the gorgeous mold of her body. The black sweater proved faithful to her rounded curves.
“How in the hell did you find me?”
Even to his own ears he knew he sounded furious, but he felt out of control, unable to quell the myriad of conflicting emotions that were exploding inside him.
She moistened her luscious red mouth nervously. The color was one she’d never worn before. The sight of it on her lips was incredibly erotic. “I—I had you followed. But don’t worry!” she blurted. “They’ll never tell anyone.”
He fought not to erupt again, but it was almost impossible. “Who are they?” he demanded in a deceptively silky tone.
She swallowed hard, once again distracting him as his gaze studied the creamy column of her throat rising out of the material. No woman in the world had such flawless skin.
“A team of p-private detectives. I paid them well.”
“What’s this all about, Stefanie?” He fired the question before he noticed she’d been gripping the steering wheel to keep from falling sideways. When he realized how she was straining, he yanked the door open and pulled her out.
Obviously unprepared, she fell against him like a rag doll, leaving the imprint of her beautiful body against his, turning his legs leaden until his breathing constricted.
Though he knew it was insane, he found himself unwilling to break the contact. Without conscious thought he picked her up in his arms and carried her through the snow to the passenger side of the Explorer.
During their marriage he’d made certain they never experienced this kind of physical closeness, not even when they’d danced together at fund-raiser galas. Especially not then. Now he knew why.
For a year a fierce hunger had been burning inside him. A hunger he’d never dared feed, not when there couldn’t be a future for the two of them.
Not when she would never love a man for the only reason that mattered.
The discovery that the woman he thought he’d said goodbye to forever had secretly followed him to Montana had all the components of some fantastic dream. But it was a flesh-and-blood Stefanie he deposited on the seat before removing her arms from his neck.
Determined to get this over as soon as possible, he stowed her purse and suitcase in his car, then started down the road.
She darted him an anxious glance. “Where are we going? The ranch is the other way.”
“I’m taking you to Marion where there’s a garage. The sooner your car is repaired, the sooner you can be on your way.”
“No, Gabe!” Her body jerked toward him. “I—I mean, I need to talk to you. I had no idea the sheriff’s office would send you to help me. Naturally I’m very grateful it was you who came.” After a slight pause, “Now that you’re here, couldn’t we pull over to the side of the road for a minute?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “It’s getting late. We’ll be lucky to catch the mechanic before he goes home for the night.”
“I don’t care about the car. This is more important.”
With a grimace he asked, “You’re not worried about where you’re going to sleep tonight?”
“I was hoping I could stay with you,” came the quiet response.
“That would be impossible.”
Her head was bowed. “Is that because your son’s mother wouldn’t understand why your ex-wife has suddenly appeared, hoping to prevail on your good nature instead of partying in Paris?”
Gabe braked sharply, forgetting the snow. His Explorer skidded at an angle, but he was able to correct it in time to bring the car to a stop.
“All right, Stefanie. We’re off the road. You’ve gotten your wish and have my undivided attention.”
“Don’t worry,” she said quietly. “Your private life is your business. Rest assured your secret is safe with me. When the P.I.s saw you pick up a woman and a teenage boy who bore a resemblance to you, it wasn’t hard to figure out th—”
“Get to the point!” he broke in, knocked sideways by her erroneous conclusions. “To say that I’m surprised to see you again would be the understatement of all time.”
She nodded. “I know, but there are compelling reasons—at least compelling to me—why I was driven to follow you. If you’ll just hear me out.”
He sucked in his breath. “I’m listening.”
“The truth is, I—I didn’t want to go around the world alone. I realized you planned that trip as a fabulous thank-you gift for me. When you first suggested it, I felt it would have been unconscionable of me to turn it down. I could tell you were trying hard to do something special and unique for me. But as the days grew closer to my departure, I started to panic.”
A groan escaped his throat. “Then why didn’t you say something?”
“B-because I’ve never really been on my own before and knew it would be good for me. When you think about it, I’ve only lived with my parents, and then w-with you. Other people seem to handle independence just fine. But deep down the thought of being free to travel for six months by myself started to sound worse than being locked up in a prison.”
“For the love of heaven, Stefanie—” He raked an unsteady hand through his hair. Her revelations were so unexpected, he wondered if there wasn’t some other reason she’d come.
“Two days before you left Newport I got so frightened, I knew I would never be able to set foot on that plane to Paris. But I also knew you were depending on me to do my part and disappear.”
“Not at the cost of your sanity,” he muttered fiercely.
“Gabe—I’m not trying to make you feel sorry for me. I’m just trying to explain that there was no way I would have let you down. S-so I came up with this plan to follow you, then beg you to let me stay wherever you were until the six months were up.”
He had to be dreaming. “Why did you give the sheriff’s office a fake name? For that matter, what are you doing in this disguise?”
“I didn’t want anything I did to give your secret away. I knew how important it was for you to stay hidden from the media. To make certain no one recognized me or could link us in any way, I decided to camouflage myself and have been wearing this outfit since I left Newport.”
She’d come up with a good one. She was sexy as hell.
“At first I thought maybe you’d made arrangements to leave the States for good. Then came the surprising news that you were driving across the country. I had no idea you owned a ranch and planned to live out here.”
“It’s hardly the yacht club scene.”
Her head jerked around. “I don’t care about that, Gabe!”
Wouldn’t it be amazing if her denial were true and she’d come after him because she couldn’t help herself. But it was only in his dreams he heard her say those kinds of things to him…
“I haven’t come here to cause you any trouble. I promise I haven’t! The last thing I would want to do is interfere with your life.”
“What am I supposed to say to that?” he let the sarcasm fly.
“I know my arrival has come as a horrible shock. But now that I’m here, maybe there’s a job I could do? One of the P.I.s phoned the ranch and found out you run a school for troubled boys.”
He let out an angry laugh. He couldn’t help it.
“I don’t know what it would be, of course,” she offered lamely.
“Believe me, Stefanie, neither do I.”
“The thing is, I would take on any task that would allow me to stay for six months and give me a roof over my head. With this disguise and my fake name, no one would ever need to know the truth of our relationship. I swear to you I would keep away from the people you love.”
Gabe sat there in stunned silence. Gone was the composed, serene blond beauty he’d kissed goodbye on the cheek five days ago. In her place was this emotional, highly charged, intense woman in black curls who was talking faster and faster, a trait he’d never seen come out in her before.
“While I was waiting for help to arrive, I thought of an idea. Couldn’t you tell your staff that I was driving to the ranch to apply for a position when my car got stuck? Of course, if that’s totally unacceptable to you, would you mind if I tried to get a job in the area?”
She kneaded her hands together, another visible sign of her anxiety. “At least I would have the assurance that someone I once knew lived close by. I wouldn’t feel so alone…”
The haunting tremor in her voice just now revealed a vulnerability Gabe would never have imagined was there. In the setting where she’d been raised, Stefanie had always appeared to be in charge. Confident. But that woman was no longer in evidence.
“Before you say no to everything, please be assured you have my word I won’t retaliate by going home or revealing your secrets. It’s just that I don’t know where to turn.”
A huge sigh escaped her lips.
“I realize everything’s my fault. I should have told you I didn’t want to go on that trip. But I was afraid to bother you when you were involved with your own plans. I’m so sorry, Gabe,” she whispered shakily. “A-are you very angry?”
His dark head reared. Hell, yes, he was angry. And frustrated. And tied up in so many knots he couldn’t think straight. Her last words to him before he’d left the house kept resounding in his head.
You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I took care of myself before we met, and shall do so again.
What was that all about? Which woman was the real Stefanie? Was it possible she’d come because she missed him? Or did she have some ulterior motive that would turn him inside out if he knew the answer?
Just then her stomach rumbled. Hadn’t she been eating?
The sound brought him back to a cognizance of their surroundings. It had grown darker outside. Colder.
His first instinct was to send her to an opposite corner of the world. But he’d already tried that and it hadn’t worked. She would have no choice if he decided to drive her to Marion and settle her in the Branding Iron for the night.
But when he considered she’d been on the road for the better part of a week, and had run into a ditch during the blizzard, he didn’t like the idea of her spending another night alone in a tiny, sparsely furnished motel room way off the beaten track.
The coffee shop served as a local hangout for the cowboys in the area. On any given night things got a little wild in the bar. One look at Stefanie and…
Gabe started the engine and turned the Explorer around. In the semidarkness he felt her questioning gaze as if she’d touched him.
“It’s late, Stafanie. You sound like you’re ready to drop.” He could tell she was exhausted. Even if nothing else added up, that much was true. “I’m taking you to the ranch.”
“Thank you, Gabe,” she murmured emotionally.
He didn’t want her thanks. He didn’t want her anywhere near him.
“You’d better reserve judgment. I’m afraid all the bedrooms in the main house are occupied by the school staff. But there’s a small, semiempty room next to Marva’s behind the kitchen that once served as a nursery.”
“Who’s Marva?”
