Название: Cowboy Who Came For Christmas
Автор: Lenora Worth
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Superromance
isbn: 9781474045544
isbn:
She was juggling a lot of snowballs and they could all come crashing down on her if she wasn’t careful.
* * *
THEY WALKED DOWN the curving mountain road in silence.
Adan wondered what Sophia was thinking. She’d been a bit too keen on escorting him to his truck. Probably afraid he’d stumble on the place she’d obviously hidden a criminal. Or possibly, she was trying to stall him while the others helped that criminal get away.
But he still couldn’t figure out how anyone could have found a hiding place out here in this whitewashed world. The only visible cabins were up the ridge on a flat incline. He’d checked around the area when they’d first walked outside. Sophia had pointed out the circle of cabins and mentioned again the people who lived here year-round.
“The last cabin’s vacant. The owners usually come up here in the spring and summer.”
Adan should have searched more last night, but the driving snow and the possibility of getting lost in whiteout had held him back. “I’ll want to check the cabins before we head down the road to my truck. He could have broken into one.”
She’d obediently followed him, her gaze cutting here and there through the ice-covered trees. When they’d searched around the vacant cabin and glanced in the windows, Adan decided he could rule out anyone hiding inside. No signs of forced entry in the windows or doors.
So what would he find on down the road?
Now they were headed past the little community and down the sloping road, the way slippery with ice patches and thick with snowdrifts. So far, they hadn’t seen a soul. The woods were quiet and settled in a blanket of fresh, powdery snow.
“It rarely snows this heavily here,” Sophia said, her breath wispy around her. “I need to take some pictures.”
“It’s cold,” he said, hoping to rouse her into more small talk. “And beautiful.”
“Yes.”
She said that in a way that implied he might be stupid.
Adan smiled at her attitude. If he could trust her, that kind of sass might be cute. But since he couldn’t trust her, it only managed to irritate him.
He tried again. “Did you have any big plans for today?”
“No.”
“So do you try to work every day?”
“Most days, yes.” She actually cut him a glance. “I like to take long walks and find different things to include in my work. Twigs and leaves, old buttons and scraps, feathers. I never know what I’ll find.”
“My job is kind of like that, too,” Adan replied, glad for the comparison. “I have to put together bits and pieces of different things to come up with a way to solve a case.”
She slanted her gaze toward him again. “Are you comparing your job to art?”
“I guess I am. It requires a certain amount of artistic persuasion to find out what I need to know.”
“Oh, is that what you’d call this? You questioning my every move and badgering me to come clean on something I don’t even know about? That’s your kind of art?”
“I am painting a picture in my mind, yes.”
“Are you always this funny?”
“I have my moments.”
She gave him a harsh glance followed by a wry smile. “At least you’re not boring.”
“You might change your mind on that after I’ve been around a few days.”
She stopped on the snow-packed road so fast ice chips flew out around her boots. “Are you staying that long?”
He gave her a frown. “Ah, tired of me already?”
“Yes,” she said much to his surprise. “I want my nice, quiet life back. You’re annoying.”
“You make me laugh in spite of myself,” he admitted.
Then he decided while he had her out here in the open, he’d level with her. But he made sure they were in the middle of the slippery road and not near a plunging ravine before he confronted her. “Sophia, we really need to talk.”
She looked up at him, concern filtering through her poker face. “This is no laughing matter, is it?”
At least she knew the situation was dangerous. But she also needed to know he was serious. Dead serious. “No. Pritchard is desperate and he’s mean. That’s a dangerous combination.”
Her face went pale again. “Are you sure he’s still here?”
“If he came to this mountain with a purpose, he won’t leave until he’s fulfilled that purpose.”
She held a hand to her mouth and then dropped it to her side. “We need to check your truck and then get back. I don’t like leaving the others.”
Adan stopped on the side of the road and breathed deep, his words coming out through a cold mist. “Sophia, I’m not leaving this mountain until I have my man. If I have to drag Joe Pritchard back to Texas in a body bag, I’ll do it. I always get my man.”
Then he gave her one of his surefire Ranger glares. “Or my woman.”
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