Hawk's Way: Carter & Falcon. Joan Johnston

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СКАЧАТЬ was an impressive spread. He froze when he heard the office door open.

      “Maddy, can you come in here for a minute?” Faron called.

      “Excuse me, Carter,” the old woman said. “I hate to leave you alone. I’m sure I won’t be gone long.”

      He didn’t look at her, afraid that his feelings were naked on his face. “Don’t worry, Maddy. I’m used to being alone.”

      He could have bitten his tongue after he’d said the words, knowing how much he had revealed in that simple sentence. He felt more than saw, her hesitation. But he heard her set her glass down on the end table and leave the room.

      He shook his head in disgust. How had he let possessing The Castle matter so much to him? He was only setting himself up for disappointment. He should have come sooner, when Wayne Prescott was still alive, and demanded his heritage. But he hadn’t needed Wayne’s land then. He hadn’t yet experienced the tragedy that had left him rootless and alone.

      “Carter?”

      He forced all emotion from his face as he turned to face Faron, who was flanked by the two women. He knew the answer before Faron spoke.

      “We’ve decided not to sell.”

      CHAPTER TWO

      DESIREE CONCENTRATED ON THE road, which was slick with a layer of ice and difficult to see through the blowing snow. She had been among the last to leave the church, since she had helped with the cleanup. The storm had worsened in the past hour, and Desiree wished she had asked someone to follow her, at least until she got to the turnoff for the ranch. She didn’t want to end up stuck on the road somewhere overnight, although if she ended up frozen to death that would solve the worry of finding a husband.

      Beside her, Nicole chattered on happily about the Christmas pageant. Desiree responded to her daughter, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She was mentally kicking herself for being so foolish as to confront a perfect stranger with a proposal of marriage.

      “Did you see me, Mommy? Was I a good angel?”

      “You were wonderful, sweetheart. A perfect angel.”

      Desiree worried her lower lip with her teeth. Why hadn’t she stood firm until she had an answer from Carter Prescott? Because she was afraid, that’s why! But although the ragtag cowboy’s eyes had been cold, they hadn’t been unkind. And while he had towered over her, she hadn’t felt threatened. It had been the fear of rejection, not the fear of physical harm, that had sent her fleeing into the night.

      “Did you see me fly, Mommy?”

      Desiree smiled at the image of her daughter flapping her angel’s wings. “I certainly did.” She had watched the finish of the Christmas pageant from the shadows along the side aisle of the church, her chest aching with love—and fear. She must find a husband before the new year. Her safety, and Nicole’s, depended on having a man’s presence in the house. If only she had been less fainthearted about confronting Carter Prescott!

      “Look at me, Mommy. Look! I can fly even without my wings!”

      “Nicole! Sit down, and put your seat belt back on this instant!”

      Nicole quickly dropped down on the seat and began hunting for the end of the seat belt in the darkened cab.

      Desiree had taken her eyes off the road only for a second, but that was enough. She caught a patch of ice and felt the pickup begin to slide. She turned the wheel into the skid and resisted the urge to brake, knowing that would only make things worse. But she could already see the truck wasn’t going to recover in time to stay on the road.

      Nicole gave a cry of alarm as the pickup began to tilt. “Mommy! We’re falling!”

      “It’s all right, Nicole. Sit still. Everything will be fine.” Desiree’s heart pounded as the pickup slid sideways off the road into a shallow gully.

      The truck thumped to a stop at a sharp angle with the right wheels lodged in snow two feet deeper than the left ones. It took a second for Desiree to realize they really were all right. Nicole whimpered in fright.

      Desiree reached over and grabbed Nicole and pulled her daughter into her lap, hugging her tight. “It’s all right, sweetheart. We’re fine. Everything’s fine.”

      “We’re going to fall, Mommy.”

      “No, we’re not. The truck is stopped now. It’s wedged in the snow. It won’t tip any more.” But she wasn’t going to be able to drive out of this gulley. Which meant that unless she wanted to spend the night in the truck, she was going to have to walk back the two miles or so to the church and call for help.

      “You’ll have to wait here for me, Nicole, while I—”

      “No, Mommy! Don’t leave me! I’m scared!”

      Despite her daughter’s cries, Desiree shifted her onto the seat. “I won’t be gone long.”

      “Don’t leave! Please, Mommy.” Nicole clambered back into Desiree’s lap and twined her arms around her mother’s neck.

      Desiree hugged her daughter, fighting the tears that stung her nose and welled in her eyes.

      She had been on her own for six years. She had gone through her pregnancy alone and had raised Nicole without help from anyone. Forced to cope with whatever life had thrown at her, somehow she had survived. She and Nicole were a family. Sliding off the road wasn’t nearly the disaster that loomed on the horizon. Soon their very lives would be in danger.

      So what if she was stuck miles from home in the middle of a snowstorm with her daughter clinging to her neck like a limpet? They, and the truck, had endured without a scratch. There was no reason to cry. But her throat had swollen so thick it hurt to swallow, and she could feel the heat of a tear on her cold cheek.

      It wasn’t the accident that was causing her distress, she conceded; it was the knowledge that she had so little control over her life.

      Desiree took a deep breath and let it out. She had managed so far to keep things together. She just had to take one step at a time. She retrieved the blanket she kept in the well behind the seat and wrapped Nicole snugly in it.

      “Mommy has to call a tow truck to haul us out of here,” she explained to Nicole. “The closest phone is at the church. You need to wait right here for me until I get back. Don’t leave the truck. If you wander off, you could get lost in all this snow. Okay, sweetheart?”

      It was a sign of how much more quickly the child of a single parent had to grow up that Nicole sniffed back her tears and nodded reluctant agreement to her mother’s order. There was a risk leaving Nicole alone, but there was even greater risk in taking her out walking in the bitter cold.

      “I won’t be gone long,” Desiree promised as she closed the truck door behind her. Desiree wished she had a warmer coat to keep out the bitter wind, but at least she had warm boots. She would be cold when she arrived at the church, but anyone who lived in Wyoming was inured to the harsh weather.

      To Desiree’s amazement, she had been walking no more than two minutes, when she saw headlights through the snow. She was afraid she would be lost in the dark at the side of the road, СКАЧАТЬ