Dakota Home (12 page)

After another hour, her eyes were so heavy she couldn't keep them from closing. She wanted to sleep, to sleep…. But her fears multiplied and she forced her eyes open, fearing if she did allow herself to fall asleep, it would be the end of her. She tried singing, tried talking to herself, but the effort drained her.

Just when she was sure she really was about to freeze, she started the engine once more. Eventually the air grew less frigid. Despite everything she'd done to keep warm, she was so terribly, terribly cold. She let the engine run far longer than she should have. After a while, it coughed, sputtered, and then stopped entirely. The gas gauge told her what she already knew. She was out of fuel.

Maddy fought off sleep as long as she could. Against her will, her eyes would drift shut and then she'd jerk herself awake.

“Hurry,” she prayed, hoping Jeb had gotten her message. Someone. Anyone. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall forward until her forehead hit the steering wheel and she snapped to attention again.

“Don't go to sleep,” she reminded herself. “It's the worst thing you can do.”

But it was impossible to remain awake. Soon it would be completely dark. Soon it would be too late. She swallowed a sob, not wanting to face the thought that she might die. Her death would devastate her mother. Her father was so self-absorbed these days, she wondered if he'd even notice she was gone. A weak smile turned up her lips.

Her eyes closed again and she didn't have the strength to keep them open any longer. She hadn't really lived, hadn't done any of the things she'd always dreamed were part of her future. Hadn't married, hadn't borne a child.

Please, God,
she prayed,
please don't let me die.

She repeated the desperate prayer over and over, moving her lips, trying to believe in the possibility of rescue.

The next thing Maddy knew, the car door was yanked open. The action was abrupt and shocking, and it frightened her so badly that if not for the restraint of the seat belt, she would have toppled out of the vehicle.

“Maddy…thank God, thank God.”

Jeb. He'd come. She'd known he would, but his voice seemed so far away. She saw his lips move, but the words didn't reach her until several seconds later. Her lashes fluttered open and she attempted to smile, but she was too cold and weak to manage even that.

“…get you out of here.” He reached across her and unfastened her seat belt.

She tried to help, but all her efforts were useless. Try as she might, all she did was get in his way.

The cold inside the car had been horrific, but now with her door open, the snow and wind lashed her unmercifully. The numbness she'd been feeling was gone, replaced by pain. Half dragging and half carrying her, Jeb managed to get her inside the cab of his pickup. He wrapped her in a heavy blanket and made her drink something vile-tasting. Whatever it was burned her throat. She protested and twisted her head, refusing to take another sip, but he forced her, yelling at her.

“Drink!” he shouted. “Drink, dammit.”

He gripped her chin and poured the burning liquid down her throat. Then he turned the pickup and started to drive, slowly, carefully, peering out of the windshield. The cab of the truck was warm, so warm. How he managed to see the road was beyond Maddy. Her head kept falling from side to side as she battled off waves of sleep and unconsciousness. All at once, she started to shake violently but whether it was from reaction or cold, she didn't know.

Jeb didn't say one word. His entire concentration remained focused on the road. Maddy tried to help, to stay awake and watch with him, but it was too difficult with the uncontrollable shaking that had overtaken her.

She could see the tension in Jeb and longed to tell him how sorry she was, but she couldn't find the words, couldn't make herself speak.

An eternity passed before Maddy realized that they were on his ranch. He pulled the truck up close to the house.

“Everything's all right now,” he assured her.

She rolled her head to look at him and this time was able to manage a small smile. “Thank you,” she mouthed, uncertain the words were audible. “I knew you'd come…I prayed you'd come.”

He hurried around to her side of the truck and helped her out, but her legs refused to cooperate and once again he had to half drag, half carry her. Once inside the house, he took her directly into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He removed her coat but didn't undress her. He put her under the water, the warm spray hitting her face and drenching her clothes. Maddy cried out at the pain of it. The water was barely warm but it burned her skin. With her back to the wall, she slid to the floor and buried her face in her hands, pressing her head to her bent knees.

“Maddy, Maddy.”

That was when she started to weep. Deep, shaking sobs racked her body, making it nearly impossible to breathe. If he hadn't arrived when he did, she'd be dead by now. Dead. The sobbing went on.

“Maddy.” Fully clothed, Jeb stepped into the shower stall with her, and tucking his hands beneath her arms, brought her to a standing position. “It's all right. You're safe now.”

Then they were clinging to each other, and Maddy felt a massive shudder go through Jeb and knew instinctively that it was one of relief. Steam rose from the water, swirling around them, creating a fog.

Jeb had found her. He'd risked everything to search for her. She was safe now—they both were.

Holding her against him, his strong arms circled her waist and leaned her against the shower wall. Even with his clothes on, with the water from the shower pelting down on them, she could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart.

It seemed the most natural thing in the world to kiss, although she was certain neither of them intended it to happen. His chest lifted with a deep intake of breath and his grip on her tightened as their mouths strained toward one another. The kiss was urgent, intense, and once they'd started they couldn't seem to stop.

They kissed again and again, their need frantic. Steam rose around them and seemed to cloud all reason, all inhibition. When at last he raised his head, Jeb looked down at her, his face intent as if he needed reassurance that this was truly happening.

Maddy gave him a slow, sweet smile. She could immediately see that it flustered him. With his back to her, he turned off the water.

“Stay here,” he instructed as he stepped out of the shower. His boots squelched and made puddles on the floor as he walked across the bathroom. “I'll be right back with some clothes for you.”

While he was gone, she stripped out of her wet clothes, but had trouble doing it. She was extremely weak. The worst of it was pulling off her boots and then getting the heavy wet sweater over her head. By the time she'd finished, she was exhausted. Breathing erratically, she leaned against the back of the stall, standing there for several minutes in order to regain her strength. When she could, she reached for a towel, wrapping it around her. She grabbed another towel to at least partially dry her hair. Piece by piece, she wrung out her clothes and draped them over the shower door.

When he returned, Jeb had changed out of his own wet clothes. He handed her a stack of neatly folded items, including a set of thermal underwear. “They'll probably be too big,” he said, doing his best not to stare at her wrapped in a flimsy towel—and not succeeding, she noticed. “But it's the best I can do.”

“Thanks,” she whispered. “I'm sure that'll work out nicely.”

He was right, almost everything hung on her, but she rolled up the shirtsleeves and the bottom of the pants. Borrowing his comb, she tugged it through her blond tangles and pulled the hair away from her face, securing it with a rubber band she'd found in her pants pocket. The wool socks felt wonderful.

Maddy heard the wood fire pop and crackle as she walked into the living room. Jeb knelt on the floor with his back to her, in front of the fireplace. “I expect we're going to lose electricity any time now,” he told her.

Sitting on the edge of the sofa, she brought her knees up and slid her arms around them, watching him work.

Jeb glanced over his shoulder. “That cup of coffee there is for you.” He pointed to a side table next to the sofa.

“Thank you.” She picked it up, letting the hot mug warm her hands. Her first sip told her this was coffee with something added to it. The same something he'd given her in the truck, she suspected. Even diluted, it was potent enough to bring tears to her eyes. Brandy, perhaps? She inhaled a sharp breath and blinked furiously.

He fed the fire for several moments, then stood awkwardly. He picked up his own mug and sat down beside her on the sofa. “How do you feel?” he asked.

“Cold.” It wasn't true anymore, but it was all she could think of that would bring him closer. Saying it had the desired effect, and he moved near enough to put his arm around her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and her voice cracked with emotion. Without him, she didn't want to think what would have happened.

“You should never have been on the road,” he said quietly.

She wasn't going to argue with him. “I know. You're right, of course.”

“The first lesson you need to learn about living in North Dakota is to respect the weather. Another ten or fifteen minutes and it might have been too late.”

“The storm—it came on so fast….” With splayed fingers she cradled his jaw and turned his face to hers. “I know I keep saying this, but I can't help it. Thank you, thank you so much.”

She knew he was going to kiss her again, and welcomed his mouth with a soft groan. As if they both realized at the same moment what a narrow escape they'd had, they clung to each other. Soon their kissing became a frenzied need, his mouth slanting over hers, their tongues finding and stroking. Her hands were busy unfastening the buttons to his shirt, and at the same time, his fingers unfastened hers.

Pushing aside the thermal underwear, he cupped her bare breasts and stroked each nipple with the pad of his thumb. Gently bunching them together, holding them in his palms, he administered detailed attention to one nipple and then the other, first licking them to hard peaks and then sucking each in turn, until Maddy sighed with the intensity of the pleasure.

She wasn't sure how it happened, or when, but she was out of her jeans and the thermal underwear, straddling Jeb. He remained upright, his own jeans open and halfway down his legs. She saw where the prosthesis was joined to his thigh and saw the doubt in his eyes, as though this would disgust her. Maddy answered the unspoken question by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with such fervor it was a wonder they could breathe.

“I can't…normal position,” he choked out. His hands grasped her hips as he slowly lowered her weight onto him. Maddy felt the hot tip of his penis as she settled herself over him, slowly taking him inside her. She paused and he groaned but offered no resistance, giving her body ample opportunity to accept his. For a long moment, neither moved.

As slowly as she'd descended, Maddy rose and sighed, feeling warm and very womanly as she set the pace of their lovemaking. With his hands on her hips, and his back against the sofa, Jeb guided her movements until she reached orgasm, and he did, too, almost immediately afterward.

Panting, her lip caught in her bottom teeth, Maddy collapsed against him.

Jeb wrapped his arms completely around her waist and wordlessly hugged her.

They'd made love as if they'd been born for this, for one another. She wasn't entirely sure
how
their kissing had escalated to this point, but she understood
why.
Because of him, she'd survived a deadly risk, and with that realization had come another—about the preciousness of life. Their lovemaking would never have occurred under any conditions but these. What they'd shared was a celebration of life and hope.

“Maddy?” His voice was a hoarse whisper.

“Shh.” She pressed her finger against his lips and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Maddy, this shouldn't have happened.”

Already he had regrets. He was going to tell her that what they'd done was wrong.

“Don't,” she whispered.

“I didn't have any protection for you,” he whispered, his voice thick with the lingering effects of desire.

“I know…I didn't, either.”

“But…”

This time she silenced him with a kiss. “We can discuss this later, all right? For now, just hold me.”

He agreed, his arms clinging to her, keeping her in place. He kissed her soft, vulnerable neck, his lips and tongue moistening the underside of her jaw.

Soon, just as he'd predicted, the lights flickered and the room went dark, except for the small flickering flames that illuminated the room from the fireplace.

“I have a generator,” he whispered. “I'll go and—”

“No, don't leave yet.” She needed the comfort of his arms, needed his reassurance that what happened had been as real and wonderful for him as it had been for her.