At the sound of heavy boots stomping across the wooden porch of the old cabin, Claire grabbed her purse, unzipped the side pocket, and brought out a small pistol. Her heart was in her throat, and her pulse raced so fast that she couldn’t breathe, but she held the gun in both hands and pointed it straight at the door. A key rattled in the lock and the knob turned, but her hands were rock steady and the red laser dot was unwavering on the left side of the intruder’s chest. What looked like the abominable snowman filled the space, and her four-year-old niece, Zaylie, squealed and dived beneath the quilt they were both huddling under.
With shoulders and a chest so broad that it obliterated the blowing snow, the man just stood there staring at her. After what seemed like forever but was probably less than a minute, he whipped off the black face mask and wiped snow from his thick eyelashes. Fear sent adrenaline rushing through Claire’s body, but her brother had told her to never show that she was afraid—even if she was terrified.
“Who are you and what are you doin’ here?” She kept the pistol aimed at his chest. If she missed a target that big, her brother would never let her live it down.
Both of his hands went up. “Don’t shoot, lady. I’m Levi Jackson, the foreman of this ranch.” He shut the door behind him with a heavy thud. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. My four-wheeler ran out of gas, and I need a place to hole up until this storm is over.”
She lowered the gun but kept it in her lap. “Just don’t get too close.”
“Okay, I’ll keep my distance. Take it easy.” He kicked off his cowboy boots and bent forward to undo the short zippers on the legs of his coveralls and then the longer one down the front. He shrugged his wide shoulders out of the garment and hung it on a nail inside the door.
“What are y’all doin’ here anyway?” he asked as he made his way across the room toward the kitchen area.
“My vehicle slid off the road in this awful snow storm and hit a tree. We saw this place. It was unlocked.” She kept her finger on the trigger and her eyes on him. “We’re not hurting anything, and we’ll be gone as soon as it stops snowing.”
He removed his cowboy hat and combed his light brown hair back with his fingers. “When did this happen? Were you injured?”
“It was last night. We’re fine except for a few bruises. We slid off the road, went through a fence, and hit a tree. My van is down there not far off the road if you need proof. My cell phone battery had gone dead, and I left the charger at my brother’s, and…” She shrugged.
“I’m glad you found shelter. It’s nasty out there! I’m just going to get a fire started so we can warm this place up a bit.” He kept one eye on her as he walked to a cabinet. “I’m going to get the matches. Don’t shoot me.”
Zaylie pushed the quilt back far enough to peek out with one blue eye, but she quickly dived back under when the man took a few more steps.
“It’s okay.” Claire hugged the child closer with her free hand. “He’s going to start a fire so we can get warm.”
The huge cowboy removed his gloves and stuck them in his pocket, then retrieved a box of matches from the top shelf. “I’d sure feel better if you put the safety back on that pistol and put it away.” He strode back across the room and dropped to his knees in front of the old stone fireplace. “It won’t take long to get this place warmed up.”
“I wish I’d found those matches. I would’ve started that fire myself.” She pushed the safety switch to the on position but kept her thumb on it.
“Seems like we might be here a while. Mind if I ask your names?” He dropped the match in the fireplace, and the kindling blazed.
“I’m Claire Mason. This is my niece, Zaylie. Sorry to be trespassin’ like this.”
“It’s no problem. We never lock the door just in case someone needs to use the cabin.” He sat down on the worn sofa facing the fire and removed his socks. Stretching his bare feet toward the fire to warm them, he glanced over his shoulder. “Sure y’all ain’t hurt?”
Zaylie stopped shivering from under the quilt, and Claire slipped the pistol back into her purse. “We’re fine. Thank you for starting a fire.”
“If you’d come over here closer to it, you’d warm up quicker,” he said. “Now, I’m going to reach in my hip pocket for my phone. I need to let the folks at the ranch know where I am.”
Claire nodded but reached back into her purse, pulled out the pistol, and closed her fingers around the grip again. His angular face broke out into a smile when someone answered.
“Retta, I’m at the cabin. Four-wheeler is out of gas, and the battery on my phone is almost gone. Did Justin and Cade find that rangy old bull?”
He listened and then said, “That’s great. No, we’ll wait out the blizzard. There’s food and plenty of wood.” He drew his feet up on the sofa and tucked them under a blanket. “Okay, it’s not a real blizzard, but for north central Texas it sure feels like one. My phone is starting to bleep so listen up.” He told her about finding a half-frozen lady and a child in the cabin. Then he held the phone out and sighed before he laid it on an end table next to the sofa. “Well, that’s the last of communication with the outside world. Last weather report I heard said the storm was going to hang around until tomorrow. Y’all hungry?”
Zaylie pushed back the blanket and nodded. “I’m hungry. Who is Retta?”
“You goin’ to take your hand off that gun, ma’am, or do I need to verbalize every thing I’m doin’ so you don’t get trigger happy and shoot me? Justin and Cade Maguire own this ranch and Retta is Cade’s wife. They can’t come get us right now, but they’ll be here soon as possible.”
Levi didn’t look afraid even when he tiptoed across the cold floor to the other side of the cabin. For that matter, he looked as if he knew the place very well, like he might really be the foreman of the ranch, just as he said.
Claire slipped the gun back in her purse, but she didn’t zip the pocket. “Thank you for not throwing us out.”
“What are you doing?” Zaylie pushed the covers back a little more.
“I’m going over here to this chest of drawers to get some dry socks, maybe two pair until this floor gets warmed up. And then I’m going to make hot soup for lunch,” he answered as he dug around in a dresser drawer and brought out a pair of gray socks. “There’s lots here. Y’all need some to keep your feet warm?”
“I brought our suitcases in with us.” Claire nodded toward a couple of bags at the end of the bed.
In a few long strides he was back to the sofa, where he held the socks near the fire and then put them on his feet. “Ahh, that’s much better. Now, let’s get some food ready.” He opened a cabinet and pulled out some cans of soup.
“That sounds good.” She could be polite and appreciative, but that didn’t mean he was luring her into trusting him—not even with food and a sexy grin.
Levi had a reputation on the Longhorn Canyon Ranch for bringing in strays, from dogs to turtles to a crippled miniature donkey. His experience had taught him to give an animal space and to let them come to him. No need to be in a rush anyway—the storm wouldn’t let up until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and it might be a day past that before Cade or Justin could rescue them. He just hoped that she kept that cute little pistol tucked away and didn’t point it at him again.
The tiny one-room cabin could sleep up to four people and was often rented out to hunters in the fall and spring. Two sets of bunk beds set end to end covered the south wall. A sofa with a couple of mismatched end tables faced the stone fireplace. Four chairs—no two alike—were pushed around a small kitchen table over in the far corner. Cupboards without doors hung above a wall-hung sink. A tiny two-burner stove and an apartment-size refrigerator were on one end of the kitchen area and a closet that had been converted into a pantry on the other.
“Where were y’all headed?” he asked as he turned the knob and struck a match to light one of the stove burners.
“My daddy went away again.” Zaylie sighed. “But he’ll be home for Christmas.”
He didn’t want to spook the child by looking right at her, so he stole sideways glances. She was a delicate-looking little girl with huge blue eyes and wispy blond hair falling to her shoulders.
“We were on our way home from San Antonio, Texas, to Randlett, Oklahoma, right across the Red River,” Claire answered. She didn’t look a thing like her niece, with her long brown hair twisted up on top of her head with some kind of big clip and light green eyes set in a round face.
“How did you get way back here?” He poured two cans of noodle soup into a pan and set it on the burner.
The electricity flickered, and Zaylie dived back under the quilt.
“Don’t be afraid,” Levi said. “We’ve got plenty of wood so we won’t freeze, and the hurricane lamps you see scattered around aren’t just for pretty.”
“But you’ll keep the monsters away if it gets dark, won’t you?” Her blue eyes were huge.
“I promise.” He nodded and turned his attention toward Claire. “How did you get this far off the highway going from San Antonio to Randlett?”
“There was an accident on the Interstate and the GPS on my phone rerouted me, but then I lost service, probably because of the storm,” she explained. “When I got it back, I’d gotten off on the wrong road and the snow was coming down so hard I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of the van. The battery in my phone played out, and I hit a really big pothole in the road and a slick spot at the same time.” She talked fast and twisted the edge of the quilt, obviously more than a little nervous.
“The car went like this.” Zaylie waved her arms around. “And then a tree was right there, and the car stopped with a big bump. And Aunt Claire said ‘shit’ and then she hit the steering wheel.” Zaylie slung her legs off the bed and ventured over closer to the fire. Holding her little hands out to warm them, she looked so vulnerable that Levi wanted to hug her and reassure her that everything would be fine. Poor little thing had to have been scared out of her mind when the car was slipping and sliding all over the road.
“Zaylie Noelle Mason, little girls don’t say that word,” Claire scolded.
“I didn’t say it, you did,” Zaylie argued, and then turned her attention back to Levi. “I held Aunt Claire’s hand real tight so I wouldn’t get blowed away. Is the soup ready yet?”
“Almost. And I’m thinking I could make a hoecake too.”
“Hoecake?” Claire eased off the bed and joined Zaylie at the fireplace.
“Something like a cornbread pancake. It’ll take less fuel than firing up the oven, and it will cook faster.”
“Sounds good,” she said.
“Dejert?” Zaylie asked.
“Dessert,” Claire translated.
He rustled around in the cabinet and found a can of peaches, powdered sugar, and pancake mix. “How about some peach fritters for dessert?”
“I like peaches. Is this like campin’ out?” Zaylie left the fireplace, put her knees on the sofa, and peered over the back at him.
“Little bit,” he answered with a smile.
Claire had the same look in her eye that the ranch’s old mama cat, Gussie, did when someone got too close to her kittens as she made her way across the room and joined Zaylie on the sofa. Yep, he would have to go real slow to gain her trust.
“Looks like there’s some blood on your forehead, Miz Claire. There’s a first-aid kit in the bathroom if you want to clean it up.” He wanted to offer to clean the wound and see just how deep it was, but his better judgment told him that wouldn’t be wise. She looked like she might spook easier than a wild deer.
“Oh. Come on, Zaylie, you might need to help me.” She took the little girl by the hand and led her to the bathroom.
Levi read the directions on the cornbread mix and stirred it up. When the oil in a cast iron skillet was hot, he poured the mixture in it and covered it with a heavy lid.
While that cooked, he whipped up some peach fritters to fry as soon as the bread was done. It took two things to get an animal to trust him—patience and food. He hoped it worked as well on humans.
“You didn’t let me help.” Zaylie was fussing when they came out of the bathroom.
“But you were there if I’d needed you,” Claire told her.
Levi removed the lid from the skillet, flipped the hoecake over so it would brown on the other side, and carried the pot of soup to the table. “Did you hit your head on the steering wheel?”
Claire nodded.
“Airbags open?”
Another nod.
“Seat belt leave a bruise?”
“Yes, and it hurts,” Zaylie said. “And Aunt Claire’s got one on her leg too. Want to know how we got from the tree to here?”
“I sure do,” Levi answered.
“Aunt Claire got the suitcase and I got the tote bag,” Zaylie said. “And the snow was in my face and I fell down three times.” She held up the right amount of fingers. “And I cried because my face was cold.”
“I would have cried too.” Levi turned the cornbread out onto a plate and then made the fritters. “And you spent the night here in the cabin?”
“Yep, we did, and then you came.” Zaylie crawled up into a kitchen chair. “How did you get in here? Aunt Claire locked the door.”
“We keep a key under the mat just in case.” Levi smiled.
“I’m glad.” She made herself comfortable at the table. “I like chicken noodle soup.”
“Me too.” He finished putting the rest of the food on the table and held a chair for Claire.
She hesitated and glanced at her purse on the bunk bed, but finally sat down. “How long have you been foreman on this ranch?”
“Couple of years as foreman, but I’ve worked here since I was big enough to do a job. My dad was the foreman before me. Justin and Cade are more like my brothers than just friends since we were all three raised here on the ranch.” He chose the chair across from Claire. “It’s not my best cookin’, but it’s what I can do with what we’ve got to work with. Do you folks say grace?”
“I’ll do it.” Zaylie bowed her head. “Jesus, I’m a little mad at you for lettin’ Aunt Claire get lost, but I’ll forgive you since you sent someone to cook for us. Amen.”
“Amen.” Claire smiled.
“Amen.” Levi grinned as he cut the hoecake into pie-shaped wedges. “Don’t know how good it’ll all be, but it’s fillin’ and it’s hot.”
“Thank you,” Claire said.
“So you lived in Randlett your whole life?” he asked.
“No, I moved there three years ago to take care of my grandmother after she fell and broke her hip,” Claire answered as she filled three bowls.
“But Nanny died,” Zaylie said. “They put her in a fancy pink box in a pink dress, and Daddy gave me a pink rose to put on the box after the preacher said a prayer.”
“Six months ago,” Claire said. “Cancer.”
“I’m so sorry,” Levi said. “So you work in Randlett? At the casino, maybe?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ve run a little Etsy business for six years—homemade quilts. It lets me work at home and be flexible enough to take care of Zaylie when my brother is deployed or away on missions.” Her voice had lost that high squeaky sound and settled into a husky tone that was downright sexy.
He wished his phone was working so he could research Etsy and see what kind of business that was. He’d never heard of it, but he’d bet dollars to cow patties that if it was like that Pinterest thing that Retta was always looking at on her phone that she could show him what Etsy was.
“I like this hoecake stuff,” Zaylie declared after the first bite. “It’s wondermous.”
“I’m real glad that you like it, Zaylie. I’m not the cook that Retta is, but when we get back to the ranch house, I bet she’ll make you a real good meal.” Levi dipped up a second bowl of soup. “Anyone else?”
“Not yet. I’m goin’ to save room for those fritter things. Never ate hoecake or them things before,” Zaylie said. “Have you, Aunt Claire?”
Claire shook her head. “No, ma’am.”
“Nanny didn’t ever make them, did she?”
“Nanny wasn’t much of a cook, remember?”
“But she could make real good hot chocolate when she didn’t burn it,” Zaylie said.
“Yes, she could,” Claire agreed. “Nanny liked to cook until she broke her hip, and then things went downhill from there. We thought the hip problem brought on dementia, but it turned out to be a brain tumor. That’s why I moved in with her. This is very good, and it warms from the inside out.” She ladled out another bowl full.
He met her gaze across the table, but she quickly looked away. Levi recognized something in her expression like one of the abandoned animals he’d brought to the ranch through the years. The eyes did not lie, and they couldn’t cover up deep pain. Regret, remorse, grief—there was something about her that needed rescuing.
“Read to me,” Zaylie said as she yawned.
“She takes an hour nap after lunch each day,” Claire explained to Levi. He’d been nothing but kind and hadn’t done one thing that would cause her to feel threatened in any way, but she still needed to keep Zaylie close.
“I’m too big for naps,” Zaylie declared. “Aunt Claire reads to me and sometimes I just doze off like Nanny used to do, but it’s not a nap. Just restin’ my eyes.”
“She sure talks big for a four-year-old,” Levi said.
“Been around adults her whole life.” Claire removed her coat and hung it on the back of a chair. “I didn’t think I’d ever be warm again, but I’m beginning to thaw out a little.”
Zaylie followed her lead but covered up with a throw when she reached the sofa. “My feet is still cold. Aunt Claire made me take off my shoes and socks when we got here ’cause they was wet. I put on dry socks, but they’re still cold.”
Levi went to the dresser and brought out a pair of thick gray socks and threw them across the room. “Put these on over your socks and pull them all the way up over the legs of your jeans. They’ve got wool in them, so they’ll help.”
“Can Aunt Claire have some too?” Zaylie asked.
“Sure thing.” Levi tossed a pair toward Claire.
She caught them midair. “Thank you.”
“Pretty good catch. You ever play baseball?”
“In high school, but that was a long time ago.”
“Aunt Claire is old.” Zaylie yawned again.
“Ouch!” Levi grinned.
“At that age, they don’t have filters on their mouths.” Claire blushed.
Zaylie threw both hands over her lips. “What is a filter? I don’t want one of them things on my face.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, this cabin doesn’t have any filters,” Levi assured her. “You just rest your eyes. I’m going to do the same thing over there on that other bunk bed.”
He crossed the floor, stretched out on the lower bed of the unused set of bunks, tucked his hands behind his head, and shut his eyes.
Claire settled down with Zaylie and made it through two pages of a children’s book they’d brought before the child was asleep. She tucked the throw up around her and tiptoed over to the bed where she and Zaylie had slept the night before.
She sat down and stared at Levi. Long lashes rested on his high cheekbones. A little scruff on his face testified that he hadn’t shaved that morning. His knit shirt hugged his chest like a glove, leaving little to the imagination. Her eyes traveled on down his body and stopped at a big silver belt buckle engraved with a bull rider. Was he a real cowboy or a wannabe who thought a belt buckle and boots would impress the women at the bars on Saturday nights?
She lay on her side so that she could keep an eye on both Zaylie and Levi. And that’s when it hit her—she’d failed at several of the tests that her brother had taught her. She’d told Levi where she was from, that she had no relatives who would be looking for her, that she had no cell phone, and he already knew she was stranded.
If Levi wasn’t really the foreman of the ranch, she and poor Zaylie might never be heard or seen again.