A Cowboy in Disguise by Victoria Ashe Read Free Book Online

Alex.”
    His silhouette left the doorway and Alexandra soon heard him snuggle under his own down comforter as the bed frame creaked under his weight. She felt a pang of regret even though she convinced herself she had no real reason to. Someday. Yes, maybe someday she could come back to a cabin like this with a husband and children. Someday when there was more to life than work. Down comforters just weren’t meant to snuggle up in alone. Once again, she was tired all the way to the core.
    •
    Alexandra hobbled into the living room the next morning to find Scott already up and digging around the cabinets, already thinking of breakfast. She noticed he’d showered, but had apparently decided not to shave—and it suited him. There wasn’t much that didn’t suit him—even stubble and long underwear.
    “ Mornin ’,” he called out. “I’ve got tea, canned peaches and oatmeal. Think you can choke that down?”
    “Sounds great,” she said as she eased herself onto a kitchen chair. “I’m going to get spoiled if I don’t watch out.”
    “How’s the ankle?”
    “Better. Maybe a little more purple, but I’ll definitely live through it.”
    He finished putting food in front of her. “I radioed down to the hotel earlier this morning. We’re stuck up here at least another day. They’re not plowing until tomorrow at the soonest.”
    “I think we can dig out the front door today. Most of the snow is along the side of cabin and the blizzard stopped, so I’ll bet we can get it open.”
    “It would be great to get outside into the fresh air again.” He flashed her a dazzling smile, teeth looking whiter than usual against his dark new stubble.
    Alexandra had been right—they could dig out. After breakfast, they put on their gloves and were slowly able to shove away the snow blocking the door until they could push it open just wide enough to slip through. To one side of the cabin and down the road, a bank of snow several feet high stood as testimony to the avalanche from the day before. But on the other side, the snow was shallow enough that they could trudge through it.
    “What if Zellez is using this time to seal the deal?” she asked once they were outside.
    “It’s beyond our control.”
    The sun was bright in a clear blue sky and the trees on the mountains stood still without a breeze when Alexandra and Scott finally squeezed through the door. The day was glorious with the sunlight bouncing off flawless hills of snow, lighting them up like a million tiny diamonds.
    “Just think,” he said, “there’s no one around for miles and all of this is ours for a day.” Scott stood with his hands on his hips looking up at the mountains. He wore a thick black ski jacket with blue piping and a heavy pair of boots coordinated to match the jacket. He had definitely packed for the location better than Alexandra had thought to.
    “It may be all ours, but what do we do with it?” Alexandra peered out from inside the fur-lined hood of her white coat. A snowflake or two settled onto her long lashes and melted. She breathed in deeply of the clean air and started to say something else to Scott.
    From out of nowhere, a lump of snow hit her on the side of the head. “Hey!” she yelled, “no fair.” She bent down to pack a snowball of her own when another struck her on the backside. “This is war,” she declared. Alexandra hurled a well-packed ball at Scott, hitting him squarely in the chest.
    “You throw like a girl,” he taunted as he threw another snowball at her and missed.
    “Oh yeah? At least I have the excuse of actually being a girl—unlike some people I know.” She let two more snowballs sail and watched with great satisfaction as one struck Scott on top of his head and disintegrated into powder, some of which slid down into the neck of his coat.
    Scott jumped around trying to shake the freezing snow out of his coat before it melted down his back. “Time out,” he pleaded as another snowball pelted him