Joshua and the Cowgirl by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online

was oblivious to their plight or he was just plain nuts. Maybe he’d hit his head.
    “If I’d known how badly you wanted to spend the night alone with me, I’d have suggested a room in Cheyenne,” he teased.
    “This is no time to be joking. We’re in a mess of trouble. People freeze to death in weather like this.”
    “Surely not cowgirls.”
    “I’m serious, Joshua. We’re a long way from the nearest shelter. We can’t stay in the truck with the heater on. That’s a good way to suffocate, too.”
    “Maybe help will come along.”
    “The only people on the road tonight are idiots, like that guy who ran us off.”
    “Or like us.”
    She frowned. “Like I said, idiots.”
    “Hey, we made a bad call. Now we’re stuck in a ditch. Moaning about it won’t save our necks. Maybe we can get the truck out. I’ll check it out.”
    Garrett didn’t want to admit that she was impressed with his totally unflappable attitude. It might be foolhardy, but it was certainly better than the hysterical accusations he might have been flinging in her face. As he climbed out of the truck, Garrett shivered in the blast of icy air. She knew what he was going to find, but if it made him feel better to see that they were well and truly stranded, so be it. It was no time at all before the door opened again. Joshua’s expression was grimmer now.
    “Can you find your way to that shelter?”
    Garrett nodded halfheartedly, realizing that she’d been hoping against hope that she was wrong about their plight. “I can try.” She took a deep breath, then added somberly, “If we get lost, Joshua, we could die of exposure. That’s a very real risk on a night like this.”
    “And the odds of us dying right here?”
    “Depends on how long the storm lasts or whether somebody finally does come along.”
    “I vote we try to make it to the shelter. You?”
    Still amazed that he wasn’t casting blame, she decided if they ever got out of this fix she might have to re-evaluate her impression of his gumption. “Let’s go. There are flashlights and blankets in the back. I’ll leave a flare in the snow, so if anyone does come along and see the truck they’ll call for help.”
    “Too bad this truck doesn’t have a radio. I’d think anyone driving the distances you all do out here would find that a necessity.”
    “We do,” she admitted ruefully. “This one’s in for repair. There’s probably one in Rutgers’s shack, though. Once we get there, we’ll be able to let everyone know where we are.”
    She saw him smiling at her. “What’s so amusing?”
    “Not amusing. Impressive. Now that we’ve made the decision, you have no doubts at all that we’ll make it, do you?”
    She turned the bravest smile she could manage on him. “With what we’ve got ahead of us, doubts could be a real killer.”
    Joshua held out his hand. “Then let’s go for a hike in the snow, sweetheart. I can’t think of anything more romantic.”
    Garrett scowled. “Doesn’t your mind ever veer away from sex?”
    “Doesn’t yours?” he challenged. “I was talking about romance, not sex.”
    “Sure you were.”
    The argument might have gotten even more heated if they hadn’t needed every single whisper of breath just to go on.

Chapter Four
    T he killer was the bitter, biting wind. It cut through all their layers of clothing, aided by the dampness of the snow that clung to their faces, to their hair, to their coats. Drifts, some already hip-high, hampered their slow, tedious, slippery progress along the roadway.
    They’d been walking for nearly an hour and it was virtually impossible to tell how far they’d gone. Surrounded by endless whiteness, they could barely see to take the next step. By staying carefully on the road, they’d cut the risk of getting lost or wandering in circles. However, with fresh snow filling their tracks almost the instant they’d moved on, it was as if they’d gone nowhere, as if they’d never been at all. Joshua had to