Joshua and the Cowgirl by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

wonder if anyone finding the truck would even be able to track them.
    “You look like a snowman,” Garrett observed with a thready laugh that hinted she was near hysteria.
    Joshua stopped and drew her into a tight embrace meant to comfort and warm, if only slightly. Surprised that she didn’t resist, he gazed into her eyes. Almost at once he became caught up in the unexpected vulnerability he found in the blue depths in that one unguarded instant. The woman in his arms at this moment was a woman he could love, a woman he could cherish and protect always. The realization stunned him.
    Drawn to Garrett as never before, he pressed his lips to her cold, wet cheek, to her forehead, her eyelids, then her cheek again before settling inevitably on her trembling mouth. She tasted of snowflakes, but the heat that raged through him felt as if he’d stirred the embers of a dying fire. Though only temporary, he prayed it would be enough to keep them both going.
    “You look beautiful,” he whispered, staring into eyes now shining with unshed tears.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, her gloved fingers against his face.
    “For what? Dumping us into a drift?”
    “No. For thinking…” Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. “For thinking you were a jerk.”
    “Sometimes I am.”
    She shook her head adamantly. “No.”
    “Something tells me you won’t think quite so kindly of me once you’ve had a chance to get warm again and come to your senses. If it weren’t so damned cold out here, I’d be tempted to take advantage of your attitude while it lasts.”
    She shivered, but managed a faint smile. “Once a lecher, always a lecher,” she said with a sigh that feathered against his cheek.
    “If you wanted a gentleman out here with you, you came with the wrong guy.”
    She tilted her chin and examined him thoughtfully. “Mrs. Mac thinks you’re a gentleman.”
    “Hey, no fair,” he said, tucking her arm through his and beginning to move ahead again. “Women always throw around compliments like that just to trap a man into behaving the way they want him to.”
    “What?”
    “You know exactly what I mean.
I know how much you respect me; I just know I can trust you
. What man would dare to try seducing a woman who’s just said that? It would make him into the worst sort of sleeze.”
    “I’ll have to remember that,” she said softly, the words slurring slightly.
    She stumbled over a thick branch buried deep in the snow and fell to her knees. Joshua lifted her up and prodded her on. The weariness in her voice terrified him. Surviving in a blizzard was beyond his experience, but he knew he didn’t dare let her fall asleep. “Come on, lady. We have miles to go before we sleep.”
    “But I’m so tired,” she protested. “Couldn’t we rest for just a minute?”
    “I’m tired, too, but I don’t relish a snowbank for a pillow. Look around. See any of those famous landmarks you recognize? We’ve been following the road for over an hour now. On a good day that would mean about four or five miles at least. Tonight it’s no more than a couple. Is there anything closer than the shack you mentioned?”
    She shuddered so hard, her whole body shook. “No-o-o. No-o-thing.”
    “Then we’ll keep going. Why don’t you tell me about Chicago? I’ve always liked it there. Why on earth would you ever leave?”
    Her expression altered at once. An unforgiving chill turned her eyes as icy as their surroundings. “I—I h-hated it.”
    Sensing that he’d touched on a nerve that could stir her blood with anger, he pushed. “Why?”
    Her gaze skittered away evasively. “I—I just did.”
    “But the drive along Lake Michigan is beautiful. There’s so much to do—theater, art, restaurants, shopping in the Loop or Watertower Place. All women love to shop. You left that behind for this?” He waved his hand at the snowy spread of lonely emptiness.
    She glared at him and to his relief he could practically feel the heat rising inside