Wanting Something More. Kathy Love

her for the last several miles was still there.

      What kind of nut would be out on a night like this? Besides herself, that is.

      She glanced at the twin lights again, then back to the road just in time to see another curve materializing in front of her. She touched her brakes too abruptly, and again, the car skidded, but she managed to keep control.

      Argh! She would be happy to get to her grandmother’s house, even though the house was empty now. Grammy had passed away years ago, and Ellie, her middle sister who inherited the house and still owned it, didn’t live there any longer. She had a home with her husband now. And Marty’s oldest sister, Abby, who had been living across the street from her grandmother’s, had just moved, too.

      Marty checked the clock on her dash. It was well after midnight. She couldn’t show up at either of her sisters’ places this late. They’d be in bed and probably not all that pleased to have their baby sister arrive unannounced in the dead of night. She should have called them to say she was coming. But that would have been the act of a person with a plan. There was no planning here.

      Although she wouldn’t have wanted to keep either Ellie or Abby up, waiting and worrying. Ellie and her husband, Mason, had an eighteen-month-old daughter who kept them on the run. Abby was three months pregnant, and at this point was more green than glowing. It was better to let them sleep tonight and see them tomorrow, if they all could dig out. The snow was really falling.

      Marty leaned farther over her steering wheel, peering at the road. Besides, she really wanted to go to her childhood home tonight. She wanted to sleep in her old bed under the quilt her grandmother made her. She wanted to drink a cup of tea in the huge country kitchen. She wanted to feel…safe.

      Ellie had told her that they were keeping the heat on at Grandmother’s house for the winter so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze. So that meant the old place would be warm. And that also meant that Ellie kept the electricity on. She knew all three sisters would be too sad to see the old house standing dark, cold, and empty.

      Yeah, she’d go home tonight.

      Out of habit, she turned off Route 1 to take the Gory Boar Road, a shortcut, into Millbrook. As soon as she did, she realized her mistake. The old back road was caked with snow so thick that she couldn’t see the center line and she could barely make out the soft shoulder.

      “Darn it,” she muttered, now gripping the steering wheel so tight her fingers were numb. The snow scraped the bottom of her car, making a nerve-wracking whooshing noise. She should turn around and head back to Route 1.

      She checked her mirrors, prepared to turn around right in the road, when she saw that the car that had been following her was still there.

      Why had this person turned too? Presumably this person actually wanted to be on this treacherous road. But Marty didn’t, and the other car was making it a little difficult for her to pull a U-ee. Gritting her teeth, Marty decided she was going to have to continue on, at least until she found a proper place to turn around.

      About a half mile farther, a faint glow in the distance caught her attention.

      “What is that?” She frowned, narrowing her eyes, trying to focus through the eddying snowflakes.

      Then she remembered a new gas station that had been in the process of being built last summer. That had to be what it was.

      She could turn around there and head back to the better-traveled Route 1.

      As she got closer, she realized the station was open and there was also a convenience store attached.

      Maybe this was a sign. Maybe she’d better stop and get a few supplies before she headed back in the other direction, just in case the storm stuck around for a while and she was trapped in Grammy’s house for a few days.

      She pulled up to the front of the building, turned off the engine, and began to rummage through her shoulder bag on the passenger’s side seat. Her wallet had to be in there somewhere.

      She groped around, making contact with a small rectangular item. Her cell phone. She tossed it back in and tried again. This time she found a granola bar and then a stick of deodorant. Next, she found a tin of mints and a container of hair goo.

      Well, she might have no wallet and no life and be stuck in a blizzard, but at least she had a healthy snack, no body odor, fresh breath, and funky hair. And if her phone had a signal, she could call someone and tell them about it.

      She rooted through the bag for a moment longer, and just when she decided that she must have lost her wallet back at the gas station in Rhode Island, she noticed the corner of it sticking out from under the seat.

      Her sports car wasn’t exactly roomy. So rather than struggle to get the wallet while still inside, she took her keys out of the ignition, grabbed her gloves off the dash, and got out of the car.

      The frigid winter air bit at her, and she quickly bent back into the car to grab her wallet. Just as she was about to straighten up, wallet in hand, a deep voice close to her said, “That’s not exactly the best car for driving in a blizzard.”

      Marty jumped, bumping her head on the door frame. “Ouch! Damn it! It’s not exactly wise to startle a person when…” Her voice trailed off as she spun around and stared at—a broad chest. For Marty, six feet tall in flats, that did not happen often. For a moment, she was stunned—again.

      A hand came up to touch her arm, and even through the suede and fur lining of her coat, she could feel each long finger.

      “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

      She blinked up at the man. His back was to the convenience store, making him a giant, broad-shouldered silhouette against the glare of bluish green fluorescent lights and swirling white snow.

      “Is your head okay?” the giant asked, and Marty was struck by how his voice seemed to perfectly match his towering build, deep and with a slight husky quality.

      Apparently, he thought she had done some damage, because he continued to hold her and leaned forward as if to inspect her head.

      Gradually, her eyes adjusted a bit to the light, and she could make out the man’s shaggy hair and a long, straight nose, his nostril flared just slightly.

      “Do your sisters know you’re coming?” That husky voice sounded even more amazing coming from the sculpted lips she could vaguely make out in the faint light.

      Then Marty actually heard the words, rather than the pleasing intonation of them. “How do you…Do I know you?”

      The giant paused, then those wide, sculpted lips curved into a slight smile. “Well, you used to know me.”

      All of a sudden, Marty knew exactly who this was standing so close to her. She took a step back, bumping against her car, and she jerked her arm out from underneath his hand.

      “And I don’t think you were particularly fond of me,” he added wryly.

      She didn’t respond, but she was sure her glare validated his assumption. On a night like this, when most sane people were home, staying out of the storm, she would still run into Millbrook’s biggest jerk. Nathaniel Peck. Apparently the postal creed was the same for creeps…“Neither sleet nor rain nor driving snow”…Or however it went.

      His smile slipped, replaced by seriousness. “Listen, why don’t you leave this car here and let me give you a lift to your sister’s. Are you staying with Abby or Ellie?”

      Marty stared at him, completely outraged. “You want me to leave my car here—and ride with you? Even in a raging snowstorm, you are still trying to pick up women? Are you totally crazy?”

      This guy never gave up. The last time she’d seen him, at her sister’s wedding, he’d hit on her the whole night. And asked rude, suggestive questions about her body parts. Particularly her chest—and the authenticity of it.

      Nathaniel didn’t react for a moment. But when he did, his voice was calm and even