Her Mountain Sanctuary. Jeannie Watt

      “Fine.” He abruptly turned, started for the cabin. He made it almost three feet before he crumpled into a heap in the muddy driveway.

      “Blast.” Faith jumped out of the ATV and raced to him. She used both hands to take hold of his broad shoulder and roll him over so that he didn’t drown in the mud puddle he’d landed in.

      He let out a groan as he flopped onto his back.

      Okay. He was breathing. And he was done calling the shots. She pulled the phone out of her pocket, water beading on the screen as she punched in 911. “I need an ambulance at the top of the Trestle Road.” She answered the dispatcher’s rapid-fire questions and was assured that a deputy was on his way.

      “No ambulance,” Drew muttered from where he lay.

      “An ambulance will follow,” the dispatcher said.

      She hung up without asking if she could move him. She was going to do it anyway. He couldn’t lie in a mud puddle until help arrived and he’d already moved quite a bit under his own steam.

      “If I help you, can you get up?”

      He nodded, grimacing, and rolled over to bring himself up to his hands and knees. Faith crouched close to him, taking hold of his arm. She braced herself as he put his weight on her and slowly got to his feet. He swayed again, but Faith kept him from going down.

      “Is your house locked?”

      “Key under the mat.”

      “Very original,” Faith murmured. As they made the slow journey through the mud, she supported less and less of his weight and by the time they reached the small, two-post porch, he was walking on his own. But Faith noted that he did not bend to retrieve the spare key and that he took firm hold of the post as she unlocked the door. Sully remained next to her, pushing his way into the cabin before Faith stepped inside. He wasn’t going to allow her to be alone with Drew, and his presence gave her a small measure of security.

      She flipped on a light switch as Drew followed her and Sully inside, but nothing happened.

      “The storm must have knocked out the power,” she said.

      “I don’t have power.”

      Her eyes widened. “No power?”

      “Generator.” He stepped over to a box next to the light switch and pushed a button. Lights flickered a few times, then lit as the machine outside roared to life. She glanced around the cabin—so it was three rooms. A combined kitchen and living room with a back exit and two interior doors. A half loft. The place was old, the floorboards warped. The kitchen barely had any counter space or cabinetry. A rustic, minimalist place that somehow seemed to fit the man living here.

      “You live with that sound?”

      “No.” He pressed his hand to his head as if the answer had cost him.

      “Sit down.” Faith motioned to the surprisingly nice leather sofa, then took a couple of steps back as if giving him room. In reality, she was giving herself room. He did as he was told, sinking down with a low exhale. “I’ll stay until the ambulance gets here.”

      “I’m sending them back down the mountain.”

      “No insurance?”

      He shook his head. “No hospitals.”

      “Do what you have to do. I’m staying until they get here.”

      “No wonder you’re friends with my sister,” he muttered.

      “We’re not friends.” Faith’s face grew warm at her clipped comment. “What I mean is that she’s my boss. Best not to blur lines.”

      He lifted his gaze, one hand still pressed against his forehead and Faith took a step back, settling her hand on Sully’s wet curls. Logically, she knew Drew wasn’t a threat in his present condition, but survival instincts, once triggered, were strong. Exhaustively strong. He frowned as she moved back another step, and she had a strong feeling that it wasn’t from pain. He was trying to read her. Figure out what was wrong with her. Just as he had in the café.

      He didn’t say a word, and neither did she. The rain beat on the roof, and a tree branch brushed lightly against the windows, but the silence inside the cabin seemed louder than the weather outside.

      Finally, Drew broke the silence. “If you’re not friends, then maybe you don’t need to discuss this with her.”

      She gave him an incredulous look. “And when she finds out? I can’t see where that would be good for either of us.”

      “I don’t want her to scare my daughter.”

      “You have a daughter?”

      She had no idea why that revelation stunned her, but it did.

      He closed his eyes without answering, letting his head rest on the cushion behind him. Faith stayed standing, hugging her arms around her middle. She scanned the room, which was sparsely furnished, ridiculously neat. A photo on the desk caught her attention and she glanced at Drew before leaning closer to get a better look. A much younger and carefree-looking Drew smiled down at the dark-haired woman in his arms. She smiled directly at the camera, joy lighting her face. A tremendous capture. Her contentment, his adoration. A couple deeply in love.

      Faith pulled her gaze away, feeling as if she were intruding on a private moment. Drew’s eyes remained closed when she gave into impulse and checked the hands resting loosely on his thighs. The ring he wore in the photo was no longer on his finger.

      The sound of an engine brought his eyes open again, catching her midstare. Faith quickly averted her gaze and moved to the window. A sheriff’s SUV pulled to a stop next to Faith’s ATV. A few seconds later, she opened the door to let a young deputy wearing a black raincoat and a plastic cover over his hat.

      She gave him her statement while Drew sat silently on the sofa. The deputy turned to him.

      “How are you feeling, sir?”

      “I’m fine.”

      “He fell face-first into a mud puddle.” Faith figured the deputy might as well have all the facts before he left.

      “Is that true, sir?”

      “I’m not going to the hospital.”

      “You’re refusing medical care?” the deputy asked.

      “I am.”

      “The paramedics are almost here. What say we let them check you out?”

      Faith held her breath, releasing it when Drew grunted consent. “Then they leave. Everyone leaves.”

      “I’ll leave now.” She couldn’t wait to get out of here. The deputy had her contact information and there was nothing to keep her. She headed toward the door, Sully at her heels, giving the deputy a quick nod before pulling it open. She didn’t look at Drew Miller.

      The seat of the ATV was soaking wet, but so were her pants, so Faith climbed on and turned the key. In fifteen minutes, she’d be at her house, warm and dry.

      She saw the lights of the ambulance turning onto the road leading past the Lightning Creek as she started down the mountain. Good luck to you guys.

      The headlights of Drew’s vehicle were no longer cutting through the darkness as she rounded the corner where he had crashed. She eased to a stop, despite the rain, directing her headlights so that they illuminated the place where the tracks left the road. Easing her way through the muck, she peered over the bank. An open Jeep rested on its roll bar. Faith shuddered and headed back to her ATV.

      When she put the machine into gear, her hands were shaking so badly it was hard to get a good grip on the gearshift. It was cold and wet out. Of course her hands were shaking.

      It had nothing to do with Drew and that Jeep sitting squarely on the roll bar that had saved his life.

      *