He smiled. Yes.
So. He didnt trust her any more than she trusted him. Fair enough. She was in no position to quibble.
Well, how about we dont worry about rules and secrets, and just get you somewhere warm and dry. Think you could handle something to eat?
Yes, he said with an eagerness that made her glance his way again. He met her gaze with a quick glance, his lips quirking again. Sorry. Ive missed a meal or three.
When he smiled, he was almost good-looking even with his sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, something she hadnt expected. The only photo shed seen of him had been his drivers license photo. Nobody ever looked good in their drivers license photos.
Dallas Cole, she suspected, would clean up nicely.
Down, girl. Hes not date material, and youve sworn off men, remember? Saints or sinners, theyre nothing but trouble.
She pulled the Jeep under the carport connected to her cabin and cut the engine. Sure you dont want me to call paramedics?
His eyes were closed, his head resting against the back of the seat. When he turned his face toward her, his eyes opened slowly to meet hers in the gloom. I just need to rest a little while. Then Ill get out of your hair.
The full impact of what she was doing hit her as she got out of the Jeep and locked the door behind her. Had she lost her mind, taking in a stranger wanted by the FBI? Even Alexander Quinn, a man who prided himself on his ability to read people, wasnt sure what side Dallas Cole had chosen. For all she knew, this might be a test of her loyalty to the Blue Ridge Infantry.
She had to tread carefully. Everything shed worked for over the past few months was at stake.
Dallas stumbled on his way to the door, flashing her a grimace of a smile as she grabbed his arm and kept him from face-planting in the gravel between the Jeep and her kitchen door. Im usually steadier on my feet.
How long has it been since you ate anything?
Not counting roots and berries? he asked with a lopsided smile, leaning against the side of her house while she unlocked the door.
Yeah, not counting those. She opened the door and helped him up the two shallow steps into the kitchen.
Inside, the cabin was blessedly warm and familiar, driving away some of Nickis tension. Dallas Cole didnt seem to be faking his weakness, and she was finally back in her own comfort zone. She knew where the knives were kept and where to find her Remington 870 pump-action shotgun and ammo.
And there was the satellite phone hidden under the mattress of her bed that would get Alexander Quinn on the line in a second. He might be two and a half hours away in Purgatory, Tennessee, but he had eyes and ears all over the hills. She knew from experience.
How much snow do you think well get? Dallas asked as she flicked the switch on the wall, flooding the kitchen with light. He squinted at her, as if it had been a while since his eyes had been accustomed to so much light.
I guess you havent heard a forecast in a few days? She crossed to the stove and grabbed one of the saucepans hanging over the range. Well get an inch or two, maybe. Itll probably be melted off by tomorrow afternoon.
Glad to be out of it. He nodded toward the small kitchen nook table. May I?
Polite, she thought. Though shed met a few well-mannered devils in her day whod give you the shaft and thank you for it. Sit. Ill see whats in the pantry.
He groaned a little as he sat, and she wondered how many injuries he had hidden beneath his grimy clothes. Thank you. Im not sure how Ill be able to repay you for your kindness.
His accent was subtle but there, the hint of a mountain twang not unlike her own Tennessee accent. Shed done little more than glance over the information Quinns mystery operative had left for her at the dead drop a few weeks earlier before shed destroyed it, not exactly expecting Dallas Cole to show up in the middle of Rivers End. But thered been something about a hometown in eastern Kentucky
No repayment necessary. She looked through the cans in her pantry. Chicken and vegetable sound okay?
Sounds like heaven.
As she heated the soup, she searched her brain for any other details she could remember from the dossier on Dallas Cole. His job at the FBI wasnt exactly what she might have expectedthat much she remembered. She wasnt dealing with a special agent or a forensic science whiz.
No, he was a graphic designer with the Bureaus public affairs office.
How on earth had an artist gotten himself crossways with the Blue Ridge Infantry?
* * *
HE HAD NO idea what to do next, so he did nothing. Nothing but sit and bask in the warmth of this tiny kitchen and watch a blue-eyed brunette with killer curves heating a can of chicken soup on an ancient gas range.
Nicki, shed said. Short for Nicole?
This is a nice place, he said, mostly to end the silence. Over the past three weeks, silence had become his enemy, an auditory void in which his deepest fears had held sway.
She glanced toward him. Compared to what?
Her blunt tone made his lips twitch with unaccustomed humor. He hadnt had a lot to laugh about recently. Ive been worse places.
Havent we all? She pulled a couple of stoneware bowls from a nearby cabinet and put them on the counter by the stove. You in the mood for a little or a lot?
His stomach seemed to be turning eager flips, but his brain kicked in with a stern warning. The last thing he wanted to do in front of a pretty girl like Nicki was throw up. Lets start with a little.
She slanted a curious look his way but put a bowl half-full of steaming soup on the table in front of him. Careful. Its hot. She fetched a spoon and put it by the bowl.
He blew on a spoonful of the soup and took a sip. The savory broth tasted like heaven in a spoon.
Nicki took the seat across from him, not looking at him as she started eating her own bowl of soup.
Prickles of suspicion played at the back of his neck. Why wasnt she looking at him?
Just you here? he asked.
Her gaze snapped up to meet his, and he realized how shady the question probably seemed.
Her green-eyed gaze leveled with his. Me and my Remington 870.
He smiled at that. Message received.
Sorry. That was a tad rude, wasnt it? One corner of her lips tilted upward.
Probably earned it with that badly phrased question. He fell silent and concentrated on eating his soup as slowly as his ravening hunger would allow. His stomach felt unsettled but the food was staying down, at least for the time being.
He needed food and rest, in that order. Because once he left this cabin, he wasnt sure when hed get much of either again.
How did you end up out there in the woods?
The question hed been waiting for ever since shed stopped to help. Its a long story.
And you dont want to tell it? In her voice, he heard a surprising thread of sympathy. He looked up and saw her sharp eyes watching him with understanding.
Not at the present, he admitted.
Okay. She turned her attention back to her soup.
That was easy.
Too easy.
He didnt know how to deal with someone who didnt seem to wantor needone damn thing from him. Especially after the ordeal of the past few weeks. He didnt know how to relax anymore, how to sit quietly and eat a bowl of soup without waiting for the next blow, the next trick.
He knew his name was Dallas Logan Cole. He was thirty-three years old and had spent the first eighteen years of his life in Kentucky coal country, trying like hell to get out before he was stuck there for the rest of his sorry life. He was a good artist and an even better designer, and hed spent the bulk of his college years trying to leave behind the last vestiges of his mountain upbringing so he could start a whole new life.
And here he was, back in the hills, running for his life again. How the hell had he let this happen?
I guess those are the only clothes you have?
He looked down at his grimy shirt and jeans. They werent the clothes hed been wearing when a group of men in pickup trucks had run his car off the road a few miles north of Ruckersville, Virginia. The wreck had left him a little woozy and helpless to fight the four burly mountain men whod hauled him into one of the trucks and driven him into the hills. Theyd stripped him out of his suit and made him dress in the middle of the woods in the frigid cold while they watched with hawk-sharp eyes for any sign of rebellion.
Rebellion, hed later learned, was the quickest way to earn a little extra pain.
Its all I have, he said, swallowing enough humiliating memories to last a lifetime. Dont suppose you have anything my size?
Her lips quirked again, triggering a pair of dimples in her cheeks. Not on purpose. I can wash those for you, though.
Id appreciate that. He was finally warm, he realized with some surprise. Not a shiver in sight. Hed begun to wonder if hed ever feel truly warm again.
She picked up his empty bowl and took it to the sink. The bathrooms down the hall to the right. Leave your clothes in the hall and Ill put them on to wash.
And then what?
She turned as if surprised by the question. And then we go to bed.
Chapter Two
Dallas gave Nicki an odd look. To bed?
She looked up quickly, realizing what shed just said, and couldnt hold back a grin. Not together, big guy.
He smiled back. Yeah, I didnt figure you meant it that way. But this cabins not very big. Do you even have a second bedroom?
No, she admitted. But I have a sofa. And extra blankets. So go on and take a shower. Or a bath, if you like. The tubs pretty big. She bit back a smile at the thought of Dallas Cole folding his lanky body into her tub.
Still the problem of clothes. Or the lack thereof.
I probably have some sweats around here somewhere. I borrowed them from my cousin the last time I stayed at his place. Anson was only a couple of inches taller than Dallas, so surely his old sweatpants would fit him well enough. Go get cleaned up. And let me know if you find any wounds you need treated.
The wary look he shot her way sent a prickle of unease racing up her neck. He was one more person who didnt quite trust her version of the truth.
And why should he? Why should anyone? She was lying through her teeth about what she was doing in Rivers End, wasnt she?
Thered been a time, not so long ago, when lying came as naturally to her as breathing. Life was one big story to be told the way she wanted it to happen, and inconvenient truths were discarded like yesterdays trash.
But shed learned the hard way that the truth always came out, and usually at the worst possible time. She just hoped the truth about her assignment here in Rivers End didnt come out until she was somewhere safe and far, far away.
* * *
DALLAS LET THE SHOWER run as hot as he dared and stood under the needling spray until he couldnt stand on his trembling legs another minute.
Wrapping a towel around his hips, he sat on the closed commode and willed his strength to return. The last thing he wanted to do was face-plant in front of Nicki again. She pitied him enough already.
As the steamy heat of the bathroom dissipated, cooler air washed over his damp skin, raising goose bumps again. He grabbed a second towel from the nearby rack and dried off before he pushed to his feet.
Standing in front of the mirror over the sink, he wiped away the condensation to take his first good look at his physical condition after nearly three weeks of captivity.
Hed lost weight. At least fifteen pounds. Maybe more. The people whod imprisoned him in the cellar of their mountain cabin had used deprivation to try to break him. Sleep, light, foodall had been withheld in an attempt to get him to tell everything he knew about a man named Cade Landry.
He wondered if Landry was still alive. From what little hed learned from the men whod held him captive, getting their hands on Landry was a big damn deal.
But they hadnt gotten any information from him. Maybe theyd thought he was soft because he was nothing but a support staffer at the FBI, working a job that didnt require him to carry a weapon or stay in fighting shape.
Theyd been wrong.
Not that he felt anywhere close to fighting shape at the moment. The mirror was merciless, revealing not only his prominent ribs but also the rainbow of bruises and scrapes hed acquired during his time with the Blue Ridge Infantry.
He made himself turn away from his self-scrutiny and opened the bathroom door. Cold air from the hall assaulted him, and he wrapped the second towel around his shoulders.
There are clothes on the end of the bed, across the hall. Nickis voice drifted into the hall from the front room.
Thanks. He entered the bedroom and found a small stack of clothes at the end of the bed. There was a pair of black sweatpants that wouldnt have fit him three weeks ago but now snugged over his hips as if theyd been made for him. Shed also laid out a couple of oversize football jerseys. He grabbed the darker of the two and shrugged it on. It fit only marginally better.
He dropped to the edge of the bed, tempted to lie down and sleep for a few days. But there was the matter of the pretty brunette down the hall. All the way through his shower, he couldnt stop thinking about what a stroke of fortune it had been to walk into the path of a woman who hadnt asked any inconvenient questions. Who hadnt insisted on calling the police when he asked her not to. What absolute luck.
Problem was, hed never put much faith in the notion of luck.
Why hadnt she asked him more about who he was and how hed found himself facedown on a mountain road in the middle of a sleet storm?
He looked around until he found the scuffed oxfords hed been wearing since hed been run off the road somewhere north of Ruckersville. The dress shoes looked incongruous with the sweats and jersey, but he didnt like the vulnerability of bare feet at the moment.
Nicki looked up as he entered the living room. She offered a gentle smile that made her look like a goddess, her skin gleaming in the glow of the fire shed just turned from stoking.
Thanks for the clothes.
They fit. Sort of. She stood and dusted her hands on her jeans. They hugged her curves like a lover, sending a rush of desire darting through his belly. He ignored his bodys inconvenient reaction, determined to stay focused and on alert.
I think Ive lost weight, he said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she moved closer to him. You seemed pretty hungry earlier.