“Snap out of it, Maria. This isn’t the time for reflection.” She eased the crippled car onto the bumpier of the two roads. The headlights did little to dispel the darkness and the regular bouncing of the tires had a calming effect on her frayed nerves.
The heater lulled Maria into a comfortable haze.
She didn’t see the small sign that swung crookedly from a metal pole.
She didn’t hear the sound of the water that flowed at the bottom of the ravine.
She didn’t feel her eyelids gently close as the car slipped off the side of the road.
THREE
Maria woke with a scream when the car tumbled into the shallow creek. Her head thunked against the door as the vehicle bumped and banged and finally came to rest on the driver’s side in the water with a horrible sound of twisting metal.
After a few moments of shocked immobility, she freed herself from the seat belt, ignoring the violent shuddering of her heart. Her first thought was for her passenger. Fortunately, she’d taken the precaution of belting Hank’s cage in the back when they’d stopped for gas, so the frightened rabbit was tossed, but not hurt. He shot her a confused look, one ear up and one hanging down, from his spot in the corner of the crate.
Duke was going to be furious when he saw his car. Frigid water was already seeping through the door. That problem would have to wait. She turned to Hank. “We’ve got to get out of here before you get wet.”
The rabbit blinked and scrambled to right himself.
Slowly, Maria eased out from under the steering wheel and reached the passenger-side window. With difficulty, she lowered the glass and stuck her head out.
A huge dark face with enormous eyes stared at her.
She screamed.
The man screamed, as well, before he whirled around and darted back into the trees.
Maria yanked her head back into the squashed car.
“Who…who was that?” Her mouth was dry. She waited a full five minutes before cautiously poking her head out again. There was no sign of the man in the moonlight. From her spot in the bottom of the ravine, she couldn’t see much, only a tangle of treetops and a swatch of dark sky overhead.
“I’m going to see if I can crawl out and then I’ll come back in for you, Hank. You just sit tight.”
Using the hand rest as a step, she eased herself out of the car and dropped to the gravel creek bed, tearing her pant leg in the process. “Things keep getting better and better,” she muttered.
Inch by inch, she crawled to the top of the ravine, hands scrabbling on loose rocks and wet dirt. Something lizardlike scurried by.
A voice spoke over the wind. “Who are you?”
Maria jerked her head up to find a man standing at the edge of the crevice. She had enough time to register his puzzled look before she lost her balance and toppled backward.
He reached out a hand one second too late to grab her wrist. Maria stumbled down the slope, rolling head over feet until she landed on her bottom in six inches of icy water and large stones.
The cold felt like an electric shock. It left her breathless.
This time she took the strong hand offered her by the man who climbed down. He hauled her to her feet and peered into her face.
“Are you hurt, miss?” His brown hair was close cut around his rectangular face.
Through the mud in her eyes and the gloom, it was difficult to get more than an impression of his features. A faint smell of fresh-baked bread hung about him.
“Uh, no. No. I’m not hurt, just bruised.” Her teeth began to chatter.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Me?”
“You do seem to be the only lady standing in my creek.” He took her by the elbow and guided her out of the water onto the gravel bank.
“Well, I’m, er…” Her teeth chattered so hard she couldn’t answer.
He raised an eyebrow and bent over, checking around the smashed car with a flashlight.
She squeezed her arms tight around herself. “What are you doing?”
“I’m making sure this vehicle isn’t leaking any contaminants into my creek.” He made a slow circle around the car before he straightened and clicked off the flashlight. “It seems to be just fine.”
Maria eyed the mangled blue car and the man’s easy smile. Fine? Did he say fine? The weight of the whole disastrous day splintered the remnants of her self-control.
The blood roared in her ears. “Everything’s all right? Look at that car. How exactly could that be all right? Duke is going to be furious when he finds the side bashed in. How can you even use the word fine when describing this mess, Mr.…Mr.…”
He raised an eyebrow. “Sheridan. Cy Sheridan. And you are?”
She felt herself unraveling like a loose thread. Her words came out in a shriek through her chattering teeth without any guidance from her brain. “Me? I am nobody important. I am certainly not someone who is standing here freezing. I’m definitely not a woman who has lost the most important thing in her life today. And I am surely not a gal who has only had a pack of doughnuts to eat since last night.” The hysterical words bounced along the creek bed, echoing off into the night.
The man blinked, his head cocked. “I see. Well, do you want to get out of this miserable night and come in for a cup of tea? If you have no other plans, that is.”
The words took the oomph out of her rant. He was offering shelter and cups of tea? It sounded civilized enough and his smile was welcoming, but her trust level was lower than it had been two days ago. Her gut wrenched with indecision. He didn’t seem like the type who would be luring her into his house for nefarious purposes. Come to think of it, what other choice did she have? She had nowhere to go and no way to get there. “Um, well…yes, uh, that would be nice.”
She took his offered hand and they scrambled up the slope. His fingers were warm against her chilled palm.
At the top, she hesitated. “I’ve got to get Hank out of the car before he gets wet.”
“Hank?”
She nodded. “I sort of rescued him.”
“Hank is…?”
“A rabbit. A three-legged rabbit. He’s in a cage in the backseat.”
Cy’s laughter was a deep baritone. “Then Hank is invited to tea, also.”
A minute later Cy wrestled the crate out through the dented door while she retrieved her backpack. They walked through clusters of pine-scented trees toward the faint flicker of light in the distance.
Maria looked around for the massive figure that had frightened her earlier. “I saw a man. A really big man. He screamed louder than I did when we saw each other. That wasn’t you, was it?”
“That would be Stew. He’s my right-hand man but he’s not much of a people person. He’ll have to retreat to his room for who knows how long to recover. You’ve probably taken a few years off his life, crashing your car here.”
“I didn’t exactly…” Maria bit back the retort. He was right; she had wrecked a car on his property. Besides, he was inviting her into someplace warm and dry, and including her rabbit. The situation called for good manners along with extreme caution.