to the rope at the waist, he fumbled to undo his belt. When he was unhooked from her, he rose on his hands and knees beside her, and he tugged at her arm. “Come on. Get up. You’re losing body heat, lying in those puddles.”
“I’m...s-so tired.” She used every bit of restraint left in her not to sound whiny when she voiced her objection. The simple truth was, her energy was sapped, and hypothermia was settling in...quickly.
Brady staggered to his feet, and with strength he found God knew where, he lifted her in his trembling arms. Carrying her, he stumbled to the ATV and sat on the ground with her on his lap. He chafed her aching arms, though his hands were as cold as hers. Covering one of his hands with hers, she turned his palm up to examine it. As she’d expected, his skin was red and blistered, scraped by the rough rope. Her hands were raw, too, but Brady’s were much worse.
“Oh, Brady...” She touched the abraded skin gently with her fingers.
“I’m fine.” He tugged his hand from her grasp and wrapped his arms around her again.
She curled against him, savoring the security of being out of the water, safe on high ground. Brady had saved her life.
Gratitude tugged at her, deep in her core. No...more than gratitude. A deeply poignant sense of reassurance and affection that brought tears to her eyes and stole her breath. “Y-you came after m-me.”
Brady’s hands stilled for a moment. “Of course I did. Why would that even be a question for you?”
“I—”
He cut her off with a kiss that burrowed deep into her, warming her from the inside and reviving feelings she’d worked hard to bury in the past several months. A bittersweet pang wrenched in her chest. Good Lord, she’d missed him, missed his kiss.
The brush with death, the biting cold and her staggering fatigue conspired to strip away pretenses and protective intentions. She was emotionally raw and vulnerable, and she needed what only Brady had ever given her. Lifting her arms to circle his neck, she angled her head to deepen the kiss, greedy for more. But even as she clung to him and took refuge in the caress of his mouth on hers, a stubborn voice in her head warned her of the danger she would be in if she opened her heart to him again.
With his hands splayed on either side of her face, Brady nudged her head back and looked deep into her eyes. “Babe, when you bolted out of that barn and took off, you were my highest priority. When I heard the gunfire, I’d thought you’d been shot, and when you rode off like that, hell for leather—”
“The sh-shooter...” She paused as a chill sent a shudder through her. “Has he been c-caught?”
Brady’s chest heaved as he sighed. “Not last I heard. But I’m guessing my phone is dead, thanks to our swim.” He coughed and shook from the cold, too. “We’ll have to wait until we get back for an update.”
She tipped her head to gaze up at him in confusion. “You didn’t s-stay to l-look for him? B-but you’re the sheriff. Wh-why—”
“Well, I could hardly be two places at once, could I?”
“But...”
“I left Wilhite in charge of securing the scene and tracking down the shooter. He and Anderson are more than competent in handling things until we get back.”
“B-but...”
“Hey—” He cupped the side of her face and pinned her with his gaze. “I made my choice. You’ll always be my first priority.” He pressed warm lips to her forehead. “So...don’t make me regret my choice by badgering me about it. Okay?” He flashed her a crooked grin, and she scoffed a soft laugh.
Despite his current teasing, she hadn’t missed what he’d said. His first priority? The sentiment touched her. And yet...
Brady’s earlier choices contradicted his claims about her place in his life. She squeezed her eyes shut as she burrowed closer to his body heat. Wherever she truly stood with him, he was here now. He had rescued her. And she wouldn’t take that for granted.
“Th-thank you...for coming. For finding me...”
He hugged her more tightly and chuckled. “Just doing my job. You are my key witness, after all. I need you to identify the shooter when we get back to town.”
She raised her chin again and scowled. “That’s why you came after me? Because it was your job?”
He looked startled by her tone. “It was a factor. Not the only factor, or even the main one, but part of the reason. Yes.”
She hunched her shoulders and glared at him.
He shook his head and dragged her close again, wrapping his arms around her. “What? You scold me for not doing my job by staying to look for the sniper, and when I say finding you was part of my job, that’s wrong, too?”
She groaned, and her teeth chattered as another blast of chilly wind buffeted them. “I didn’t say that. I just... I d-don’t want to fight.” She was too cold, too tired to think straight.
He sighed. “I don’t want to fight either.” A tremor rolled through him as well, and he bit out a curse. “We have to get warm somehow.”
“Any ideas?”
He scooted her off his lap and moved to the back of the ATV. “I think I saw a first-aid kit in here. Maybe there’s an emergency blanket in it.”
She rose to her feet and watched him rummage in the cargo box and extract a red kit. He cracked open the seal and rifled the contents.
“Bingo!” he said, his face brightening. Tossing the remaining first-aid items back in the cargo box, he opened the tightly folded emergency blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
The thin metallic-looking plastic sheet was cold at first, but as designed, it trapped what little body heat she created. Soon she felt a pocket of warmth growing around her.
“Is this the only one in there?”
Brady nodded. “Yeah. But you need it more than I do.”
“We can share.” She wobbled closer to him, raising the corner of the blanket to pull him in with her.
He huddled under the silver sheeting for a moment, holding her close, then edged back. “You take it. I need my arms free to drive the ATV. We have to get back before the temperature drops any more.”
“Yes! Please. I’d kill for dry clothes and a cup of hot coffee right now.”
Brady swung a leg over the ATV and turned the ignition key. The engine whined and sputtered. “Come on! Start, damn it!”
Kara’s chest tightened with dread. If the engine didn’t start...
She cast a wary eye to the sky. Though the rain had slowed considerably, the low-hanging silver clouds moving in promised sharply colder air. Already her breath formed a white cloud when she exhaled. Her exposed toes were red and numb, and she knew she was in danger of getting frostbite if they were still here when darkness fell.
She clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. Please, God. Let the engine s— Before she finished her silent plea, the ATV roared to life, and Brady revved the engine to warm it up. Finally something had gone right!
Brady jerked his head toward the ATV seat, hurrying her. “Climb on. Let’s get outta here.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Straddling the seat behind him, she clutched the emergency blanket in her fists and put her arms around Brady’s chest, below his arms. He drew the loose ends of the blanket over his lap and tucked them under his legs.
With her chest nestled against his back and the blanket providing a barrier at her back, they set out. Despite the wind created as they sped across the rugged terrain, Kara savored a pocket of warmth under the emergency blanket. The cold air stung her eyes, so she buried her face in Brady’s neck. She couldn’t