A Texas Rescue Christmas. Caro Carson

started to laugh.

      She gave his shoulder a little shove. “If it weren’t for you, I would have died.”

      “I’m glad you didn’t.” As if that was the end of it, he started maneuvering around in the bag. “I’m going to unzip this for a second—”

      “No! I’m not warm enough.”

      “Just far enough to get my hand out. You need to drink this water before it freezes solid. Your body is working hard to warm up. It needs water.” He grabbed for a canteen that was in a pile of other stuff, jostling them both. She felt her breasts bounce a little against his arm. She was embarrassed, but he didn’t seem to notice as he brought the canteen back inside and zipped the bag.

      “I think we’ll have to sit up so you can drink,” he said. “Ready? One, two, three.”

      Of course, they had to move at the same time. One person couldn’t sit up in the sleeping bag if the other was laying down. She tried, but curling up into a sitting position was more than her body was ready to do yet.

      “It’s okay. Let’s try that again.” Trey put his arm underneath her and lifted her with him as he sat up.

      “Thank you,” she said.

      “I knew there were more thank-yous in there. Drink up.”

      She felt those blue eyes on her as she chugged, suddenly realizing how terribly thirsty she was. When she finished, he wasn’t looking at her any longer. Instead, he was frowning at the night sky beyond the cracks in the log wall.

      “The wind has stopped, but the clouds have cleared up,” he said. “We’re in for a cold one.”

      “It looks nicer than this afternoon.”

      He made a negative movement of his head and hand. She felt every bit of it, sitting so close to him. “Cloud cover keeps some of the earth’s heat in. Today’s clouds dumped their sleet and left, so now there’s nothing to stop the temperatures from falling.” He took the canteen from her and unzipped the bag, efficiently setting it outside again.

      “Falling? It’s going to get colder than it already is?” She could feel the fear crawling up her throat.

      He looked at her with concern. After a long second, he kissed her forehead. “Listen to me. Outside, the temperature may fall, but you are not going to get colder. You and I are going to stay right here, safe and sound and warm.”

      He laid her back gently, following her down and settling her body against his again. Safe and sound and warm. As a seduction, no man could have had her more completely in his thrall. There was something about him that made her feel restless inside, reckless. They were alive, the only two people in the world, and she couldn’t get enough of his deep voice and his soothing hands.

      She set her hand on the back of his neck and tilted her face to his. She wanted to be kissed and held and warm. She let her eyes drift shut, anticipating the feel of his mouth.

      “It’s not us I’m worried about,” he said. “It’s the cattle.”

      “Oh.” She blinked, feeling a little sheepish. Cows had never crossed her mind, but apparently, even if virginal little Becky Cargill was naked, a man’s thoughts didn’t stay on her. Hopefully, he hadn’t noticed that she’d been about to kiss him. “What—um, what do cows do when it’s this cold?”

      “The foreman knew this weather was coming. He probably got a good portion into the calving sheds. The rest would’ve been driven into one of the pastures that has a deep gully. The cattle huddle in there to get out of the wind and basically do what we’re doing.”

      “Nice to know I don’t have the common sense of a cow. I drove into a wide-open space. I was so stupid. It would have served me right if—”

      His finger pressed her lips, cutting her off. “Don’t say that. Ever. Do you hear me?”

      She was so surprised at his ferocity, she couldn’t even nod. She just stared at him, his face a shadow in the night.

      “You got yourself out of the wind as much as possible. You built yourself a shelter. You stayed alive. Give yourself some credit, Rebecca. You’ve got common sense and you must have a giant heap of willpower, because you were still alive when I found you. Thank you for staying alive until I could get there.”

      He moved his finger away from her lips only to cup her head in his hand. He angled her so he could kiss her, not so softly this time.