Taming The Lone Wolf

She welcomed Stony’s offer to pick up Rose. For some reason, Rose had taken an instant aversion to Harry. Her daughter had a way of making her feelings known. Tess licked her dry lips and said, “Okay, Stony. Pick up Rose.”

“Tess, you don’t know a thing about the man,” Harry said. “He—”

“Don’t interfere, Harry,” Tess murmured.

“You heard the lady, Sheriff. She can make her own decisions without any help from you.”

Tess realized she hadn’t told Stony what to do with her daughter. “Take Rose home,” she added.

“I’ll do that,” Stony said. “Don’t worry, Tess. She’ll be safe with me. I have lots of room at my place.”

His place?

She had meant take Rose to her own home. Of course, he didn’t have the key, and Mrs. Feeny, who was also Tess’s landlady, was hardly likely to let a stranger into an upstairs apartment in her own home. So maybe it was better this way. Only, she had no idea where Stony lived. How would she find him when she wanted to reclaim her daughter?

She managed to force her eyes open a crack and sought out Stony’s face. “Take me, too,” she said. “Rose needs me.”

“For heaven’s sake, Tess,” Harry said irritably. “You’re in no condition to do anything but lie flat on your back in bed. Stay here in the hospital where you belong.”

The situation was desperate. She reached out and grasped Stony’s hand. It was big and warm and callused. His strength made her feel safe. “Rose needs me,” she repeated. “Take me, too.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll take you both to my place.”

“Promise?”

“I said I would.”

He didn’t sound too happy about the situation, Tess realized. But she wasn’t about to let him out of his promise.

“Thank you.” Her eyes sank closed again.

If she could rest for a couple of hours, she would be fine. Stony could pick up Rose and come back for her. She would rescue her daughter from the clutches of the interfering stranger...as soon as she could get her eyes open again.

Chapter Two (#ulink_e887d49d-0c96-5ec2-aa97-378a0f3fa315)

“WHERE AM I?”

“You’re at my place, a cabin along the river about twenty miles from town. Don’t you remember the ride here in my Jeep?”

“I...sort of. It’s all kind of fuzzy.”

Tess’s gaze darted from the male face bathed in shadows beside the bed, to the natural pine log walls, to the wedding ring patterned quilt that covered her, and back to the face made even more attractive by a night’s growth of beard. The faint mauve light filling the window across the room suggested it was nearly dawn. The snow had stopped, but it weighted down the branches of the Douglas firs outside the cabin, creating a real-life picture postcard.

She reached for her head with her right hand before a sharp pain and the weight of the cast reminded her that her wrist was broken. She switched to the left and gingerly touched the lump on the back of her head.

“Does it still hurt?” Stony asked.

“My scalp’s a little tender, but my head doesn’t ache like it did.” She realized what was missing and sat up with a jerk that made her dizzy. “Where’s Rose?”

“Still asleep.”

“Where?” she insisted, reaching out to clutch Stony’s forearm. It was as hard as a rock. She realized what she was doing and let him go.

He gestured with his chin. “Right there beside you.”

Tess realized why she hadn’t seen the child. The bed was huge, and Rose was curled up in a pile of sheets and blankets on the other side. Tess took another look around at the heavy pine chest, the rocker with clothes thrown over the back, the man’s wardrobe, and realized she must be in Stony’s bedroom.

“I thought you said you had plenty of room,” she accused. “Rose and I are in your bed, aren’t we?”

“It was the only one in the house big enough for the both of you,” he admitted with a crooked smile. “Rose refused to sleep by herself.”

Tess turned back to her daughter and leaned over to brush a red curl from her daughter’s cheek. “Did she give you a lot of trouble?”

“No more than two or three green-broke broncs.”

“Oh, dear. I was a little afraid of that.”

“We got along fine, once she figured out I wasn’t going to give up or give in.”

Tess flushed. “She is rather strong-willed. I suppose I let her have her own way too often.”

“She’s spoiled rotten,” Stony said flatly. “And she has a temper.”

Tess opened her mouth to defend her mothering tactics, then realized Stony hadn’t been completely successful in controlling her daughter, either. After all, Rose had ended up sleeping in the same bed with her.

“Perhaps she is a little spoiled,” Tess conceded, brushing at the stubborn curl that had found its way back to Rose’s cheek. “But she’s had to cope with an awful lot over the past year.”

Stony shifted from the chair beside the bed to a spot on the mattress near her hips. Tess tensed at the intrusion on her space. However helpful he had been, Stony was still a stranger. And she was in his bed wearing no more than—Good Lord—one of his T-shirts!

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that. I mean, about how you and Rose have been getting by,” Stony said.

His voice had that rusty gate sound, as though he hadn’t used it much lately. It rumbled over her, sending a shiver up her spine. She wasn’t sure whether it was the threat he presented, or the temptation, that had her inching away from him.

“We’ve been just fine,” Tess said.

“Don’t bother lying.”

“I—”

“I spoke with your landlady.”

Tess sighed. “I’m only a month behind on the rent.”

“You had to give up your phone two months ago. And I didn’t see much in the cupboards to eat. How the hell you two have managed to make it this far, I’ll never know.”

Tess felt the anger rising and struggled to control it. Rose hadn’t learned her redheaded temper; she had inherited it from her mother.

“I’d like to know what your plans are now that you’ve been fired,” Stony said.