Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes #3)(43)

Sliding to a stop in front of his barn, Cam leapt from the truck, thankful to see Shawn on his own horse, with Cam’s horse saddled and waiting. “Which direction did she go?”

“She headed down Watkins Creek Road. I figured she was just going for a quick stroll. Then the guys and I got busy buckling things up for the unexpected storm. By the time we figured out she wasn’t back yet, I got real worried,” Shawn replied.

“We’ll find her,” Cam insisted, and they took off down the road.

They went down about a mile, the snow falling thicker and thicker, and Cam felt real panic grow within him. If she hadn’t stayed on the road, she could be anywhere. If she’d stopped walking, holed up beside a tree, anything, she could be buried in snow by now.

“Have you called the sheriff?”

“Yes. There have been four auto accidents already in town. There are a lot of people visiting for spring break or something, and people who have no business driving in snow are out driving. But he said if we didn’t find her in the next hour, he’d get a search and rescue going.”

“Dammit!” Cam was panicking more by the second.

That’s how he almost missed it. Something off to his right. It wasn’t much, just a slight flash that caught his eye. “This way!” he shouted, and raced through the trees toward it.

“That’s her.”

Leaping from his horse, he jumped down in the snow and ran up to Grace, who was curled up in a ball, the snow nearly covering her. The flash from her bright blue coat, a small piece of it still showing, was all that had caught his attention.

If he had missed that . . . No! He couldn’t even think that way.

“Grace! Wake up! Grace!” He shook her shoulders before lifting her into his arms and pressing his ear to her mouth. “She’s breathing, but barely. We need to get her back now. Call the men, have them get my room ready. I want heated blankets, the fire going—that room has to be a freaking toaster oven.”

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” Shawn asked while still pulling out his phone right after helping Cam get Grace on the front of his own horse.

“It’s too far, and the roads are too bad now. I need to warm her up.”

The ride took only ten minutes on the way back, but it felt like hours as he cradled Grace inside his coat, holding her tight, hoping like hell he could get some heat back into her system. Stopping his horse right in front of his back door, he pulled her off the saddle and rushed into the house with her in his arms, knowing Shawn would take care of the animals.

He didn’t care what it took. He wasn’t letting her go.





Grace felt as if she were falling into a cloud of pillows. She was warm, and so very tired. Someone was talking, but she didn’t care. Her body wouldn’t move, and she had no desire to do anything so difficult as to open her eyes.

Her lips felt parched, but she didn’t care about that, either. All she cared about was the fact that she felt warmth, and softness, and the voice sounded too far away to bother her, so she snuggled back down and felt the voice fade farther away.

Then something jolted her. She groaned, wishing she had the energy to push whoever was bothering her away. Why was it such a difficult concept for people to understand when someone just wanted to sleep?

“Open your lips, Grace.”

“No.” Was that her voice? She could have sworn she’d spoken, but that most certainly wasn’t her voice.

Something hard and hot was now behind her. It felt good, so she nestled into it and took a deep breath, the scent raw and spicy—absolutely delicious. But something was pressing against her lips. She tried shaking her head, but even that movement was too difficult, so she gave up.

When the offending thing against her lips wouldn’t go away, she parted them just slightly, and then wished she hadn’t. Fire shot down her throat, making her eyes fly open as she began to cough.

“More. Drink this, Grace.”

The cup pressed to her lips was tilted up again, and more fire ran down her throat. She coughed and complained, and finally it stopped, but only for a moment. The glass was back and she tried to refuse, but she didn’t have the strength.

This time, though, it was cool and refreshing and she gulped it down.

“The whiskey will warm your insides. The water will hydrate you.”

“Cam?”

“Yes, it’s me.” It took a moment for her to process his words, but he sounded angry—furious, in fact. Why was he so upset? She was too tired to try to figure it out.

Then she noticed that Cam was sitting behind her—in his bed—and she was stark naked.

“Wh . . . what is going on?” she croaked out.

“I barely managed to find you—do you realize that? You were lying on the ground damn well covered in snow. You’ve been in and out of consciousness for two hours, and you nearly gave me a freaking heart attack.”

It took several moments for his words to sink in, and then she remembered her walk—her bright idea of making it to Sage’s house after he’d disabled her car.

“I wouldn’t have been outside walking if you hadn’t messed up my car,” she mumbled, leaning back into the warmth of his bare skin. She wasn’t even concerned at the moment that they were both pretty much naked.

“Once again, I didn’t tamper with your car!” he growled. “You’re from here, Grace. You know better than to walk around when there’s a storm brewing.”