The House on Blackberry Hill (Jewell Cove 1)

“Abby?”

She must have hit her head, because she would swear she heard Tom’s voice calling her name. Tom. Just thinking about him made something warm and tingly flutter in her belly, like little winged butterflies. She cared for him far more than she could ever let on. If she regretted one thing, it was stopping him from making love to her that morning. He would have been patient and gentle and thorough. The kind of lover she needed, and she’d pushed him away.

He was the sort of man who loved deeply and forever, wasn’t he? She could have had just a taste of that, to know just once what it was like to be the focus of all that intense devotion. Maybe it wouldn’t have been real and it probably wouldn’t have lasted, but it would have been enough.

“Abby! Please answer me! Are you in there?”

Okay, so that wasn’t just her name she heard, but his voice making demands. Hope spiraled through her heart. “I’m in here!” she called back, pushing herself to a sitting position with a wince. God, she seemed to hurt all over.

There was the sound of boards being moved aside and his panicked voice again. “Abs? Where are you?”

The relief at knowing it was truly him was so great that she started crying. “I’m over here. Be careful. There are boards everywhere and I don’t know how stable things are.”

“Hang on. I’ll be careful. Are you hurt?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Keep talking. I’ll be there before you know it.”

She got herself together a little. “Tom?”

“Yeah, honey?”

She almost wept at the endearment. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”

There was a ripping sound and one of the boards closing her off from the entrance was pulled away. She could see his work boots and she started to laugh through her tears. How she loved those damned boots.

He knelt and peered through the gap. “Hang in there. I’m going to move these and get you out, but I have to be careful. I don’t want to make the rest come down.”

“Like a game of Jenga,” she responded. Pain from the gash was starting to radiate up her leg and she winced.

“Exactly.”

When he’d created a big enough hole, he held out his hand. “Can you make it over here? I’ll pull you out.”

She put down her hands to crawl to the opening, but the moment her knees touched the floor she cried out.

“I can’t,” she answered, breathless with pain that felt like needles sticking through her kneecaps.

“Go on your butt,” he suggested calmly, “and slide over. If I can get my hands under your armpits, you’ll slip right out.”

It took a while but she managed to scoot over to the opening. Tom’s hands were sure and strong as he anchored them under her arms and pulled her free. When she was out, he picked her up and gathered her in a strong embrace.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to his solid, reassuring bulk. “I’ve never been so glad to hear your voice,” she whispered, her voice clogged with tears. “The lightning hit and it felt like the whole thing exploded.”

“It did.”

“How did you know where to find me?”

He started walking down the hill, away from the ruin of the barn. “Your car and purse were at home. I didn’t pass you on the road on the way to the house, so it only made sense that you’d go up.”

“For once I am very glad of your common sense and powers of deduction.” As much as she enjoyed being cradled in his arms, she felt silly. “Tom, put me down. I can walk.”

His eyes skittered away from hers, evading the command. “It’s okay, I can carry you.”

“But…”

“Indulge me, okay? I left the truck by the gate. It’s not far.” He grinned. “Let me be a knight in shining armor for once.”