Hunter (Stud Ranch 2)

HUNTER

Hunter curled his body as tight as he could around Isobel as the storm raged on. He had to keep her safe. Safe. Safe. It was all he could think.

Pain ripped at his back but he only noticed it peripherally.

She had to be kept safe.

If it had to take someone, let it be him, not her.

Christ, not her.

But then, all of the sudden, the screaming wind quieted. The junk and debris that had been continually flying at them stopped. The punishing rain became a light sprinkle.

Hunter’s eyes were clenched shut and he held his body around Isobel’s like an immovable cage. It was only when she stirred beneath him and asked, “Hunter? Hunter, is it over?” that he dared look over his shoulder.

And saw that the tornado had turned and was moving east. Not only that, but the funnel was narrow again. Losing momentum, it seemed.

Isobel tried to push out from under him but he wasn’t about to let her up yet.

“Stay down.”

She stopped struggling and settled for craning her neck to look at the retreating twister with him. As they watched silently over the next minute or two, it grew smaller and smaller and then dissipated entirely.

Isobel started laughing. It had a hysterical edge to it but he couldn’t blame her. Jesus, how close had the goddamn thing come to them before it turned? He finally released Isobel and sat back on his haunches, looking around them.

Debris, mostly tree limbs and churned up earth, cluttered the ditch running up to the culvert. But there was also a ripped-up car tire and the twisted frame of what might have once been a bicycle just a little to their left. Shit. If either of those had hit him and Isobel…

He shuddered. Better not to think about the ‘what ifs.’

Isobel was standing and she held down a hand to help him up. He took it and got to his feet, the whole while checking her up and down for any damage. But other than being covered in mud and a few scratches she probably gotten from her tumble down the hill earlier, she looked fine.

She was okay. She was safe.

She looked around them at all the damage, shaking her head in wonder when her eyes suddenly widened.

“Beauty.” Then she took off like a shot, jogging through the twisted tree limbs and—damn, was that a tractor?—to scramble back up the embankment.

“Isobel,” he called, but she didn’t slow down. Damn fool woman. If she wasn’t careful, she’d fall and break her neck on that damn hill. He hurried after her, wincing at the stiffness in his back. Looked l

ike he’d have some cuts and bruises of his own.

She was already halfway up the hill by the time he made it to the bottom, scrambling up with her hands and feet like she was a monkey. He almost called out to her again but then stopped himself. He didn’t want to break her concentration. And within another minute, she made it to the top.

He had a slower time of it, but when he finally got back to the road, it was to find a beaming Isobel. He immediately saw why. While there was some debris on the road, it wasn’t nearly as much as there had been in the culvert below. And his truck and the trailer stood pretty much untouched.

“Beauty’s still okay. Come on,” Isobel waved him toward the truck. “If we get going we can still make it to Casper in time.” She ran to the passenger side and hopped in.

Her and that damn horse.

Hunter let out a deep breath. He wasn’t sure if it was relief or exasperation or what. All he knew was that this woman was going to be the death of him.

He walked toward the driver’s side of the truck, grimacing as he hauled himself into the seat.

He turned the key and the truck fired to life, no problem. But before he pulled it into gear, Isobel suddenly launched herself over the bench seat and wrapped him in a fierce hug. His back was still sensitive and he winced. The feel of warm, alive woman was enough to make him not care, though. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed her in.

He wanted to say a hundred things to her in that moment.

Like: Don’t you ever scare me like that again.