Page 57 of Shielded Hearts

Right now he hovered close, on the phone with his oldest brother. When she yawned and huddled deeper into the blanket, he stopped talking to give her his complete attention. Deep gray eyes studied her with shocking intensity.

“Copy that,” he said to the caller. “For the time being, we’re here. I’ll see you in a little while.”

He swiped his thumb over the screen to end the call and set aside his phone on the rustic wood coffee table. It looked old, scarred from so much use. Aspen imagined the furniture had been in the Malone family for years and years, given how beat up it was. In contrast to the updated leather furniture in the space, it added a lot of interest.

When Colt dropped onto his knee in front of Aspen, she blinked at him in surprise. Just being so close to her savior created a new wakefulness in her mind.

He cupped her cheek in one broad hand. “You’re tired.”

“I’m okay. I know your brothers want to talk to me about what happened.”

He studied her for a long beat, gaze roaming over her face as though he was trying to puzzle out whether she was really capable of talking, though she’d already spoken briefly to the ranch therapist at his insistence. The ordeal hadn’t been nearly as painful as she thought it would be. The woman named Bella had asked only a few questions about her mental state before promising that they’d speak more the next day. Then the ranch’s medical doctor cleared her as well.

“Is there coffee? I could use some.”

“Coffee I can do.” He pushed to his feet in a smooth, graceful move, reminding her of an elite athlete.

She watched his broad back disappear through the living room doorway. God, she really was exhausted after all that happened. The comfortable cushions underneath her made her aware of all the aches and pains she’d suffered during her ordeal.

The back of her head, where Gideon had struck her to knock her out, pounded in time to her heartbeat. Her eyes slid shut.

The scuff of a boot on the floor made her eyes fly open. Across the beautiful living room, she met Colt’s stare.

He carried a small tray bearing two mugs. The rich scent of coffee perked her up, and she pushed into a more upright position. The blanket slipped again, and she drew it over her shoulder.

“I can’t seem to get warm.”

With a pinch of concern between his brows, he set the tray down on the coffee table. “No wonder, after being buried in that snow.”

“You don’t seem to be hypothermic.”

He gave her an appraising look but he didn’t respond to her statement. The expression on his rugged features told her enough—he didn’t want to talk about himself.

She knew that Colt was kicking himself. During the trip to the Black Heart Ranch, the hard line of his jaw suggested that he believed things should have gone much, much differently.

She slipped one hand free of the blanket and reached for him.

He took her fingers in his warm, rough clasp. “God, youarefrozen.”

Without asking first, he sat down beside her and drew her into his lap. As he tucked the blanket around her body and shared his heat with her, she let out a contented sigh and snuggled into his embrace.

“Looks like being stuck on the ranch isn’t such a bad thing.”

“Thank god I got you back.”

His statement stunned her. Her lips parted, but no words came out.

For the first time in hours, his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners in something other than strain.

Just then, two more dark-haired, gray-eyed Malones entered the room, dragging her attention away from her lover. Her rescuer.

Colt’s siblings stopped in the middle of the room, gazes locked on her nestled in Colt’s lap. She started to wiggle off, but he banded an arm around her middle and held her against him.

“You know Gray. And Willow.” Colt’s brief introduction brought nods from his siblings.

Aspen returned it with as much decorum as a woman could when she was sitting on her lover’s lap. Colt didn’t want her to move—and honestly, she didn’t want to either.

“Carson’s ETA is five minutes.” Gray swept across the space to one of the big sofas and sank to it without so much as a twitch to convey that he might sport a headache.

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