Page 4 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
“If I was on edge, it’s because you were running late,” she snipped. “I can’t miss my flight.”
“That’s it, huh? I thought maybe you were sorry to be leaving.”
She scowled at his easy reply. Was he being sarcastic?
Shewason edge about making this flight. Her bosses at the marketing firm would be livid if she asked for more time off.
And yet…her jaw grew tight and her heart ached at the memory of Rose’s wobbly lower lip when she’d started to say their goodbyes.
Rose would be fine without her. She had Dex, and Emma, and Lizzy, and Nash, and Kit…
A humorless laugh escaped her as she turned to look out the window. Rose would be just fine without her.
And Dahlia…well, she had a life to get back to.
“They’re gonna miss you too.” JJ said it so quietly she almost didn’t hear.
Which made it all the easier to pretend she didn’t.
2
Everyone liked to say that JJ was good with animals. But that wasn’t the truth. Or…it wasn’t the whole truth.
It wasn’t like he was some mystical Dr. Doolittle type, speaking some secret code that horses and dogs could understand.
Nah, he just knew how to be quiet. And when a person was quiet long enough, he learned how to listen and not just hear. How to see and not just watch.
With all the talking and the laughter and the emotions running high back there in the O’Sullivans’ kitchen, it was no wonder no one else noticed that Dahlia was having a hard time of it.
And right now, as they sat in silence, some old-school country music easing the tension and the soothing landscape sliding by, he could feel hurt seeping out of her.
As one familiar meadow blended into the next and the mountain range he’d come to think of as his home came into view, he took in the beauty of the snow-capped peaks as he let Dahlia calm down. This world was a far cry from the one he’d grown up in, but it felt more like his home than any place on the East Coast ever had.
Especially his cabin up there in the pass between those two mountains. It was the one place in this world that was truly his own.
He cast a glance over at his uptight passenger. She was staring but not really seeing, judging by her distant gaze. He thought to point out where his cabin was located but changed his mind. He kept silent the rest of the way to the airport.
Mostly.
“The snow makes it real pretty this time of year, don’t it?” he said after a full hour had passed in silence.
Mainly just to give her an opening in case she changed her mind and wanted to talk.
“It makes it look cold.” Her tone was matter-of-fact but not barbed.
That was progress.
He knew what the others thought of Dahlia with her tough demeanor and her sharp tongue. But he liked her.
Notlikedher,liked her like Nash and Kit teased. He’d had a taste of love and marriage once, and while it hadn’t lasted long, it had been long enough for him to know that lifestyle wasn’t for him.
So no, he wasn’t pining away for the tightlipped, surly brunette in the passenger seat. But from what he’d seen of her during her last two stays at the ranch, he liked her enough that he didn’t mind if she took out some of her hurt on him.
Unlike the others, he knew her anger wasn’t meant for him. If anything, he suspected her anger was aimed at herself, though why that might be he didn’t know. Mostly, he suspected she was an awful lot like his horse Zion. That colt had given everyone a run for their money before JJ came along.
The other ranch hands claimed he’d tamed Zion. He hadn’t. He’d just been patient with the skittish horse. Everyone thought Zion had a temper or was wild and erratic. But Zion had just needed time to get to know people. He was wary of newcomers—still was to this day. But if you showed up every day and spoke to him kindly, showed him you meant no harm…
Well, then, you couldn’t find a more loyal and loving horse.
