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She nodded as the other driver waved on his way by.

Perfectly fine.

Beth gave her filthy, soaked hatchback some gas but it didn’t move. She tried again and the wheels spun.

Everything is fine.

She closed her eyes and this time instead of praying she yelled. Not the yell of a child having a tantrum but the shrill scream of a woman 7.2 seconds from losing her marbles.

Beth gripped the steering wheel, showing it who was boss then eased on the gas. The car jumped then spun again. She repeated this wonderfully entertaining, physically therapeutic driving sequence over and over until at last she was nearly on the pavement. One more jump and she would be free! Beth hit the gas, hit the pavement, then hit an orange rain jacket.

She jumped from the car and dashed to the orange jacket “Oh my God!”

“There I was going to help you and you’re after driving over me!” a man moaned.

“It was an accident! I didn’t see you!” Beth knelt beside him in the river of rain and mud and assessed the extent of his injuries and was more than relieved to find that, aside from being drenched, he was fine. “I’m so sorry!”

“That’s all right. You didn’t hit me too hard.” He hunched and groaned again as he stood up and got a look at the American standing in the pouring rain with her arms crossed, shivering. “I saw you were stuck and was coming to help you. I live right there.” He pointed to the house only yards away.

A stranger had left the comfort of his home to come out into the rain to help her and she nearly killed him. That 7.2 seconds was up. Release the marbles! “Thank you,” she choked, “but I’m,” then came the tears, “I’m fine!”

Tears or not she’d said that all with a stiff upper lip, he had to give her that. “Listen, why don’t you come inside? You’re soaked to the bone.”

“No, thank you, I’m?—”

“I know, you’re fine but,” think fast man! “I’m not. I’m having some pain here in my back. Could you maybe look at it before you go?” He laid a hand over his hip and winced.

Beth looked over to the sunny yellow house, whose front was tastefully decorated with pots of flowers in every color and whose chimney puffed warm smoke into the sky. “Of course. Here, get in my car and I’ll drive you to your door. Do you need help into the car?”

“No, No.” He flicked his hand and carefully got into the passenger seat. Once she was inside, he introduced himself. “I’m Roan by the way, Roan McCabe.”

Roan McCabe looked to be about Beth’s age, had warm blue eyes, a firm jaw, and a devastatingly handsome smile. Not that she noticed. All Beth could think about was getting to the airport and getting the heck out of Dodge. But, first, she needed to attend to her patient.

ChapterEighteen

Roan openedhis front door and held it for her to pass through. Inside, it was warm, not just the temperature but the feeling of the house. It was comfortable with its sage green walls, carpeted floors, and large stone fireplace. “It’s a lucky thing I found you, Bethany Spinner. Another storm is coming in and it’s going to be coming down even harder soon. It would have been too dangerous to be on the roads.” Roan peeled off his wet jacket then disappeared into another room.

When he returned, he carried a towel and a small blanket he handed to Beth, suggesting she may want to wring out her hair and bundle up. He stood back and while he tried not to watch he couldn’t help but notice her beauty. Before he began to stare he walked away and turned on the television to show her the weather map. So much for flying home.

Beth took her phone out of her pocket to call Lauren. Still no service. She was alone in a stranger’s house, in the middle of nowhere, on a street that was washing away with each passing minute, in a storm, and nobody knew where she was. This was less than ideal.

“What’s wrong?” Roan asked.

“I don’t have any service and I need to call Lauren.”

“The tower was damaged in the storm so that’s why your phone doesn’t work. Is Lauren your husband? Is he here?” he asked.

Roan was easy to talk to, or Beth didn’t care. Her will to live was hanging by a thread. Either way she flung her entire biography at him. “No. I’m not married and I don’t have a boyfriend either. Lauren’s back home in Minnesota and was booking me a flight home but seeing as I can’t get to the airport …” Just then a loud clap of thunder echoed through the sky. So loud it made her jump. “Does it ever stop raining here? I mean, enough already!”

“You know, in the Bible it rained for forty days and forty nights and they called it a disaster? Here we call that summer.” It was a joke and a good one but she hadn’t so much as cracked a smile. He cupped the back of his neck. Something told him that Bethany Spinner was about to fall apart.

“What was I thinking? Coming here? Alone? Not knowing anyone! I wanted an adventure! Well, I got one! I haven’t slept in days! I’m tired, I’m wet, and I just want to go home!” Hey, if she was going to be murdered by this handsome stranger, she wanted to get it over and done with and whining might do the trick. “I really screwed the pooch.”

Roan coughed a moment. “Excuse me? You did what?”

“Screwed the pooch? It means I messed up.”

Roan shook his head with a small chuckle. “Well, I may be able to help.”