Page 9 of Ms. Fortune
I didn’t know if he could hear me over the sound of the motor and the roar from the river, but the four-wheeler stilled, and a rough voice called my name.
“Lucky?” That voice was deep and raspy. Sometimes I thought I could hear a hint of a drawl lingering when he said my name. I couldn’t pinpoint the origin, but it sounded slow and sexy, even at the most inopportune time.
My knight in shining armor wasn’t a teenage boy, but the perplexing man who appeared fearless as he dived headfirst into danger without hesitation.
“Get down!”
I had no way to get Risky out of this valley if he got seriously injured. He was far too big for me to move on my own. And there was no chance that I was mentally prepared to watch another man die right in front of me. If one of those wild shots hit Risky, there was a solid chance my next stop would be a mental health facility.
“It’s safe. They’re out of bullets.”
I gasped and tried to reach behind myself to see how bad the scratch on my back was. I could smell blood and feel wetness dripping down my spine. “How do you know?”
“I was counting the shots as I rode down the trail. That wasn’t a shotgun. It was a handgun. They hold a certain amount of ammunition. Unless the shooter has backup and is reloading, they’re out. But you should move your ass and get out of here in case they are preparing to continue shooting.”
I peeked out of my inadequate shelter and looked at my savior with puzzled eyes. “You don’t hunt with a handgun.”
Risky snorted. “Nope. You sure don’t. Unless you’re hunting humans.”
I crawled out of my hidey-hole, not caring that I was covered in mud and blood. I hissed in pain when I put pressure on my wounded foot and stumbled forward. Risky caught my arm and held me upright. His perfectly shaped eyebrows dropped into a fierce frown when he took in my sorry state.
“What the fuck happened to you? Did you roll down the trail?”
“Almost.” I shook my hair out of my face and looked up the hill in confusion. “Did you see whoever was shooting? I need to call the game warden and get them out here. Thatwas dangerous. It was probably a newbie or some kids fooling around. I forgot to tell you to be careful if you venture into the valley during hunting season.”
Risky grunted as he helped me hobble to the ATV. I’d never been so glad to see a beat-up piece of machinery in my life. I felt like I couldn’t take another step without passing out.
“Nobody can see anything. The trees are too dense, and there are too many places to conceal yourself. Everything is the same color. If the shooter wanted to hide, it would be easy.” Risky’s words were flat and to the point. They sounded an awful lot like he knew what he was talking about.
I frowned. “You keep saying shooter, not hunter.” I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the distinction was pointed and clear.
Risky hummed, but didn’t say anything else as he tossed a long leg over the four-wheeler.
“You handle this ATV better than anything else I’ve asked you to drive while you’ve been here. Why is that?” I didn’t want to think about how close those bullets had come to hitting me. I desperately needed a distraction.
“At one point in my misspent youth, I rode a motorcycle. The controls are similar.”
I chuckled as he started the engine and whipped around to head back up the hill. “Didn’t need the instruction manual for this?”
He didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he grabbed my hand and wrapped it around his lean waist when we hit a washed-out and bumpy part of the trail.
I froze when his body heat hit my fingertips and gulped when the hard abs flexed as he braced himself against the rough motion.
I wasn’t surprised he was fit and rocking a six-pack. It was easy to tell he took care of himself and was not a lightweight. What shocked me to my very core was the way I blushed andhow my heart decided to flutter at his closeness. I’d sworn off romance a long time ago, and thus far, my commitment to living a solitary life had been unwavering. When someone told you they would love you until the end of time, declare they couldn’t live without you, and go so far as taking their life in front of you when you proved unable to return their feelings, it soured your outlook on happily ever after.
While my heart was dead in the water, I guessed the rest of my body still worked just fine. It’d just been holding out for the right sort of temptation to bring my libido out of hibernation.
I was so taken aback by the sudden rush of desire and arousal that it never occurred to me that I should stop to question how Risky knew the difference between firearms just by the sound of the gunshot, and why he was so familiar with how many shots belonged to a certain make of gun. I also forgot to question why he didn’t seem at all rattled, racing down a mountainside with bullets flying.
“You’ve got the lodge back up and running? I thought for sure it was going to slide down the mountain or get snatched by one of the developers always sniffing around.”
“I’m doing my best to bring it back to where it once was. That’s what my grandparents would’ve wanted.” I stared at the sheriff of Blue River and struggled to stay seated while he gave me a judgmental once-over.
I’d debated if it was worth reporting the incident on the night of the storm, but after getting spooked by the too-close-for-comfort gunshots this afternoon, I’d decided there needed to be an official record of the weird things occurring. I should’ve known that the man who had often busted me for skipping school and racing up and down the pass when I was a teenager wouldn’t take me seriously now that I was a law-abiding grown-up. In his eyes, I was still a rebellious kid, doing anything to get my parents’ attention. There had been a period when I naïvely believed if I acted out enough and caused enough of a ruckus, it would force my folks to stick around and do some actual parenting. I should’ve known that behavior would only drive the two of them closer together and further away from me.
“You aren’t concerned about the pictures I showed you?” It was a fight to keep my composure.
Risky had warned me that law enforcement would likely blow me off. He didn’t elaborate on why he was so certain I was wasting my time by driving into town and reporting my findings to the sheriff. However, I got the distinct feeling this wasn’t the first time he’d been in a situation with sinister undertones and murky evidence. He had been far too calm about everything that had recently happened.
