Page 29 of True Valor
“Get under here with me before you fallasleep,” he said, pulling the hair away from her face.
She sat up and shook her head.“There’s abedroom upstairs.I’ll sleep there.”
“Sleep here.Keep me warm.”
Finally he convinced her to shed her jeansand her bloody shirt and crawl under the covers.When she hesitatedon the edge of the bed, he pulled her close again.Her skin wascool against his.
“Maybe I’ll keep you warm,” he said closinghis eyes.
Waking up beside him left Julie with a swirlof new feelings of warmth and security.Maybe even happiness.
No.Not with the huge lump of sorrow thatlodged in her stomach.It was no time for happiness.
Something definitely seemed different withNic, too.Through the haze of pain and fever, an almostimperceptible change had occurred.It wasn’t in his words.He wasbarely able to speak.Not really in his movements, either.But itwas like he was a different person, one literally in his element.There he lay, fighting to recover his strength but with a newfierceness about him.
Like the making of a super hero.
And the super hero was making a remarkablerecovery.By evening, he’d walked from the bed to the overstuffedchair before the fire, had eaten well and had made several jokesabout them having slept together.The spark was definitely back.The fatigue that etched his handsome face did not diminish hissmile.And suddenly his smile was doing things to Julie that werehard to ignore.
Nic sat in the easy chair watching Julie tendthe fire, his right arm in a sling.She really was comfortablehere.She thought she was safe.
She wasn’t.Neither of them was.
He still didn’t know what it was that toldhim that, but he was less and less likely to disregard the feeling.He couldn’t afford to be taken out of the game completely.
The firelight played off her hair in a mostprovocative way.
“Did you look in your secret hidingplace?”
Julie nodded.
“And?”
“Nothing there.”
“You ready to tell me what you remembered?”He didn’t want to upset her, but he needed to hear it, and sheneeded to talk about it.
Julie turned around slowly, and took a deepbreath.But she didn’t speak.
“I saw the look on your face out there on theporch.”Nic said.“Can you tell me?”
Julie returned the poker to its place andplopped on the floor in front of his chair.She pulled her knees upunder her chin.Nic took a deep breath, warmed by her closeness andher trust like nothing he’d ever felt before.Her hair gleamedgolden in the firelight, tempting him to touch.
Nic was able to sit somewhat comfortably andlisten until Julie got to the part about the man in the mask.Thenit became more difficult.The man had seen her.If this guy knewher family, then he likely knew her as well.And, if he knew aboutthis cabin...
The warning alarms in his head, which hadstarted when he opened the cabin door, now nearly overwhelmedhim.
Her illusion of safety was just that, anillusion.They had to get the hell out of here.And he had troublejust walking across the room.Damn it.Until he could both walk tothe car and dig it out of the snow bank he’d managed to put it in,he needed to create a defensible position here.
Yes, this was a hunting cabin, but it wasn’tlikely that Patrick Galloway would leave guns here when he got uphere only a few times a year.Nic would have taken them home.Butthere was a chance...
He tried to keep his voice even.
“Julie, are there weapons here?”
It didn’t work.She turned around, dismayed.She started to speak but, before she got the words out, the lightbulb went on.
“I’m a witness,” she said.
