Page 36 of Montana Rain

Cole sighed, and I deflated a little. I’d been crabby and unfair ever since I woke up. I was out of sorts. I wanted to be with my clients. I wanted to be home. I didn’t want any of this.

I closed my eyes, pushing down the sudden wave of emotion. Rationally, I knew I shouldn’t. I spent time every day telling my clients not to avoid their feelings and to deal with them in both a safe and healthy way. But I didn’t know if I was safe. With Cole, sure, but at all?

The power flickered again.

“The guy who owns this place.”

“Jimmy?” Cole asked.

I nodded. “Jimmy has a generator, right?”

“He does. A wood-burning one. I think he has a gas one. Or diesel. But I also think he hid it. Because it’s nowhere I’ve seen.”

A smile appeared in spite of myself. From what I’d heard of this man so far, hiding the more efficient generator seemed exactly in line with his personality. The wind whipped around the walls, making them groan. Even though the cabin was well-built, the temperature was still dropping, and the power flickering wasn’t helping that.

Cole had been sitting in the armchair, reading, but I heard a sound, and when I looked back, he was standing and grabbing his boots. “What are you doing?”

“I should go get the wood for the pile before it gets worse and too cold. I’d hoped it would die down, but the flickers aren’t getting better. We’ll need it for the generator if the power goes, and we need more for the fire.”

“Where is it?”

“About fifty feet down the hill. There’s no good place to keep it up against the house. Or maybe Jimmy thinks it’s a fire hazard. I’m not sure. But I’ll go Little House on the Prairie out here and make a path to follow.”

He stepped down into the small staircase that led to the basement and opened the door. “I thought you weren’t supposed to go down into the holy grail shelter?”

Cole grinned when he came back with a coil of rope over his arm. “What Jimmy doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And if he’s really upset I touched his rope, I’ll buy him a new one.”

He pulled on his gloves and hat too.

“Do you need help?”

“Not this time, but thank you. If we’re here for longer, I’ll take you up on it.” He winked. “But remember, the Phillips Hotel is unmatched in hospitality. What would the reviews say if we sent our guests out into the snow to get firewood?”

“Cole—”

“I’ll be okay, Rayne. It won’t take too long, and we’ll be buried in firewood.”

He slipped out the door and into the howling white. I looked for him out the window, but as soon as he tied off the rope, he was gone.

Utter silence surrounded me, other than the wind, and fear gripped me. It was the first time I’d been alone since last night, and panic clawed up my throat. The room began to close in around me, and I forced breath into my lungs.

I knew what to do to take the edges off a panic attack, but part of me was shocked at the reaction. Last night—

No.

Stop questioning yourself.

Forcing myself away from the window to keep looking for Cole, I went back to the couch and wrapped myself in the blanket, thinking about anything else and counting my breaths until he was back and I wasn’t alone anymore.

Chapter 16

Cole

Fuck, it was cold.

Good thing I grabbed the rope, because I couldn’t see a thing. Already there were probably six inches or more of snow on the ground, and trudging through it, down the small incline to where I knew the wood pile stood, was giving me a workout like I hadn’t had in months.

I nearly stumbled over a rock but caught myself at the last second.

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