Rescued By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton

Chapter 5

Cameo woke slowly, sleep refusing to release its grip on her. She huddled into the warmth of the jacket wrapped around her and her eyes shot wide open when she realised it wasn’t only a jacket draped across her shoulders. Lowe’s arm was too. His hand gently gripped her left shoulder, just above where the bullet had caught her, and the shock that rolled through her only grew more intense as she realised something else.

She had been sleeping with her head against his chest. Her heart drummed discordantly to his as it beat against her right ear, picking up pace as she tried to think of something to say. She wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to curse, hoped she hadn’t drooled on him, or that he wouldn’t make a big deal about the fact she had used him as a pillow.

She wasn’t the sort of woman to fall asleep on a man she knew, let alone someone who was practically a stranger to her. Although, Lowe didn’t feel like a stranger. Some ridiculous part of her felt as if she already knew him better than she did most of the people she had worked with over the years, and she put it down to shock. The trauma of the last few months had done a real number on her, throwing her into a tailspin where it no longer surprised her that she was acting differently to how she normally would.

“Storm cleared up about an hour ago,” Lowe drawled, his deep voice as smooth and sweet as honey to her ears, and holding a rumbling smoky note like whiskey.

He had a voice made for the bedroom.

Cameo showed that stray thought the door. Shock. It was the shock talking.

“How long was I asleep?” She dreaded pulling away from Lowe, and not only because he was warm against her, like a portable radiator that was keeping the chill off her hip and side. She really didn’t want to see if she had left a drool patch on his soft, black and green checked shirt.

“I reckon a good nine hours.”

“Nine hours?” She jerked away from him, startlingly awake now as her gaze whipped from him to the world outside.

How could she have slept for nine hours? God only knew how close the other man might be to finding her now. She began to wish the storm hadn’t cleared up, cursed that clear blue sky she glimpsed through the dark green canopy of the forest. The storm had been hiding their tracks, providing them with cover. Now, the man would be able to spot them from a long distance even through a forest as dense as this one.

“You look worried.” And Lowe looked curious, possibly suspicious. “Something I should know about, Cameo?”

She was quick to shake her head. “Nothing. I just… I didn’t think I would sleep an hour, let alone nine.”

She had honestly thought she had been too wired to sleep, too afraid of what might be out there, whether it was an animal or a human. She looked at Lowe, right into those stunning, rich baby blues, and it hit her that she had been too wired and too afraid to sleep, but then he had placed himself between her and any possible danger, and she had felt safe.

Safer than she had felt in a long time.

In too long.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept for more than a few hours, and she had the feeling that if Lowe was with her, she could sleep for a day or more, felt so at ease and safe around him that she could easily catch up on all the sleep she had missed since her brother had been killed.

Cameo glanced at the world beyond the mouth of the cave again, dreading going out there while at the same time feeling a pressing need to get moving.

“I’m sensing you want to get out of here.” Lowe took his arm from around her shoulders and pushed to his feet, and a strange feeling swept over her.

A chilling sort of coldness that made her want to ask him to hold her again.

This wasn’t like her. Capable Cameo, as her work colleagues teasingly called her, didn’t rely on others, trod her own path in this world with confidence and certainty. Capable Cameo had been struggling to keep her head above water the last few months though, had been slowly sinking into despair and had been starting to feel that she was going to have to run for the rest of her life or she would be caught.

Killed.

It had taken its toll on her and had worn her down more than she had noticed. Now that she had taken a moment to rest, had found someone she felt she could trust, someone who looked strong enough to help her, it had all rolled up on her and that strength she had thought she possessed was nowhere to be seen.

Lowe bent forwards and offered his hand to her and she stared at it, knew how bleak she looked as his blond eyebrows furrowed, disappearing beneath his black hat, and he gave her a soft look, one filled with understanding and a touch of concern.

He eased to his haunches before her, resting his elbows on his knees, and sighed. “Tough few days, huh?”

She nodded and tried to push it all down inside her, to bottle it up again, but it was all whirling around her head now, images of Nate swirling together with memories of those men when they had come to threaten her, and when she had pushed the one down the slope. She could still hear the sickening crack as he had hit that tree.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’re involved in, Cameo, but I do know you can trust me. Whatever is happening… I can help you. You get to set the rules here though. You want to keep it all to yourself, that’s fine. I won’t like it, but I’ll deal. You want to talk to me about it, you can do that too.” Lowe gently placed his hand over hers as she gripped her knees. “You need my help, you’ve got it.”

She stared at him, part of her sure he was an angel, one sent to protect her, because who else would be out here in the middle of nowhere? Who else would offer to help her when he didn’t even know the dangerous mess she was caught up in?

As she looked at him, she felt deep in her soul that her luck had changed yesterday. It really had. Some kind deity of fate had put him in her path, right when it had looked as if things were going to get ugly for her and she had reached the end of the line.

Could he really protect her from the destiny she felt awaited her?

She had seen enough movies to know what would happen if Karl got his hands on her, had seen what they had done to her brother. Torture. They would torture her to make her talk, even though she didn’t know anything and she certainly didn’t have their money. They wouldn’t care.

“Hey now.” Lowe lifted his hand and brushed his knuckles across her face, startling her.

She blinked and looked at him, shock rolling through her as she felt the cold kiss of tears on her cheeks.

Just great. Now she was crying in front of him. She didn’t want to imagine what he was probably thinking as he cleared her tears away, his touch gentle and concern warming his blue eyes. She hated the thought he might be thinking she was weak, another woman who couldn’t handle herself, who resorted to breaking down in tears when the going got tough. She wasn’t. She lifted her hand, knocking his away as she scrubbed at her face. She was strong. Capable Cameo.

He looked as if he wanted to say something. One half of her imagined it would be something along the lines of telling her that she was allowed to cry because she had been through a lot, and the other half of her imagined it would be some well-intentioned speech about how crying didn’t make her weak and that she was strong.

She didn’t want to hear either of those things, so she gripped the rough rock wall of the cave and hauled herself onto her feet, grimacing only a little as she dared to put the tiniest amount of weight on her left leg. Pain swept up it in response and she decided against attempting to walk on it.

She was beginning to fear the worst now—it was fractured.

Cameo removed Lowe’s black jacket from her shoulders and held it out to him. He looked as if he didn’t want to take it, might insist she kept wearing it like a blanket, but then he grabbed it and slipped his arms into it, and zipped it up.

Standing before him like this, she realised just how tall he was. He had a good nine inches on her, maybe more, had to stand at least six-six. He wasn’t a slim six-six either. He was a big six-six. Made her feel tiny in comparison. She had met a few men who lived in the wilderness, preferring to keep to themselves and lead a simple life out in the woods, but none of them had been as built as Lowe was. He looked as if he could haul logs without any machinery, could easily fell a tree and drag it to wherever he needed it.

“You hungry?” There was an awkward edge to his eyes as he said that and it dawned on her that it was because she was staring at him. He patted his stomach. “You must be hungry, because I’m ravenous.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the cave mouth, lingered looking in that direction. Avoiding her as she continued staring at him, couldn’t quite convince herself to stop. Yesterday, she hadn’t noticed just how big he was, although she had noticed how handsome he was. She had put that down to shock at the time, but in the cold light of day, he was still as gorgeous as she had thought him when her brain had been addled by pain and fear.

He cleared his throat. “Shouldn’t be more than half a day to my cabin. Think you can make it that far?”

Did he mean walking or without food? The thought of trekking half a day wasn’t appealing either way. She was hungry, as ravenous as he was, her stomach constantly growling at her for food, and her leg was aching again. She wasn’t sure she could hop for half a day, not when hunger was draining what precious strength she had.

Lowe stepped out into the open and she followed him, the thought of trying to walk becoming even less appealing as she saw just how much snow had made it through the forest canopy and settled on the ground.

He cast her a look, one that told her he wanted to say something but he thought she wouldn’t like it, and scrubbed his nape, teasing short blond hairs that stuck out from beneath his hat.

“Cameo… I get that… Well, I just think… I know…” He huffed. “I’m going to be blunt. I get you want to walk, but you’re going to find it hard going in these conditions with your injury, and I’m really damned hungry and I want to get back to the cabin and get you warmed up before your condition gets worse… so I’m going to carry you, and you can be mad at me all you want about it, but it isn’t going to change the fact you’re getting carried.”

Before she could even form a protest, he stooped and scooped her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing. Damsel in distress wasn’t her scene, but the way Lowe’s arms tensed against her back and beneath her knees, how gently he held her despite how firm his muscles were against her, and the way it brought their faces close together, felt too good for her to even want to complain and be mad at him.

He stared at her, his lips parting slightly, his gaze holding hers.

After a long silence that felt too comfortable, he muttered something beneath his breath, something she felt sure had been a comment about how she felt pressed against him, and shook his head, as if trying to rouse himself.

Or shake an urge away.

Cameo’s gaze fell to his mouth as he started walking and she shook her own head, dislodging the sudden urge that came over her, the tempting thought of kissing him. He might be holding her like a damsel, treating her like a princess, but that didn’t mean she had to go all soft over him and start thinking about things like kissing him as if he was some white knight who deserved a token of gratitude from her.

She tucked her hands in her lap, unsure what to do with them, and tried to keep her eyes off him as he walked. As he carried her. It was fine at first, and he was making far quicker progress than they would have had she been trying to walk, but a feeling slowly crept up on her as they left the cave behind and followed the slope downwards into the heart of the valley. She felt awkward, ashamed, like a burden. She had been trained in how to deal with the mountains and she had been so confident in her skills, and part of her felt that this whole affair had only proven how wrong she had been about that, even when the rest knew that even the most experienced ranger wouldn’t have been able to deal with what had happened to her.

Cameo glanced at Lowe, that shame eating away at her. He wasn’t complaining about carrying her, but he looked strained, his handsome features pinched tightly, and she was sure it was because of her. He needed to rest at least and she needed out of his arms, even if it was only for a moment, until the feeling that she was being a burden and being weak passed.

“Put me down.”

He didn’t acknowledge her, just kept walking.

She pressed her hands to his chest. “Stop and put me down.”

His blue gaze slid to meet hers. “Why?”

“So I can walk. I… You look tired. I’m being a burden.” She hated admitting that. Putting it out there only made her feel weak, vulnerable in a way.

He scoffed. “I’m not tired. Not like you weigh anything. You’re like a feather.”

Soft and easily broken? She knew feathers were really quite strong, but only when they were together, and she was tired and imagined herself as the downy, bendy sort that couldn’t hold up to much.

“Put me down.” She pressed harder against his chest, tried not to notice just how firm his muscles were beneath her palms and the thick layers of his clothing.

He huffed and scowled at her, but he did put her down. The moment he released her, she wobbled on the slippery ground and was forced to put her left leg down. She gritted her teeth and cried out as pain blazed up her shin, turned her head and made her want to vomit.

“Will you just let me carry you?” Lowe snapped as he caught hold of her arm to keep her upright, his grip strong enough that she could lean into it for support. When she risked a glance at him, his face was as dark as a thundercloud. “Believe me, you aren’t a damned burden when you’re in my arms, but you’re a burden when you’re trying to walk. I can’t take seeing you in pain.”

He slammed his mouth shut.

Cameo stared at him, wide-eyed and stunned by what he had said.

He averted his gaze and refused to look at her again, even when she leaned towards him, trying to see his eyes, needing to see in them what he had meant by that outburst. She had figured him for a gentle man, despite his size and appearance, but even the more sensitive men she had known had never reacted as fiercely as he had to the sight of her in pain. Being a ranger had its perils, and more than once she had been hurt in the field, suffering the odd sprain here and the occasional cut there. The men she had been assigned to work with had fussed over her a little, had helped her out so she wouldn’t hurt as much, but not a single one of them had looked ready to pull rank on her or demanded she let them carry her as Lowe had.

None of them had looked furious all because they could see how much pain she was in.

Lowe finally looked at her, and the fury was still there in his blue eyes, a striking need to take care of her that some part of her felt she should find unnerving, maybe even belittling, but the majority of her found oddly appealing.

She nodded and he was quick to scoop her back up into his arms. He turned his profile to her as he started walking again, a troubled edge to his blue eyes that had nothing to do with navigating the treacherous terrain. He didn’t like what he had said to her. Had it made him feel vulnerable? Open to her lashing out at him? Or maybe he was worried she would fear him because he had revealed how deeply he wanted to take care of her?

She wasn’t afraid of him.

He was as large as a mountain and as rugged as stone, and one look at him was all it took to see he could handle himself, but he was gentle and caring too. Kind. He didn’t know her, yet he wanted to take care of her and was helping her. Without him, she was sure she would have died out in the forest, whether it was from cold, an animal attack or the other man finding her.

The other man.

Cameo gazed up at Lowe as he carried her, a thought forming in her mind, one she tried to push out of her head but one that insisted on remaining, lingering, demanding she hear it. He had told her he would help her. If she asked him to help her with her problem, would he do it?

She wanted to believe that he would and that he could handle her trouble for her, but then she remembered that Karl was coming. What if Karl knew about her last location and came here? He wouldn’t come alone. He would come with a few of his men at the very least. The thought of Lowe facing off against one man was worrying enough. The thought of him facing half a dozen turned her stomach.

So, no, as much as she wanted to ask him to help her, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to get him into trouble, feared that she would only end up getting him killed. Her initial plan was the one she would stick with.

She would deal with this alone.

She turned her cheek to Lowe and leaned her head against his broad shoulder, her thoughts weighing her down, pulling a startling reaction from her. She didn’t want to leave Lowe, and she wasn’t sure it was just fear or pain talking. She had the terrible feeling she was starting to like him.

So she was going to do the right thing.

As soon as she was able, she was going to leave.

And she would probably never see him again.