Beverly Barton - Nine Months

“No. There should be at least one maintenance man on duty twenty-four hours a day.”

“What if the outage isn’t just in the Wellman Building?”

“There’s no way to know,” he said. “But one way or another, we’ll get out of here, so stop worrying, honey.”

Jared stood quietly for a while, silently fidgeting and trying not to look at the woman. But when he glanced at her, he noticed her actions mimicked his.

“Are you sure the air is circulating in here?” She tugged on the collar of her suit jacket. “It feels awfully warm to me.”

“The air-conditioning probably isn’t on, if that’s what you mean,” Jared said. “But the air ventilation is working just fine. Relax, honey.”

“Would you please not call me honey.” The woman glared at him, her chin tilted defiantly, as if she were a schoolmarm scolding a naughty little boy.

“Sorry, but since I don’t know your name—”

“Paige. My name is Paige.”

“Hello, Paige.” He smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Jared.”

Paige stared at his hand, but this time she didn’t accept it. Instead she crossed her arms over her waist and tapped her fingers up and down on her elbows. Glancing around the elevator, she sought a means of escape. She couldn’t stay here any longer, trapped inside this tomb.

She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her suit jacket, clutched her throat and took a deep breath. She couldn’t fall apart. Not in front of this stranger. After all, they weren’t in any real danger. They had air and light, and sooner or later someone would rescue them. Sooner, she hoped. “Jared, please find a way to get us out of here!”

“I’ll do what I can, hon—Paige. Maybe I can open the doors.” Pressing his hands flat against the metal surface, he positioned his fingertips along the sealed edges and pushed. “We could be stopped right at floor level.”

“What if we aren’t?”

“Then we’ll either climb up or step down.”

“All right.” Forcing a smile, she nodded affirmatively. She’d suffered mild attacks of claustrophobia all her life, but she usually managed to avoid situations that might trigger her problem. Unfortunately, using elevators was a necessity. And if she hadn’t stopped to call and tell her mother about her new job, she wouldn’t be stuck in this elevator—with a rough and rugged cowboy!

“They’re opening!” Jared pried the doors apart, then cursed under his breath. “It appears we’re trapped between the mezzanine and the first floor. And if I remember correctly, the first floor is about forty feet high.”

Paige stared at the solid wall behind the open door. “Then we are trapped, aren’t we.” She rung her hands together.

“We aren’t trapped.”

“But you said—”

“Sorry. Poor choice of words. But there’s no reason to panic.” He took a couple of tentative steps toward her.

Paige backed away from him. “I think I should tell you something.”

Lifting his eyebrows, he looked quizzically at her. “Let me guess. You’re claustrophobic. Right?”

“Sort of. But I’m only slightly claustrophobic.”

“Oh, I see.” Hell, it was just his luck to get stuck in an elevator with a young, nervous and shy woman who was only slightly claustrophobic.

Paige couldn’t help but notice that Jared’s devastating smile had vanished and been replaced by an intimidating scowl. “I haven’t cried or screamed or anything foolish, but you’re angry with me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not angry.” He was not angry. He was frustrated. And he had to admit that the thought of dealing with a potentially hysterical woman unnerved him.

He tossed his Stetson to the floor and looked up. With his arms held straight above his head, he jumped toward the ceiling.

Paige let out an astonished cry. “What are you doing?”

He jumped again, then again. “I’m trying to reach the emergency hatch up there.” He pointed toward the sealed square in the roof. On his fourth attempt, he shoved open the vent.

“Damn!” He cursed loudly.

Paige’s gaze followed Jared’s line of vision. “Oh, no. I can’t climb up there. We must be at least twenty-five feet from the mezzanine level.”

Jared saw the panicked look in her eyes and realized he really was going to have a hysterical woman on his hands if he didn’t do something to distract her. And in his experience, there were only two ways to gain a woman’s complete attention. Either make love to her or make her fighting mad. He decided on the latter.

“I know it looks like a long way, honey, but I can boost you up to the opening, you can grab onto the—”

“Have you lost your mind?” She glared at him in disbelief.

“I know you’re claustrophobic—”

“Slightly claustrophobic!”

“But you don’t suffer from acrophobia, too, do you?”

“No, I am not afraid of heights!”

“Then what’s the problem?” Watching her face turn crimson and her brown eyes sparkle with dark fire, he grinned. “You must be afraid you’ll get your beige suit dirty. Is that it?”

“Despite the fact I’m a little upset right now, I am not some silly female who would worry about getting her suit dirty.”

“Oh, then you must have another reason for wanting to stay here with me. Could it be that you think if you play the helpless female, I’ll play your hero? Honey, if you want me, you don’t have to be coy. All you have to do is come and get me.”

“Oh!” Paige huffed loudly. “Of all the nerve. You must have a monumental ego to think—”

“My ego isn’t the only thing about me that’s monumental,” he announced. Paige gritted her teeth and Jared could tell that she was too mad to give a thought to being slightly claustrophobic. He’d rather have an angry woman on his hands than a hysterical one.

“Why, you egotistical, macho jerk!” Without giving a thought to what she was doing, Paige balled her hand into a tight fist and punched Jared in the stomach.

The blow was totally unexpected, and Jared doubled over from the instant pain.

“Why the hell did you do that?” He straightened up to his full six-foot height, poked his hand through the opening where two of his shirt buttons were missing and rubbed his stomach. His movements loosened his shirt from his jeans, revealing several inches of his washboard-lean belly covered with swirls of dark brown hair.

“You were being hateful and insulting,” Paige said, forcing her gaze away from his body and up to his face.

“I was trying to keep your mind off being trapped in this elevator,” he admitted. “But I had no idea you had such violent tendencies.”

“I do not have violent tendencies.” Her voice quivered ever so slightly. Then as the anger, frustration and sense of helplessness overwhelmed her, her eyes filled with tears that overflowed down her cheeks and ran into the corners of her mouth.

“Oh, hell, honey. Don’t do that!” Dammit, this was what Jared had been trying so desperately to avoid. Under normal circumstances, he would walk off and leave her. He didn’t tolerate any woman’s silly, emotional spells. But he was as trapped as she was. “There’s no cause for your acting this way.”

Paige glared at him through misty eyes. She hated him! Jared Whoever-he-was. She hated him! Why couldn’t he be more like her father and act like a gentleman?

Hugging herself as she continued breathing deeply, Paige closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. She would stop crying. She would regain control. And she wouldn’t say another word to Jared Whoever-he-was. No matter how long they were stuck in this hellhole together.

Jared didn’t know whether two minutes, twenty minutes or two hours had passed, but it seemed like two days to him. Paige stood on one side of the elevator, he on the other. Neither of them had spoken a word. But he could hear her ragged, sobbing little gulps for air. He glanced over at her and cursed himself for a fool.