Elle James - Hostage to Thunder Horse

For several miles, they rode in silence, curled into each other.

The gentle rocking motion of the horse, plus the constant cold, lulled Kat into a dull, half-sleep state. Snow turned to sleet, the tiny hard pellets slung sideways by the approaching storm.

“Don’t go to sleep, Kat Evans,” a voice said over the roar of the wind.

“Why?” she leaned against him, her eyelids dropping over snow-stung eyes. “I am exceedingly tired.”

“If you fall asleep, who will I talk to?”

She snorted softly. “You were not talking.” She turned her face into his jacket. “I am so cold.”

“We’ll be there in less than half an hour.”

“I need to sleep.”

“Talk to me, Kat,” he said, his chest rumbling against her back.

“About what?” she muttered, her eyes closed. She had to keep her secrets, but she didn’t have to stay awake, did she?

“How did you get into the canyon? We’re miles from the closest highway or public lands.”

In her sleepy haze she could not think straight. How much could she reveal? Did she care? She gave a halfhearted attempt at laughter and opted for mostly truth. “I did not see the canyon. I drove my snowmobile over the edge. It did not stop until it reached the bottom beside the riverbed.”

Funny how leaning against Maddox, with the soft swaying of the horse beneath her, lulled her into thinking the horrible tumble down the bluff was nothing but a bad dream. Except for a few bruises, she had survived, only to fall victim to the extreme cold and mind-numbing lethargy.

Other than her hands and feet, she was fairly warm in Maddox’s capable arms. They did not build men this rugged where she was from. Her brows furrowed. Or she had never met any men who had been built this sturdy. Her father had kept her surrounded by bodyguards and state officials everywhere she went in Trejikistan.

Maddox shifted her weight, pulling her closer against him. “Why were you snowmobiling out this far? Why not closer to Bismarck?”

“Cars cannot follow.” She yawned and settled back against him, her eyelids closing for the final count. “Unfortunately other snowmobiles can.”

“Isn’t that the idea with a snowmobile tour?” Maddox’s words were carried away on the wind as Katya slipped into a numbing sleep.

Maddox stopped the horse periodically to tuck Katya’s hands into his jacket and adjust her position to keep her from getting too cold in any one place. As he rode Bear through the storm, he went over Kat’s words again and again. They didn’t make any sense. Had she been out on a snowmobile tour and gotten lost? And what did she mean that cars couldn’t follow but snowmobiles could? Had she been running away from something? Was someone following her?

Maddox vowed to get to the bottom of it all when they finally made it back to the ranch. The one-hour ride from the canyon rim stretched into two as the storm settled in around them.

Sleet turned to snow, blowing in sideways, making it difficult for him to see more than two feet ahead of them. At one point, he took shelter in a ravine, the wind and sleet too harsh to be out on the open plains.

Too cold to remain exposed much longer, he ventured out again, hoping Bear knew the way. Maddox couldn’t make out any landmarks and the storm only grew worse, nearing blizzard conditions.

Maddox hoped the horse’s sense of direction led them back to the safety of the barn and ranch house and not farther away.

When he’d just about given up hope of getting there, the ranch house materialized through the whiteout conditions.

A dog barked, and a light blinked on next to the front door.

Through the driving snow, his brother and a ranch hand raced out into the blizzard toward the horse and the two people sagging in the saddle.

“Take the woman.” Maddox handed Katya down into waiting arms. He didn’t like others carrying her away, but the cold had taken more out of him than he originally thought.

He nudged the horse toward the barn. When they reached the barn door, he slipped from the saddle, his legs buckling. If not for the horse standing beside him, Maddox would have gone down in the snow.

Three Thunder Horse ranch hands emerged from the barn. One took the horse’s reins and the other two rushed to grab Maddox’s arms, draping them over their shoulders. His horse taken care of, Maddox let the men walk him up to the house. Once inside, he settled in a chair near the hearth where a fire blazed with enough warmth to thaw even the coldest parts of his body.

His mother, Amelia Thunder Horse, crouched on the floor in front of him and tugged his boots off his feet and the socks with it. “Thank the Lord you made it back. We were so worried. Who is the woman you brought with you? Where did you find her?”

Too tired to answer her, Maddox stood. “I’ll answer all your questions later. Where is she?”

“In the guest bedroom.”

Maddox stumbled down the hallway, shedding his jacket. When he reached the guestroom, Mrs. Janek, the housekeeper had just finished tucking Kat into the bed, the blankets drawn up to her chin. The older woman clucked her tongue. “She’s out. I hope she’ll be all right. Do you want me to call the doctor?”

“No, I’ll see to her.” Maddox stood next to the bed, staring down at the woman who’d called herself Kat. In his gut, he knew she hadn’t told him the entire truth. Despite that, he couldn’t help the overwhelming need to protect her that came over him.

Tired beyond endurance, he pulled the covers aside and lay in the bed beside her, gathering her into his arms as he’d done in the cave.

“Maddox?” His mother hovered in the door of the guestroom. “Is she okay?” She twisted her fingers together, her brows dipped in a worried frown. “Are you okay?

His eyelids weighed so heavily, he closed them. “I don’t know, Mother. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll ever be okay.”

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