Chapter Nine
“Hey, where you goin’?” Morgan was dressed for a blizzard in a winter coat with her saddle bags thrown over her shoulder. She should have known he wouldn’t let her leave that easily.
“Time for me to head out. The snow stopped last night.” She started to walk around Luke.
“Whoa there,” his big hands flailed in front of her. “What do you mean head out? You’re just gonna leave me here?” To say he looked shocked was an understatement.
“Yep. You’re a big boy right? Or do I need to escort you down the mountain so you don’t fall off your horse again?”
“Oh there’s the smartass I know and love so well. You aren’t going anywhere Morgan. Not until we talk.”
“We don’t have anything left to say Luke.” She patted him on the chest and turned her back, trying to move around him. Praying to God he wouldn’t bring up last night, ever. Only a small lapse in judgment on her part.
“Oh…oh yes, we do and we, meaning me and you aren’t leavin’ here til we do.
” Luke placed his large cowboy-weathered hand around her dainty little wrist, spinning her around to face him again.
She hadn’t expected his physical reaction but when he flipped her, she lost her balance, falling right into his arms.
“Now this is more like it…” Then she slapped him, deservedly so.
“How dare you, you, you… ugh. Let go of me!” Too shocked and unprepared for him to hold her so close again, Morgan struggled against his grip.
“I’m not letting go until you calm down. Now you listen here Morgan….”
“Don’t you Morgan me you jerk. Let me go! I’m not staying in this cabin one minute longer with you here.” This time, she pulled as hard as she could and slipped free of his hold.
“Oh shit, Morgan…”
She should have seen it coming. Luke had secured such a tight hold on her that when she finally broke free, momentum took hold and as luck would have it, the couch was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Morgan flew backward head over heels, landing in a crooked heap between the cushions and the floor.
She’d been danged lucky not to hit her head on the coffee table because there could have been some serious emergency issues.
He probably would have had no clue what to do.
Morgan sat in a semi glued-to-the-chair position for a minute to get her bearings straight. The stars consuming her eye site started to fade and Luke’s voice became more than just a jumbled mess.
“Morgan I am so sorry, are you okay? Here let me help…” She held up a hand to stop him mid-sentence.
“No it’s okay, don’t touch me. I think you’ve done enough already. Just give me a minute would ya?” She needed to make sure nothing was broken before she moved. She could tell there would definitely be bruises later because she hurt like hell but nothing screamed broken.
She slowly moved one leg then the other to the floor to give her a little leverage but Luke was there in a flash offering his strength.
“Take it slow sweetheart; that was an awful fall. I don’t want anything to be broke or out of place. Let me bear your weight.” He extended both hands toward her, ready to move her.
The heat consumed her face with every passing second.
Just the thought of Luke’s hands on her again, threatened to send her insides past the boiling point and right back to the middle of last night.
She also knew she didn’t have much choice.
The pain was already becoming more unbearable and she didn’t think she could get up off the floor without help.
She’d fallen out on the mountains during rescues hundreds of times but flipping over the back of the couch wasn’t the same thing at all.
Hesitantly she held up a hand to anchor on Luke hoping he wouldn’t pull too hard but apparently that was the least of her worries.
When he finally gripped her hand, she forgot all about the aches from the fall.
The electricity that shot through her fingers when they touched his seemed strong enough to light up the whole room without a generator.
She immediately pulled away, thumping her back on the floor.
“Hey, what did you do that for?” He looked at his hand and looked back at her.
“My hand slipped.” What a lie! Morgan you’ve always been a bad liar, he’ll see right through that.
“Well no matter.”
Then before she could prepare, Luke leaned down and scooped an arm under her legs and the other around her back and had her off the floor and nestled against his chest. Talk about throwing her, quite literally, out of her comfort zone.
“Hey! What are you doing?” She knew better than to fight it but she tried anyway.
“I’m not pussyfooting around with you anymore. Now shut up and hold still dammit.”
His grip tightened around her body and dang it if her insides didn’t betray her in naughty ways.
She knew he hadn’t cleaned up so he still smelled of sleep, sweat and something else she recognized…
something they had created. Continuing to put up a fight seemed pointless but she needed some kind of distraction as he carried her in the direction of not hers, but his bedroom.
* * * *
“Would you put me down you big oaf, my legs aren’t broken ya know.”
Luke couldn’t have felt more awful than if he’d actually pushed her over that couch.
Technically it was his fault anyway and maybe he should have left well enough alone but he couldn’t let her walk away again, not after what they’d shared that night.
It was time for her to stop running and time for him to find out why she ran away from him six years ago.
She was seriously sending some messed up signals but if she still didn’t want anything to do with him after, well then he’d just have to accept it and move on.
“I’ll put you down in a minute but when I do, we are going to get some things straight. Understand?”
It didn’t look like she was in too much pain but she’d definitely have some bruises in the next day or two. He was relieved about that, so it was time to push her for some answers. Reaching his unmade bed, he laid her down up near the pillows.
“You know the chair would’ve been fine.” Morgan started to climb from the bed but one little bit of pressure on her right arm had her buckling over in pain and him running around the other side of the bed.
“Careful honey.” What a stubborn cuss. Maybe she did do a bit of damage.
“Here, we’re gonna scoot you back up to the headboard.”
“No its o…” She tried to refuse his help but he wasn’t taking no for an answer any more.
“It’s not okay Morgan. Would you quit bein’ so stubborn. I’m helping you move and then I’ll go find some aspirin and water.” He resumed the position again of one arm behind her back and one under her legs, lifted her like a feather and placed her back down against the pillows and headboard.
“Now, stay put.”
“Why do you have to be so bull-headed anyway?” She had crossed her arms against her chest and huffed out a breath. Unfortunately the gesture was no surprise to him. He shook his head, showing a smirk she refused to acknowledge and went in search of pain relief.
Why do I have to be so bull-headed? Boy she’s one to talk…takes one to know one and that woman is a pain in my ass right now. If she weren’t such a fighter I’d a thrown her over my knee already…I’ll show her who’s bo…
“What are you doing out there?” She barked the question like she owned the place. Well technically she did but he was just ignoring that bit of information.
“I’m looking for some aspirin. It will help relieve some of the pain.”
“Yes I know what it does thank you. What I meant is you aren’t going to find anything rifling through all the drawers in the cabin.”
Luke appeared in the doorway of his bedroom once again, propped all smug-like against the jam with one foot crossed over the other and hands on his hips.
“Well then miss know-it-all, would you like to enlighten me please?”
“God you are so damned annoying and seriously I don’t know why I stayed here as long as…”
“The aspirin Morgan? Just tell me where the aspirin is please.”
For the love of Pete; he was only trying to ease a little bit of her pain. Couldn’t she just cooperate?
“Bring me my saddle bags and I’ll get them myself.”
Shaking his head, Luke left the doorway and walked to where he’d seen her drop the bags on the floor after he caught her trying to leave.