CHRISTMAS AT THUNDER HORSE RANCH (5 page)

Emma almost laughed. To most people, a power outage would constitute an emergency. The hardy folks of North Dakota had to be really down-and-out to consider power failure to be an emergency.

Dante set Emma on the sofa and immediately began pulling off her jacket.

“Let me,” the woman said. She waved Dante away. “You go thaw out by the fire.” As she tugged the zipper down on Emma’s jacket, she introduced herself. “I’m Marge, and that’s my husband, Olaf.” The woman’s white eyebrows furrowed. “Should I know you? You look familiar.”

“I think we met last summer. My name’s Emma.” Emma forced a smile past her chapped lips. “Emma Jennings from the UND Paleontology Department. I was working at the dig up until yesterday.”

“I thought the site had been shut down at the end of the summer,” Olaf said.

Emma shrugged. “Since we’ve had such a mild fall I’ve been coming out on weekends. I’d hoped to get in one last weekend before the permafrost.”

“And then the storm last night...” Marge shook her head. “You’re lucky you didn’t freeze to death.”

“I c-can do this,” Emma protested, trying to shrug out of her jacket on her own.

Marge continued to help. “Hon, your hands are like ice. It’ll be a miracle if they aren’t frostbitten.” The woman clucked her tongue, casting a glance over her shoulder at Dante. “And him out in the cold in nothing but his underwear. What happened?”

Olaf took the blankets from Dante and gave him two warm, dry ones. “Did your truck get stuck in the snow?”

Emma’s gaze shot to Dante. She didn’t want to frighten these old people.

Dante took over. Holding out his hand to Olaf, he said, “I’m Dante Thunder Horse. I’m a pilot for the Customs and Border Protection unit out of Grand Forks. My helicopter was shot down several miles from here yesterday.”

Olaf’s eyes widened, his grip on Dante’s hand tightening before he let go.

When Dante was done filling them in on what had happened, Olaf ran a hand through his scraggly gray hair and shook his head. “Don’t know what’s got into this world when you can’t even be safe in North Dakota.”

Emma laughed, more tears welling in her eyes. After their near-death experiences, she was weepier than normal. For a short time there, she had begun to wonder if they’d find shelter before they froze.

“Mind if I use your phone?” Dante asked. “I need to let the base know I’m alive.”

Marge tucked a blanket around Emma. “Olaf, hand him the phone.”

Olaf gave Dante a cordless phone. Dante tapped the numbers into the keypad and held the phone to his ear and frowned. “I’m not getting a dial tone.”

“Sorry. I forget, without power, this one is useless.” Olaf took the phone and replaced it in the powerless charger. “Let me check the one in the kitchen.”

A minute later, he returned. “The phone lines are down. Must have been knocked out along with the electricity in the storm last night.”

“I need to get back to Grand Forks. My people will have sent up a search and rescue unit.”

“I can get you as far as Devil’s Lake,” Olaf said. “But then I’ll have to turn back to make sure I get home to Mamma before nightfall.”

“Don’t you worry about me. I can take care of myself,” Marge insisted.

“We don’t want to put you in danger,” Emma said.

“No, we don’t,” Dante agreed. “If we could get as far as Devil’s Lake, we can find someone heading to Grand Forks and catch a ride with them.”

“I’d take you all the way to Grand Forks, but with the snow on the road and the wife here, keeping the house warm by burning firewood...”

“We wouldn’t want you to leave her alone that long,” Dante assured Olaf. “It’ll be a long enough drive to Devil’s Lake and back.”

“I’ll get my truck out of the barn.” Olaf hurried into the hallway leading toward the back of the house. “Mamma, find the man some of my clothes. He can’t go all the way to Grand Forks in his underwear.” Olaf shot a grin back at them as he pulled on his heavy winter coat, hat and gloves.

Marge left them in the living room and headed the opposite direction of her husband. When she returned, she carried a pair of jeans, an older winter jacket and a flannel shirt. “These were my son’s. He’s a bit taller than Olaf. They should fit you better.”

“I’ll have them returned to you as soon as possible.”

“Don’t bother. He has more in the closet and he rarely makes it up here in the wintertime. We usually go stay with him and his family in January and February. They live in Florida.” She grinned. “It’s a lot nicer down there at this time of year than up here.”

Dante smiled at the woman and accepted the clothing graciously.

“There’s a bathroom in the hallway if you’d like to dress in there.” Marge pointed the direction.

Dante disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later dressed in jeans that fit a little loose around his hips and were an inch or two short on his legs. The flannel shirt strained against his broad shoulders, but he didn’t say a word.

Emma figured he was grateful to have anything more than just thermal underwear on his body.

He shrugged into the old jacket and zipped it. “I’ll go help Olaf with the truck.”

“Stay inside,” Marge insisted. “You’ve been exposed to the weather enough for one day.”

“I’m fine.” He nodded toward Emma, his dark eyes smoldering. “I’ll be back in a minute for you.”

Emma’s heart fluttered. She knew he didn’t mean anything by the look, other than he’d be back to load her up in the truck.

Alone with Marge, Emma wished she was warm enough to go out and help, but the thought of going out in the cold so soon after nearly dying in it didn’t appeal to her in the least. How did Dante do it?

“That’s some man you have there,” Marge said, fussing over the blankets in Emma’s lap.

Emma started to tell Marge that he wasn’t her man, but decided it didn’t matter. The farmer and his wife had been very helpful, taking them in and providing them warmth and clothing.

“How long have you two been together?” Marge asked out of the blue.

Now that she hadn’t refuted Marge’s earlier statement, Emma didn’t know whether she should tell her they weren’t together. “Not very long” were the words she came up with. They were true in the simplest sense. She and Dante had only been together since she’d found him in the snow beside the helicopter wreckage the day before and one other time when they’d had coffee together on campus.

Marge smiled. “You two make a nice couple. Now, do you want to take an extra jacket with you? Olaf keeps blankets and a sleeping bag in the backseat of the truck in case we get marooned out in bad weather. Make use of them. I know once you get cold, it’s hard to warm up. Sometimes it takes me days for my old body to catch up.”

Used to the North Dakota winters, Emma nodded. To think Dante was out in that cold wind helping the old man get the truck ready sent another shiver across Emma’s skin.

“I’ve got my camp stove going and some water heating for coffee. If you’re all right by yourself, I’ll rustle up some breakfast for the two of you.”

“You don’t have to go to all that trouble.” Emma’s belly growled at the thought of food.

Marge laughed. “No trouble at all. We rarely have visitors so far north. It’ll be a treat to get to fuss over someone.” She left Emma on the couch.

The rattle of pans preceded the heavenly scent of bacon cooking. By the time the men came in from the cold, Emma’s mouth was watering and she pushed aside the blankets to stand.

“Everything’s ready,” Dante said.

“Good. Then come have a seat at the table and eat breakfast while Olaf and I have our lunch. No use going off with an empty stomach.” Marge set plates of hot food on the table and cups of steaming coffee.

“We really appreciate all you’ve done for us. Truthfully, we’d have been happy just to sit in front of the fire to thaw.” Emma sat in the chair Dante pulled out for her and stared down at eggs, bacon, ham and biscuits. “Breakfast never looked so good,” she exclaimed.

“You’re an angel.” Dante hugged the older woman and waited for her to sit in front of a sandwich and chips before he took his seat.

Marge’s cheeks bloomed with color.

“My Marge can make most anything with a camp stove and a Dutch oven. And she can dress a mule deer like a side of beef.”

Marge waved at her husband. “He only married me because I liked hunting.”

Olaf grinned. “And she was the prettiest girl in the county.”

Emma hid a smile. The pair clearly loved each other. “How long have you two been together?”

Olaf’s head tipped to one side. “What’s it been? Thirty years or more?”

Marge shook her head. “Going on forty.”

“And you still don’t look a day over twenty-nine.”

“Big fibber.”

Emma caught Dante’s smile and joined him with one of her own. The warm food and good company went a long way toward restoring her stamina.

By the time Marge and Olaf bundled them into the truck, Emma was beginning to think all was right in a crazy world. She found it hard to believe that only that morning someone had tried to kill them.

As Olaf drove the long, snow-covered road to Devil’s Lake, Emma had far too much time on her hands to think. Whoever had shot down Dante’s helicopter hadn’t been satisfied with him being injured. He’d come back to finish the job. The big question was, would he try again?

Chapter Five

At the truck stop at Devil’s Lake, Dante was able to get a call through to headquarters. The dispatcher on duty was relieved to hear from him. They’d sent out several helicopters to circle the last known location of his helicopter. The snow had done a nice job of hiding the crash site and they’d just located it beneath three feet of powder when Dante had made contact.

Dante waited while the dispatcher connected him to his supervisor, Jim Kramer.

“T.H., where the hell have you been?”

Dante laughed. “Slogging through three feet of snow to get to someplace warm.”

“You had us all worried out here when you didn’t show up at quittin’ time.”

“Nice to know someone cares.” Dante had been with the CBP long enough to be a part of the team. When a chopper went down, everyone took it personally. The loss of a teammate hit everyone hard. “Rest assured, I’m not dead, yet.”

“Glad to hear it.” Jim paused. “What happened?”

“I was shot down by a man with a Soviet-made RPG.”

“What?”

“Look, I’m sitting at a truck stop in Devil’s Lake. The storm hit this area pretty hard and a lot of electric and phone lines are down. I was about to hit up a few of the truck drivers to see if anyone could get us back to Grand Forks. When I get back, I’ll fill you in on all the details.”

“Fair enough. But I can do you one better. Biacowski is out searching for you. I’ll send him over to pick you up.”

“As long as he has room for two.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had a little help getting away from the burning fuselage and then surviving the storm last night by someone who works out at the university.”

“Thank him for me, will ya? You know how hard it is to find good pilots.”

“Will do.” Dante didn’t bother to correct his supervisor on the gender of the person who’d helped him. After arranging a location to pick him up, Dante hung up and turned to find Emma hugging Olaf.

Something that felt oddly like jealousy tugged at his insides. Not that he had anything to fear from Olaf. The man was married and old enough to be Emma’s father.

What bothered him was that she’d felt comfortable hugging the old guy and hadn’t so much as touched Dante since they’d made it back to civilization.

When Samantha was alive, he’d been jealous of any man she’d so much as said hello to. Which was practically everyone in camp. She’d laughed and told him to get over it. Though he’d never told her, he never had. His love for her had bordered on obsessive. If he was honest with himself, he was certain had Samantha lived, he’d have driven her away. She had a mind of her own and resented when he told her what to do.

He’d only done so out of fear of losing her. And his fear had played out. Samantha had died outside the wire.

Glancing across at Emma, he could see very few similarities between the two women. Where Samantha had straight, sandy-blond hair and gray-blue eyes, Emma had curly dark hair and dark brown eyes.

Being a female captain in the army meant Samantha had to have a tough exterior and confidence to command the soldiers in her company. Emma appeared to be afraid of men. But she’d shown no fear when she’d used her snowmobile to ram into the guy shooting at him. Her fear was in being alone and naked with a man.

Samantha had been hot as hell in bed and liked being on top half the time. Emma...

Her soft brown eyes met his and she smiled. Though she wasn’t as sexy as Samantha, she had her own sweet serenity that made him calm and excited all at once. His heartbeat fluttered and he longed to be naked with her, buried beneath the blankets, touching her, bringing her body and senses to life.

She’d been like an exotic flower opening for the first time. And she’d given him something special, something she couldn’t take back. Too bad he wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Emma would be well worth the trouble.

Her cheeks grew pink.

Dante realized he must have been staring and shifted his gaze to the sky. The thumping sound of helicopter blades was music to his ears. His heart was heavy at the thought of the crashed Eurocopter AS-350 lying in a burned-out heap beneath the snow on Olaf’s ranch. Helicopters weren’t cheap and took time to replace. He’d gone over and over in his mind what he could have or should have done in the situation, but nothing would undo what had been done.

Biacowski set the helicopter down in a field bordering the small town of Devil’s Lake.

Olaf drove the pair to the edge and let them out close enough to walk to the aircraft.

Once again, Emma hugged the older man and thanked him.

Dante stuck out his hand and shook Olaf’s. “Thank you for all you and your wife have done for us.”

“Thank you for your service, Dante. I hope you and your girl will come visit us again.” The man grinned. “Hopefully under better circumstances next time.”

Emma gave him a gentle smile. “We’d like that.”

The pilot remained with the aircraft as Dante and Emma approached, hunched over to avoid being hit by the still-turning rotors. Once Dante had Emma settled in the backseat and buckled in, he handed her a headset so that she could hear the conversation up front.

Finally, Dante climbed into the copilot seat.

Dante settled the spare headset over his ears.

Biacowski glared at him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

“Sorry to inconvenience you.” Dante chuckled. “I have a feeling that if you hadn’t called in sick, one or both of us would have been dead in that fire. I seriously doubt that as much as Emma helped, she could have saved both of us.”

Chris glanced over his shoulder at Emma and gave her a thumbs-up. “I owe you one. Emma, is it?”

She nodded.

“Hell, the CBP owes you one. Dante’s one of our best pilots.”

She adjusted the mic over her mouth and spoke softly. “Glad to help.”

Biacowski leaned toward Dante. “Where’d you find her? She’s cute.”

Dante glanced back at Emma, knowing full well she could hear what the pilot said. “I didn’t find her, she found me.”

“I want the whole story when we get back.”

“You got it. Just get us back before nightfall. It’s already been a long day for both of us.”

Dante settled back in his seat, thinking he’d close his eyes and take a short nap on the way back. A glance to the rear proved Emma had nodded off. She had to be exhausted after nearly being killed and then slogging through knee-deep snow to find shelter.

Though he closed his eyes, the rumble of the engine and the thumping of the rotors made his blood pump faster and his hands itch to take the controls. Giving up on a nap, he opened his eyes and scanned the snow-covered landscape below, half expecting to find a man on a snowmobile pointing an RPG at him.

His nerves knotted and remained stretched tight until the lights of the Grand Forks International Airport blinked up at him.

Biacowski hovered over the landing area and set the helicopter down like laying a sleeping baby in its crib.

Dante climbed into the backseat before the rotors had time to stop spinning and helped Emma out of the harness.

“I’ll take you home as soon as I debrief my commander.” He stared into her sleepy eyes. “Will you be okay for an hour or two?”

“I can catch a taxi back. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“My supervisor will want to hear your story, as well. You actually saw the man who fired on my helicopter.”

“I didn’t see much.”

“Whatever you saw, he’ll want to know about.” Dante grabbed her hand and led her toward the building. Biacowski followed.

Jim Kramer met them at the door to his office, showed them in and offered them coffee. “Do I need to get an ambulance to have you two taken to the hospital?” Kramer frowned, staring hard at them. “You both look like you got rolled in a fight.”

Dante’s gaze met Emma’s and he sighed. “We did get rolled and almost lost the fight.” He told his side of what had happened over the past twenty-four hours and waited while Kramer questioned Emma.

“Could you describe the man on the snowmobile?”

Emma shook her head. “Other than he had black hair, no. He was seated, so I couldn’t get a feel for how tall he was and it all happened so fast, I was more worried about him running over Dante than getting a clear description of him.”

Kramer came around the side of his desk and held out his hand to Emma. “Thank you for saving one of my best pilots.” His lips twisted. “He’s also a vital member of this team and we’d have missed him.”

Dante shifted in his chair, uncomfortable with the praise when he’d allowed himself to get shot down. “Sir, whoever shot me out of the sky came back to finish the job. When he finds out he wasn’t successful, he could be back. And if he thinks for a moment that Emma could identify him, he’ll be after her.”

Kramer leaned against his government-issued metal desk and ran his hand over his chin. “You have a point. I suppose I could assign a man to keep an eye on her.”

Emma leaned forward in her chair. “I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me. I’m fully capable of taking care of myself.”

Kramer shook his head. “Whoever did it has to know it’s a federal crime to shoot at a government agent. If there’s any chance you can identify him, he might come after you next.”

Dante leaned toward her and took her hand. “Let the boss assign an agent to you. At least until we catch the bastard.”

Emma’s lips pressed into a tight line, her cheeks filled with color. “No, thank you. I’m off for the next four weeks on Christmas break. I’ll be vigilant and watch my back. No need to tie up resources babysitting me.”

Kramer glanced at Dante. “I can’t force her to accept help.”

Dante’s gaze met Emma’s. From the stubborn look on her face he could tell she didn’t like having people make decisions for her. But after all she’d done for him, he needed to be sure no one would come after her. He turned back to his boss. “I have a lot of use-or-lose vacation time on the books, right?”

“Yes, you do,” Kramer confirmed.

“I’d planned on spending a little time with my family at the Thunder Horse Ranch over the holidays. If it’s all right by you, I’d like to take my leave now. I’ll spend part of it with Emma until we figure out who was responsible for destroying a perfectly good helicopter and then tried to kill us.”

“Do I have a say in any of this?” Emma asked.

Dante’s lips quirked up on the corners. “Only if it’s to agree.”

“Well, I won’t.” She pushed to a standing position. “I like my solitude and I don’t need someone treating me as a charity case and guarding me as if I were a child.”

Admiring her gumption, but no less determined, Dante stood beside her. “If it helps, you won’t even know I’m there. I’ll keep an eye on you from the comfort of my vehicle outside your apartment.” He knew even before he said the words that they would get her ire up. And they did.

“Like a stalker?” She straightened.

Kramer stood, chuckling. “I’ll let you two duke it out. I have a schedule to juggle. As of now, you’re to report to the hospital for a quick checkup, and then you’re on leave until after the first of the year. You’re dismissed. And, T.H., try to stay out of the cold this time. The temperature outside is minus fifteen with a windchill of minus thirty and it’s supposed to drop tonight to minus forty.”

“Trust us. We don’t plan on spending tonight in the elements,” Dante assured his boss. “Although, it wasn’t all bad.”

Kramer left his office and headed down the hallway to the hangar.

When Dante turned to Emma, he noted the blush rising up Emma’s neck into her cheeks.

“I won’t be responsible for you missing out on family time during the holidays,” she muttered.

Dante’s lips twitched, but he fought the smile. She was deflecting his reference to their lovemaking and he found it endearingly cute. “I promise to spend some of my leave with my family.”

“And you really don’t have to spend any of it with me.”

“What if I like being with you?” he quipped.

“What if I don’t like being with
you?
” Twin red flags flew in her cheeks and her brown eyes flashed.

This was an Emma he liked as much as the soft, sexy one he’d made love to in the little trailer. He pulled her into an empty office and lifted both of her hands in his. “Do you really mean that?”

“You said so yourself, ‘no guarantees.’ Don’t start feeling sorry for me.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you. I’m worried about you.”

“Well, stop. I can take care of myself. I have for years.”

“Fair enough.” Rubbing his thumbs over the backs of her hands, he gazed into her eyes. “You’re independent and you’ve taken care of yourself for a while. But have you ever had someone try to kill you before today?”

She opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out.

“No,” he answered for her. “Well, I have, and it’s not fun. And it’s not the right time to be on your own.”

“I don’t need you to be my bodyguard.”

“Emma.” His grip tightened on her hands. “What are you afraid of? The bad guy or me?”

She blurted out, “I’m not afraid of either.” Her head dipped and she stared at her boots. “I’m afraid of me.”

His heart melted at the way her bottom lip wobbled. “Why?”

Her glance shifted to the corner of the room and she didn’t say anything for a full ten seconds. Then she admitted, “I’ve been independent for so long, I’m afraid of becoming dependent on anyone.”

Dante suspected there was a lot more to her fierce independence than having been that way for a long time. Someone in her past must have hurt her. “Relying on someone else doesn’t have to be a bad thing. And it’s only temporary. Once we catch the bad guy, you can go back to being independent.”

She didn’t throw it back in his face, so he figured she was wavering. He went in for the clincher.

“Besides, you saved my life twice.” He lifted one of her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss there. “I owe you. And if you don’t let me pay you back by providing you a little protection in the short term, I’ll always owe you my life. You can’t let me go through life with such a huge obligation hanging over me, can you? It will threaten my manhood.”

Her brows knitted. “You don’t owe me anything. And there’s nothing in this world that could possibly threaten your...er...manhood.”