The Real Thing (2 page)

Okay, maybe “nosedive” was an exaggeration. But since he’
d decided to start
painting watercolors instead his usual oils, it had definitely derailed
. People—including four well-respected
art
critics—had come to his recent show at the gallery in Seattle expecting one thing, and when they’d gotten another, they hadn’t been happy about it. He hadn’t sold one damn painting, much to the dismay of the gallery owner. While Evangeline had insisted she
like
d this new direction he was going in, she
also
suggested he
take some time away to regain his focus and come up with some
new
paintings—this
time in
oils.

He
reached out to turn down the heater just as a flash of movement in the road caught his eye.

“
What the
…
?”

Logan
had
just enough time to
realize it was a person
as
he
swerve
d to avoid
hitting them.

Shit
.

Despite four-wheel drive, the Denali
went into a slide,
sending him
into a complete three-sixty before he came to a stop
.
He glanced in the rearview mirror
, checking
to see if
the person was okay
, but all he
saw
was falling snow.
He hoped to God he hadn’t hit
whoever it was.

Swearing under his breath,
Logan
pushed open the door
and s
tepp
ed
ou
t onto t
he
snow
y
road.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”
a female voice demanded from
behind him.
“
You
could’ve hit me, you moron.
”

Logan turned to see a woman skidding to a stop in front of him. She caught herself, arms windmilling as she
got her balance.
He took in the short dress, light jacket and long blonde hair with a sweep of his gaze.
He’d be damned.
The fool woman was
actually
wearing
freaking
high heels
in a blizzard
.
She might look sexy as hell in them, but she didn’t have a lick of sense when it came to clothes.

“
Me?
” He snorted.
“Y
ou were the one standing in the mid
dle of the road like an
idiot.
You’re lucky I didn’t hit you
.
What the hell are you doing out here?”

“
My
car slid off the road.
”
Her teeth chattered as she tugged her
jacket close
r
.
“
I need help getting it out.”

“
W
here
is it
?”

She
turned and headed in the opposite direction, her high heels slipping on the ice. Logan automatically reached out to steady her, but dr
opped his hand when she righted
herself. He
gaped
at
the small car half
hidden beneath the
rapidly falling
snow.

“You had that little sports car up here in the middle of a
blizzard
?
”

She nodded.

He shook his head.
Well, that was just about stupid.
“T
hat
thi
ng
isn’t
g
oing
anywhere.
At least
not until the snow
lets up.
”

She
frowned.
“
What do you mean?
Can’t you j
ust dig it out
?
”

He snorted.
“
I’d have to do a hell of a lot more than dig it out.
You’re high-centered on the snow bank. You’re not going anywhere.
”

She hugged her arms around herself. “Well, then pull
it out with one of those winch
things.”

“My
SUV
isn’t a
tow
truck. It
doesn’t have
one of those
winch thing
s
.
”

She scowled. “Well, it should.”

“I’ll make sure to mention that the next time I talk to the execs at GMC.
” That bit of sarcasm got him a baleful glare. “
Look,
if I don’t get back on the road
soon
, I’m going to be stuck in the snow, too
.
”
He jerked his head at the Denali. “
Come on. I’ll give you a ride to the nearest town.
There’s a garage there. With the weather, y
ou’ll probably have to wait a few hours for a
tow,
but at least
there’s a convenience store
nearby where you
can stay warm.
”

The way she looked at him, you’d think he suggested they
take off their clothes and make snow angels.

“Or you
could
wait here for a tow truck to come along,”
he added when she didn’
t
say anything.

She
muttered something under her breath he couldn’t
catch.
“No. I’ll go with you.
Let me
get my purse
.
”

Logan watched as she
made
her way across the slippery road toward the car.
His
mouth tightened as she almost fell.
“Here.
I’ll
grab it
for you
.
Get in my truck.
”

“
My purse is
on the front seat. And grab my weekender bag from the trunk, too
, would you
? Just in case I can’t get a tow tonight and need to stay in town,” she
added
when he lifted
a brow.

He
glanced over his shoulder at her as he wiped the wet snow off the little car’s door with a gloved hand. “The town doesn’t have a hotel.”

She gave him that same incredulous look again. “Well, they must have somep
lace
for visitors to stay. A
motel, or a
bed and breakfast
.
”

Logan almost laughed. The town
they were going to
was exactly one square mile
in size
. Besides the convenience store
and garage
he’d mentioned, it had a
run-down
gas station and a
n even more dilapidated
bar, neither of which he could imagine Her Royal High-Heeled Highness going in. He wasn’t about to stand outside i
n the snow and
argue
with her, though.

Grabbing her purse, he took the keys out of the ignition,
then
stomped through the snow to unlock the trunk. The “weekender bag” she’d asked him to get was more like a
steamer trunk
. The damn thing barely fit in the
back.
He swore under his breath
as he hefted
it out of the car
. He felt sorry for the poor, unsuspectin
g tow truck drive
r
who was going
to have to put up with her.

Raine
almost told
him she could get
her bag
herself, but thought better of it as she watched him trudge through the snow that surrounded her small car.
Her feet were already numb, and the thought of thawing out in a
heated
truck was a lure too impossible to resist—even if it mean
t
she
had
suffer
the j
erk’s company until they got to
the town he mentioned.

Carefully making her way around to the passenger’s side, she opened the door and climbed into the seat. The inside of the
Denali
was
in
vitingly warm, and she held her
ice-cold h
ands up to the heater with a
sigh of
relief. She hadn’t been this frozen since going ice skating with her best friend
Tracy
Collins
back in Michigan
when they were in the fi
f
th grade
. The hot chocolate and s’mores they’d shared af
terward had made nearly getting
frostbite worth it
. Raine smiled at the memory. She hadn’
t thought
about
Tracy or that time in her life
for
years.

T
he driver’s side door opened, letting in a blast of cold air, and
Raine shivered as
her
rescuer
climbed inside.

“How far is this town?” she asked.

He started the engine. “About
fifteen
minutes.”

At least she wouldn’t have to suffer his company for long.

“You warm enough?”

She looked at him in surprise. Maybe Mr. Tall, Dark and Rude did have a good side
after all.
Who knew?
“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Raine turned to stare out the window, but almost immediately, her gaze was drawn to the man beside her again. Before, she’d been too cold and pissed off to not
ice how good looking he was, but with that rugged jaw with its perfect amount of stubble and golden brown eyes, she had to admit he put the leading men in every movie she’
d
ever
been in to shame.

“Shit.”

The softly spoken expletive brought Raine out of her musings. She looked out the window and realized that he’d stopped in the middle of the street. “What is it?”

“The
garage is
closed.”

She leaned for
ward, squinting to see through the s
now. She could just make out
the
silhouette
of a building
and a lone gas pump
under the glow of a street lamp
.

“That’s okay. You can just drop me off at the hotel. I’ll
stay here for the night
.”

He slanted her an impatient look. “There isn’t a hotel. I told you that.”

She sighed. “
Fine.
Then whatever passes for
one
in this town.”

“It doesn’t have a hotel, or a motel, or one of those bed and breakfasts you
obviously like to frequent.”

Raine ground her jaw. Mr. Tall, Dark and Rude was back.
“
Okay. Well, I was going to the spa in Mountain Ridge anyway. It’s only another th
irty minutes from here, so just
take me there. I’ll call someone to go get my car in the morning.”

He stared at her.
“
Thirty minutes? Try
four hour
s. And that’s in good weather.
”

Four hours?
Crap. She
tuck
ed her
wet hair behind her ear.
“If it’s out of your way, I
can reimburse you for your trouble.”

He let out a snort.
“Hell, yeah, it’s out of my way
.
But even if it
wasn’t, there’s no
way we’d get there in this storm.”

She took a deep breath and counted to ten.
“Then take me to the nearest town
.
Preferably one with a hotel.”

He muttered something under his breath.
“Look, the nearest town is about an hour from here on a clear day, and I’m not going to chance it in the snow
. My cabin is only
about another ten minutes up the road. You can spend the night there.”

Raine
blinked.
Spend the night with
a guy she didn’t know in
some cabin
in the middle of nowhere
?
She’d done that in an embarrassingly crappy low-budget horror flick back when she was first trying to make it in Hollywood. She’d played a
n
unsuspecting
hitchhiker
who got a ride with a guy who turned out to be a serial killer.
The ending for her character hadn’t been good.