Cabin Heat: A New Adult and College Romance (The Billionaire Romance Redemption Series Book 1) (12 page)

“Honey, I don’t care about the car,” he answered. “You and your friends are okay? Are you safe where you are?”

“Yes, Dad. We’re warm and safe. Andrew…the local who took us in, says the plows will be here in two days. After I finish this call, I’ll phone school to let them know about our delay.”

“Well, you give this Andrew fellow my thanks for taking care of my daughter, okay?”

She smiled and held back an unexpected sob. “I love you, Dad. And yes, I’ll give him your thanks. Are you doing all right?”

“I am fine as wine, honey,” he said. It was his favorite thing to say when he was happy. She hadn’t heard him say that since long before Mom died.

“Dad? Did something happen?” she probed. There was something different about him.

“Nothing to worry about, love,” he answered. “We had our share of stranded vehicles all up and down Highway eighty. The house is filled to the rafters with a busload of middle aged women who were on their way to some kind of Tupperware convention. Most of the neighbors here are hosting stragglers. Everything is okay.”

“That’s good, Dad,” she answered. She knew something was up.
Could he have found someone due to the storm too?

“Don’t you worry about your old Dad. Just take care of that ankle. I’ll call the insurance company and have them authorize a rental for you. This phone number that’s showing up on my call display, is that where you’ll be?”

“Yes. I’ll find a cell charger soon, and you’ll be able to call me there too. Okay, Dad. Speak to you soon. Love you.”

“I love you too, honey. Take care.”

She smiled when she hung up, relieved her father was so calm. She wondered whether he could hear any change in her voice too.

ANDREW and the men had finished their work outside and everyone was back in their rooms by midafternoon and now relaxing. Or so he thought. He had left Abby to her friends and her reading, and had been in his office reviewing some of the lower priority documents his dad had couriered the week before.

His father was intent on keeping Andrew firmly rooted in their businesses. With Joy single-mindedly focused on her long-term obsession, he was the only logical choice. With billions at stake, Andrew conceded, it was the least he could do. His father had been the one man to stand firm at his side throughout his most painful moments after Emma died.

His dad never wanted him to become a doctor—was there even one other parent on the planet who didn’t want their offspring devoting their lives to the medical care of others? When Andrew abandoned medicine, he needed a distraction. Something, anything to end the tumultuous pain. And his dad took the opportunity to thrust as much of the business onto Andrew as he could.

Andrew was adamant he didn’t want to set foot in an office, boardroom, or any meeting or negotiation of any kind. And he asked for Lake Tahoe. His father was only too pleased to allow him both. For one thing, his dad had never liked Lake Tahoe. It had been his mother’s favorite place to vacation in the summer.

And then she left him after he and Joy had gone off to university. To Paris. To paint. No other man. Or woman. Asking for nothing from his father but to be left alone. And for no other reason except to enjoy her love of being a painter. At least, that was what she told him and Joy. When she left, she didn’t look back. He had heard from her only once, after Emma died.

Because the divorce had already left the Lake Tahoe cottage neglected, he found it the perfect place to retreat from society. And when his father pried Andrew’s arms open and shoved the responsibility for all their companies’ back end business strategy development into them, he took it willingly. It was something to do to kill the time and distract his mind from
it.
He wondered whether anything would change inside him, now that he’d met Abby.

By early evening, he had read some reports created by his remote staff who worked at the Manhattan headquarters. None of them was a priority, so he got up to check on Abby and prepare dinner if needed.

Rob and Ruth were in the kitchen, just finishing dinner, so he went to look in on Abby.

“Come in,” she shouted when he knocked on the door.

As soon as he touched the doorknob, he was already hard for her. He cursed his erection for tenting his jeans. He stepped in, willing it to go down, but it had its own mind.

“How are you?” she asked as he walked in.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked, looking down at his pants with a mixture of longing and mild shame.

She stood up from her chair and limped to him. There was no hesitation when she placed her hand on his pants and moved it up and down the jean-clad shaft.

“I wish I could help you right now,” she whispered.

“What you’re doing there is definitely not helping,” he said between moans, not wanting her to stop, but knowing the timing wasn’t right to continue. “I came to call you for dinner.”

“I can go so many places with that right now,” she teased.

“How about we have dinner now, and then we can sneak away from the crowd and go to my room?”

“Sounds like a dessert date,” she answered. “It’s a deal. Okay, let’s go.”

He held out his arm for her, if she needed support to walk, and she took it, leading him out of the bedroom and down the hall.

Barb had made it to the dining room for the meal. It was so convenient how she showed up to eat, yet he had never seen her prepare a meal or offer to help the others with chores. She reminded him of the numerous women who had pursued him before Emma. They came out of the woodwork only because of what his family had. He paid her no mind. In fact, the less he saw of her, the better.

Rob and Ruth brought out the food. Rob had meatloaf—one of two things that Rob confessed he could cook—on a serving platter, and gravy in a bowl. Ruth carried two serving bowls. One held mashed potatoes—the second thing Rob knew how to cook—and the other, a garden salad.

“Is anyone going to call John and Trina?” Abby had not seen them for a few hours.

“They’re not here,” Rob answered nonchalantly.

“What do you mean, they’re not here?” Andrew asked impatiently. “Where are they?”

“They took Abby’s keys about an hour ago and went to get some things from the SUV.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Andrew shouted.

“Nope,” he answered. “John said he could get back to it with his eyes closed and he needed his phone charger to find the number of some school project partner he was working with on an assignment.”

Andrew stood up so quickly he bumped it with his thigh and shook the table. He swore under his breath and charged off to the hallway. A moment later, he came back.

“Rob, can you drive a Ski-Doo?” he asked.

“Yes, we have a couple at home.”

“Good. You’re coming with me,” he commanded. “You’ll need to wear one of my parkas and boots.”

Everyone followed them to the hallway with worried looks. Even Barb, which was a surprise.

“Can you use a rifle, too?” he asked. The anger and impatience was clear in his voice.

“Yes.”

Andrew handed him one rifle. He went back to his room and brought out another, with a box of ammunition and his medical bag. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore his sinking feeling that things would go sideways. By the time they were ready to go out, they looked like winter hunters about to shoot deer.

“The rest of you, stay here. No one leaves this house, understood?” He didn’t wait for them to reply.

“Ruth, did you learn to use the sat phone?”

She was so afraid, she only nodded.

“Good. Go get the one in the kitchen. I have the other and will call it if I need you to get help. Rob, let’s go.”

He and Rob hurried to the shed and opened the larger garage door. In moments, they were on two Ski-Doos and headed off the property in the direction of Broad Oaks.
If they even made it there.
He took a brief look at the front of the house and saw all three women peering out the window. God, how he wanted to be curled up beside Abby right now, instead of charging into almost certain danger to find the pair.

The surface of the pristine snow had hardened with the frigid temperature. It allowed the Ski-Doos to skim the surface with ease. They were built for these kinds of outdoor conditions. There was no mystery about where John and Trina had passed. They had left a human-wide path through the five-foot high snow. Rob kept pace beside him as they rode toward Broad Oaks, and Andrew was relieved to have someone to cover him should things become problematic.

He was most worried about the cold, and the likelihood they had not dressed well enough to be outside for this long. Buried beneath that worry was his sinking feeling about the coyote, or any other wildlife that would be out and about after this severe storm. With so much snow, everything that nature’s winter predators could hunt would be buried or taking deep shelter. It had been only two days, but two days were more than enough for all manner of predator to be on the prowl.

Within minutes, they were a few hundred yards from the entrance to Broad Oaks. Rob waved at Andrew to get his attention and they stopped.

“That’s it there,” Rob shouted over the engines.

The headlights from their Ski-Doos reflected on the SUV; then they saw the two faint figures. He sighed a breath of relief.

“Good, let’s get them back. And then I’ll give them hell.”

They continued driving closer. When they were within a hundred yards, Andrew’s heart sank and raced at the same time. After that, everything else took place in mystical slow motion. His heart pounding hard in his chest when he made out what was happening.

John was in the middle of the street, with Trina behind him, closer to the SUV. In front of John, a mountain lion crouched. There was not enough distance between them. It was good that John and Trina didn’t run, but they probably didn’t realize that the animal could leap over twenty-five feet in a single bound.

They did not hibernate. To the contrary—mountain lions loved hunting in this kind of snow, for all the reasons that their prey liked to hunker down. Mountain lions were expert trackers and maneuvered through snow like champion figure skaters on a patch of ice. Pushing the fear back into his head, he pressed on.

He raised the high beams and pressed the horn of the Ski-Doo to scare off the animal. Nothing worked. It was trained on John and ready to pounce. When he was fifty feet away, Andrew stopped. He lifted the rifle off his back and gave a warning shot. It had the opposite impact. Before he could aim for the mountain lion again, it pounced.

As if in slow motion, John raised his forearm to shield his face and neck. The animal gripped him mid-arm. Trina screamed so loudly, it echoed against the surrounding trees. Rob took aim at the animal, but taking a shot could kill John. Andrew put his arm over the barrel of Rob’s gun and pushed it toward the ground.

“Cover me,” he commanded Rob.

He took a knife in one hand and the medical bag in the other and surged forward in a run that felt more like a bolt because of the adrenaline rushing through him.

When he was closer, he made a long bound. As he leapt, he stabbed the animal on its back, to avoid John.

The mountain lion let out a painful shriek and dropped off John, releasing his arm from its powerful jaws. In hindsight, Andrew thought he should have let Rob take his chances with the rifle to the animal’s midsection. With any luck, the shot would have killed it. Instead, it limped off into the trees opposite Broad Oaks. Now, it would have to die a painful death, and that choked Andrew up something awful.

Andrew looked over at John when the animal disappeared; the coast was clear. John had crumpled to the ground, and Trina was sobbing over him. There was blood everywhere. He ordered Rob to take Trina to the side, handing him the sat phone so he could call Ruth. He stooped beside John and ripped the sleeve of John’s jacket, to see what damage had been done.

John recoiled on instinct when Andrew attempted to feel his arm for any broken bones. It was common knowledge that bite of a mountain lion was so formidable, they were known to easily break the necks of their favorite prey—deer. He took a small flashlight from his pocket and aimed it at the injury. Andrew was close to panicking. John was not only bitten, his forearm was mangled and damn near sheared right off by that wild animal.

Andrew took two long medical splints from his bag and placed one on each side of the injury, binding them to John’s arm with tensor bandages from elbow to fingertips. He wrapped a sling up under the injury, doing his best not to add to the pain, and tied it around John’s neck, all the while coping with John’s stoic face and gritted teeth, which bore the brunt of his pain.

“Hey, buddy,” Andrew tried to speak calmly. “You lost a lot of blood and we need to look at your arm. We’re going to have to take a ride back to the cottage. I need you to sit in front of me on the Ski-Doo just in case you lose consciousness. Hold on with your good arm, too, like your life depended on it. Because it does. Okay?”

John nodded and Andrew helped him off the ground. He took off his jacket and put it over John’s shoulder.

“Rob, did you get Ruth on the line yet?” he asked.

“Yes, she’s here.”

“Good. Rob, run back and get my Ski-Doo. You and Trina can walk to yours. He needs to get inside right now, before his body goes into shock.”

Andrew took the phone and spoke directly to Ruth. Behind him, Trina held on to John, and Rob took off in a sprint.

“Ruth. Listen carefully. You’re going to run to my office. In the top drawer on the right is a phone number on a bright orange sheet of letter-sized paper. You will call that number and when they answer on the other end, tell them to send for Andrew Carrington immediately. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she cried.

“I’ll wait on the line until you get find the number. Hurry.”

“I’m already in your office and I see the paper.”

“Good. Okay, hang up now and call them. Tell them exactly what I said okay? Send for Andrew Carrington immediately.”

“Okay,” she sobbed.

Andrew ended the call just as Rob returned with his Ski-Doo. They guided John to sit up front, while Andrew climbed behind and took the handles.

“You two, run to that Ski-Doo and I’ll meet you back at the cottage,” he instructed Rob and Trina before speeding off.

The minutes felt like hours as he raced back to get John inside. As they got to the entrance of his driveway, Andrew felt John’s body weight slump forward. He was unconscious from the blood loss.
No! It cannot be happening again.