26
F or the first time in his life, Caleb threw caution to the wind. He took time for something he craved. Dancing with Rose in the snow wasn’t something he’d known he needed until right this second when it happened. Lost in watching the expressions on her face as they danced, he ignored the weather, ignored the darkening sky, and how the wind speed picked up.
When she shivered, common sense slammed into him, and he mentally kicked himself. He was a fucking idiot; he knew better than to leave his guard down. But with Jack’s reassurances about the weather being clear and knowing the line shack was close enough to run to, even when the snow had started to fall, he’d allowed himself to keep his attention on Rose and not on what Mother Nature was doing. Ten minutes. They’d been dancing for ten freaking minutes and instead of giving them a dusting, the snowflakes grew bigger and bigger. A gust of wind cut through his jacket and Rose shivered in his arms. “We gotta go.”
Rose sucked in a breath as if she’d just realized what was happening around them. “Is it safe?” She looked dubiously at the way they’d come. “What if the horses slip?”
He heard the concern in her voice, and maybe if she’d been a more experienced rider or he’d been alone, he’d have made a run for the house. He made a snap decision and turned toward the horses. “We’ll go to a line shack. It’s about half a mile that way. Jack told me about it before we left.”
“Okay. I’ll gather our stuff if you do the horses.”
He nodded and as he crossed to where the horses stood under the shelter of a couple of spruce trees. He saw her gathering what was left of their picnic. She gathered up the cards, shook the snow off the blanket, and rolled it up to stuff it in the rucksack.
Caleb took a second to shoot off a text to Dalton.
Caleb: headed to the LS by the hot springs.
Dalton: report when you are there.
Caleb: Roger.
He was grateful Dalton didn’t want to have a full-on conversation or give him shit about situational awareness and went about readying the horses. By the time he had the saddle clenches tightened and had gathered the reigns, Rose was walking toward him with the ruck. “Do you want to ride with me, or on your own?” He took the ruck and slung it on his back.
“I can manage.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. You’ll have to help me up though.”
As if that’s a hardship.
He bent over and cupped his hands. When she put her boot in them, he gave her a boost into the saddle. “We only have about half a mile before we get to the cabin, ‘k? At least there we can have warmth while we wait for the snow to stop.”
He patted her hands as her fingers clenched around the reins. “I’m ready when you are.”
Caleb searched her face briefly, then nodded. “I’m gonna clip on the lead rope, just in case.” He grabbed it from the saddle bags and attached it to Bluey’s halter, then climbed into the saddle.
Trudy wasn’t too happy to leave the cover provided by the spruces for the wind, but a couple of clicks and a nudge from his heels got her moving. He directed her around the rocks and cursed softly when the wind which they’d been sheltered from at the springs hit him full force in the face.
Situational awareness, Hunt, situational a-fucking-warness.
In his head he heard Jack’s instructions and pointed Trudy’s nose across the meadow which opened up in front of them, directly toward the wooded area he couldn’t see. He judged they were about halfway there when Trudy lowered her head, and a gust of wind almost knocked him off the saddle. “You okay back there?” he yelled to be heard over the howling of the wind.
“I’m o?—”
The end of her sentence was whipped away by the wind and Caleb glanced over his shoulder. He sighed in relief when he could make out her shape through the whiteness. “Come on, Trude, there’s hay and a warm place out of the wind for you and Bluey. I promise.”
A few minutes later, he ducked as Trudy plunged through the tree line and breathed a sigh of relief as the wind diminished with the buffer between them and the open meadow. He pulled up on the rein and scanned the area. With how the snow had been blowing, he wasn’t entirely sure they’d taken a straight line from the rocks to their destination. Relief slammed into him when he spotted the dark shape of a log cabin nestled between the trees, just a little to the right. “Just a few minutes more.” He pointed toward the line shack.
“I see it.”
His teeth chattered by the time Trudy stepped into the small clearing in front of their refuge.
“Little House on the Prairie, eat your heart out.”
He swung off the horse and helped her down. “Go on in the house and get warm. I’ll take care of the horses.”
“It will be faster if we both do it.” She took the lead rope from him. “You’ll have to tell me what to do.”
He figured it would be quicker to help than to argue about it and led them toward the small shed to the side of the cabin. They worked swiftly to unsaddle the two horses. Caleb pulled a knife from his pocket to cut the cords on a bale of hay, then divided it between them while Rose dipped water from the tank just inside the door into buckets.
He fished in his pocket for his phone. While he didn’t have time to call HQ as he wanted Rose out of the cold as fast as possible, he figured it was a good idea to let someone know they’d reached the line shack.
Caleb: Safe. LS next 2 spring. Ask Jack for coords.
He stuffed the phone back in his pocket. Trev would get the message, at least as long as the signal held. He didn’t want Dalton organizing a search party in this weather; once they were in the cabin which doubled as a line shack for Jack’s cowboys during roundup season, they’d be fine. He hoped.
The horses stomped and huffed as they made sure they had everything. Trudy let him know she wasn’t entirely happy at the turn in the weather. It was his fault it was so cold and she wasn’t at home in her nice warm stall at the barn. “Sorry, girl. This will have to do. I promise you a whole bunch of carrots when we get back.” He wrapped a blanket over her back and buckled it under her neck, before doing the same to Bluey. “They’re as warm as they’re going to get.” He turned to where Rose blew into her cupped hands. “Let’s go in.”
“Should we bring some wood?”
He followed her gaze to where a pile of chopped wood was stacked neatly against the wall. “Good thinking.” He piled some logs into her arms before filling his own. “Be careful. I don’t know if there’s ice under the snow.” He silently cursed the weather forecast that had neglected to mention a blizzard was due today. He could barely make out the shape of the cabin; the last thing they needed was to miss it in the almost whiteout conditions. He urged Rose in front of him. “You go first. I’ll try and make sure we don’t get lost.”
At first he didn’t think she heard him over the wind, but she ducked her head low and headed toward the dark square shape ahead of them.
What was I thinking? Coming up here was a stupid risk to take.
If Rose got sick or hurt, he’d never forgive himself.