The Cowboy Seal's Christmas Baby. Laura Altom Marie
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so...” Tears stung her eyes, but she swiped them away. This was no time for a breakdown. Whatever issue had led her to run into this forest, she feared she’d need all her strength to face.
With Chip fed, she got herself zipped up, settled him on a soft grassy patch, then dived into Gideon’s saddlebags for the protein bar.
She easily found it, but she’d also stumbled across a laminated photo she had a feeling Gideon would never want her to see. It had to have been taken at his wedding. He wore Navy dress whites, and the woman’s full-skirted gown seemed too fancy for the casual beach setting. His look of adoration for his bride made Jane’s stomach tighten.
Was this the woman who had broken him?
Of course, there were always two sides to every story, but what part had he played in their marriage’s collapse?
“Mind helping me out with the center pole? I don’t know how the hell you got this assembled while in labor. It’s like freakin’ origami.”
She tucked the photo back in the saddlebag, then went to help. “You have to work it through. You can’t just shove it. The whole process needs finesse.”
“Words to live by.”
It took her a minute, but then she caught his grin and blushed. “You know what I mean. Here, let me show you.”
“Do I need to cover Chip’s tender eyes?”
“Stop.” She brushed past him to grab hold of the channel the tent pole needed to be worked through. Now that she had an audience, the motion did feel less than wholesome in a comical way.
When Gideon stepped in to help, Jane fought to ignore the tingly awareness stemming from his faintest contact. He reached over her, raising the nylon channel for her to feed the pole through. The action was simple, so why did her every move strike her as beyond complicated? The heat of his chest radiated against her backside, and when his forearms accidentally grazed the sides of her overly sensitive breasts, she bit her lip to keep from begging for more.
Insanity! That’s what this was.
Her brain got the message, but her body refused to listen.
Ten minutes later, she stood side by side with Gideon while surveying their work.
“We have a home,” he said of their blue abode.
Home. An interesting choice of wording given their situation. She felt the same vibe—at least in the moment. The setting with its gurgling stream and sunny glade surrounded by towering ponderosa pines was idyllic. The stuff of fairy tales. Only by all logical standards, her current situation more closely resembled a nightmare.
Only...it didn’t.
Now that Gideon had mellowed, and her son seemed healthy and content, and she was immersed in a postcard-worthy setting, her current lot in life no longer seemed all bad.
“What’s causing that smile?” Gideon asked.
“Oddly enough, the fact that this trek has suddenly turned kinda fun.” She smiled.
“You won’t be thinking that when this clear sky causes nighttime temps to dip into the twenties.”
“That’s why Chip and I have you—to build us a nice, toasty fire.”
“True...” He returned her smile, warming her from the inside out. “But please remember that my whole rescuer gig is only temporary. As soon as we hit civilization, you and your little chipmunk will be history.”
His comment should have brought her comfort, but all it really did was make her feel like crying.
“Aw, why are you crying?” Gideon supposed the decent thing to do would be to draw Jane into a nice big hug. But while they’d had fun joking around while assembling the tent, that didn’t mean they were best buddies or that he’d ever again be decent. What went down in Iraq had fundamentally changed him to the point that he was no longer a nice man. Missy, his wife, had told him every chance she’d gotten before she’d left him.
Then she’d died.
Her words had stuck to his skin like a shirt with static cling.
Jane said, “Y-you have this way of making me feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster. One minute, we’re laughing and everything’s chill. The next, you look at me and Chip as if we’re your mortal enemies. My gut tells me you’re a great guy, but your mean mouth is telling a different story.”
“Damn, woman...” Summoning a half smile, he pressed his hand over his heart. “I’ve had gunshot wounds hurt less.”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about—and why are you carrying around a wedding photo? Sorry—I saw it by accident, but it doesn’t fit with the man I’ve come to know.”
“Look...” Needing a barrier between them, he crossed his arms and took a defensive step back. “I keep that pic to remind me I’m never again taking that route. As for what’s going down between us? I’m trying to be a stand-up guy. I promised to get you and your son safely to a hospital and I will, but beyond that?” He shrugged.
“I stupidly thought we were friends.”
“We’re acquaintances. Nothing more. Psychologically, I’m guessing you’re placing importance on our relationship, because at the moment, aside from your infant son, I’m literally all you have.” He softened his voice. “That won’t last forever. In fact, there are probably search parties out looking for you right now.”
“Think so?”
He nodded.
She looked so utterly lost, so confused and alone and beaten, that he broke his every rule to extend his arms to her for a quick hug. When she stepped into his embrace, crying so hard that tears wet through his T-shirt, there was nothing he could do but hold her. Which hurt him. Every second she sobbed against his chest equated to weeks—hell, maybe months—it would take him to rebuild his carefully constructed walls.
How long had it been since he’d felt needed? He used to thrive on problem-solving. A part of him craved charging in to Jane’s rescue, but to fully embrace her needs, he’d have to abandon his own.
Or maybe not? Maybe all this situation required was basic human compassion. What could it hurt to at least offer her that?
She sniffed, finally backing away. “Sorry. I-I guess you’re right. I’ve been putting on this brave front, trying to act upbeat and like my loss of memory doesn’t really matter, but it does. I’m terrified. I have dozens more questions than answers. Biggest of all? What if I ran into the woods to escape danger?”
“Not gonna lie—” with her no longer in his arms, he missed their physical connection “—it’s a possibility. How about if we make a deal—once we get to the hospital, and your husband or parents step forward, if you feel at all threatened, give me a sign. Tug your ear or scratch your nose.”
“Then what?”
“No clue. We’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
“Promise?” She’d lowered her gaze, and when she glanced up at him with late-afternoon sun making her still-teary eyes glisten, Gideon was lost.
“Sure.” By this time tomorrow, Jane and her son would be back with her family, and he would be reunited with Jelly Bean, who was no doubt miffed to find he hadn’t yet made it home. His life would have officially reverted to normal.
His neighbor and occasional caretaker, Mrs. Gentry, would barge in right when he sat down to dinner, yammering on about what naughty boys and girls his ragtag crew of livestock had been. After helping herself to a good portion of his meal, she’d then devour most of his