Nine Months

She scooted away from him. “I’m perfectly all right, thank you. Just…well, just a little unnerved.”

“Yeah, sure. Having an elevator go dead in mid-descent is enough to unnerve anybody.” Jared placed his Stetson on his head, then stood up slowly. Glancing down at the woman on the floor, he held out his hand.

Paige stared at his hand—an obvious offer of assistance—and hesitated.

“You are the most cautious woman I’ve ever met,” the man said. “Come on.” He wiggled his fingers back and forth. “I promise I won’t bite you.”

“I didn’t think you would.” Her cheeks flushed. Retrieving her purse off the floor with one hand, Paige reached up with the other. She allowed him to help her stand, then immediately took a careful step backward.

The stranger grinned. The bottom fell out of her stomach. Turning his back to her, he checked the telephone.

“No answer,” he told her.

They both checked their cell phones. No service.

“Isn’t there any other way to get help?” she asked. “How will anyone know we’re in here?”

Noting the slight panic in her voice, Jared tried to reassure her. “Hey, there’s nothing to worry about. The minute the power went out, the emergency generators kicked in to keep the lights and the ventilation working. The maintenance crew should have things going again pretty quickly.”

“But it’s Friday evening. Don’t you think everyone who works in this building has gone home?”

“No. There should be at least one maintenance man on duty twenty-four hours a day.”

“What if the outage isn’t just in the Wellman Building?”

“There’s no way to know,” he said. “But one way or another, we’ll get out of here, so stop worrying, honey.”

Jared stood quietly for a while, silently fidgeting and trying not to look at the woman. But when he glanced at her, he noticed her actions mimicked his.

“Are you sure the air is circulating in here?” She tugged on the collar of her suit jacket. “It feels awfully warm to me.”

“The air-conditioning probably isn’t on, if that’s what you mean,” Jared said. “But the air ventilation is working just fine. Relax, honey.”

“Would you please not call me honey.” The woman glared at him, her chin tilted defiantly, as if she were a schoolmarm scolding a naughty little boy.

“Sorry, but since I don’t know your name—”

“Paige. My name is Paige.”

“Hello, Paige.” He smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Jared.”

Paige stared at his hand, but this time she didn’t accept it. Instead she crossed her arms over her waist and tapped her fingers up and down on her elbows. Glancing around the elevator, she sought a means of escape. She couldn’t stay here any longer, trapped inside this tomb.

She unbuttoned the top two buttons of her suit jacket, clutched her throat and took a deep breath. She couldn’t fall apart. Not in front of this stranger. After all, they weren’t in any real danger. They had air and light, and sooner or later someone would rescue them. Sooner, she hoped. “Jared, please find a way to get us out of here!”

“I’ll do what I can, hon—Paige. Maybe I can open the doors.” Pressing his hands flat against the metal surface, he positioned his fingertips along the sealed edges and pushed. “We could be stopped right at floor level.”

“What if we aren’t?”

“Then we’ll either climb up or step down.”

“All right.” Forcing a smile, she nodded affirmatively. She’d suffered mild attacks of claustrophobia all her life, but she usually managed to avoid situations that might trigger her problem. Unfortunately, using elevators was a necessity. And if she hadn’t stopped to call and tell her mother about her new job, she wouldn’t be stuck in this elevator—with a rough and rugged cowboy!

“They’re opening!” Jared pried the doors apart, then cursed under his breath. “It appears we’re trapped between the mezzanine and the first floor. And if I remember correctly, the first floor is about forty feet high.”

Paige stared at the solid wall behind the open door. “Then we are trapped, aren’t we.” She rung her hands together.

“We aren’t trapped.”

“But you said—”

“Sorry. Poor choice of words. But there’s no reason to panic.” He took a couple of tentative steps toward her.

Paige backed away from him. “I think I should tell you something.”

Lifting his eyebrows, he looked quizzically at her. “Let me guess. You’re claustrophobic. Right?”

“Sort of. But I’m only slightly claustrophobic.”

“Oh, I see.” Hell, it was just his luck to get stuck in an elevator with a young, nervous and shy woman who was only slightly claustrophobic.

Paige couldn’t help but notice that Jared’s devastating smile had vanished and been replaced by an intimidating scowl. “I haven’t cried or screamed or anything foolish, but you’re angry with me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not angry.” He was not angry. He was frustrated. And he had to admit that the thought of dealing with a potentially hysterical woman unnerved him.

He tossed his Stetson to the floor and looked up. With his arms held straight above his head, he jumped toward the ceiling.

Paige let out an astonished cry. “What are you doing?”

He jumped again, then again. “I’m trying to reach the emergency hatch up there.” He pointed toward the sealed square in the roof. On his fourth attempt, he shoved open the vent.

“Damn!” He cursed loudly.

Paige’s gaze followed Jared’s line of vision. “Oh, no. I can’t climb up there. We must be at least twenty-five feet from the mezzanine level.”

Jared saw the panicked look in her eyes and realized he really was going to have a hysterical woman on his hands if he didn’t do something to distract her. And in his experience, there were only two ways to gain a woman’s complete attention. Either make love to her or make her fighting mad. He decided on the latter.

“I know it looks like a long way, honey, but I can boost you up to the opening, you can grab onto the—”

“Have you lost your mind?” She glared at him in disbelief.

“I know you’re claustrophobic—”

“Slightly claustrophobic!”

“But you don’t suffer from acrophobia, too, do you?”

“No, I am not afraid of heights!”