High Country Rebel

Talon didn’t look closely into his eyes. He knew what was in there, hoping no one else could read him. His sixth sense, honed by years of combat and saving his and the lives of his men, told him Cat Edwin saw everything about him. He sensed she could look into his soul and that made him nervous.

He wiped his face free of the dampness caused by the steam of the shower and dropped the towel on the counter. Opening the door, he saw Zeke standing by the bed.

“Come,” he called to his dog.

Instantly, Zeke bounded into his opened arms after he crouched down. It was important to have playtime with his Belgian Malinois. Zeke’s black muzzle, dark ears and fawn-colored body was wriggling with excitement. He danced around in Talon’s opened arms, whining and playful.

There was a knock.

“Come in,” Talon called.

The door opened.

Talon told Zeke to sit and he did. He rose as Cat entered with a large tray in both hands. In her fingers beneath it dangled his dried leather boots. He walked over and gently retrieved his boots from them.

“Thanks,” he told her. Her eyes widened and she almost halted, staring up at him.

“Y-you look so different,” she stammered. Talon was so ruggedly good-looking that Cat nearly lost her grip on the tray. His eyes were clearer. There was much less tension swirling around him, too. His mouth was relaxed. Cat felt a sweet, building heat bubble up inside her. The man’s mouth without that scraggly beard was so kissable. Chiseled and strong, like him.

Talon closed the door behind her. “Can you set the tray on the bed?” he suggested, going to the chair and sitting down. He pulled on his hardened leather boots, knowing they’d need some softening work with leather soap. Another day. His legs were weak.

Talon sat down on the edge of the bed. Cat placed the tray across his lap.

“Miss Gus made some of her world-famous biscuits for you,” she said, straightening. Cat couldn’t stop her reaction to the coiled tension swirling around Talon once again. It was dangerous. Exciting. Taking a few steps away, she watched as he looked longingly at the bowl of steaming chicken soup. Miss Gus had put several sizable chunks of breast meat in it along with oodles of noodles.

Talon shook his head. “No...this will be fine. Thank her for me.” He glanced up at Cat. The expression on her face startled him. Was that desire that he saw? Something was going on between them. It was like a living, organic connection simmering and popping between them.

He didn’t dare think about it.

Talon scowled and picked up the large soupspoon. There was a pink linen napkin beside the bowl and nearby salt and pepper shakers.

“Okay,” Cat murmured. “I’ll let you eat in peace.” Because if she stayed, she’d start asking Talon a hundred questions and he didn’t need that right now.

Nodding, Talon watched her leave. The sway of those sweet hips beneath the loose-fitting jeans made him go hard again. Damn, the woman was really riling up his body. It wasn’t her fault, Talon realized as the door quietly closed. Cat was not flirting with him. He didn’t see a ring on her left finger, either. But nowadays, that meant nothing one way or another. She was probably hooked up with one lucky bastard who was privy to that luscious body of hers. He grew harder. Cursing softly beneath his breath, Talon took a first, tentative sip of the soup.

His stomach growled loudly. How long had it been since he’d last eaten? Three days, maybe? Walking the plains of Wyoming, the towns so far apart there was no way to get food. He always kept enough kibble for Zeke in his rucksack, which lay across the room, propped up against the wall. And he’d run out of protein bars, which were good but too damned expensive for him to buy.

The soup tasted delicious and he ate slowly, reintroducing food to his shrunken stomach. The silence settled around them. Zeke appeared happy, his brown eyes alight with joy. Talon could read his dog just as well as Zeke could read him. They’d been together a long time and knew each other like few animals and humans ever would. He smiled at Zeke and then picked up a noodle, blew on it to cool it and then gave it to his dog. Zeke gobbled it down, licking his muzzle on both sides and then giving Talon a pleading look for more.

Outside the window, Talon could see the blizzard was still in full force. It looked like another six inches had accumulated since Cat had rescued their sorry asses off that highway this morning. His hand shook badly as he brought the spoon to his lips, spilling half of it into the bowl and the rest around the tray. Cursing softly, Talon set the spoon aside, curved his hands around the bowl and lifted it to his lips, instead.

Talon wiped his mouth with the linen napkin afterward, thinking he’d died and gone to heaven. A warm room. He was dry. He wasn’t freezing anymore. His teeth weren’t chattering. He could feel his toes and fingers. Life was good. All thanks to Cat stopping and the generosity of Miss Gus and the McPhersons. He had a lot to thank them for and he would once he got some strength back.

Cat Edwin. He sat there, mentally repeating her name, scowling. Maybe he was frustrated because of nearly a year without a woman. As a SEAL coming back off deployment, it was easy to hook up with a woman, no strings attached. SEALs were always a hot commodity. Talon shook his head. Cat interested him on that level, for sure. But there was something more to her that he itched to explore. And then Talon grunted and shook his head. He was penniless, needing a job and he had responsibilities for his mother. Getting involved with Cat wasn’t in the cards right now. Maybe later. Probably never. For all Talon knew, she could be married and have a bunch of kids. Still, he owed her. Big-time.

* * *

TALON WAS DOZING when he heard a soft knock at the door. Cat called through the door. Instantly, he sat up.

“Come in,” he called, his voice rough.

“You look better,” Cat observed. That was an understatement. Talon was stunningly handsome. He could be a model, that rock-hard, clean jaw of his. His large, well-spaced eyes missed nothing. She felt the heat of his gaze on her face, drifting south, to her breasts. Instantly, her nipples hardened. Thank God she wore a heavy flannel shirt. Cat wanted to cross her arms, hide from him. His look triggered threat within her. It brought back memories of her father looking at her in much the same way and it scared her for a moment. The mature woman in her understood it was a man appreciating a woman. But the little wounded girl inside her cringed in terror. Of possibly being hurt. She swallowed hard and forced herself to walk in, regardless of his inspection.

“I feel better,” Talon said, watching her progress. Jesus, he felt like a starved wolf wanting to claim his mate. Cat was in good physical condition. He could tell just by the way she walked, the way she carried herself. There was no excess on this woman’s body except in all the right places. He sensed trepidation in her—and he was the cause. He had the laserlike focus any SEAL would have. Their sudden intensity scared people or made them uncomfortable. But it was an ability that had saved his and his team members many times before.

“Miss Gus would love to come in and visit you,” Cat said, picking up the tray and facing him. Zeke sidled up to Talon, and the man gently petted his dog with his large hand. Her flesh rippled with possibility. She wondered what it would feel like for Talon to graze her flesh in just such a way. Despite his height and his size, his touch on Zeke was clearly tender with love. Her heart melted. Though Talon was a rugged and big man, he could be gentle. That reduced the threat level markedly as she stood beneath his warm appraisal.

“Sure,” Talon said, clearing his throat. “But if I could get someone’s cell phone? I need to call my mother first. She needs to know I’m all right.” He had a cell phone but couldn’t pay the bill, so it wasn’t working. Not something he wanted to admit to anyone. Talon felt ashamed that he was destitute, relying on the goodwill of others to help him scrape through this harsh period in his life.

“I’ll tell Miss Gus. She’s got a cell she can loan you.”

Talon watched Cat turn and leave. Man, the sway of her hips, that very nicely defined butt of hers and his fantasy of wrapping his hands, grabbing—

“Talon!”

He lifted his head, seeing Miss Gus limp into the room. “Hey, Miss Gus, good to see you,” he rasped.

Gus grinned and stopped in front of him. “Talon, you look awful.”

“Thank you, I think.” And then he lost his smile, slid his hand into hers and squeezed it gently. “Thanks for giving me room and board.”

Snorting, Gus leaned over and kissed his recently shaven face. “Welcome home, Talon. You know you’re always welcome here.” She released his hand and sat down in the wooden chair near the bed, intently studying him. “Cat said you’re doing better. Your fever’s down but not gone.”

Talon nodded and lay on the bed, his back against the headboard. “Whatever she’s doing is helping me a lot.”

“Cat’s the best. Thank the good Lord she found you out there this morning or a snowplow would’ve discovered your frozen body tomorrow morning on that highway.”

Grimly, Talon sighed. “It was a close call, Miss Gus.”

“Well, you weren’t meant to die just yet.”

Flinching inwardly, memories of Hayden and him strung up, being tortured, slammed into Talon. Hayden did die. Talon had almost died but clung to life until Zeke brought help and he had been rescued, a hairbreadth from death himself. His throat tightened and he croaked, “Yeah, it wasn’t my time.”

“The soup good?”

“Wonderful,” Talon admitted, suddenly emotional. “I remember you making me those chocolate-chip cookies when I was a kid, Miss Gus. I knew your chicken soup would be good.” Tears pricked the backs of his eyes and Talon quickly willed them away. “You and your family have been very kind to me and I appreciate it.” Shame flowed through him. He wanted to tell Miss Gus why he’d sunk to such an all-time low, a homeless vet, without money, without any support, but he couldn’t go there. At least, not yet. His focus was on his mother, Sandy, not himself or trying to explain why he was in this predicament.

Gus pulled out her cell phone and handed it to him. “Listen, you call Sandy. Lord knows, she’s on tenterhooks waiting for your call.” She waved her finger at him. “But you can’t go see her, Talon. You could give her your bacterial pneumonia and she’s on chemo right now. If she caught your pneumonia, she could die. Okay?”

He nodded, opening the cell phone, seeing that Gus had put his mother’s number up on the screen. “Got it,” he rasped.

Gus stood up. “Okay, you call her. And oh, tell her that once you’re well, you’re a full-time wrangler at the Bar H.” Her eyes gleamed with pleasure. “We need help here, Talon. And I can’t think of hiring anyone better than you. Are you agreeable?”

Agreeable? Hell, he was downright grateful. Tears burned in his eyes. Again, Talon shoved them deep down inside himself. Into what SEALs referred to as their kill box. That’s where all their unwanted emotions, good or bad, were shoved. Never to see the light of day again. That way, he could continue to function, continue to be a warrior on the front lines, not distracted by human feelings. Clearing his throat, he said, “Yes, that’s agreeable, Miss Gus. Thank you.”

“Good. Now, I’m having Cat fix up a small bedroom down the hall from my room here. Cat always takes the room next to yours. She’s getting yours ready for you right now. After calling Sandy, if you feel up to it, we’ll move you to your permanent room here in the house until you’re well. Will that work?”

Talon’s mouth pulled into a grin. “That will work, Miss Gus. Thank you.”