Nocturne Read Free Page B

she remembered. The storm. The accident. The blood.
    Nicole’s hand went to her left temple. Her fingers encountered a strip of fabric wrapped and tied around her forehead. Some kind of bandage? She slowly sat up, an action that caused her head to throb even more painfully and the man to whip around in her direction.
    “Don’t touch that,” he said abruptly.
    His tone was so sharp that Nicole immediately dropped her hand to her lap. To her surprise he spoke with a refined British accent.
    “My head hurts,” Nicole said, staring at the man’s scarred, brown leather boots, which peeked out from beneath his dark blue jeans.
    “That’s to be expected.” Although his deep voice revealed concern, it seemed tempered by wariness and reserve. He stood a good eight feet away and made no move to come closer. “You received a rather nasty blow.”
    Nicole looked up at the man’s face for the first time. An unexpected fluttering began in her stomach. He had lovely blue eyes and was extremely handsome—so good-looking, in fact, that Nicole couldn’t help but stare. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and was about five feet ten, a couple of inches taller than she was, with a lean, athletic build. His light brown hair was of medium length and combed back loosely from his forehead. The silver buckle that adorned his leather belt looked like an antique or something a cowboy might wear. But cowboys didn’t have British accents—did they? And they were always deeply tanned. This man’s complexion was fair.
    “How long was I out?” Nicole asked.
    “A couple of hours.”
    “Oh my God, really?” She glanced at her watch and saw that it was after three. There was no way she’d make her flight now, unless she could teleport to Denver. “Is this your house?”
    “Yes. What’s your name?”
    “Nicole Whitcomb.”
    “How old are you?”
    “Twenty-nine.”
    “Do you know what day it is?”
    An odd question, she thought. “Monday, March 4th.” She touched her left cheek. It was tender but clean. Had he washed her face and bandaged her? The thought brought another flutter to her stomach. If so, this gorgeous man was hardly a monster. “Where are we, exactly? How did I get here?”
    “Do you remember what happened to you?”
    She recognized the intent of his questioning now, realized he was testing her to see if she was fully coherent. “Yes. One minute, I was in complete control of my car, and the next I was sliding off the road and flipping over. It was terrifying.”
    He nodded as if her answers satisfied him. “Four-wheel drive doesn’t mean four-wheel stop. Black ice is a dangerous hazard, even if you have years of experience driving in these conditions. The accident happened on the highway just below my house. I saw it when I was out clearing my road.”
    There was a captivating elegance to his speech and mannerisms that felt a little old-fashioned for a man so young. At the same time he seemed tense and aloof, as if for some reason he was deliberately holding himself in check, forcing himself to be polite.
    “Clearing your road?” she asked. “How far is it down to the highway?”
    “About a half mile.”
    “Wow. That must take a pretty big shovel.”
    He darted a glance at her, as if trying to decide whether or not she was kidding. “I hang a blade on the front of my truck. Otherwise, I’d be snowed in all winter.”
    “I figured.”
    “Anyway, I found you. You’d passed out. I dug you out, brought you up here, and cleaned you up a little. Your scarf and parka are in the wash.” He stepped away with unhurried grace and lowered himself into an easy chair across the room—as far off, she noticed, as it was humanly possible to sit, although there were plenty of closer chairs.
    “Thank you.” Nicole felt a jumble of contradictory emotions : a rush of gratitude to this total stranger who had saved her life; the light tingle of her attraction to him; and an overwhelming feeling of awkwardness. Although