The Curvy Astronomer and the Cowboy (He Wanted Me Pregnant!) Read Free Page A

planned on it being quite this steep. I remembered now why I hadn’t towed the trailer when I was still living in hilly San Fran.
    The station wagon slowed again. We were at walking pace, now, and I’d run out of gears. The problem was that the road had been cleared, but there was still a thin, slippery layer of hard-packed snow crushed into the dirt. The car went slower...slower… I felt like a hot air balloonist, trying to clear a mountain. I seriously considered tossing the mac n’ cheese out to save weight.
    We slowed. Come on!
    Slowed. COME ON!
    Stopped.
    And suddenly, the weight of the car and the trailer was too much for what little grip the tyres had left. We started to slide back down the hill. I hit the brakes and the wheels simply locked up.
    Behind me, I could see bright headlights. I was about to slide ass-first into someone’s car--
    The other car pulled out to the side, missing me. As I swept past it, I glimpsed Troy, in a cherry-red pickup at least twenty years younger than my station wagon. He looked at me with a mixture of disbelief and horror, and then I saw him throw his pickup into reverse and come speeding back down the hill after me.
    Fortunately, the hill levelled out gently at the bottom. I slowed enough for the brakes to work and came to a stop while I was still on the road. For the second time that day, I was shaken but unhurt.
    A second later, Troy was wrenching my door open. “You okay?” he asked breathlessly.
    I nodded. I was too shaken to speak.
    Troy sighed and shook his head. And then, in a tone that suggested he’d regret it, he said, “Come with me. I’ll take you up the mountain.”
    I blinked. “What?”
    “That’s where I’m heading. I have a cabin up there. I was going to spend a couple of days, clear the place up. It’s dark as hell around there. No electricity for miles. That’s what you need for stargazing, right?”
    I nodded. “Yes, but--”
    “It’s basic, but it’s got a stove and beds and you won’t freeze your butt off.” He stared at me. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
    “I--” I didn’t know what to say. Then the independent, living-off-her-wits city girl in me kicked in. “I can’t just--I don’t even know you! I’m not going off to some deserted cabin with you. Are you nuts? ”
    “I’m not trying to murder you,” he said. “I’m just trying to make sure you’re not frozen solid in the morning.” He looked at the hill. “Although, I’m not sure you would have actually made it to the mountains on your own.”
    A little more of my fire returned. “I would have been fine. I just needed a little more of a run up on that hill.” I thought about the offer. I had no idea where I was going, it was getting dark and cold and a cabin--however basic--sounded a lot more appealing than my car. And okay, he was a stranger, but I’d only known Dr. Barker over the internet.
    But Dr. Barker had been in his eighties. He hadn’t been likely to try to jump my bones.
    I cleared my throat. “This cabin,” I said. “How many bedrooms does it have?”
    “One,” said Troy, looking right into my eyes.
    I swallowed. “Oh.”
    “But I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said, “if that’s what it takes to stop you dying out here.”
    I gave him a distrusting look.
    He sighed again and raised his hand in the air. “I, Troy Elson, do solemnly swear that I won’t murder you in your sleep. And I won’t try to sleep with you.” And then his eyes twinkled. “Not unless you ask me to.”
    I felt my face flush. Now he was just kidding around. I felt stupid for even mentioning the bedrooms thing. Of course he wasn’t interested in me that way. He’d want some slender thing with an ass like a couple of hard-boiled eggs. She could ride horses with him, bouncing up and down in the saddle, and then she’d be in his bed, bouncing up and down on top of him—I flushed again.
    I looked at the cans of mac n’ cheese on the back seat. I wasn’t even sure if