Breaking Free: A Colorado High Country Crossover Novel, Pamela Clare [i can read book club .TXT] 📗

a thick layer of good, sticky clay all over Porcupine’s back and stuck the thorny branches to the clay, making them a part of Porcupine’s skin. What do you think happened when Wolf came that night to eat Porcupine?”

“The thorns poked it, and it ran away crying, ‘Ow! Ow! Ow!’”

“That’s right. What happened when Bear came back?”

“He saw all of those thorns and said, ‘I’m sure as hell not touching you again, you thorny son of a gun.’”

Winona sounded like she was choking back laughter. “Yes! Bear ran away, too. And that’s why all Porcupines have quills now.”

“Tell me another story, please, Winona?” Emily pleaded.

“I need to rescue her.” Megan walked into Emily’s bedroom. “Can you thank Winona for the stories? Winona and Jason are going up to the cabin, and you need to sleep. It’s a school night.”

“Thank you, Winona.”

It was the saddest thank you Jason had ever heard.

“You’re welcome, Emily. Sweet dreams.” Winona stepped out of the room, the same light on her face Jason had seen when she’d been caring for the animals at her clinic. “That was good practice for being an auntie.”

“Shota is a lucky little boy.”

As they walked downstairs together, Jason wondered what kind of perverse bend in the road had brought him to a woman as wonderful and beautiful as Winona when she couldn’t be a permanent part of his life.

Winona sat in the back seat in the cab of Nate’s truck as he drove her and Jason to the ranch’s guest cabin, snow falling heavily now.

“We built the cabin some years back. We invite friends to stay up here and rent it to hunters. I’ve stayed here with Megan when we needed some peace and quiet. We expanded the deck this summer and added an outdoor hot tub. There’s food in the fridge, as well as beer and wine. I hope you’ll enjoy yourselves and unwind.”

Winona was looking forward to the hot tub after hiking in the cold. “Thanks, Nate. I’m sure we will. It’s very generous of you to have us.”

“It’s our pleasure.” Nate told them how lonely Jack had been after his first wife, Nate’s mother, had died suddenly of an aneurysm. “He lived in that big house and had no one to share it with. I was deployed, serving with a Marine Special Operations Team. When I was nearly killed, it hit him hard, but I think it gave him a new sense of purpose. Then Megan came along and, after that, Janet. He loves having a full house with lots of kids and noise. The more, the merrier.”

“I’m so glad you’re okay now and that he’s no longer alone.”

“Thanks, Win.” Nate glanced back at her. “Do you know why he cooks so well?”

Winona had no idea. “Because he likes to eat?”

“That’s part of it.” Nate chuckled. “Learning to cook with my mother’s old recipes made him feel that she was still with us.”

“Oh.” That put a lump in Winona’s throat.

“I can understand that.” Jason’s voice held a hint of sadness. “There are things my mother made, like her mole poblano, that were special. No one made mole sauce the way she did. I think she sweetened it with sitol—saguaro syrup.”

“If you’ve got the recipe or can get a hold of it, you should give it a shot—or let my old man try to make it. He’d love the challenge, I’m sure.”

“I just might do that.”

Nate drove the truck around a bend in the road. “There it is.”

The cabin wasn’t the small, rustic cabin Winona expected, but a log home, its porch light on to welcome them.

“This is beautiful.” The place was bigger than Winona’s house.

Nate parked near the front stairs, handed Jason the keys. “They brought your bags here earlier. I think one of the men got a fire going in the wood stove, so it should be nice and warm. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine for breakfast, and then we can see the horses and do some riding if you like.”

Winona and Jason thanked Nate and climbed out, Winona waving as Nate backed up and drove away. They walked up the stairs through about three inches of accumulation, Winona inhaling the scents of snow and wood smoke, coyotes yapping and howling in the distance.

“It’s so peaceful up here.”

“They call this a cabin?” Chuckling, Jason pushed open the door and stepped back so that Winona could enter.

She flicked on the lights and found their bags sitting in a short hallway just inside the door. “This is nice.”

They gave themselves a quick tour. A leather sofa sat across from a flat-screen TV, a wood stove in one corner, a fire roaring inside. The blinds were drawn back so that she could see the sliding glass door and the hot tub that glowed blue on the deck beyond, steam rising off the water.

There were two bedrooms. One was off the living room and had a queen-sized bed and an en suite bathroom with a large tub. The other was off the kitchen and had a bunk bed and a leather recliner. There was a second smaller bathroom near the back door.

“These Wests don’t do anything halfway, do they?” Jason picked up his duffel. “You can have the big bedroom. I’ll take the bunk.”

Before they could debate the issue, he disappeared into the back.

Winona carried her bags to her room. “I don’t know about you, but I’m heading straight for that hot tub.”

She set her bags down on the bed, closed the bedroom door, and changed into her bikini. She’d forgotten to bring a towel, but there were plenty of those in the bathroom. She tucked one under her arm and stepped out of the bedroom.

She stopped mid-stride and stared.

Jason stood there in a pair of black swim trunks, a towel in hand, his torso beautifully bare from his muscular shoulders to the rounded slabs of his pecks and his well-defined abs and obliques. The man was a walking anatomy lesson. Could he possibly be any sexier?

His