She glanced over now at the handsome man who had come into her life when she hadn’t been looking. He’d flattered her and made her laugh and refused to give up on her, even when she’d held him at arm’s length for months.
Now he was offering to open up a whole new world for her. If she let him. It could be like coming back to life after a long sleep, she told herself.
“Marry me, and I promise your life will be one adventure after another,” Collin had said the first time he’d mentioned marriage.
“What makes you think I’m up to an adventure—let alone one after another?” she’d asked with a laugh. She was set in her ways, comfortable in her own skin, in the knowledge of what the next day would bring and the next.
He’d looked into her eyes. “Don’t you feel it? You and I were meant to find each other. I felt it the first time I laid eyes on you. I knew. I think you knew, too.”
She had looked away, embarrassed because Collin had mesmerized her from the moment he’d walked over to her in the coffee shop and sat down. A brash young man with intense blue eyes, California-surfer blond hair and a grin that had made her heart bang around in her chest in a way she’d forgotten possible.
“It’s fate, Kate. The stars are all aligned. The future is out there just waiting for us. You ready for the biggest adventure of your life?”
She’d thought she was. But now she felt as though she was trapped in a snow globe and regretted leaving warm Texas soil. She felt...scared.
“Isn’t the snow beautiful?” Collin said, sounding downright ecstatic.
She looked out at the expanse of white, the two-lane blacktop the only color and even that was glazed in ice. The sky was overcast and yet the fallen snow shone, appearing iridescent as night had set in. She’d always wanted to see snow but maybe not this much. Also the lack of traffic made her nervous, too. She felt as if they’d left civilization behind. No houses, no lights, nothing but snow and highway. Where were they going?
“I love winter,” Collin was saying. “There is something so pure about it, the cold air, the snow a clean, white blanket that covers even the dirtiest spots.”
Without warning, it began to snow harder. Ice flakes flew at the windshield. Not even the headlights could punch a hole through the smothering flurry. Kate was having a hard time seeing the highway and knew Collin must be as well. She wished he would slow down. But he’d said he was used to driving in this kind of weather. She tried to relax, closing her eyes against the dizzying, hypnotic snowstorm.
Until...her eyes flew open. “Collin?” she asked minutes later. “What is that noise?”
CHAPTER THREE
JUST MOMENTS BEFORE Collin heard the sound, he’d been trying to hide his irritation with Kate. She’d said she wanted to see snow. What the hell did she think that was falling from the sky? And not just a little of it. Had she forgotten that she’d told him she’d always wanted to make a snow angel?
Then he heard the noise coming from under the hood at the same time she did. He swore under his breath as the engine sputtered and died. He cursed the rental SUV as he coasted over to the side of the road and turned on his flashers.
“What do you think it is?” she asked, sounding worried.
Did he look clairvoyant? “Don’t worry. I’ll take a look under the hood.” He grabbed his coat from the back seat, popped the vehicle’s hood release and climbed out into the storm. The wind whipped snow, blinding him as he made his way to the front of the SUV. Lifting the hood, he looked down at the engine, wondering what the hell he thought he was looking for. He knew nothing about car engines.
He’d hoped to find something obvious that he could fix himself. Unfortunately, he saw nothing that looked out of place and he was freezing his butt off.
“Do you know what’s wrong?” she asked the moment he slid back behind the wheel again.
“Not yet.” He tried to start the engine. Nothing. He kept trying, hoping it would just miraculously start. He didn’t need this kind of trouble for so many reasons, his fiancée’s worry for one. “I’m going to have to call someone,” he told Kate.
“Is it that bad?” she asked, sounding scared.
He had no idea. “I’m sure it’s just something simple.” He pulled out his phone. He’d seen a cell phone tower a few miles back. Fortunately, he had a couple of bars. When the call went through to a local towing garage, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Twenty minutes? Sure. Thanks.” He disconnected and looked over at her. She was beautiful, he reminded himself, and soon she was going to be his wife—unless he did something stupid and messed this up like losing his temper with her.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “You’d expect a rental to be in tip-top shape.”
“I was surprised when the agency gave us an older model,” she said. “I thought all rental cars were new.”
He didn’t know what to say to that since he’d asked for this year and model on purpose. Of course she would have chosen a more expensive, newer one. He smiled even though her words were a direct hit to his ego. He reminded himself that she had no idea what was really going on. Nor did she know anything about his financial situation. He had led her believe he was as set in life as she was, but he knew that unless this trip went well and didn’t cost too much, it was only a matter of time before she found out.
Feeling that he wasn’t good enough was something that had shamed him since he was a boy. He hated that other people always had more than he did—even though his parents were rich by most people’s standards. Just not rich enough to put him in a league where he wanted to be. It’s why he’d promised himself that he was going to have enough money—no matter what he had to do to get it. So far, even that plan hadn’t been successful.
He told himself that his luck was going to change, and Kate proved that. “It’s fine,” he said, leaning over to kiss her. “The tow truck will be here soon. There’s a town up ahead, Buckhorn, the driver said. We can stay there. They’ll fix the car, and we’ll be on our way. This is just another adventure, right?”
She nodded and smiled, but he worried she was having second thoughts and not just about this trip. “You promised adventure. You’re certainly true to your word.”
“Aren’t I, though?” He could see that she’d lost some of her confidence in him. Not that he suspected she’d ever had much. It was getting cold in the car. He looked out and saw nothing but falling snow and hoped he could turn this situation around. If he didn’t, he could lose her, and that was the last thing he wanted. Kate was the gift he’d always thought he couldn’t have. To lose her over something this stupid... He shook his head and grinned at her. “You still want to make a snow angel?”