Knox didn’t run. Every ounce of his Breed agility and speed kicked into high gear as he flashed down the ravine.
Rapid-fire memories of another accident battered him in that short span of time. A wreck that happened eight years ago in the Everglades. One he had been helpless to stop. A death that still clawed at him today.
The recollection tore into him with talons even sharper than the spiky branches he crashed through now.
In less than a second, he reached the old red Bronco hemmed in place by trees near the bottom of the ravine and the woman who had staggered out of it.
Leni grasped the broken trunk of a young pine as he skidded to a halt at her side. Her head came up in surprise. “Kn-Knox?”
Her voice was shaky and small. Her dark hair was a loose tangle, most of it obscuring her face. But she could speak. She could move.
Thank God, she appeared to be all right overall.
He shook off the rusty memories that clung to him, focusing on the here and now. On Leni.
“Are you okay?” He couldn’t keep from reaching out to move some of the disheveled tresses away from her cheek to check her over. No bruises on her face or brow. No cuts or contusions.
Miraculously, he saw no damage of any kind, not even a minor scratch. Just unmarred, satiny skin and those beautiful, long-lashed eyes that were staring at him in confusion and shock.
“Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you left town. How on earth did you find me?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, his voice rough as he took quick visual stock of her condition. “Are you hurt at all?”
She gave a faint shake of her head. “I’m fine. I, um, I had my seatbelt on.”
He cursed under his breath. “A seatbelt wouldn’t have saved you from the river if your car had gone any farther down this incline. Jesus, you might’ve been killed.”
“I’m okay.” The hand that had been holding on to the tree now came to rest on his forearm. “Really. It was nothing. I’m good.”
Her touch felt hot against him despite the thick layer of his sleeve. Her gaze felt even warmer, fixed on his as the blizzard churned all around them in the darkness. In that moment, the attraction he’d felt toward her in the diner swelled into something more. Desire, yes, but he was also concerned. And more relieved than he had a right to be that Leni was standing before him in one piece, evidently unharmed.
He glanced away first. Using the power of his mind, he silenced the running engine of the Bronco. Then he looked back toward the disturbed embankment and the gouged shoulder where her vehicle had gone over the edge.
“What happened?”
“A truck was coming toward me in the opposite lane. I couldn’t move over and he didn’t slow down. I must’ve turned the wheel too hard. My tires slid off the shoulder and the next thing I knew, I went into the ravine.”
“This truck that didn’t slow for you,” Knox said, scowling as he glanced back at her. “It was Dwight Parrish, wasn’t it?”
Her brows rose in surprise. “How could you possibly—”
“I saw him pushing his plow, heading back the other direction.” Knox’s concern deepened. “Did he know he ran you off the road? Son of a bitch. Did he do it deliberately?”
Leni shrugged as if it was no big deal. As if this kind of thing could happen anytime. “He just likes to harass me. He thinks he can scare me.”
“You don’t look scared. Maybe you ought to be.”
Her mouth took on a determined tilt. “Dwight Parrish has been a bully his whole life. Deep down, he’s just a coward. All of the Parrishes are.”
Knox arched a brow. “You’re one tough lady.”
“I am when I need to be.” She hooked some of the snow-sprinkled brown waves of her hair behind her ear and sent a dismayed look at her Bronco. “Shit. I’m never going to get a tow truck way out here in this weather. I need to make a call.”
“You mean to the county sheriff to report this?”
She scoffed. “There’s no point in reporting this. The Parrishes are good friends with Sheriff Barstow. Dwight will claim he knows nothing about this and the sheriff will tell me to stop trying to pick fights on behalf of my sister.”
Knox considered in silence. He’d gotten a glimpse of the lax attitude the sheriff seemed to have toward Leni’s tormentor earlier tonight. “So, your sister has problems with this family too?”
