The ground was a moonscape of ash and debris. The man eased along, a palm on the cab for support, and she got another chance to examine him. Long legs, cowboyboots, flannel shirt, Yankees baseball cap, and a scar—she hadn’t noticed that before. It bisected his left eyebrow. He disappeared around the other side of the rig before returning a few moments later. The closer he got, the taller he was, probably six four and muscled. More than a match for her five-foot-five, hundred-ten-pound frame. The fear resurged.Protect yourself.
The extinguisher cut into her clenched palm. He drew close enough to the open passenger door for her to catch the light brown of his eyes, almost translucent like smoke. When he tried to climb aboard, she raised the extinguisher. “Where did you come from?”
His lips quirked. “Originally? South Carolina.”
That explained the drawl. “I meant...”
“I know what you meant.” He shot a look at the ravaged landscape before he turned back. “Top of the ridge. My cabin’s up there. I was on my roof and I saw you go over the shoulder. I was surprised six ways to Sunday. Didn’t even hear you coming because the wind was howling, and I sure didn’t expect any rigs to be in this area. Anyway, I hightailed it here in my truck. It’s parked up a ways.”
“I don’t know you.” A silly remark.
“Don’t know you either. You from around here?”
She wouldn’t tell him where she lived. “Close.”
He pointed to the fire extinguisher and heaved out a breath. “Are you going to clobber me with that or not? I promise it’s not necessary.” He held up his palms.How does anyone have fingers that long?“You need first aid before we get out of here, and I’m the only one here to give it to you whether you like it or not.” He plucked thekit from the pocket in the door and wiggled it at her. “You’re bleeding.”
“I don’t need first aid.”
He said something in reply, but his words seemed to come from far away, a rushing sound drowning them out as dizziness overcame her.
The extinguisher dropped to the floor, and she sank onto the driver’s seat while he climbed in and slammed the passenger door. A wave of nausea enveloped her. Hastily he dumped out the first aid kit and shoved the container under her chin as she wretched. He handed her a clean handkerchief from his pocket with a neatCembroidered on it.
She stared at the precisely folded, pristine cloth.
His cheeks pinked. “I know. No one carries these things anymore. Mama insists, and she sends me a box of ’em every Christmas.” He looked intently at her. “I’m fairly certain you have yourself a concussion.”
He seemed like the kind of man who was certain about everything, the kind she avoided. Again he glanced out the window, and she saw the trickle of ground sloughing down the steep slope. The sky was already a sickly gray, rapidly darkening, thick with flecks of rock, minerals, and volcanic glass.
Powerless to the pain lancing her temples, she did not resist as he checked her pupils and pulse and smoothed a bandage across her brow.
“Cut up here near the hairline. Just a little one. Not deep. Probably won’t scar.”
“Who are you?”
He offered her a bottle of water from his back pocket. “Drink some.”
“Stop helping me,” she snapped. “Answer my question. Please.”
“You’re bossy.” His voice was teasing, but there was tension in his mouth, his muscled shoulders. Other thoughts were distracting him. Her too.
“Who? Are? You?” She clapped her hand on her skull as if a knife were cleaving her temples.
“Be still. No sense adding to your pain. Name’s Cullen.” He looked toward the direction of the road. Another rumble blasted through the haze.
“Cullen who?”
He scrubbed a palm through his crew-cut hair the hue of a tarnished penny. “Cullen Landry. Should I call you Kit?”
She blinked, stomach tight. “How do you know my name?”
He pointed to the stuffed bear nestled next to the ruined radio, the name Kit embroidered on a heart held in its paw. “Not rocket science. Figured that’s you, right? Short for anything?”
Her face went hot at his mention of her teddy bear. “I...”
A gust of wind blew a wisp of ash through her ruptured windshield.
“Last name Garrido like on the side of the truck?” he said.
