“My home.”
He looked around the cabin. “Where is your home?”
“We’re deep in Harrison Woods.”
These woods were huge, miles and miles of unpaved roads and towering trees and mountains. More than a couple of the townspeople had warned him about wandering in, said they had a few hikers who got into trouble here in the past. And this one woman lived here? Surely she wasn’t all alone? “How did I get here?”
Her tone hardened. “You showed up on my porch in pretty sorry shape. Why don’t you tell me how you got there?”
“I have no idea.”
She raised her brow. “Amnesia only works in soap operas.”
He smiled. “I’m not claiming amnesia. What day is it?”
“Tuesday. I found you on Sunday.”
Tuesday? Granted, his concept of time was a bit wonky, but two days of recovery to be feeling as good as he was now? “I don’t understand…what did you do to save my life?”
“Just cleaned and bandaged you. When were you shot?”
Maybe he wasn’t injured as bad as he’d thought. Maybe she’d used some herbal drugs on him. Maybe he’d imagined the way her touch had given him strength. “Friday. Afternoon. I noticed a dog on the side of the road. He looked injured, so I pulled over to see if I could do anything. He got spooked and limped into the forest so I followed.”
“That was…very nice of you.” She sounded surprised.
He tried to keep his chest from puffing out a bit. He didn’t rescue animals to score points with pretty girls.
But he liked that it scored some points with Genevieve. “Anyway, next thing I know, bullets are flying all around me. I took a hit to the shoulder.” Back in the old days, before his nerves had failed him, he would have reacted immediately and probably avoided getting shot. The sound of the first bullet in the quiet clearing had sent him into flashback mode, leaving him dangerously vulnerable. Thanks, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Since he didn’t want to sound like a total wuss, he hurried to clarify. “That wouldn’t have been that bad, if I hadn’t fallen down and smacked my head against a tree. I passed out.”
Her gaze drifted to the knot on his head. “Concussion.”
“Probably. When I came to, the sun had set. I was so out of it, I guess I must have gotten turned around and crawled deeper into the woods.” There was more to the story of course, but he didn’t want to bore her with the gruesome details. Personally, he didn’t care if he ever remembered how he’d managed to staunch the bleeding of his shoulder and keep moving in the wild all while combating the horrible nausea, dizziness and unconsciousness his concussion had brought about. At least he could add “sucking on tree bark for water” to his resume, though. Small comfort.
“You don’t know who shot you?”
He shrugged. “There’s been a lot of talk about poachers in that area. That’s my best guess. All I know is, the person either didn’t see me or spooked and ran when they saw me lying there.” No need to tell her about his suspicion that the shooter had been following him after he had regained consciousness. The injuries must have made him paranoid. His job, since he’d moved to Bumfuck, West Virginia, consisted of very little excitement; just a lot of paper pushing and thumb twiddling.
The shooting had come from out of nowhere, and he truly believed it was the result of an unscrupulous hunter. Couldn’t have been premeditated. No way could anyone have known he would stop by the side of the road that day. “Accident or not, though, I’m pissed as hell. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have a firearm.”
She pursed her lips. “I thought you sounded like adamn liberal.”
He would have snorted with a laugh if he knew it wouldn’t hurt so much. Her deadpan tone was a perfect mimic of some of the more conservative townspeople. “I have no problem with people having guns if they know how to treat them properly and if they have a need for them—say, if they live in the middle of nowhere by themselves. Like you, right?”
Her lips twitched before her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why do you ask that?”
Oh, shit, he shouldn’t have asked such a personal question. He could practically see red flags going up in her brain.Way to go putting her at ease. Why don’t you ask her if anyone’s going to miss her if she vanishes too?“No reason. Just wondering. Anyway, I can’t wait to get my hands on the prick who shot me.”
“Might be a while.”
“It’s only been a couple of days, you said.”
“Yeah, well, paved roads are a bit of a luxury out here, and currently they’re all snowed out.”
“Snowed out? There wasn’t a flurry in the sky when I stopped on the side of that road.”
“Yeah, you were lucky. One more night outside, and you would have been dead. Temperatures change quickly in this area.” She gestured to the window. “It hasn’t let up since I found you.”
