Rescued by the Guarded Tycoon
Author
Rosanna Battigelli
Reads
15.5K
Chapters
27
Chapter 1
RONNIE’S EYES WERE blinking as fast as the wipers on her car. The fast-falling snow, mingled with the freezing rain pinging against the windshield, was making it hard to focus on the road. Her stomach muscles tightened as she gripped the steering wheel.
She should have checked the weather before heading into town, she berated herself, biting her lip. She had been unpacking boxes from her move to Parry Sound, and oblivious to anything but her task at hand, she had decided to give herself a break and venture out. Her intention had been to treat herself to some books downtown, pick up a pizza and to go back to the cottage at Winter’s Haven, where she would spend the rest of the evening relaxing.
It had been snowing when she had started out, but nothing that had caused her to worry. Snow was a given in these parts, sometimes even starting in October. After purchasing the latest Giller Prize–winning novel at Parry Sound Books, Ronnie had continued down the street into Bearly Used Books, a sprawling store with a bear as its mascot. She had floated contentedly in and out of the themed rooms, taking her sweet time searching for a new treasure.
After happily selecting three books—two for herself and one for her son, Andy—Ronnie had proceeded to the front counter. She had vaguely noticed that the number of customers had dwindled, and as she had paid for the books, Melissa, the store owner, had announced that she would be closing shortly because of the freezing rain.
Ronnie had hurried out to her car, her vision blurred by the sleet and gusts of wind. The noticeable drop in temperature would make the ride back to Winter’s Haven downright dangerous if the wheels hit black ice on the winding road. She would have to slow right down and pray that other drivers would do the same.
Inside her car, Ronnie wiped her face with some tissues and turned on the ignition. As the car warmed up, she dashed outside to brush the snow off the windshield and windows. She realized how futile it was, though; she would just have to start driving and keep her wipers going, and hope she could make it back before dark, when the roads would be even more treacherous.
Ronnie breathed a pent-up sigh as she left the downtown, a blur of traffic lights, slick streets and glistening vehicles reflecting the illuminated storefronts. There was no way she’d be able to stop at Maurizio’s Pizzeria, she thought, wistfully conjuring up the authentic Sicilian pizzas that her cousin Casson had ordered when she had first arrived a week ago. Her mouth watered at the memory of the spinach and ricotta pizza that she had anticipated enjoying this evening, and then she started as her car swerved as it caught on a patch of ice.
Righting the vehicle, her heart in her mouth, Ronnie slowed down even further.
Concentrate, just concentrate, she kept telling herself, her mouth dry. Her eyes felt itchy from the strain of trying to focus on the road, but she didn’t want to lift her hand from the steering wheel to rub them.
Thank goodness her son wasn’t with her right now. She would have been twice as terrified if Andy had been in the car with her. Squinting, Ronnie could understand how a person could become totally mesmerized by the hypnotic swish of the wipers as the snow and ice pellets lashed at the windshield.
A sudden beam from a vehicle’s headlights jolted her and she shot a glance in her rearview mirror. An enormous black truck with a massive chrome grille seemed to be approaching fairly quickly. Ronnie frowned. Perhaps the driver wasn’t particularly concerned with the road conditions because he or she had studded tires. But even so, he—she was willing to bet the driver was male—should have some consideration for people driving a much smaller vehicle. Especially in this brutal weather...
Ronnie considered putting on her hazard lights and slowly driving off to the shoulder to let the truck go by. She didn’t want or need the pressure of driving with an impatient driver behind her. It would be unnerving, to say the least, especially if he decided to pass her. And from the looks of it, he was aiming to do just that.
She would be proactive, she decided. She pressed the hazard lights on, and then veered toward the shoulder. And then it felt like the steering wheel jerked from her grasp and the car was moving of its own volition. It was spinning, she realized numbly. Black ice! Losing all sense of balance and control with the kaleidoscope that was flashing in her eyes, Ronnie closed her eyes and braced herself for the inevitable impact.
She opened her eyes timeless moments later, realizing there hadn’t been a life-threatening impact. In fact, there hadn’t been a crash at all. Her car had simply skidded onto the shoulder of the road and then come to a stop in the snow-covered field, several yards from the stand of pine trees parallel to the road. Thank God, she thought, her jaw muscles unclenching. She was unhurt but her stomach was coiled in a tight knot, and her heart, which she suspected might have frozen for a few seconds, was now clanging in post-shock alarm.
Blinking, she peered out the window and saw the black truck that had been behind her was slowing down and coming to a stop on the shoulder. Her jaw dropped. “Jerk,” she muttered. He could have been going slower, in which case she wouldn’t have felt the compulsion to let him drive by.
And she wouldn’t be stuck in this mess right now.
She felt her cheeks burn at the thought of what might have happened, how she could have been killed if her car had slammed against a tree trunk. Or an oncoming vehicle. Some angel had been watching out for her.
And Andy...
Ronnie took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. The worst hadn’t happened, thank heavens. She had to concentrate on what she needed to do now to get herself and her car back on the road.
She watched as the door of the truck swung open and the driver emerged. Her view was diminished by the icy drizzle accumulating on her windshield, but when she tried to start the car to get the wipers going, the noise her car emitted made her turn off the ignition right away. Muttering an expletive, she waited for the driver to approach. She squinted, catching a glimpse of russet hair before the man whipped the fur-trimmed hood of his parka over his head and started walking toward her vehicle.
He was a giant, well over six feet, and the size of his green parka and jeans-clad legs hinted at broad shoulders and an athletic physique. He took huge strides, but sank with each step into the knee-high snow. Which meant that she would be sinking up to her thighs if she ventured out.
Ronnie shivered. Her fingers were starting to feel numb, even with mitts on. The freezing rain pelting down on the hood of the car seemed to have intensified, and she felt her stomach muscles tighten.
She had to call Casson. She hadn’t told him or his wife, Justine, that she was heading into town...
She fumbled to get her cell phone from her handbag, and groaned when she saw that the compartment where she usually kept it was empty. It must still be on the kitchen table, where she had absentmindedly placed it before searching for her boots. She was stranded in a town she had just moved to, and the truck driver was getting closer, now just a few giant steps away. She would have to rely on him to help her. The first thing she needed to do was to call her cousin. Then she’d need a tow.
Ronnie took a deep breath, trying to steady her jangled nerves. She was irritated with herself on several counts. First for being oblivious about the weather conditions, and second for skidding off the road, and third for forgetting her phone and being in a position where she had no choice but to depend on a stranger for help. Trust that he meant well...
She had always prided herself on being self-sufficient, but even more so when her husband had decided that he couldn’t handle dealing with their son’s life-threatening illness and abandoned her and Andy when he was midway through his series of chemo treatments.
The fact that he had found solace with another woman before he left her had been just as hard a blow, and Ronnie had had to wrestle through alternating feelings of shock, sadness, anger, disbelief, resentment and self-pity.
She had struggled, but she had been fiercely determined to carry on, for the sake of their son. Ronnie had vowed to herself that she would never depend on a man again. For anything. And now here she was, vulnerable and helpless, with no choice but to depend on this mountain of a man. It was a situation that could have been prevented, she berated herself for the umpteenth time.
Ronnie tapped her fingers against the edge of the steering wheel. They slowed as the man came into view. She could make out his furrowed eyebrows, caught glimpses of startling bluish green in his narrowed gaze, a straight nose and ruddy upper cheeks, and glistening, golden-red scruff that covered his upper lip, well-defined jaw and chin. It matched what she could see of the guy’s hair under the hood of his parka. Reluctant to let in the freezing rain, Ronnie waited until the man was a couple of feet away before rolling her window down a few inches. She felt a flutter shimmy down the length of her. He looked like a Viking. A Viking in a Canadian parka.
“Hey there, are you okay?”
His voice was baritone deep, the kind of voice that matched the height and breadth of him, and for a few seconds her words caught in her throat. She was tempted to ream him out for being the cause of her decision to get off the road, which led to her spinout, but conversely, she was grateful he had stopped and had been concerned enough to come to see if she was all right.
Maybe he wasn’t a complete jerk...
She stared at him, mesmerized by the crystal clarity of his eyes and the genuine concern in them. “I—I...”
“Did you hit your head?” he asked, leaning toward her. “I don’t see any blood from here, but you might have suffered a concussion.”
“I—I—No.” She blinked up at him.
His frown deepened. “You might be in shock and can’t remember. I think it’s best if I take you to the hospital immediately. Your car will have to stay here until you can get a tow tomorrow. I doubt anyone would come out now in this weather.” He stepped closer to peer in through the opening, surveying her as if he were looking for signs of broken limbs. “Does it hurt anywhere? Your neck? Chest? Legs?”
The warmth of his breath fanned her face. For a moment all she could process was the emerald brilliance of his eyes. And then she heard him asking her again if she was hurt.
“No, no, no.” Ronnie shook her head and then winced. “But I have a headache.”
“Which is why you need to get checked. You might have hit your head when you spun out, and can’t remember, which is common with head trauma... Thank goodness your car didn’t flip over,” he added huskily. “What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” Ronnie hesitated. Why would he want to know that? And then it hit her. Of course; he was wondering if she was suffering from a concussion. “Veronica,” she said. “Or Ronnie.”
“Okay, Veronica or Ronnie. It’s not nice to meet you under such circumstances, but it’s still nice to meet you. My name is Redmond. Or Red,” he said with a smile.
She blinked, and the sudden image of him in a Viking warrior tunic and chain mail ignited a swirl in her stomach. Maybe Erik the Red was one of his ancestors... Ronnie shook her head and met his gaze, her cheeks flaming with the realization that he had noticed her lingering gaze.
“Your eyes look a little glassy,” he murmured. “We’d better get you to a hospital and make sure you’re okay.”
“I—I don’t need to go to the hospital. I need to call my—my—”
“Husband,” he finished for her. “Of course. But let me get you in my truck and you can call from there. And warm up. I’ll have to clear the snow around your tires first, though. And from the looks of it, I may have to carry you over...that is, if you allow me to...”
Ronnie felt her cheeks tingle. Surely she could manage to trudge through the snow on her own.
As soon as Ronnie rolled up the window, he used his gloves to brush off enough snow to allow him to open the door. It made a crunching sound from the built-up ice along its edge. She shifted in her seat to ascertain if she could walk to the truck herself, but realized that the depth of the snow and the quickly darkening sky would make it very difficult. At least there was already a path made by her apparent rescuer.
She had no choice but to trust this stranger. And let him carry her to his truck.
She swiveled in her seat, grabbed her handbag and one of the book bags and hooked them over her right shoulder.
“That’ll be an extra freight charge,” he said, his tone serious.
Ronnie’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding.” Her brow furrowed at the teasing look in his eyes. She was not in a joking mood.
“Did you actually believe me?” he chuckled.
“Well, I don’t know you, so I wouldn’t know if you were joking,” she returned coolly. “And I’m not in the habit of jumping into a stranger’s arms, either.” She gestured toward the snow. “But I can see I’d be swimming in the stuff if I don’t take you up on your offer, which is really the least you can do.”
He looked at her quizzically. “I’m not sure I follow you on the last bit, but you can clarify it in my truck. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been getting pelted. I feel like I’m about to become an ice sculpture.”
Ronnie’s mouth twisted, and she bit back the reply on the tip of her tongue.
“Okay, you can shift your body into my arms and put your arms around my neck. Let me know if anything hurts, all right?”
Ronnie shifted slightly and felt his arms immediately slide under her legs to support her weight. She managed to click the door lock on the key before she felt him straighten. Her arms instinctively flew out and up to entwine themselves around his neck. As he began taking big strides back toward his truck, she automatically pressed her head against his chest to shield her face from the elements. She closed her eyes and a shiver of relief ran through her. His broad chest was like a protective wall shielding her from the forces of nature. A wall softened by a big warm comforter.
It was an odd feeling, that of being protected. Taken care of...and by a complete stranger. From the crunch of his every step, Ronnie realized that the drop in temperature had caused the top layer of snow to become hardened with the freezing rain. The roads would be like a skating rink. And the country roads would surely be worse.
How would he be able to get her back to Winter’s Haven?
Her eyes flew open when he stopped. She felt an unexpected sense of disappointment when he set her down on the shoulder of the road, a couple of feet away from the passenger door of his truck. She shot a glance at the road. Very little traffic, and the cars that were there had all reduced their speed. She eyed his truck. He had left it turned on, so the windows would stay defrosted, and it thrummed like a sleeping monster. Its wheels came up to her waist, but Ronnie still had doubts that it could maneuver its way safely on the winding road toward her cottage.
“I’d ask you to jump in, but after spinning out, you’d better not,” he said, his husky voice pulling her back to reality. He opened the door and held his hand out as she stepped up into the truck.
The warmth of the interior blanketed her immediately, and releasing a pent-up sigh, she sank into the passenger seat. Her nose immediately reacted to a familiar scent. Pizza? She turned and saw the large box on the back seat with the words Maurizio’s Pizzeria on it.
The door on the driver side opened and Red quickly settled in behind the wheel. His face broke into a grin. “Hungry?”
Red almost laughed out loud at her expression. It was one of mingled disbelief and something else—like maybe envy...
“I was going to pick up a pizza there,” she murmured wistfully. “But I changed my mind when I heard about the freezing rain.”
“Well, I don’t mind sharing,” he said, feigning solemnity. “But first things first. Don’t you have to call your husband? And then you can let me know your address. I can either use my GPS or you can tell me where to go.” He smiled, turning on the windshield wipers.
“If I wasn’t at your mercy right now, I’d probably tell you where to go,” she blurted. “Pardon my bluntness, but your monster truck was getting too close for comfort. It made me nervous and I wanted to move onto the shoulder before you zoomed by me and caused an accident.” She crossed her arms and tilted her chin defiantly at him.
“Ouch. I left myself wide open for that, didn’t I?” He rubbed his jaw. “But let me set the record straight, Veronica or Ronnie. I was approaching because I wanted to let you know that one of your taillights wasn’t working.” He leaned toward her. “And believe it or not, I was going under the speed limit.” He surveyed her flushed cheeks, and eyes which reminded him of chestnuts glistening in the sun. They matched her hair, or what he could see of it under that toque. It looked like she had it up in a ponytail. And her mouth...right now her lips were pursed, but rosebud pink and lovely...
“I forgot my phone. May I use yours, please?”
“Of course,” he said, stifling his desire to chuckle. He found her honesty refreshing. He stretched out to reach into his pocket. “Your hubby must be worried about you.”
A frown immediately creased her forehead. She took off her gloves and reached for his cell phone, giving him a clear view of her left hand. No ring.
The sound of a male voice was loud and clear. “Hey, buddy, what’s up?”
Ronnie looked at the phone as if it were something from outer space and then put it back to her ear. “Hey, when did I become a ‘buddy’?”
“Ronnie, is that you? And why are you using my friend’s phone? Where are you? I didn’t know you were out in this weather!”
Red exchanged a confused look with Ronnie. They had a mutual friend?
“Friend?” Ronnie’s jaw dropped. “My car spun out and got stuck in a stretch of deep snow off the shoulder. He was behind me on the road and he stopped to help me. I forgot my phone at the cottage.”
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“I—I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? Let me talk to Red.”
Red took the phone. He was curious to find out which one of his friends Ronnie had contacted. And why they had never mentioned this lovely lady sitting next to him now, her chestnut eyes fixed on him with just as much curiosity in their glistening depths.
“Hello? Hold on a sec, I’ll put you on speaker. Okay, which one of my ‘buddies’ are you?”
“Red, it’s me, Casson.”
“What the—” Red frowned.
“And you’ve rescued my cousin. Thank God she’s safe.”
“Cousin?” His gaze flew to Ronnie. Casson had mentioned a cousin by the name of Ronnie.
“Are you sure she’s okay? She didn’t hit her head?”
Red’s gaze flew to Ronnie, who was rolling her eyes. “She insists she’s fine. There’s no sign of bruising. And no bruises on her car, either. Just wheel-deep in snow.”
“I’ll arrange for a tow tomorrow,” Casson said. “As for driving her back to Winter’s Haven, I wouldn’t advise it. The country roads are iced over. How are they in town?”
“Getting bad. I’ll be taking my time getting home.”
“Can you put Ronnie up for the night? I’m sure you can find a corner for her in that shack of yours, Red.” Casson laughed.
Red chuckled, aware of Ronnie’s sudden scowl. “I suppose I can put up with Ronnie for the night,” he said, deliberately switching the words.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Ronnie cut in sharply. “Red can just drop me off at the nearest hotel, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay, call me when you get there, Ronnie,” Casson said. “Thanks, Red. Drive safe.”
“Will do. Catch you later.”
Red put his cell phone down and turned on the radio, catching the last segment of the sports news. “Weather’s next,” he said, buckling up. Moments later, they heard the warning to stay off the roads, as the quickly dropping temperature was causing flash freezing and dangerous driving conditions.
Red turned off the radio. “Well, that clinches it,” he said, shrugging. “I have no choice but to drive you to my place. The nearest hotel is much farther away.” He saw her look of dismay. “Don’t worry. It’s not that run-down of a shack. Sure, it needs a little TLC, but I’m sure there are worse places to be stuck in...”
“I can’t believe this,” Ronnie muttered, shaking her head. “What rotten luck.”
“It’s not that bad,” Red said consolingly, flashing her a grin. “You get to have some of that awesome pizza. Man, it smells so good. Let’s get outta here...” He rolled down his window to make sure the way was clear. The air was remarkably colder, and the freezing rain lashed at his face. He quickly shut the window. “You buckled up?” Nodding his approval, he slowly veered back onto the road and concentrated fully on driving. Recalling everything Casson might have told him about Ronnie would have to wait until much later...
