Love After Snowfall by Suzanne D. Williams Page A

anger flared. “Look here, Miss Button. I didn’t even know the moose was there, nor did I think some girl would be standing here prepared to kill it.”
    The pain in his leg flared, and he fell back with a moan.
    “You’ve complicated it,” she reaffirmed . “Don’t suppose you can explain what you’re doing out here.”
    He sucked in a shaky breath . What was her problem? She could see he was injured, so why question him now?
    “Trapping.” He forced the word between his lips.
    “Trapping?” One eyebrow arched upward. “ You must have come quite a ways then. Aren’t any trappers living out here.”
    “Ten miles,” he grunted.
    “On foot? Gees, you’re dumb.”
    He raised his head and glared at her. “I … would say … t he same since …” He held in a groan. “Since you can’t aim.”
    The curse words that left her mouth were out of place for someone so beautiful. Because despite her anger, she was by far the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. The sun filtered through her hair casting a flame-colored halo around her head.
    He collapsed on the snow, his gaze frozen on her face.
    She knelt, bringing the vision closer, and ran one hand over his leg. Poking around the bullet wound, her fingers brushed the hole in his pants. She sat back on her heels. “Ten miles which direction?”
    He gestured west.
    “I’m not going that way,” she said.
    Which meant what? He hadn’t the energy to ask. They were both a long way s from any medical care, and he couldn’t get out of here without her help, so whatever direction she was going would be where he went as well.
    “I have to get you to the snowmobile,” she said. “You can ride in the sled.” She lifted a clump of snow and pressed it to his wound. “Keep that on it. I’m afraid you’re in for a day of it.”
    “A day?” he squeaked. He wouldn’t last an hour, much less the rest of the day. At least, it felt that way.
    She eyed him. “I have to follow the moose. Not letting the wolves get him.”
    Wolves. The thought of their blood-thirsty jaws made his blood chill.
    “I’ll take you to my place after. I think I can get the bullet out, but you’ll be off your feet for a few days.”
    Days? Weeks, more like it. And unable to fend for himself. Great.
    “You have anything needin’ care at your place?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “No.”
    “Just as well,” she said, standing to her feet. “Because it would’ve starved.” She rested one hand on her hip. “Where’re your things?”
    He sucked in a breath, working up the energy to respond. “Hundred yards or so,” he said.
    She stared down at him, and he was struck again by how pretty she was. What was a girl like that doing out here?
    “ I can’t tote you,” she continued. “So I suggest you figure out how to walk.”
     
    ***
     
    Clementine regretted the man’s agony. His leg was obviously hurting badly, given the grimace he wore. She regretted shooting him as well and getting angry for his being where he shouldn’t have been. In all her time here in the remote wilderness, she’d never run into another human being, not without seeking them out. Yet there he was.
    The fact he was male also upset her, which was, again, unfair. This man didn’t know anything about Nathan and had made no designs on her, was in no position to even try at this point, if he’d thought of it. Something she doubted after their argument earlier.
    No, he was in for a long recovery, so s he’d be a fool to not think this through.
    In view of the gear she retrieved from the brush, he’d been out here overnight. His pack was full of frozen animal carcasses and leftover bait, so he’d told the truth about trapping.
    She glanced behind at his still figure in the sled.
    He was well clot hed. If he’d kept moving, that would explain his walking so far and not freezing to death. But surviving one night was a lot different from surviving two, and it’d take another full day, maybe longer, to return the