Wild Ice by Rachelle Vaughn Page A

curious as to why he had his hands on another woman. The man gestured for Mel to go lay down. Obediently, Mel walked over to the dog bed in the corner, circled it twice and finally lay down with a huff.
    The man pressed various places on her ankle and asked, “Does this hurt?”
    “No,” she answered, her voice husky. She cleared her throat and immediately felt silly for reacting so immaturely to his touch.
    “How ‘bout this?”
    She flinched, the trance broken. “A little.”
    He stood up and she marveled at his height. He really was one tall drink of water. Even when he wasn’t looming over people on nature trails.
    “Are you a doctor?” she asked. He sure seemed to know his way around her ankle.
    “No , but I’ve seen plenty of broken bones in my life.”
    “It’s broken?” s he gasped. It didn’t feel broken. Just sort of throbby and sore. She didn’t want to deal with a broken ankle. That would mean she couldn’t walk on the trail for weeks . The weaver chicks would be out of the nest by then…
    “ No. I think you just twisted it. It’s not swelling very much.”
    “Are you sure you’re not a doctor?” she asked again. It was the only way to explain how he could afford a place like this. The furniture alone must have cost a fortune.
    “I’m sure,” he answered and actually sounded a little amused. “I used to play hockey. I can take you to a doctor if you want.”
    “No, it’ll be fine. It doesn’t feel broken. I think I just twisted it,” she repeated his diagnosis back to him.
    “ Okay. I’ll be right back.”
    Before she could ask where he was going, he left the room on long strides of those long legs. In the corner, Mel stretched out on his side and grunted, obviously exhausted after his ordeal on the trail.
    Lauren used the opportunity to look around the room while the man was gone. The house didn’t really match him at all. It was sort of pretentious in a way and much too big for just two people to live in. No expense had been spared when building this masterpiece. The cathedral ceilings were amazing and the light fixtures were gorgeous. The furniture was antique, but the interior looked like it had been extensively updated. If she leaned forward and craned her neck, she could see a modern, stainless steel kitchen around the corner.
    When the man returned, h e brought back some pain reliever, a glass of water, and an ice pack. He placed two pills on her palm and Lauren blinked. Well, that sure was nice of him. While she drank the ice cold water and swallowed the pills, he wrapped an elastic bandage around her ankle.
    “ Keep this on for the first 24 hours,” he instructed her. “Ice it for twenty minutes, a few times a day, and try to keep it elevated.”
    He positioned the pack over her ankle and she winced at how cold it was.
    “This will help keep the swelling down.”
    “Thank you.” What now? she wondered. She was stranded with a bum ankle in a house with a miserable man and a conked out pooch. “And thanks for coming to my rescue,” she said softly. She gave him what she hoped was an endearing half smile.
    He leaned back on his heels and looked her straight in the eye for the first time. His eyes were a deep azure blue; the color of a Western scrub jay’s feathers. His eyes were probably pretty when they weren’t so dark with displeasure. Lauren saw something there that unnerved her and excited her at the same time.
    “What were you doing way out there anyway?” he asked abruptly.
    Suddenly , Lauren felt sixteen again like she was being grilled by her parents about her curfew. Her defense prickled and she launched into an explanation. “I was going down to the creek to take pictures of the egret.”
    His brows knit together with confusion.
    “It’s a bird,” she happily explained. “The great egret. There’s a spot on the bank by a little waterfall that they like to fish from. They’re beautiful birds. Haven’t you ever seen one? They’re very common in