As she stared out the windshield, she saw that the twister was coming straight at her. If she couldn’t outrun it, she’d be killed. The image of Sheriff Davis arriving at her parents’ door, informing them of her death, was unbearable. Her mother had insisted Linnette was making the wrong decision. This would be the ultimate confirmation.

Barely aware of what she was doing, Linnette scrambled out of her car. Was she going to die? It looked that way, she observed in some remote part of her brain. She’d never survive this. Already the wind was strong enough to throw her to the ground, carry her away, hurl her into the next field—or the next county. The only reason she was still upright was that she held on to the open car door. Her hair whipped painfully about her face.

Then, out of nowhere, another vehicle crested the hill, roaring down the road toward her. This truck was obviously trying to outrun the tornado. It came to a screeching halt beside her.

“Get in!” the man yelled and flung open the passenger door.

Linnette leaped into the vehicle. Half in and half out of the truck, she clutched the dashboard as he took off again. she’d just managed to clamber all the way in when the man slammed on his brakes again and the passenger door banged shut.

“Get out!” he yelled.

Hardly able to open the truck door against the force of the wind, Linnette threw the full weight of her body against it until the door flew open. The man, already out, grabbed her around the waist and dragged her into a large culvert beside the road.

“We’re going to die,” Linnette told him, astonished by how calm she sounded. That serenity quickly evaporated when the wind hit. Crouched down though they were, the violence of it dashed them both to the ground. The noise was like a jet engine roaring through a tunnel.

Linnette screamed in sheer terror. The man, this stranger, clasped her by the waist and held her against him, his arms around her, protecting her. The roaring of the wind was horrendous. Painful.

Then, without warning, it was gone.

Linnette’s ears hurt, and she wasn’t sure if that was because of the terrible sound or the change in barometric pressure.

“Well, we’re not dead,” the man said to her.

“No.” She looked up at him and into the bluest eyes she’d seen other than Cal’s. The sudden memory brought a rush of tears.

“Hey, everything’s all right.”

“I know.” That didn’t stop the tears, though.

He broke away from her and reached in his back pocket for a clean white handkerchief. She’d never met anyone who carried a handkerchief before.

His thoughtfulness only induced more tears. Not ladylike sniffles, either, but wrenching sobs that made her shoulders shake. To add to her embarrassment, she started hiccuping, too, as she and her rescuer sat in the culvert side by side, their knees bent.

“I’m Pete Mason,” he said. “My brother and I own a wheat ranch about ten miles down the road. I was going into town for supplies.”

“Linnette McAfee,” she said between sobs.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I was in love, you know, really, truly in love, and then Cal dumped me. He went away to…to rescue mustangs and fell for the vet. The thing is, they’re perfect together.”

“I see.”

Clearly he didn’t. “And…and my brother has all kinds of money he’s never told anyone about.”

Pete stared at her. Linnette had no idea why she couldn’t stop talking; despite her best efforts, the words continued to spill out. “I left Cedar Cove—my hometown. I basically just packed my bags and drove off. People thought I was an idiot and…and maybe I am. Even my mother, my own mother, said I was making a terrible mistake.”

“Linnette…”

“I thought I knew all about love and I don’t…I don’t know anything.”

In an obvious attempt to comfort her, Pete laid his arm across her shoulders.

Wiping her nose with his handkerchief, Linnette took a wobbly breath. “I have no idea why I’m telling you the most intimate details of my life. I’ve worked for Buffalo Bob and Merrily for almost two weeks and haven’t told them any of this.”

Maybe she was having some sort of emotional breakdown. Maybe the tornado and her extreme fear had pushed her over the edge of sanity. How else could she explain what had come over her? She’d never reacted like this to anyone before. Here she was, divulging her private life to a complete stranger.

“Will you be okay if I leave you here for a minute?” Pete asked.

She nodded. “Sure. I’ll be fine.” But that wasn’t true, and when he half stood and started to leave the culvert, she got to her feet and followed him. Walking low to the ground, they cleared the culvert.

As soon as they reached the road, Linnette gasped. It looked as if someone had burned a trail through the land, displacing the earth and everything around it. Then she realized her car was nowhere to be seen.

“My car!” she cried in shock. Had she stayed with it as she’d originally intended, she would’ve been hurled into the air….

“You saved my life,” she said. “You saved my life! If you hadn’t come along when you did, I’d be dead now.”

“Another two minutes and we both would’ve been goners.”

Pete’s truck was tipped on its side about two hundred feet down the road.

“What do we do now?” she asked helplessly.

“Either we walk back to town or we wait for someone to drive by,” Pete told her. “I say we wait.”

“Okay.” She really didn’t know what else she could do, anyway. And he was the one who was familiar with these roads, this land.

They sat down on a patch of flattened grass. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, she felt weak, exhausted. Looking at her rescuer, Linnette saw that Pete was well over six feet. Tall enough so she had to tilt her head back. He was lean, too. He’d been wearing a cowboy hat when she first saw him, but that had long since blown away.

He wasn’t what you’d typically describe as handsome. Yet there was something compelling about his appearance, especially his brilliant blue eyes.

His cheekbones were strongly defined, and his nose looked as if it’d been broken once. The dimple in his chin drew her attention, too. All in all, she had to admit she found him attractive.

At least an hour passed before someone drove through. As they sat there, chatting in a desultory manner, she began to feel more and more uncomfortable in Pete’s company. Fortunately, he didn’t remind her of the way she’d blurted out all the embarrassing elements of her life—like the fact that Cal had dumped her after falling in love with Vicki. Still, it hung between them.

The rancher who drove them into town dropped Linnette off at 3 of a Kind. By then she had trouble even meeting Pete’s eyes. Most humiliating was her realization that, while she couldn’t stop babbling, Pete hadn’t shared a single detail of his own life. The sum total she’d learned was that he lived on his family’s ranch. For all she knew, he could be married with a houseful of children. Not that she was looking for a romance. She was running away from one and had no plans to involve herself in another.

“Thank you again,” she said over her shoulder. She waved at the rancher and at Pete, who’d lowered the passenger window of the pickup.

“Like I told you, Dennis Urlacher can tow your car back to town,” he called out to her. “He’ll give you a fair estimate on repairs, too.”

“Yes, thanks, I appreciate that.” Red-faced, she hurried into the restaurant. At this point, her car was the least of her concerns. They might never even find it. The damn thing could be in the next county by now or at the bottom of some lake. Linnette was just grateful she wasn’t inside it.

“You okay?” Buffalo Bob asked from the tavern side of the restaurant. “Merrily was worried when she remembered you were driving to the McKenna place today. We heard there was a tornado warning out there. You see anything?”

Rather than launch into a long explanation, Linnette simply nodded. Doing her best to look composed, she walked past the men sitting at the bar and made her way to the stairs that led to the second floor. Dashing up the steps, she ran down the long hallway to the very rear of the building, where her room was situated.

She threw herself on the bed, breathing hard, torn between relief at surviving and humiliation at her own disclosures.

Thirty years from now, her experience in the tornado would be a wonderful story to relate to her grandchildren—if she had any. Naturally, Linnette would embellish it a bit, add some humor. At the moment, however, she could see nothing amusing in the circumstances. Nothing whatsoever.

A few days went by, and the traumatic events of that morning were relegated to the back of her mind. She refused to linger on them. Every time she thought about the tornado and everything that followed, her face heated up as if she had a bad case of sunburn.

Her parents had phoned, of course, after seeing images of the destruction on the TV news, and so had Maddy. She’d briefly described what had happened—without mentioning Pete. Everyone praised her clearheadedness and quick action, which made her cringe with guilt. Fortunately, she hadn’t seen Pete since that fateful day.

Then on Sunday afternoon, while she was waiting tables by herself, he sauntered into 3 of a Kind. He saw her and inclined his head in recognition. Choosing a corner table, he pulled out a chair and placed his Stetson—obviously a new one—on the empty seat beside him.

With no other alternative, Linnette brought him a menu and a glass of ice water.

“Good to see you again,” Pete said, smiling up at her.

Not trusting herself to speak, Linnette bit her tongue and nodded.

“What did you find out about your car?” he asked as he opened his menu.

“It’s a write-off,” she told him. There was major structural damage. One side was crushed when the car landed against a tree a few fields from where she’d stopped. Most of the glass was shattered and the damage to the frame was extensive. Although Linnette complained every month when she wrote out a hefty car insurance payment, she was grateful for it now. According to the adjuster, she had the go-ahead to order a new car.

“I’m glad,” Pete said, glancing away from his menu. He chose the meat loaf and mashed potato special.

“What about…your truck?” It seemed only polite to ask.

He shrugged. “A few dents. I figure they add character.”

She liked his attitude.

“Just like a broken heart adds character to a person…”

Glaring at him, Linnette jerked the menu out of his hands and stomped off to place his order. How dare he say that to her! Pete might have saved her life, but that didn’t give him permission to embarrass her.

She’d never talk to him again, Linnette decided. Ever.

Twenty-Five

Jack had three steaks ready for the grill when Olivia got home from the courthouse Thursday afternoon. They rarely ate red meat anymore; however, they’d invited Will to dinner, and she knew her brother’s favorite was T-bone steak. Besides, she had a few questions for Will and she wanted him in a good mood when she asked them.