Read Online Song of the West by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

hurt you.”
    The cold became more intense, piercing the layers of her skin. Samantha tried to concentrate on steaming coffee and a blazing fire as she looked around for a familiar landmark. Nothing was the same as it had been. She clamped her lips tight to still the chattering of her teeth, telling herself that it was impossible that she could be lost. But it was a lie. The trees and hills around her were strangers blanketed in white.
    The snow fell thickly, a blinding white wall blocking her vision. A wind had sprung up, breaking the silence with its moans and tossing snow, hard and bitter, into her face. She was forced to slow the gelding to a walk, afraid of tangling with the sharp teeth of barbed wire she was unable to see. Her teeth savaged her lips in an effort to control a growing terror.
    It’s so cold, she thought as she began to shiver convulsively, so unbelievably cold.
    The snow had soaked through the wool of her slacks and slipped mercilessly down the neck of her coat. She hunched her shoulders against the driving wind. Snow was everywhere, blocking her in and seeping into her clothing.
    She let the reins hang limp, praying that the horse’s instinct would guide him back to the warm shelter of his stables. They trudged on, the vortex of white that had begun so innocently now whirling around her. Time and direction had lost all meaning, and though she tried calling out, her voice was soundless against the fierce breath of the wind.
    Now she felt the cold. Her body was numbed into submission. Her mind was following suit. The swirling snow was hypnotic, and a growing lethargy was creeping over her. In a small part of her mind, she knew her survival depended on remaining alert.
    Horse and rider plodded on. There was no time, no world beyond the unbroken curtain of white. Samantha felt her eyelids growing heavy, but she willed them open with all her strength. The snow piled onto her back, weighing her down until she slumped onto the gelding’s mane and clung to him. Staring down at the gelding’s front hoof, she began to count each drudging step that Spook took as he continued his slow progress through the blinding storm.
    Samantha’s concentration on the horse’s halting steps began to fade.
    If I close my eyes, she thought dimly, I won’t see all that white and I can sleep. Oh, how I want to sleep. . . .
    The snow was talking, she mused deliriously. Well, why not? It’s alive. Why should it sound like Jake? Helplessly, she began to giggle. Well, why shouldn’t it?
They both play to win.
    â€œSamantha!” The snow was shouting at her. “Open your eyes. Stop that insane laughing and open your eyes!”
    Wearily, she forced herself to obey the command. Dimly she saw the blur of Jake’s features through the flurries of snow. “You would be the last thing I see before I die.” With a moan, she closed her eyes again and sought the silence.
    â€œTell Dan we’ve found her,” Jake shouted against the howl of the wind. “I’m taking her back to the Double T.”
    ***
    The darkness was comforting. Samantha gave herself over to it, feeling herself falling slowly into a hole with no bottom. She burrowed deeper into it. Her consciousness swam to the surface.
    Bemused, she looked around a dimly lit room. The snow that pooled around her was not snow at all, but a bed with a thick, warm quilt. She allowed her heavy lids to close again.
    â€œOh, no, you don’t.” The lids opened fractionally, and Samantha saw Jake standing in the open doorway.
    â€œHello.”
    His mouth thinned as he advanced to the bed to tower over her. It seeped through the misty reaches of her brain that he was angry. She stared at him with lazy fascination.
    â€œWhat in heaven’s name were you doing out in such a storm? I’ve seen some dumb stunts, but taking a joyride in the middle of a blizzard tops them all.”
    She wanted to ask him to stop