Something about the gesture tugged at a place deep in my chest. I bit the inside of my cheek to distract myself from the sensation. Grabbing my medical kit, I made my way over to the fallen deer.
“It looks bad,” the woman whispered.
She wasn’t wrong. The old, rusted tomato cage had cut into the doe’s flesh, and the injuries looked infected. “These cages are a recipe for disaster. Deer stick their heads in, trying to get the tomatoes, and they get stuck.”
The redhead worried a spot on the inside of her mouth, making her cheek pucker. “I never thought about that.”
“Most people don’t.” I grabbed a pair of wire cutters from my kit, quickly freeing the doe from the cage. The wounds looked angry. “I need to get her some real medical care.”
I looked at the road. I didn’t want to take her into town. The ride would be too long.
“I’ve got a barn she can stay in.”
I glanced back at the woman, arching a brow in question.
“I take in injured animals sometimes. One more won’t be a problem.”
Of course, she did. A bleeding heart, through and through. “You’d need high walls so she doesn’t try to jump out.”
“I’ve got a stall like that. It’s not a problem.”
I searched out her property. I could just see the barn in the distance. Even from here, I could tell it needed some serious work. I cursed. “Fine. Stay here.”
“You could say thank you,” she muttered.
I moved back to my snowmobile and grabbed the stretcher. It only took a minute, but when I returned, the woman was shaking.
“You need a better coat.”
She sighed. “My coat is fine.”
“You’re shivering.”
“I don’t usually make a habit of sitting in the snow.”
She needed a coat made for this climate, not one with little decorative stars on the sleeves.
“Can you help me roll her so we can get the board under her?”
The woman nodded. “Aspen.”
“Huh?”
“My name is Aspen.”
I simply grunted in response. I didn’t want to know her name. I already knew too much.
She muttered something under her breath that I couldn’t make out.
“On three. One, two, three.”
We shifted the deer and slid the board into place. It didn’t take long to strap her down. I hurriedly backed my snowmobile up to the site and connected the stretcher.
I glanced at Aspen. “Get on.”
Her eyes went wide. “With you?”
“You want to walk all the way back?”
A shiver racked her, and she shook her head. So very carefully, she thrust a leg over the vehicle’s seat.
“Hold on to my waist.”
My words were low, gravelly, but she obeyed.
The contact nearly made me jerk. Even through layers of snow gear, there was a burning heat to the woman’s touch. Danger. The message flashed over and over in my mind as I slowly started down the road.
My back teeth ground together as I made the turn into Aspen’s driveway, and she gripped me tighter. As we slowed in front of her old farmhouse, she let go, and I released the breath I’d been holding since the moment she gripped my waist.
Aspen quickly climbed off the snowmobile just as the front door flew open, and a little girl ran out. “Mama!”
She charged down the steps as fast as her snowsuit-clad legs could carry her. She looked like a pink glitter snowball.
“Cady,” Aspen chastised gently. “I told you to wait inside.”
A guilty look passed over her face. “I know, but—” Her words cut off as she saw the deer at the back of my vehicle. “No! Is she—？”
Aspen quickly wrapped her daughter in a hug. “No, Katydid. She’s just sleeping so we can help her.”
Tears welled in the little girl’s eyes. “Promise?”
“I promise. We got some help from Fish and Wildlife. We’re going to make sure she’s okay.”
The little girl’s gaze cut to me, so much like her mother’s, it froze me to the spot. “You’re going to help my mama save Bambi?”
Fuck me. I couldn’t say no to that face or the damn deer.
3
ASPEN
I saw the moment the burly man softened. Even the hardest-hearted didn’t stand a chance against my Cady.
“Yeah. I’m gonna help her,” he muttered.
I couldn’t stop my lips from twitching. The man didn’t miss the movement, and it turned his reluctant agreement into a scowl. It only made me grin wider.