“You nearly died.”
“Yes.”
“I’m the woman who happened to be here.”
“No.”
Ellie looked back.
Jasper’s expression had changed.
No teasing now.
“You came.”
“That is my job.”
“Twenty miles.”
“My job.”
“In a blizzard.”
“Yes.”
“After a town spent years treating you poorly.”
Ellie became still.
“How do you know that?”
Jasper looked away.
“Copper Falls talks.”
“Of course.”
“Samuel talks more.”
“That I believe.”
Jasper looked back.
“You came anyway.”
Ellie shrugged.
“A man needed help.”
“That matters.”
“To me.”
“To me too.”
Silence entered the room.
Jasper’s voice dropped.
“I know gratitude.”
Ellie waited.
“This isn’t gratitude.”
Her pulse changed.
“What is it?”
He smiled faintly.
“Still figuring that part.”
Ellie picked up the used bandages.
“Figure quietly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She turned before he could see her smile.
By the fifth day, Jasper could sit unsupported.
By the seventh, he could stand.
For precisely twelve seconds.
Then his knees nearly collapsed.
Ellie caught him.
Or tried.
A six-foot-eleven mountain man weighed considerably more than she did.
Jasper’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.
Ellie planted her feet.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re falling.”
“Temporarily.”
“Sit.”
He attempted another step.
His leg buckled.
Ellie shifted under him.
“Jasper.”
“I’ve got it.”
“You absolutely do not.”
His hand tightened around her shoulder.
Ellie guided him backward until he reached the bed.
He dropped onto the mattress.
They were both breathing hard.
Jasper looked at her.
“You held me.”
“Barely.”
“Samuel couldn’t.”
“Samuel is shaped like a fence post.”
Jasper laughed.
Ellie pointed at him.
“Do not laugh. Your stitches are still healing.”
“Yes, nurse.”
She turned.
His hand closed gently around hers.
Ellie looked down.
Jasper did not pull.
He only held.
“You’re strong.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep acting surprised.”
Ellie looked at him.
Jasper’s thumb brushed once over her knuckles.
Not possessive.
Barely there.
Ellie should have pulled away.
She did not.
His voice became quieter.
“What did people tell you?”
She stiffened.
“About what?”
“You.”
Ellie withdrew her hand.
“Nothing worth repeating.”
“Then don’t.”
She looked at him.
“Why ask?”
“So I know which lies I’m competing with.”
The room became very still.
Ellie swallowed.
“You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because I might believe you.”
Jasper’s blue eyes held hers.
“That would save time.”
Ellie almost laughed.
Instead she stepped back.
“Lie down.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He obeyed.
And that somehow felt more intimate than if he had argued.
The seventh night was cold.
Samuel had still not returned.
Ellie suspected the lower trail had become impassable.
She checked the stove twice before bed.
Jasper slept in his own room.