Elaine M DeGroot

A startled gasp escaped, when she rolled the person over, and realized this was an injured young man with a bleeding wound on one shoulder and another on his head. To ensure his survival, she needed to move him into the cabin, but how? Too many random thoughts bombarded her, one after the other and none of them helpful. Silencing the panic, she said a hurried prayer for strength and assistance in getting him out of the cold weather. Blessed peace and tranquility engulfed her manic thoughts.

“Can you walk?”

The words echoed in the emptiness as she shook the man with frantic energy, more concerned with rousing him than further hurting his injured shoulder.

“You have to help me; I can't move you by myself. WAKE UP!”

His eyes snapped open. Oh my! The color of his eyes was a mesmerizing combination of blue and brown, the most unusual hazel ever created. Snowflakes clung to long lashes framing his eyes. Many a woman must have lost her good senses in those eyes—definitely bedroom eyes.

Her stomach did a flip, and butterflies fluttered around in her stomach. No, not butterflies, more akin to dragons in flight, big-hot-heavy dragons.


After breaking out of the woods, Garrett remembered collapsing and surrendering to exhaustion and pain. The sensation of being rolled over and a woman's frantic voice breached his clouded senses followed by none-too-gentle shaking. Damn! The shaking ratcheted up his pain. How could he stop her and let the cold chase away his aches and pain? If he ignored her for a while longer, perhaps she'd go away.

“WAKE UP!”

That did it; forcing his eyes open, Garrett became eternally grateful he opened them. The woman shaking him looked angelic. Blue eyes peered down at him, and a cute nose sat above the most kissable lips ever. A Nordic style winter hat covered her head, but wisps of hair fell free in a halo of gold around her face. By reaching up, he could bring the angelic face close enough for a kiss.

“Come on! Get up! I can't leave you out here, and I need your help.”

Leigh broke from the trance she entered with the first glimpse of his eyes. Those remarkable eyes opened and raked over her face. When they stopped on her lips, she lost herself in dreams of kisses and more.

With reluctance, Garrett surrendered the idea of a kiss and struggled to stand. The woman wrapped an arm around him, and after a few attempts they achieved an upright position. They lurched through the snowbanks, falling over often before they reached the house. She threw open the back door, and they collapsed inside with Garrett on the bottom and the woman stretched on top of him.