Hell on Wheels: A Loveswept Classic Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

stuff? Looks like you wiped out a Radio Shack.”
    She was relieved to change the subject. “These are ham radios. In every area of the country, ham operators are trained as storm spotters. They report hail, high winds, etcetera, to a network controller, who forwards the information to the Weather Service, and we can listen in. I can also pick up weather radio and AM stations. This is a police scanner. And that’s a color TV. I guess you figured that out.”
    “And the computer in the back?” he asked, his eyes alight with interest.
    “With the aid of a cellular phone and a modem, I can hook up to a Weather Service computer on the East Coast and get updated data every two hours. Then I use a software program to analyze the raw numbers andturn them into maps. That’s what Amos and I were doing this morning.”
    Roan said nothing for a while, but he continued to study the equipment. Victoria tensed as he began fiddling with knobs and buttons, but she didn’t stop him. Some men were just natural-born fiddlers. After a long silence he murmured, “Amazing.”
    “We like to take advantage of the latest technology. Some of the purists don’t like it—they say we’re taking all the romance out of the chase. They would rather get a morning weather report, sniff the air, and be off. But I don’t chase for the romance.”
    “Then why do you do it?” he asked.
    The question, accompanied by a penetrating stare, took her off guard. Over the years plenty of people had asked her why she chased, but a pat answer had always sufficed. She sensed that Roan Cullen wouldn’t be satisfied with that.
    “Well … I’m primarily a forecaster. It’s gratifying to me when I make a prediction, then verify it firsthand.”
    “You could verify a prediction by watching the weather on television. And if you were interested merely in your accuracy, you would be just as gratified to predict a blizzard or a … a sunny day and be right. There must be some reason you deliberately seek out tornadoes, and only tornadoes. It couldn’t be that you actually get a thrill from the danger, could it?”
    “No,” she said sharply. “You couldn’t be further from the truth. Tornadoes are rare events, not like sunny days or even blizzards. To be able to predict accuratelywhen and where one will occur—well, no one can do it with any consistency. But we’re getting better at it all the time. My goal is to learn as much as I can, so I can be the best possible forecaster.”
    “And the thrill of the chase has nothing to do with it?” he asked with a skeptical lifting of one eyebrow.
    “Oh, all right. I guess I do like the excitement of being so close to something so powerful. But my first priority is keeping myself and others safe from harm. The more I learn, the safer I am. I’ve witnessed almost thirty twisters, and I’ve never been hurt, or even close to it.”
    Not counting her first tornado.
    If she’d known then what she knew now, she might have been able to change the outcome. But she seldom discussed her first, worst encounter with a twister, and she certainly didn’t know Roan Cullen well enough to trust him with those most personal details of her life. Not even Amos knew about the killer storm that had convinced her to pursue meteorology as a career.
    Roan nodded, seeming to digest her words. It was only afterward that she realized she was doing exactly what Amos had hoped she would do—impress upon Roan that life could be exciting without being dangerous. Whether he would take her advice was anybody’s guess.
    Roan was really curious now. She was hiding more behind those pretty hazel eyes than he could have guessed. Most of the women who’d flitted in and out ofhis life were the open-book variety—honest, up-front, no secrets, as obvious about their wants and needs as they were about their sexuality.
    Victoria was the complete opposite—subtle, mysterious, her motives deeply hidden. At first he’d thought it would be fun to