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

figure her out, to tease her out of her reticence. But it appeared the task wouldn’t be so simple. She was a woman of layers. Peeling them off, one by one, to find the core would be a fascinating activity, but perhaps an impossible one. She had yet to respond to his attempts at charm, although that little smile she’d awarded him after her seat-belt lecture was enough incentive to make him want to try harder with her.
    He should have asked Amos more about his protégé. Armed with a little information, Roan wouldn’t have felt so out of his depth.
    At half past noon Victoria pulled into a gas station to fill up the van. Roan handed her a twenty, which she accepted gracefully with murmured thanks. He might be a slight inconvenience to her, but at least he would carry his weight. He even pumped the gas while she ran inside to pay.
    “Could you get me a Coke?” he called to her. Although the inside of the van was cool and comfortable, outside it was like a desert, quickly calling up a thirst.
    She nodded before disappearing inside.
    While the gas was pumping, Roan wandered to the edge of the parking lot and lit up his first cigarette of the day. He’d taken only a couple of drags when he heard the gas pump click, indicating the tank was full. He stamped out the cigarette, not wanting to cause a delay,but he wondered when his next chance to have one would be.
    A few minutes later Victoria reappeared with a Coke for Roan and a bottle of mineral water for herself. She pulled the van onto a side street under a shady tree and stopped again. Leaving the motor running, she got out, came around to the sliding side door, and climbed back in.
    Roan moved to the seat next to Victoria’s and watched as her graceful hands flew over the laptop computer keyboard, logging on to the Weather Service computer on the East Coast.
    Streams of numbers and letters flew across the color monitor, and in moments everything was downloaded. Victoria severed the phone connection, printed out the data on a quiet inkjet printer, then began the laborious task of interpretation.
    She was quiet as she worked, giving Roan no indication as to whether the data were good or bad. He soon grew bored with watching the colorful maps she manipulated on the monitor, pretty though they were, and began studying Victoria herself.
    She was oblivious of his inspection, and so he let his gaze wander lingeringly over her, liking what he saw more and more. He liked her delicate ears, graced with understated pearl stud earrings. He liked the little mole at the corner of her mouth. He especially liked how the wind had pulled several wisps of her rich reddish-brown hair free of her braid.
    The door to the van had been left open, and the breeze whipped inside from time to time, causing thosefree wisps of hair to tickle her cheeks and forehead. She was so intent, her hands so busy, that she couldn’t be bothered to brush the stray wisps aside, but Roan could tell she was annoyed by them.
    If he’d thought for half a second, he never would have done it. The problem was, most of the time he didn’t think before he spoke or moved, which often got him into trouble. This particular time he smoothed the strands of hair off Victoria’s face.
    He’d hardly completed the gesture, when he jerked his hand back, realizing what he’d done. He expected her to buck at the shock of his inappropriate touch, but she didn’t. Instead, her fingers stilled on the keyboard and she turned slowly to look at him, her eyes wary.
    “What are you doing?” Her voice quavered slightly.
    He held both hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Your hair was in your face, and it was bothering you. I didn’t mean anything by it, Vicky, honest. It was making my nose itch, watching those little wispies tickle you like that. I didn’t think about what I was doing. It was instinctual.”
    She continued to stare, her breathing rapid and audible. After a few moments it slowed, and she looked down at her hands,