The Rivals Read Online Free PDF Page A

be in my way.”
    Sarah picked her way carefully across the shallow river to the front of the pickup and bent to locate the openings in the frame and attach the mini-J-hooks. She swore when icy water splashed her leather gloves. She finished the job as quickly as she could, then pulled her leather gloves off and substituted a pair of fleece ones she’d brought along.
    When she flashed her light at the driver a second time, she realized his head was bleeding. “You’re hurt! Why didn’t you call the paramedics? An accident with injuries needs to be reported to the police.”
    He dabbed at his head with a bloody kerchief and said, “It’s just a bump. I’m fine.”
    She eyed him dubiously, then said, “I think I can get your truck out of here in one piece. Be sure the brake is off and the transmission is in neutral. You can help by steering till I get you closer to the riverbank. Then you’re going to have to get out. There’s always a chance this rig will tip and roll when it comes out of the water and heads up that incline.”
    Sarah climbed up the hill and began winching the pickup toward the edge of the river. The tires bumped over the stones in the river bottom, then came up against some sort of obstacle that held the truck fast. She eased the slack on the cable and headed back down the slope.
    â€œI should have known this wasn’t going to be easy,” she muttered.
    When she got to the truck, the driver already had the window down.
    â€œIt’s stuck,” he said.
    She nodded curtly, then did a quick search with her flashlight to see if she could find the problem. When she checked the right rear tire, she found it hooked on a submerged log. She kicked at the log a couple of times with her booted foot, but it wouldn’t budge.
    She came around to the driver’s window and said, “It’s stuck on a log. Try starting it up. Maybe you can back it off.”
    â€œThe engine won’t turn over,” the man said. “I’ve already tried it.” He looked down at the water. “Damn. Guess I’m going to get my feet wet after all.”
    â€œI can attach the winch to—”
    Before Sarah could explain how she planned to rearrange the mini-J-hooks, run the cable around a nearby pine and winch the truck backward, the man had stepped down into the frigid river.
    He almost fell face-first into the water. Sarah caught him with an arm around his waist and felt him sag against her.
    â€œYou are hurt,” she said.
    â€œI’m fine,” he said, straightening. “I was a little dizzy there for a moment. Water’s freezing.”
    Sarah lifted his arm around her shoulder, slid her arm more snugly around his waist and said, “Next time the roads are icy and it’s foggy, maybe you’ll take your time around the curves.”
    â€œIt wasn’t my fault.”
    Sarah sighed. “It never is.”
    She couldn’t help noticing how tall he was. She was five feet ten in her bare feet, and he was several inches taller, lean and lithe and muscular, like most cowboys she knew, who spent their days doing physical labor from the back of a horse.
    â€œI’m fine. Really,” he said, straightening and freeing himself from her supporting grasp. “Let’s take a look at that log.”
    â€œI can winch it from—”
    He was already slogging through the frigid water toward the rear of the pickup. “Mmm. I see,” he said as Sarah focused her flashlight on a branch of the log that stuck out above the waterline.
    He gave the submerged log a couple of hard kicks with the heel of his boot, and it broke in half. He reached down and yanked the log from under the wheel. “That should do it,” he said.
    Sarah caught him as he swayed and almost fell. He tried shrugging her away, but she slid her arm firmly around his waist and said, “All right. You’ve proved you have the muscle.