S toney was cold down into the marrow of his bones, he swore. Him and Tanner hadn’t spoken a word in the last forty-five minutes—there just wasn’t the energy, and they had to get these horses home.
He checked the compass and kept them heading south, knowing the ranch had to be there. Had to be where he left it.
The trip down was even more grueling because they were herding, and because they had a half-starved horse looped between them, two ropes keeping the beast on its feet.
The light from the barns was the most welcome sight in history, a beacon shining from the snow.
“Red carpet’s out,” Tanner croaked, and Stoney chuckled.
“Yessir. Hot showers and coffee and a soft bed.” He hadn’t let himself be scared, not until he saw the house, then he started to shake in his gloves.
His teeth chattered, and he almost slid out of the saddle, but they had at least a quarter mile to go and horses to settle, at least one to doctor.
A little boy to hug.
Quartz had to be losing his mind. That kept Stoney going all the way down to the barn, where Angie and Hetty and Doc all waited for them.
“Y’all get in the house. We got this.” Angie clapped him on the shoulder. “Boss.”
He didn’t have any words, so he grabbed Tanner and pushed them across the huge expanse of yard and into the kitchen.
Geoff and Ford met them with hot towels and even hotter coffee, as well as tons of soft clothes. “Showers in a few, but we can’t warm you up too fast. Your heart could stop,” Ford said.
“Daddy! Daddy!” Quartz tackled him, and he went down. His feet felt like blocks of wood, and he couldn’t keep on them.
“I’m right here.” Stoney gasped for breath while Quartz clung to him.
“Daddy! You’re cold! Uncle Ford, we have to help?”
“Shh. Shh. I’m….” Christ, he couldn’t stop shaking.
“Come on, Stoney. Geoff has Tanner.” Ford hauled his ass up off the floor and took him back to his bedroom, Quartz trailing too. “Quartz, get the covers back and get the warm towels in the bed. Let’s get these clothes off you.”
“I….” Shouldn’t he be helping? He blinked at Ford, just feeling a little like he was stuck in a loop.
“You’re frozen, huh? Just hold on.”
Stoney felt as if his skin was going to shatter like glass by the time Ford stuffed him under the covers.
Ford climbed in on top of the sheets, pushing close, and Quartz came in on the other side. The immediate warmth shocked him, his body jerking.
“Shh.” Ford pulled the blankets up around his neck tight. “In and out, Stoney. Breathe with me. Try to relax your muscles.”
“Sorry.” His teeth couldn’t stop chattering, and he latched on to Ford’s gaze, the dark eyes damn near hypnotic.
“We got this, right? Quartz, get us some more towels, huh?”
“Uh-huh. Hot ones, Uncle?”
When had Quartz become close enough to Ford to sound so easy?
“Please. Make sure Tanner is okay too, okay?”
“Uh-huh. Be right back.” Quartz sounded like a herd of rampaging elephants on his way down the hall.
Ford caught Stoney’s gaze again. “Come on now, baby. You have to breathe.” Ford leaned in until they were sharing air, which helped Stoney stop hiccuping.
Cold out there. That was what he’d meant to say, at any rate. What came out was more, “Co… Co… Co….” But it was close.
“You were out too long. Damn it, Stoney.” Ford kissed him. Full on the mouth. Hard.
If he was dead in a ditch somewhere, this was the best Heaven ever.
Ever.
Ford pressed him down into the covers, and everything started to sparkle a little. He moaned, the sound making room for a little more heat. All he could do was let Ford warm him up, love on him.
“I have you. Going to beat you, scaring me so much.”
He lay there, just blinking at Ford’s words.
“You scared Quartz half to death too.” Ford chuckled as the thunder came back down the hall.
“Uh-huh. He’s… coming. You… kissed me.”
“I did. I decided no more waiting. I mean, I’ll thaw you out and let you sleep, but then I am going after your ass.”
“Promises, promises….”
“Daddy! Towels, and Geoff warmed up blankets and hot water bottles.”
“Good deal.” Ford rose up and grabbed Quartz, dragging him right into the pile again. “How’s Tanner?”
“Kinda blue. Geoff is going to put him in the shower once his fingers and toes start moving.” Quartz leaned in. “You scared me, Daddy. Did you get all the horses?”
“All plus one.”
“Really? Was he really cold?”
“He was. He was stuck in a ravine. Tanner and I couldn’t leave him there.”
“Can I help nurse him?” Quartz asked.
“You have to ask Hetty.”
“Listen to that, Quartz. His teeth have almost stopped chattering,” Ford murmured.
“’Cause he’s telling me no.”
“Did not, butthead child.”
Quartz’s lip quivered. “I love you, Daddy. Is it okay if I have a cookie before I get ready for bed?”
“I love you.” He grabbed his son, held on with hands that were screaming with nerves. “Thank you, son, for being good.”
“I tried, Daddy.” Quartz gave Ford an odd glance before scampering off, still clearly freaked out.
“He okay? I need to….” Stoney felt fuzzy as all get-out.
“You need to rest. I’m going to get you something hot to drink. You stay here, and I’ll check on Quartz.” Ford kissed him again, which really made him wonder if he’d frozen to death.
He dozed off and on, then after it seemed like just seconds, Ford was back, shaking him. “Come on, baby. Water.”
“You haven’t called me that since junior year,” Stoney said.
“I haven’t called you. Come on, drink up. Water, then some hot tea.”
“Coffee?” Hot tea was for sick people, right?
Ford snorted. “Tomorrow morning, absolutely.”
“But—”
“You need rest, not caffeine. Quartz had a cookie, and Angie is putting him to bed with a list of chores he has for the new horse.” Ford held a water bottle to Stoney’s lips.
He drank deep, his eyelids feeling so like it took effort to blink them. “I wasn’t going to get lost out there.”
Stoney had reasons to be home. Some new, some forever.
“I know. I told Quartz you’d come back. We did freak out a bit when we couldn’t get you on the radio.” Ford’s voice broke a little.
“There were some tough parts.” When Tanner had misjudged the way down the mountain. That had scared the living fuck out of him. Tanner was a trooper, though, and had short roped that new mare all the way down to the ranch. “Is Tanner okay?”
“Geoff is getting him thawed. He needs better boots. Or he needs to stay on his horse more. Your feet look pretty good, but he was getting some early signs of frostbite.”
“He had one hell of a fall. Me, not so much.” He’d been lucky this time. Next time, who knew?
“We’ll talk about some procedures. Later.” Ford fed Stoney a few more sips of water, then some tea.
The tea was sweet, spicy, and hot, and it felt good going all the way down. Stoney closed his eyes and breathed deep, his ribs loosening finally.
“There you go.” Ford kept touching him—his wrist, his collarbone, his ribs. Finally, Ford set the tea aside and stood, but didn’t leave. Ford just stripped down in order to crawl into bed with him.
“Hey.” Stoney was about 110 percent sure he couldn’t get it up, but he wasn’t going to kick Ford out for eating crackers.
“Shh. Just hush, okay? I need to hold you for a bit.” Ford snuggled close, reminding him of that first time they’d slept together, Ford renting them a hotel room so they didn’t have to share a single at the dorms. They’d always fit together like a dream, like they belonged, with his head on Ford’s shoulder.
Stoney wrapped himself up in Ford and closed his eyes. He had a lot of thanks to give.
He swore he felt Ford’s lips brush the top of his head as he drifted off to sleep.
Stoney sure hoped his brain wasn’t froze. This was too good to be a dream.