Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

B ethany got off the plane in Edinburgh and breathed a sigh of relief. Now all she needed to do was to get to the train station so she could take the train to Inverness.

Once she got to Inverness, she picked up her rental car and put her destination into the car’s GPS. She had an hour and a half drive until she would reach her destination.

She noticed the clouds and shivered slightly. She’d check into looking for a jacket when she got to the area where she was staying.

Night had started to fall when the snowstorm hit. Beth’s GPS started to glitch when it made the statement for her to turn.

As soon as she turned onto the little road it indicated, it cut out. Her radio did as well.

Beth scooted as close to the steering wheel as possible trying to look out into the dark. with the snow falling hard. She was using the sleeve of her shirt to try and clean the windshield inside the vehicle when an animal darted out into the middle of the road.

She screamed and lost control of the car, crashing into a ditch on the side of the road. She hit her head on the driver’s side glass before hitting her head on the steering wheel.

When she came through a few seconds later, the car and died completely. She tried starting it twice with no success.

Beth smacked the wheel and screamed out into the night. “Fuck!”

She picked up her phone and cursed again when she realized she didn’t have any service available. Looking out into the dark, she saw the snow coming down hard and good.

Beth got out of the now wrecked car and shivered. It wasn’t supposed to be this cold.

She should have known better than to listen to that asshat. He told her he was taking her to London, not Scotland.

She reached into the backseat and grabbed her overnight bag and looked at her surroundings. The bed and breakfast place shouldn’t be much further.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself against the cold and started walking towards where she thought her destination was supposed to be. Fuck it’s cold outside! Hopefully the place wasn’t much further.

Beth’s steps faulted several times as she started shivering uncontrollably. She was freezing and soaking wet from the melted snow that soaked through her thin outfit.

She fell and groaned in frustration. If she could have cried in that moment, she would have.

Getting back up, she looked up and sighed. She could see lights, but it was so far away. She couldn’t honestly tell.

Beth took two steps then fell face forward into the snow. She heard a shout as she went down, thinking it was the whistling wind surrounding her.

Jack looked over where Brodie shouted his name. When he looked over and saw him running in the ankle-deep snow, he knew something wasn’t right.

Jack took off running after Brodie. When he saw him slow, he held back just to be safe.

Even though they were on down time, he was guaranteed that he, Brodie and Angus were all carrying a weapon or two on them at all times. When Brodie bent down in the snow over something, Jack’s hand automatically went to his weapon that was hidden under his jacket.

“Fuck! Jack, we have a body over here! We need to get her inside.” Brodie shouted at him.

Jack was startled at the statement and rushed forward. Sure enough, there was a female body in the snow, unmoving.

Jack checked for a pulse and found a very weak one. He did a quick check for wounds and broken bones before picking the unconscious woman up.

Both men rushed as fast as they could back to towards the cabin. When they were close, he yelled out to get Angus’s attention inside.

When they got through the front door, he told Brodie to get the shower going and to keep it cold for now. He watched his friend strip down to his boxers, keeping his shirt on, then step into the shower reaching for the unconscious woman.

Jack handed her off then started removing his snow suit. Once he’d removed his snowsuit, he assisted Brodie in removing the woman’s shoes, socks, pants and shirt.

Keeping her in her bra and underwear, they started rubbing her arms, legs, hands and feet to get the blood circulating again. When she started shivering, Jack reached over and slightly turned the hot water on to slowly heat up the water.

“Where the hell did you find her?” Angus demanded from the doorway.

“Edge of the property. I heard Brodie yell out then take off running. No idea who she is or where she came from. She had no coat. Once we get her situated, I’ll go back out and look to see if I can find anything.”

Jack looked over his shoulder to see that Angus had left. He knew the man was suiting up to go do the search himself.

When they noticed the woman’s skin starting to regain some of its natural coloring, Jack turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap around the woman. He handed another one to Brodie.

“I’ll go grab a shirt and sweats for the lass. I’ll also spread out a sleeping bag in the living room. I’ll add some more logs to the wood stove to get the temperature up. I’ll cover up wit the lass. Body heat will help.” Brodie suggested as he dried off.

“Aye. You take one side, I’ll take the other after I get changed. Once she’s conscious and safe from frost bite, we can find out who the hell she is and where she came from.”

“Aye. It will save Angus from having a stroke. At least for tonight anyway.” Brodie laughed as he strode away.

Jack chuckled as he walked into the living room and placed the now somewhat warmer woman on the couch. Now it was his turn to go get changed out of his wet clothes.