Free Taking Chances by Jennifer Lowery

Chapter 1
     
    Snowflakes turned into sleet, soaking Nora Ashford through her parka. She trudged through knee high snow toward the log cabin nestled and protected in a bed of pine trees. The beauty lost on her, her mind a million miles away, she patted her leg and called to the black lab jumping and playing in the fresh snow. The dog had shown up, thin and mangy, on her doorstep the day she arrived. She’d surprised herself by allowing the mutt inside. Even more so by picking up a bag of dog food at the grocery store in Dayton .
    She pulled her coat tighter around her shoulders. “Ranger! Come.” The huge dog kicked up a tuft of snow as he bounded toward her. He loved the cold as much as she did. It beat the tropics she and Keith had talked about retiring to. She doubted she’d ever go to a warm climate again.
    Nora pushed those painful thoughts away. She shouldn’t hurt this much after fourteen months. If only time really did heal all wounds.
    God, she missed him. Missed a man’s touch, and sex. And damn it, she missed having him around. For a woman who’d spent her entire life alone, it bothered her she’d given in to the weakness. Never again would she let herself care for a man like she had Keith. Somehow he had broken through her defenses and made her care.
    Wiser now, she wouldn’t make the same mistake.
    Ranger bumped into her leg.
    “Here, mutt,” she muttered, breaking a limb off a tree and throwing it. Ranger barked and bounced after it, his coat dusted with snow. Nora continued on toward the cabin, hearing the sound of an engine in the distance. Glancing up, she blinked through the icy rain to see a small plane circling overhead.
    Flying low, with engine trouble, from the sounds of it. Who would be flying in this weather?
    When the plane came around again, lower this time, sputtering, wings tottering, Nora broke into a run.
    He was going to crash in her meadow.
    ****
    Lucas Stone was a damn good pilot. When he wasn’t losing the battle against a winter storm. Ice had built up on his precious Cessna, increasing the weight and forcing him down until he couldn’t maintain altitude. He’d hoped to out-fly the storm. Zero visibility he could fly in, but he couldn’t keep his baby in the sky if she didn’t want to stay there. He was at her mercy and right now she wanted down.
    He might be able to land in Old Doc Johnson’s snow-covered meadow. It wasn’t nearly long enough. The snow looked light enough to plow through, but if anything was buried in it , he ’d be screwed.
    Taking his chances, Lucas prepared to land, adrenaline rushing as he struggled to keep her straight.
    Descending, he braced for impact. This wasn’t going to be the smoothest landing, but it beat the alternative of crashing in the trees. This way he stood a chance of surviving and saving his plane.
    The nose of the plane dropped. The engine died. White-knuckled, he pul led the nose up and engage d the flaps so he didn’t hit nose down . That would mean death for sure. He wasn’t dying today.
    The plane slam med into the ground. Lucas bounced in the air , hit his head on the ceiling, then came back down and sprung up again , this time not enough to hit. Dots danced in front of his eyes.
    Powdered snow sprayed in all directions.
    Metal crunched and scraped ground.    
    The tree line grew closer. Momentum pushed the plane along, slowed by the snow. Lucas braced himself for impact as the wing clipped a tree .
    His head slammed against the side window.
    Everything went black.
    ****
    Legs burning , Nora push ed through deep snow.
    Ranger whined, shooting ahead, then stopping to turn back and look at her.
    S he broke into a run, her boots pounding down the trail left by the plane. Ranger bounded ahead of her, barking. The door flew open and a man tumbled out, hitting the ground hard and sending up a cloud of snow.
    “Ranger, halt!” she yelled when the dog made a leap for the man lying still in the snow.
    The dog stopped, sat,