No. That was silly. She’d been watching too many of her own movies. She swallowed and reached for the door handle. The latch clicked, but the door didn’t move. She frowned and pushed harder, bracing her shoulder against the frame. The metal groaned but refused to open more than half an inch.
The crash had twisted the door. Oh, crap. She didn’t want to be stuck in this thing. She reached across the center console and grabbed the passenger handle, biting her lip when her knee protested.
That door wouldn’t open. She managed to get her window down before she turned off the engine. If she could just free her knee, she could climb out that way.
How had she managed to both hit a freaking tree and sink in a muddy ditch?
Tears pricked the back of her eyes, and she batted them back. This wasn’t a big deal. Not really. She could survive this. Her phone lay somewhere in her bag. She dug through it with unsteady fingers until she found the familiar rectangle. The screen lit the interior in a faint blue glow.
No signal.
Of course there wasn’t.
The ranch roads outside Mineral Lake had barely any service on a clear day. In the middle of a thunderstorm, she might as well have been on the moon.
For the first time, unease pushed panic away inside her. She set the phone in her lap and stared out through the broken windshield. Rain streamed across the glass in crooked lines. Beyond it the road curved away into darkness, empty except for the scattered fence posts she’d knocked loose when she left the gravel.
Thunder cracked so loudly the sound vibrated through the frame of the car.
Bianca jumped. Okay. She could handle this. She reached down and unlatched her seatbelt. When she tried to shift sideways toward the passenger seat, the dashboard pressed harder into her knee. Pain clashed through her.
The steering column had shoved inward during the crash. She sucked in a breath and tried again, twisting carefully. The movement earned her another flash of pain and no additional space.
She plopped back against the seat and stared up through the fractured glass at the storm above her. So much for wanting a damn adventure. Right now, she wanted a painkiller and a glass of wine. Not necessarily in that order.
A faint glow appeared on the road. Was that another lightning strike? No. The soft light steadied and grew brighter, moving toward her.
Headlights.
Relief hit her so fast it made her dizzy.
The vehicle slowed as it approached the broken fence line. Its beams swept across the ditch and illuminated the crumpledcar. A moment later the engine cut off and a door slammed somewhere in the rain.
“Bianca?”
She recognized Adam’s voice immediately.
“I’m here,” she shouted back.
When he reached the driver’s side window, he leaned down, rain pouring from the brim of his hat and running along the sharp lines of his jaw. His eyes moved quickly over the scene, taking in the smashed fence, the tilted SUV, and Bianca trapped behind the wheel. “You hurt?” he asked finally.
“I don’t think so,” she said, though the adrenaline still rattled through her. “Um, how’d you know this was my car?”
Adam tried the door handle. The metal groaned under the pressure but refused to open. “It’s a rental, and I know you went out to see the Willoughby’s.” He stepped back and looked along the side of the vehicle, rain sliding down his jacket in dark streams. “You’re wedged against the tree,” he said. “Frame’s twisted.”
“I know.”
He tried the door again, this time bracing his shoulder against the frame and pushing with his full weight. The hinges screeched but didn’t give. Mud sucked loudly beneath his boots as he stepped away. Moving out of sight, he crouched beside the front tire, and then returned. “Okay,” he said after a moment.
“Okay what?”
“I’m getting you out of there.” He jogged back toward his truck without another word.
She watched as he opened his tailgate and pulled out a heavy tow chain. The metal links clattered together as he dragged them through the rain. The guy moved quickly despite the mud, looping the chain around the warped door frame before carrying the other end back to his truck.
Bianca blinked at him through the rain slashing inside her window. “Please tell me you know what you’re doing,” she called.
He flashed her a quick grin that disappeared just as quickly. “Mostly.” A minute later the truck engine roared to life. The chain tightened.