by Sarah Morgan
‘No. And the day was nothing like this earlier this morning. It was sunny.’ Despite the extra layers he’d given her, her teeth were still chattering and her breath clouded the freezing air. ‘And I was out for a walk, just like you.’
Jake glanced down at her feet and lifted an eyebrow. ‘Not like me,’ he pointed out gently. ‘You’re wearing trainers.’
Her hands still clutching the chocolate bar, the girl stared down at her feet and gave a wan smile. ‘Well, they were all I had. I don’t possess walking boots. I thought I’d be all right providing I stuck to the path.’
‘Is this the same path that has just disappeared under a layer of snow? And didn’t you possess gloves either?’Jake gave a sigh and reached inside his rucksack again. ‘If you don’t own walking boots then you shouldn’t be out on the mountains, especially not at the height of winter. What were you thinking of?’
For a moment those incredible eyes were haunted by ghosts and then she turned her head away. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said huskily. ‘This and that. Stuff.’
Stuff?
Something about the set of her profile made him frown and want to question her further but then he reminded himself that hesitation could make the difference between life and death in the mountains. This wasn’t the time for polite conversation. ‘Finish the chocolate.’ He laid a pair of gloves on her lap. ‘And then put these on before you develop frostbite in your fingers. Have you any idea what the temperature is today?’
She finished the last of the chocolate and then slowly wriggled her hands into the gloves. ‘No, but it certainly isn’t the Bahamas, that’s for sure. The sun was shining when I left.’
It was a common mistake, Jake reflected. Believing that a cloudless blue sky would last. A significant proportion of the calls to the mountain rescue team were made by people who had underestimated the changeability of the weather. ‘You shouldn’t be out here on your own in this weather. It’s Christmas Day, you should be home with family, eating turkey.’ The moment the words left his mouth he wanted to kick himself. Presumably, if that had been an option she would have taken it, and her next words confirmed his suspicion.
‘I don’t have any family.’ She spoke the words calmly, as if it wasn’t that great a problem. ‘But you’re completely right, of course. Coming out here was a stupid thing to do. It’s just that it was beautiful and I needed to think and—’
‘And you didn’t want to sit in by yourself on Christmas Day. You don’t have to explain to me.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘All around the country at this precise moment in time, people are opening presents they don’t want from relatives they haven’t seen all year and gaining pounds that they’re going to spend the next few months failing to lose.’
‘So is that what you’re doing up here in the wilderness? Avoiding presents and weight gain?’ Her gaze rested on his shoulders and then lifted to his mouth and lingered there for a moment. Then she lifted her eyes to his again and he felt something stir inside him. The urge to kiss her was so powerful that he forced himself to take a step backwards, reminding himself that this wasn’t the time or the place.
Or the woman. He didn’t know what her problem was, but it was clearly something significant.
‘I happen to love it up here in the wilderness.’ He watched as she slowly stood up. ‘It’s my favourite place.’
‘Oh.’ She hugged her arms around her body to try and stop the shivering. ‘Well, lucky for me that you happened to be passing. If you’ll just point me in the right direction, I’ll make my way home. Sorry to have bothered you and eaten all your chocolate rations. I hope there are plenty more waiting for you back on your Christmas tree.’
He was torn between exasperation and admiration. He knew she was hideously cold and uncomfortable. Every other female he knew would have been moaning, hysterical or both by now. Miranda seemed remarkably calm. Too calm?
‘This isn’t a shopping centre with a hidden exit. Do you have any idea how much danger you’re in?’
‘Yes, actually,’ she said calmly, stamping her feet to clear her trainers of the snow. ‘But I assume that panicking isn’t going to help. Better to make a plan and get on with it.’
‘And that’s what you were doing, sitting on the rock, when I found you? Planning?’
‘Actually, I was trying to work out which way was up and which way was down.’ She squinted through the steady fall of snow. ‘I didn’t want to move until I was sure and everything seems to have merged. You can’t tell the difference between the sky and the ground.’
Jake gave a disbelieving shake of his head. ‘It’s called a whiteout,’ he informed her gently, wondering what would have happened to her if he hadn’t chosen to take this particular path. ‘One of the most dangerous weather conditions that exists in the mountains.’
‘I’ve never seen one before.’ She stretched out a hand and caught some of the thick snowflakes as they landed. ‘Gosh.’
‘Gosh? Gosh?’ Shaking his head with exasperation, Jake lifted the flask. ‘Here—drink some of this.’ He poured the creamy liquid into the cup and handed it to her.
‘What is it? I don’t drink alcohol.’
‘And I don’t give alcohol to victims of hypothermia. It would kill them.’
She lifted her chin and her dark eyes flashed with anger. ‘I’m not a victim.’ Her tone was chilly. ‘Don’t ever call me a victim.’
He found himself wondering why that one word seemed to trouble her more than her immediate situation. ‘You will be a victim if we don’t warm you up soon. It’s hot chocolate. It will give you energy and warm you up.’ He pushed the flask into her gloved hands. ‘Stop talking and drink.’
‘Hot chocolate? You keep pulling amazing things out of your bag.’ Her teeth were chattering again as she clutched the mug. ‘Clothes and now hot drinks. Who are you, Father Christmas?’
‘A well-equipped climber,’ he said pointedly, and she stared into the mug without enthusiasm.
‘We can’t all afford fancy equipment.’
‘It isn’t about fancy equipment! It’s about safety. And if you don’t have the right equipment, you shouldn’t be out here.’ He heard his voice sharpen and stopped talking. What was the matter with him? He never lectured people. On the contrary, he believed that people had the right to live their lives the way they wanted to live them. But he didn’t feel remotely relaxed about Miranda.
What if she did the same thing again and he wasn’t around to rescue her?
He shook himself, wondering why he cared so much about someone he’d known for less than an hour.
She sipped the chocolate. ‘Oh…’ She closed her eyes and gave a low moan of delight. ‘That’s delicious. I’ve never tasted anything better in my life.’
Looking at the thickness of her dark lashes and the vulnerability of her soft mouth, Jake felt a thud of lust and almost laughed at himself.
He really needed to get out more. His life was truly in a sorry state if he was lusting after a half-frozen woman whose knowledge of the mountains could have been written on a bootlace.
She drank the chocolate and he pushed the Thermos back into his rucksack and withdrew a rope and harness.
‘I’m going to put this on you because your footwear has no grip and the ground is slippery.’
She looked at the rope. ‘You’re going to lower me down the mountain?’
‘We’re going to walk down the mountain. I’m going to tie you to me,’ he explained patiently. ‘That way, if you slip, I catch you.’
‘Or I pull you over, too.’
He refrained from pointing out that he had more muscle in one arm than she appeared to have in her entire body. ‘That isn’t going to happen.’
She took a deep breath and gave him a slightly chilly smile. ‘Thanks for the chocolate and the extra layers. I’ll be fine now. I can get down by myself. If you give me your address, I’ll deliver your things back to you after Christmas.’
He stared at her, unable to believe what h
e was hearing. ‘You’ll be fine?’
By rights she should be clinging to him, begging him not to leave her. Instead, she was dismissing him.
‘Absolutely fine.’ Her eyes were filled with determination. ‘I’m warm again now so I don’t need any more help, although I’d love to borrow the hat. I’m sorry to have bothered you this much.’
‘Bothered me?’ He frowned at her, wondering what was going through her head. ‘Miranda, you don’t have a clue where you are and you don’t have any equipment to help you survive in these weather conditions. Just how, precisely, do you plan to get yourself down on your own?’
‘If you’d be kind enough to just point me towards the path and tell me when I go left or right, I’ll be fine.’
He blinked. She sounded like someone asking for directions in a city. ‘The path,’ he pointed out gently, ‘is currently buried under several centimetres of snow. And it doesn’t go left or right—it curves, subtly. Step too far to the left and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the valley faster than you’d planned, step too far to the right and you’ll fall into the ravine.’
Her smile faltered slightly. ‘I’m sure I’ll manage.’
He struggled to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. ‘How?’
‘Because I’m used to doing things by myself. I’m a survivor,’ she said firmly, and there was something in her tone that made Jake look at her searchingly.
Was she trying to convince him or herself?
As intrigued as he was puzzled, he gave a quick shake of his head. One minute she was chatty and then next distracted, far away, as if she had something more important on her mind than survival.
What was the matter with her?
And what was she doing up here on her own on Christmas Day?
Ignoring her attempts to dismiss him, he fastened the rope to the harness on her waist with swift, skilled movements of his hands. ‘Do you even know which way is down?’
‘No. But it sounds as if I’m going to find it soon enough if I take a wrong step.’
‘You’re not going to take a wrong step.’ He checked the knot on the rope.
‘I don’t want you to give up your walk to rescue me.’
She was clearly fiercely independent. He rubbed a hand across his face to clear his vision and tried another tack. ‘I’d already finished my walk so we’re walking in the same direction anyway.’
‘Oh. Well, that’s different. If you’re going that way…’ she shrugged ‘…we might as well walk together. Why do you have all this equipment?’
‘Part of my job.’
‘Your job?’
Jake gave the rope a gentle tug. He’d decided to keep the rope short so that if she slipped it would reduce the sliding distance. ‘I’m in the mountain rescue team. And if we don’t both go down now, we’ll be calling out the entire team later, which would be extremely embarrassing for me.’
She stared dubiously at the mist and snow. ‘All right. I suppose it makes sense to walk together. I can certainly see why they call it a whiteout.’
‘Can you walk?’
‘Of course.’ She looked affronted and stamped her feet as if to prove that they were still working. ‘I’m just cold.’
‘It’s just that most people walking in trainers in this weather end up with a sprained ankle at the very least,’ he drawled, securing the top of his rucksack and swinging it back onto his back. ‘But if you’re intact, we’ll get going.’
‘How far is it?’
‘Don’t you know?’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t really notice the time. I just walked…’
Something in her voice made him take a closer look at her. Why had she just walked? What had occupied her mind so totally that she hadn’t noticed the time or the change in the weather?
Telling himself that it was none of his business, Jake checked the rope one more time and then jerked his head in the direction of the path. ‘Come on. This way.’
She squinted forward. ‘It all looks the same to me. How do you know where the path is supposed to be?’
‘Because I know this walk well and I recognise the terrain.’
He walked steadily, matching his pace to hers and keeping a close eye on her.
She was cold, he could see that, but nowhere near as cold as she’d been when he’d found her. They weren’t far from the car park now so he wasn’t too worried.
He was more worried about the blank, slightly vacant look in her huge dark eyes. Once they started to walk she sank into silence, her eyes straight ahead, stepping where he told her to step.
He sensed that something was very wrong.
Was it was just the pressures of Christmas Day? Was she avoiding everyone else’s happiness?
They reached the car park without mishap and he reached down and detached the rope from her waist.
‘We’re here.’ He glanced around him with a frown. At this level, the mist had lifted sufficiently to improve the visibility but he could only see one car. His. ‘Where did you park?’
‘Oh.’ She blinked and took a deep breath as if waking herself up. ‘Over there.’
His gaze followed the direction of her vague gesture but he saw nothing. ‘Your car’s been stolen.’
It happened, of course, in these isolated car parks.
‘No.’ She shook her head and gave him a wan smile as she handed back the harness. ‘I don’t have a car. I have a bike.’
A bike? He stared again and finally saw a rusty, ancient bicycle propped against a tree.
‘That’s yours?’
‘Yes.’ She pulled the hat from her head and he frowned.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Returning your clothes. Thank you so much.’
‘Stop. Wait…’ He put the hat back on her head, feeling her silky hair brush his fingers. ‘You can’t get on that bike and cycle—you’re frozen.’ And he didn’t want her to leave. He wanted to get to know her. He wanted to—
‘I’ll warm up when I get back to my—’ She broke off and flinched slightly. ‘Home. I’ll be fine at home.’
Was he imagining things or had her voice changed when she’d said the word ‘home’? He was picking up all sorts of signals but so far he wasn’t sure what any of them meant.
But he intended to find out.
‘What are your plans now? Are you spending the rest of the day with friends?’
She stared at him for a long time and then shook her head slowly. ‘No,’ she said quietly, ‘I’m not. But I’ll be fine. I always am.’
Why was someone like her spending the day on her own?
Suddenly he had an urgent desire to know what was wrong—what had brought that haunted look to her face. And he had an even more urgent desire to drag her into his arms and kiss her until her pale cheeks gained some colour.
Unable to remember a time when he’d had such a powerful reaction to a woman, Jake closed his hand over her wrist, unwilling to let her go.
‘Come on.’ Without questioning the impulse, he strode purposefully over to his car with her in tow. Still with one hand around her slender wrist, he opened his boot, slung his gear inside and then opened the passenger door. ‘Hop in. I’ll get your bike.’
‘What do you mean, hop in?’ She stared at the car and then at him and he gave a shrug and his most non-threatening smile.
‘It’s Christmas Day, Miranda, and you and I seem to be the only two people on the planet that don’t have someone to spend it with. So I suggest we spend it together. You can warm up at my place and we can sprawl on my sofas and watch endless movies.’
And get to know each other.
Her gaze became as cold as the weather and she tried to pull away from him. ‘No, thank you.’
‘It wasn’t an indecent proposal,’ he drawled softly, releasing her immediately. ‘Just a friendly one. No hidden agenda.’
Her slender body was tense. Poised. ‘Everyone has a hidden agenda.’
‘All right—you caught me.’ He
leaned against his car and smiled. ‘I do have a hidden agenda and it’s entirely selfish. I don’t want to be on my own on Christmas Day. I get morose. That’s why I was in the mountains. I saved you so now you need to save me. Keep me company.’
Her eyes met his. And then she looked away and gave a tiny shake of her head, as if she was feeling something that she didn’t want to feel. ‘This is ridiculous. I don’t—’
Suddenly it seemed imperative that he persuade her. He wasn’t going to let her go. ‘Do you have anywhere else you have to be?’
‘No.’ Her dark eyes clouded and she looked away from him, staring into the distance with a slightly blank expression on her beautiful face. ‘I don’t.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
Her eyes lifted to his again, her gaze solemn and considering. ‘All right. Just for a few hours.’
Wondering why her answer had lifted his spirits so much, Jake bundled her inside the car and retrieved her bike.
Suddenly he was looking forward to the rest of Christmas Day.
CHAPTER TWO
MIRANDA lay in the hot bath with her eyes closed, feeling the delicious warmth spread back through her frozen limbs.
On the chair at the far side of the huge bathroom lay the neat pile of clothes that the man had given her.
The man…
The knowledge that she hadn’t, so far, even asked his name brought a faint smile of derision to her face.
She should probably be worried, but she wasn’t.
Strangers didn’t frighten her. She knew from experience that hurt and pain most often came from those who were familiar and close to you, not from strangers. When there was a murder, didn’t the police start by questioning the family?
No, she wasn’t afraid of strangers and she certainly wasn’t afraid of the man who had rescued her.
And now, right at this precise moment, she was glad of her impulsive decision to accept his invitation.
It was Christmas Day. And she hated Christmas Day. There was no reason at all why she had to hurry back to her miserable, lonely flat.
