by Jill Snow
Even if Carter Pittman had a scheme in place that made logical sense, this time he had endangered lives. It was unforgivable. Ethan would be sure to let the sheriff know of this infraction and the escalation. But right now—
“That makes sense, but we don’t have time to worry about why. Can you untie the rope from the wooden anchor? I’ll fashion that part into a harness to lower me over the side.”
She took a step to do as he suggested, then paused. “Why you? She’s my dog.”
“And I’m trained in this sort of rescue mission. I know I didn’t tell you a lot about myself, and that’s my fault. But I’m a former Ranger. I know what I’m doing.” Though he’d never lowered himself off the side of a cliff with only the worn, makeshift rope from a bridge before.
She held his gaze for a moment, her mouth in a firm line before she capitulated. As she gathered the rope and called reassurances to her pet, he again tested his work on the tree to make sure it would hold his weight. He wouldn’t save Wookie if he plunged to his death alongside her. When he stood and she offered him the rope, he caught her hand along with him.
“I’m sorry. I—” Why had it been so much easier speaking to a door than speaking to her face? He cleared his throat and tried again. “You’ve come to mean something to me and I want to see where this thing between us leads. I know I’ve probably screwed it up by not telling you the truth from the start, but I’m hoping you might be willing to give me a second chance.”
When she continued to stare at him, pressing her lips together, he realized that now was probably the wrong time. But he was about to do something incredibly dangerous for her benefit and if he never got another chance…
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
He pulled his hand away as a palpable relief swept through him at the question. To distract himself from the anxiety biting at his stomach, he started to make the harness, twisting the short length of rope around his middle and joining it with the rope tied to the tree in a sturdy knot. Not the most elaborate of harnesses, but he hoped it would provide him with some measure of support if he needed it.
Softly, he answered, “When people learn I have money, all they see is the bank account. I wanted you to see the man.”
“I don’t care about your money.”
He raised his head. She didn’t? How couldn’t she? Wasn’t it the American dream to get rich and never have to work again?
Her expression fierce, she told him, “You lied to me. That’s unacceptable. I deserve better.”
Yeah. She did.
He didn’t argue, hoping that he would have a chance later on to earn her trust. It began with saving her beloved dog, the one he’d almost scared off with his shotgun the first day they’d met. The one he’d become attached to, that he was willing to risk his own life for. In that one second, Ethan shed the selfish man he’d become, the one that was so afraid of being used for his money and became the guy he used to be. The one that risked it all for those he loved.
“I’m ready to go over the side. I need you to keep an eye on the rope. If it looks like it’s coming loose or going to break, warn me. Don’t try to grab at it or you could go over the edge, too.”
He didn’t want to contemplate that. Instead, he met her gaze and asked, “Are you ready?”
Pressing her lips together, she nodded. “Please be careful.”
Warmth bloomed in his chest. Could she feel some affection toward him, despite the way he’d lied? He took heart in the warning and carefully maneuvered himself over the side of the cliff. Despite the rope hanging from the tree, he tried to rely more on the rain-slick handholds in the rock than he did the rope, just to be safe.
As his head dipped below the lip of the rock, meaning that he was only a foot shy of standing on the ledge where Wookie whimpered, Ethan distracted himself by asking, “Was I crazy this past week? Or did you feel something for me, too?”
A moment’s pause, filled by the howl of the wind and patter of rain against stone. Lily’s voice, when it came, warbled. “Are you sure you want to be talking about this right now? You need to focus or you’ll fall.”
“Actually, I can’t think of a better time. I’m putting my life on the line, here. Lily, you’ve helped me exorcise my personal demons. I’ve felt better, more like myself, since I met you. I’m starting to find a purpose again.”
“I hope that purpose is more than just dating me.”
He didn’t know if he should be discouraged by that answer. To soothe the sting of her words, he joked, “Maybe my purpose is dangling from the sides of mountains in pursuit of lost puppies.”
There were worse causes to pursue. As he glanced down to judge the amount of space he had left, he spotted Wookie, shivering and whining in the rain with her tail tucked between her legs. With her fluffy fur plastered against her body, she looked terrified. He hadn’t realized from the size of her fur that she was so small. His heart twisted to see her so distraught, but as she looked at him, the trust in her eyes gave him the motivation to continue.
“I’m almost there, girl,” he murmured.
Louder, Ethan called, “You haven’t answered me, not really.”
“I don’t think we should be talking about our relationship when you’re dangling from the end of a rope.”
Our relationship. He grinned. “So you do have feelings for me.”
“Fine. Yes, I like you too. It seems silly when I barely even know you—”
“Not silly. I barely know you and I feel the same way.” The tips of his toes met solid rock next to Wookie’s shivering form. He lowered his weight slowly, frowning as he tried to gauge whether or not the outcropping would hold his weight. By the time he had one foot solidly on it, he was certain that the rock—unlike the bridge—wasn’t going anywhere. With an inward sigh, he leaned down to scoop the dog off the rock.
The rope leading above grew taut. He had no more room to descend. He swore.
“Ethan? What’s going on?”
He could barely hear Lily above the roar of the wind. It gained strength, lashing him with rain as if in punishment. He raised his voice, hoping she would hear. “I need to put all my weight on the rope. Is it holding?”
Lily answered something that sounded like, I think so, but her answer was muffled by the wind.
He gritted his teeth and prayed. No way was he going to leave a helpless animal on this ledge to be scared to death. Releasing his grip on the rock wall, he bent so the rope supported him around the middle. His legs lifted a foot above the rock as he reached to scoop the dog off the ledge.
The frightened animal scurried away from his fingers.
“It’s okay, Wookie. I’m here to help. Come here, please. I know you’re afraid.” He spoke meaningless platitudes, barely able to hear the sound of his own voice and unsure if the dog heard him. But something in his demeanor must have prompted Wookie to scuttle closer, because he was able to scoop her into his arms a moment later.
When he grabbed the rope with one hand and righted himself, his knees were weak. If not for the rope, he probably wouldn’t have been able to support his weight.
“I’ve got her,” he called.
“Wookie!”
A moment later, Lily’s soaking wet head peeked over the lip of the chasm. The tears in her eyes mingled with the raindrops and dripped off the edge of her nose.
“Wookie, thank God!”
She reached down, but he shook his head. “Let me climb up partway and I’ll hand her up to you. Don’t lean into the ravine.”
After all, there was nobody to hold her steady if she lost her balance. With a grateful, teary look Lily disappeared from view.
Ethan let out a sigh, knowing the wind wouldn’t let it carry. He glanced down at the dog, who huddled against the warmth of his chest. “You’re a lot of trouble,” he informed Wookie, “but I know you’re worth it.”
It took a moment of maneuvering, but he managed to slip Wookie beneath his shirt, above where the harness would pr
event her from falling through. Her head and neck stuck out the collar, her wet hair tickling the underside of his chin.
“Let’s do this,” he muttered under his breath, unable to hear his own voice. He still didn’t trust the rope entirely, so he searched for handholds in the rock to heave himself up.
The worsening conditions hindered him. The cold sting of the rain had numbed his fingers. The surfaces of his handholds were slick, and he could barely see through the torrent. He couldn’t hear Lily above or even the sound of Wookie’s breathing. The strength of the storm continued to intensify, as frightening as a hurricane.
But Ethan was determined. Slowly, he made progress, until his head was nearly on the level with the ground again. Close enough. He moved gingerly, fearing for Wookie’s safety. Without her stuck inside his shirt, he would feel free to be a bit rougher and scramble up to safety.
Fisting his hand around the rope, he used the other arm to remove Wookie from his shirt. The dog trembled and started to whimper again. “Lily,” Ethan shouted, though he couldn’t hear the response. Instead, he mutely raised his arm as high as he could. Frightened, Wookie scratched as she tried to escape. Her claws left gouges in his forearm. He gritted his teeth. A moment later, the slight weight was lifted from him.
His turn. He found a solid handhold of the lip of the chasm and released the rope to find the same with his other hand. A gust of wind buffeted him and his foothold slipped. Unprepared, he lurched face first into the rock wall.
With a spike of pain, everything went black.
Chapter 22
“Oh, Wookie, I was so scared!” Lily wept openly as she hugged her dog to her chest. Wookie trembled like an earthquake, unrelenting. She was just as frightened. What if her dog had been hurt?
The rope, a bit slack, suddenly stretched tight. Lily’s heart skipped a beat. “Ethan?”
No answer.
The wind roared in her ears. Apologizing absently, she set the Pekingese next to the tree and crawled to the edge of the cliff. Ethan hung limp from the rope, blood dripping down his face from a cut in his forehead. Oh no. Lily fought back bile. What was she supposed to do?
She had to get him up somehow. Then…
Oh, God. She prayed he was still alive. She retreated to the tree and squatted next to the rope, digging in her heels. Tears stung her eyes. If he died because of her…
She would never forgive herself. All that stuff he’d said, about wanting to give them a chance… She wanted that, too.
But if she didn’t get him up that cliff, they would have no chance at all.
She didn’t know how she would find the strength to haul a two-hundred-pound man up the side of the cliff, even with the rope. She was no bodybuilder, but she had to figure this out—no one was here to help her. How could she lift someone so heavy?
Then she remembered a story that Tonya had written for the paper about an old couple who lifted a car off someone at the scene of an accident to save them. They’d done it by leveraging something, using a solid surface to pull against. She wedged her feet against the trees and pulled with all her strength and weight. When Ethan’s limp body crested the edge, she nearly dropped the rope in relief. Instead, she gritted her teeth and did what needed to be done.
Ethan needed her. Wookie needed her. It wasn’t a question of whether she was good enough to save him; she had to. If she left him there to get help, the rope might not hold long enough until she came back. She was his only lifeline.
Even so, once she lugged his body those last few inches onto solid ground, her arms gave way. She collapsed on the ground hard, trembling from exertion. Wookie crawled closer, nudging Lily with her nose as she whined.
“I’m all right.”
But Ethan might not be.
Somehow, she found the strength to grab her backpack and crawl closer. She turned him onto his back, examining the cut. The blood, mixed with rain, looked eerily translucent. She wiped it away with her thumb and patted his cheek.
“Wake up. Please wake up.”
He was still unconscious. But, when she lowered her ear to his chest, she heard his strong heartbeat and felt the rise and fall of his chest. He was alive.
For now. She had to get help.
Thunder rumbled overhead as she fished her cell phone out of a pocket in the backpack. She booted it up, shielding it from the rain with her body as she waited for a signal. The flash of the screen nearly brought tears to her eyes. No signal. She was on her own. She had to get back to the campground and call for an ambulance. But how was she supposed to move a two-hundred-pound man? Her strength was used up.
She could sit here and cry about it or she could do something. What would make carrying him easier? Maybe she didn’t have to carry him. He still had the rope harness around his waist. She could drag his body instead.
Even as she had the thought, she cringed. It would be extremely uncomfortable for Ethan on the twig- and rock-strewn dirt path. She might hurt him further if she tried. But, with thunder pealing overhead and the rain coming down in sheets, leaving him and getting help would be equally dangerous. What could she do?
The backpack. It turned into a tent, which meant it unfolded into a long stretcher-type of material. If she used it as a sled, she could minimize the pain she would cause and make it easier to drag. It was their best bet.
Wookie recovered a bit from her fright as Lily worked. She refused to leave Lily’s side, at some points causing Lily to trip over the poor Pekingese. She paused to pat her dog on the head. “It’ll be okay girl. We just have to get Ethan away from here.” Inside, she quivered, but for the sake of her pet, she put on a brave face. She had to hold it together.
When she unfolded the tent, the lighter contents of the backpack went flying — including the map. Lily’s stomach lurched as she lunged to catch it. The wind carried it into the ravine. She was on her own. Would she be able to recall the way back?
The path had taken her up the mountain, so going down was easier than she expected while hauling Ethan’s limp body. Her muscles protested and she had to stop increasingly frequently to catch her breath. When she reached the first fork in the path, she paused. Which way had she come? She didn’t have the map. Wait, Ethan had told her how to navigate in the woods that day she’d gotten lost. What had he said?
Moss on the trees pointed north. Since she’d taken the northeast path, in order to get back to the campground, she needed to keep that moss facing her. She could barely see with all the rain soaking her through to the skin, but she examined the closest trees around the fork and made her choice. As she dragged Ethan onward, she hoped it was the right choice.
A rumble grew, and Lily turned her face up to the ominous sky. What if lightning struck? She and Ethan had nowhere to take shelter from the storm and she couldn’t bear thinking of stopping. He needed medical attention.
She pushed on, that rumble growing louder. It vibrated in the soles of her shoes. Then, a four-wheeler rounded a sharp curve in the path. Ruby perched in the driver’s seat.
They were saved.
Chapter 23
“Dang fools, didn’t you notice the storm brewing? You kids these days have no sense.”
Lily had noticed the storm, but she foolishly hadn’t cared. Nursing her anger had been more important. This was all her fault.
“Ethan is hurt! We have to get him to a hospital.”
Her mouth in a grim line, Ruby expertly navigated the narrow path and turned her vehicle around. “Slide him onto the back.”
It took all her strength and some help from Ruby, but they managed to get Ethan on the back. She collected Wookie and perched behind Ruby, keeping one hand on Ethan to make sure he didn’t fall. Her hand on Ethan’s chest became a lifeline as Ruby drove them back to the main lodge. The storm drowned out her thoughts, numbed her inside and out, until all she could focus on was the beat of Ethan’s heart beneath her palm.
Please be okay. I want to see where this goes, too. I can’t lose you now.
&
nbsp; At the lodge, Ruby got a dolly and helped Lily drag Ethan inside and together, they arranged him on the worn sofa in the front lobby. “I have blankets in the computer room. Try to warm him up while I call the sheriff on the land line. We don’t have a hospital out this way, but we do have a clinic and a doctor on call. She’ll be able to help patch him up.”
Nodding, Lily returned to the computer room with Wookie trotting close at her heels. Her laptop wasn’t there, but she didn’t have time to worry about that. She rooted through the boxes until she found a few old quilts. She pulled them out and jogged back to the campground lobby.
Ruby was just getting off the phone when she arrived. “Keep one of those blankets for yourself. You’re soaked to the bone. You should find a change of clothes.”
Swallowing hard, Lily shook her head. “I’m not leaving until I know he’s going to be okay.”
Ruby sighed. “Stubborn girl. Very well, I’ll go see if I can find something in my closet that might fit you. I’ll put on some coffee too, to warm you up.” Ruby got up to leave then turned around. “You did good up there, Lily.”
Lily stared at Ruby for a few seconds, pride warming her chest. She had done good. She’d gotten Ethan out of danger and down the path. Of course, if it wasn’t for her he wouldn’t have been in danger... could he ever forgive her for being so stupid?
Lily didn’t protest. Instead, she tucked the blankets around Ethan’s wet form and held her arms around him, hoping that her own body heat might help. Wookie climbed onto her lap and huddled, shivering.
“Please don’t die, Ethan. I think I’ve fallen for you. You can’t die before we find out if we have a chance together.” Lily blinked hard against the tears in her eyes.
Trembling, Ethan’s hand sought out hers. He was awake! She leaned closer as he fought to open his eyes.
“Does that mean you’ve decided to give me another chance?”
“Yes!” She bit back a sob. She almost leaned forward to hug him, but didn’t want to make his injury worse. She lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed the side of it instead. His skin was clammy, but at least he was awake.
