He stopped unbuckling one of the harnesses that was holding everything in place on the back of the snowmobile. He stood up straight and turned to her, giving her a half glance. “It's not often I hear woman say something like that.”
“About not caring?”
“Not caring about rifling through her things.”
Harper rolled her eyes. “I assure you, there is nothing scandalous in my bag.”
“It depends on what your definition of scandalous is.”
Heat crept up her cheeks and she knew she was blushing. Had she left tampons or something else personal in her bag? She couldn’t remember. Well, it was survival. And she highly doubted Nash had never seen a tampon before. Nash handed her a couple of bags.
“Get inside. You’re going to freeze out here,” he said. “I can get the rest.”
“Okay. I have some food ready on the stove that I need to stir before it burns.”
He smiled wide. He was covered with snow, and it was clinging to his head and face, but his smile made her knees weak. “I thought I smelled something when you opened the door.”
Pleased with herself, she went into the kitchen and dropped the two bags he'd handed her to the floor. She would deal with those in a minute, once she knew the food wasn't burning. She stirred the stew and then went to the counter to grab the two deep bowls she’d left there when Nash had arrived. Then she went back to the wood stove where the stew was cooking and filled each bowl.
Just as she was about to put the plates on the table, the door swung open and Nash walked in carrying a big canvas bag. She dropped the bowls back on the counter and rushed over to him to help.
“What is this?” she asked.
“The bag of linens. I put it in a canvas bag that is waterproof. That's going to be our last run with the snowmobile for a while,” Nash said.
“Is it really that bad out there?”
“I kept getting bogged down in snow drifts. I have to be careful. Staying on the road is safer. But springtime can be very dangerous.”
“How so?”
“Avalanches are more common in the spring because when snow starts melting and then fresh snow falls on top of it. This storm is fixing to be something intense. I turned on the radio in your car and overheard that they're expecting this storm to linger for a few days. Something about a stalled system.”
“Were you able to radio anyone in town?”
“No. I was getting a signal in. But just barely. I called out just in case someone was able to hear me, but got no reply.”
“It was good thinking to try the radio in my car.”
“First rule of survival. Look at any and all things as something you can use to keep you alive. As soon as I reached your car, I remembered seeing the radio console when I pulled you out earlier. It was smashed in the front, but I did manage to get it working.”
“Smashed?”
“I have a feeling if you look at your right knee you probably have some pretty good bruising on it. Maybe even on your thigh.”
And then it dawned on her. “Yes, I saw those bruises when I took a bath. I guess that was the source of my pain.”
“I'm guessing. You’ll see a lot of bruises come to the surface over the next couple of hours and they’re going to hurt a lot more. You have some pain meds in your bag. You should use them now before you get stiff.”
She looked at him and nodded.
Then he frowned. “You said you didn’t mind my looking through your things.”
“I don’t.
He nodded. “You’re going to be okay.”
“I know.”
“No I don't think you do. But that's common after an accident.” He peeled off his jacket and then hung it on the pegged coat rack by the door where she’d hung her jacket. He hung his scarf and hat on another peg. “That food smells awesome. Let’s eat.”
* * *
They’d managed to get through the night without freezing to death, which was a blessing. Nash had insisted she sleep on the sofa next to the fire using his sleeping bag, which was rated for cold weather camping. He took the floor and used the blankets he’d retrieved from her car.
The snow had continued well into the next day and evening, stopping some time during the night on the second day. During that time, Nash had managed to get the solar system turned on, something that would have been simple in warm weather, but since the snow was covering the solar panels, it made it cumbersome. It was going to take time for the batteries to power up after a winter of just sitting. But at least the power was on and Nash would eventually have lights.
They spent the snowy day talking about odd things and nothing at all. Her childhood. His work. Funny stories from when he was training in the field. Crazy stories that had come over the dispatch line. Her bruises would remind her when she overdid it and she tired easily.
And he worried over her. Every so often, she’d pause with a pain and the concerned expression on his face made her heart melt. She’d been taking care of her grandmother for so long that it was nice to have a man fuss over her a little bit.
By the morning of day three, the sun was shining in the sky and the air was considerably warmer than it had been. Spring was coming even though a thick blanket of snow said otherwise. It was time to try to make a trek down the mountain.
“We can’t take the truck even though it’s four-wheel drive. We’ll get better traction with the snowmobile, even with the thick snow.”
“I’ll take your word for it. As long as I get down the mountain, I don’t’ care how we do it.”
He chuckled. “You’re going to regret saying that. Need I remind you of where your car is sitting?”
She groaned and then laughed. “I don’t think it’s actually sitting at all. I think it’s leaning and in danger of being pitched over the cliff.” She stood at the front door and looked in the direction of where she thought her car was on the cliff. “That’s a relief. The car is still there. I think.”
He glanced over her shoulder. He smelled so good. He’d taken a bath this morning and she could still smell the soap he’d used. The fragrance tickled her nose.
“Yep, that’s your car. I’m glad you can laugh about this. I’d half expected you to be freaking out.”
“Did you listen to my dispatch stories last night? Nothing surprises me.”
* * *
Since the night he’d seen Harper’s car go down that embankment by the cliff, Nash had been waiting for the time when she would leave the cabin and he’d be alone again. He’d come here to be alone. Although he’d enjoyed her company while they’d been stranded here, he longed for that alone time. Now they were packing the back of the snowmobile so he could bring her down the mountain in the hopes they’d be able to get a signal on the radio and have someone meet her at the bottom of the road.
It filled Nash with mixed feelings he couldn’t sort out.
“It'll be safer for us to get down the mountain on the snowmobile than trying to bring the truck,” Nash said, busying himself with details instead of dealing with the obvious.
She was leaving. That was a good thing for both of them. She’d be able to check on her grandmother so neither one of them would worry anymore, and Nash could finally get started on his work.
But that nagging feeling in his gut told him it wasn’t that simple.
“The truck is good in the snow, but it’s deep. Are you sure you're up for this kind of trip?”
“I’m glad you were able to get the solar system running and there was hot water. The shower helped a lot,” she said. “I'm sore, but I’ll live. To be honest, if I stay back here, it will drive me crazy sitting alone in this cabin and waiting for you to come back. It was hard enough the first time.”
He frowned. “Okay. If you insist on coming with me, you have to get more clothes on.”
She looked down at her pants and her shirt. “This is all I have. And since I was able to hand wash them and dry them by the wood stove overnight, they shouldn’t smell bec
ause I’ve been wearing them for two days,” she said, laughing. He’d given her a big baggy sweatshirt and a pair of his sweats for her to sleep in. It drove him crazy how sexy she looked in his clothes.
“They’re fine. I have my jacket, boots, and my gloves. I should be okay. I was the other night.”
“The other day you were in shock. You weren't feeling the cold. It's warmer today. But it’ll still be cold moving fast on the snowmobile. You need more layers. You can always take the sweatshirt and sweats off if you get too hot. Why don’t you put the clothes I gave you last night on over these clothes?”
“Okay.” She proceeded to grab the clothes she’d folded neatly and placed on the kitchen table. “I wish my cell phone still worked. It would be nice to be able to give my grandmother a call as soon as I get close enough to the bottom where there is some reception.”
“I pulled the radio from my truck out and hooked it up to the snowmobile. It doesn’t look pretty but it’s functional. This way we will be able to radio somebody down at the bottom of the mountain when we get a signal. It shouldn't be long before someone comes to rescue you.”
“You already did that?”
He turned while she slipped the sweatshirt over her head making her blouse stretch tighter over her chest with her movement. He couldn’t stand it. She seemed so unaffected by his reaction that he hoped it wasn’t obvious. She was driving him crazy. Each time she laughed it sounded like music to his ears and he waited for it happen again.
She needed to go home. He needed her to.
“The plan is that we radio someone and wait at the bottom of the mountain road for someone to pick you up and bring you home. You’ll be all warm and cozy in your bed tonight. You might even have a decent meal.”
He glanced at her and smiled. She’d made such a big deal the last two days over the fact that he liked eating rations for a whole host of reasons. She went on about her famous lasagna and about he hadn’t really lived until he’d had a chance to try it. But they were both thankful they’d had the rations while they were stranded there.
Ten minutes later they climbed on the back of the snowmobile. Nash set the channel on the radio so he could test reception at various points on the way down the mountain. Pretty soon, Harper Madison would be leaving him and his life alone would go on as normal.
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Six
They were only on the snowmobile for a few minutes when Harper decided she was glad she’d listened to Nash and put the extra layers of clothes on. Nash was taking it slow given that the snowmobile was still hard to maneuver with all this snow on the narrow road. He’d speed up and then slow down. When they started to sink a little, he’d speed up again. The last thing they needed was a repeat of sliding down the embankment like she had done the other day.
Then Nash abruptly stopped the snowmobile.
“Do you hear that?” Nash asked. He turned off the engine.
“I didn’t hear anything except the snowmobile.”
“Ssh. Just listen,” he whispered.
Harper sat still and listened to the rustling of trees and the sound of moist snow packs falling from the leaves and hitting the ground.
“I still don't hear anything.”
“Okay,” Nash said. But Harper could tell by the look on his face, he was skeptical. He glanced up at the hill in the trees that seem to go on forever up the side of the mountain. Then he started the snowmobile’s engine and they burst out of the hole the snowmobile had sunk into. It had taken fifteen minutes for them to ride up to the cabin from where her car had rolled off the embankment. It was during the snowfall and Nash had been trying to keep her steady on the back of the snowmobile as they moved. It took just as long this time but for different reasons. The storm had been brutal. Nash tried to navigate the snowmobile through at least two feet of snow, making it hard to get constant motion.
They passed the point where her car had gone over the embankment and Nash paused, letting the snowmobile idle. It was the first time she’d had a real good look at how far she had fallen. She couldn't see the car anymore because it was buried under snow. What she did see was the patch of broken branches that led all the way down to where her car now sat. Her heart pumped in her chest just thinking of how bad it could've been and how grateful she was to be alive.
“Is that thunder?” Harper asked. Nash quickly got off the snowmobile and looked around. He didn't say anything, because he didn't have to.
“That's not thunder. That's an avalanche!”
“An avalanche?”
Her whole body began to shake as she heard the rumbling from above increase. Of course, she knew that avalanches were possible this time of the year in this area. Nash had said as much the other day. She just didn’t think it would actual happen to her. Most people worked in the higher elevations and it didn't become an emergency situation like it could be right now.
“Where's that coming from?” she asked.
“Here. Right above us, it sounds like.” His face was ashen as he ran back to the snowmobile and climbed aboard, firing up the engine and then looking around again. “I can't tell if it's falling in front of us or behind us. The positioning of where we are makes it hard to tell.”
“We have to get out of here!”
Nash ignored her. There was something about his face that told her he was deep in concentration, deep in trying to figure out how to save them. Survival mode.
She had no idea what to do. She decided the best thing to do was to stay quiet and let Nash, the professional, figure this one out for the both of them.
The sound of thunder rumbled and rolled and grew louder.
“What should we do?” she cried.
Nash still said nothing. He listened and then he gunned the engine of the snowmobile and started to turn them around.
“We need to head up the mountain.”
He was just about halfway around making a circle before big clumps of snow started raining down on top of them.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
He gunned the engine and guided the snowmobile into the tracks he'd already made on the way down the mountain. It was a good move, Harper realized quickly. They were moving much faster than they had on the way down when he’d been moving through virgin snow.
A large tree snapped and fell just inches behind them and along with it came a tidal wave of snow. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the snow filled the roadway behind them. More snow was falling in front of them, making it hard for Nash to maneuver the snowmobile.
“Hold me tight!” he yelled. “Hold me as tight as you can.”
There was a clearing ahead of them that veered off to the left and then went down. Nash looked above them and then glanced over his shoulder at her.
“How well do you know this mountain?”
“I know this road.”
He turned down the embankment that veered left.
“Does this lead anywhere?”
“The river.”
“We’re going to have to chance it. Don’t look back.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around him as she leaned up against him. Resting her cheek on his back, she said, “I did. Not good. Can you go faster?”
As they plowed their way through the snow, the snowmobile bounced up and down and jostled her about. Memories of her tumbling in her car and having items in her car go airborne and hit her filled her head. Her body lifted off the seat of the snowmobile a few inches before she settled back down with a thud. Nash gunned the engine and they flew over a pile of snow.
The thunder grew louder until it almost sounded like a freight train passing by. Harper knew it could only mean one thing. She thought of her grandmother as she heard the twigs and branches behind them snapping under the weight of the snow that would soon be upon them. With her face planted to Nash's back, she had a bird’s eye view of trees tumbling over to the side of them in the wall of snow and white filling her view.
“Nash!”
Nash gunned the engine again, and it whined under the stress he was giving the snowmobile.
“Hold tight! There is an overturned tree in front of us!”
Harper gripped his waist tighter. She was afraid to look over her shoulder to see just how close the wall of snow was to the snowmobile.
Nash expertly navigated the snowmobile over the felled tree, leaving them airborne yet again for a few seconds, but it slowed them down enough to allow the avalanche to gain on them.
Harper closed her eyes and held her breath as she held on tight to Nash. Even through his jacket she could feel his muscles bunching as he held the handles of the snowmobile and maneuvered it. And then the snow was raining down on her face in clumps. Her heart hammered in her chest as she opened her eyes and saw the wall of snow right on that their heels.
“We are going to die.”
She heard the engine rev and felt Nash’s arm move as he pushed the engine to a higher gear. “Not if I can help it!”
And then the wall was upon them, engulfing them until Harper was forced to close her eyes to keep snow from pelting her eyeballs.
“Nash!”
She felt the back of the snowmobile lift up awkwardly high and then felt her body being thrown until she was tumbling. She desperately tried to grab on to Nash but the force was too strong for her to grip his jacket with the force of the avalanche. She tumbled in the snow as more piled on top of her, rolling as her arms and legs flailed about, trying to reach something to connect with.
It was all happening too fast. The roaring sound of the snow bowling over her was deafening. And then suddenly, she stopped rolling. Her whole body was tightly compacted. She felt moisture seeping through the sweats into the pants she was wearing.
She was buried alive. They were buried. Oh my God, they were going to die!
Memories of waking up in the car as it sat precariously on the side of the mountain filled her mind. Nash came to rescue her then. Nash was in just as much danger she was now. He was most likely buried as well. Probably buried deeper than she was. Her only hope was to save herself. She had to. What if Nash needed her?
Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Page 26