Blown Away

by Muriel Jensen

  “Piece of cake,” he replied, as Gehlen began to wrap climbing gear around him and attach him to the thick trunk of an oak that grew almost horizontal, directly under her. “My friend’s about to climb up behind and over you. He’s going to lower you to me.”

  “On what?” she demanded.

  He heard Gehlen chuckle as he scrambled away to put the plan into action.

  “I’m not accepting anything less than a staircase with a railing!” she said.

  “Didn’t bring one of those with us.” He appreciated that she still had a sense of humor. “We’ll have to do it with a harness and some line.” He heard her groan. “Well, that hurts my feelings,” he said, testing his knots. “I’m really very good at this.”

  “Oh yeah?” she said skeptically. “How many times have you done this?”

  “Mel and I are search and rescue specialists. We do this all the time.”

  “Mel?”

  “The dog. His formal name is Officer Braveheart, but when I have to shout for him or give him commands, Mel is easier.”

  “Ah,” she said. “For Mel Gibson. Who played Braveheart.”

  “Very good. You apparently didn’t hit your head.”

  “No. Now, back to getting me down…”

  “It’s going to be easy,” he lied convincingly. “My friend Gehlen is an expert climber. He’s going to get into the tree above you, attach another harness to you that’s connected to him and cut you free of the wires. Then I’m going to reel you right in.”

  There was a moment’s silence, then she said with wry candor, “I guess I’d be inspired by your confidence if I thought you knew what you were doing.”

  He smiled to himself. As if she had a lot of options but to trust him…

  “I thought I introduced myself. I’m Sergeant Cole Winslow, Courage Bay P.D. We’re not going to have any trouble getting you down.”

  “Yeah,” she said doubtfully.

  Seeing Gehlen climbing out above her, Cole shinned out onto a sturdy limb of the oak. It gave slightly but held.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Getting ready to catch you,” he replied. “I know you’re an instructor at Fly With Frank, but I don’t know your name.”

  “Kara Abbott,” she replied. “With a K.”

  As though how she spelled it mattered. But he’d already gathered from their conversation that she was probably a stickler for doing things correctly. She was about to learn, however, that when it came to a rescue mission, each situation was unique. You had to put heart and confidence into it and rely on your training and experience. A little luck never hurt, either.

  Still, he had to admit that was small comfort for someone hanging over a two-hundred-foot drop.

  “I teach music at Courage Bay Junior High,” she added, as he edged farther out on the limb. “The Christmas program is depending on me.”

  “Nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “We’ll have you down in an hour.”

  Another silence.

  “Where’s your little boy this morning?” he asked, hoping thoughts of her son would encourage her.

  “With a friend,” she replied. It sounded as though her throat was tightening. “I took the hang-gliding job because he has a long Christmas list involving a computer and trucks with movable parts.”

  “Trucks. A man after my own heart.”

  “Cole!” Gehlen shouted from somewhere above her.

  Cole looked up and spotted him hanging upside down in the tree from which she dangled. “Yeah!”

  “I’m going to hook her up.”

  “Okay.”

  Gehlen inched his way down to her and wrapped his harness around her.

  “I’m Gehlen Lester,” he said in an amiable tone as he worked familiarly at her waist with buckles and harness. “We’ll just leave your rigging on and loop mine through it.”

  “Another cop?” she asked him.

  “Better,” he replied. “I’m the Courage Bay Parks and Recreation director. Also a veteran climber, so even if you don’t trust Cole, you can trust me. There—now you’re tied to both of us. When I get back into position, I’ll cut your wires and send you down to Cole.”

  “Oh God. You’re sure I can’t just wait here until you build a stairway?”

  “Sorry.”

  KARA WAS TERRIFIED. These men wanted to get her down. But as far as she could tell, there was no way to do that without running a great risk of falling. Gliding on the wind was one thing, falling like an anvil quite another.

  “We’re all connected now, Kara,” the cop said with that confident tone.

  She didn’t trust confidence anymore. Danny had always been so sure of everything, certain the next scheme was going to work…the next investment, the next purchase. But all those great ideas did was get them into deeper trouble.

  “You’re going to come right down here to me,” he added.

  “Guys, I don’t know…”

  “Your little boy’s waiting,” the cop said.

  He’d mentioned her son earlier, but this time terror leaped inside her. “How do you know about him?” she asked, then screamed as the branch she hung from bounced.

  “Your boss, Frank, told me,” the cop said. “How we doing, Gehlen?”

  “Get ready,” Gehlen replied. “I’m going to cut.”

  Oh, dear God! Taylor! What would happen to him if she didn’t come home? Would he end up in foster care? Her parents were gone, she had no siblings, no true friendships to speak of; she worked all the time to provide for Taylor and spent what free time she had with him.

  “Here we go, Kara!” Gehlen said.

  The chaos that thoughts of Taylor created in her mind seemed to extend beyond her. The world spun and dove wildly around her, making her feel panicky and dizzy.

  “It’s going to work, Kara!” she heard the cop call up to her.

  “Are you sure?” she asked desperately.

  “I’m sure!”

  “Heads up, Cole!” Gehlen shouted, and Kara felt a small tug that set her free. Suddenly she was racing toward death at a speed that made her eyes tear and the wind sing in her ears.

  The rich green around her flew by. They’d done something wrong and she was going to plummet to the bottom—she knew it. The thread by which her life had been hanging for years had finally snapped.

  She’d known it would happen someday. She’d just hoped Taylor would be working in a law firm by then, or set up in a dental practice, or working for NASA. Oh, Taylor…

  Then, before she could prepare for it, she slammed into the waiting arms of Sergeant Winslow.

  Terror and the real conviction that this could not possibly end well, that his confidence had been as faulty as Danny’s was and they were both going to tumble headlong to their deaths, made her cling to him, eyes tightly shut, teeth gritted, waiting for the inevitable.

  It didn’t happen.

  The harness from which he was suspended swung in a wide arc. She screamed and held on to him with every ounce of energy she had, arms clutching his broad back, one leg curled around his. He held her to him with considerable strength, and she heard the clink of a hook as he disconnected her from one rope and tied her to him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered, eyes still closed, hands still clinging.

  “Cole!” she heard Gehlen shout.

  “We’re fine!” Cole called back. “She’s okay. Just a little shaken.”

  A little? She wanted to laugh out loud.

  And when her senses finally overpowered her emotions, she began to be aware of the body to which she clung. It was like a rock, or one of the trees all around them—made from nature’s strongest stuff.

  And the weirdest thing happened to her: she went soft. Life had been difficult for her for a long time, but the last year had been particularly tough—the move, the expenses involved, Taylor’s animosity over his father, and her own pervasive loneliness.

  God, it felt good to
be held. It didn’t matter that there was nothing remotely sexual about it. Her life was now centered on her son and simple survival anyway. But it was wonderful to let someone else be in charge, if only for the time it took to get down to the ground. And this man’s shoulders felt as though he could carry her all the way.

  She allowed herself one minute, her forehead resting against his shoulder, to fantasize that he belonged to her and she to him. That he was strong enough physically and emotionally to be the man she needed, a man she wouldn’t have to support financially. A man who would make Taylor smile. It had been so long.

  But reality reared its ugly head as it always did, and they swung wildly in a sudden gust.

  She gasped, sure this was it—the end.

  “Easy,” Cole said quietly, his lips right at her ear. “It’s just Gehlen pulling us in. Hold on.”

  She scarcely needed the encouragement.

  “All right! Here we go!” Gehlen’s voice sounded much closer, and then a hand caught her arm and pulled. Still she clung to Sergeant Winslow.

  “You can put your feet down,” Gehlen told her. “You’re on solid ground.”

  Put her feet down? But why weren’t they already down if she was on solid ground? Then she realized that both her legs were wrapped around one of Winslow’s.

  Muscle by muscle, she forced herself to loosen her death grip on him in order to stand.

  She really didn’t want to. The moment had been so delicious, and something she’d thought she might never experience in her lifetime—someone taking care of her.

  Finally her feet met the earth, though she felt very unsteady after dangling in midair so long.

  Winslow’s hands held on to her arms to steady her, and she peered up into a smiling pair of gray-green eyes in a face that looked just like his body had felt—angular, steady, strong.

  It was such a warm and handsome face, and she was so grateful to be alive that strong emotion welled up in her like a healing spring. Certain he wouldn’t understand her uttering a heartfelt declaration of love, she did the next best thing. She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  COLE CONSIDERED IT FORTUITOUS that he was still tied to the tree. If he hadn’t been, he might have fallen right over the edge of the dropoff when she pressed her lips against his. Well, preferably after.

  He’d felt a distinctly intimate connection with her the moment their bodies had made contact. Of course, he had helped to save her life. But this was something more, and as she leaned into him, surrendering, he knew that she felt it, too. In a corner of his mind unoccupied with what was happening between them, he became aware of Mel barking excitedly, throwing in the occasional growl in a bid for attention. But Cole ignored him, focusing instead on the woman in his arms.

  He didn’t entirely understand what had made her kiss him, but figured he didn’t really have to. Gratitude in life-or-death situations often took unusual forms. In the last earthquake to hit Courage Bay, an older man he and Mel had found in the rubble of a warehouse had tried to give Cole the keys to his BMW. And a young woman whose child he’d located after he’d wandered into the woods still baked him cookies once a month.

  But this kiss was decidedly more intimate, and for some reason he didn’t hold back. He returned her kiss, but made no effort to assume control. He felt her fingers in his hair, then his jaw, then fastened on his shoulders while she leaned into him.

  When it was over, she took a step back, looking into his eyes. He held on to her arms. Although he was still tied to the tree, it would have terrified her if she’d stumbled over the edge.

  She expelled a bumpy little breath and said softly, “Sergeant Winslow…thank you.”

  Cole was very much aware that he stood on the brink of a precipice—in more ways than one.

  “Kara with a K, you’re welcome.”

  Gehlen stared at them, his expression half stunned, half disbelieving. “Are you two finished?” With a petulant grin, he added, “I helped, too, you know.”

  Stepping toward him, Kara smiled and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Thank you, too, Gehlen. Thank you, thank you!”

  “You’re welcome.” He looked from her to Cole, then back again. “Are we ready to go down?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “Let’s go.” She glanced at the steep slope, the sheer drop, then back at him with a worried frown. “How?”

  “Mel will keep to the trail down the side of the hill,” Cole said, as though unaffected by what had just happened, “and we’ll follow him. But it’s very steep. We’ll let Gehlen go first, because he knows what he’s doing.”

  It was a long, slow descent. Gehlen warned of slippery spots, places where there was little protection as the trail followed the edge of the hillside. Mel would run ahead, then double back to make sure they were following.

  When handholds were few, Cole stopped to help Kara. He thought she might want to avoid looking at him after that kiss, but she didn’t. She seemed almost to be telling him she’d meant it, that she hadn’t just been overcome with relief.

  He felt momentary alarm, then decided that was foolish. She was very pretty, and it had been a treat to hold her in his arms, to kiss her, but he was a confirmed bachelor and he’d just have to explain that. No woman with a child would want to waste time on a man who intended to remain single.

  And she’d feel differently about the whole thing by tomorrow, anyway. Besides, had he and Gehlen switched places as he’d originally suggested, she’d have kissed Gehlen—and would be giving him those looks.

  After a strenuous forty minutes, they finally reached the bottom of the hill. Cole called his dispatcher while Gehlen got a blanket out of the back of Cole’s rig and wrapped it around Kara. Mel sat beside her on the back seat while Gehlen poured her a cup of coffee from Cole’s Thermos.

  “I’m 10-98,” Cole reported when Wanda, the dispatcher, picked up. “No apparent injuries, but we’re on our way to the hospital.”

  “Ten-four. I’ll advise Frank and Mrs. Abbott’s sitter. And tell her not to worry about her car. Frank says he’ll have somebody pick it up and deliver it to her home. Mel okay?”

  “Yes. And I’m fine, too, thanks for asking.”

  “I’m never worried about you, Winslow. We know you’re indestructible.”

  “I might have been injured.” He pretended hurt feelings. “It was a big drop. She was caught on a snag way up the Embrace.”

  “Naw! Maybe if you’d been alone—but Mel and Gehlen were looking out for you.”

  He made a disgruntled sound.

  Then, with studied nonchalance, Wanda asked, “Is Gehlen okay?”

  “Yes, he is.” Everyone at the station knew she had a thing for Gehlen, who never seemed to notice her because she wasn’t sufficiently blond or helpless. A competent brunette who had every detail of dispatch procedure at her fingertips, Wanda had watched Gehlen date every pretty young thing who’d worked for the city in the past five years.

  “Want to talk to him?” Cole asked.

  “Nope. Lots going on this morning. Let me know when you’re 10-8.”

  “Chicken,” he teased.

  She cut him off.

  Cole went to his SUV, where Gehlen was refilling Kara’s coffee cup. She was shaking a little now, he noticed. Gehlen put the Thermos back into the front seat.

  “I owe you,” Cole said, offering his hand. “With everybody else tied up with the multiple MVA in town, I was desperate. I’m glad you were home.”

  “Damn right, you owe me,” Gehlen agreed, but with a wide smile that said he’d do it again in a minute. “I’m going to think about something really difficult or expensive or dangerous, and you’re going to have to come through for me.”

  “Sure.”

  “You take care, Kara,” Gehlen said, ducking his head into the vehicle to look at her. “Watch those wild winds.”

  “Thanks again,” she said, waving as he headed for his Jeep.

  Cole leaned into the back t
o put a second blanket over her knees. “Getting a little shaky on me, Kara?” he asked gently, thinking her composure looked iffy. She’d been a trouper on the trail, but now her soft brown eyes were brimming with tears.

  She sniffed and snuggled into the blanket. Her rich brown hair was disheveled and her cheeks were smudged, but he was struck by just how pretty she was.

  “I’m fine,” she said, her voice raspy. “I guess I’m just having the classic reaction to the aftermath of a brink-of-death experience. I was thinking about my son.”

  “The dispatcher called your sitter to let her know you’re all right.”

  Her eyes widened with distress. “Livvie and Taylor knew I was in trouble?”

  Cole shrugged. “Not sure. If Livvie’s your sitter, then probably. Apparently they’ve been in touch with the department for the past hour.”

  She nodded. “Well. If you’ll just take me home…”

  “We’re going to the hospital first. I—”

  “But I’m fine,” she insisted. “You can see that I’m fine.”

  “I can, but it’s regulations,” he explained patiently. “And if you’re as fine as you seem to be, it won’t take long to check you out.”

  “I need to see my son,” she said firmly.

  “I’ll take you home the moment the doctor gives you the all-clear. My brother’s on today. You’ll like him.”

  Giving her no opportunity to argue, he closed her door, called Mel to him and opened the back so the dog could leap into the cage. Cole ruffled his ears and gave him a treat.

  Mel’s ears dipped in pleasure as he ate the biscuit.

  Cole climbed behind the wheel, turned the vehicle in a wide circle, and drove down the long road to the highway.

  In his rearview mirror, he watched Kara Abbott wipe her eyes with a corner of the blanket. Delayed shock was finally taking over.

  “Your little boy’s fine,” he told her gently. “And so are you. I know that was frightening, but it’s over. When you have dinner with your son tonight, it’ll be as though this morning’s accident never happened.”

  She scoffed at that possibility and looked back at him in the mirror. “You don’t have children, do you.”