A Winter Wonderland

by Fern Michaels

  The cable whined, then came to a complete stop. Knowing this was a private lift, it seemed odd, but Angelica was sure the lift was used by other guests, too. Hanging in midair, the wind whistling through the trees, snow swirling beneath them, she couldn’t have asked for a more vulnerable position to be in, but again, her heart beat double time when she looked at the man seated next to her.

  “I guess someone fell,” he said.

  “I’m sure,” she answered, then turned away. She didn’t understand why she was feeling the way she was. It had never happened to her before. Ever. Zilch. Why now? And she didn’t know squat about the man! He could be a pervert or . . . well, she was sure he was decent and upstanding. She trusted her instincts on things like that. But her reaction to him was just not normal, of that she was sure.

  With a clunk and groan, the lift slowly came to life, transporting them to the top of the mountain. Feeling as though she had to fill the silence between them, Angelica spoke the first words that came to mind. “Look, I didn’t mean what I just said. I mean, I haven’t had a date in a while, that’s true, but the other.” She turned away again, feeling a tiny bit ashamed of her chosen profession. “I don’t work on Broadway. Only once, and that was a very long time ago. I’ve been bartending and working in off-off-Broadway plays. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very successful in their own right, but still they are off Broadway.”

  She could actually feel Parker’s gaze. It was as though he were trying to penetrate through all the layers of heavy clothing and see what lay beneath.

  “You don’t have to explain your choices to me,” Parker said. “To each his own.”

  That was not the answer she was hoping for, but it was what it was, she thought, as they dangled once again in midair. “I wonder why they keep stopping,” she said.

  “People fall, and it takes a few minutes to get them up and out of the way. If they’re inexperienced, it takes longer.”

  She knew all of that. It was not her first time on the slopes. Wishing she’d skied downhill to the public lift, Angelica felt very confused as a tumble of thoughts and feelings assailed her. One moment, she wanted to throw herself at this handsome man seated next to her, and in the next, she wanted to run, or rather ski away from him as fast as she could. She’d heard her friends talk, and she wasn’t so unsophisticated that she did not know what was happening to her. The question was—why now? Why this man, who lived across the country? Why not one of the actors she worked with? Someone she knew and could see whenever she chose? She hadn’t come halfway across the country just to fall in love with a stranger. She came to meditate on her chosen profession.

  The lift returned to life, jolting her back to the present. Though they were only stopped for a couple of minutes, it had seemed much longer. She could not sit next to this man and say nothing. She felt too exposed, and somewhat puzzled at this new turn of events. But, she remembered she was an actress, and acting she could do. She only had to pretend that she was onstage and that this situation was staged just for her.

  The only difference was that she did not have a script, so she did not know her partner’s lines.

  Chapter 15

  Finally reaching the top of the mountain, Angelica couldn’t wait to ski downhill, where she knew there would be hundreds of other skiers to take her mind off Parker North. Quickly, as though they did this together daily, both she and Parker moved effortlessly off the chairlift and toward the right, where they both zoomed downhill.

  Angelica felt free of all negative emotions as she surged downhill, Parker at her side. When they reached the middle of the mountain, Parker skied off the trail to an area where he could rest if he so desired. She slid into the sectioned-off area but not without a little snow pluming of her own. Before she could stop herself, she quickly whipped her skis around so that she showered Parker with snow.

  Blissfully happy to be alive, Angelica dropped to the snow-covered ground, where she proceeded to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. Parker dropped down beside her. “Want to tell me what’s so funny?” he asked, all traces of his earlier stuffiness gone.

  Saying the first thing that came to mind, Angelica spoke. “This sounds stupid, but I can’t remember being so . . . happy!” There, she’d said it, and the world hadn’t swallowed her up. So what if she came off as nerdy or silly. She was blissfully happy to be there, glad to be alive, and more than thrilled to be sitting in a deep pile of snow with this man who’d unknowingly captured her heart.

  A shadow dimmed the otherwise golden sparkle in Parker’s eyes. Clearly, Angelica’s words had upset him. She didn’t want to do or say anything that would interfere with this moment, so she clammed up, keeping her joy to herself.

  “It’s good to see you so cheerful, happy. In my line of work, it’s not always the outcome,” Parker said as plumes of cold air spilled from his mouth.

  Her heart quickened with anticipation. Finally, she thought, as she turned to look at him. He’d removed his goggles, and she did not like what she saw. Yes, he was the sexiest guy she’d encountered in a very long time, mostly, she thought, because he wasn’t trying to be sexy like the guys she was used to. But there was such a look of loss and sadness about him that she reached out and placed a cold, gloved hand on his cheek. “Tell me. You look as though you’ve lost your best friend. Why so sad?”

  She could see that he struggled with his thoughts, as if he was contemplating whether to reveal them or not. He shook his head, his dark hair damp from the wet snowflakes that had begun to fall. He removed his gloves and placed them on his lap. “What makes you think I’m sad?” he asked.

  She hesitated a moment before answering. “You look sad, Parker. No mystery there. Are you having problems at work?” Angelica watched Parker’s expression change from sad to ticked off.

  “Who told you I was having problems at work? Was it Max or Grace? Because I didn’t say anything to them,” he said vehemently.

  “Good grief, you don’t have to bite my head off! And for your information, I have never so much as spoken to Max or Grace. I don’t even know who they are.” She stopped and backtracked. “Yes, I do know who Max Jorgensen is. Who doesn’t? But Grace, no, I don’t know her, and no one told me a thing about your work situation. Whatever it is you do.” She mumbled the last words.

  He reached for the gloves in his lap, then pushed himself up off the snow. After adjusting his goggles, he grabbed his poles and wrapped a leather band around each wrist, then skied out of the sectioned-off area straight to a trail that led to a black run.

  “Hey,” she shouted, but all she saw was his black and red Spyder jacket flash around the catwalk.

  Wanting to catch up with him, needing to know what in the hell she’d said to send him racing off like some spastic skier, she poled out of their resting spot and across the large bowl area to the catwalk that led to some of the toughest black runs on the mountain. He must be one hell of a skier, she thought, as she approached the top of the slope. She was a decent skier, blue runs her most challenging. He must be expert, she thought, as she pushed off down the steep mountainside, traversing back and forth so as to slow her descent. There were some icy patches that could be tricky. Away in the distance, she saw his dark silhouette as he zigzagged through the unplowed snow. Hurrying to catch up with him, she used her poles to push forward, then lowered her hips and knees to a position that afforded her a bit of speed. She would be damned before she would let him beat her to the bottom of the hill.

  As she careened around the moguls, she saw a lone skier in her peripheral vision. Wondering how he just so happened to appear out of the blue, she saw he was flying, and didn’t seem to see she was directly in his path. As he got closer, she realized he was on a snowboard. She began to make her way to the side of the mountain even though she had the right of way. She heard him coming closer, the edge of his snowboard slicing across an icy patch.

  She whipped away from the kamikaze boarder, felt herself careening as she lost her balance . . .


  Then everything went black.

  Parker looked up just in time to see a flurry of snow and a body as it was tossed in the air.

  “Son of a bitch,” he shouted as he saw the skier slam against the icy ground. Without another thought, he kicked off his skis, tossed his goggles aside, and poled his way back up the hill. Several spots were crusted over with ice, and he slipped. “Damn! I shouldn’t have taken the black run, dammit!” Hurrying as best as he could given the circumstances, he gasped for air as he made his way uphill.

  Out of breath, Parker managed to drop to his feet when he reached the injured skier. And lo and behold if it wasn’t his new friend, Angelica Shepard.

  Knowing he shouldn’t move her, yet not sure where the nearest first-aid unit was located on the mountain, he did what all skiers knew to do in such a situation. Quickly, he placed his ski poles in an X position. With any luck, someone would see them and send for help. Until help arrived, he would do what needed to be done to ensure that Angelica survived the accident.

  He leaned over her and felt for a pulse. Strong and steady. Always a good sign, he thought to himself. With exaggerated carefulness, he felt her head, searching for a lump or a cut. When he found nothing, he breathed a little sigh of relief but knew there could still be spinal injuries. Not wanting to move her, he straddled her waist and so very, very gently, probed the back of her neck and spine as much as he could given the heavy ski clothes she wore.

  The moment he leaned up and looked down at this striking woman, her eyes fluttered open. “What happened?” she asked in a whisper.

  Parker North felt like shouting to the world but knew it wasn’t the time or the place. Angelica was speaking, and that was a very good sign.

  “You were hit, sweetie. It’s going to be all right. I promise you,” he said, vowing he would not lose this woman to a head injury. Not now. Not when he was just beginning to feel something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Or ever.

  “You’re an angel, right?” Angelica said softly.

  He shook his head. “I am anything but, trust me.”

  The sound of snowmobiles provided a much-needed reprieve. As they flew across the snow and ice, Parker could see that there were four emergency techs, two on each snowmobile. “Over here,” he shouted. They jumped off the machines, carrying a backboard.

  “She was knocked down by some out of control snowboarder. I don’t know where the guy wound up, but she was knocked out for at least five minutes. It took me that long to get to her,” Parker explained to the medics.

  They quickly shifted her onto the backboard, then carefully secured her neck and mouth with medical tape so she couldn’t move.

  One of the medics leaned over her and asked her a question. “Do you know what your name is?”

  “Yes. Angelica.”

  The paramedic gave a thumbs-up sign to the others. “Do you know what today’s date is?”

  “No,” she said.

  “Okay, that’s good. Now, I am going to give you a number, and each time I ask, I want you to repeat it for me. Think you can do that?”

  “Sure,” she muttered.

  “Number eight,” he said. “Now, can you tell me where you live?”

  “New York.”

  “This is good. Now can you tell me the number I just told you?”

  Angelica frowned and tried to shake her head. “I can’t seem to remember. Why can’t I move?” she asked, her voice a bit louder than before.

  Parker watched from behind her and knew she was frightened. It was always the same. Once people knew they were injured and couldn’t move certain parts of their body, they instantly freaked out. Not that he expected anything less.

  “You’re going to be fine, ma’am. We have your head taped to the board as a precaution.” The medics’ radio came to life then. “Have a chopper ready. We need to get her to Denver, to Angel of Mercy. They’ve got the best neurological unit in the state.”

  “What?” Angelica asked. “I have a head injury?”

  “We don’t know. This is just a precautionary move on our part. Please, relax,” the technician said.

  “Wait!” Parker shouted. “Let me go down with her. She’s all alone.”

  “Are you . . . Hey, I know who you are!” the second tech said. “You work at Angel of Mercy, right?”

  Parker nodded, then placed a finger over his lips. “Shhh. Let’s just get her out of here before she freezes.”

  Parker looked up just in time to see the helicopter swirling above them. “Where will they land?” he asked.

  “We have to bring her down to the station. There is no place to land here.”

  “Then let’s move it! Time is of the essence here!” Parker shouted as though he were right back in the trauma unit that had driven him to Maximum Glide in the first place.

  Once a doctor, always a doctor.

  Two of the paramedics hoisted Angelica inside what appeared to be a plastic canoe of sorts. They covered her face with plastic, then he saw her hand move slightly—another very good sign.

  “Please, don’t put that thing over my face,” she said in an almost normal voice. “I’m a little claustrophobic.”

  “Of course,” the tech said, then arranged the plastic so that it didn’t cover her entire face. “Ma’am, we are going to take you down now. Sit tight, okay?”

  In a broken voice, she replied, “It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”

  “That’s my girl,” Parker said. “We’ll have you back to normal in no time.”

  He noted she was speaking coherently, and that was very good under the circumstances. She tried to turn her head to see him, but couldn’t. “You’re going for a ride, hang on,” Parker said, as the two medic/skiers each grabbed an end of the boatlike plastic contraption that would carry her to safety.

  Trees whizzed by, and the pure blue sky was all she could see as they hustled to get her to the hospital. Her last thought before things went black again was that she’d been saved by an angel.

  Chapter 16

  Angelica opened her eyes only to discover that she was in the back of an ambulance. “What happened?” The words were no sooner out of her mouth than she remembered being knocked down by that lone snowboarder she’d seen just as she’d tried to get out of his path.

  “We’re taking you to Angel of Mercy in Denver. You’re getting the best medical care in the state,” someone said to her.

  “Why can’t I move my neck?”

  “You’re secured to the backboard as a safety precaution. Once the doctor examines you, they’ll decide what to do.”

  Angelica was not going to remain on this stupid board. Her feet were freezing off, and her hands felt like two blocks of ice. “Look, I am cold here. And what happened to my ski boots? My feet are cold.”

  Low voices came from behind but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. “I want to know where my boots are! My toes are going to freeze off!”

  “Here,” someone said as he began to rub her cold feet. “Does this help?”

  She could feel a slight tingling sensation in her toes. “Yes, but I still want to know where those boots are.”

  Laughter came from all those in the back of the ambulance.

  “I don’t think this is funny, not even a little bit,” she said firmly and in a much louder voice than before.

  “No, ma’am, it isn’t funny. We’re just happy to see that you’re getting back to normal,” the man who rubbed her feet said. “We’ll be arriving at the hospital any minute now. They’ll have heated blankets waiting for you.”

  “I don’t hear a siren,” Angelica said out of the blue. “Why isn’t there a siren?”

  “We turned it off as soon as you came around. Your vitals are good, and it appears, now mind you I am saying it appears, as though you have no trauma to the head, so we’re simply following protocol.”

  It was then the vehicle came to a stop. The two rear doors opened, letting in a blast of bitterly cold air. Angelica ha
d never been so cold in her life. Her insides shook with tremors as they removed her from the ambulance. Seconds later, she was whisked through automatic doors and, thankfully, was greeted by a gush of warm air. She smiled for the first time since she’d been plowed over.

  “What is so funny?” Parker asked her.

  “What are you doing here? If not for you, this wouldn’t have happened! Go away! I don’t want you near me!”

  “Hey, calm down. I rode in the chopper and the ambulance because I didn’t want to leave you all alone.”

  “You didn’t seem to have a problem leaving me alone on that mountain, now, did you?” she asked, as a nurse checked her blood pressure. She wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t register. She was beyond pissed at this . . . idiot who’d forced her to chase him down a trail that was meant for experts only. She would never forgive him for that. Never.

  Parker took her cold, limp hand in his. “I didn’t know you couldn’t keep up. I thought you said you were a good skier. I thought . . . Well, it doesn’t really matter what I think, does it?” he asked, more to himself than her.

  Angelica jumped when the nurse placed the cold stethoscope under her clothing.

  “Sorry, this is a little cold,” the nurse said, apologetically.

  “Tell me now,” Angelica muttered between clenched teeth.

  “Sorry,” the nurse said.

  “No, it does not matter what you think,” Angelica said to Parker, “so please leave before I ask the nurse to call security.” What nerve he had! It was partially his fault she was here in the first place.

  “Doctor?” the nurse asked.

  “You can leave now. I’ll wait with her until the . . . doctor on call arrives,” Parker said in a hushed voice.

  “No, you won’t! I asked you to leave. Now go away!” Angelica said as she tried to lift her head from the gurney.

  “Please, don’t move. You might injure yourself more,” the nurse soothed. “Dr. Mahoney should be here any minute. One of our on-staff trauma doctors decided to take an indeterminate leave of absence, so we’re a bit shorthanded at the moment.”