mountain it was just the sky, the wind, the trees and the majestic behemoths rising from the earth toward the clouds.
On his mountain he was himself and he had no one to answer to. No one but him controlled his life, his fate, his destiny.
“Hey!”
Luke spun around and saw a woman in surgical scrubs and cap approach him. The physical attraction was immediate. Full red lips, which were slightly pouty. White-blond hair peeked out from under the scrub cap and big blue-green eyes sparkled with annoyance.
Oh. No.
It was the spitfire surgeon. He’d only seen her over the surgical mask. Now seeing that she was a gorgeous woman with a strong personality to boot, well, that was a dangerous combination for Luke.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
She crossed her arms and sized him up. “I’m looking for a Dr. Ralston. Do you happen to know where he is?”
Luke took a step back, in case she started swinging, but then the words sank in and he realized she didn’t know who he was. But then, he’d been wearing a surgical mask, cap and gown when he’d been in the OR with Shane. And this surgeon wasn’t a local surgeon. She was visiting. She wouldn’t recognize one person from another behind a surgical mask, because not being at this hospital every day he certainly didn’t.
This could be fun, one part of him thought. While the other part told him to walk away and not entangle himself with her, because he knew she spelled danger.
“Why do you need him?”
She huffed. “If you see him tell him Dr. Ledet is looking for him.” She turned to walk away and for a brief moment, one fraction of a second, he saw himself grabbing Dr. Ledet and pulling her into his arms, kissing her. Forcing the image away, he overcame the urge to taste those soft, moist lips, running his hands through her blond hair.
Maybe doing a little bit more than that.
Definitely dangerous.
“Where can he find you?” Luke asked.
She glanced at her watch. “After eight he can’t. I’m flying back to New York.”
“New York?”
“Yeah, I was here on business and decided to lend a hand for an old teacher. A fat lot of good that did me when I had to deal with an arrogant jerk like Dr. Ralston.”
“Well, if I see him before eight I’ll tell him.”
She didn’t thank him, just nodded curtly and walked away.
A New York surgeon, eh? Well, that was too bad, but it was for the best.
He’d never see her again.
It would’ve never worked anyway and not because of the distance, but because he would never let it.
Six months later, mid-January, Crater Lake, Montana
I HATE THE COLD. I hate the cold.
Sarah thought coming from New York she’d be used to the frigid temperatures of northwest Montana. New York State bordered Canada, too; it should be the same, but it wasn’t. Not at all. This was a different kind of cold. There was no moisture in the air and as she tried to shake the remnants of bone-chilling frigidity from her brand-new office, she couldn’t remember why she’d decided to take this job in Crater Lake, Montana.
Dr. Draven.
Right. Her teacher from medical school. Dr. Eli Draven. She didn’t study under him, because she didn’t have an interest in becoming a cardio-thoracic surgeon, but she remembered him clearly from her days at Stanford.
He was a good teacher, if not a bit full of himself. He’d taken a shine to her until she’d decided not to pursue cardio; then she was no longer his star, but he still spoke highly of her and when this job was offered to her by Dr. Draven’s brother, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity, because she was more than ready to get out of New York and out of her father’s iron grip.
No matter what she did, nothing was good enough for her parents.
They still saw her as their baby.
And they wouldn’t be happy until she was living a pampered life in a Central Park West penthouse, married to an investment banker or a lawyer or even a doctor.
She couldn’t be the doctor, however.
That was unacceptable.
Why do you need to work, pumpkin? Your husband, if you marry well, can take care of you.
Her mother’s archaic way of thinking made her shake her head. Sarah peeled off the thick parka she’d bought when she moved out to Montana and hung it on the coat rack in her office. There were no cabs in Crater Lake, unless you counted the very unreliable Bob’s Taxi, and she didn’t.
At least she’d bought a car when she first landed in Missoula and had snow tires put on it. She was well versed in the rugged country living she was immersing herself in, even if she did complain about the cold just a bit.
Why do you want to go work out in the wilderness?
Sarah’s sister, who was married to a very prominent surgeon and occupied one of those coveted penthouse suites on Central Park West, couldn’t understand what was driving her to do this.
Sometimes Sarah wasn’t even sure herself.
Because your dad got you your prestigious appointment in that Manhattan hospital. It wasn’t you.
Sarah sighed when she remembered. After a summer of touring around different hospitals in each state, presenting her Attending’s research and teaching different surgeons on using the newest model of robotic surgery, she came home to New York to accept one of the most prestigious positions offered to a trauma surgeon at Manhattan Grace, only to find out that the only reason she was chosen to tour the country and work with Dr. Carroll was that her father was friends with Dr. Carroll. They played a few rounds of golf in the Hamptons. Even her brother-in-law pulled strings for her as if she couldn’t make it on her own.
It just shook the foundation of everything Sarah had thought she knew.
It had knocked her confidence completely. Perhaps she wasn’t the surgeon that she’d thought she was? So she’d turned down the position, much to her father’s chagrin.
This was why she distanced herself from people. So many people trying to control the course of her life. She just couldn’t trust anyone.
Not even herself.
Do you know how many strings I’ve had to pull for you over the years? Just so you can play doctor? Come to your senses, Sarah.
Sarah came to her senses all right. She threw the job back in her father’s face, sold her apartment on the Upper West Side and took the job offer from Silas Draven to be the general practitioner and general surgeon at his newly opened ski lodge.
The ski lodge was set to open in one month, on Valentine’s Day, and Sarah couldn’t wait to get started. It would be a slower pace of life, but at least she would be able to help people here. She could be a doctor and not worry that her father was pulling strings to get her whatever she wanted. She was burned-out and really didn’t know who she was or what she wanted anymore. She didn’t even know if she wanted to be a surgeon and that thought terrified her, because for so long surgery had been her life.
For now a general practitioner sounded good. She could practice medicine and figure out where to go next. It sounded almost too good to be true.
Yeah. She could do this.
She