voice crackled over the radio as he explained that one of the kids had gone the wrong way, and the others had followed. “They saw a blue sign and thought it was a blue run.”
Brenna didn’t waste time pointing out he should have had firmer control of them.
She glanced across the ridge, knowing it would take her less than five minutes to get to the top of the run where Patrick was trapped. “Stay where you are. I’m coming to help you.”
Thankfully, Alison was a confident skier and together they traversed to the top of Black Bear.
“I don’t see them, and I’ve never skied this run. It looks scary.” Alison peered doubtfully down the slope and then looked back over her shoulder.
“They’re out of sight.” Brenna adjusted her gloves. “The top of Black Bear is deceptively gentle, so I’m guessing they bombed off without waiting and by the time they hit the steep section, it was too late to turn back. We’re going to need to get them down the mountain somehow. I’m so sorry but I need to help Patrick, Alison.”
“Of course you do! We’ll reschedule. I’ll call the Outdoor Center.”
“Would you mind? I feel terrible, but I can’t leave him to deal with this by himself.”
“I’m here for another week, so it’s not a problem. I’m going to take a different route down. Do you want me to call the ski patrol or something?”
Brenna considered the options and shook her head. “We’ll take them down one at a time. It will take a while, but that can’t be helped.”
“What can’t be helped?” Tyler skied up behind her, his black ski suit hugging the muscular contours of his powerful frame.
If the Devil had ever decided to take up skiing he would have worn that suit, Brenna thought, noticing Alison’s expression change.
“You’re—oh, wow—I can’t believe I’ve met you. I mean, I knew you lived around here but—”
“We have babies stuck on Black Bear.” Trying not to think about all the things she’d said to him the night before, Brenna kept her eyes on the horizon.
“Is this a new policy? Challenge them young?”
“It’s not funny, Tyler.” Nothing seemed funny after tequila.
“Are they injured?”
“Not yet.”
“Such an optimist.” Calm, he bent and adjusted his ski boots. “So what’s the plan?”
“It’s too far to get them back up, so I’m going to have to ski down with them. And someone has to stay with the others, so I’ll have to do it one at a time. It will take three runs. The whole of my lesson time with Alison.”
“Hi, Alison.” Tyler gave her a smile that could have melted snow, and Alison smiled back.
“Hi. I think you’re amazing, by the way.” Her face was scarlet. “That downhill run in Beaver Creek was off the scale. You skied like you’d broken out of jail or something.”
Brenna gritted her teeth but Tyler didn’t seem to notice, and if the reference to his past successes bothered him, he didn’t show it. He was charming, charismatic and even gave Alison a couple of tips. By the time she skied away, she was wearing the biggest smile Brenna had ever seen.
“Aren’t you going to follow her?” She told herself that the snap in her voice was the result of her headache, not jealousy. “I think you could get lucky. She’s your type.”
He shifted his weight on his skis and gave her a long look. “I’m going to help you rescue these kids. How many?”
“Four. Two boys, two girls.” She felt small for having thought for a moment that he’d abandon them. Warmth spread through her. “Thanks.”
“Are you feeling well enough to help?”
“Why wouldn’t I be feeling well enough?”
“You don’t have a headache?”
“Not a trace of one.”
He gave a faint smile. “Right. So let’s do this.” He slid forward a short distance and without his body shadowing her, the sun blazed into her face. She didn’t think she’d made a sound, but she must have because he turned his head. “Keep your goggles on,” he advised, “that will help filter the sunlight.”
“I don’t have a problem with sunlight.”
“Honey, that was a grown-up girl’s drinking session, and you have a grown-up girl’s hangover.”
All warmth and good feeling faded. “I’d punch you, but I have children to rescue.”
She skied past him, but not before she’d seen that he was laughing.
He caught up with her easily. “Do you remember anything about last night?”
“All of it.”
“You were—”
“Shut up, Tyler.”
He gave her a look that set her nerve endings tingling. “So here’s the plan. You take one, Patrick can take one and I’ll take two.”
“What?”
“Kids. I’ll take one under each arm.”
“You can’t do that.”
“Why not? I thought you said they were babies?”
“Not literally babies.”
“Let’s take a look and see what we’ve got.” Tyler glided past her and out of sight, leaving her with no choice but to follow.
Patrick, who was in his first season as an instructor, had the four kids huddled at the side of the run. Two of them were crying, one was building a snowman and the other was clearly desperate to ski Black Bear because Patrick had his hand locked in the back of the boy’s jacket and was delivering a lecture on how important it was to listen, follow instructions and not ski off.
Brenna took one look at the determined expression on the boy’s face and glanced at Tyler. “He reminds me of you,” she muttered under her breath as she skied past him to join Patrick.
“I would have been at the bottom by now.” Tyler sat down in the snow next to the boy who was crying. “Hey, there. What’s up?”
The boy stared miserably at the vertical drop stretching below him. “T-too steep.”
“Yeah, it’s steep. Imagine how impressed the kids back home are going to be when you tell them you skied Black Bear.”
“Don’t want to ski it. I’ll fall—” he hiccuped “—or die.”
“You are not going to fall or die. That’s a promise.”
The boy looked unconvinced. “Yeah, I will.”
“No, you won’t,” Tyler said patiently, “because I’ll be holding you. You can’t fall unless I fall, and I’m not going to fall.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that. I always know when I’m going to fall, and it’s not today. What’s your name?”
“Richard.”
Tyler leaned toward the little girl who was shivering with cold. “And what’s your name?”
“Rosie.”
“Pleased to meet you, Richard and Rosie. I’m Tyler. I can get you down this mountain, but I can’t do it if you’re crying because the noise messes with my concentration, and it’s making my friend’s headache worse. You need to do exactly what I say and if you do, you’ll get a medal.”
Richard