Chapter 10
DARCY
Darcy stirred, lost in dreams of making snowmen in her backyard in Wisconsin. She shivered, rolling over in her bed and snuggling up to the shape next to her.
Then she frowned.
Where on earth was she? The mattress beneath her felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and the blankets were cold and musty. There was no noise but the howling of the wind and the creaking of wood — those and the murmurs of the man lying beside her.
Her eyes shot open and, just like that, it came rushing back as fast and loud as an avalanche. The helicopter ride. The blizzard. The crash. And Devlin Storm.
She was cuddling up to Devlin Storm.
Gritting her teeth, she slid her arm free and wriggled away from him. He stirred again, an expression of pain crossing his features for a moment before flitting away. He licked his lips, and Darcy found herself licking hers too.
“Don’t leave,” Devlin mumbled in his sleep. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
A burst of laughter escaped Darcy and she covered her mouth with her hand so she didn’t wake him. The infamous Devlin Storm, the bad-boy billionaire, and here he was telling her she was the most beautiful women he’d ever met. Maybe he was delirious from his injury. He didn’t look like he had a temperature, but looks could be deceiving.
Darcy rolled slowly onto her back, careful not to jostle his bad arm. The laugh was short lived, because all she could think about was how long it had been since anyone had told her that — asleep or awake. Of course, she’d had boyfriends back in Wisconsin but nothing serious. They’d all been fun while they lasted, but the problem was they never lasted. Darcy was so busy looking after her mum and the house that the men she seemed to pick took issue with where she placed them in her priorities.
None of them would have believed where she was now and who she was with. Darcy Wainwright was not an adventurer. No. She was timid, cute, quiet, a mouse. One date she’d been with had even questioned if she was a selective mute.
He was one of the many reasons she’d flown to Europe four years ago. After her mum died, Darcy had wanted to find comfort with a partner, someone who could help her see the way through the grief. But instead she’d found more hurt and knew that there was nothing left to keep her in Lancaster. That comment had really upset her, and she’d jumped at the chance of moving halfway around the world to get away from judgemental men, and maybe show them she was more adventurous than they’d thought.
Weirdly, though, Darcy felt more secure with the sleeping man beside her than she had with any of those dates. Even though the sleeping man was a great hulking sack of grumpiness who didn’t really care about her. Darcy stifled another giggle. That didn’t really bode well for her love life, did it?
Why are you thinking about love? she asked herself, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She looked at Devlin. There was no way she could ever feel attracted to somebody as selfish and as mean as he was. It just wasn’t in her nature to be with a man like that. She needed somebody thoughtful, and kind, and compassionate, somebody who didn’t try to put her down or insult her or order her about with every word.
No, Devlin Storm was definitely not the man for her.
Definitely not.
He shifted in his sleep, wincing with pain as he moved onto his back. Even in the simplicity of sleep with his muscles slack, his face was the most offensively perfect thing she’d ever seen. Gone was the hot-blooded broody look. The alpha male whose intense green eyes could bed whichever ladies he took fancy to. Instead, he was a sleeping Adonis with cheekbones and a jawline that could cut through the snowdrift. And a cupid’s bow so perfect she wanted to reach out a finger and trace the lines. His hair had mussed a little on top, a bird’s nest that was thick enough for Darcy to imagine running her hands through and . . .
Darcy . She chastised herself silently. Devlin Storm might not have been the man for her, but the way he looked was playing havoc with her hormones.
She was running hot and cold, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d give herself a fever and start saying delirious things back to him. As though making a point, a giant shiver ran through her body and as quietly as she could, she crept to the fire and threw on another log. Settling at the foot of the mattress for a moment, listening to the howling wind and the gentle snores from Devlin. Two sounds so incongruous with each other, yet they seemed to be in sync.
Then she gathered a couple of sofa cushions and rested them between her and Devlin so that she wouldn’t roll over in her sleep again. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than resting her hand on his stomach, stealing her fingers up under his jumper, following the trail of hair down to his waistband, putting her lips on his lips, his hands on her . . .
Enough!
Darcy rolled over to face the wall, her cheeks aflame, pulling the blankets up to her chin and listening to the storm batter the cabin. Devlin Storm would have to wait. The only thing that mattered at the moment was surviving.
* * *
“Rise and shine, Miss Wainwright!”
Darcy stirred, stretching like a cat and almost purring beneath the covers. Then she snapped her eyes open, remembering once again where she was. She was surprised to see that the cabin was drenched in fierce sunlight and muffled by an eerie quiet. She sat up, massaging a crick out of her neck and blinking the fuzziness from her eyes until she made out Devlin standing in the doorway. He was holding something in his good hand, and he carried it into the room. He looked at her, tilting his head, an almost smile crossing his lips. The way his eyes studied Darcy, the intensity of them made her skin prickle.
“What time is it?” she asked, trying to smooth back her hair.
“Six,” he said.
“Six?” she replied. How on earth had she managed to sleep for so long? The fire was still going, radiating heat, and the old mattress beneath her had become strangely comfortable. If she tried hard, she could almost convince herself that this was a luxury suite at the Royal Alpine, and that the man standing over her was her boyfriend.
If Devlin noticed her blush, he didn’t show it. He stretched out his hand and she saw that he was using one of the nature books as a tray. On it was a petri dish with a broken-up protein bar, and two beakers full of water.
“Your champagne breakfast is served, madam,” Devlin said, still grinning. “Our luxury spa opens at seven, where you will find a team of masseuses waiting for you to treat you the way APEX Club members should be treated. None of this shack in the mountains rubbish.”
Darcy laughed, wondering if she was still asleep.
“The APEX Club?” she said, leaning back against the sofa and picking up the beaker. “They’re the ones who booked out the resort. I want in.”
Devlin coughed and looked down at his own filled petri dish.
“You probably don’t, to be honest. It’s mostly just me and my friends messing around.” His protein bar was holding his attention.
Darcy guessed why he was putting her off the club that she was 100 percent not nearly rich enough to join, but she felt he was in a good enough mood to press him on it.
“And these friends of yours, are they infamously brooding, bad-boy billionaires too?” she teased.
“No,” Devlin shook his head, the corners of his lips twitching. “I think you’ll find some of them are more than approachable. Annoyingly so.”
He sat down on the mattress next to her, grinning.
“Hold up,” Darcy said. She was slightly distracted when Devlin shifted closer and she noticed just how good he smelled. How someone who’d hiked up a mountain after crashing a helicopter and sleeping in a cabin could smell so fresh was beyond her. “Hold up. The APEX Club is just you and all your billionaire friends? So it’s the APEX Billionaire’s Club. You’re a member of a club called the APEX Billionaire’s Club?”
She peeled with laughter, enjoying the way Devlin’s perfect lips pursed.
“Wait, I never said we were called that,” Devlin protested. “The APEX Club—”
“Is that to remind yourselves how rich you are every time you go there?” Darcy teased again. “The APEX Billionaire’s Club.” Darcy let out a honk of a laugh. “Well, my club is a lot more exclusive. I don’t need to brag about my wealth.”
“The Darcy Wainwright Club? So exclusive I’d double the member numbers by joining that one.” Devlin scooted sideways and out the way of the back of Darcy’s hand.
“It’s a good job I slept well, mister,” Darcy said, grinning. “And talking of which, what’s got into you this morning?”
“The storm’s blown over,” he answered, shuffling back towards her. “It must have worn itself out. Blue skies and no wind. We stand a good chance of getting rescued today.”
Relief flooded through Darcy.
“That’s great,” she said. “I thought it was supposed to last for days.”
“The weather up here is so unpredictable,” he pointed out, taking a bite of his energy bar. He swallowed. “Storms come and go. But there’s nothing to say it won’t charge itself back up, so we need to move fast.”
Darcy nodded, taking a deep drink of water. It was freezing cold and had a strange aftertaste.
“You did wash this, right?” she asked, looking at the beaker. He shook his head.
“Take a walk on the wild side, Darcy. Live a little.”
“I’m more worried about dying a little,” she said. “What if they were conducting experiments in these? What if they were, you know, storing urine in them or something?”
Devlin’s smile wavered.
“Yeah, I probably should have washed them,” he admitted. He took a gulp from his. “But never mind. It’s snow water, as fresh as it’s possible to get.”
Darcy took another sip, trying not to worry. It wasn’t champagne, but it was still one of the most amazing things she’d ever tasted. She picked up a piece of protein bar, chewing its peanut-buttery goodness as Devlin spoke.
“I peeked outside this morning. The snow is deep, but not as bad as I’d feared. We should still be able to walk on it. I’m too worried about the ravines to head down, so I suggest we make our way up. It will be harder, but it’s a shorter walk and far less dangerous.”
Darcy nodded. The protein bar tasted pretty gross, but she was grateful for it.
“The ranger station is two miles or so away, and from there we’ll be able to radio for help. If conditions stay like this, we’ll be home in time for lunch.”
Darcy paused. Home. Back at the resort, then to her tiny apartment. Her tiny, empty apartment. She looked at Devlin, knowing that after today she would never see him again.
“Great,” she said, but she didn’t really mean it. For a while she sat in silence, watching the last of the flames.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Devlin asked.
“Oh, um, nothing really,” she replied, floundering. “I was just happy, you know, that the storm is over.”
“Me too. Once we’ve eaten, we’ll pack some supplies and head out. You good with that?”
“Sounds great,” she said. “I can’t wait to get out of here.”
She wondered whether Devlin would notice the lie.