CHAPTER 25
“ A va!” Justin screamed, but the only thing he heard back was static.
Still in shock, he desperately started digging through the snowy branch that had completely buried her. “Hold on. I’m getting you out of here! Can you hear me? Ava?!”
Nothing.
“Just hold on!” he hollered, as he tore branches off her like a madman. When he could finally see her, he knelt beside her. “Ava?! Are you okay?”
She didn’t move.
Her legs were still pinned underneath a branch. He hesitated a moment, torn about what to do. He knew it was dangerous to move her, but he figured it would be even more dangerous to stay where they were with more branches snapping off all around them.
He cringed as he carefully took her hands, praying he was doing the right thing. “You’re okay. Just hold on. I’m just going to slide you out from under the tree. If you can hear me, just stay real still, okay? I got you…”
Still nothing.
He slowly, carefully, pulled Ava out from underneath the tree. When she was finally free, she still didn’t move. She was unconscious.
Justin carefully lifted the visor on her helmet. “Ava? Can you hear me?”
She didn’t respond, but he was relieved to see she was still breathing. He had no idea how hurt she was, but the one thing he did know was he had to get her to the restaurant as fast as he could and get her some help.
“I’m going to pick you up now,” he said. “You’re going to be okay. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you…”
He carefully picked her up and cradled her in his arms. He could barely see the path anymore. The only thing he could do was to keep moving forward and hope the restaurant wasn’t too far away.
As he started walking, a gust of wind snapped another branch above them that fell, barely missing them.
“Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s get out of here.”
? ? ?
Justin had never been so happy to see anything in his life as when he finally spotted the dim outline of the log cabin that was the Skylight Restaurant.
“We made it,” he said to Ava, who was still unconscious.
Even though he was emotionally and physically exhausted, adrenaline kept him moving forward toward the restaurant.
It was only a few hundred feet away, but each step was excruciating, with every muscle in his body burning.
He was also being extra careful knowing it would be a disaster if he slipped on the icy snow and took them both down.
When he finally got to the restaurant, he could see through the window that there were customers enjoying dinner, so he headed for the back door. He knew Ava wouldn’t want anyone seeing her, especially like this.
The snow was coming down fast and furious. Since his arms were full carrying Ava, when he got to the door, he had to kick it several times as his knock.
An annoyed man flung the door open. “What is going on?!” he demanded, but as soon as he saw Ava, he froze. “What happened?!”
“Please, can you help us?” Justin asked. He swore to himself when he realized his helmet was still on, and his face shield was down, so the man couldn’t hear him.
But it didn’t matter. The man immediately opened the door wide and rushed him inside. “Get her in here, fast! What happened to the princess?! Here, let me take her…”
When the man reached for her, Justin finally was able to flip up the shield on his helmet so he could talk. “No, I’ve got her. I’m not letting her go,” he said in a raspy, hoarse voice.
The man looked as concerned as Justin felt. “I only want to help. You look like you’re about to collapse. I’m Samuel. I’m the owner and chef here. Lydia called and told me you were coming to pick up the dog. We’ve been expecting you.”
Justin studied Samuel. He guessed him to be in his sixties. He was handsome, about six-feet tall, physically fit, with salt and pepper hair that was more silver than gray.
“I’ve known the princess her whole life,” Samuel continued. “Can I please take off her helmet and check on her?”
“Yes,” Justin said. He knew he needed help, and he had to trust someone. “But please be careful. She’s still breathing, but she’s been unconscious—”
Samuel gently started taking Ava’s helmet off.
Justin held her close. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. We made it.”
When Ava started to stir in his arms, his heart raced with hope. “Ava? Ava, can you hear me?!”
Ava blinked several times like she was trying to focus.
“Ava?! Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” she said hoarsely. “Why are you yelling?”
Justin burst out laughing as a wave of relief washed over him.
Ava looked around, confused when she saw Samuel. “Samuel, is that you?”
“Yes, Princess, it’s me,” Samuel said as he took her hand. “You gave us quite a scare. How do you feel? Does anything hurt?”
Ava touched her head and winced. “I feel like I was run over by a truck.”
“Actually, it was a giant tree branch that took you out,” Justin said.
Ava nodded. “That’s right. It almost hit you—”
“But you shoved me out of the way, and it hit you instead.”
“What?!” Samuel exclaimed, giving Justin a furious look. “You let her do that?”
“Do you know her? I didn’t let her do anything. She just…did it.”
Both men looked at Ava.
“Can you please put me down?” Ava asked.
“Yes, of course,” Justin said and carefully sat her down on a chair.
Ava squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s all starting to come back to me. The deer. The snowmobile. The cliff and the branch that was going to hit you…” She cringed.
“But you’re fine now,” Justin said. “You’re safe.”
Ava frowned. “How did we get here?”
“Justin carried you here,” Samuel answered.
Ava’s eyes flew to Justin’s. “How? We could barely walk on our own. There’s no way you could have carried me that far with that snowstorm—”
“Well, somehow he did,” Samuel said. “Even though he showed up looking almost worse than you.”
“Are you okay?” Ava asked, concerned.
Justin smiled at her. “I’m fine now that I know you’re okay.”
Ava shook her head like she was still trying to process it all. “I don’t know how you were able to get me here.”
“I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, like we talked about.”
“Thank you,” Ava said, looking deeply into his eyes. “Thank you for not giving up.”
“Never,” Justin said—and he meant it. He knew when it came to Ava, he’d do anything he could to help her.
The last thing he’d planned to do was fall for a princess, but he knew by the way he felt when he saw her helpless, buried under the tree branch, that he’d not only fallen for her, he had fallen hard. Now he just needed to make sure she never found out, so he didn’t make a fool of himself.
She was a princess and marrying a duke, end of story.
Ava started unzipping her snowmobile suit. “I need to take this off. I feel like I’m suffocating.”
“Okay,” Justin said. “Can I help?”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Yes, you both can leave and give me a little privacy.”
“Of course,” Justin said, feeling foolish.
He and Samuel left the room.
Once they were outside the office and had shut the door, Justin leaned against the wall, shut his eyes, and let out a huge sigh of relief.
“You really care about her, don’t you?” Samuel asked.
Justin eyes flew open. “What? No! Not like that.”
Samuel gave him a knowing look.
Justin rushed on. “Do you know how impossible she is? She’s opinionated and stubborn and has so many royal rules it’s crazy.”
“She’s also smart, passionate, dedicated, and loyal,” Samuel added.
Justin raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “I know…”
Silence.
“She’s like no one I’ve ever met before, and not because she’s a princess,” Justin continued. “From the moment I met her she has infuriated me…and fascinated me. The last thing I wanted to do was fall for her.”
“But you have,” Samuel said.
Justin sighed and nodded. “But it doesn’t matter how I feel because she’s a princess, and I’m no prince. And she’s marrying a duke.”
“She hasn’t married him yet,” Samuel reminded him. “I think our princess is worth fighting for, don’t you?”
Justin just shook his head, because at this point he wasn’t sure what he thought anymore.