Chapter 3 #2
“It holds my weight, so you’ll be nothing. It won’t be comfortable, but it’ll do the job.” Quick and efficient, he had the knots tied by the time he finished speaking and stepped toward her with the loop.
The woman took half a step back. “We’re gonna climb up there in the dark?”
“Look, lady, I’m not gonna freeze my ass off out here. The way out is up.” It wasn’t full dark yet, but it would be soon, and he felt too damned exposed.
She hesitated but evidently decided he was a better alternative to hypothermia. She gave a slow nod. Her hands—scraped from the airbag deployment probably—were white-knuckled around the strap of her bag as he stepped toward her again.
Good job, Wilkes. Terrify the accident victim.
Sucking in a breath, he made an effort to pull himself back from the edge of memories he’d been skating.
Not Afghanistan. Not a trap. She was just a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she was scared.
Her very real fear helped dissolve some of his.
He could be a slightly less grumpy bastard.
“So, you saw a bear?” Maybe getting her to talk would help distract her from what he was doing.
“Yeah. I came around the curve and it was right there, in the middle of the road. I fishtailed when I swerved and spun right out through the guardrail. I don’t know what the heck it was doing there.
I thought they were supposed to hibernate in the winter.
” Her teeth chattered, likely with shock as much as cold.
He needed to get her to shelter and out of the elements.
Harrison held up the loop again. “I’ve got to get up in your personal space to do this, okay?
” When she nodded again, he reached around to loop the cord behind her waist. “I don’t think that’s necessarily the case with bears this far south.
It was in the fifties just two weeks ago.
Either way, you were damned lucky the trees were thick. ”
“Yeah.”
Her accent was Southern, but not the twang of East Tennessee. He couldn’t quite place it. “I’m guessing you aren’t from around here.” Reaching between her legs, he pulled the cord up to meet the loops he held in his other hand.
“There’s not a lot of snow where I’m from.”
Harrison forgot what he’d asked because he suddenly became very aware that the body in front of him was female. She was so tiny and delicate, and she smelled, impossibly, of honeysuckle. The scent of it cut through whatever dark memories lingered, grounding him with an unexpected flash of heat.
When was the last time he’d been this close to a woman?
Struggling to bring himself back to the task at hand he tried to remember what he’d said. “There’s not normally this much snow here, either. Not like this.”
“I certainly didn’t expect a blizzard in Tennessee.”
“The weather people were calling it Stormageddon.”
“Great.” The absolute lack of enthusiasm almost made him smile.
He locked down the carabiner and adjusted the fit of the makeshift harness. It was too dark to see her well, but he had the feeling she was blushing as he tugged and arranged the lines around her excellent ass. He should not be noticing her ass.
Clearing his throat, he straightened. “Okay, here’s how this is going to work.”
By the time he’d explained it and had her repeat the procedure back to him to his satisfaction, it really was full dark. He didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much of an alternative.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She was freezing and probably still scared to death, but she didn’t balk again. “Belay on.”
Harrison’s estimation of her went up a few notches. He braced his feet. “On belay. Take your time and be careful of your footing. If you slip, I’ll catch you.” That much he was capable of.
She began to climb. It wasn’t a terrible incline.
In the daylight, on a normal day, most novices in reasonable shape could probably take it without a rope.
But in the dark, in the snow, with an accident victim suffering from exposure, shock, and unknown injuries…
The harness would hold. He had faith in that.
But a slip and fall would bang her up even more than the wreck already had, and under the circumstances, he couldn’t get her up to the top fast or easily by himself.
With every inch higher, he adjusted his grip, cranking down on the lines, ready for the sudden jerk of her full weight.
But it didn’t come.
She was careful, testing each foot placement before pushing up and giving it her weight.
There were a handful of saplings growing along the steep grade, and she made excellent use of them as she hauled herself up the slope, muttering the whole way.
The wind and snow muffled her words, but he heard something that sounded like “Suck it up, Buttercup. Annika would say this is a cake walk. She’d be doing it without ropes, just like Tom Cruise. ”
As she got higher, he lost the thread of her one-sided conversation. The last ten feet was the steepest part of the climb. If there'd been any small trees there to start, her SUV had wiped them out. She paused where she was, angling her head back, then pressing it against one forearm.
“Doing all right?”
“Fine. Just making deals with myself that I’ll get to the gym more often in the future.” She twisted to look down at him as she spoke and he saw the moment she recognized her mistake.
The line jolted as she hastily flattened herself against the rock face.
“You okay?”
After a moment’s hesitation she called back, “It’s a really long way down.”
“Are you dizzy?”
“Little bit.”
That could be vertigo or she might’ve hit her head in the crash.
Either way, he needed to speed this process up.
If she lost consciousness, they’d be up shit creek.
Bad as the weather was getting, there’d be no going back to town tonight.
Whatever first aid she required would be on him.
The weight of that responsibility had his already tense muscles coiling tighter.
He didn’t want anybody relying on him for anything, least of all this woman.
“Just breathe for a minute.” Harrison wasn’t entirely sure which of them he was talking to.
He was running alternate scenarios in his head when she started climbing again, quicker this time, as if she needed to get to the top before she completely lost her nerve.
Speed usually translated to carelessness.
In his world, that meant people ended up hurt or dead.
He didn’t need another body on his conscience.
Don’t slip. Don’t slip. Don’t slip.
He stayed silent, lest he distract her from what she was doing. When she bellied over the top edge of the road and disappeared from view, he almost cheered. The relief that she’d made it, that there were no further injuries, almost buckled his knees.
“Good job. Now unhook yourself from the line and toss your end of the rope down. We’ll haul up your bags.”
The rope trembled as she detached herself. “Hey, you have a winch on the front of your Jeep.”
“I don’t want to take the time to walk you through how to use it in this weather. Just toss the rope down.”
One minute passed. Then two. No rope.
“Problem?”
No answer. Shit. Had she passed out?
He was just about to haul himself to the top, her luggage be damned, when he heard the faint whine of an electric motor. Damn woman didn’t listen. She’d probably break something or burn out the motor…
Her head appeared over the side, dark hair whipping in the wind. “The winch will be faster.”
The winch cable almost smacked him in the face when she tossed it over.
Well, I’ll be damned.
Maybe she wasn’t so much a damsel in distress as he’d first thought.
She was capable and, despite her injuries, perfectly able to get her feet under her and turn around to help him.
Somehow that was a relief, too. She might’ve been able to rescue herself once she’d gotten up the nerve.
Which meant she didn’t really need him at all. She’d just needed a helping hand.
It was a good reminder from the universe that it wasn’t actually his job to save everyone anymore.
Thank God.