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“Yeah, but cross-country skis don’t go uphill. You said you wanted me to learn how to access trails and stuff. Shouldn’t I be snowshoeing?”
She’s got a point. Skiing will only get you so far.
“You’re right,” Luke admitted. “Okay. We’ll add snowshoes to our pack.”
“Pack?”
Luke picked up the large rucksack that he’d stuffed full of emergency and survival gear. The pack was probably half the size of Sarah and when he held it up to her, her eyes widened and her mouth opened for a moment in surprise.
Then she shrugged. “Sure. That’s reasonable. Just out of curiosity, though, what’s in it?”
“Don’t you know?”
She glared at him. “Really?”
“You should know.”
“I don’t. I’ve never lived near a mountain. I’m from Manhattan.”
Luke shook his head. “Hey, I was trying not to stereotype you.”
“I ought to slug you.”
He laughed at that. He couldn’t help himself; it was easy to tease her. He was enjoying the banter. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
She crossed her arms. “Fine or I could start talking about mountain men.”
“What do you know about mountain men?” he asked.
Sarah shook her head. “Tell me what’s in the bag.”
Luke knelt down and unzipped it. “This is a standard pack to help you survive in a winter climate on the mountain.”
“So I’ll only need to carry around this stuff in the winter?”
“No,” Luke said. “Some things can be left behind, but if you’re working up near the Alpine zone or higher, you’d be surprised how cold it can get even in the heat of summer.”
“Okay, so always be prepared for snow?”
He nodded. “Yep. So in this pack you have your essentials like first-aid kit. The only thing I haven’t packed in here is a change of clothes for you so I just packed some of my old clothes. If worse comes to worst you can always wear those.”
Her cheeks reddened slightly, as if she was blushing, but Luke could’ve been wrong. It could’ve been the wind.
She cleared her throat. “Go on.”
“Canteen for water.”
“What about melting snow?”
Luke cocked an eyebrow. “You’re going to need something to carry it in. I also have a pot, ice pick, rope, matches, GPS, topographical map of the area, one day’s worth of rations, sleeping bag and an axe.”
“It’s like you’re camping.”
“If you get lost out there, yeah, you’ll be ‘camping’ until help arrives.” Then he held out something he was sure she’d never seen before. “This is one of the most important things.”
“A compass?”
“Close. It’s an altimeter.”
“A what?” she asked.
“It’s a barometric altimeter. It measures changes in atmosphere. The higher you go, the lower the pressure is. If your GPS or compass isn’t working, this can be used along with the map to determine where you are. I’ll show you how to use it.”
“Good, because seriously my eyes were glazing over there for a second.” She laughed nervously and he handed her the altimeter to look at. “Though, really, won’t you know if you’re at the top of the mountain? How can you get lost if you’re up there?”
“You can get lost all right and if you’re not used to high altitude you can get acute mountain sickness. Dr. Petersen in town suffered from it last year. Just ask her.”
“Dr. Petersen? There’s a female doctor in town? I thought the other doctor was your brother.”
“Dr. Petersen is a cardio surgeon. She’s opened a clinic in partnership with my brother. She sees a lot of heart patients from around this area.”
“Huh, I wonder what would make a cardio-thoracic surgeon settle down in a place like this,” Sarah wondered out loud. “I mean, the nearest hospital is quite a bit away.”
“Why did you?” Luke asked.
The question caught her off guard, because she blushed again and quickly started examining the altimeter.
Did it really matter?
It shouldn’t matter to him, but he couldn’t help but wonder why. There weren’t many single people in Crater Lake. It was small. When they’d first got together, Christine had wanted to stay in Crater Lake, and when he got his posting to Germany she wouldn’t go with him. She didn’t want to live on a base. She didn’t want to be an army wife. So she’d decided to stay and start a family with Anthony.
A family he wanted so desperately.
A family he was never going to have.
Don’t think about it.
“Come on, I’ll pack the snowshoes, as well. We have some distance to travel and some more stuff I have to show you before it gets too dark, and it gets dark here early.” He took the altimeter back from her and packed it in the knapsack.
He didn’t have time to focus on the past. To focus on his past hurts or the things he would never have.
He was here to do a job and that was to show Dr. Sarah Ledet how to survive on the mountain. That was all. Once he’d done that, he never had to see her again and he was going to make sure that happened.
Sarah thought her lungs were going to burst. She was sweaty and exhausted. Parts of her that she hadn’t even known existed ached and each breath was harder to take.
At least I’m not cold.
She just shook her head and leaned up against a tree as Luke set their skis against a fence line that ran on one side of the trail. He glanced over at her.
“You okay? You look tired.”
Of course I’m tired, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. All her life she’d been labelled and she’d had enough of it.
“I’m fine. Just catching my breath.”
He frowned. “If you get a headache or feel ill, let me know right away. That’s a sign of mountain sickness.”
“Will do.” She didn’t feel sick and didn’t have a headache. All she was was sweaty and tired. “You said Dr. Petersen had this? How did she get over it?”
“You get off the mountain.”
“I live on the mountain.”
Luke chuckled. “You don’t live that far up the mountain, though.”
“I thought it was pretty high up, considering I used to live pretty close to sea level.”
“Never thought about it that way.” Luke pulled out the snowshoes that had been strapped to the back of the enormous pack Sarah had had on her back, which was now resting under a fir tree on a bed of needles so as not to get wet.
Maybe she was picking up mountain survival a bit.
“You ready for snowshoeing?”
Sarah groaned. “How about we head for home? I’m sure it will be faster downhill on our skis.”
Luke chuckled. “We’ll head down soon enough. I want to see you practice on these. Just up the trail the snow gets pretty deep. Too deep for skis.”
“No one lives up that trail.”
“Right, not now, but when this trail is groomed regularly and a lone cross-country skier or snowshoer gets injured or lost up there, you’re going to have to know how to get to them.”
Sarah sighed, but then took the snowshoes and strapped them on. They were quite easy and didn’t look like she’d expected them to. They were made of aluminum and nylon.
“Take a step and tell me what you think,” he said as he moved back and then clamped his on.
Sarah began to walk up the trail and it took her a few times to really find her stride, but it wasn’t all that bad.
“I think this is easier than the skiing, to be honest.” She bounced in her step. “I could get used to these.”
“Just be careful,” Luke called out over his shoulder.
“Of wha …?” She spoke too soon as she lost her footing and toppled face-first into a large snowdrift. Snow shot up her nose and into her mouth, burning.
I hate winter. I hate winter.
“Are you okay?” Luke was beside her and she could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Fine,” she said as she wiped her face. “I really wasn’t expecting to do a face-plant with snowshoes on. Skis for sure, but snowshoes. I know I’m klutzy.”
“Well, at least this time I didn’t have to catch you.” He rubbed some of the snow from her face and a rush of butterflies invaded her stomach as she looked up into his eyes. He was smiling at her, but it was tender, as if he really cared that she’d done a horrible face-plant in the snow.
Of course the butterflies could be from that mountain sickness, but somehow she didn’t think so.
“Thanks,” she said, looking away and glad the snow had made her cheeks red, because if it hadn’t he would surely see her blush.
“You should’ve been wearing your goggles to protect your eyes. Goggles don’t belong on your forehead.”
“I forgot to put them back on after my break. I was wearing them when we were skiing.”
Luke helped her to her feet, his strong arms around her waist as he righted her. She liked the feeling of his arms around her, steadying her. It was comforting.
You don’t date. You can’t date.
Her mother would set her up on the occasional date, but those were all with men who would take care of her. Who just wanted her to be this pretty, well-dressed society wife. None of them were really interested in her and she’d been burned too many times.
And she never had time to find men on her own, because she was working so darn hard to show her parents that she could have it all, that she didn’t need a man to take care of her. That she was old enough to take care of herself.
Men were off-limits.
Of course, her father admitting that he’d had a hand in almost every aspect of her career made her think that all that hard work, all those hours she’d put in weren’t worth it. Maybe she should’ve been out there partying, being seen in all the right places with all the right people, just like her older sister.
Really?
She shook her head. That was all in the past, though. She was in Crater Lake now. In a job of her own choosing and she planned to make the most of it. Even if it meant traipsing around in the snow with the sexiest mountain man she’d ever laid eyes on.
A man that also drove her a bit crazy.
“You ready to try again?” Luke asked.
“Sure. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can head back to my apartment in the resort and curl up in front of a fire.”
“Glad to see you’re on board.” Luke went over and picked up the knapsack. “You’re going to need this.”
Sarah moaned as it was placed over her shoulders again. “Thanks. I almost forgot.”
“It’s your lifeline up here. You can’t forget. We’ll do a half-mile hike up this trail through the snow, we’ll triage a fake patient I have up there and then head back down to the resort. That’s after we build a makeshift stretcher.”
“You have a patient up there?” Sarah asked. “Who in their right mind would wait out in the cold for hours for you?”
Luke winked. “It’s a dummy.”
“Clearly.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s a simulation. A mannequin. It’s not a real person, but it’s simulating a very real situation.”
Sarah sighed. “Okay. Lead on.”
Luke nodded and pulled on his own pack. She watched him for a few moments as he broke a path ahead of her. Even though he was wearing thick snow pants you could still make out the outline of his strong, muscular thighs and his tight butt.
