Stranded but not Alone (Midnight Moanings Collection) Read Free Page A

through her heart in a manic throb. “I could’ve been in that van.” Her voice quivered. Glancing up at her company, she said, “We need to get down there to help anybody who might’ve survived.”
    He turned glacier blue eyes on her, held her in his stare before he shook his head.
    “The snow’s melting—the mountain is too slippery. You won’t make it down without some sort of harness,” he said, peering around indicating the woods behind them. “It’s too far out of the way to go over the other side, it’ll take all day to climb down the mountain and make it back around to the van.”
    “So how do we get down there?” Her voice warbled as she thought of those people dying down there once she pulled herself from the blue trance.
    “I doubt you’re trained to scale a mountain, miss. It’ll be a challenge even with the skill level I have,” he said. Simone caught the quizzical stare as he took in her bright green ski jacket while shaking his head. The square set of his shoulders, proud rise to his chest, and the raw strength in his hands closed round her ankle—military. The look her father gave when one of her non-camping friends tagged along as kids. She knew what he thought, another woman with no outdoor experience in the woods. Well that’s where he was wrong. Heck, she was born outside—in a car—but still it was outside.
    “If you know you can make it, then get down there,” she barked. She grabbed his sleeve on reflex when his body angled further out over the edge, him shaking his head, absently. “I’m not jumping. It’s too dangerous to try and get down there.”
    “So we sit here and wait for summer to reach the mountains? We have to do something. Those are people down there.”
    The tall man sat back on his heels. Long thighs brushed Simone’s as he took a stick to the mud caking her boots now folded under her hips. “Hold still. You wouldn’t make it past that first sapling with mud in your boot tracks.” He flicked mud over the edge.
    “I’ll make it,” she insisted. And fought the urge to lean closer to inhale his incredible scent. Embarrassed to find him studying her as she fixated on the strong line of his throat, she chewed on her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.
    “I doubt that,” he said, his attention focused on her mouth.
    “I’m not helpless,” she snapped. His gentle grip on her ankle held her immobile with silent strength running through his hands.
    “No, you’re helpful, but that can get you killed out here.” He pulled her foot from under her. Simone braced a hand on the ground for balance
    “That’s your opinion,” she muttered, becoming angry at his presumption of her inexperience in the forest.
    “You could’ve fallen out of the tree earlier—broke a bone,” he accused.
    “I’ve climbed trees since I was three. Don’t concern yourself with my safety. Focus on getting down the mountain.” Her breathing picked up as she was arguing with this man. All she needed was to start sweating in the cold air. She’d catch a cold for certain.
    “We’ll need to walk through the woods to get out of here,” he said. “And there’s likely to be animals out here somewhere.”
    She took a deep breath, listening to all his reasons why they couldn’t help those people. Blowing it out she knew most of what he said was right. It did nothing to make her feel better—nothing at all.
    “Unless you know of some sort of shelter down there that’s inviting death. Even if we get to them in one piece, what then? What do we take care of their wounds with?”
    “I don’t know, Seth, but we can’t just stand here doing nothing.”
    Something she said must have gotten through that thick skull. His shoulders relaxed as he nodded his head.
    “Simone, we’ll never make it down safely. What we need to do is stay alive. Come on, it turns cold up here early.” He pulled off his ski gloves, unzipped his white ski parka, and took out his iPhone. “If you have a