Page 9 of Marked by the Mountain Man

“I’ll give you that.” She frowns.

“What else, Hadleigh?”

The trembling blonde shakes her head. “Trying to figure out why you’re here, rescuing me instead of my brother.” She quirks her mouth, and my heart skips a beat as we continue ascending the narrow trail, cold rain pelting our skin.

“Would you rather have Drew here?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, God, no. He would have never survived the river.”

I grumble, “He would have never gone in the river in the first place.”

“Which begs the question. Why did you? We’re total strangers.”

I shrug, incapable of explaining the impulse even to myself. But it started with me staring gobsmacked at her through the parlor window. “Seemed like the right thing to do.”

“That decision could still get you killed, you know,” she observes, voice shaking.

“No way in hell. We’re good, Hadleigh. Already been through the worst. The rest of this is easy-peasy.”

She looks up, scowling at how far we still have to climb.

“Hey, one foot in front of the other. That’s all I’m asking of you,” I encourage in gentle tones. “The river was the hard part. This is just tedious.”

Her hand holds mine so tightly that the blood drains from it. I keep my footing steady, half pulling her up the mountain behind me.

“I’m sorry I’m so heavy,” she apologizes as her foot slips again, and I press her tightly against me.

“You’re light,” I counter. “I could carry you piggyback, but I don’t think you’d like to hang any closer to the edge than you already are.”

“No,” she says, her eyes dropping down before I can say anything. “Oh, God.” Her voice trembles.

“Remember our rule, Hot Stuff? Don’t look down.”

“Hot stuff?” she laughs, panic edging her voice.

“Not a fan of that nickname?” I ask, arching an eyebrow.

She shrugs. “No one’s ever called me that before. I don’t really think of myself as hot.”

I arch an eyebrow, stunned at her words. “Well, you are. Hot as fuck. Of course, that’s just my first impression. I’d like to get to know you better.”

She blinks slowly a few times. “You want to get to know me?”

“I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

The curvy blonde giggles. “So, what? This is like a first date or something?”

“Why not?” I ask, keeping an eye on the rising rapids below. We need to move faster, but I don’t want to scare her. Or even worse, paralyze her with fright again. “It’s not like we have anything else to do today.”

“You have a point. I guess.” She grins, inhaling sharply as her toes grip another steep portion of the trail, finding what looks like impossible footing.

“Call thisThe BachelormeetsSurvivor,” I tease, stopping to assess the three yards in front of us—sheer cliff face with no trail.

“Where’s my rose?” she asks, eyes bugging out.

“On the other side of that,” I say with a confident smile.

She shakes her head. “No way.”

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