§ chapter Fifteen §
Jacie dropped below the outcropping of rock she had landed on earlier, the night dark and quiet all around her.
Her eyes strained the shadowy blackness, her hands feeling along the rock face as she dropped further into empty air.
"Brad!" she called. Surely she must be near the ledge where she had landed.
"Jacie?" Tremendous relief flooded her as she heard Brad's voice below her. She had feared he was unconscious.
"Jacie, are you all right? Where are you?" His voice sounded weak.
"I'm fine." A little further and she touched a jutting ledge with the toe of her boot. "Hang on, Sloan’s up on top."
Digging her fingers into crevices, ignoring the stinging pain from earlier scratches, she pulled herself on her stomach onto the ledge.
Remembering the flashlight in her back pocket, she gripped it and flicked the switch. Nothing. With a muttered curse, she hit it against the heel of her hand. The light came on and she quickly swept the area. Brad lay in an awkward position, blood pooling beneath one leg, an arm twisted at an odd angle. Willing herself to remain calm, she touched his shoulder.
"Jacie? Are you all right?" he asked weakly.
"Of course. Sloan called for rescue, they should be here soon."
She was surprised he didn’t mention his arm. Perhaps he was in shock. "I have something to cover you."
She pulled out the blanket wedged between the ropes and her stomach and laid it over him.
"Jacie, I’m sorry for all that’s happened."
She couldn’t quite make out his face in the fog. "This isn’t your fault," she said. "You did your best to keep Bonnie from hurting me up there."
"You should have left me down here the way I left you," he said bitterly. "But nothing scares you, does it Jacie?"
"It’s over with."
"I know, it’s all over, and I’m sorry for all that went wrong."
The rope around her waist jerked. Looking up, she could now see several bright lights above them, but the outcropping of ledge over them prevented anyone on top from seeing her.
Rescue members outfitted with ropes and equipment soon dropped to the ledge where they waited and immediately began to work on Brad. With relief, Jacie felt her rope begin to tauten and she was pulled upwards.
As she neared the top, she was so tired that she lost her foothold against the rock face and began to whirl in the air. She closed her eyes, suddenly overcome with dizziness.
Finally, the rope moved again and hands reached down. Someone grabbed her belt loops and pulled her the rest of the way over the edge. She landed against Sloan, her face buried in his neck. She lay still, thankful to have made it.
"Don't ever do that to me again," he said harshly.
She lay on top of him in a tangle of ropes. "Doesn't this remind you of our first meeting?" she asked with a small hiccup of a laugh.
"I'd rather do that ten times over than ever let you go down there again," he said fervently.
The rescue team hoisted Brad to the top. As they carried the stretcher past them, Brad reached out and gripped Sloan’s sleeve.
"I wish we’d met under better circumstances," he said. "Good luck." Sloan dipped his head in acknowledgement and then they placed Brad in a brightly lit ambulance. The vehicle drove off with an eerie wail, red lights a short-lived beacon in the dense fog.
Someone with rescue squad insignia on their arm carefully pushed the hair back from her face. Gently, fingers probed her temple and forehead.
"Are you all right, Miss?" the woman asked. "You should be checked out at the hospital."
Jacie shook her head, her fingers twisting in Sloan's shirt. "No thanks, I feel fine. Just fine," she whispered softly. "Just tired."
He supported her sagging body. "Get a stretcher over here," he barked. He insisted she lay down on the stretcher and he covered her with a blanket.
Almost immediately, her shivering subsided.
"I'm having you taken to the hospital to be checked out." His voice brooked no argument.
"Where’s Jacie?" A new voice was added to the chaos around them. "Is my sister okay?"
She jerked upright and then fell back against Sloan where he knelt beside the stretcher. Her legs were still curiously numb from the tightness of the rope. Pins and needles tingled as the blood began to circulate.
"Con?" she squeaked.
"Jacie, I just heard what happened. Are you okay?" her brother asked. "I'm not here ten minutes and I find out the sirens and police involve you," her brother said, pushing a hand agitatedly through his short-cropped hair.
"I’m okay, why are you here?" she asked.
"I just got back in the States. Sloan had the sense to call me."
Sloan twisted around to face her brother and extended his hand. "Glad you got here so quick," he said quietly.
As they shook hands Jacie saw her brother take note of Sloan's arm around her. Eyes narrowing, he said to Sloan, "I guess you didn't tell me everything that was going on here."
Sloan looked him straight in the eye. "Some things you don't go into over the phone."
"I owe you," Con said.
"Well, I’m glad to see you two are bonding," she said tiredly. Closing her eyes, she lay flat.
"Sloan, we’ve found a body," a voice said behind them.
Jacie bit back a cry, shocked by what the officer had said. It was Deputy Bryant.
"At the edge of the woods," he continued. "It’s a woman. I’ve notified the coroner. Looks like she might have been caught in the stampede."
"Bonnie?" she whispered, her stomach churning.
The deputy tipped his hat to her. "Ms. Turner, I’m going to need a statement." He turned his attention back to Sloan. "We also found a pistol, looks like a .22 caliber." He hesitated a moment. "I need someone to identify the body."
"Can we take care of that tomorrow?" Sloan asked. "Jacie needs to go to the hospital."
"No," she said.
"Yes," said Officer Bryant.
She turned to Sloan and gave him a tremulous smile. "I’m really okay. I just want to go back to your place."
He put an arm under her legs and behind her back, lifting her as if she weighed nothing. She felt the exhausted tremble in her limbs, but protested at him carrying her.
He held her close. "I’m not letting you go. Let's get you home." He turned to her brother. "I'm taking Jacie to my place. I'll call the doctor from there. He makes house calls. You're welcome to come along."
Reading the possessive look on his face, she ceased her protest. The man had had a difficult day, let him do what he wanted.
Ω
About mid-morning the following day, Sloan nudged the door open, careful not to make any noise. Looking toward the bed, he studied the woman who lay there. Jacie’s hair swept across the pillows and the bedcovers were twisted about her.
Untamed and brave, Jacie was special. That's what he loved about her. That's why he’d be a fool to let her go.
Her slim white back was exposed to his view. Sloan's lips tightened grimly as he surveyed the angry purplish bruises on her shoulders and spine, the scratch running the full length of her back. And her hands...he swallowed, closing his eyes, thanking God for keeping her safe.
It had been an awful risk letting her go back down that ledge. He felt as if he’d aged ten years while she was down there.
He placed the tray on the bedside table as she began to stir. She stretched and then groaned.
"Don't move," he said. He knew he sounded incredibly bad-tempered. Jacie, of course, rolled over anyway and groaned again. She looked down and made an attempt to pull the bedcovers up over her breasts.
"Too late," he said grimly. "I've seen it all. You're a mess."
She lifted the covers and looked down at herself, then dropped the covers again. "God."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"What are you looking so furious about?" she asked in confusion.
"You. I should never have let you go back down."
Her mouth relaxed and a warm concern entered her eyes. She lifted a scratched and bruised hand and ran her fingertip along his cheek.
"You've had one heck of a worry, haven't you?"
"You're covered in head-to-toe bruises. I've never seen such a body."
"Thanks, glad you noticed." She grinned at him and stretched languidly, apparently not adverse to showing him more of it.
He tried to look annoyed, but his lips twitched.
"You're not getting out of it that easy." He indicated the tray. "I brought you water for tea. But first you should get into the tub, take away the sting of those bruises."
"The tea will get cold."
"It'll keep. Come on."
She sat up and pulled the covers with her. "Awful bossy, aren't we?" she queried mockingly. "However, I will let you have your way for the moment."
He picked up a large blue robe and turned to her. "By the way, the rest of your brothers showed up early this morning."
"All of my brothers are here?" she squeaked. "Did they give you a hard time?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle," he assured her.
She arched a brow at him, opening her eyes wide. "You handled my brothers?"
"That’s right. I understand your parents are already on their way here, too. Come on, I've got the bath ready." Without looking at her, he held out the robe and she slipped into it and followed him into the bathroom. The small room was steamy, the floor-to-ceiling mirror fogged. He turned to leave, doing his level best not to look at her. She needed time to heal.
"Sloan, wait." She was looking at the over large bathtub, a doubtful expression on her face. "My legs are terribly sore." She pulled the robe aside and exposed a bruise high on her thigh. "I don't know if I can get in by myself."
He muffled a curse. "I'll help you," he said grimly. Again, he reminded himself she was bruised and he should put his lustful thoughts aside.
He almost lost his control when she dropped the robe off her shoulders, down to her waist, and finally to her feet. He groaned, and tried to cover the sound by clearing his throat.
She lifted her hair from her shoulders with both hands and threaded her fingers through it as she stood naked in front of him. She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Can you help me?"
He grunted in response, it was all he could manage.
She leaned heavily against him as he helped her into the bath. The water was warm. With a moan, she leaned back and closed her eyes.
"Okay now?" he asked as he backed away. He didn't know how much more he could stand of this.
"No, my hair...it's going to get all wet and it'll take forever to dry." He frowned at her. He had never heard her whine before. Her eyes were closed as she plucked fretfully at her hair. "Could you help me? My fingers are sore."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Tie my hair back. Do you have a rubber band?" She lifted several strands where they had fallen on her breast. His mouth went dry. She peeked up at him. "Please?"
With an almost inaudible groan, he sat on the edge of the tub. "Turn around."
She twisted slightly so he had better access to her hair. He looked at the curve of her neck, its slender arch. The lightly tanned skin of her back begged for his lips, as did the delicate shaping of a rounded shoulder as it curved down to her breasts.
He looked at the wall, ignoring the tightening of his body. She shivered and he couldn’t help but notice the goose bumps spread down her arms.
"I have goose bumps," she said, a laugh in her voice.
His hands went still in her hair as his eyes ran over her body, seeing every single goose bump.
"Are you through?" she asked breathlessly.
"I don't have any rubber bands."
She ran her fingers over her collarbone and between her breasts. He stood. He’d had enough.
"This bath feels so good," she said softly. She swept her hand through the water and splattered him from his neck to the floor. "...doesn't it?" she added.
He saw the mischievous smile on her face and knew she had been playing him all along. If he hadn't been so preoccupied with not looking at her...
"Here I am trying to be a nice guy." Slowly unsnapping his wet shirt, he tossed it into the corner. Standing on one foot, he removed first one boot, then the other. "I'm not usually so slow, Jacie."
Her gaze openly admired him. "Took you long enough," she jeered softly.
He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and jerked. The jeans landed in a crumpled heap. His boxer shorts followed.
"My word," she said, fluttering her lashes.
"Lady, you better hope this thing is big enough for both of us," he warned as he slid into her arms. The water sloshed dangerously close to the tub rim.
"I think we’ve already established that," she said coyly.
Ω
Sloan handed Jacie a cup of steaming tea and sat on the couch beside her. She took a sip, then leaned her head back against his chest. His heart beat steady and strong, like him, she reflected.
"I was trying to be considerate," he murmured. "I put you in the guest room when I saw the shape you were in." He’d helped her undress the night before and it was all he could do to keep his mouth shut at the bruising she had taken. He lifted one of her hands. "And your hands, they're a mess."
"I'm fine." She placed her cup on a table behind the couch, then trailed her fingers across his jaw, liking the rasp of his whiskers.
"I wanted you to take it easy today."
"I didn't need consideration or gentleness earlier. It's a sorry thing when I have to seduce you."
"I enjoyed it." He cupped a bruise in the hollow of her shoulder and frowned. "This is serious, when I think of the risk..."
"Sloan," she said gently, "please stop. It’s over." She sat up. "Brad is okay, right?"
He nodded, his mouth grim. "Yes, you were both damn lucky. They set his arm and operated on the gun wound."
"I'm relieved he's okay. He prevented Bonnie from shooting me."
His palm slid down to her wrist and his mouth touched several scratches on her neck. Heart racing, she arched forward, letting him pull her gently against him.
"I think it’s time you told me everything about Brad and Angel Falls." His beautiful eyes were on her.
"The helicopter pilot should have been on standby, but Brad had released him prematurely. They radioed him back, but it took four hours. While I was in the tree the wind came up and I thought I'd fall before he got there. They got it all on film." She clenched her hands. "Brad used that footage."
"I watched the video," he said grimly.
"I've never seen it."
"What about Carlton?"
"I never saw him." She clenched her hands. "I have to let it go, it's past history. Brad's been history for a long while. It just wasn't right. I have him to thank for cutting it off a year ago." She grimaced. "If he had hung on, I might have settled for a lot less. I’m not happy admitting that either."
"Abandoning you, you mean?" he cut in, a hard line to his jaw.
"Whatever..." she shrugged. "It's over, before it began, really. I still can’t believe after the last year, Bonnie’s friendship was nothing more than a way to access my private information."
"Apparently, you’re not the first person she’s run a scam on. They don’t even know yet if that was her real name."
"I guess it's lucky I'm weak," she said smugly.
He raised his brows skeptically. "You?"
"When Brad walked out, I told myself not to trust in any man's smile again. It took me a while to sort out the difference between you two. Good thing I've got a soft spot for cowboys."
"Make that cowboy and I'll agree," he said with a grin.
She stretched. "Well, it's over and done with. It's a great release."
"Does this mean you're going back to your family's business?"
She opened her mouth, but he forestalled her. "Wait, let me get this out. I might not be crazy about your line of work, but I know how important it is to you. I'll work through it. Somehow, I was seeing you and my mom in the same mold...risk-takers, period. I know now that's not true. You're a responsible adult and you’re good at the job you do. God knows I don't want to talk you out of staying, Jacie, but this is a pretty quiet place, not much happens here."
She raised her brows. "You're kidding, right?"
"Let me put it this way, quiet until you arrived." He smiled and then sobered. "I won't ask you to walk away from skydiving because it's not on my agenda. I don't want that spilling over into our relationship. If skydiving is what you have to do, then I'll be there for you."
She blinked hard, emotion closing her throat. Sloan was a man who wanted stability, maybe a family life. He thought he would have to forego that, thinking such a step was necessary to make her happy. "I've had that career, still have it, if I want it. The idea has gone over pretty good right here. The thing is, I'm not willing to forfeit you.
"When I hung upside down in that tree, I saw every small detail of my life, like a video rolling. I've done a lot of things, been a lot of places, and yet I never really belonged.
"They say I was unconscious; I don't remember. I could have died, but I didn't. My whole life is ahead of me, the possibilities are endless. Life doesn't add up to much if you don't share it with someone special," she ended fervently. "If that's all I've learned, I count it as the most important."
"You're one hell of a woman, Jacie."
He wrapped her close, then loosened his arms with an apology.
Having none of that, she pulled him back. "I've told you, I'm tougher than I look, even though you once said a strong wind could blow me away." She poked her fingers through the opening of his shirt.
He grabbed her fingers. "That first night I came to your cabin you looked like death warmed over when I turned your light on."
"So it was you."
"I wouldn't let anyone else over there, not even James." Ruefully, he shook his head. "When I caught you coming out of the shower, I was lost."
"Don't be misled. I am tough."
"You don't have to be tough with me. Just be Jacie." He set her away from him. "There's one last thing we have to clear up," he said brusquely. Before she could get alarmed, he continued, "We have to get married. My reputation is at risk since a lot of people saw me bring you in here last night. Not to mention your family knows you’re staying here. The most important factor, of course, is that I love you."
Jacie wanted to laugh and she wanted to cry. He looked so serious, this man she loved. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?"
"No, just desperately optimistic."
"Well, you're in luck. I'm a romantic at heart, and I can’t envision a better happy ending than marrying the man I love." She looked at him with raised brows. "By the way, where are my brothers? I’m surprised they’re not knocking down the door."
"My dad convinced them to help him round up the herd, which is by now scattered far and wide."
Jacie started laughing. "You’re really in trouble now."
"I kind of figured that when my Dad started giving your brothers instruction on which side of the horse to mount. I think we’d better drive out and break the news to your family before there’s a serious injury."
Jacie pressed her mouth to his. "Okay," she murmured, "but I need another kiss before we leave. I’m feeling neglected."
Sloan grinned. "You realize, of course, I won’t stop at one kiss."
"I’m counting on it." And she was right.