Page 15 of Mountain Men Heroes

“Really? It looks like time is all we have.”

She leaned into his arms and rested her cheek on his chest.

“Can’t you… you know?” She made a gesture with her hand to signal toward the wall of snow blocking the only exit. As tempting as it was to leave her floundering for words, he stepped in.

“Go all He-Man and punch through the snow?”

“There’s gotta be a way out of here, Drake?”

Her hands came to rest on his hips and he growled low and it took him a minute to take his eyes off her lips long enough to answer her.

“Not that easy. Hell, I really wish it were.”

“Why not? You break through, we can get outta here and go on our merry way.”

“The last thing I want to do is hold you here, sweetheart. God forbid, right? But who knows how thick this is? There could be more people below. If I cause a bigger avalanche, it could bury them alive. We’re safe here. You’re safe. I promise that with my life. And it’s getting warmer in here by the minute.”

He settled his hands on either side of her face.

“I know this mountain better than anyone. After the storm passes, my brother will come for us. Probably no later than sunrise. And with him, he’ll raise an army if need be to get us out.”

She brought her hands to rest on his. “Are you sure? How does he even know where we are?”

Drake tipped her chin up just to see her emerald eyes on him. “Trust me. He’s good at his job. I lost the two-way, but he knows where I was headed and our gear is equipped with trackers for this very reason. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”

“For our sakes, I hope.”

“What has you so worried?”

“The fact that we have no water. No food and no source of heat are kinda worrisome, wouldn’t you say.”

“I had food in my pack. And we are our heat source.” He turned from the blocked entrance and looked back at her with a teasing grin. Anything to lure a smile from her and take away the worry lines between those beautiful eyes.

That’s when a dark blob caught his eye off to the side. Oh, thank God.

His pack rested in a heap against the back wall. “Look. This should hold us off. How about yours?”

“Just some power bars and juice, but good luck finding it.” She roved over the entire den with her light and then paused on his face. “Oh no!”

“What?” He turned a three-sixty, expecting to see some grizzly or something in there with them from the way fear flashed in her eyes.

“My father.” Esmeralda froze in place, her eyes wide, the look so raw that for a split second he could see the true Esmeralda. The one that hurt and needed someone to lean on. He wanted to be that someone so damn bad it made his chest ache.

Drake blinked, shaking his head. Did he hear her right? “Excuse me?”

“His urn, it was in my bag.”

Oh. “Where did you leave?—”

“Wait, do you see that?”

How could he—she blinded him with her flashlight. “There. In the corner.” Esmeralda pushed past him and fell to her knees by the ice wall.

He moved her to the side, ignoring her protest. “Let me help.” Gently, he eased her hands away from the ice and with a couple of tugs, he risked the vulnerability of the ice foundation to free her climbing pack. “Damn good eye. Even I missed that.”

A warm hand on his shoulder paused his choppy movements. Esmeralda traced along the lines of his tattoo. An impulsive decision after a tequila bender with his brothers.

Slowly she outlined the thick lines of the design that fed into the skull that denoted how he felt without her in his life—dead. In the wake of her caress, it was like shots of lightning shooting straight to his cock.

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