Page 11 of Mountain Men Heroes

Flurries of snow spiraled in the air on a stiff ribbon of wind, bringing with it the smell of Esmeralda, confirming his fears.

He stumbled and took a nosedive into a snowdrift. What the hell? It couldn’t be! Didn’t that woman know how to listen?

Big, fat flakes fell harder and faster, several hitting him square in the face.

From the east, a low rumbled boom cracked through the sounds of the storm. A single flash of light caught his eye from the west.

They’d found them. A part of him eased, but he couldn’t rest.

Vibrations rumbled and fed into the soles of his boots. Something was wrong.

Fear pushed him up the back trail to Esme Point faster than he’d ever moved before. Felled trees, snowdrifts... nothing slowed him down. The farther he went the stronger the scent. Every few feet the path became more precarious for a man of his size and the damn jagged rocks scraped the side of his face and tore at his thick winter wear.

He pushed harder. Each stab forced him to focus and forget the cold seeping past all the layers of clothing.

The rumbling grew louder.

Avalanche.

His heart stopped cold. Without breaking stride, he launched his full weight over the ledge. His gaze shot from side to side until he spotted her. Panic ebbed.

There she was. Safe.

The first metal band clamping around his heart released.

Movement above her caught his acute gaze. His attention flashed between her shocked expression and a mountainside that appeared to be shifting above them.

Fear and panic collided with the adrenaline in his blood and tasted like a shot of acid down the back of his throat. He opened his mouth in warning, but only a bellowed roar came out.

His focus narrowed to her vivid green eyes as they pierced his and the same fear he felt mirrored back from the woman kneeling over a pile of snow. Thunder penetrated the ground beneath him. Eyes wide, he did the only thing he could do.

Five

Arms extended, Drake wrapped himself around her fragile body and tucked her close like a football. Skidding along his back, pure momentum carried them across the unforgiving ledge until a rock wall graciously stopped their progress.

He roared in protest. That would hurt for a while. Never mind, he could take the pain. The rumbling continued for another thirty seconds or so before cutting off the main source of light and their only exit.

This just went from bad to worse. The sun already dipped close to the horizon. In another half hour, it would be dusk.

With snow covering the slits in the stone ceiling, darkness fell over them.

Drake stiffened when the bundle in his arms flailed. Elbows, knees, fists and kitten claws.

Mmm. Sexy. A right hook to the ribs—or was that another knee?—forced out a huff of air.

Every weapon the woman had she used. Small, muffled grunts and moans brought on other ideas and sounded like angels and bells to his ears. He wanted to shred her clothing with his bare teeth and ravish her until she gave herself up to him in gratitude she was alive and not buried under enough snow to kill her.

Palms pressed against his broad chest, her fingers began to tighten around large clumps of clothing as she pushed up. Wide-eyed and flushed with anger, Esmeralda looked down at him and his heart clamored before coming to an abrupt stop.

“You big brute. You oaf. What the hell was that? You big overbearing...” Fury, rage, fear... it all rushed at him and worked its way into her words enough she didn’t realize her surroundings. Or the fact she pounded her fists into his chest.

Now, this was the Esmeralda he remembered. A fiery woman with a sassy mouth that tempted him closer for a taste. Not the sweet, talking corporate big-city woman he saw earlier.

Drake shook her loose and pushed to his feet, effectively bumping Esmeralda to her plush little ass and ending her tirade of expletives. He kinda liked it when she got all worked up, but she needed to conserve her energy. God, why had she left the safety of town?

No telling how long they would be here. Her lips thinned and she stared back at him, her brows pinched together with a frown.

She scoffed, but he doubted she could feel anything given how many layers of pants she had to have on under her outer snowsuit. Come to think of it, how the hell did she even move in that many layers? He made a mental note to ask her as he peeled off each layer. And he would. Undress her that was. He was hungry for a taste of his woman.

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