Page 36 of Mountain Challenge

Work? She looks gorgeous.

The woman stretched to her full height and wrapped her arms tightly around Ry’s neck—somehow managing to avoid the tray in the process. From where she was sitting, Isla couldn’t see the woman’s expression, but she didn’t miss the way her hands grazed his cheeks, just before she whispered something suggestively into his ear.

Ry’s eyes pulled up to where Isla was sitting. Isla refused to look away—she hadn’t done that with her husband, she wasn’t about to do it now—so she had front row seats to the guilty expression that appeared on his face. Shock filled her, followed quickly by embarrassment and an unavoidable sense of déjà vu.You fool. This is Roland part two.She’d somehow done it again. Was she wearing some kind of asshole magnet?

At least nobody was naked this time around. She’d been spared that. And, for all Isla knew, she—and not the dark-skinned goddess—might bethe other womanin this scenario. Perhaps the statuesque woman was the girlfriend—God, what if she’s the wife?—and Isla was the one breaking up a marriage.

No.

There’s only one asshole in this scenario, and it’s not you.

She forced air into her starving lungs. Once, slowly. Then again. That was better. She would not cry. She’d been stupid, yes—stupid to believe … believe what? She couldn’t even claim he’d lied to her. She’d never come out and asked.Are you seeing someone else? Do you have a girlfriend, or a wife, I should know about?But he’d implied he was free.As he hammered into you with his talented cock. God.This couldn’t be happening to her again. She wouldn’t let it. She wasdone. One hundred percent not doing this to herself.

Tears threatened to erupt, but she pressed her hand against her eyes to drive them back. Ry wasn’t even looking at her anymore. He was saying something to the other woman. Of course. He’d have a lot of explaining to do, if he was hoping to salvage at least one of his relationships. Isla stood up, grabbed her board, which was standing against the wall of the building, and walked as fas as she could to the telecabine.

16

Ry

Pick up. Please pick up.

Something had happened, and Ry had no idea what it was.

One moment Isla had been there. He’d stopped for a second to speak with Yvette, who’d invited him to a surprise party she was planning for Alex. He’d looked up to see Isla—the new, frozen look on her face had filled Ry with concern, but there had been no chance to ask her about it. By the time he’d said goodbye to Yvette, Isla had disappeared.

He’d waited for a few minutes, hoping she’d gone to the bathroom, though the humming in his veins told him that’s not what happened. When he called her phone, it rang six times, then went on to voice mail. He waited a minute, then tried again.Relax. Nobody has ever disappeared from Brevent.Except Isla, just now. Leaving the tray of food on the table, Ry went back tothe snow. His board was there, propped against the side of the building where they’d left it, but Isla’s board was gone.

Panic seized him, then. He quickly pulled out his phone.

“Vincent,” Ry said as soon as Vincent picked up the phone. “Did you call Isla? Has anything happened in the case?”

“Hey. Ry.” Vincent sounded like he was chewing. “Nothing new, man, other than what I told you yesterday.” The silence on the line grew heavy. “Uh, listen, man, I heard about what happened. I’m sorry.” Great, so everybody knew about it already. Made sense. Thegendarmeriewas a small family. “I hope it’ll be sorted out soon. You know you can count on me.”

Rydidknow. He knew he could count on all his teammates. But suddenly, his trouble at work seemed much less important. He looked around once more, as if that would make Isla appear.

“Thanks, man. Sorry to interrupt your lunch.” He ended the call. He still had a few calls to make. There might be no cause for alarm. Something might have come up, and she’d had to leave.Without saying anything? That made no sense.

He googled the number for the tattoo studio. Maybe there’d been an emergency. Not that he could figure out what kind of emergency a tattoo studio could have.

“Alchemy Tattoo,” a man’s voice answered. Alain, Ry reminded himself.

“Hi Alain, This is Ry Harrison. We met a few days ago.”

“I remember. Isla’s not here, she’s taking the morning off.” No mention of having called her back for any reason.

“Everything’s okay there?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Alain asked suspiciously. His tone grew protective. “Is Isla okay?”

Ry saw no reason to lie to him. “We were snowboarding together in Brevent, but she suddenly left.”

“Uh …” Now there was embarrassment in the young man’s voice.

“Yeah, I know how that sounds. I just want to make sure she’s okay. Could you save my number and call me if you see her?”

There was a moment of unbearable silence. “I’ll do that.”

“Thank you.”

---