Page 9 of A Bear Ski Instructor Christmas

Her eyes flickered open, and she blinked at the sudden brightness. Rachel sucked in a breath, expanding her awareness of her body and surroundings. She was lying on a hard surface, some kind of wooden floor, judging from the musty smell. She blinked some more until her surroundings came into focus. She was in a room. To her right, a window sat slightly open, letting in just enough light to illuminate the place. A gentle crackling alerted her to a fireplace on her left. Rachel’s mind worked hard, piecing all the information together to make sense of her situation. She had to be in some kind of cabin. But where? And how had she gotten here?

“Do you always murmur in your sleep?” asked a voice above her head.

She rolled away from the fireplace, scrambling to her knees. Seated less than three feet away, calmly watching her, was a woman with long, stringy, brown hair hanging down the sides of her face. She looked almost Rachel’s age, and Rachel had to admit she was quite pretty, although there was a ruggedness about her features. She wore a red sweater with a fading logo emblazoned across the front. Chanel. She was frowning.

Rachel asked the first questions that popped into her mind. “Who are you? Where am I? Where is…where is he…?”

She stilled as the memories came trickling back to her like a gentle stream. The details were hazy at first but soon became clearer. She’d been on a plane headed for Chicago. Flight 18, was it? One second, she’d been wondering about her casting call and the next, she’d been holding on for dear life as the plane fell out of the sky, pieces scattering in all directions.

How she’d survived was still a mystery to her. But the shock of her situation on this strange mountain had only lasted untilhenearly crashed into her on his skis.

“Where is he?” Rachel demanded again, glancing around the room. She figured she must be in some kind of town somewhere, but she had no memory of reaching the bottom of the mountain or bumping into Ms. Chanel over here.

“Who?” The woman’s frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”

“Michael. Where is he?”

Surprise flickered in the woman’s eyes. “You know Michael?”

Did she know him, too? A flutter of relief and anticipation filled Rachel’s belly. “Of course. He’s my boyfriend.”

Ex-boyfriend,she reminded herself, feeling her gut clench.

After three years of no contact, it would be foolish of her to assume she still had a relationship with Michael. Then again, that didn’t matter right now, did it?

“You need to calm down,” said the woman, although Rachel thought she detected a hint of irritation on her face. “You’ve been unconscious for a little less than a day. Why don’t you get some more rest? I’m sure you’re still tired.”

Rachel was tired, she had to admit, but it wasn’t like that mattered much right now. Michael was out there somewhere. She shook her head and started to rise to her feet, but the other woman was surprisingly quick, placing both hands on Rachel’s shoulders and forcing her back onto the floor.

“Relax,” she urged. “Reba will want to see you. I’ll get her. Wait here.” She left the room, shooting Rachel a stern look as she went. Rachel started to follow her but decided it was probably more sensible to remain where she was. She sat down on the wooden floor again, fidgeting slightly as she waited, her mind crowded with thoughts.

Michael was here, wherever this was. It was almost too insane to believe, but he’d been standing there in the flesh right before her eyes, real enough that she could kiss those lips she’d missed ever since his disappearance, solid enough that she could give him the slap he so badly deserved for abandoning her.

That was what had happened, wasn’t it? He’d left her at that resort years ago, tears streaming down her face and taken off, disappearing completely off the radar. This whole time, he’d been alive and well. He must have been trying to get away from her. No wonder he’d seemed so shocked when she kissed him.

In all honesty, Rachel had been unable to stop herself. She’d needed to kiss him more than she needed to draw her next breath of cold, dry air. Right now, as the details settled in her mind, she was torn between throwing her arms around him and giving him a swift kick where the sun don’t shine.

She swallowed bitterly. For so long, she’d accepted that something had happened to him, but clearly, it had all been no more than a game. A zero-sum game in which he got the freedomhe wanted, and she merely had her heart shattered. The passage of time might have dulled the pain, but after bumping into him on the mountain, that wound had been reopened.

You’re going to see him,she assured herself.Soon.

She should think more positively about things. That was what Diane would tell her.

Always look on the bright side.

She’d been in a plane crash and nearly died on a snowy mountain. The bright side? She’d bumped into the long-lost love of her life.

But she was also clearly far away from home. Away from Vegas, from Sam, from everything she’d come to know as normal. Now, if she could just get Michael and maybe get the heck out of here…

Just then, a door creaked open, and the brown-haired woman stepped into the room, followed closely by another woman. The newcomer was older and somewhat shorter, with slightly darker hair and squarer shoulders. Her dark gaze swept around the room, finally landing on Rachel, who couldn’t help flinching.

“You must be Rachel,” she said and smiled.

Rachel clambered to her feet. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“I’m Reba, chief of this village,” the older woman replied. She gestured toward Ms. Chanel. “You’ve met my daughter, Elena.”

The other woman eyed Rachel like she was an annoying fly she was refraining from swatting.

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