Page 83 of Wind Valley

“Of course.” She put out her hand to seal the deal. “I’ve waited this long, I can certainly wait half an hour longer.”

Lachlan handed her the trigger. “Fast as you can.”

She nodded and ran toward Pinky’s snowmobile, which still had the key in the ignition. He hoped to God he was doing the right thing. She would get within range much faster, and he needed to go another direction if he was going to rescue Maura.

Hang on, Maura, he thought as he climbed onto Pinky’s ancient backup snowmobile. Hang on, and trust me.

44

Do it! It’s your only chance!

Hauling in a deep breath, steeling herself for a collision with snow and anything under it, Maura flung herself off the snowmobile.

The force of her momentum sent her plummeting into the snow and knocked the breath out of her. Snow in her face, snow in her mouth, snow above her, below her, all around her. She spat out snow in a desperate effort to find air.

A large hand wrapped around her leg and dragged her to the surface, where she rolled onto her back, spluttering and coughing and blinking against the sudden onslaught of light.

“I got you,” said SS tenderly, as if he was some kind of freaking hero. “I got you.”

Enraged, she kicked at him and landed a solid blow on his shin. Even though he swore, she knew she hadn’t really affected him, not with those muscles of his. She kept kicking, aiming higher, hoping for a groin hit. He moved from side to side, avoiding most of her attempts.

After a few moments of this, SS lost patience and used his boot to flipped her over onto her stomach. She yelled in fury and humiliation, her voice muffled by snow, her face nearly frozen.

The next thing she knew, her hands were being yanked behind her back, and then she couldn’t move them at all.

He hauled her to her knees, then to her feet, and while she was struggling and spitting snow out of her mouth, he picked her up and plopped her back onto the snowmobile. Then he pulled out another zip-tie and fastened her wrists to the roll bar behind her.

“There,” he said in satisfaction. “Not going anywhere now except where I say so.”

“Fuck you,” she hissed at him through frozen lips.

He ignored her and climbed back onto the front of the seat. They zoomed forward again.

Hey, her feet were still free. She wore snow boots with cleats that just might do some damage. She leaned backwards and tried to lift her foot high enough to kick him. That effort was a little more successful, until he trapped her leg under his elbow and held it tight against his side.

“Together!” he crowed as he urged the machine up the slope.

“Let me go!” she screamed. “Leave me out of this.”

“No. This is all your fault. If you hadn’t seduced me like you did, tempted me into sin, I’d still have my job. I’d still have everything. You deserve to die right alongside me. But it’s okay. I’m not afraid to die.”

I am! I don’t want to die! I want to live and I want to love and I want to teach and I want to breathe the air and gaze upon the beauty of the world and I want it all with Lachlan by my side…

It wasn’t to be. SS had won.

But he’d never win her soul.

Banishing him from her thoughts once and for all, she fixed her gaze on the steep mountain peak on the other side of Wind Valley. One side was a plane of pure white, while the downwind face was bare of snow and stark gray.

She catalogued every detail while a sense of pure love flooded her being. Love for Lachlan. Love for the mountains, the sky, the clouds, the snow, the beautiful world and its maker.

A smile tugged at her lips and the strangest sense of peace came over her. Love. I love. Thank you.

And then…everything stopped. The whine of the snowmobile’s engine, its forward movement, the wind against her face. It all stopped.

She reluctantly drew her gaze away from the mountain peak across the valley. They were about twenty yards from the edge of the cliff. SS stomped angrily on the accelerator, but that did nothing.

“Fuck,” he yelled. He flung himself off the snowmobile and unscrewed the cap of the gas tank. “Plenty of fuel. What the fuck? What did you do?”

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