Page 66 of The Last Resort
What the hell?
Outside the helicopter, a uniformed rescue crew member was busy unhooking someone from a harness. It was Rachel, and she was trembling all over.
Matthew dashed down the stone steps, across the parking lot, and to her side. “What happened?”
As she stepped out of the harness, Rachel’s knees buckled, and he went to catch her. But instead of swooning into his heroes embrace, she turned and fell into the arms of the helicopter guy. And she hugged him, holding tight.
A flash of white-hot jealousy tore through Matthew.
Helicopter guy who was wearing a half mask covering his eyes, nodded at Matthew. “Hey Matt. Rachel, was out on the trail and met a family of bears. Mama and two cubs. Fortunately for her, the sow was probably still coming out of walking hibernation, so she wasn’t awake enough to attack,” he explained.
“Walking hibernation? That bear was wide awake, and coming for me,” whimpered Rachel.
Her rescuer patted Rachel’s back. “You’re okay, and that’s all that matters. I’m just glad we spotted you when we did. I’d never have forgiven myself if anything bad had happened to you.”
“Thanks, Dan. You’re an absolute life saver.” Rachel moved out of her brother-in-law’s hold, and as soon as she stood steady on her feet, he headed back on board the chopper. “See you guys later, hope the plans to save the lodge are going well.”
Dan. Of course. I didn’t recognize him with the flight mask on.
Matthew moved forward and put his arm around Rachel’s waist. “Promise me, you won’t ever go off into the woods on your own again.” To his relief she leaned into his embrace and sighed. “Yeah. My stupidity almost cost me my life.”
As the chopper rose into the sky, they waved it farewell. From the window, a smiling Dan waved back at them. Matthew brushed a tender kiss on her cheek, his heart squeezing in his chest as he tasted tears. “Dan was right, as long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”
I could have lost her today.
Matthew helped her back inside and up to her room. Her knees were wobbly all the way up the stairs, but Rachel refused his repeated offers to carry her. Him simply being here for her was enough.
Alone in the bathroom, she stripped off then turned on the shower. With the hot water raining down, Rachel sat on the floor, knees hunched against her chest, and berated herself.
Stupid. Reckless. You could have died.
Thank god for Dan and his big assed chopper.
When she finally turned the water off, dried, and got dressed again, Rachel went in search of Matthew. She’d come close to dying today. But the last thing she wanted to do right now was to talk about the incident with the bears.
I want to concentrate on the things I have some control over.
Matthew was idly tinkering with the design model when she arrived in the ballroom. As she drew close, he moved toward her. Rachel gave him a tight smile. “I’m alright.”
I’m not sure if I want to be hugged right now.
She pointed at the model. “You’ve made solid progress.” In the hour since she’d gone off and almost got eaten by a family of black bears, he’d managed to put what remained of the model back together. “It looks great. Or as great as an evil spaceship built purely to destroy peaceful planets can look.”
Anything to lighten the mood.
Matthew gripped the hair on the back of his head and sighed. “It’s still missing a lot of pieces but …” Dropping his arm, he offered her a half shrug. “If we are going to make major changes, the model will have to be reconfigured anyway.”
She still felt bad about breaking his toy, but her intuition told her there was something else on Matthew’s mind. He was acting strange. Running his fingers through his hair and now talking way too fast.
“Matt. What’s wrong? I thought I was the one who was having a weird day, but you’re behaving like you’re dancing with lightning.”
His hand dropped from his head, and he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Before I realized it was Dan who you were hugging and why, I have to admit I was fucking jealous.”
Aha.Matthew had taken her embrace with Dan as something else. A threat.
Heavens to Betsy, he was jealous.
Rachel wasn’t the kind of woman who played games with a man’s emotions. She took a hold of Matthew’s hand. “That’s a pretty big thing to admit, Mister Royal.”
