Page 40 of Christmas with the Elkin Billionaires

He had to shake the crappy give-up attitude. “No,” he said out loud. Who would he be if he gave up on everything over a bum leg and a little snow? His grandmother was right. Giving up had never been an option and he blinked hard to clear it from his mind.

Chase shoved his phone back into his pocket and put his hands out, ready to brace himself. If he couldn’t walk, he could sort of...slide.

He dug his fists into the snow and tried to lift from the hips. Gravity helped, but only a little.Keep your head in the game, Elkin.He dug in again. Pushed off again. His bad leg hit a rise in the snow, and it felt like a knife had been plunged into his kneecap. He bit back a cry of pain, not wanting to give in to it.

A rumble came from above him that sounded like a snowmobile.The ski patrol.

Chase threw his arms up over his head and waved them, shouting as loud as he could. Getting hit by a snowmobile would be a terrible conclusion to this adventure.

They were getting closer, almost on top of him, and he heard a shout over the sound of the motors. Two guys, two snowmobiles. One of them split off, and the two of them rolled up on either side of him. The man in front lifted his goggles.

“Hey, man. Don’t you know this is a ski hill? You’re supposed to ski back down!” Pete the chairlift operator peered down at him, a confused expression on his face. “What are you doing out here? I thought you weren’t skiing.”

“I’ll excuse your joke, but only because I’m so glad to see you.” Chase’s teeth chattered with cold and a pure shot of relief. “But listen, I’m going to need some help.”

“Yeah. Looks like it.” Pete leaped off the snowmobile and waved for the other guy to help. Chase was embarrassed to only vaguely recognize the other employee.

He winced as the two men lifted him to his feet, the pain shooting through his entire leg. It was a team effort to ease him onto the back of the snowmobile.

“Sorry we don’t have a rescue sled,” Pete said as he got back on the snowmobile. “We didn’t expect to find anybody on the slopes since they closed twenty minutes ago.”

“No problem. Hey, would you call down to the lodge and make sure my brother’s around? I’ll need to talk to him, and my phone’s dead.”

Pete made the call and drove Chase back to the main lodge. Every bump hurt his leg, but the pain was already beginning to ease—if only a little. His awkward angle sitting in the snow probably hadn’t helped. At the front door, Pete offered him an arm to get off the snowmobile, and Chase found he could bear weight.

“Thanks, man. Really appreciate the rescue out there.”

Pete saluted him and headed back out.

Dealing with the situation probably could have waited until morning, but Chase couldn’t wait another moment to put an end to all the stolen-bracelet nonsense. He hobbled through the lobby to the bank of elevators and went up to the second floor. This guest and his family always booked the largest suite available when they visited. He made it to the end of the hallway and rapped on the door.

A confused murmuring came from inside, and after a few moments, the door cracked open. Emily’s mom, a platinum-blonde who he’d never seen without all her makeup, squinted at him in a pair of silk pajamas. “Emily, get back inbed,” she said in a loud whisper. “How can I help you? My husband isn’t here right now if he’s who you were looking for.”

Chase took the bracelet from his pocket and held it in the air so she could see it. “I think someone lost this.”

“He found mybracelet?” The door flew open, and a squealing Emily ran out. She tore it from Chase’s hand, pressing it to her cheek. “I can’t believe you found it!”

Chase met the woman’s gaze, her open mouth proof of her shock. “Where—where was it?”

“It has a broken clasp,” he explained. “It was in some churned-up snow near a tree.”

The little girl burst into tears.

“Emily, what—” Emily’s mother put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, listen—it’s okay.” He knelt to Emily’s level biting back a groan. “Did your bracelet break while you were skiing today? I’d love to hear what happened.” He wanted all the truth and needed to hear the words for Tana’s sake.

Emily looked up at him, her bottom lip quivering and her face red. “It broke,” she howled. “It fell off my wrist. I got to the bottom of the hill, and it was g-gone.” Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t want to tell my dad. He would have been so mad at me. So, he saw I wasn’t wearing it, I said my teacher took it.” Emily hung her head, tears dripping down onto the floor.

Her mother gasped. “Mr. Elkin, I promise you, we will make things right. Emily?” She crooked a finger at her daughter. “Come back to bed. We’ll sort all this out in the morning.” She turned back to Chase. “I’m sincerely sorry about this and my husband’s overreaction, Mr. Elkin. You leave him to me.” The glint in her eyes suggested that her husband should be very, very worried.

She shut the door with a mutedclick,and Chase felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. Almost all the weight, anyway. He still had one more conversation to have tonight before he could finally give in to the pain and head for home.

Chase took the elevator back down to the main floor and headed for his brother’s office.

“Hey,” he said. Their faces lit up, and his grandmother rushed to him, throwing her arms around him.

“Chase, we heard from the ski patrol. What made you go out on the hills? Your leg—” His grandmother started, her voice worried and strained.

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