Page 36 of The Rancher's Plain Jane Wife

The words broke both of their hearts in an instant, and Sarah jerked her gaze away from Damian the moment she felt her eyes start to sting. "I'm s-sorry—-"

"You have nothing to apologize for," the billionaire bit out. "We both know you only spoke the truth." Damian breathed hard. "I wish it wasn't, but I was an idiot, and it took losing you to realize how much I love you...and now, I'm realizing too late just how much I hurt you as well."

Her lips started trembling harder at his words, and she could only tighten her grip on her poles.

"You didn't deserve to be hurt, and while I know I don't deserve another chance, Iamasking for it. I want a chance to love you again and make up for all the times I hurt you."

She didn't answer this time, and he didn't force her to.

Instead, he leaned close and when he slowly wiped the tears from her cheeks, she let out another sob, and her tears fell even faster.

"I r-really wish you were like this before," she said brokenly.

"I can't change the past, but I can promise you the future will be even better than this. You just need to give me a chance."

There wasn't a time for Sarah to answer. The lift chair had arrived at the station, and as soon as the safety bar went up, she skied out, as fast as she could, but Damian caught up to her easily.

"We should head back," he suggested, not liking how the skies were looking. "It's getting late anyway—-"

"You can go ahead," she offered right away.

He simply looked at her.

"Suit yourself." She opted for another route this time, thinking its greater number of twists and turns would allow for less talking. And so it did, since no sooner had they skied down a particular slope when something rumbled loudly behind them.

Fifteen

"Damian? Damian?"She was terrified to shake or move him in any way, in case he was suffering from a concussion. "Please wake up." Silence made her voice seem shriller in her ears, and although she knew it was only panic making her imagine things, the air around her seemed colder and thinner, making it hard to breathe. "Damian—-"

He finally stirred, and she could've wept with relief when his dreamy blue eyes opened.

"Avalanche?" he asked right away as he pushed himself up.

"Wait—-"

"It's fine," Damian cut in. "I don't feel any of the symptoms of a concussion." He turned to her, his gaze sweeping over her form as he asked, "You're alright?"

"I am." And her voice started to shake. "B-Because you pushed me away and..."

Seeing that her mind had forced to relive their ordeal, Damian immediately hauled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright," he murmured. "We'realright."

"Truly?" Her voice came out muffled, with her face hidden against his chest. "You're not worried we're going to die of hypothermia?"

"People still die of hypothermia around here," he acknowledged, "but most of them were also usually intoxicated as well." He pulled back, wanting her to see his eyes so she would know he was telling the truth. "We're not going to die here, Sarah."

"I believe you."

She didn't sound like it, though, Damian thought.

"It shouldn't take too much time for someone to figure out Damian Fox is missing and rescue us." Sarah was thinking out loud in an attempt to keep her panic at bay. "But in the meantime, we need to get moving..."

He saw her gaze drift to his skis, and that was when Damian belatedly noticed how badly damaged it was.

"You won't be able to ski on that," Sarah felt obliged to point out.

"No," Damian said slowly as the craziest idea occurred to him, and his heart began beating hard. "I won't. Are yours okay?"

She shook her head.

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