Shock nailed his feet to the floor. How the hell could she have stumbled on that name? That person? His thoughts raced about what else she could have discovered or what else she might have done to follow up on her fears. He was a man with too much to hide.
“Misty? I’m not sure what you mean.” He chose his words carefully, unsure of how much she knew and not wanting to feed her a tidbit she hadn’t uncovered.
Andrea nudged the controls on her electric wheelchair, turning to face him more fully. “I’m a lot more computer savvy than I used to be, so don’t bother denying it. You’ve been cruising an Internet dating site, setting up a meeting with a girl named Misty.”
“You seem to have everything figured out.”
He was mad. Truly angry. How in the hell could she believe even for a second that he would cheat on her? There were a million different things his principled, honorable wife could have accused him of that would have been true. But this—not ever.
His nostrils flared and his pulse throbbed in his temple.
“I can’t believe you aren’t even going to try and deny it.”>Her snow machine lurched to the side. A scream slipped past her lips before she could hold it back. Her brain scrambled to assess what the hell was happening as she spun out. From the corner of her eye, she saw a blade from her vehicle skidding off and away. The world became a blur of white as she skidded…
Toward the edge of the cliff, with icy waters below.
Chapter 14
Horror spiked through Wade for a flash before instincts kicked into overdrive. Sunny didn’t have more than an instant before her snowmobile would catapult over the ledge.
His arm snaked out. And right between spins, he snagged her around her waist. Muscles screamed as loudly as the shrieking engine beneath him.
He steered with his other hand, straining to keep his snowmobile level and on the path while he leaned. Eyes locked ahead, he was still too aware of the danger less than a foot away. A sheer drop-off into icy waters.
The back of Sunny’s snow machine rammed into his, launching his ride sideways. He refused to let go of her. He clamped his legs tighter to the seat. Stayed put. For now.
Like with rescue missions in the past, he trusted his training and forged ahead. Yet, a flicker of doubt snapped at his brain, niggling him with the hellish possibility that he could fail Sunny.
But if he did, he would damn well die trying. He gritted his teeth and hauled harder, a shout punching through his body as he ripped her from her sliding vehicle.
She slammed against his chest. Her arms clamped around his neck and he cut the power. Fast. Praying he hadn’t run over her legs in the mad flail of limbs. But thank God, thank God, she was alive. He eyed the trajectory of his snowmobile, gauging if he would need to bail before it… skidded… to a… stop.
The engine shuddered and choked, sputtering off sideways across the path.
“Sunny?” he shouted into the mic, into the air, not wanting to waste a second on finding out how best to reach her.
She stirred in his arms, twisting to turn around. “I’m okay… I think…”
His brain went numb with relief until everything else blurred except the feel of her alive and unharmed against him. He ripped his helmet off, flipped up her faceplate, and sealed his mouth to hers. Hard and insistent. She froze, but only a second, before locking her arms around his neck and giving back with every bit as much urgency. Her body pressed closer, firmer, against his. If it had been even remotely possible, he would have been inside her right here, right now, on the edge of a cliff in below-freezing temps. The magnitude of the moment, of what could have happened, scraped at his already raw insides and he tore himself from her.
He leaned over, holding his knees, sucking in gulps of air. Blinking back the fog, Wade looked down. An arm’s reach away, the ground dropped off into nothing but air. Below, shattered parts of the snowmobile bobbed between chunks of ice floating like crystal barges in a small river.
Sunny had been that close to death.
Every other time threats had come their way, she’d been able to pull herself out of the fire. But it made him f**king ill to think what would have happened to her if he hadn’t been here. He did this sort of thing for a living. He’d plucked people from the jaws of death before. So what had him so off balance now?
She rested a hand on his back. “Maybe we could call for a tow,” she joked halfheartedly.
“My phone was on your ride.” He pulled away. Right now, he needed to get his head on straight and see to safety, to survival.
“But it was my backpack that went over.”
“I tucked it into your backpack. If we got separated I wanted to be sure you had a way to call for help. I have a GPS tracker in my pack and a beacon in my boot, so we’re not completely cut off from the world.” He walked to his snowmobile, boots crunching over ice. “I need to make sure this ride wasn’t tampered with too.”
“Too?” She padded softly over to stand beside him. “What do you mean tampered with? And what about your GPS tracker and a beacon?”
“Did you really think I would climb this mountain without making sure I could be found?” His brain was shifting into professional mode again, leading him down the logical trail to what very well could have caused this seeming accident. “I don’t have time to argue. We can’t afford to think anything that happens right now is coincidental. As much as I want to get this trip over with as soon as possible, I’m not risking either of us using this vehicle until I’m sure it’s in 100 percent working order.”
He hunkered down for a closer angle at the skis along the bottom, not even certain what he was searching for but determined to find it. If they set off on foot, they would have to bunk down in a cave for the night. But if they could double up on the snowmobile, they had more options. It was worth giving the vehicle a look-see.