From her, the gesture felt like a shouted declaration of her feelings, arid it jerked his own to the surface. But he heard snowmobile engines in the distance. Letting go of her, he scrambled up the hill to flag the other rescuers down, a feat in itself in the deep, thick snow.
The snowmobiles had to be left at the top of the cliff. It took a series of people and ski poles used as stakes on the vertical climb in order to get ready to move Matt. His condition had deteriorated and he kept shifting in and out of consciousness. They got him in a litter with a cervical collar around his neck and a hard board beneath his back, but a smooth lift wasn't possible with the steep, unforgiving terrain. Twice the litter slipped a few feet, once setting off a slide of snow.
Lily held her breath the entire time, watching the hill carefully because they were ripe for an avalanche, which would just top this whole disaster off nicely. But a nerve-racking forty-five minutes later, he was up at the top, the litter attached to a snowmobile.
Getting him down took a coordinated effort of the snowmobiles. Two in front to try to make a steady track, a difficult enough task with the steadily falling snow that had covered their route already. Following them went the snowmobile that towed Matt, and then another behind, on the radio, calling out the condition of the litter and whether it was a steady enough ride for their patient.
As the procession took off, Lily turned to Logan. She felt overwhelmed with emotion.
'It's only been a week,' she said.
He didn't blink at the ridiculous and quick subject change. He didn't scoff it off or laugh. He just nodded, and she could have loved him for that alone. 'The best week of my life.'
'It's not long enough to know,' she whispered, and shoved up her face guard.
'Some things don't take a lot of time.' He stroked a gloved hand over her jaw. 'You're one of those things for me.'
She shook her head, even as she grabbed his hand and held it to her face. 'I'm not ready for you to go.'
'Then come with me. Come to my world for a week. For longer. For whatever you can give me.'
Go to his world… He could have no idea how tempting that was. She didn't understand what it was inside her that made her fight this thing so hard when in truth, she wanted him so very much. The depth of his concern and compassion, coupled with what he'd claimed to feel for her and what she saw in his eyes, robbed her of speech. He was so solid, so right, so good for her, and she buried her hands in his jacket, tugging him close, kissing him hard. He instantly reciprocated, gliding his arms around her and hauling her close with a low groan that reached in and wrapped around her heart.
He loved her.
Staggering, really. But somewhere along the way, the hard knot of panic had loosened-slightly, anyway-and just thinking it began a glow of warmth from the inside out.
Only a couple of hours passed from the time they'd set out looking for him until they made it back to the lodge, but in that time, the storm had worsened and the roads were all closed again. Logan wasn't going anywhere for a while, but worse, neither was Matt.
They got him inside the first-aid room. Because the lifts had never opened, there wasn't a medic on duty, but Lily Logan, and Chris all had medical training. They stayed in touch with the local E.R. by phone, doing what they could for Matt, making sure he was warm and stayed still. Sara made sure he stayed awake.
She could have kept the dead awake the way she wailed at the sight of her husband. Lily tried to calm her down, but nothing could do that. Even Matt wanted the hell out and kept asking if the roads were clear. Logan wanted desperately for Matt to be able to get out and get to the hospital.
But for himself, he'd have been fine if the snowstorm never let up.
Lily grabbed a badly needed moment alone, standing just outside the first-aid room, protected from the snow by the roof's overhang, staring out into the storm.
Footsteps came up behind her, and then Aunt Debbie appeared at her side. 'I need a moment with you.'
Lily glanced at her, all decked out in her usual expensive finery. The only thing missing was her mocking smile. 'Sorry. I'm exhausted and not up for any witty repartee.'
'You put your life on the line to save Matt. You did it without even blinking.'
Lily lifted a shoulder. 'I blinked plenty.'
'You do that every day,' Debbie said softly in an awed voice that had Lily taking another look at her.
Wow. Aunt Debbie was really impressed by her. Stop the presses. 'Have you somehow missed the meaning of
'Yes,' Debbie said honestly. 'I have. And I want to tell you in advance that I'm sorry though I don't deserve for you to accept my apology.'
'What are you talking about?'
'When Mom left you this place, I was green with envy.'
'You were not. You said good riddance and moved to New York.'
'No, I believe my exact words to you were that I wished I believed in voodoo so I could curse you with pins and needles and watch you die a slow, torturous death.'
Lily laughed.
Debbie's lips quirked. 'Yeah, you did that then, too. And since most of what I wanted to do to you is frowned on in today's society, I settled for talking bad about you every chance I could.' Her smile faded. 'And playing silly little pranks on you to amuse myself.'
A chill took hold of Lily that had nothing to do with the storm outside. 'What?'
'Like removing a few out-of-bounds signs, screwing with your food deliveries, putting up party posters, messing with your computers. Even tossing random files from your desk into the trash.'
Lily stared at her. 'And then today with Matt…?'
'No! God, no, I didn't get him hurt on purpose.' Debbie's eyes filled. 'That was just stupid, dumb, bad luck.'
Lily saw the tortured honesty in her aunt's eyes, and swearing lavishly, she paced the deck. This was unbelievable. She'd been racking her brain, trying to figure out if one of her staff members, or even a guest, could have been the one causing trouble, and all along it had been the one person she'd never even considered. Sure, Aunt Debbie had been a pain in the ass, with her demands and her the-world-owes-me-service attitude, but this… this betrayal was way over the top.
'You did hear the
'Why the hell would you do any of this?'
'I told you. I was jealous. Here we were, two peas in a wild pod, and yet somehow you still managed to make my mother believe you could handle all this.'
'I didn't ask for it.'
'No, that only made it worse.' Debbie's smile was sad now. 'Because you pulled it off in spite of not wanting to. I wanted to hate you for that, and instead I only love you more. Damn it. Now if you want to kick me out, I get it. But I'm telling you I'm done making trouble for you.'
Lily could only let out a baffled laugh. 'Do you want me to thank you? Do you know how many times you sicced Gwyneth and Sara on me, making my life a living hell?'
'Yeah.' Debbie sighed in remembered pleasure. 'And that was always fun to watch. I wish my sister and I were as close as you three.'
'You are insane. We're not close.'
'Aren't you?'
Lily looked out into the storm as her thoughts raced. Gwyneth was a sanctimonious pain in her ass, but she always had Lily's back, always, whether Lily wanted her to or not. And so did Sara.
And she had theirs.
