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MILLS & BOON
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For the people of Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
Thank you.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Chapter One
Love and skiing don’t mix. Maddie Alexander recalled this advice, given to her once by an older, cynical colleague, as she stood outside a ski patroller’s shack at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and watched an accident in the making. A blonde in a pink jacket was trying to get the attention of a dark-haired guy on twin-tip skis. The sunny day and mild-for-January temperatures had brought out the crowds, including lots of students from nearby Western State College who were still on their winter break. They congregated at the tops of the lifts, checking each other out, enjoying the bright Colorado sun and plentiful snow.
The blonde was so busy eyeing the hunky guy across the slope she neglected to pay attention to where she was skiing. She veered into the mogul field off balance, flailed wildly, caught air as she sailed over a steep bump, and came down in an ungainly heap, while the object of her affections skied on ahead, oblivious.
Memories of other accidents she’d witnessed running through her head, Maddie felt her heart race. The worst situations could start so simply; one minute everything was fine, the next the whole world was full of pain and regret. She clicked into her skis and sped down to the woman, who was lying on her back, moaning. “Are you okay?” Maddie asked.
“My knee.” The blonde tried to sit up, then flopped back, anguish contorting her pretty features. “I think I tore up my knee.” She uttered a few choice curses, then reverted to moaning.
The blonde’s leg was twisted beneath her. Maddie clicked out of her skis and planted them in an X shape on the slope slightly above them. She keyed the mike of her radio and said, “I’m going to need a toboggan over here on Resurrection,” identifying the black diamond run where they were located. “I’ve got a female with a knee injury.”
“Hagan’s on his way,” the voice of Scott Adamson, a fellow patroller, replied.
Maddie frowned. Of course she would draw the one fellow patroller who most rubbed her the wrong way. Not that Hagan Ansdar wasn’t an experienced patroller with excellent skills. But he was also one of those men who was just a little too sure of himself—especially when it came to the opposite sex. The kind of man she’d learned the hard way to avoid.
She knelt beside the blonde. “Can you move your right leg at all?”
The woman shook her head, refusing to even attempt a move.
“How about the left leg?” Maddie asked. That leg appeared uninjured, but it was difficult to tell with the camouflage of bulky ski pants.
The blonde shook her head. “I don’t want to move anything in case it hurts,” she said. Her face crumpled and tears began to flow. “I can’t believe this. This is going to ruin my vacation.”
The woman was working herself up to real hysterics. Maddie stifled a groan. When she’d once promised God she’d do anything as long as she could ski again, this wasn’t what she’d had in mind. She couldn’t believe that she, one of the top ski racers in the world, was now reduced to coddling tourists like this one. She debated the merits of gentle distraction against the expediency of trying to slap some sense into the silly woman. But before she could decide, the woman’s crying ceased. She opened her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed pink. “Oh, my,” she breathed.
Maddie turned to see a tall figure towing an orange plastic rescue sled skiing toward them. Despite her determination to remain immune to his charms, her essential female nature betrayed her with an inner flutter at the sight of Hagan Ansdar—six feet four, broad shouldered, narrow hipped and blond haired. He might have been a Viking charging to the rescue.
He skidded to a stop a little above them in a spray of snow. Maddie stood and walked up to meet him. “What is the trouble here?” he asked, his Norwegian accent more pronounced than usual.
“I’m guessing a torn meniscus or ACL,” Maddie said.
Hagan raised one eyebrow. “They didn’t tell me you have a medical degree.”
She flushed. This was exactly the kind of ribbing other patrollers routinely dished out, but coming from Hagan, it rankled. “I don’t. But I’ve seen enough of these injuries to recognize a classic.” She might be the newest member of Crested Butte ski patrol, but ten years on the World Cup circuit had given her a front-row seat to some truly spectacular crashes. Not to mention she’d suffered an ACL tear herself five years ago. Her knee throbbed now at the memory. “And I saw her fall.”
Hagan frowned and clicked out of his skis. “What is her name?”
“I—I don’t know. I haven’t asked her yet.” She’d been about to when he’d arrived and interrupted her.
He knelt beside the blonde and took her hand. “Hello,” he said in a voice that would have melted butter. “I am Hagan. What is your name?”
The blonde’s eyes widened at the sight of the Norse god looming over her. “Hi.” She flashed a smile of her own. “I’m Julie.”
“Well, Julie, is it your knee that hurts?”
“Yeah. My right knee.” She raised her head and stared down at her bent leg.
“Does anything else hurt?” Hagan was feeling his way down her leg, his gloved hands moving slowly, making a thorough examination.
He wasn’t really feeling her up, Maddie reminded herself, though to a casual observer it might seem that he was being a little too thorough.
Julie obviously had no objections, though. She fluttered her lashes at him and spoke breathily. “Just the knee, I think. Though I’m feeling a little light-headed.”
“You took quite a fall.” Hagan cradled the back of Julie’s head and took her hand once more to check her pulse. “You knocked the breath out of yourself.”
Julie nodded, her attention fixed on him. Maddie might as well have not existed. She shook her head and began readying the toboggan for transport.
“What happened?” Hagan asked. “How did you fall?”
“I don’t know. I was skiing along and all of a sudden, I fell.”
Maddie suppressed a snort, but she didn’t quite succeed. Hagan gave her a sharp look. “Radio the clinic we are bringing in a young woman with a possible injury to her right knee,” he said.
Maddie did as he asked, while he finished examining Julie. Then she maneuvered the sled into position and together they transferred their patient into it. Hagan secured her inside, tucking the blankets around her. “There, you are all comfy now,” he said.
Julie beamed up at him. “Yes. Thank you.”
Gag me, Maddie thought.
Just then, Scott and another patroller, Eric, arrived with the snowmobile to tow the sled across the mountain to the clinic in the main village. “I’ll take her down and get her checked in,” Eric volunteered. “I have to be down at the base in a few minutes anyway.”
Maddie helped stow Julie’s skis in the back, then Eric and Scott set out, Eric pulling the sled while Scott towed him with the snowmobile. Maddie and Hagan would follow on skis to handle the paperwork.
“She will be all right,” Hagan said as he watched the snowmobile pull away.
“I’m sure she will.” And she’d no doubt be telling all her friends about the “amazing” ski patroller who had “rescued” her. And she wouldn’t be talking about Maddie. She glanced at Hagan. “Is it my imagination, or does your accent get thicker whenever you talk to a pretty woman?”
He turned and swept her with a slow, head-to-toe gaze. The look wasn’t exactly insulting—more as if he was assessing her. She stiffened, prepared for some comment about her own appearance. She knew she wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t a glamour girl like Julie, either. Her years as a pro had stressed practicality over prettiness. Today she wore no makeup and her brown hair was pulled back in a single braid that trailed down between her shoulder blades.
But no insult came her way. Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up in what might have been a smile, which only made him more handsome. “Must be your imagination,” he said.
The comment threw her off balance emotionally, the way everything about the man seemed to do. Her first day on patrol no less than three other women on the team had made reference to Hagan as the local Don Juan. They’d said this with the affection one might use to refer to a bratty younger brother, as if it was merely part of his charm. They’d further explained he exclusively pursued tourists and other temporary visitors to the area, therefore she had nothing to worry about from him—the implication being she had no chance of winning him for herself.
As if she wanted him. She knew all about handsome playboys. She’d once dated a slalom racer known as the Italian Stallion, and her first season as a pro skier she’d had her heart broken by an Austrian who later bragged to Sports Illustrated that he’d slept with every female racer on the U.S. Olympic Team.
It was bad enough she was working as a ski patroller; she didn’t need to put up with any hassle from a player like Hagan.
They hiked up the slope to where their skis were planted in the snow. “What were you snickering about when I asked her how the accident happened?” Hagan asked as they clicked boots into bindings once more.
“She told you she didn’t know how the accident happened, but the truth is, she was ogling some guy and not paying attention to where she was going.”
“I thought men were the only ones who ogled.” He sounded amused by the idea.
“Ha!” As if he wasn’t perfectly aware of the women who stared after him wherever he went.
They skied to the bottom of the East River lift. They’d ride back up and from there head to the front side of the mountain and the main village clinic. Hagan pulled out in front of her and Maddie took this as a challenge. He might have longer legs, but she was willing to bet no one on the patrol team was faster than her.
Sure enough, she soon overtook him. There was nothing like the feeling of flying over the snow, the white noise of rushing wind in her ears and the sensation of being suspended in time. She wove effortlessly around slower skiers and arrived well ahead of Hagan at the lift line.
She grinned at his approach, ready to tease him for his slowness, but he silenced her with a stern look and sterner words. “You think you are still racing?” he asked, as he slid beside her in line.
She couldn’t think of an answer that wouldn’t be an admission that she’d been trying to stay ahead of him, so she remained silent and looked over her shoulder for the approaching chair.
He waited until they were on the chair and headed up the slope before he spoke. “We pull people’s passes for skiing that fast,” he said. “You are no longer a ski racer.”
The reprimand galled. As if she needed a refresher course in ski safety from this two-bit Don Juan. “I don’t need you to remind me I’m no longer a racer,” she snapped. “It’s not something I’m likely to forget.” Every morning when she awoke the reality hit her anew; the one thing she had wanted most in life was out of her reach forever, stolen by one miscalculated move on an icy slope in Switzerland.
“I am only reminding you to slow down. That is all.” His voice was surprisingly gentle.
She ducked her head. His calmness was even more annoying than the reprimand. But she was woman enough to admit she was wrong. She wasn’t on a race course and she probably should slow down. Much as she hated to. “I’ll be more careful in the future,” she said stiffly.
Not for the first time, she’d let her impulsiveness make her lose her focus and forget her purpose. She would have thought by now she’d be over that, but maybe there were some lessons a person never learned.
HAGAN STUDIED the woman next to him as she stared straight ahead. He considered himself an expert on the ever-changing nature of women, but Maddie Alexander was more mercurial than most. In the space of a few minutes she’d gone from teasing to defiant to contrite. As the newest member of the patrol, she had endured the good-natured harassment of her fellow team members with grace, but something he had said—or maybe the very fact of his presence—had set her off.
“What is it about me—exactly—that you do not like?” he asked when they reached the top of the lift.
She whirled to face him, almost falling as she did so. She managed to recover her balance and ski away from the top of the lift before she stopped and turned to him again with what passed for composure. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t know you well enough to dislike you.”
“Then maybe you should get to know me better.”
It was a glib line, one he had used before, but as soon as it rolled off his tongue he knew it was the wrong approach to take with her. She glared at him, then planted her pole and skied away.
He watched her go, admiring the curve of her hips and her expert form as she skied down a small hill and across an open flat. He would bet she was beautiful on a race course, gliding gracefully around turns, clipping gates with efficient speed.
He shook his head to dispel the image. Maddie was beautiful all right, but she was also a coworker, and a local. Someone he was likely to see every day, therefore off his list as a potential date. He had learned long ago to stick with tourists—they allowed for an enjoyable short-term affair and a quick, neat exit. No complications.
He skied down and joined her as she propped her skis in the rack outside the clinic. He stepped forward and held the door open for her. She glanced up at him and mumbled her thanks, then slipped by, careful not to brush against him.
So much for worrying he might have to watch his step around her to keep her from getting too interested in him. For whatever reason, she wanted nothing to do with him. Not the usual reaction he got from women—and why?
And why was he letting her rejection bother him so much?
They found their patient, Julie, sitting up on an exam table, her injured knee wrapped in towels and ice. Hagan’s friend, Dr. Ben Romney, examined her X-rays. “Your turn on the mountain today?” Hagan asked.
“That’s right,” Ben said. He turned to Julie. “You’ve got a little tear in your meniscus, but you’re going to be fine. I don’t even think you’ll need surgery.”
“Thanks to Hagan.” Julie beamed at him. “I’m sure I’d be much worse off if he hadn’t arrived so quickly to take care of me.”
He smiled automatically. Julie was pretty, with expensive ski clothes and a flirtatious manner. But with her knee banged up she wouldn’t be doing much partying for a few weeks. And while he was not opposed to taking advantage of his job to meet women, he shied away from involvement with those who were physically injured on his watch.
Some—Maddie perhaps—would say this was skewed ethics on his part, but he made up his own rules for his life and that was one of them.
Ben left Julie to the care of his nurse and motioned for Hagan and Maddie to follow him into his office. “Looks like you’ve made another conquest,” he said to Hagan after he had shut the office door.
Hagan shook his head. “She will be cutting her vacation short to take care of her injury,” he said. He dropped into one of two chairs in front of Ben’s desk. “Have you met Maddie? She is our newest patroller.”
“Pleased to meet you, Maddie.” Ben offered his hand. “Ben Romney.”
“It’s good to meet you, Dr. Romney.”
“Ben, please. What brings you to ski patrol?”
“I thought it was time to try something different,” she said. “Ski patrol sounded interesting.”
The explanation struck Hagan as incomplete. Why would a world-class athlete retreat to a somewhat remote Colorado resort when she might have scored a lucrative gig as a rep for an equipment manufacturer, an outdoor clothing model or even the resident pro on a resort’s marketing payroll? Why put up with the hard work, injured tourists and low pay of ski patrol?
“She was a ski racer,” he said. “World Cup. Headed for the Olympics.” Apparently she had left the team after a bad accident, but he did not know the details.
Ben leaned forward, definitely more interested now. “What’s your last name?”
She sent Hagan a pained look. Hey, why was she ticked at him? It wasn’t as if her past was a big secret. “Alexander. Maddie Alexander.”
“Awesome Alexander!” Ben grinned. “I remember reading about you in Sports Illustrated.”
“Yeah.” Her gloomy expression was more worthy of a write-up in Mortician’s Monthly.
“You were written up in some of the medical journals, too,” Ben said. “The titanium repair on your tibia? And the artificial joint in your hip?”
She nodded, her face pale. Hagan stood and pushed a chair toward her. She looked as if she might faint. “Sit down,” he ordered, and she did so. He glared at Ben.
Ben had the grace to flush. “Sorry. I forget not everyone’s as interested in catastrophic medicine as I am. Heather has to remind me not to discuss surgery at dinner.”
“She is a wise woman,” Hagan said. Mostly because Heather had finally gotten over the silly crush she had had on him last summer and had focused on a man who really cared for her—the way Hagan never could have.
There was a knock and the nurse stuck her head in the door. “Your patient is ready to go,” she said.
“We had better get back to work, too,” Hagan said as Maddie popped to her feet.
“It was nice meeting you, Maddie.” Ben offered his hand. “Welcome to Crested Butte.”
“Thanks.” She shook his hand and flashed a warm smile. Hagan felt a pinch of jealousy that such a look had not been directed at him.
Which only proved his ego was as big as the next guy’s. He was not interested in dating Maddie, but there was no reason they could not be friends.
They followed Ben into the clinic’s reception room, and found Julie balancing on a pair of crutches. “Oh, Hagan? Could you help me out to my friend’s car?” She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled at him.
“Of course.” He took one crutch and let her lean on him instead as they made their way to an SUV idling out front. He deposited her in the passenger seat and she pressed a slip of paper into his hand. “Call me,” she whispered, then kissed his cheek.
He pocketed the paper and stepped back, making no commitment as the SUV pulled away.
“I’ll go fill out the report,” Maddie said, pushing past him. “You can add your part later.”
She grabbed her skis from the rack and headed around the side of the building. Ben came to stand alongside Hagan. “What did you do to her?” he asked.
“Nothing,” he said.
Ben looked as if he did not believe this. “You didn’t hit on her, did you?” he asked.
Hagan scowled at him. “No, you know I stay away from the locals.”
“Yeah.” Ben looked again in the direction Maddie had vanished. “Maybe she’s jealous of you and Julie baby.”
“Not likely.” He would know if she were interested in him—she showed none of the usual signs.
“Maybe you should consider breaking your own rule,” Ben said. “She’s good-looking and you two have skiing and patrol in common.”
“Not my type.” Yes, Maddie was good-looking and independent and she had an interesting background, but she was too prickly for his tastes. Not to mention that being around her made him feel too edgy and uncomfortable. “I will stick with the tourists.” His policy of avoiding emotional entanglements with women had served him well for the past ten years. He saw no need to abandon it now.
Ben shook his head. “If you think that’s going to keep you from getting caught one day, you’ve got another think coming. Just ask Max.”
Hagan’s best friend Max Overbridge and newcomer Casey Jernigan were engaged to be married in the summer, as soon as the snow melted enough off the Mountain Garden to hold the wedding there. Hagan was slated to serve as best man. “The difference between me and Max,” Hagan said, “is that Max wanted to be caught, no matter what he says different. Me, I know better.”
Marriage was a velvet-lined pit, a lure that made a man believe he could find eternal happiness. But there were sharpened sticks waiting at the bottom of the pit. He had been there before and never intended to experience that pain again. Better to indulge in the occasional casual fling with a woman who would soon leave town than to get involved with a woman like Maddie who could truly turn his world upside down.
Chapter Two
Maddie finished up the accident report then left it in Hagan’s box for him to sign off on. If he had any questions, he could radio her, but she wouldn’t wait around for him. She didn’t need him thinking she was an adoring fan begging for his attention. Everyone said he was an excellent patroller—and from what she’d seen so far, she’d have to agree—but his Don Juan act was simply too much. When her life was more in order and she was ready to settle into a relationship again, it would be with a man she could respect and count on—not a player like Hagan.
For now, she’d try to keep her distance from him and not risk saying something that might jeopardize her job.
She was on her way out of the patrol shack when her roommate, fellow patroller Andrea Dawson, hailed her. Andrea was the only woman on patrol who was almost as short as Maddie’s own five feet. Her straight black hair and almond eyes revealed her Asian heritage. Originally from China, she’d been adopted as an infant by a local couple and had practically grown up on skis. “You busy?” she asked Maddie.
Maddie shook her head. “No. What’s up?”
“We just got a report of a couple of snowboarders ducking ropes over by Spellbound and Phoenix. The area’s still closed for avalanche control. I need to go check it out. I could use some backup.”
“Sure.” Yellow ropes were used to mark the ski area boundaries and to close off areas considered too unstable or dangerous for skiing or riding. But there were always people who thought the rules didn’t apply to them, who risked ducking under the ropes.
“I hate this part of the job,” Andrea said as she and Maddie rode the Silver Queen lift up the mountain. “These guys always want to give me lip and it’s such a hassle. If it weren’t for the fact they could trigger an avalanche or get hurt I’d tell them to go ahead and kill themselves.”
Maddie laughed. “Nobody likes ragging on other people, but if anybody gets mouthy with me, I let them have it. It’s a great way to vent my frustrations—if they deserve it.”
“Guess I’ll watch and learn from an expert then.”
“Maybe we’ll be lucky and they’ll listen to reason.”
“Yeah, like how often does that happen?”
From the top of Silver Queen, they headed into Paradise Bowl and up the North Face lift. They found the two snowboarders in a deep gully a few hundred yards beyond the ropes closing off the popular Spellbound Glades, an area of double-black runs that usually didn’t open until the snowpack had built up later in the season.