Montana Skies (You, Me and the Kids) (Harlequin Superromance, No 1395) (22 page)

They sat there in silence a long while.

Skylar pulled her knees to her chest and crossed her arms on top. She stared out at the little sparkles the sun made on the water, the conversation reminding her of
what her mom had said about trusting her to handle things now. Was it true?

“Anybody else cold?” Carly asked.

“I'm hungry.”

“All you do is eat. I've never seen anyone ride a horse and eat a sub sandwich at the same time.” Maybe if she told her mom the truth, all of it… Would she believe her?

“I'm a growing boy.” Brandon stood, holding out both his hands to pull them up at the same time. “Come on, let's go back to camp.”

 

“I
CAN'T SEE WHERE
I'm going,” Carly whined. She didn't want to sound like a baby but—

“You can see better than I can. My contacts are in that stream. Everything's blurry.”

“Blurry?
You're leading us,” Brandon groused.

“Because
you
led us away from camp!”

“Guys, don't fight! Please.” She swatted a tree limb out of the way only to hear Brandon curse behind her. “Sorry!”

“We've walked for miles and now we're nowhere near the stream!”

Skylar stopped so fast Carly ran into her. She mumbled an apology and stepped back.

“You want to lead again?” Skylar challenged Brandon. “Fine! But at least follow the path. The stream should be up ahead.”

“Says who?”

“There's a path?”

“Haven't you two paid attention at all?”

Carly struggled to hold back tears while they continued to argue. She didn't want to cry in front of them, but camping sucked. She was sore from riding, being eaten alive by the bugs. Wet and cold and hungry and—

“I'm leading now.” Brandon pushed past them. “Move out of the way. I never should've let you lead. I'm older, the
guy
. I shouldn't have let you go this long when—
ahhh!
”

Carly had her back to him, but spun around at Brandon's cry, horrified when she didn't see his white T-shirt gleaming beneath the half moon overhead.

Skylar dropped to her knees and scrambled forward. “Brandon!”

Carly caught Skylar's belt and yanked her back. “Don't! You'll fall, too!”

“Brandon!
Are you all right? Can you hear me?”

No response, not even the normal sounds of the night. Everything was quiet except their rough breathing, like they were the only people on earth. So weird. So scary.

“We have to get down there!”

“No!” Carly held tight when Skylar tried to edge closer to the bank or ledge or wherever they were. “We can't see him! You don't know how far he fell— Skylar, we've got to get help!”

“We can't wait that long! We're lost in the freakin' forest!”

“I know, but we can't do this on our own!” Carly could barely make out the glitter of Skylar's eyes, but she heard the way her voice shook. If Skylar was scared enough to cry, she'd lose it for sure. Why had she come on this stupid trip? All she wanted to do was go home.

“Fine—I'll stay here with Brandon. You keep walking. See if you can find Seth or—or Jake and—”

Carly gulped, the thought of walking on alone making her sick to her stomach. “Wouldn't they want us to stay together?”

“Brandon's
hurt!
”

“I know, but—Skylar,
I
didn't know there was a path, either! Even without your contacts you could see it when we couldn't!”

Skylar sat back on her heels beside her. “
Brandon!
If this is a joke, it's not funny!
Say something!”

They both held their breath and listened. Nothing. Carly started crying.

“I'm going.”

“By yourself?” she choked out.

“What else can we do? Someone has to stay here with him. What if he wakes up? He'll think we left him. And if he doesn't, we won't know where to look for him unless you're here.”

She swallowed repeatedly, but couldn't stop the noisy sob from bursting out of her chest. She flung her arms around Skylar and hugged. “Please come back.”

Skylar snorted, but she hugged her back and released her. Two seconds later, her black T-shirt and jeans were swallowed up by the woods.

 

L
OUD POUNDING
brought both Rissa and Jonas awake instantly.

“Rissa? Jonas! The girls are missing!”

In an instant they both scrambled off the sofa bed. Jonas grabbed his pants and pulled them on while Rissa found her dress and yanked it over her head. Seeing she was decent, Jonas flung the door wide.

Maura stood on the porch, shaking and pale, one of Seth's older ranch hands behind her. “The girls are gone—along with Mr. Paxton's older son, Brandon. They went for a walk and—and never came back to camp.”

Jonas swore. “I'll get my men on it. Maura, call all your neighbors and get their ranch hands out on the search.”

“Wait for me. I'm coming with you.”

“You're staying here,” Jonas ordered. “Help Maura contact everyone.”

She'd already begun pulling clothes from a drawer, but now she swung to face him. “I'm going with you to help find them.”

“What's a New Yorker going to do in the mountains? You'll get lost, and then we'll have to search for you!”

“I do need help,” Maura interjected softly. “Whenever this happens we call the churches and ranches and—”

She ignored Maura's comment. “I'm not helpless! Jonas, I've logged a lot of hours doing search and—”

Before she could finish, Jonas gave her a brief, rough kiss and took off out the door where Seth's ranch hand waited.

Rissa watched them go, fear and anger and upset boiling inside her until she shrieked. “I needed two minutes to get dressed, that's all! Two lousy minutes!” She whirled around and returned to the open drawers, grabbing the first items that came to hand and mumbling to herself and cursing stubborn, egotistical men who thought women should stay home and keep the fires burning.

“I'll go start those calls,” Maura told her.

Still muttering, Rissa pulled a sweatshirt over her head and followed Maura, lifting a Yankees ball cap from the hook by the door. If Jonas thought she was a sit-back-and-wait kind of gal, he had another thing coming.

She had a phone call to make herself. One way or another, no matter the cost or the damage to her already overloaded credit cards, she was getting into the air.

 

S
KYLAR PRESSED
her hand against the rough bark of a tree and did a couple deep squats. The muscles in her legs were bunching and sore from walking at an angle.

The wild cry of something big filled the air, everywhere at once. She scanned the darkness, but didn't see anything. Walking again, slowly, her head pounded from the effort it took to focus on the path. It didn't take an idiot to figure out the trail wasn't made by humans. It twisted and turned, back and forth, and sometimes even made circles around sets of trees. It would be her luck to be following a mountain lion or something.

Don't think of that, think of Brandon.

She stumbled over a root and caught herself by grabbing a tree. The rough bark jabbed into her palm and cut. Her toes throbbed, but she kept going. She had to. She'd been walking forever, and with every step she'd been thinking. She had things to say to her mom. She needed to talk to her about what had happened and how important it was that her mom know she loved her, that she was sorry for being such a brat.

Skylar ducked beneath a branch and stumbled on another root, her already blistered feet and throbbing toes taking a beating in her wet boots. She ripped the air with curses, too tired and scared to care if the noise brought the wrong kind of attention from whatever animals were out there.

Her mom used to tell her about flying, how disorienting it could be up in the air which was why she had all those machines. What she'd give for one of those GPS things now. She knew enough to know the ranch was south of the camp, and they'd gone east to the stream. But in the water fight they'd apparently come out on the other side, which meant they'd walked for hours going
the wrong way even though Brandon had been sure it was the right one. She hadn't noticed until it was too late.

Sharp pain streaked up her calf, reminding her of ballet class and toe shoes. Her foot cramped, hard enough she actually sat down where she was and rocked on her butt, frantic to get her boot off to rub the pain away. Another gasp left her when her sock pulled off skin.

What was she thinking? She couldn't do this. She'd never find her way out and even if she did, she'd never be able to lead the others back to Carly and Brandon. Breaking the stupid limbs every few feet wouldn't be enough. She'd never get to tell her mom she was sorry for all the things she'd said to her, never get to—to tell her the truth. And she wanted to. She really wanted to. Maybe her mom would understand. She was different now than she was a year ago. They both were.

A moan sounded and it took her a minute to figure out it came from her. Before she knew it, she bawled like a baby. She hadn't even cried at her dad's funeral. She'd been numb with pain medicines and shock, yet here she sat in the middle of nowhere, blubbering away. Just freakin' perfect.

Images filled her head. Her and Nic dancing on stage, her mom always there with an armful of flowers and a video camera. Her dad being lowered into the ground. Nic's dad teasing her, laughing—

What had she done? “I'm sorry,” she whispered, choking. “Oh, God, I'm
sorry.
” She sobbed, rocking back and forth, the pain too strong, too deep, too much. It just kept coming up out of her, like someone ripping her to shreds, stabbing her again and again. Her nails dug into her skin, the muscle, and she drew blood, but that pain didn't come close to matching what she felt inside.
She raised her face to the sky overhead, unable to see it because of the tears. “I didn't mean for it to happen. Please, God, I didn't mean it! I'm
sorry! I'm sorry!
”

R
ISSA DIDN'T BOTHER
waking Ben. She wasn't going to take no for an answer, and if it meant stealing the helicopter and Jonas tossing her in jail, so be it. She'd at least find the kids first.

It had taken her ten minutes to get Maura to tell her where Ben and Marcus lived, and the half hour drive seemed more like an hour. Now she stared at the latch holding the huge double doors closed and tried to think positively even though it was nothing but rust. Not a good sign. If Ben couldn't take care of a simple latch, what were the odds the heli would fly? Ben said himself it was rusting on its rails.

Let it fly, let it fly, let it fly.
Her heart pounded in her throat, but she refused to give up. The metal bar moved with a lot of pushing and grunting and squeaking, and Rissa grabbed the door to pull it wide.

“Damn drug smugglers— I'll shoot!” The sound of a rifle cocking from the house backed up the angry man's words. “You ain't stealin' my bird! No's no!”

“Wait!” Rissa swung around to face him. “Ben, it's me! It's Rissa! From the diner!”

“Are you crazy? What are you doin'?”

“There are three kids lost in the mountains—my
daughter!
” She indicated the building. “You said you should've sold it, that it's rusty, but does it fly?”

“'Course it flies!” he returned, sounding insulted. “My legs might be shot, but my hands are still good!”

A shadow appeared behind Ben and took the gun from him, exchanging it for his canes. A porch light was flipped on, and Rissa watched Ben painstakingly make his way out onto the porch. Marcus followed and once Ben was on solid ground, Marcus broke into a run toward her. Rissa blamed her imagination, thinking the teen looked unusually pale.

Silent, they pulled the doors wide.

 

I
T DIDN'T TAKE
Jonas long to get to the campsite. He and the ranch hand had just arrived when word came in that Jake had found Skylar, and that the kids weren't together. Waiting for Jake and Skylar to get back to the base camp was torture. Where was Caroline? Why hadn't they stayed together?

Finally the group returned, but other than a shocking glimpse at Skylar's drawn features, he had to wait like the rest of them to speak to her until after Grace helped Skylar change into warm, dry clothes and checked her out.

Now Jonas locked his jaw and stared at Rissa's daughter, more than a little astonished. Minus her makeup, Skylar looked like a different person. And the difference was so incredible, it made him all the more curious to what made an otherwise beautiful girl behave as she did.

“How badly was Brandon hurt?” Mr. Paxton demanded.

“She's already said twice she doesn't know.” Jake glared at the man, unable to sit still, and Jonas felt his frustration.

“He followed
her
to the stream! She said so!”

“And then Brandon apparently led them out the wrong way. It's not Skylar's fault, and we're wasting time. My daughter is out there, too.” Jonas was aware of Skylar's wide-eyed surprise that he'd taken up for her, but there was no time for that now. Carly had to be found. She was out there surrounded by millions of acres of forest with a teenaged jerk who might or might not be hurt or even dead. How would she handle that?

Look what had happened to Skylar after the accident.

“Let's get the details and get there without giving her a hard time or pointing fingers. The important thing is finding them both,” Grace interjected, her tone calm. “Skylar, honey, do you have any idea how far you walked to get back to the stream?”

She shook her head. “Seemed like forever, but I had to go slow because I couldn't see and kept tripping. Definitely a few hours. Maybe three?” She rubbed her nose with the blanket draped around her shoulders.

“Where? What direction? Can you take us?”

“She needs a hospital.” Grace looked up from where she sat next to Skylar, her gaze sharp. “She might look okay, but she's still hypothermic and her hands and feet—”

“I'm okay,” Skylar said firmly. “I won't leave.”

Jonas walked over beside her, noticing for the first time that Grace had bandaged both Skylar's hands, and over the bandages on her feet, Skylar wore several pairs of socks, no shoes. He squatted down in front of her and stared her straight in the eyes. She stared right back, but this time he didn't see any attitude or anger, just worry for her friends.

“Carly's okay,” she whispered, her eyes glazing with tears. “And I promised her I'd come back so if you go,
I go. I—I followed a path and broke little branches all along the way, big ones when I had to go a different direction. But you won't find them without me.”

A wry smile caught him by surprise. She was so much like her mother. Determined, headstrong. Protective. Skylar hadn't let his daughter down before, and she was determined not to do it now.

“Then you can come with me, and we'll go find them together.”

 

I
T HAD TAKEN
Rissa some time to check things over for herself. No pilot worth her weight climbed in and took off trusting that everything was as it should be, and she ran through the checklist she'd memorized years ago. Now the steady
wump-wump-wump
of the helicopter's blades filled her ears and gave her a measure of calm while she flew Ben and Marcus toward the ranch.

Jonas might have been right about her lacking knowledge of the woods, but she knew the air. This was her territory. And it was the only thing keeping her panic at bay because it required her full concentration.

“Got it! Jonas always uses this channel.” Ben grinned at her raised eyebrow. “An old man gets bored,” he said in defense.

Over the headphones she heard static intermixed with voices she didn't recognize, relays between the base camp and searchers out looking for the teens east of the stream. Chatter filled the air, something about a cliff and one of them falling, possibilities of where they might be.

“Who?” she demanded. “Who's safe and who fell?”

“We're almost there,” Ben said gruffly. “The ranch is over that next ridge.”

Jonas's voice filled her headset then, ordering
someone to double-check that she'd been contacted at the ranch house and knew Skylar had been found safe, that she was with him on an ATV.

“Oh, thank God.” She flew over the ranch and kept going, found the nearly abandoned base camp lit with several fires. From there she headed east. A minute later, she flew over the widest part of the stream, the woods beyond. Trees blocked most of her view, but in the early morning light there was no mistaking the spots of color worn by the search crews.

She nodded to Ben to open the radio frequency. “Jonas, it's Rissa. Where's Skylar? Can I talk to her?” She had to hear her baby's voice.

“Mom? I'm okay. I…I love you.”

Her heart clenched at the words and she fought back the instant sting of tears. Blinking rapidly, she said, “I love you, too, Sky.”

“I'm sorry—”

“Shh, hush, it's nobody's fault. Everyone knows no one plans to get lost. Okay?”

She heard a choked “okay” in response. Sniffling, Rissa cleared her throat determinedly. “Tell me what's going on down there. Where are Brandon and Carly?”

“Brandon fell on the path and went over a—a cliff or something, and Carly stayed with him so we'd know where— So he wouldn't be scared when he woke up.”

Leave it to Skylar to think of that. “And you walked out alone to find help? Oh, honey, you did good. Can you describe it? Were there a lot of trees? Maybe not so many?”

“I could see the sky and there was a breeze. We were on a hill and it was really rocky.”

“Perfect,” Rissa murmured even though the description could've been the side of any mountain. “Where's Jonas?”

A click sounded. “I told you to stay at the house. What are you doing? It isn't safe for you to be flying under the circumstances, you're too involved.”

“And I'm going to stay that way. Any idea where the cliff is or how far they walked?”

Obviously reluctant, Jonas gave her what information he could about outcroppings and drop-offs nearby. “Be careful, Rissa.”

“Always.” Signing off, Rissa slowly zigzagged above the trees looking for breaks in the foliage along the mountainsides. She didn't see anything at first and prayed for patience, guiding the heli back and forth. She monitored the gauges, her feet pushing the pedals to move the aircraft left and right, the automatic movements as familiar to her as breathing. Her sweaty hands gripped the cyclic and collective controls, adjusting their altitude and direction while they buzzed over the terrain.

Ben and Marcus peered out their windows, silent, the chatter on their headsets from the search teams making up for the lack of noise in the cockpit. Suddenly a crackle sounded.

“We found them!” Skylar shouted over the air. “Brandon's awake. His leg is broken, but Jonas dropped a radio down and Brandon caught it. Jonas is going to try to lower himself down and see if he can reach him.”

“What?”
Rissa shook her head in protest, heading west again since the searchers couldn't have covered much ground after she'd last seen them.

“There!” Ben pointed farther down a ridge where Skylar had spotted her and now waved her blanket, her trench coat flapping in the wind. Carly stood beside her, another blanket around her shoulders. Both looked
okay, and Rissa breathed easier for the first time since getting the news.

One look at the scene told her what she needed to know. Brandon had fallen over the edge of an outcropping and was now balanced on a narrow ledge beneath. Below that, the mountain sloped steeply into a ravine.

“Jonas, wait,” Rissa ordered, hovering overhead. “Is Brandon in good shape?”

“He was knocked unconscious by the fall.”

“I didn't hit my head,” Brandon said, joining the conversation. “I, um, passed out when my leg broke.”

Paxton's son sounded strong, clear-headed. “Brandon, if we toss out a lifting harness, think you can get yourself strapped in so we can pull you up?” Thank goodness Ben had had the foresight to insist they attach it to the heli and bring it along.

“No, Rissa. You'll be too close to the mountain.”

“Yeah, I think so,” Brandon said. “My leg is completely numb, and I haven't passed out or anything since I woke up.”

“Rissa.”

She smiled, tolerant of Jonas's worry because she knew it would take time for him to trust her skills. “Jonas, I'm good. Now help me get into position so that Brandon can catch the harness. When he's on, I'll pull back and lift him over the ravine up to you.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Rissa made sure Marcus was strapped in tight before allowing him to open the sliding side door and push out the rope and harness attached to the cargo hook. From her vantage point, she saw the harness drop and get carried toward the mountain by the draft off the helicopter's blades. Now the trick was edging in close enough that Brandon could catch it.

Minutes ticked by, and more than once Ben muttered to himself when Brandon missed the harness and it swung away from him. Sweat beaded her forehead and ran down her temple, but Rissa didn't let it break her concentration. On the fifth try, Brandon snagged the harness, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“I'm in,” Brandon said, his voice high-pitched with excitement from the ordeal.

“Fasten it tight and hold on,” she ordered. “Jonas, you ready?” Once she got the okay from Brandon, and the rescue team above the ledge, Rissa lifted the chopper back and up until the rope was nearly taut. She held her breath and prayed when Brandon's feet left the ledge. Carefully, she raised him above the jagged rock formation and inward to where Jonas and the rest of the team waited.

“Got him,” Jonas said, pride and relief in his voice. “He can't feel a thing, but his leg is in bad shape. What's your fuel level? Can you fly him to the hospital?”

Rissa ordered Marcus to pull the rope back into the aircraft so it wouldn't swing into her tail rotor before she radioed the Helena airport tower and the hospital, quickly getting the information and coordinates she needed to answer Jonas's questions. “No problem. I'll pick him up at the clearing by the stream.”

 

“T
HERE YOU GO
, Skylar. And do not get those bandages wet, okay? The medicine will ease the sting and help those cuts heal faster.” Grace tucked the end of the bandage inside one of the folds around her hand and then taped it down like she had the other one. “Jonas and Jake said you must've broken a thousand or more limbs along that path. Your poor hands.”

Done, Grace grabbed the bowl of dirty water and
poured it down a nearby sink, her eyebrows raising when she turned around. Skylar looked over her shoulder and saw Marcus standing in the doorway of the physical therapy room.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she whispered. What was he doing there?

“Um…I'm going to go see if I can give Maura a hand with the food. You'll be okay?”

She nodded at Grace. “Thanks for…this. I didn't want to go to the hospital.”

“No problem. It's not every day I patch up a heroine,” Grace said with a wink. “Marcus, will you keep an eye on her?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Skylar sat there and stared down at her hands. At least Grace hadn't bandaged up her blistered feet as much.

“You okay?”

She nodded, embarrassed. She wore no makeup, looked huge due to wearing a couple layers of clothes because she'd been so cold, her feet wrapped up like a mummy's. Okay? She was a mess, and Marcus looked cute as ever.

He walked over to where she sat on one of the tables, hesitated, then sat beside her. “Mr. Paxton said Brandon followed you to the stream, and that's how you got lost.”