I'd clung to Holt as if my life depended on it. Which was pretty much the case. The landscape passed by in a blur of white and green. We climbed a small hill and turned down another one. I hid my face from the cold as he plowed through the powder toward a small, crudely built cabin sitting seemingly in the middle of nowhere. With thoughts of Gretel still lingering in my muddled head, I half expected to see the tiny house covered in candy and treats.

Holt pulled up in front of the house and turned off the motor.

"By any chance, is your friend a witch who likes to eat little children?" Everything coming out of my mouth sounded silly and slurred. "Does the cold make you feel intoxicated? I'm feeling like I had one too many tequila shots."

I climbed off the snowmobile. Holt hopped off quickly to catch me before my legs collapsed.

"Got ya, my sweet frozen treat. Yes, hypothermia makes you feel a little punch drunk, and no, my friend is not a witch who eats children. He's a nature photographer who comes up here occasionally to take pictures of animals and seasonal changes. Now let's get you inside."

Holt lifted a potted plant and dug through some slushy snow. "Got it." He held up a key and turned to the door. With some effort, it opened, and Holt helped me inside. The interior of the cabin was surprisingly cozy but icy cold.

I turned to him and the movement made my head spin. "I hate to tell you this, but it's just as cold in here as it is out there."

"Yep. But I can have a fire roaring in that hearth in minutes, and while we wait, I'll just have to find another way to keep you warm."

"Looking forward to it," I mumbled on my way to the small sofa sitting in front of the hearth. It was covered with a red and green crocheted throw. With my legs feeling as if I'd just finished a hundred mile uphill bike ride, it looked terribly inviting. I flopped down on it like a rag doll and immediately turned on my side and curled into a fetal position.

My heart was no longer thumping with the fear that I might freeze to death alone in the forest, but none of my limbs were cooperating yet. It seemed it was going to take more than the presence of an incredibly hot man to get me back to normal.

Holt lumbered back into the house with an armful of wood and kindling. He pulled off his coat and tossed it onto the floor. Then he dropped down to one knee, pulled open the metal screen and dropped the wood into the hearth one log at a time.

I hugged myself and grew mesmerized by the movement of his arms and back muscles beneath his sweater. "Have I mentioned that you look just like a video game character I'm working on for Hell's Rangers? His name is Ziggy Holt."

His face shot toward me. "I think maybe you're just a little out of it still."

"All right. You don't have to believe me. But it's true." I covered my mouth as a loud, stretched yawn bellowed from it. "I'm so sleepy."

"Yeah, that's one of the effects of hypothermia. I think I got to you just in time though." The wood and new flames crackled and popped as the fire worked its way through the wood. Holt straightened and stared down at me. "We should have some decent heat soon enough. I was going to curl myself around you, but I don't think this sofa is big enough for me."

"Oh, but I'm really waiting to have you curled around me. I could move this throw to the floor."

He snapped his fingers. "Good idea." He strode off to the small room in the opposite corner and emerged with an armful of blankets and pillows. He arranged a nice floor bed directly in front of the fireplace.

My head hurt some as I pushed up to sitting. I stared up at Holt, feeling confused and helpless. "I'm thinking about taking off this big, puffy coat because it's kind of wet, but the idea of moving my arms that much just seems too hard." I looked down at the boots that had kept my feet warm well enough on the path but had quickly become squishy wet snow receptacles once I'd veered away from the trail. "I think my boots will be too much work too. They might just be permanently frozen to my feet. So I guess the whole sandal worry is a moot point because I'm going to be stuck in these clodhoppers forever."

While I blathered on, Holt walked over to the couch and unzipped my coat. I smiled up at him as he pushed it off my shoulders and down my arms. "You've got very long eyelashes," I noted as he leaned over to take off my boots. "He has them too."

"Who is that?'

"Ziggy Holt, my video game fantasy man."

His face popped up. It seemed he was having a hard time keeping away a smile.

"Oops. That was supposed to stay inside my head. My gosh, this really is like being drunk."

"Then you make an adorable drunk, snow angel." He lifted me into his arms. "Let's see if we can defrost those toes and fingers. And anything else that needs warming up."

Holt lowered me onto the soft mound of blankets and pillows. The flames were growing tall and red. Slowly, a delicious heat began to flow from the hearth.

The sleepiness that had consumed me still lingered in my limbs, and my head was heavy with the events of the day. The second Holt stretched out next to me, I scooted into his warmth. He wrapped his arms around me.

"How did you find me?" Some of my more logical thoughts were returning. It seemed miraculous that instead of being frozen like an icicle to a tree, I was cuddled next to Holt in front of a roaring fire.

“When I pulled up to the inn, Coco came running down the steps, looking worried. A rarity for her. She said she'd sent you on a walk but that you'd been gone too long. I'm skilled at tracking, but the snow had obliterated some of your footsteps. I found exactly where you went off the trail and then sort of just followed my instincts. I know it's strange, but I felt this connection with you, as if I could sense you were in trouble, and I just rode until I found you huddled against that tree. Why did you leave the path?"

"Gretel was out for a walk with the cubs. And I just wasn't ready to kiss my ass good-bye. Although, in my daze, I did conclude that providing food for a hungry bear family would have been a noble way to go. Painful, I imagine. But noble."

He laughed and squeezed me tighter. "So you were a few degrees body temperature away from freezing to death and you reasoned out that you'd at least save the lives of three bears. I guess I'd probably be thinking the same thing. Still, I'll have to let Mike, the other ranger, know that Gretel is making the rounds with the cubs. We weren't expecting her this early."

I sighed with satisfaction as the glowing heat from the fire and the even more glowing heat from the man slowly thawed out my limbs. I actually felt my body relaxing for the first time since I'd gotten lost. Moments later, in the secure warmth of Holt's embrace, I fell asleep.