Jeanie’s legs were rubbery on the walk back to her car which made it rather difficult. She knew it was just the adrenaline draining out of her, but that didn’t make it any easier. She kept stumbling and bumping into the trees, taking more care of her camera than herself. At one point she slipped and landed heavily on her backside.
“Well done Buchanan,” she moaned and hauled herself up.
She began to slip and slide down a steep embankment. The ground suddenly gave way and Jeanie was sliding, arms pin-wheeling to keep her balance. The pine needles underfoot were smooth and slippery as ice. Her hiking boots, though good, had no hope of gaining traction as in a cloud of dust, Jeanie slid down into a ditch. She over balanced and landed heavily on her right arm bending it at a strange angle at the wrist.
She heard the pop and cried out.
As the dust settled around her, Jeanie felt her wrist explode into a world of agony. She had never felt this awake and horribly in her body before. There was nothing but her wrist at its strange angle and her pain. She wanted to cradle her arm but didn’t dare touch it. It was while she was sobbing and rocking herself to and fro that she heard a voice.
“Hi,” it called, “Are you okay?”
Jeanie looked up and out of the ditch she was sitting in.
A man was standing on the edge looking down at her. He was tall and broad shouldered with thick black hair lying in a wavy mass on his head. His eyes were an unusual hazel color that made them seem to be golden. For a moment Jeanie forgot her pain and wanted to reach for her camera. She moved her arm and cried out again.
“Looks like you’ve done yourself an injury,” the man said. He slid down into the ditch and came to rest on his haunches next to Jeanie. “What’s your name?”
Jeanie looked at him and swallowed. “Um, it’s Jeanie,” she said. “Jeanie Buchanan.”
“Hi Jeanie, my name’s Ryan Hunt,” he spoke gently, quietly to her in a calm and reassuring voice. Jeanie knew he was doing this to stop her from freaking out and she was amazed to realize that it was working despite her knowing what he was doing.
Ryan spent a moment examining her wrist. “Well, it’s not broken. That’s the good news.”
“It’s not? Sure feels broken,” Jeanie said feeling shock take over. She was hot and cold at the same time.
“It might be fractured, but you’ll need x-rays to be sure.”
“Is there bad news?”
“’Fraid so. The bad news is it looks badly dislocated,” Ryan continued. “Now ordinarily I would put it back myself, but this looks a little out of my league. I think you need a professional. Just in case. So let’s get you up. My car is just over there through the trees. I’ll drive you to the doc.”
“Oh, you don’t have to, really. I’m fine, I can drive myself,” Jeanie said. She didn’t want this hunk of a man to think she was the typical damsel in distress. She was a scientist. She didn’t get distressed.
“You left handed?” Ryan asked.
“No.”
“Then you’d better let me take you.”
Ryan pulled her to her feet and then lifted her in his arms. Jeanie was amazed. He picked her up like she was a feather. Then he walked up and out of the ditch without slipping once. She wondered where he bought his boots. Clearly they had better grip than hers did.
It took Ryan a couple of minutes to walk back to his truck carrying Jeanie. He deposited her and her camera on the passenger seat and then slotted the seatbelt into place around her.
“There we go,” he said and smiled at her. “Wouldn’t want you hurting any other parts on the way now would we?”
His smile was naughty but nice. Jeanie hated thinking in clichés but it really was. It seemed to hint that this man had a fun streak that wasn’t on the surface. This one hid it deep, and she would bet good money that the only telltale sign was that smile.
The drive to the main road took some time with Ryan going slowly and carefully over the uneven road surface.
“So what brings you all the way out to Sun Valley?” he asked conversationally.
“Work actually,” Jeanie confessed through gritted teeth.
“You one of those National Geographic photographers or something?” Ryan asked indicating the camera that lay on the seat between them.
Jeanie chuckled and shook her head. Her hair had come undone and was hanging about her in gentle auburn curls. She wished she could tie it up. It was such a bush when left down. But there was no helping it now.
“Actually I’m only an amateur with the camera,” she confessed.
“Oh, so what does Jeanie Buchanan do to pay the bills?”
Jeanie sighed. “I do EIA’s; environmental impact assessments.”
The change that came over Ryan was sudden and quite astounding. He hit the brakes and pulled the car over to the side of the road.