Chapter 15
Finally reaching the top of the mountain, Angelica couldn’t wait to ski downhill, where she knew there would be hundreds of other skiers to take her mind off Parker North. Quickly, as though they did this together daily, both she and Parker moved effortlessly off the chairlift and toward the right, where they both zoomed downhill.
Angelica felt free of all negative emotions as she surged downhill, Parker at her side. When they reached the middle of the mountain, Parker skied off the trail to an area where he could rest if he so desired. She slid into the sectioned-off area but not without a little snow pluming of her own. Before she could stop herself, she quickly whipped her skis around so that she showered Parker with snow.
Blissfully happy to be alive, Angelica dropped to the snow-covered ground, where she proceeded to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. Parker dropped down beside her. “Want to tell me what’s so funny?” he asked, all traces of his earlier stuffiness gone.
Saying the first thing that came to mind, Angelica spoke. “This sounds stupid, but I can’t remember being so . . . happy!” There, she’d said it, and the world hadn’t swallowed her up. So what if she came off as nerdy or silly. She was blissfully happy to be there, glad to be alive, and more than thrilled to be sitting in a deep pile of snow with this man who’d unknowingly captured her heart.
A shadow dimmed the otherwise golden sparkle in Parker’s eyes. Clearly, Angelica’s words had upset him. She didn’t want to do or say anything that would interfere with this moment, so she clammed up, keeping her joy to herself.
“It’s good to see you so cheerful, happy. In my line of work, it’s not always the outcome,” Parker said as plumes of cold air spilled from his mouth.
Her heart quickened with anticipation. Finally, she thought, as she turned to look at him. He’d removed his goggles, and she did not like what she saw. Yes, he was the sexiest guy she’d encountered in a very long time, mostly, she thought, because he wasn’t trying to be sexy like the guys she was used to. But there was such a look of loss and sadness about him that she reached out and placed a cold, gloved hand on his cheek. “Tell me. You look as though you’ve lost your best friend. Why so sad?”
She could see that he struggled with his thoughts, as if he was contemplating whether to reveal them or not. He shook his head, his dark hair damp from the wet snowflakes that had begun to fall. He removed his gloves and placed them on his lap. “What makes you think I’m sad?” he asked.
She hesitated a moment before answering. “You look sad, Parker. No mystery there. Are you having problems at work?” Angelica watched Parker’s expression change from sad to ticked off.
“Who told you I was having problems at work? Was it Max or Grace? Because I didn’t say anything to them,” he said vehemently.
“Good grief, you don’t have to bite my head off! And for your information, I have never so much as spoken to Max or Grace. I don’t even know who they are.” She stopped and backtracked. “Yes, I do know who Max Jorgensen is. Who doesn’t? But Grace, no, I don’t know her, and no one told me a thing about your work situation. Whatever it is you do.” She mumbled the last words.
He reached for the gloves in his lap, then pushed himself up off the snow. After adjusting his goggles, he grabbed his poles and wrapped a leather band around each wrist, then skied out of the sectioned-off area straight to a trail that led to a black run.
“Hey,” she shouted, but all she saw was his black and red Spyder jacket flash around the catwalk.
Wanting to catch up with him, needing to know what in the hell she’d said to send him racing off like some spastic skier, she poled out of their resting spot and across the large bowl area to the catwalk that led to some of the toughest black runs on the mountain. He must be one hell of a skier, she thought, as she approached the top of the slope. She was a decent skier, blue runs her most challenging. He must be expert, she thought, as she pushed off down the steep mountainside, traversing back and forth so as to slow her descent. There were some icy patches that could be tricky. Away in the distance, she saw his dark silhouette as he zigzagged through the unplowed snow. Hurrying to catch up with him, she used her poles to push forward, then lowered her hips and knees to a position that afforded her a bit of speed. She would be damned before she would let him beat her to the bottom of the hill.
As she careened around the moguls, she saw a lone skier in her peripheral vision. Wondering how he just so happened to appear out of the blue, she saw he was flying, and didn’t seem to see she was directly in his path. As he got closer, she realized he was on a snowboard. She began to make her way to the side of the mountain even though she had the right of way. She heard him coming closer, the edge of his snowboard slicing across an icy patch.
She whipped away from the kamikaze boarder, felt herself careening as she lost her balance . . .
Then everything went black.
* * *
Parker looked up just in time to see a flurry of snow and a body as it was tossed in the air.
“Son of a bitch,” he shouted as he saw the skier slam against the icy ground. Without another thought, he kicked off his skis, tossed his goggles aside, and poled his way back up the hill. Several spots were crusted over with ice, and he slipped. “Damn! I shouldn’t have taken the black run, dammit!” Hurrying as best as he could given the circumstances, he gasped for air as he made his way uphill.
Out of breath, Parker managed to drop to his feet when he reached the injured skier. And lo and behold if it wasn’t his new friend, Angelica Shepard.
Knowing he shouldn’t move her, yet not sure where the nearest first-aid unit was located on the mountain, he did what all skiers knew to do in such a situation. Quickly, he placed his ski poles in an X position. With any luck, someone would see them and send for help. Until help arrived, he would do what needed to be done to ensure that Angelica survived the accident.
He leaned over her and felt for a pulse. Strong and steady. Always a good sign, he thought to himself. With exaggerated carefulness, he felt her head, searching for a lump or a cut. When he found nothing, he breathed a little sigh of relief but knew there could still be spinal injuries. Not wanting to move her, he straddled her waist and so very, very gently, probed the back of her neck and spine as much as he could given the heavy ski clothes she wore.
The moment he leaned up and looked down at this striking woman, her eyes fluttered open. “What happened?” she asked in a whisper.
Parker North felt like shouting to the world but knew it wasn’t the time or the place. Angelica was speaking, and that was a very good sign.
“You were hit, sweetie. It’s going to be all right. I promise you,” he said, vowing he would not lose this woman to a head injury. Not now. Not when he was just beginning to feel something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Or ever.
“You’re an angel, right?” Angelica said softly.
He shook his head. “I am anything but, trust me.”
The sound of snowmobiles provided a much-needed reprieve. As they flew across the snow and ice, Parker could see that there were four emergency techs, two on each snowmobile. “Over here,” he shouted. They jumped off the machines, carrying a backboard.
“She was knocked down by some out of control snowboarder. I don’t know where the guy wound up, but she was knocked out for at least five minutes. It took me that long to get to her,” Parker explained to the medics.
They quickly shifted her onto the backboard, then carefully secured her neck and mouth with medical tape so she couldn’t move.
One of the medics leaned over her and asked her a question. “Do you know what your name is?”
“Yes. Angelica.”
The paramedic gave a thumbs-up sign to the others. “Do you know what today’s date is?”
“No,” she said.
“Okay, that’s good. Now, I am going to give you a number, and each time I ask, I want you to repeat it for me. Think you can do that?”
“Sure,” she muttered.
“Number eight,” he said. “Now, can you tell me where you live?”
“New York.”
“This is good. Now can you tell me the number I just told you?”
Angelica frowned and tried to shake her head. “I can’t seem to remember. Why can’t I move?” she asked, her voice a bit louder than before.
Parker watched from behind her and knew she was frightened. It was always the same. Once people knew they were injured and couldn’t move certain parts of their body, they instantly freaked out. Not that he expected anything less.
“You’re going to be fine, ma’am. We have your head taped to the board as a precaution.” The medics’ radio came to life then. “Have a chopper ready. We need to get her to Denver, to Angel of Mercy. They’ve got the best neurological unit in the state.”
“What?” Angelica asked. “I have a head injury?”
“We don’t know. This is just a precautionary move on our part. Please, relax,” the technician said.
“Wait!” Parker shouted. “Let me go down with her. She’s all alone.”
“Are you . . . Hey, I know who you are!” the second tech said. “You work at Angel of Mercy, right?”
Parker nodded, then placed a finger over his lips. “Shhh. Let’s just get her out of here before she freezes.”
Parker looked up just in time to see the helicopter swirling above them. “Where will they land?” he asked.
“We have to bring her down to the station. There is no place to land here.”
“Then let’s move it! Time is of the essence here!” Parker shouted as though he were right back in the trauma unit that had driven him to Maximum Glide in the first place.
Once a doctor, always a doctor.
Two of the paramedics hoisted Angelica inside what appeared to be a plastic canoe of sorts. They covered her face with plastic, then he saw her hand move slightly—another very good sign.
“Please, don’t put that thing over my face,” she said in an almost normal voice. “I’m a little claustrophobic.”
“Of course,” the tech said, then arranged the plastic so that it didn’t cover her entire face. “Ma’am, we are going to take you down now. Sit tight, okay?”
In a broken voice, she replied, “It’s not like I have a choice, do I?”
“That’s my girl,” Parker said. “We’ll have you back to normal in no time.”
He noted she was speaking coherently, and that was very good under the circumstances. She tried to turn her head to see him, but couldn’t. “You’re going for a ride, hang on,” Parker said, as the two medic/skiers each grabbed an end of the boat-like plastic contraption that would carry her to safety.
Trees whizzed by, and the pure blue sky was all she could see as they hustled to get her to the hospital. Her last thought before things went black again was that she’d been saved by an angel.