Derek swept it up and then swore a few seconds later.
“Broken?” she guessed, watching as he turned it off and on a few times.
“Broken.” After messing with it for a couple of minutes, he tucked the still-nonfunctional radio into his pack and turned to Artie. “Are you going to be able to make it to base camp?”
“Didn’t we already cover this?” she snapped, trying to disguise her own doubts. There was no way she was going to make Derek carry her back to safety like some pampered princess. She was going to get there on her own steam, even if her leg felloff.
Instead of taking offense, Derek grinned at her. “Okay, my feisty goddess. Lead the way, then.” He gestured toward what used to be the trail.
“Uh…this way isn’t going to work.” A cliff on one side, heavy brush on the other, and the huge fallen limb in front of them blocked the way as cleanly as a barred door. “We’re going to need to drop south to go around this.”
After eyeing the downed, tree-size branch, he nodded. “You’re right. It’ll definitely be easier going around than through. I knew there was a reason I picked you as my partner.”
Her snort was covered by another blast of wind.
* * *
Even as it grew closer to full dark, Derek still couldn’t stop looking at her. After being reminded what her lips felt like against his, all those feelings he’d shoved into a mental drawer four years earlier came rushing back. His love for her filled his chest, blocking out the cold and making it impossible to keep the grin off his face.
It was worse now that she was pretending not to limp, reminding him of the stubborn, competitive girl with whom he’d shared the majority of his childhood and college years. Apparently, she hadn’t changed much. After hearing how possessive and controlling that asshole Randy had turned out to be, it shocked him that she’d put up with him for so long.
“Let me carry you.”
Artie didn’t even turn around when she answered. “No.”
“Stubborn,” he muttered, although the corners of his lips curled, once again, into a smile. As much as he wished she’d accept his help, he loved her mule-headedness. Pulling his gaze from her profile, Derek reminded himself that they still needed to get back to base. There’d be plenty of time to admire Artie later, especially since they were back together. The thought boggled his mind. After all those years of frustrated longing, he finally,finally, got to keep her. His jaw firmed. This time she’d be safe with him. He’d make sure of that.
As he strode through the gathering darkness, passing the remains of their temporary shelter again, he stayed alert. The newly formed boot print, and the cigarette butts and incendiary supplies in the cabin made him uneasy. He scanned the trees for movement, but the shadowed near-darkness could hide anything—or anyone—that didn’t want to be seen. His ears strained to pick up the snap of a twig or the scrape of pine needles against a moving body, but the wind covered any other sound.
Snow began to fall again, but it wasn’t the fluffy, soft flakes shown at the end of Christmas movies. Instead, icy pellets stung his exposed skin, and he tugged his hat lower to protect the back of his neck.
Their shift to the south had been an uphill slog, and now they were following the side of a ridge. Their vantage point allowed them to see farther than they could on the way out, and Derek took advantage of the openness, scanning the area for any flash of color or movement. He realized that he wasn’t just squinting to keep the stinging snowflakes out of his eyes. The storm had hurried the day along, and it was almost dark.
“Hold up!” he called to Artie, and she turned around, looking relieved to be able to put her back to the brutal wind for a minute. He pulled two flashlights out of his pack and handed her one.
“Thanks.” Flicking on the light, she aimed the beam at the ground. “I didn’t realize how dark it’d gotten.”
He turned on his own light, following Artie as she started walking east along the ridge again, swinging her bad leg ever so slightly to the side with each stride. If he hadn’t been watching for it, he would’ve missed her tiny limp. He was tempted to sling her over his shoulder, despite her protests, but he knew she’d much rather take care of herself. Clenching his free hand into a fist to keep from picking her up, he concentrated on the dark path ahead.
With a yelp, she started to fall, and Derek leaped forward, catching the back of her coat just before her body hit the ground. He hauled her to her feet, turned her around, and lifted her in a fireman’s carry. Except for a grunt, she didn’t protest, which meant her knee wasreallyhurting.
Pivoting, he turned back the way they’d just come.
“Where are you going?” Artie asked.
“Back to the cabin. Once the storm dies down again and you rest your knee for a while, we’ll try again.”
In the few seconds of silence that followed, Derek wasn’t sure if she was planning to protest or agree with the plan. His arm tightened around the backs of her thighs. It didn’t matter what she said. There was no way she could hike all the way back to base on a slippery, narrow ledge in a snowstorm while injured.
“Okay.”
He blinked. He’d been braced for a fight, but Artie had managed to surprise him yet again. Grinning, he gave her legs another squeeze, this one affectionate. Life with Artemis Rey would never be boring.
Even with his slow pace from carrying Artie, the cabin came back into view quickly. It was a little disheartening to know just how short of a distance they’d covered, but Derek didn’t say anything out loud. From Artie’s uncharacteristic silence, he knew she was in a lot of pain, and she didn’t need his Gloomy Gus comments bringing her down.
“Home, sweet home,” he said grimly, carefully maneuvering through the doorway so none of Artie’s parts bumped the wood.
Although she laughed, it sounded like she was gritting her teeth. “I was thinking fond thoughts about this place when we left it, but I have to admit I’m not too excited to be back.”
