Wilde Thing. Jannine Gallant

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      Hannah Ryder’s heart stopped then rushed onward in a crazy rhythm. She held her breath along with the rest of the people in the crowd as the edge of the white wall closed in on Tripp…then buried him with a thunderous roar. A hush silenced the onlookers as the avalanche slid into the giant boulders and trees at the base of the mountain before rumbling to a halt. In all the blinding white, she searched for a neon green helmet, a ski, any indication that her best friend’s brother was somewhere in the rubble field left behind. Nothing. Pressing a gloved hand to her mouth, she held back a cry.

      Concerned voices sounded around her, stretching her nerves with endless speculation.

      “Looked like Tripp went under over to the far right.”

      “He could have been swept farther down.”

      “There goes ski patrol out to find him. I wonder if he carried an electronic beeper.”

      “Damn, didn’t they blast that area for avalanche control this morning?”

      “I’m sure they did…”

      Tamping down rising panic, she pushed her way through the spectators crowding the village then headed up toward the accident site a good hundred yards away at a run. Ski patrol was already out on the snow, using probes to push deep through the surface from the place where Tripp had disappeared down the trajectory path of the avalanche.

      “Stay back, lady. Emergency and medical personnel only past this point.”

      She stopped when the uniformed employee clamped a hand on her arm. With a nod, she shaded her eyes from the blinding sun reflecting off the snow and squinted toward the area where the emergency crew worked frantically.

      Please find him.

      “I’ve got something!”

      When the shout went up, half a dozen men converged on the designated spot with shovels. Hannah prayed it was Tripp and not just a rock. When her phone rang, she pulled the cell from her jacket pocket and glanced at the display. Eden. Way out in Wyoming. How the hell had Tripp’s family heard already?

      “Hello.”

      “Did you go out to watch the competition?” Eden’s voice was filled with panic. “Is Tripp okay?”

      “I’m at Squaw. They’re searching for him now. I don’t know anything yet.”

      A siren wailed from the road leading to the village. Hannah glanced back as an ambulance pulled up, lights flashing.

      “Then he did get caught in the avalanche?” Her friend’s voice rose another notch. “Oh, my God!”

      Hannah tried to keep her own fear at bay and spoke in a steady tone. “How did you hear?”

      “One of his buddies called the ranch. Jake was up on the mountain, waiting for his run, and didn’t see it happen. I guess word of the accident spread faster than a virus, and he felt we should be informed before we saw it on the news or something.”

      “I was watching Tripp’s run. Wait!” She ran a few steps closer as they pulled his limp body up out of the hole they’d dug and laid him on the snow. “They found him.”

      “Thank God. Please tell me he’s all right.”

      “I hope so.” Her voice cracked a little. “The doctor’s working on him now. They’re putting him on a stretcher.”

      Hannah glanced toward the employee who’d stopped her minutes before. He was talking to one of the cameramen who’d been filming the competition. If the raised voices were any indication, the reporter with him wasn’t getting any closer, either. Heart pounding, she took off at a run.

      “Damn it, lady!”

      Ignoring the shout, she sprinted another twenty yards up the slope to the stretcher and stopped a few feet behind the doctor bent over Tripp. His green helmet and goggles lay on the snow next to him. Long, dark lashes fanned against colorless cheeks.

      One ski patrolman dropped his shovel and scowled at her. “Hey, you don’t belong up here.”

      “Someone notified Tripp’s family. I have his sister on the phone, and they deserve to know what’s happening.”

      Tripp’s lashes fluttered, and he let out a moan. Eyes the color of moss opened slowly. His head turned to the side as comprehension dawned in his confused gaze. “I guess the beast got me.” His voice croaked, and a shiver wracked his body.

      The doctor depressed a button on his radio. “He’s coming around and is responsive. I don’t expect head trauma, but his right shoulder is dislocated. Possible fractures to his legs and probable hypothermia. You can call off the medevac helicopter. We’ll take him to the hospital in Truckee by ambulance.”

      Two ski patrolmen lifted the stretcher and strapped it to a sled behind the waiting snowmobile.

      Tripp’s pale lips pressed tight on another moan. He blinked twice then met her gaze. Recognition brightened his eyes, and his brow knit. “Hannah?”

      Her grip on the cell tightened. “He’s conscious, Eden.” Relief flooded through her. “He said my name.”

      “Thank God.” Her friend’s voice faded. “Don’t cry, Mom. Hannah says he’s talking.”

      The snowmobile started with a roar.

      Hannah raised her voice. “I have to go. I’ll call you when I know more.” She slipped the phone into her pocket then bent to touch Tripp’s arm as the sled slid past her. “I told your sister you were fine. Don’t make a liar out of me.”

      His smile looked more like a grimace. “Takes more than an avalanche to keep me down, but, damn, it ruined my near perfect run.”

      She rolled her eyes as the snowmobile headed down the slope to the waiting ambulance then let out a long sigh. Tripp might not be her favorite of her old roommate’s three brothers—or so she tried to tell herself. He acted like he was a god in the extreme skiing world. Probably because the media portrayed him as one. Women fawned all over him everywhere he went. Those green eyes with their impossibly long lashes made even her cynical heart flutter. But he was too vibrant, too alive to imagine him crushed beneath the snow he loved so much.

      Hannah hadn’t meant to come out to watch him when she’d woken up that morning. After all, her days of crushing on her best friend’s brother were long past. But somehow she’d ended up at the base of the mountain with the crowd of onlookers there to support the Wilde Thing. She’d swear every female in the crowd had sighed when his name was announced over the loudspeaker. Tripp Wilde, favorite to win…on and off the slopes.

      She released some of her pent-up tension on a long sigh. He’d been lucky to escape without major injuries. Beyond fortunate. Not that Tripp would necessarily look at it that way.

      Turning, Hannah walked back to the village, shivering as she hurried off the mountain and through the parking lot. With her head down, she nearly ran into a woman who stepped out from behind a luxury SUV.

      “Oops, sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

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