The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ the entrance to the silver mine I told you about.” She pointed to something off in the distance about a half-mile away from the lodge. He could just make out brown wooden boards, but it appeared tiny from here. “It’s closed to the public?” For some reason he thought maybe they’d made some of the mines into tourist attractions.

      “Oh, yes. Not a safe place at all. There’s a risk of avalanches out that way as well. We’ve had some snow, so the safety teams are monitoring the area. There are some off-piste skiing areas not far from there that could be affected.”

      “Off-what?”

      “Off-piste. It means off the trail. Areas between the groomed runs. Some of them are open for skiing and some of them aren’t. But here in Silver Pass those sections are reserved for advanced skiers, since there can be rocks and debris hidden beneath the snow—although we try to keep things marked well enough that people are aware of what’s there.”

      “I don’t think I’ll be tackling any of those this trip.”

      “Chicken,” she said with a smile. “We’re almost at the end of the line.” She nodded at the sign on the pole to the left that warned skiers to put the tips of their skis up.

      Somehow, once they got to the offloading area, Jack managed to keep his skis pointed skyward and slide his ass off the chair, where he then glided down the little slope that led away from the circling chairs. And this time he didn’t fall or careen into any other people who were exiting the lifts.

      Grabbing onto a rope that was on the far side of the space, Mira slid smoothly beside him. “Good job!”

      “Mira!” Her name came from across the way, and when she glanced over with a roll of her eyes he couldn’t help but try to figure out who it was.

      Ah, his former ski instructor and her ex. Standing at the top of the bunny slope, he was with a group of about twelve novice skiers. Even from here, though, he could sense the man’s frown when Mira didn’t answer him.

      “You ready?” she said, her tight voice indicating she wanted to get away from there.

      Judging from the steam he sensed gathering behind the other man’s eyes, he nodded. “Why don’t you go on? Unfortunately, I’m going to need to start with that beginner’s hill again.”

      Mira gave him a cool glance. “Do you think I’m going to scamper off like a frightened rabbit?”

      Hardly. He’d just thought she might want to avoid the guy.

      They made their way over to the gentle slope, using poles and sidesteps until they were at the top. Although the instructor kept on teaching his charges how to slow their speed going down the hill, the man’s eyes were obviously on them, probably wondering what the hell Jack was doing with her again.

      Deciding to play by the other man’s rules, Jack stared him down for a few seconds. Once the guy looked away and began to actively teach again, he noticed that Mira’s attention wasn’t on them but on the abandoned mine she’d pointed out from the ski lift. “What is it?” he asked.

      “I don’t know. Probably nothing.” She gave a quick shrug then pulled one of her gloves off with her teeth before reaching in her pocket. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through something, glancing at the gray cloud cover a time or two. “Weird,” she muttered, half to herself.

      She put the phone in her pocket and then shoved her glove back on. “Do you want to lead or follow?”

      “I always believe in letting ladies go first.”

      “Perfect. Because I like going first. That way, I can concentrate on getting to the good stuff.”

      Before he could decide if she was purposely being suggestive or not she’d used her poles to shove off the flat surface and start down the hill. He followed her, watching in awe as she expertly picked up speed and maneuvered from side to side. His balance felt pretty good today, but even so he couldn’t match her speed, even using his poles to give himself some additional impetus from time to time. She was halfway to the bottom by the time he’d made it fifty yards.

      Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of another skier, coming just as fast as Mira had gone. Only this person sliced to the right just as he passed Jack, his skis sending out a large burst of snow that pelted him right in the chest. “Sorry about that, Number Five.”

      What the hell? Struggling not to lose his balance or his temper, he watched as the jerk proceeded on down the hill and did a quick zigzag as he came to Mira and then pulled in front of her, forcing her to come to a quick halt.

      Jack frowned. That damn instructor again. He pushed his ski poles into the snow and forced himself to go faster, making sure his skis were aimed straight down the hill to speed his progress. By the time he reached her, though, the idiot had already left, heading toward the bottom in a series of moves geared to show off his skills to their best advantage. Well, that was all the man had going for him, from what Jack could tell.

      “What was that all about?”

      Mira’s jaw was tight. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

      “What is a number five? Is it some kind of skiers’ code for ‘make way’ or something?”

      “What?” Her face went very still.

      “He skidded in the snow, hitting me with the stuff, then threw me an apology and said ‘number five’.”

      “I...” She took a deep breath and then tried again. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

      Somehow he didn’t believe her, because she hadn’t given him a blank stare or said she had no idea what it meant. She’d said it didn’t mean anything, as if she knew what the guy was talking about but was discounting it.

      She scooted closer and brushed some snow off his jacket. “Sorry he’s such an ass.”

      What Jack couldn’t understand was what Mira could have seen in a man like this. But he did like the way she’d sidled closer and the touch of her hands on his chest, even if there were ten tons of clothing between them.

      “Did he get you too?”

      “No. He was just trying to show off for his students.”

      It was more than that, but if she didn’t want to get into it, who was he to try to force the issue?

      She again pulled out her phone and glanced at it. “Do you mind if we head toward the mine? We won’t go all the way or anything. There’s another easy slope or two that we’ll need to cover, but they’re not much harder than this one. I just want to get a closer look at something.”

      “That’s fine.” The further away they got from her ex, the better Jack liked it. He wasn’t worried about himself, he was pretty sure he could take the guy on solid, non-snow-covered ground, but he didn’t want the bastard bothering Mira. “What do you want to look at?”

      “I’m not sure. One of the snowdrifts looks a little iffy from here, but it could just be the angle. I’m not seeing any alerts on the weather site.” She nodded at the sky. “But I think we might see another inch or two before the day’s out.”

      Jack had noticed СКАЧАТЬ