I picked up my pace and began running but, just as the trees broke, I stepped onto a rock and fell off to the side.
I shrieked as my ankle popped and a searing pain ricocheted up my leg. I rolled down a small hill and connected with another tree. My back ached while tears streamed down my face. It was hard to breathe; I couldn’t take in enough air. The snow was coming down around me in buckets, slinking down my back and threatening my body with hypothermia. My ankle was throbbing and my leg was aching. I still couldn’t catch my breath and my tears seemed to be freezing against my skin. I was woozy from smacking into the tree and panic was starting to overtake me.
I took in great gulps of cold air to try and calm myself down, but all I did was cause myself to have a coughing jag that sucked the oxygen right from my lungs. Just as the edges of my vision started to darken and my head started to feel floaty, I felt my body being lifted from the ground.
Feeling suddenly safe, I closed my eyes and gave up fighting.
Chapter 7
Liam
I saw the woman take a tumble from my window and I went charging out the front door. I didn’t know what the fuck a woman like her was doing out in weather like this but I saw the way her ankle caught. At best, she’d sprained it, but it was more likely she’d dislocated it. I hopped down the steps and went charging for the hill she rolled down. When I got to the edge, I saw her gasping for air.
It was the same woman I’d seen walking across the road earlier that day, with the long blonde hair and the put-together clothing. Her eyes were a striking blue that almost halted me in my tracks but it was her gasping that ripped me from my trance before I made my way down to her.
She’d tumbled her way into a tree and lost her breath. She was struggling to catch it and I knew if I didn’t get her inside, I’d be looking at a very serious situation. I lifted her up into my arms just as she passed out and I scaled the hill quickly before I ran back inside with her. I had to make sure I could get her lungs and her diaphragm to sync back up before I could even touch her ankle, which was definitely dislocated.
I felt for her pulse and it was faint. I saw her stomach jolting but her chest wasn’t rising. I settled my hand onto her stomach and pressed down before I blew steadily into her mouth. The moment she gasped for air, I pulled away and looked at her ankle. Tears were streaming down her face while she tried to grasp at anything around her and I knew I had a narrow window to pop her ankle back in before shock set in.
So, I grabbed her ankle, steadied her leg, and twisted.
She groaned and her back arched while tears continued to stream down her face. I propped her foot up with some pillows before I walked back to retrieve a first aid kit. I dug out the ace bandage, as well as some heating and cooling gel. Then I settled back down beside her and started to take care of her ankle.
It was going to swell up and hurt for a while but, if no ligaments had been torn, it should subside within a few days.
I heard her breathing steady out while I applied the gel. She sighed with relief once the cooling sensation kicked in. Then, I began covering her ankle with gauze and an ace bandage. She had to keep it as still as she could manage until the joint itself could heal.
I chanced a look outside. The snow was piling up much faster than I’d anticipated and now there was this strange fucking woman in my cabin.
“What are you doing out in this weather?” I asked.
Her wild eyes hooked onto me but I kept my gaze steady on her ankle.
“What?” she asked.
“What possessed you to go on a hike during this storm?”
“I just wanted to see the sights before the storm set in,” she said.
“You saw that tree up close. Get enough?”
I lifted my gaze to her as her eyes widened at my statement.
“Yes, I’ve seen enough. Thank you.”
She pulled her ankle from my hands and immediately hissed in pain. She tried to place her foot on the floor, no doubt seeing if she could walk on it, but the moment her ass hit the couch, I leaned over to pick up her foot.
“Enjoy the trial run?” I asked.
“I knew the storm was coming,” she said. “But I figured I could get back before it actually started. The clouds didn’t look that gray when I left.”
“And you got lost,” I said.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
I flicked my gaze up to her while my hands finished wrapping up her ankle. I could see she was still shivering and the last thing I needed was for this woman to catch a damn chill. I got up and helped her out of her jacket, even as she continued to give me suspicious little side glances. Then, I gathered up some blankets and brought them back to her.
“I’ll get a fire going in a second but ,if you get any colder, your ankle’s the least of your worries.”