Chill Factor
Her assistant’s nonchalance was faked.
It was impossible for Lilly to fake it.
Her voice sounded nothing like her own when she said, “Please send him in.”
Heart thumping, she stared at the door. He opened it and walked in, closing it behind him. He was dressed in slacks and a sports jacket. She’d never seen him in anything other than kayaking shorts and the jeans, sweater, and coat he’d been wearing in the cabin.
Well, and nothing.
“Hello, Lilly.”
“Hello.”
“I’m glad you had the time available today.”
“I make it a point to have a follow-up visit with every man with whom I’m trapped in a mountain cabin for forty-eight hours during a blizzard.”
He was a little thinner, a little paler, but the smile was endearingly familiar as he took the chair facing her desk and gave her an unhurried once-over. When his eyes reconnected with hers, he said, “You look great.”
Then why did you let ninety-four days go by before contacting me? That was what her mind was screaming. What she said was “How’s your shoulder?”
“Brand-new. They had to replace the old with a plastic one, reputably durable, virtually indestructible.”
“Does it bother you?”
“Not too bad.”
“You say that about every injury.”
He held her gaze for a moment, then said quietly, “Some hurt more than others.”
She turned her head aside to avoid the magnetism of his blue gaze. Countless times she had asked herself what she would say and do when she saw him again—if she did.
Well, she knew she would see him at least once more. She had to. But after that, she didn’t know what to expect.
She had scripted several ways she would play this scene, ranging from cool detachment to passionate abandon. Now she couldn’t remember a single clever line from any of the imagined scenarios.
“I suppose you had to have physical therapy for it.”
“I was in a rehab hospital for several weeks.”
“The inactivity must have been maddening for you.”
“It was. But I was so much better off than most of the patients there. Scott Hamer for one.”
“Yes, I heard about his accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident.” Her surprise must have shown. “He and I had some heart-to-heart talks in the hospital. He told me he let go of the rope on purpose.”
“Why?”
She listened with increasing dismay as he told her about the steroids Wes had been giving Scott. “That in addition to sleeping with his girlfriend,” she remarked, shaking her head. “Wes Hamer is a despicable human being.”
“I agree. They’re keeping the scandal with Millicent under wraps. Not to protect Wes but to spare her parents. Why add to their pain?”
“He deserves public censure, but I understand that reasoning.”
“The scuttlebutt is that he’s been humbled, not only by Scott’s accident but also by what happened on the mountain.”