speed was important. After a night out in the open in the wet and temperatures below freezing, the boys would be in serious trouble.
They had to reach them fast.
The path grew steeper, the mist came down and Jack shook his head. ‘It’s November, it’s freezing cold and the visibility is zero.’ He hitched his rucksack more comfortably on his broad shoulders and squinted into the mist. ‘Who the hell chooses to climb mountains at this time of year?’
‘You do it all the time,’ Bryony pointed out, checking her compass again. ‘One of these days we’re going to be out here rescuing you.’
‘Never.’ He winked and gave her a sexy grin. ‘I am invincible.’
Bryony rolled her eyes. ‘And arrogant.’ She stopped dead and he looked at her questioningly.
‘Why have you stopped?’
‘Because your ego is blocking my path.’
Jack laughed and then the laughter faded. ‘Listen, Blondie, about last night—’
‘Not now,’ Bryony said hastily. She really didn’t want to tackle the subject again so soon, especially not halfway up a mountain.
‘I just wanted to apologise,’ he said softly. ‘I was out of line. You’re a brilliant mother and I know you’ll do what’s right for Lizzie.’
Stunned by his apology, Bryony lost her ability to speak. She’d never heard Jack apologise for anything before.
‘Let’s forget it,’ she mumbled, and Jack nodded, his blue eyes studying her closely.
‘All right. We’ll talk about it later.’ He glanced up the path and frowned. ‘There is no way that helicopter is going to fly in this.’
‘So we evacuate them down the mountain.’
He nodded and then turned to her, his eyes twinkling wickedly. ‘Why did the blonde stare at the can of frozen orange juice?’ He leaned forward and tucked a strand of hair back under her hat. ‘Because it said “concentrate”.’
Bryony tipped her head on one side and stared back at him. ‘Why are men like government bonds?’ He lifted an eyebrow, his eyes dancing, and she smiled sweetly. ‘Because they take for ever to mature. Now, can we get on with this rescue?’
They stuck to the path and the mist grew thicker. Jack’s radio crackled to life and he paused and had a quick conversation with Sean back at base.
‘They’re sending out the whole team,’ he told her when he came off the radio, ‘but I reckon we must be nearly at the place where they were last seen.’
Bryony stood still, listening, but all she could hear was the rush of water. The freezing air snaked through her clothing and she shivered.
‘If they didn’t have any protection last night, they won’t have stood a chance,’ she muttered, and Jack nodded, his handsome face serious.
‘Better find them, fast.’
He started up the track again and then stopped, squinting down into the ghyll. ‘Do you see something?’
‘What?’ Bryony stepped towards the edge but Jack reached out a strong arm and clamped her against him.
‘If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather you didn’t go over the edge, too,’ he said dryly, keeping his arm round her as he peered through the mist into the ghyll again.
Bryony held her breath, painfully conscious of his hard body pressed against hers.
‘I don’t see anything.’ She wondered when he was going to let her go and was about to ask when she spotted a flash of red below them. ‘OK, I see something.’
‘Me, too.’ Jack released her. ‘There’s a path here but it’s narrow and slippery. Think you can manage, Blondie? You have to put one leg in front of the other and not fall over.’
‘It’ll be a struggle, but I’ll do my best,’ Bryony assured him earnestly, relieved that their relationship seemed to have restored itself to its usual level. ‘What about you? Think you can find your way without asking for directions?’
They kept up the banter as they picked their way down the path, and finally they reached the bottom and immediately saw the boys huddled together by a boulder.
Jack closed the distance in seconds and dropped to his haunches, his expression concerned. ‘Hi, there—nice day for a stroll in the mountains.’
‘We thought no one was ever coming,’ the boy whispered, his teeth chattering as he spoke. ‘Martyn keeps falling asleep and leaving me on my own.’
‘Right. Put a bivouac tent over them.’ Jerking his head to indicate that Bryony should deal with the conscious child, Jack shifted his position so that he could examine the other boy.
He was lying still, moaning quietly, his cheeks pale and his lips blue.
Jack spoke to him quietly and checked his pulse while Bryony checked the other boy for injuries. Once she was satisfied that he was just cold and shaken, she erected the tent and helped him to scramble inside a casualty bag.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Sam.’
‘Well, Sam, that will keep you warm until we can get you off this mountain,’ she assured him, and he gave a little sob.
‘Martyn fell. His leg is awful. I saw bone.’
Bryony slipped an arm round him and gave him a hug. ‘Don’t you worry about that now,’ she said softly. ‘We’ll sort him out and get you both home. I’m going to pour you a hot drink and that will warm you up.’
She grabbed the flask that she’d packed and poured thick creamy chocolate into a mug.
‘Here—drink this. I’ll be back in a sec.’ Aware that Jack was going to need her help, she slid out of the tent and moved over to him.
‘Sam says that his friend fell.’
Jack nodded, still checking the child over. ‘He’s got a compound fracture of his tib and fib and he’s bleeding a lot. We need to get a line in, Blondie, and then splint that leg.’
Bryony reached for the rucksack and found what they needed, aware that Jack was on the radio again, updating Sean on their position and the condition of the boys.
By the time he’d finished on the radio Bryony had a line in. ‘Do you want to give him fluid?’
Jack nodded. ‘And then we need to splint that leg. It will help the pain and reduce blood loss.’ He leaned over the boy, talking quietly, explaining what they were doing, and Bryony gave a sigh. He was so good when anyone was in trouble. A rock. And he always knew what to do. Her confidence came from being with him.
She covered the wound on the leg with a sterile saline-soaked dressing while Jack carefully removed the boy’s boot.
He
