High Risk by Vivian Arend Read Free Book Online Page A

tow.
     Nothing else.”
    All his casual relaxation vanished. Marcus leaned forward, elbows resting on the table
     as his concerned gaze took her in. “Nothing?”
    She sighed. “I figure there’s about a twelve-hour gap, maybe fourteen. We bivouacked
     on a spur when the weather turned on us. I remember setting up camp and crawling into
     my sleeping bag. I don’t remember packing in the morning, even though we had to—I
     was still carrying most of my gear when I met the rescue crews at the base of the
     mountain.”
    “Why didn’t anyone—oh hell, okay. Dane.” He nodded slowly. “You can’t remember the
     accident.”
    “No. And it’s . . .” Shoot, she refused to break down again. Becki took a quick breath,
     the sticky sweetness in the air soured now by having to share this. She fought for
     control. “I was cleared of negligence. The reports the girls gave confirmed that while
     I was competent enough to get them out of the mess they were in, I didn’t talk to
     them normally. I rescued them like I was on autopilot. That was their term for it.”
    Marcus leaned back and made room for the plates being lowered in front of them. Coffee,
     bagels. He stirred sugar into her cup and pushed it across the table. She snatched
     it up, the heat of the mug warming her cold fingers. She’d already taken a swallow
     before she realized he’d remembered how she drank her coffee.
    “Why do I need to know this before I hire you? Does David know?”
    Becki paused. “David doesn’t know yet. I was planning on telling him, but to be honest?
     The position he hired me for requires no direct contact with the students. I’d be
     working through the instructors. If there were any questions of my abilities, having
     that—”
    “Good God, you think anyone is going to question your competence?” Marcus snapped.
     “If anything, this proves your skills are impeccable. Even half out of your mind,
     you still rescued the girls.”
    She snorted. “Half out of my mind is the problem, Marcus. I don’t know what happened,
     and it’s more than a frustration. I’m serious. Maybe I am strong enough at what I
     do to kick into automatic when presented with an emergency situation. Just because
     it happened once, I don’t dare trust it will automatically happen again. You need
     to know.”
    “Because you’ll be dealing directly with the team?”
    “Yes.” She lifted her cup and drank deeply, hiding behind the fragile ceramic. Funny
     how much she suddenly wanted this job. Wanted to be able to work with the crew. “What
     happens if I’m on the end of a rope belaying Alisha and something goes wrong?”
    “But you were planning on climbing with her today. . . .”
    Implying she’d already made one bad decision? Becki searched Marcus’s face, but he
     was doing his imitation of a stone wall. Impossible to tell what he was thinking.
    “Yes. Because the room is full of auto-belayers. I thought I could easily get around
     having to rope up with her.”
    He took another bite of his bagel, pointing toward her breakfast. “Eat.”
    Damn man. She added jam and ignored him for a minute. Maybe he needed time to process
     what she’d shared. Heaven knew she’d have to think for a bit in his circumstance.
    They finished their food quickly, the last dredges of her coffee cold as she swallowed
     the crumbs. Still waiting for him to talk.
    She wasn’t expecting him to reach over the table and catch hold of her hand.
    “I have no problem with you working the team. It’s your expertise and experience they
     look up to. And your situation, if you’re willing to share, can be both a warning
     and an inspiration.”
    He was right—she had to tell the team so they knew the risks as well. “I kept it out
     of the media. Secrecy was a hard slog to achieve, but if you think I can trust your
     team, I’m willing.”
    Even saying the words had tension filling her belly. The climbing community was like
     family. Which meant for