The weather was good, so they pushed past their previous campsite and kept going to the spot Easton had prearranged for Ash to meet them. As soon as they reached the flat outcropping—flat enough to safely land a helicopter—Easton and Ben worked to set up a temporary camp.
As he did, Easton watched the cloud cover get thicker around the mountainside.
When the call came in, Ash sounded worried. “Easton, your people are going to have to hang tight. At these temps, I can’t fly through all that soup without icing up.”
“Call the park department to come get us.”
“I already did,” Ashtyn told him. “They’re up to their eyeballs in a mess. You’re lucky. Denali’s been taking the brunt of the bad weather. Give me a few hours for this to clear out, and I’ll be there. It’s time to get you all off this mountain.”
When Easton didn’t answer, Ash’s answering silence spoke volumes. Finally, she groaned. “Seriously? It’s the actress, isn’t it?”
“We’ll talk about it when I get home. River’s still up there. We’re summiting, then coming back.”
Ash had a few less than complimentary things to say about Easton’s judgment where River was concerned, then she hung up on him, leaving Easton with no one on the other line to argue with. Instead, he turned on Ben, who made the mistake of approaching him right then.
“I’m surrounded by stubborn women,” Easton decided.
Ben scratched the back of his neck. “Umm…yeah. Sure, boss. Is one of them coming to get us?”
“Ash’s rotors will ice up. We have to wait.” At the expression on Ben’s face, Easton pointed a finger at him. “Make a rotor joke about my sister, and I will literally throw you off this mountain.”
Clearly amused, Ben stepped back to give Easton room. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Hey, relax. We’re good here. Bree’s passed out in a painkiller coma, and Jessie’s getting some sleep.”
Finally, something that might help. Easton turned to Ben. “Do you have this handled?”
“Good as gold.”
Heartened at the positive news, Easton shouldered his pack.
“Wait. You’re not headed back up there right now, are you?” Ben shouldn’t have asked, because it was clear that was exactly what Easton was doing. “Are you sure that’s smart?”
“I left a client alone.” At the most dangerous place on the mountain besides the summit.
“Yeah, and she’ll stay there, safe and sound, while you get some rest. East, you’re not thinking clearly.”
Easton frowned. “I feel fine.”
A slight smile touched Ben’s lips. “No, man. About River. You’re rushing back up there like she needs you to save her or something. She doesn’t. That woman is tough as nails, or you never would have trusted her to stay alone. What she can’t do is carry you down if you get yourself hurt going back up when you’re too tired to make the climb.”
A low growl pulled from Easton’s throat. As much as he hated to admit it, Ben was right.
The other guide held his hands up, because Easton maybe growled a second time with a few choice words added in the mix.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t make the climb,” Ben clarified. “Just that you shouldn’t. I don’t doubt your capability any more than I doubt River’s ability to handle herself up there.”
“You’re a pain in my ass, Ben.”
Clapping him on the back, the other guide barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I know. But you love me. Give me the radio. I’ll break it to her and save you some face.”
No way that was going to happen. When Easton called her, it took a moment for River to answer. He experienced a moment of gut-wrenching nervousness in that pause, his brain going to the very worst things he could imagine. Her injured in the snow…or bopping about without a care in the world, climbing the mountain like a Dall sheep.
“Hello?”
The elephant crushing his chest finally allowed Easton to breathe. “River, it’s me.”
“It’s about time. I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.”
The sleepy sound of her voice caused a tension Easton didn’t realize he was holding to release. He knew that tone, even though he’d only been lucky enough to be present when her eyes were opening from slumber a couple of times.
“Did I wake you?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, but it’s good you called.” He could almost see her turn over onto her side, pulling the sleeping bag around her shoulders. “I’ve been worried about you. How is everyone?”
“We made it down safe.” At a snail’s pace. “And Bree’s doing better.” Mostly. “Are you okay if I stay down here for a couple of hours and rest up for the trip back?”
She hummed, as if considering it. “As long as you all aren’t having a party without me.”
Chuckling, Easton cradled the radio in the crook of his arm. “I’d never do that to you.”
“Over.”
“What?”
“You’d never do that, over.”
Damn, he liked this woman. “Get some rest. Stay warm and eat something. I’ll see you soon. Over and out.”
“Bye, Easton.”
The softness in her tone dragged at him, like slender fingers gripping at his heart. He didn’t want to be down here when she was up there. It was wrong, and not because she couldn’t handle it. Because he couldn’t handle it.
“So, River, huh?” Ben gave him a knowing look.
Easton sat and stared at the ground between his feet, saying nothing. Apparently so.
• • •
He never slept. There was no question that he wouldn’t sleep, but Easton did lie still and silent on his side of the tent. And the exact minute four hours had passed—the amount of time Easton had decided he would have forced another guide to wait before ascending—Easton rolled to his feet.
“Radio her that I’m starting up there. And radio me when Ash picks you up.”
Bumping a fist to Easton’s, Ben yawned and nodded. “Will do, boss.”
For the first time all season, Easton was alone. Nothing stood in his way, nothing affected his decisions, no one slowed him down. By the time he passed through the Veil, Easton was still going strong.
He should have timed it, because he might have made it back up there in record time. All Easton could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other and getting back to her.