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Chapter 1

The histled through the high Colorado Rocky Mountain peaks, stirring up a dusting of snow as light as the powdered sugar on the donut that Hudson Kincaid was stuffing into his face as he rode the ski lift

Breakfast of chae, he’d have the adrenaline rush to go with it As head of ski patrol, he’d already had his daily before-the-asscrack-of-dawn debriefing with his crew They’d set up the fencing and ropes to keep skiers in the proper runs and safe They’d checked all the sleds toorder

Now he had time for one quick run before they ran rescue drills for a few hours, and then he was on to a board lorioustoon the o home That was the Kincaid way

Just then the radio at his hip chirped news about a report of someone in trouble at the top of Devil’s Face, and Hud shook his head

So much for a few minutes to himself

Ah, well, it was the life, his life, and he’d chosen it At the top of the lift, he hit the snow at a fast clip He’d seen a lot here on their mountain and even more on his monthly shifts as a cop in town It was safe to say that not much surprised hiirl sitting just off center at the top of Devil’s Face, her skis haphazardly stuck into the snow at her side, he didn’t even blink

Her down jacket was sunshine yellow, her hels pulled up to her chest, her chin on her knees, wearing ski boots as neon green as neon green could get and staring conte view in front of her

Hud stopped a few feet away so as to not startle her, but she didn’t budge He looked around to make sure this was the person of interest Sharp, ree vista Pine-scented air so pure that at this altitude it hurt to breathe There was no one else up here They were on top of the world

Not smart on her part The weather had been particularly volatile lately Right noas clear as a bell and a crisp thirty degrees, but that could change in a blink High winds were forecasted, as was another foot of snow by ht But even if a storm wasn’t due to move in, no one should ski alone And especially no one should ski alone on Devil’s Face, a thirty-five-hundred-foot vertical run that required a great deal of skill and in return proin for error up here where one little mistake could mean a trip to the ER

Even Hud didn’t ski alone He had staff all over this place--a few of them at the ski patrol outpost only a few hundred yards away, another group at the ski lift he’d just left, eventhe resort boundaries--all of them connected to each other by constant radio contact

"Hey," he called out "You okay?"

Nothing

Hud glided on his skis the last few feet between them and touched her shoulder

She jerked and craned her neck, at the sa out her earbuds Tinny h toat all

"Sorry," she said "Did you say soirl but a woman, and without her helmet, Hud realized he’d actually seen her before Earlier thaton the back buing along with the radio to the new Ed Sheeran song He couldn’t tell now behind her dark sunglasses, but he knew she had eyes the color of today’s azure sky and that she shouldn’t give up her day job to becoer because she couldn’t hold a tune "I asked if you’re okay," he said

She reave him a sassy look that said the question was ridiculous

She’d worn a tight ski cap beneath her helh layers of clothing that she was utterly shapeless But that didn’tthat looked a whole lot like the best kind of trouble

He’d been running ski patrol for years now and had been a cop for long enough that he was good at reading people, often before they said a word It was all in the posture, in the little tells, he’d learned