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But she knew that it was Desperation lent her the strength to take a few ed full length into a deep bank of snow Fear swa damply down her cold face Then a sound that was not si of the wind seemed to reach her, and she strained to catch it

Hope flared inside her—Slade et to her feet, she found to her horror that her right ankle wouldn’t support her

‘Slade!’ She called his name until her throat was hoarse, unable to believe she siination when he suddenly materialised at her side, the shoulders of the heavy dark jacket he wore thickly powdered with snow

‘Oh, Slade, thank God!’ Chelsea was crying and laughing at the sa him

Even his rough, ‘You crazy fool, what the hell do you think you’re doing?’ didn’t have the power to frighten her

‘Where are we?’ she asked him when he reached her ‘I’m completely lost’

‘About a mile from the house,’ he told her curtly ‘And next tiht at least wait until I’m adequately dressed for it Co when he felt her body sag ‘What’s the matter?’

‘It’s my ankle,’ Chelsea ad way every tiht on it’

‘God, that’s all we need!’ She was caught off guard when Slade bent down and picked her up bodily

‘It’s the only way,’ he told her harshly ‘Oh, I realise howyou—you’ve made that abundantly plain Didn’t it strike you that a siht have done just as well?’

‘I’d already tried that, re as he al her ankle

‘You ht have mouthed the words, but there was damn little conviction behind them,’ Slade claimed ‘Quite the contrary But you’ve ht’

There was an odd inflection to his voice that ht almost have been pain, but Chelsea told herself that she was letting her iination run aith her

‘Didn’t it occur to you, the danger you were risking?’ he de for protection but a thin coat and a pair of fashion boots?’

His scorn scorched her already tender nerves

‘I just wanted to escape,’ she ht had been from her own emotions as much as from him

‘Thanks ahi deeply, and Chelsea felt asha his own life to save hers

‘I’o to Darkwater, but somehow I lost my way and…’

His savage, ‘You’re damned lucky you didn’t lose your life as well!’ cut across her apology, and his h the steadily deepening snow ‘You realise that even someone who knows these hills like the back of their hands wouldn’t risk going out in a blizzard like this? Familiar landmarks can be wiped out faster than you can turn round It’s a one any farther’

‘I stopped when I couldn’t see the eler,’ Chelsea admitted ‘I was terrified, and so cold—I just couldn’t feel ers and toes’

Slade came to an abrupt halt ‘Can you feel the her

Chelsea shook her head slowly, fear spiralling up inside her, not needing to ask why Slade suddenly increased his pace to a degree which she knew

The snowy shape of the Dower House suddenly ht she had ever seen Slade carried her into the study, disregarding her protests about their snow-covered clothes and the resultant da for the phone