“No, I’ve got it.” She pulled one of her skis out of the snow and laid it down. She struggled to snap her ski in, her arms trembling a little bit. He started forward, but she stopped him with a hand.

“I’ve got this,” she said.

A determined thing then. Fine. But he had to force himself to stay back when ski number two took her longer because she had a balance problem. When she started to tip over, he once again instinctively moved toward her, but she managed to catch herself on a pole.

When she finally clicked her second ski in, she looked up, flashing him this brilliant smile, like she’d just climbed a mountaintop. “See?” she said, beaming, swiping at her brow like maybe she was sweating now. “I’m good.” And with that, she pushed off on her poles.

He caught her by the back of her jacket. Even with all those layers, she was surprisingly light. Light enough that he could easily spin her around and face her in the right direction, which was 180 degrees from where she’d started.

She laughed and damn, she had a really great laugh, one that invited a man right in to laugh along with her. “Right,” she said. “Thanks. Now I’m good.”

Uh-huh. At his hip, his radio buzzed, but he wasn’t budging until he knew she was safely on the lift heading down.

She flashed another smile, this one a bit mischievous. “You do know that even an intelligent person can screw up reading a map, right? Despite appearances, I can assure you, I don’t need a keeper.”

He kept his grimace to himself, or at least he thought he had, until she spoke again.

“You don’t believe me.” She didn’t seem insulted in the least, and in fact, still smiling, she patted Hud on the arm, like he was a poor, stupid man … “You’re cute,” she said, “but I bet you’re single.”

He blinked. He was single, but what the hell did that have to do with anything?

And cute?

He was cute?

He was pretty sure his testosterone level dropped at that. “Let’s just get you off this mountain,” he said in his usual work voice. Calm. Efficient.

But she laughed at him again and shook her head. “I’ve got it from here, Mountain Man. I promise.”

If Hud had a penny for every time someone promised him something and actually kept that promise, he’d have … zip. Zero.

Nada.

And his doubt must have shown all over his face because she patted his arm again. “No, really,” she said. “If I need help, I’ll call ski patrol. But thank you.”

“I am ski patrol,” he said.