Her grip burned, her hands just above his. But really, her harness held her.

Colt, however, had twenty feet of slack between them.

He was a strong man. She knew that from watching him recover over the past three weeks from the kind of beating that should probably permanently disable a man. When he’d arrived home to his family’s lodge in Alaska, she hadn’t known the story of how he’d been captured, beaten, threatened with execution. All she’d seen was a man who refused to give up, despite the demons that he wrestled.

And he’d been funny. Sweet. Charming. Self-deprecating.

Once, she’d even found herself in his arms, holding on to him. Needing him more than she wanted to admit. Somehow, deep inside, she knew that if anyone could handle her secret . . . well, Colt Kingston might be that guy.

Probably he was, even though he didn’t quite believe her. But at the moment, hanging off the cliff, his body holding hers up, he was struggling, his breaths coming fast, his arms shaking, despite his words.

“Don’t let go,” she said. “If you fall, they won’t be able to stop the impact of you hitting the end of the rope from yanking out the axes.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” he grunted.

“Fine, how about this? I left my ice axe on top.”

“Beautiful. Listen, truth is, I can’t hold on much longer, Tae. You gotta climb up. Use my axe. It’s dangling from my wrist.”

But to take it off he’d have to let go with one of his hands. “No. You’ll fall.”

“I won’t fall.” But he let out a sound, deep in his chest, a struggle to hold on to both of them.

No. She wasn’t going to be the cause of his death. She scrabbled her feet onto the overhang of ice, slamming the crampons in.

“Atta girl,” Colt said in her ear. He brought his legs up too, his body cradling her as his feet bit into the ice around them.

“We’re losing you!” Dodge shouted from above. “We can’t help you climb up!”

“Hang on!” Tae shouted. Then, to Colt, “What if I hook your carabiner to my harness? That way you won’t fall farther.”

“Mm-hmm.”

She took a breath and let go of her hold. Oops. She must have been holding more of herself than she thought because her weight settled onto Colt. He was breathing long, hard, controlled breaths.

“I can’t reach your carabiner.”

“Take my rope and tie a figure eight into it, near the top. Then, clip that in.”

Her hands shook as she took the rope and tied the figure eight into it. She reached around behind her, trying to find the loop that held his carabiner. But she was pressed too tightly to him, gravity pulling her down.

“Take the axe, Tae. Climb up.”