Shame the Devil (Portland Devils #3) - Rosalind James Page 0,20

ski. He didn’t look to see where Owen was or what he was doing. He skied straight at the bull, waving his arms and shouting, and he could hear Owen shouting, too. The bull jumped to one side, then shook his head, lowered it, turned in a circle, and aimed his big body at the kid’s snowmobile again. The kid got the engine running at last, and the snowmobile leaped forward as fast as the kid could floor it.

Right at the woman with the freckles.

Harlan didn’t think. He dove like he was going for the end zone, caught her on the chest, and knocked her out of the way just as the snowmobile shot by, an inch from his skis. His last image was of the boy’s head turning towards him. His eyes were stretched wide, his mouth open, saying something. Saying, probably, “Sorry.”

Harlan didn’t know where the bison was, so he stayed where he was, on top of the woman. She wasn’t saying anything at all. He’d knocked the wind out of her, maybe, but he couldn’t worry about that.

Owen’s voice, then, shouting, “Get out of there!”

Harlan rolled off the woman, or he tried to. He’d forgotten he was on skis, though, and it took him an awkward few seconds to get over them and onto his feet, and to put a hand down for her.

Her fluffy pink hat had come off in the collision, and her hair was red, curly, and wild against the snow. Her eyes were enormous and gold as coins, which startled him, and her nose and cheeks were covered in freckles that stood out against her white face as she stared up at him. He said, “Give me your hand.” The bison was standing a little ways off, still shaking its massive head. “We have to get out of here,” he told the redhead. “He doesn’t look happy.”

“I’m not that … good a skier. I don’t know how to … get up yet. I haven’t learned, uh … that part.” She took her own look around, saw the other skier, and called out, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” the other girl said. “I’m not the one on the ground. Come on. We need to hurry.”

“I’m trying,” the redhead said. “I … told you we should snowshoe.” She was trying to push herself up, but since she didn’t have her weight over her skis, she wasn’t making much progress and kept falling back.

Owen said to the other girl, “Come on. We need to put some distance between us and that bull, get him less upset.”

It wasn’t easy to get somebody upright when you were on slippery skis yourself, but by planting himself behind the woman and sideways to her, Harlan found he could crouch down, get both arms around her, and haul her to her feet. The second he did, she said, “I’m good now. Thanks. Let’s go,” and headed toward the others. Not very fast, but clearly as fast as she could go. She may have been limping some, if limping was something you could do on skis.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She waved an arm. Since it had a ski pole attached, she waved extra, and nearly fell over again. He grabbed her arm and said, “Steady.”

“Oh,” she said, “I’m fine, thanks. Just fine. What a wonderful vacation. I am going to kill Blake. I’ve been here about five hours, and I’ve already almost died twice. This was supposed to be relaxing.”

“You have not almost died twice,” the other woman said, because they’d caught up to the others now, thankfully leaving the bison behind. This girl was younger and extremely pretty, with short, pale-blonde hair that looked natural, a double ring through the outer part of her right eyebrow, and about the most lively little heart-shaped face Harlan had ever seen. “You’ve been spared twice,” she told the redhead. “And there’s more to life than relaxing. Wow. That was such an adrenaline rush. I’m shaking. Are you shaking?” she asked Owen, who was skiing beside her.

“Yeah,” he said. “But in a good way.”

“I know,” she said with clear delight. “Right?”

“Do not say it,” the redhead said. “Do not quote the Tao at me. I’m not in the mood.”

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes,” the elf-girl said, and the redhead groaned.

“Don't resist them,” Owen put in. “That only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

The elf-girl turned her whole body to him