‘What does?’ Mikki asked.
‘I checked my calendar last night,’ Tama said casually. ‘And the long-range weather forecast today. If you’re keen, we could get dropped on the top of a mountain tomorrow and get your survival training out of the way.’
‘So soon?’ Mikki wasn’t sure she was ready. ‘I was expecting to have to wait until there was a group for that.’
Josh was clearly getting a good effect from his pain relief medication. He was grinning broadly. ‘You’re special,’ he told Mikki. ‘Tama wants to give you the royal treatment.’
‘Oi!’ Tama’s tone held a distinct reprimand. ‘It’s your fault my diary’s clear, mate. We were supposed to be driving up north so you could be at your mum’s birthday party, remember?’
Josh groaned. ‘Mum’s on her way here instead. She’s going to sit in the corner of my room and probably knit me a giant sock to go over my leg. You can’t leave me alone listening to those needles clacking, Tama. I’ll go crazy.’
Tama grinned. ‘So would I. Your mum never gives up trying to tell me it’s time I settled down and started making babies. Think I’d rather be making a snow cave with the mouse, thanks.’
Mikki tried to ignore the reference to making babies. ‘A snow cave?’ she echoed. No. She couldn’t ignore it after all. ‘We’d be spending the night on the top of a mountain?’
‘And another one out in the bush.’
‘You could wait,’ Josh grumbled. ‘I’d like to come as well. Could do with a refresher.’
‘Can’t wait that long,’ Tama said decisively. ‘What about you, Mouse?’
He wasn’t looking at Mikki but the innuendo was blatant.
Dropped into the wilderness and forced to spend their days and nights together, there was absolutely no doubt that the tension simmering between them would have to be addressed.
Tama was creating this opportunity so did it mean he wanted something to happen? If she didn’t want that, now was the time to say so. To make some kind of excuse. A prior engagement that would make it impossible to spend the next couple of days alone with Tama. It might be the sensible thing to do.
Carefully, Mikki took a deep breath. She looked at Josh rather than Tama. ‘Sorry, mate, but I can’t turn down an offer like that, can I? We’ll tell you all about it as soon as we get back.’
Tama was right behind her as she stepped out of the room.
‘We’ll see about that,’ he murmured. ‘There may be some aspects of your survival training that you might not want to share with everybody.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHE could share this with everybody.
If she could find the right words.
Words that could convey the sense of desolation she felt seeing Steve taking the helicopter back to base, leaving Tama and herself standing on a snow-covered slope.
The tiny dot of the aircraft faded into the endless blue sky and Mikki had the weird sensation of looking down from even higher than the helicopter had been. Seeing herself and her sole companion fading to black dots on a pristine white background. Insignificant and then invisible as her mind’s eye saw the towering peaks of the mountains behind them, the tussock-covered high country below and then mile after mile—as far as the eye could see—of bush-covered land.
Wilderness. The blanket of greenery might give the impression of soft lines but beneath that canopy was a harsh landscape of steep slopes punctuated by baby rivers that tumbled into ravines. Dense bush that would be impenetrable in many places. Slippery tussock sprouting through puddles of icy snow, and where they were right now knee-deep snow, the chill of which Mikki could feel pressing on her leather boots like a solid weight.
The silence, when the final chop of the helicopter’s rotors had faded to nothing, was as awe-inspiring as the scenery. So deep it seemed almost sacrilege to break it. Not that Tama was sharing Mikki’s reverence.
‘Nice, huh?’ He took a deep breath of the cold air. ‘You don’t get a view like this every day.’
‘No.’ Mikki was still trying to take it in. To push back a fear she hadn’t expected to be so strong.
‘You OK?’
‘Yes.’ No. What did they think they were doing, putting themselves into such a hostile environment voluntarily? This was crazy!
Mikki finally dragged her gaze from the mind-boggling vastness around them. She turned and found it a comfort to see the figure of another human body, especially one as big and solid as Tama. She raised her gaze and there was a pair of dark eyes behind ski goggles staring back. Lips that showed above the black wool of a balaclava were curved into a smile.
‘You just need to trust me, princess,’ he said. ‘Can you do that?’
She had no choice.
They may have spent yesterday evening sorting supplies and clothing and going over basic survival techniques, but there was no way Mikki could be doing this on her own.
She had to trust Tama.
With her life.
Strangely, it was easy to take that step. The fear she had been so aware of ebbed sharply because the trust was genuine. A part of that connection that was so much stronger than simply attraction.
She didn’t even mind him calling her ‘princess’ because she knew there was respect in their bond. Instead of being demeaning, the title was more like an endearment and that notion reminded Mikki that there was more on the agenda here than just her survival training.
Excitement replaced fear. A delicious tingle of anticipation.
‘Of course I can,’ she told Tama. ‘I’m assuming you’re keen to get off this mountain alive.’
‘You bet.’
‘And I’m guessing you’ve done this before.’
‘Once or twice.’
‘In this particular location?’
‘Absolutely.’ Tama looked around them, taking a long moment to stare at the mountain peaks. ‘I love it up here,’ he added. ‘We’re on top the world. Free.’
Mikki was looking at him rather than the mountains. Listening to a note in his voice she hadn’t heard before. A tone that reverberated and gave her the odd urge to touch him. A moment later she realised why. It had been a piece of personal information, hadn’t it?
In all the interaction she’d had so far with this man, nothing as personal as a passion for anything other than his work had been apparent. It was like having a drink offered when she hadn’t realised how thirsty she was. A tiny taste and Mikki wanted more. A lot more. She wanted to know what else he loved. Who he loved. What did he need to feel ‘free’ from?
‘You’re staring at me again.’
‘Again?’
‘You do it a lot.’
‘Do I?’ It was time to change the subject. ‘I’m just waiting for words of wisdom to spill from your lips, that’s all. What’s first? Do we get to build a snow cave?’
‘No.’ Tama seemed to be collecting himself. Focussing on what they were there to do. ‘We’re going to make a mound rather than a cave. Caves are best for a larger group. A mound is all two of us will need for a night.’
Just the two of them. In close quarters. All night. Was it just a lower level of oxygen at this high altitude that was making Mikki notice a slight dizziness?
‘The