‘Ouch.’ My thighs were screaming protests as I nearly did the splits.

‘That was good—better.’

‘Better than what?’

‘Better than the time before. Had enough for today?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘Would you mind if I went up to do a run down?’

‘Of course not.’

‘You could come too.’

‘You are joking?’

‘You could take the cable car back again. You might like the view from the top.’

I grinned, pleased that Tina was coming round to Zed going out with me. She had dropped her dire warnings, decreasing the threat level to ‘yel ow alert’

rather than ‘crisis’. ‘I might just do that.’

Skis on our shoulders,

we trudged to the queue for

the lift. Xav’s eyes widened when he saw me at the kiosk. He shot a panicked look at Tina.

‘Sky, sweetheart, don’t you think it’s a bit early to take a run from the top?’ he asked.

‘No, I feel just in the mood.’ I suppressed my grin.

‘Tina, you need to talk her out of this. She could kil herself.’

‘Don’t sweat it, Xav. She thinks she has undiscovered talent.’

He covered the ticket with his hand. ‘Not sel ing you one, Sky.’

I rol ed my eyes. ‘For heaven’s sake, Xav, I’m not completely stupid. I’m just going up for the ride.

Tina’s the one who’s going to ski down.’

He laughed with relief. ‘Great. No charge then. But just to be sure, I’l look after your skis.’

Tina flashed her season ticket and we climbed into the car. The view was spectacular. We hung over the roof of the Benedict house for a second then set off up the cable, brushing the tops of the firs until they too plunged away and we were swinging across a gorge. Below us antlike skiers zipped to and fro, making the whole business look so easy.

Ten minutes later we got out at the station at the top.

Zed was busy loading the car to go down—there were only a few sightseers like me so it wouldn’t take long.

‘Grab a coffee.’ Tina nudged me towards the concession stand. ‘I’l meet you back by the bottom of the cable car in half an hour.’

‘OK. Have fun.’

Settling her feet in her skis, she propel ed herself off the start of the black run.

‘A coffee with milk and a doughnut please,’ I asked the shiny faced man at the stal .

‘Not skiing, hon?’ he asked, handing over my pastry in a white bag.

‘First time on skis. I’m rubbish.’

He laughed. ‘So am I. That’s why I stick to serving coffee.’

‘How much?’

‘On the house—to celebrate your first experience of skiing.’

‘Thanks.’

Zed jogged up behind and scooped me round the waist, lifting me in the air, forcing a squeak from me.

‘How’s it going?’

‘I’m crap at skiing.’

‘Yeah, I thought you might be.’ He spun me round.

‘I’ve only a minute until the next car arrives, just enough to steal a bite of whatever you’ve got in there.’

‘This your girl, Zed?’ asked the stal holder.

‘Yeah, José.’

‘Why is it al the best ones are always taken? Ah wel .’ He passed over a Styrofoam cup and winked at me.

Zed took me back to his cabin at the head of the cable car. We could hear the creak and groan of the wheels running the lift. I studied Zed’s face as he checked something on the control panel—the width of his shoulders as he reached to make an adjustment to the display, the muscles in his arms flexing. I hadn’t got before why my friends spent so much time admiring boys in my old school; now I completely joined that party. Was this gorgeous guy real y mine? It was hard to believe I had been so lucky.

‘How do you know where the car is?’ I asked as Zed absentmindedly took a bite out of the doughnut.

‘Hey!’

He laughed, holding the bag out of my reach, and pointed to a display. There was a series of lights counting down as the cars went over points. ‘That shows me I’ve four minutes.’

Jumping, I grabbed the doughnut back and licked at the jam.

‘Sweet tooth?’

‘You’ve noticed?’

‘The hot chocolate with everything was a bit of a clue.’

I took a bite then handed it back. ‘You can finish it.’

He wolfed it down then took a slurp of coffee.

‘Ugh! Milk. I should’ve guessed. I need something to take the taste away.’ He tapped his chin, one eye on the monitor. ‘I know!’ He bent down and nibbled at my lips. I felt my body shift, a strange heaviness that urged me to hang on tightly to him or col apse in a heap at his feet. He gave a hum of pleasure and deepened the kiss.

We were interrupted by the arrival of the next batch of skiers. Unfortunately they consisted mainly of kids from high school who banged on the door and whistled when they saw what was going on in the cabin.

‘Here, Zed, stop making out and let us out!’ yel ed a girl from my science class.

‘Down, boy!’ barked a guy from senior year.

‘OK, OK,’ replied Zed, dropping me back on my feet. He looked pleased rather than embarrassed while my face was exploring al the possibilities in the red spectrum.

Once the skiers were off to their chosen runs, I stayed with Zed for another ten minutes then caught the car down the hil .

‘Thanks for coming up,’ Zed said, closing the door behind me. ‘You’ve stil got a bit of sugar on your lip.’

He brushed a tender kiss over my mouth, then tugged my jacket straight.

‘Hmm, I think I’l have to visit you again. It appears that the cable car is going to be more my thing than skiing.’

‘Take care.’

‘I’l try. You take care too.’

Tina persisted with my lessons to the point that, on the weekend before Thanksgiving, I could trundle down the nursery run without fal ing over until I reached the bottom.

‘Woo-hoo!’ She did a little dance on the spot as I made it. ‘Jedi knights watch out!’

I struggled off the skis. ‘I don’t think I’m much of a threat to the Empire just yet.’

‘It’s a start—don’t knock it.’ She picked up her own skis. This Sunday was much cloudier than the first time out on the slopes, the top of the lift obscured from view, the weather in a sul en mood.

We queued up for the lift to find Saul on the desk.

‘Hi, Tina, Sky.’ He let Tina through the turnstile but it didn’t click for me. Saul was holding me back. ‘No point you going up today, Sky. Xav’s on duty. I gave Zed the day off to go boarding.’

‘Oh, OK.’

The cable car was about to leave. Tina gave me a wave. ‘Wait here. I won’t take long skiing down.

Weather’s too horrid to hang about.’

I moved out of the way. The last of the queue filed inside.

‘We can’t keep you and Zed apart, can we?’ Saul said, coming to sit beside me on a bench in the waiting area as the car began its journey up the hil .

‘Seems that way.’ I scuffed at the snow. I had an odd feeling that Saul was suspicious of me.

‘We don’t want anything to happen to either of you.’ He stretched out his long legs, the gesture reminding me of his son.

‘I know. It’s been quiet, hasn’t it?’

‘Yes, it has. We don’t know what to think. I’d like to believe that the threat has gone away but my mind tel s me different.’

‘They’re lying low?’

‘That’s my guess. I’m sorry you got caught up in this. These people know that if they get one member of my family, they weaken al of us.’ His profile looked noble staring out at the mountains, expression resolute. I sensed Saul belonged to the landscape around us in a way few residents did; he was in tune with it, part of the melody. MountainMan

—standing as a barrier between his family and danger. ‘Victor doesn’t think they mind who they hurt,’ he continued, ‘just as long as the rest of us are so crippled emotional y that we can’t function as a team. I’ve got everyone on lockdown, not just Zed.