And in that time Grace had changed Baby, putting two T-shirts and two jumpsuits on him, and settled him back inside the carrier on her chest. She had to keep his little body close to hers instead of wrapping him up in her jacket, because she was afraid Baby was too small to produce enough body heat to keep himself warm. He only weighed eight and a half pounds now. So she put several layers of her own clothes on, put Baby back on her chest, and zipped him up tight to give him the benefit of her own body heat. Then she rearranged the supplies she wanted to take with her into one bag.

Dammit. She did trust him. She couldn’t explain why, but Grace just knew that if Greylen MacKeage said he would get her and Baby off this mountain tonight, it was a statement of fact, not wishful thinking.

The freezing rain had started again about twenty minutes ago, and the daylight was gone now. Only an eerie blue light remained, a persistent glow that seemed to emanate from the wreckage of the plane in swirling waves of effervescent warmth.

Grace couldn’t decide what caused the phenomenon, but her educated guess was that maybe the crash had disturbed the energies of the ice storm, charging the heavy atmosphere with ions of light. Mother Nature was fickle sometimes, and if people lived on Earth another million years, Grace knew that man would never explain all her mysteries.

And like the light glowing softly around her now, Grace welcomed that truth. As a scientist, she did not want to conquer Nature or rule her laws; she wished only to understand her.

And this blue light, which seemed to have grown stronger within minutes of Grey’s departure, was just one example of why she had left Pine Creek at the age of sixteen to pursue a career in science. So many mysteries, so much to discover, all those unending questions waiting to be answered; science was the passion of her life. And just as soon as she got off this mountain, she intended to figure out what had caused this blue light engulfing her now. And why it gave her such a feeling of well-being, a sense that things would turn out okay.

Grace sat in contemplative silence inside the fuselage, hugging a sleeping Baby to her chest, and listened for sounds of Grey’s return. All she heard was the forest cracking with eerie moans as trees protested their growing skin of ice.

Grace peered into the darkness of the forest, in the direction of Mark’s body. He was lying out there in the cold, getting covered with ice. She’d been tempted to walk over and cover him with something, but she hadn’t been brave enough to do it.

And that sorry state of affairs bothered her. She was a coward. She couldn’t give a dead man the dignity he deserved, she couldn’t let go of her sister, and she couldn’t keep her promise to give Baby to Michael MacBain. As much as she was afraid of taking on the responsibility of Baby, Grace was more afraid of giving him up. He was all she had left of her sister and the one thing in Grace’s life that was real. Her dream to travel into space was just that: a dream.

Baby was a reality. Raising him would make her someone, not just something, not just a brain walking around in an inconsequential body. Men either ran from her intelligence or they used it, but they never saw anything else, not her smile, her heart, or her hopes and dreams.

They never saw her.

Grace hugged Baby closer against her body. He would see her. She would be his aunt, and that was the one thing no one, not even his father, could take away from her.

She fully intended to keep her promise to Mary and tell Michael MacBain he had a son. It was the timing she just wasn’t sure of. Tomorrow or ten days from now, or maybe ten years from now, she would introduce them. That would depend on Michael MacBain when she met him and on her own questionable courage.

Grace jumped as if she’d been shot when Grey suddenly loomed in front of her. She hadn’t heard him approach over the crackle of the forest.

“Grace?” he said, peering down into the plane.

“I’m here. Did you get your bearings?” she asked, scrambling to climb out. It wasn’t easy. With Baby strapped to her chest and her legs still not working well, she had to grab onto Grey and let him pull her to her feet.

“We’re halfway up North Finger Ridge,” he told her.

“That runs up the north side of TarStone Mountain,” she said, getting excited. “We’re only about six or seven miles from Pine Creek.”

“You know this land?” he asked.

Grace couldn’t see his face very well, but she heard the surprise in his voice. “I grew up here,” she told him. “I used to hike all over this place with my father and brothers.”

“It’s more like eight miles,” he told her. “And they’re long, steep, hard miles. The snow’s deep, and the forest is raining tree limbs and ice the size of my fist.”

“Are you saying we can’t make it?”

He took her by the shoulders. For some reason the blue glow had suddenly faded, and she couldn’t see Grey well enough to judge his expression. But she could feel the tension in him.

“No, I’m not saying we can’t. But I have a better idea. There’s a cabin about four miles from here. An old priest named Daar lives there. I’m going to get you and your son that far, and then I’ll continue on to Gu Bràth. I’ll bring back the snowcat then, and my men.”

“What’s Gu Bràth?”

“That’s our home. It’s on the west side of TarStone, just a few hundred yards from the resort. Now, are you gripping my jacket so fiercely because you’re glad to see me, or are you having a problem standing?”

She almost missed his question, he changed the subject so quickly. “I…ah…my knees are still a bit shaky,” she admitted. She wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the problem. Not with the hike he was planning.

“Damn. Can you walk?”

“I’ve walked a bit just near the plane. I’m not hurt. Not really. I think I’m just bruised.”

He was silent so long she was afraid he was angry again. But if he was, it didn’t show in his voice when he next spoke.

“Can you rig…what is your kid’s name, Grace? I’ve only heard you call him Baby.”

“Ah…that’s it. Baby. I haven’t decided on a name yet.”

“But you said he’s four weeks old.”

“He is. But a name is very important. He’s going to have to live with it all his life.”

She could just make out Grey shaking his head. “Okay,” he conceded, warmth in his voice. “Can you rig Baby’s pack to fit my shoulders?”

“It adjusts. Why?” she asked, wondering just how big it adjusted.

“Because I’m going to carry him, and he’ll be more comfortable and secure in the pack.”

“I can carry him.”

He was shaking his head again. “You just have to worry about putting one foot in front of the other and staying on my heels.”

It was Grace’s turn to shake her head. “You’re not Superman, you know.”

“I’m damn close.”

“You certainly are arrogant enough to be Superman,” she whispered.

“Grace?”

“Yes?

“Are you married?”

“No.”

“Good,” he said then, just before he leaned down and kissed her full on the lips.

Grace was so stunned she simply stood there like an inanimate fool. She didn’t kiss him back. She just stilled like a stone, feeling his power and warmth wash over her.

He kissed like he looked. Large. Rather overwhelming.

She didn’t dare breathe. Every damn one of her primitive instincts told her to kiss the man back. His tongue swept across her lips, sending a shiver through Grace that was electrical in nature.

The ice storm receded, the plane crash never happened, she was not standing on the side of a mountain with her fate uncertain. All that existed for Grace at that moment was the feel of Greylen MacKeage as he wrapped his arms completely around her.

He smelled like the forest, felt solid as rock, tasted warm and sweet and so very male. Her senses swam in chaotic circles. Nothing in her limited experience with men could have prepared Grace for what she was feeling now. Passion overwhelmed her, and she lifted her hands against his shoulders and shoved him away. “Wh-what did you do that for?” she asked, clinging to the side of the plane, afraid her knees were about to buckle.