Easton’s yell was barely audible over the rushing of blood in his ears. Then the rope splashed into the water next to him, giving him something to grab onto as Easton and Graham hauled them out of the water.

The entire group slipped and slid on the ice, scrambling to get back to the safer, thicker surface of the lake.

Lana was a shivery, blue-tinged version of herself, but adrenaline must have kept her moving as she reached for him. Shaking, icy hands pushed at him frantically.

“Are you okay?” she demanded, her eyes wide in concern.

“I’m fine,” Rick said with a grunt. “Your clothes are soaking wet. Socks, shoes, pants. You need to get them off before you get even colder.” She blinked at him, uncomprehending. “Lana, you’re freezing and in wet clothes. You have to get them off.”

They herded her across the ice and toward the shore where someone had already started a car, the heater on blast. Lana protested when Rick all but shoved her inside.

“You’re going to freeze standing out there,” she said through chattering teeth, trying to tug him inside with her. But Rick was more concerned with taking the spare clothes from Ash’s arms.

“I had some extras behind the seat,” Ash said, jutting her head toward the helicopter. “But they won’t fit her well.”

“Is the child okay?”

Rick glanced over to where Graham had taken charge, ordering everyone to stay back and give Daniel and his mother room. A natural leader, he might not have been sworn in yet as mayor—that was supposed to happen after the holidays—but Graham was exactly the person to keep everyone calm in a crisis.

He’d been the perfect choice to take care of the town.

The sound of sirens in the distance answered Lana’s question, which was good, because Rick wasn’t leaving her to go find out more information. “The ambulance is almost here. I don’t know how long Daniel was in the water, but I can see that he’s crying, which is a good sign. You saved his life.”

“Ash saved him.” Lana’s words were hard to understand, she was shaking so badly. “She’s the one who saw him.”

When it was clear her hands weren’t working well enough to manage her shoelaces, Rick helped her. Peeling half-frozen slacks off her mile-long legs was not nearly as sexy as his daydreams, but she gave him a tight, appreciative smile when he helped her pull on a pair of Ash’s snow pants.

“What about you?” Lana asked.

“I wasn’t in the water as long,” he told her as he shrugged out of his own wet clothes, taking whatever was pushed at him.

Lana was an ice cube by the time the ambulance got there. Kelly was sobbing in relief, cradling Daniel close in the warmth of her own car.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he warned as Lana leaned her head against the window.

She didn’t answer him, and she wouldn’t look at him, but at least her eyes were open.

“Lana, the ambulance is here. You need to go with them.” When he reached for her to help her from the car, Lana pulled out of Rick’s hands.

“I’m fine.” She tried for her trademark breezy tone, but it fell flat between her chattering teeth. “No hospitals. Can you take me to the resort?”

“Bullshit,” Ash said, returning to the car. She watched as Lana scooted across the seat toward the door. “You need to go get checked.”

Yes, that was exactly what Lana needed to do. But instead of agreeing, she shook her head in a tight jerking motion, once more refusing Rick’s help as she decided to get out of the car instead. He didn’t know how she was still standing, but her back was straight and her chin high, every inch the woman who made boardrooms sit up and take notice.

“Jonah was helping Fish and Game with a problem moose near Girdwood, but he’s on his way. Garcia and his partner are headed here to help.” Ash turned to Lana. “Jonah’s pretty upset, but he radioed Easton and told him to tell you he’s grateful to you for saving his little boy.”

She didn’t say anything, instead just standing there, shivering. The paramedics were still focused on Daniel, but Graham was pointing to the car Lana and Rick were next to. Ash frowned.

“She might be able to ignore them, but Jonah isn’t going to take no for an answer. He’ll make her go to the hospital.”

“Lana, let us help you,” Rick said softly. When she opened her mouth to protest through blue-tinged lips, he added, “I get it, okay? If you show one ounce of weakness, the town jumps on you. But after today, no one is going to treat you that way.”

She watched Kelly press Daniel into the paramedic’s arms. “Thank you for jumping in with me.” Lana finally added in a whisper, “I’ve never been that cold in my life.”

His instincts told him she needed a place to hide before she’d consent to a checkup, so Rick slipped his arm around her waist. Kelly shot Lana a quick, desperately grateful look before climbing into the front seat of the ambulance. Rick didn’t know if Lana saw it.

More and more people gathered in as those on the lake came to see what they could do to help.

“Hey,” Ash told Rick, watching Lana shift away from the growing crowd. “Are you good to drive?”

“Yeah.”

“Then get her out of here. She looks ready to bolt.”

“She can barely stand.” Rick growled in frustration. Ash wasn’t wrong. Far from wanting to celebrate her bravery, Lana looked like a cornered animal.

“Come on,” Rick said in her ear. “You at least need a hot bath to warm you up.”

Lana allowed him to herd her back to her SUV where he turned the heater on full blast. It would take more than a few minutes in a car to take away the chill. He drove off, wondering if he should ignore her request and drive her to the hospital anyway. She didn’t seem to be suffering from hypothermia, but Rick didn’t want to be wrong and have Lana pay the price.

Her fingers shook as she pulled out her phone. “I have a conference call scheduled. I need to cancel…the reception here isn’t good enough…dammit.”

Of course the reception sucked. No one’s phone would work on this road, and if that made her miss a work call, then so be it. Rick would feel guilty about that tomorrow, but he didn’t care now. Lana wasn’t the only one with shaking hands.

“Lana. I’m the last person in the world with the right to tell you what to do. But I am the guy with his guts in his throat because I almost lost you today. I need a minute, baby. Thirty seconds, even, just to breathe. Fifteen where I don’t have to share you.” Rick inhaled a rough breath. “Hell, I’d take five seconds of hugging you and telling you everything’s okay.”

“If I let you hug me, I’m going to fall apart. I can’t, Rick.”

“Is that why you won’t go to the hospital? You don’t want anyone to see you upset?” When she didn’t answer, staring out the window, a growl of sheer protectiveness escaped his lips. “You think I’d let anyone say shit to you? You think they would after you saved that little boy? Lana, you don’t know us at all. You don’t know me at all.”

“I know I don’t belong.”

She belonged with him. Rick almost said it, but the words caught on his tongue. Memories of her—eyes wide with fear but arms bravely holding Daniel out of the water—made his heart hurt in his chest.

“Give us a chance, Lana.” Give him a chance. Except there was no way. Even now, when she slipped her fingers inside his, Rick knew he didn’t have a chance to keep her forever.

The truth didn’t make him want her one single bit less.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. It’s all so jumbled.”

Everything wasn’t jumbled for Rick. For him, it was all crystal freaking clear. He’d fallen for a woman he couldn’t have forever. But he had her right now. So Rick didn’t hug her, but he did hold her hand, those perfect fingers icy cold in his larger, rough ones. He got it. He knew what it was like to do everything in his power not to fall apart when a moment of kindness was all it took to bring the paper-thin walls of outer strength crashing down.

By the time they reached his place, Rick was barely looking at the road, so focused on watching her pale skin still a worrying tinge of blue.

“This isn’t the hotel,” she said through chattering teeth.

“You need a real bed, under a real roof,” he grunted as he parked under the carport. “But I’ll charge you too much for a cup of tea if you want.”

Rick hovered behind her shoulder as she got out and headed wearily up the porch, her movements slow, as if the water had stolen her strength.

A slight exhalation of relief left her lips as Rick held the door open for her, letting her inside.

He and Diego hadn’t expected company, so the ever-present cereal box was still on the table, and he hadn’t taken out the trash. A rinsed stack of bowls and spoons had yet to be cleaned.

“Would you mind if I made some tea?” Lana’s voice was strained. “I’m not feeling all that well.”

Halfway between the front door and the kitchen, her legs quit working. Rick was ready for it, having watched what little color was left in her face drain away the last couple of miles of the drive.

He caught her, his arm around her waist keeping her on her feet even as she sagged. Lana was a proud woman, and she tried to pull away. “I’m really fine, love. I promise.”

“You promise, huh?” he said gruffly. This time, he didn’t ask. Instead, he scooped her up into his arms, cradling her protectively to his chest. “No offense, but I’m not buying it.”

She’d get her tea, but he’d be getting it for her. First, he needed to warm her up. The fireplace in the living room didn’t work half as well as the woodburning stove in the bedroom. Setting her down on the oversize chair he liked to read in on cold winter nights, Rick stripped the bed of its coverings and brought them to her, wrapping Lana up as tightly as he could. Then he worked on getting the stove going, feeding it small sticks of kindling until it started to roar with heat.