Rocky Mountain Valor by Jennifer D. Bokal

Author:Jennifer D. Bokal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-06-06T18:28:05+00:00

Chapter 9

Ian heard Petra’s scream, and his blood turned cold. He leaped from the floor and sprinted out the door.

The walkway was empty. Petra was gone—vanished. The echo of her shriek had already faded.

He turned in a quick circle, his eyes taking in everything at once. He saw them—a set of hands, clutching the bottom rung of the railing. Petra. Her knuckles were white.

He dived forward and grasped her wrists. “I’ve got you,” he said. “But don’t let go.”

Petra stared up at him. Her face was chalky and her skin was damp with perspiration. His hands slid. He clasped tighter, his fingers biting into her arm. She squirmed and her feet thrashed. One shoe slipped from her foot, silently somersaulting through the air before landing with a thump in the courtyard below.

“Ian,” she gasped. Her own hands slid, until just her fingers were hooked over the metal rung. “I can’t hold on much longer.”

A sharp crack broke the afternoon quiet. It registered as a gunshot and Ian flattened completely.

Just as quickly, he realized that the noise hadn’t come from a firearm, but someplace just as deadly. One of three bolts that held the section of railing in place had cracked. The entire structure bowed outward. Petra screamed, but didn’t let go.

If one of the other bolts broke, the whole section would topple, sending Petra to the courtyard twenty feet below. Then again, maybe that was the best way to save her life.

“Look at me,” Ian said to her. She lifted her wide eyes to his. “I have an idea. It’s a longshot, but the only shot I have.”

Her face went gray. “Okay,” she said. “I trust you.”

“I’m going to let go of your arms,” he said.

Petra began to shake her head. “No, Ian. Don’t. This railing’s weak. It could fall at any minute.”

He ignored the fear in her voice and the dread in her expression. “That’s what I’m counting on. I’m going to kick the other bolts loose.”

“You’re going to what?”

“You have to hold on to the railing and I’ll lower it down. At the end, you’ll have to drop, but it’ll only be a few feet.”

“What if you can’t hold on to the railing?”

That was the real question, wasn’t it? Ian refused to fail. The alternative would be devastating to Petra—to him. “I won’t let you get hurt,” he vowed.

Petra bit her bottom lip. Their eyes met. “There’s no other way, is there?”

Ian shook his head. “Hold on,” he warned, “and don’t let go until I tell you.”

“Got it,” she said.

Ian paused, his hands on her wrists. He wanted to tell her more, say something. But what? The moment was too important to waste on words.

“Don’t let go,” he said again.

He stood and aimed his toe at the middle bolt. He kicked. His foot connected with solid metal. He kicked again and again. The railing undulated.

“Ian,” Petra said, fear in her voice, “I can’t hold on.”

The bolt cracked and the whole railing flipped outward. Petra bounced, jostled like a rag doll.

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