He gave silent thanks to the powers of life and caught her face between his hands. Her cheeks were like ice. “You must stay awake, Joelle. I’m going to get you warm again, but you have to help me.”
Her body shuddered, her words broken by the chattering of her teeth. “I’m cold, Luke. Make me warm.
With a soft oath, Luke held her against his body “I’ll help you, Joey. But you must help me, too. Will you try very hard to stay awake for a few minutes?”
“Okay, Luke,” she murmured, eyes unfocused. “I’ll try to stay awake. But I’m so cold.”
Luke cursed and laid her back down against the cave wall, struggling out of his sweater. He draped it over her, scant protection that it was, and backed out of the cave. He ran with every ounce of speed he could muster, hauling the two packs over his shoulders, the adrenaline rushing through his body made them feel as light as down. Thudding to his knees at the entrance once again, he dragged the packs in after him, putting his own up to block a large portion of the cave mouth to cut off any intrusion of snow and wind.
She was still awake, as he’d prayed she would be. Her eyes seemed to be trying to track him, not quite succeeding; with clumsy fingers he battled with the ties and zippers of both packs to free the sleeping bags and the extra blanket he had brought along in case of just such an emergency. He opened her smaller bag and draped it over his shoulders to warm it with his body heat while he stripped his sweater and parka away from her body, moving her unresisting form as if it were a doll’s. He spoke to her all the while, a firm, insistent monologue that denied her the chance to give in.
The wool sweater she wore was almost dry, but the underlayers were damp with perspiration He removed them one by one, shielding her from the cold air that blew in the cave mouth when the wind shifted When he had stripped away the last of her damp clothing, down to the skin, he lifted her in his arms and placed her deep within the cocoon of his unrolled sleeping bag, wrapping it about her tightly and laying her open bag and the blanket over that until he had covered her with as many layers as he could find Only then did he begin to drag off his own dry clothing, pushing his sweater, shirt, and pants back against the rear wall of the cave.
There was no time to think. No time to consider implications or should-have-beens. His mind was focused on one thing, and his anger at himself fled before necessity.
Her body was still icy cold when he joined her. There was room enough in his bag, just room enough for the two of them, pressed together spoon fashion. Her nakedness stretched along the length of his body meant nothing in those moments but a terrible vulnerability to be protected and healed at all costs, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, feeling the fading shudders that vibrated against his chest, willing them away with all his heart and mind. He pressed his face into the softness of her hair. His knees filled the hollows behind hers, the swell of her buttocks was soft against the muscle of his belly.
He knew he spoke nonsense. He kept up the ceaseless oneway conversation, demanding that she stay awake, needing to hear her murmured acknowledgments. When her body began to warm against him, he buried his face in her neck and felt her snuggle closer, pressing back with a sigh, shifting her feet to intertwine with his. Whether there was conscious design in her movement he could not guess, he struggled with his body’s reaction and tried to recapture the simple determination to save her. It would not come. Every instinct told him that the danger had passed.
The stirring of his body was undeniable. He could not risk leaving her yet, though his mind screamed a warning, nor could he pull back from the curves of her body, from the feel of her skin, and the utterly feminine scent that intoxicated him. She would know it soon enough if she didn’t already the devastating effect she had on him, that he had been fighting long and hard without success.