“Phil? Phil, man. I need you.”

  Phil left the man he was talking to immediately. “Sure. What’s wrong?”

  “Bleu went out snowmobiling this morning, and they’re not back. More than an hour late. I need to get back to the ranch.”

  “Let’s go.” Phil took his arm and just marched his butt back to the fancy-assed Jeep Phil drove, no question. They hopped in and moved out of the VIP lot slowly, but once they were on the main highway, they were booking.

  “Ford says they’re expecting a storm. I—what if he’s hurt?”

  “We’ll find them. There’s a ranch full of cowboys and pro skiers. We’ll find them.”

  “Right. Right.” He would get out on the cross-country skis if he had to.

  “Relax. I bet they broke down and are trudging through the snow singing Willie Nelson songs.”

  “Ha-ha.” Did Bleu even know any Willie songs? His dad played the guitar, so he probably did.

  “Yeah, I’m trying to help.”

  “I know, hon. I do. I’m just freaked-out. If Bleu is hurt or lost…. Floyd isn’t with him.”

  “Can Floyd find him? Does that really work? Like with sniffing and stuff?”

  “Maybe.” He hadn’t thought of that. He texted Ford, Can anyone take Floyd? He might be able to help.

  I’ll see, came back.

  He tapped his fingers on his phone. Okay. Okay, how far would Stoney have taken Bleu? Surely the wranglers knew the route. They took people out all the time. The suits they used for snowmobiling had avalanche beacons. They could do this.

  The drive seemed to take forever, and even more ominous, there was no word from Ford.

  The ranch looked like an ant’s nest that had been disturbed, people running around like idiots. There was still a big party going on, and now they had a major storm to prepare for.

  Ryan leaped out of the Jeep and ran for the main house. He needed to find Ford.

  Who he found was Quartz.

  Fuck.

  “Daddy wasn’t with you, then.” The words weren’t a question.

  “No, kiddo. Where’s your Uncle Ford?” He didn’t want to make Quartz scared.

  “In the office.”

  “Thank you.” He pressed a hand to Quartz’s shoulder before going to find Ford. He knocked, but he wasn’t going to be put off.

  “Come in.” Ford’s face was a thundercloud, the little Bluetooth earpiece blinking. “Hey. Hold up. Can you get me a helicopter out here? Goddammit! I know there’s a storm, but my husband is out there with a guest that’s blind. It’s a big fucking deal.”

  He waited, wincing when he realized that had to be search and rescue.

  “Fine. Tomorrow. Fuck you too.” Ford slammed down the phone. “They haven’t been gone long enough, and that storm is coming in. I’ll see if Noah Wright can help. His husband is doing the party for us.”

  “What about the avalanche beacons?”

  “Nothing. Someone has to be close enough for it to get the signal. Stoney would have called in if it was just run-of-the-mill. He took a radio.”

  “Dammit. Dammit. What can I do? What do I need to do?”

  “Stay here for a few? Man the radio. I have to find Noah and let the crew know what’s happening.”

  “Okay. Sure. Quartz is freaking out a little, just FYI.”

  “Can he come sit with you? Floyd went out with Doogie.”

  “Sure. Sure, of course.” What the hell was he supposed to do with a kid who had a lost father?

  “He won’t bug you, I swear, but it will be good for him to have company. Geoff and Tiny are so—”

  “Go. Just go find someone who can help, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Ford headed off at a run, leaving him there alone.

  Christ. He checked his phone, hoping Bleu was going to call or text.

  “Come on, babe. Let me know you’re okay….”

  Bleu had to be okay. They were just getting back together. Ryan couldn’t lose him now.

  Chapter Sixteen

  BLEU woke up confused and cold, the smells of snow and fuel everywhere. Okay. Okay, focus. First, think before you panic. He reached up and touched his face. Gloves. Helmet. Goggles. So, outside.

  “Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me?” Lord, his voice sounded loud in his ears.

  No answer came, and he started to panic, because he couldn’t—

  Just as that thought started, reality popped back into his head.

  Snowmobiling. With Stoney.

  “Stoney? Stoney, can you hear me?”

  When there was no answer, he absolutely panicked for a moment, sure he was dead and he just didn’t know it.

  Then he took a deep breath of cold air.

  Okay, start searching. He reached out as far as he could in all directions. He didn’t find anything, so he scooted over to sit in the line he’d drawn and repeated the motions, calling for Stoney again and again.

  He vaguely remembered falling backward, downhill, so that was where he moved. Down, then doing his feeling around.

  Down. Feel. Down. Feel. Do—

  The snowmobile. He felt carefully, finding it upside down, the ski-deals up in the air. “Okay, so you fell off. Where did you go?”

  He moved around the sled, stopping short when he ran into something—someone—sticking out. “Fuck.”

  Snow boots. Right. If they were perpendicular, then maybe so was Stoney’s head. He moved back uphill, then worked around the sled to feel on the other side. Okay, head. Right. Fuck.

  “Stoney? Can you hear me?” He would really like Stoney to talk so he could figure out how hurt he was, how to fix this and not feel so alone.

  He pushed a little, trying to decide whether to move the sled or dig Stoney out. He pulled off his gloves, searching for Stoney’s eyes. Closed, but they were moving under the closed lids.

  Thank God. Pulling the gloves back on, he sat and thought a moment. Stoney had an emergency kit on the snowmobile.

  First thing, get Stoney from under the snowmobile. Then get him warmed up. Third, find out if the beacon deal Stoney had told him about was working.

  “Right. I have a plan.”

  He moved to the front of the snowmobile because he’d felt the skis had handles.

  Stoney had said if they flipped, the seat and handlebars would act like a fulcrum, so he was supposed to flip it from the skis. He could do this. Bleu just wasn’t sure if he could do it without hurting Stoney.

  “Please, God. Please. I’m going to be the ultimate in calm and not idiot, and you’re going to help me help him. Deal? Deal. Rock on. Amen.” He lifted and shoved as hard as he could, twisting and stumbling through the snow as he fought to get the sled off Stoney.

  His feet slid, and he grunted, grinding his teeth to stay upright. Bleu shouted like a weight lifter or a martial artist, and the snowmobile went over so fast that he staggered off to one side so he didn’t fall on Stoney.

  “Okay. Okay.” He collapsed next to Stoney, panting hard. “Let’s make sure I didn’t break you.”

  Bleu pulled off his gloves again, this time feeling Stoney’s pulse. A little jumpy, but not weak. Now he would… what? Check for injuries? Yes. Oh Lord, there was blood on Stoney’s head….

  Suddenly he could hear Ryan in his head. His lover had given him instructions more than once back in Boulder, just in case he found himself alone and/or injured in the snow, because once you wandered off a trail, you could get lost fast.

  “Stay warm,” he said along with his mental Ryan. “That’s the biggest thing. Don’t exert yourself enough to sweat. Too late for that. All right. So warmth is most important, bud.”

  He went to the snowmobile and started searching. Emergency kit. Emergency kit.

  Ha! There was a pack behind the seat, and it was still intact. Yay. Right. He struggled to get it loose, then opened it. There was what he thought was juice or water packets, packets of food, what he imagined was a first aid kit.

  Bingo. Survival blankets. They caught sun on the outside, and had a slick, reflective surface inside to use their own body heat. Ryan had explained them to him on one of their long ago camping trips to the mountains.

  He laid one out and rolled Stoney up onto it, trying to brush the snow off Stoney as he did. The suits they wore protected them some, but Stoney was on the ground, and had been for who knew how long. Bleu checked to make sure Stoney was faceup, then covered him with another blanket.

  “Okay. Good. Now, I have to find the beacon deal. Is it like a radio…. Oh. You have a radio. I heard it. I heard it crackle.”

  He pulled off his gloves and started searching for something like a walkie-talkie.

  If he could just get a hold of the ranch, well, he could get them saved.

  Stoney needed saving.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “NOAH’S going to see what he can do….”

  Someone Ryan didn’t know came pushing into the office.

  “You’re not Ford.”

  “No, Mason, this is Mr. Ryan. Mr. Bleu is his friend.” He’d almost forgotten Quartz was there, if he was honest, until the kid piped up.

  “Hey. Ford is out scaring up more searchers.” Ryan stood, holding out a hand. “I’m manning the radio.”

  “Oh, excellent. I’m Mason. My husband is trying to find a helicopter that can get here before the storm.”

  “Thank you both so much for your help.” He was an athlete. He wanted to be out there helping, but he didn’t know the terrain as well as Stoney and Ford’s people, and he would just be in the way.

  “Anything for them. Anything.” Mason went to Quartz. “You okay?”

  “When am I going to be big enough to go help?”

  “Soon, kiddo. You’re big enough to help me right now, if you want.” Mason met Ryan’s gaze over Quartz’s head, his expression telling Ryan he was being kind. “Geoff and Tiny have to help with the party, but we need sandwiches and coffee for the guys who are out searching. Are you game?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. Do you want one, Mr. Ryan?”

  “I would love that, thank you.” He’d planned to gorge himself with Bleu after the event, so he was actually feeling a bit light-headed.

  “I’ll be right back, then,” Quartz said, leaving with Mason.

  “Jesus, Bleu. Where are you?” He dropped his head in his hands, feeling utterly useless. He hated this. Hated it. Bleu was perfectly capable, he knew that, but he was up against a lot with this storm.

  “Hello? Hello, I need help. Is someone out there?” The radio crackled to life.

  Ryan snatched up the handset. “Bleu?”

  “Ryan? Ryan, can you hear me? There was an accident. Stoney’s out cold and bleeding. I have him in the emergency blanket, but I need medical assistance.”

  “Okay. The wranglers and some of the guests who have search-and-rescue training are out looking for you. Do you have any idea where you are?”

  “There was a hill. We went down and tried to go back up.”

  “A hill. Describe exactly what you felt.” Quartz walked in with a plate, and Ryan waved at him frantically. “Get your uncle,” he mouthed.

  Quartz nodded and ran.

  “There was a big hill, all the way down, then we went around and around, but on the way up, something happened. Stoney was under the sled. I got him out. There’s snow everywhere. Soft snow. Deep.”

  “I hear you. Sounds like you’re in a valley of some sort. A depression. Do you have an emergency kit?”

  “Yes. I got the blankets out and covered Stoney. What does the beacon thing feel like?”

  “If you went downhill that fast, it will be activated.” The beacons always activated at fast downward motion. “It should be in your suit. Or around Stoney’s neck. It will be like, uh, a small flip-phone shape. Or like your dad’s glucometer.”

  “Okay. Okay, I’m going to hunt for it. I need both hands. I’ll be back.”

  He wanted to shout for Bleu not to go, but they needed to get found before that storm got bad. A glance out the window told him it was already snowing.

  Ford burst in. “Where are they?”

  “Bleu says they zoomed down a huge hill into a bowl of some sort. They did some laps before starting up the other side, but that’s where they flipped.”

  “Doesn’t Stoney know where they are, for fuck’s sake?”

  “He’s out cold, Ford. Bleu has him in survival blankets, and he’s making sure the beacons are on. Tanner has a transponder, right?”

  Ford slammed his hand against the desk, making him jump. Then he calmed, like someone had pulled a curtain down over his frustration. “Yeah, and he and Doogie have both run guide trips with Stoney. They might know where this bowl is. I’ll get Tanner on his cell to keep the radio free if I can.”

  He nodded, eyes on the receiver.

  “You got this. I’m going to call Tanner and get medical up here.”

  “Okay. I’ll holler at you when Stoney wakes up.” That just seemed like the right thing to say.

  “You do that.” With that Ford was gone, and he sat, waiting for Bleu to come back.

  He grabbed the sandwich Quartz had brought him, because eating his feelings was more productive than screaming.

  “Hey, I found Stoney’s beacon. It’s beeping.” Bleu sounded out of breath.

  “Good. That’s good. Okay, so, next we need to get you and Stoney both warmer while you wait.”

  “Should I go find wood? I found the matches and put them in my pocket.”

  “It may come to that, babe, but most of the wood will be wet and will take forever to catch. There should be hand warmers in the emergency kit. Do you remember what they feel like? Little square plastic things that heat up when you hold them?”

  “I know. I have some in my boots from when we started. Do I put them on Stoney’s chest, do you think?”

  “Put them in his gloves and boots. Put more in yours too. You’ll have to huddle up with him to share whatever heat you can. Your kit will also have glow sticks instead of flares. They’re super bright, and all you have to do is crack them like the ones at Halloween. When the guys get near, they’ll see them.” He just kept talking, thinking of anything that would help.

  “Okay. Okay. I’m going to do that and see if I can’t wrap Stoney’s head up. His heart rate is strong, stable.”

  “Okay. Try to get his head up off the ground too. That will help.” He could tell Bleu was doing, not talking, when no answer came. God, please let them find Bleu and Stoney soon. Please.

  BLEU was scared to death, but he tried to keep it at bay. People knew they were missing now, knew Stoney was hurt. They would come for them. He just had to keep them warm and keep Stoney alive.

  No big deal.

  Except it was snowing hard, and the only cover they had was the snowmobile.

  “I’m so sorry, man. I didn’t know there’d be an accident.” He held Stoney’s head in his lap, cradling it.

  The air was colder, so it had to be getting darker, with the storm, he guessed. He’d put out three light thingies, and at Ryan’s command, he’d had a pouch of water and a small bag of peanuts. The radio wasn’t off, but he wasn’t using it to babble because he had to conserve the batteries. He knew there were flashlight batteries in the emergency kit, but who knew if they were the same as the ones in the radio? Bleu doubted it.

  Ryan checked with him every twenty minutes, and every twenty minutes he said he was fine, and every twenty minutes he was lying. He was scared to death.

  “Bleu?” Stoney’s voice was rough as a cob and barely there. “It’s cold.”

  “Oh. Oh, hey there. It totally is. You whacked your head but good. You… you want water?” He grabbed the radio. “Ryan? Ryan, he’s awake.”

  “Thank God. I’ll tell Ford.”

  Bleu nodded and moved just enough to grab the pack. He didn’t want to dump Stoney on the ground.

  “Water is a great idea. My head is killing me.”

  “Yeah, it sucked big-time. Do you think you can sit up, or would that be bad?”

  Stoney lifted his head a fraction of an inch, then gagged. “Bad. Definitely bad. I can wiggle my toes, though.”

  Relief flooded him.

  “That’s good. Really good. I’ll get you the water.”

  “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

  He was fine, barring a little bit of a sore ankle. “I have to admit, Stoney. I-I can’t see.”

  Stoney stiffened, then chuffed out a laugh. “You fuck.”

  Bleu laughed a little. “I think my head is fine. I’m sure I have bruises, but you were bleeding hard.”

  “It don’t feel cracked, but I bet I’m concussed some.”

  “Do you know where we are? Do you know how to tell them?”

  “We were in the bowl, right? Did you tell them that?”

  “Uh-huh. I think so. I told them we went down and then went around and around and….”

  A loud barking filled the air, shocking him.

  “Floyd!”

  “Careful!” Stoney said, and Bleu remembered he had Stoney on his lap.

  “Sorry. Sorry. Floyd! Help!”

  A few moments later, Floyd came bounding down the rise at them, and the low hum of an engine came after him. The engine stopped on top of the hill. “Boss? Bleu?” Doogie shouted down.

  “We’re here! We’re down here!” He grabbed Floyd, trying not to cry, because he’d done good so far. His boy was pretty warm, really, for all that he had snow on his fur.

  Floyd barked and licked his face, clearly overjoyed.

  “Hang on, fellers!” He could hear Doogie talking on either a radio or cell. Maybe a cell, because his radio….

  He snatched it up. “Ryan! Doogie is here!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “RYAN! Doogie is here!”

  Ryan’s knees buckled, and he sat hard. “Oh, thank God.”

  Then he sprang back up and ran, searching for Ford. “They found them!”

  Ford looked at him, utterly disbelieving for a moment. Then color flooded his cheeks. “Oh God.”

  “Doogie. He’s in the small snowcat, right?”

  “Right.” Ford frantically dialed his phone. “Tanner? Doogie has them. He has the coordinates. Yes. I’m trying, but we don’t have a chopper. Okay.”