Free Her Mountain Man by Cindi Myers

wasn’t a lot of room in his head for other things.
    But this morning, even climbing couldn’t keep out thoughts of a certain shapely journalist who pretended to be cool and aloof, but who had shown signs yesterday of unexpected warmth. After she’d left him last night, Paul had wondered if he should have kissed her lips instead of her cheek. The thought of how she might have reacted had kept him awake for hours.
    His climbing partner today, Josh Merton, didn’t help keep Paul’s mind off Sierra. “What’s the story with you and that hot brunette?” he asked, as he and Paul prepared to set anchors for a new route up the pool wall.
    “She’s a reporter interviewing me for a magazine article,” Paul said.
    “I thought you didn’t talk to reporters.”
    “She’s not just any reporter.”
    Josh laughed. “I can see that. I guess for a woman who looked like that I might sacrifice my principles, too.”
    “It’s not like that.” Paul stepped onto a jutting chunk of rock and found a handhold in a crevice overhead. He began to climb.
    “Don’t make the route too tough,” Josh said. “Remember, this is for kids. Some of them have been pretty sick, I guess, so the idea is to challenge them, but not freak them out.” Josh had volunteered to help with several groups of kids from The Children’s Hospital in Denver who were participating in four-day vacations in the San Juan Mountains sponsored by the local Elks Lodge.
    “Right.” Paul looked up the slope, studying his options.
    “You ought to come help with the climb,” Josh said. “There’s supposed to be seven kids and their families participating. We could always use more volunteers.”
    “No, thanks,” Paul said. Josh was the kind of guy who was at ease with anyone and everyone, but Paul wasn’t so comfortable around crowds of strangers, especially a bunch of critically ill children and their families. He wouldn’t know what to say to them, and he didn’t think he’d be able to hide his emotions.
    “Will you be too busy romancing your reporter friend to help me out?” Josh persisted, beginning a route parallel to Paul’s.
    “She’s only here until Monday,” Paul said. “And I’m talking to her because she’s Victor Winston’s daughter.”
    “Oh.” A shower of gravel bouncing down the slope emphasized the single syllable as Josh scrambled for a new foothold. “That’s heavy.”
    “Yeah.” When he’d agreed to talk with Sierra, he hadn’t thought much about the potential emotional impact of such a meeting. He’d been focused on the chance to learn more about his childhood hero—the chance to, in a way, bring the man whose body he’d hauled down the side of a mountain back to life.
    “So, is she glad you found her dad, or upset that you brought the whole story back into the open after so many years?” Josh asked. He stopped a little above Paul on the wall, flattened against the rock and looked back at his friend.
    “She hasn’t said.” Paul hammered an anchor into the wall. Though she’d relaxed a little around him yesterday, Sierra had been careful not to reveal too much of herself.
    He’d enjoyed hearing about her childhood with Victor, but when he’d pressed for more, she’d cut him off. Was it because her parents separated when she was so young?
    The idea that his hero had abandoned his wife and daughter bothered Paul. Wouldn’t Sierra have seen her dad on weekends and summer visits? Yet she hadn’t known about Victor’s netsuke collection. Paul wondered if it would be possible to find out when Victor had begun collecting. Had the gift to his daughter sparked his interest? If so, why hadn’t he shared that interest with his only child?
    The more time he spent with Sierra, the more questions he had. And he couldn’t say all his questions concerned her father. The woman herself drew him. He couldn’t remember when he’d enjoyed being with someone more. And that one kiss…
    “Are you going to lean there against