To Love & Protect Her by Margaret Watson

even from this distance.
    â€œAll right,” he said, and made his voice soothing. “Let’s not worry about why it happened. Let’s get you off that little ledge.”
    He opened his pack to remove the small coil of rope he stored there, praying that it would be strong enough to lift Willa. He didn’t like the look of that small outcropping of rock. The rock around him was soft and crumbling, and all he could see in his mind’s eye was the ledge giving way and Willa falling endlessly away from him.
    The rope was just long enough to reach to the ledge and Willa. “Can you tie this around your waist?” he called, keeping his voice calm and even.
    â€œI think so.”
    â€œDo you know how to tie a bowline knot?”
    â€œNo.” She looked up at him. “But if you talk me through it, I’m sure I could learn.”
    They didn’t have time for Willa to learn how to tiethe complicated knot. As she shifted on the ledge to loop the rope around her waist, a small piece of the rock flaked off and fell. It was a long time before he heard it hit on the boulders below.
    â€œDon’t worry about it. Just tie a square knot. You can do that, can’t you?”
    â€œI’m not an idiot,” she snapped, and he relaxed slightly. If she could snap at him, she couldn’t be hurt too badly.
    â€œAll right,” she called after a few moments. “I’ve got the rope tied.”
    Griff tied the other end around his own waist, then looked around for something to use to brace himself. There was a tiny mesquite bush on the other side of the trail. It was pitifully small, but it would have to do. Wrapping his legs around the thin trunk, he pulled up the slack in the rope.
    â€œI’m going to pull you slowly up the side of the cliff,” he called to Willa. “All you need to do is walk up the rocks. Can you do that?”
    â€œYes,” she called. He heard the fear in her voice.
    â€œLet me know when you’re ready.”
    â€œI’m ready.”
    He began to pull, slowly but steadily. The rope vibrated in his hands as Willa banged against the rocks. He could hear her panting and cursing under her breath, but she didn’t ask him to stop, didn’t beg for him to go more slowly. She just kept scrabbling against the rocks as he pulled her upward.
    When he saw the top of her head at the edge of thecliff, he gave a hard pull, and she slid over the edge. She lay face down on the trail and didn’t move.
    His heart pounding in his chest, he untangled himself from the mesquite bush and scrambled to get to her. Had she hurt herself on the ascent? Had she banged her head again?
    Just as he reached her, she turned her head and gave him a wobbly smile. “Nice job, Fortune.”
    â€œMy God, Willa. Are you hurt?”
    She shook her head and gathered herself to sit up. “Only my pride.”
    He couldn’t stop himself. Before he could think about what he was doing, before he could tell himself to be smart, he’d snatched her up into his arms and pulled her against him.
    â€œI’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair, holding her more tightly.
    She pulled away far enough to look at him. “What on earth are you sorry for?”
    â€œFor taking you up this damn mountain. I knew you’d had a knock on the head yesterday. I should have kept you in the cabin.”
    â€œThe fact that I fell off the cliff was not your fault,” she said firmly. “It’s my own stupidity and pride that are to blame. I’m the one who ignored the symptoms of altitude sickness and insisted on going on. I was feeling light-headed even before we got to the top of the mountain. So don’t blame yourself.”
    He couldn’t let her go, not yet. “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling light-headed? Why didn’t you tell me you needed to go back?”
    â€œBecause I didn’t want you to think I was a weak,