The President's Daughter

Her behavior wasn’t due to the fact that there were Secret-Service men with them. She actually enjoyed Ron and his quiet sense of humor. Somehow she had to get over her irrational dislike of Nick Logan. She just wished she knew how.

“What do you have against Nick?” Trish suddenly asked, sitting down across from her. “You’ve been on his case ever since we got here.”

Ashley rubbed her forehead with her fingers, feeling the hint of a headache looming. “I don’t know, Trish. I honestly don’t. He just rubs me the wrong way, that’s all.”

Trish grinned. After taking a big bite of her food and chewing it, she carefully swallowed before saying, “I really don’t think I’d care which way he rubbed me, as long as he was interested in trying.”

“Yeah, right. We both know you’re all talk and no action…so why the siren routine?”

Trish didn’t answer right away. Ashley continued to eat and was taken aback when Trish finally responded by saying, “I didn’t know Joe was coming on this trip to be with Erin.”

After a moment Ashley responded, “I think we all came to ski, Trish. That’s what this trip is about, isn’t it?”

Trish sighed. “I came because I thought if I was in a small enough group with him, Joe would finally notice me.”

Ashley studied her friend’s woebegone face. “Oh, Trish, I’m sorry,” she said in a quiet voice. “I had no idea you felt that way.”

Trish sighed and continued eating. In a moment she said, “As long as Joe doesn’t know, I guess I’ll survive. You could have thrown me into a crocodile pit and I probably wouldn’t have noticed yesterday when Joe said he and Erin would share a room. I was totally freaked.”

“But would you have shared a room with him?”

“Are you crazy? Of course not! I’m not going to bed with some guy just because—” She stopped her tirade and shrugged her shoulders. “I just didn’t think this was going to be a trip about sex.”

“It isn’t. It’s about skiing.”

“For you, maybe.”

“For me, definitely. Do you think my dad would have agreed to let me come if he’d thought I’d be sharing a room with some guy?” She made a face, hoping to lighten Trish’s mood a little.

Trish chuckled. “He doesn’t have to worry about you, not with two chaperones following you everywhere you go.” She nibbled on a piece of toast before adding, “Wow. I just realized. That could really cramp your social life if you were seriously involved with someone.”

“Tell me about it. I’ll probably end up single for the rest of my life.”

Trish gave her a devilish grin. “Either that, or have an affair with one of your guardians.” She glanced over at the other table where Ron and Nick were eating. “If I were in your place, I would definitely be tempted.”

Ashley replied, “Ron’s just getting over a painful divorce. I don’t think he’s ready for another relationship anytime soon.”

“Not Ron, you idiot! Nick. I bet he could teach you all kinds of things.”

“The thing is, Trish, I think you’re supposed to like the guy before you decide to have an affair with him. At least that’s always been my take on the matter.”

“What’s not to like? Don’t you just adore his eyes? And the way he looks at you, as though he can read your very soul? Not to mention that body? Sometimes I have this urge to walk up and just stroke his backside in unabashed admiration, you know what I mean?”

Unfortunately Ashley had just taken a sip of coffee when Trish nonchalantly threw that suggestion at her. She almost choked when the liquid went down the wrong way at her gasp.

“Trish!” she finally was able to hiss, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Well, it’s the truth. I’m not really into body building and stuff like that, but I have to admit that I’ve wondered what that man would look like in the buff. I have a hunch he would be all burnished muscle and sinewy strength.” The expression she got on her face was embarrassingly dreamy.

“Could we change the subject now?” she asked, with more than a hint of annoyance.

“Sure.” Trish waved to someone and Ashley glanced around. Joe, Derek and Craig had just walked into the room. Trish jumped up. “I’ll go see what happened to Erin. See you later.”

Ashley took the opportunity to make her escape. She gave a brief wave to the others before she hurried toward the door. She would return to the chalet long enough to gather her skis and poles before she headed up the mountain.

Just as she reached out to push on the door, a masculine arm reached past her shoulder, swinging it open for her. She didn’t have to look around to know that Nick Logan had joined her.

This was just great. She wouldn’t be able to look at him without thinking of Trish’s ridiculous comments. She glanced over her shoulder at him and forced herself to smile.

“Thank you.”

His expression didn’t change. Since he’d placed his sunglasses over his eyes, she couldn’t visually gauge his reaction to her politeness, but his answer came readily enough. “Don’t waste your breath, Ms. Sullivan. No one else is around to hear it.”

It was that very trait that she found so offensive. She was trying to be nice, for heaven’s sake. His response was to be sarcastic.

She decided to retreat into silence.

Even that wasn’t good enough.

“Yeah, that’s much better,” he drawled, matching his steps to hers. “I’m familiar with your silent sulks.”

She would not dignify his sniping with a reply. Not even one.

They gathered their equipment and returned to the ski area.

There were eager skiers everywhere this morning. Clouds were beginning to form just above the mountains to the northwest of them. From the looks of things, it could be snowing by noon. If there was a storm coming, she wanted to be off the slopes before it hit.

“Hey, guys, wait up.”

Derek and Craig hurried toward them, carrying their equipment. “What’s the hurry, Ashley?” Craig asked. “Couldn’t you have waited another few minutes for the rest of us? I thought this was a group experience.”

She could feel her face heating up. “I’m sorry, Craig. I guess I wasn’t thinking.” She glanced toward the darkening sky. “I didn’t want to miss out on skiing today, and those clouds are certainly beginning to look threatening.”

Nick nudged her. “Here comes our ride,” he said, suddenly lifting her onto the seat and swinging around to sit on the other side of the bar. Ashley was so startled that she almost lost her poles. She looked back and saw Derek and Craig putting on their skis.

“That was rude,” she muttered. “We could have waited for them.”

“Yes, we could have. However, if you’re serious about getting some ski time in today, we needed to get moving. This may be our only chance before the storm hits.”

She frowned. “Not necessarily. I’ve skied when it was snowing. There’s no reason to—”

“Do you enjoy arguing, or is it just with me? You find fault with everything I say.”

“I just find you unnecessarily rude, that’s all. This is supposed to be a fun trip, but you’ve certainly managed to take all the fun out of it…for all of us!”

A burst of swirling snow blew past them, and she ducked her head to get away from the stinging spray.

“I had no idea I had enough power to ruin six people’s vacation time. Damn, but I’m good.”

When she looked at him he was staring ahead of them, watching their progress up the mountain. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

He still didn’t look at her. “I should hope not. I’m the guy with no sense of humor.”

Ashley had never felt so much animosity toward another person in all her life. If she’d thought she could do it, she would have shoved him off the lift right then and there.

They reached the top of the lift. She got herself ready and eased off, moving through the snow. Only then did she realize that the gusts of snow-laden air blowing around her were not recirculating snow that had already fallen. This was new stuff coming down, growing thicker by the moment.

“Let’s go,” Nick said brusquely.

“I’m waiting for Derek and Craig. They’ll be here shortly.”

“Ashley—”

She looked away from him. “If you’re nervous about the weather, go ahead. I’ll meet you at the lodge.” When he didn’t say anything, she casually turned her head and looked at him. She was a little alarmed by how fast the snow was falling. He was covered by snow and she was already having a little trouble seeing him. His expression was blurred. She adjusted her goggles and looked around.

There they were! Craig and Derek joined them. “Joe had the right idea. He said he was going to wait to see what this weather was going to do. I don’t like this at all,” Derek said with more than a hint of uneasiness.

Craig shoved forward. “Last one down the hill pays for lunch,” he hollered over his shoulder.

Derek was quick to follow.

“Ready anytime you are, Ms. Sullivan,” Nick said quietly.

She pushed away, determined to leave him. The problem with that was the fact that he was darned near a pro on skis. She took the most direct route down, swerving suddenly to miss a slower skier, and in advertently left the trail she’d been following. With a groan of frustration, she forced herself to slow down while she tried to figure out a way to get back on their chosen run.

She finally came to a complete halt and looked around. None of the men were in sight.

Not even her shadow.

“Nick?” she called, looking around.

She could see others skiing, but no one that looked like the three she had been with. She decided to continue down, hoping to cross another path soon.

Nick would probably think she’d done this just to annoy him. She was now in a wooded area where she moved very carefully. She didn’t like being lost. The ski trail had been clearly marked; here there was nothing she could use as a guide down the mountain. Ashley shivered.

The snow continued to come down in thick flurries.

This was close to a whiteout, she thought a few minutes later. She couldn’t see anything in front of her. It was much too dangerous to continue to move with any speed in this kind of weather.

She didn’t know how far she’d gone when she finally spotted one of the large midmountain restaurants that were scattered through out the area for weary skiers. She managed to reach the side of the building, sighing with relief to be out of the heavily falling snow.

It was scarcely ten o’clock in the morning. There was no reason to panic. She’d just wait here for a brief time to get her breath back, maybe get something hot to drink and warm up a little before she continued downhill.

Chapter 5

By the time Nick reached the end of the run, he was ready to wring Ashley’s neck. He was really tired of her attitude and her silly games. Did she think she was going to win some points by disappearing on him? He looked around, the thick flakes obscuring his vision, hoping to see Ashley’s red parka somewhere nearby. Once he found her, he intended to give her a lecture she wouldn’t forget.

Perhaps she wasn’t aware of it, but he—and Ron—had the authority to end this little vacation of hers if, in their opinion, they were unable to adequately protect her.

He spotted Derek removing his skis, but there was no sign of Ashley.

He made his way over to him. “Where’s Ashley?”

Derek stopped unfastening his skis and looked up at Nick in surprise. “I haven’t seen her. I thought she was with you.”

Nick scanned the area. There were several red parkas, but none of them belonged to Ashley. He began to feel uneasy. At the rate the snow was falling, it was hard to tell the color of anything.

He muttered an unprintable word and turned away.

“Where are you going?” Derek called.

“To find Ashley.”

“Don’t worry about her. She was born on a pair of skis. She probably got off course a little. It’s coming down like a son of a—”

“I don’t need a weather report,” Nick growled to himself, moving toward the lifts again.

What really alarmed him was how she had managed to get away from him. One minute she was there just ahead of him, the next minute there’d been no sign of her. Was it intentional? Was she in danger? He didn’t know why he bothered to question her disappearance. Of course it was intentional.

He turned and watched as more skiers came down the mountain. One of them looked familiar. He moved toward the snow-covered figure who was moving very slowly in his direction. As he drew closer, he recognized Craig.

“Have you seen Ashley?” Nick asked him.

Craig shook his head. “No. I took a spill up there. By the time I could get started again, I’d lost track of Everybody.” He looked around. “You mean she isn’t down here?”

“Derek hasn’t seen her. She was ahead of me, but I lost sight of her about halfway down.”

Craig shrugged. “Yeah, well, I was ahead of all of you, for what that’s worth. If I hadn’t been showing off, I would have been the first one down.” He rubbed his shoulder. “You don’t suppose she fell, do you?”

“I have no way of knowing. I’m going back to look for her.”

“You want me to come with you?”

Nick shook his head. “Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.”

Craig looked relieved. “I don’t envy you going up there in all of this. What a mess.”

Nicked waved as he shoved off for the lift. If she was hurt somewhere up there, he needed every minute he had to try to find her. All the while he rode up the mountainside he watched for her red parka. There were so many things that could happen, even to an experienced skier. He didn’t want to think about some of the possible problems she may have encountered.

By the time he reached the top, the wind and snow had caused the visibility to be measured in inches rather than feet. Nick was aware of the adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream.

His first full day in charge of her and he’d managed to misplace his charge. How could he have allowed this to happen?

He started down the same run they’d chosen earlier, watching for tracks leaving the marked area, but of course that was a waste of time with the amount of snow that had already fallen. There was no sign of her anywhere.

By the time he reached the bottom of the run, he was ready to call in reinforcements.

“Hey, Nick, she’s okay!”

Craig waved at him from one of the wind-protected areas. Nick skied over to him. “Have you seen her?”

“No. But I’ve been asking people coming down if they had spotted her. One of the guys I just talked with said a young woman matching her description had been at one of the restaurants having coffee. He said he’d chatted with her while they were in line. She told him she’d gotten separated from her party. He said she would probably be down soon.”

Nick hadn’t taken his eyes off the trails during their conversation, wondering which way she would be coming down. It was then that he saw a bright red dot swooping down in an almost vertical drop on one of the more difficult runs.

Craig pointed. “Look! I bet that’s her! Didn’t I tell you she’d be down soon? Just look at her go.”

Oh, he was looking, all right. Of all the dangerously foolhardy stunts he’d ever seen, she was definitely pulling one now. Did she have any idea how fast she was going? And if anyone got in her way… He didn’t want to think about it.

Luckily for Ashley there was no one else on that particular run. Nick stood and watched as she finally slowed her heart-stopping drop downward. She moved into a leisurely curving S down the side of the mountain, looking for all the world as though she was enjoying herself, instead of battling a heavy snowfall that could cause all kinds of damage if she hit something covered by the new snow.

The fact that she made it without a problem did not endear her to him at all. However, at the moment, he was just damned glad to see her safe.

He stood and waited, knowing that she would have to pass by his location on her way to the lodge. It was only when she got closer that he saw her white face. He knew exactly when she spotted him. She called out to him. “Oh, Nick, am I ever glad to see you!” she said, and skied over to one of the benches, where she dropped, exhausted. She removed her goggles with fumbling fingers and began to tug at the straps of her skis.

Nick sat down beside her and took off his skis, then he knelt in front of her and gently brushed her hands away from hers. With an economy of movement he removed hers, as well.

“I didn’t know what to do,” she said, sounding Breathless. “I missed one of the turns on the trail, then I couldn’t see anything, it was snowing so hard.” She brushed tendrils of hair away from her eyes. “After a while I came across one of the restaurants up there, so I stopped for a few minutes to get warm.” She was still out of breath and trying to cover the fact that she was shaking. “Then it seemed as though a break came because the snow lessened and the visibility cleared. I knew I had to go right then, fast as I could, before I lost my nerve and the visibility went back to zero.”

Nick stood, then pulled her up and handed her skis to her. He turned and gathered up his, then dropped his arm around her shoulders. Neither one of them spoke during the walk to the chalet. Once there, Nick placed their equipment in the storage area.

Only then did he speak to her. “I think we need to get you warm,” he said brusquely. “The lodge has a big fire going and plenty of hot drinks. I think that’s where everyone else is.”

She shivered, than laughed with more than a hint of shakiness.

“I don’t think it’s the cold as much as nerves.” She looked back toward the run she had recently come off, which was now veiled in a heavy white curtain of snow. “I can’t believe I got down that mountain in one piece.”

“Neither can I,” he said in a low voice. Once again he placed his arm around her shoulders and headed toward the lodge.

Only then did Ashley seem to realize that she was allowing him to touch her. She stiffened, and Nick figured she would pull away from him. Instead, she relaxed against him. She shook her head as though to clear it, then lifted her gaze to meet his.

“I bet you’re furious with me,” she said, sounding weary.

“Oh, yeah. Big-time furious.” He kept his voice low, almost gentle. “You scared the hell out of me, I don’t mind admitting to you. I went back up looking for you. I don’t know which is worse, really. I sure as hell didn’t want to find you lying somewhere hurt, but not spotting you anywhere didn’t mean you hadn’t been injured…or worse.”

She sighed. “I know. I certainly didn’t do this on purpose.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

The double doors into the recreation area of the lodge swung open in front of them and several skiers came out chatting with each other and heading for their vehicles. Nick stepped back and motioned her through the doors, then followed her inside.

He nodded toward the conversation pit, which was built around one of the massive fireplaces radiating an enormous amount of heat.

“Wait over there while I get you some coffee. Or would you prefer hot chocolate?”

“Coffee’s fine,” she replied. He watched her sink wearily into the comfort of a padded chair. She held out her hands toward the boisterous fire.

Nick turned away, grateful that she would soon be able to shrug off this morning’s scare.

Ron met him at the bar. “I hear you misplaced our gal this morning.” He glanced over to where Ashley sat. “She looks okay now. How are you doing?”

Nick leaned his elbow on the bar and rubbed his forehead. “It was definitely not one of my finer moments. I’m just glad she wasn’t hurt.”

“What happened?”

“Damned if I know. She was skiing down the mountain in front of me, then I lost sight of her during a flurry of snow, and when I looked back to where she’d been, she was nowhere in sight.”

“Did you think someone had grabbed her?”

“That thought never entered my mind. Which I guess is a good thing. No, I figured she was enjoying one of her stupid games, playing hide-and-seek or something.”

“Was she?”

“If so, she had the fear of God instilled in her by the time she showed up. If she wasn’t so good on skis, this could have turned ugly.”

“So why don’t you let me take over for a while? I think you need a break.”

Nick rubbed his hand down over his face. “Good idea. Thanks.”

The bartender set a cup of coffee on the bar and Nick paid for it, then nodded to the cup, saying, “She’s all yours, Ron. I’d just as soon not have to deal with her for the next few hours.”

Ron nodded. “Fair enough. Looks as though I won’t have to convince her to stay off the slopes for the rest of the day.”

They both turned and saw the snow blowing almost horizontally past the wide windows overlooking the ski runs.

A babble of voices caused them to look back at the conversation pit, where Ashley now was surrounded by her friends, all trying to talk at once. Nick watched Craig pull her into his arms and hold her. Then he kissed her.

Nick idly noted she wasn’t pushing him away. He shook his head and walked away. He definitely could use a break.

Ashley glanced up when Nick returned with the coffee only to discover that it wasn’t Nick at all. “Hi, Ron. I thought you were Nick.” She took the cup and eagerly wrapped her fingers around its warm surface.

Craig continued to sit on the side of her chair, his arm around her. “Then we need to have your eyes checked, honey. Your guardians have their own distinctive appearance and are not easily confused for the other.”

The other four chuckled nervously. Erin spoke up. “That was really scary, Ashley. Everyone was very worried about you.”

Nothing like adding to her guilt, Ashley thought. She needed to apologize to Nick, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She glanced over at Ron, who had found a seat nearby. “What happened to Nick?”

“He had somethings he needed to do. How are you feeling?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, now. But I sure don’t want that to happen again anytime soon.” She glanced around at her friends. “So. What are we going to do with the rest of the day? It’s almost time for lunch. Any ideas how we should spend the afternoon?”

There was an immediate discussion of all the possibilities. Ashley didn’t really care. She sat back and watched the others. Right now she didn’t have the energy to move out of the chair she was sitting in. But maybe after a good lunch, she would feel better.

She kept remembering how relieved she’d been when she recognized Nick waiting for her. He’d looked safe and solid, standing there waiting for her. She hadn’t cared what sort of lecture he delivered. Even though she hadn’t deliberately set out to get lost, she probably deserved anything he had to say.

She kept remembering how she’d felt when he’d held her close against his side for that walk between the chalet and the lodge. She’d felt his heart beating at a rapid pace, almost racing. He hadn’t immediately started lecturing her, although he had made his thoughts quite clear on the subject of her disappearance. However, he’d continued to hold her. And he hadn’t raised his voice.

Nick’s concern had been very real. Of course, it was his job to look after her. There was no reason to read anything into his behavior. What surprised her was how safe and protected she’d felt. All of her animosity toward him was gone.

“What about you, Ashley?” Joe asked. “What do you want to do?”

She grinned and jumped up from her chair. “That’s easy. I want to eat. I’m starved!”

They all laughed at her and made a general exodus into the dining area, where once again an appetizing array of food had been spread to tempt the guests and visitors at the lodge.

By the time lunch was over, Ron had volunteered to drive them to town, where the women intended to look at all the shops, and the men planned to find a movie theater.

They headed back to the chalet to change clothes. Ashley felt better once she’d gotten some food inside of her. She wondered if Nick had eaten, then couldn’t believe she was actually worrying about him.