Book Releases

Holding On (Colorado High Country #6) —
The Colorado High Country series returns with Conrad and Kenzie's story.

A hero barely holding on…

Harrison Conrad returned to Scarlet Springs from Nepal, the sole survivor of a freak accident on Mt. Everest. Shattered and grieving for his friends, he vows never to climb again and retreats into a bottle of whiskey—until Kenzie Morgan shows up at his door with a tiny puppy asking for his help. He’s the last person in the world she should ask to foster this little furball. He’s barely capable of managing his own life right now, let alone caring for a helpless, adorable, fluffy puppy. But Conrad has always had a thing for Kenzie with her bright smile and sweet curves. One look into her pleading blue eyes, and he can’t say no.

The woman who won’t let him fall…

Kenzie Morgan’s life went to the dogs years ago. A successful search dog trainer and kennel owner, she gets her fill of adventure volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. The only thing missing from her busy life is love. It’s not easy finding Mr. Right in a small mountain town, especially when she’s unwilling to date climbers. She long ago swore never again to fall for a guy who might one day leave her for a rock. When Conrad returns from a climbing trip haunted by the catastrophe that killed his best friend, Kenzie can see he’s hurting and wants to help. She just might have the perfect way to bring him back to the world of the living. But friendship quickly turns into something more—and now she’s risking her heart to heal his.

In ebook and soon in print!


About Me

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I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.

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Seductive Musings

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Naked Edge — An excerpt! Or "When Kat met Gabe"


A view of the real climb after which the book is named. You can see how it got its name. The edge sticking out is the arête.

With the video of Dan (below) in mind, here's where we first meet Gabe in the prologue to The Naked Edge. Enjoy!


--------------------------------------------

Gabriel Rossiter crimped the chalked fingers of his right hand around the small handhold, then carefully shifted his weight onto his fingertips, drawing himself to the right. He didn’t notice his skinned shin or the people far below taking pictures of him and pointing, or the sweat trickling down his temples, his mind focused entirely on the rock as he worked the arête on a bad-tempered geological accident known as The Naked Edge. Scraped fingers reached again, caught rough stone and held.
He maneuvered his way around the jutting, razor-sharp edge for which the climb was named—no ropes, no cams, nothing beneath him but 600 feet of air.

Some people needed heroin. Gabe preferred adrenaline.

He looked up and picked his way up the rock face with his gaze, thinking his way through his next move in a language without words. This was what he needed—internal silence, emptiness, oblivion. He needed to forget.

He reached with his right foot… And then he heard her scream.

He caught just a glimpse—rocks spilling down the side of a nearby slope, a woman falling with them—and felt a moment of vertigo as she tumbled out of sight. And then a decade of experience kicked in.

So much for your day off, buddy.

He fired himself around the arête and thrust his fist into an overhanging handcrack, liebacking his way on hand jams to the final pitch and an easy finish. Then, with no ropes or gear to pack up, he was off.

It was a long, exposed scramble down the Eastern Slabs, but the rock was dry, enabling him to move quickly. He knew the terrain as if it were his own backyard—and, really, it was. He’d been climbing here since he was sixteen, and he’d been a Boulder Mountain Parks Ranger since he was 24—eight years. He’d spent almost every waking moment of his adult life in these mountains. He’d done his fair share of rescues over the years—and had helped bring down his share of bodies.

And that’s what you’re going to find today, Rossiter—a body.


He didn’t let the thought slow him. If by some miracle she had survived, she was going to need his help.

He moved down the steep rock face, his cell phone out of his pocket and in his hand the moment his feet hit dirt. He dialed 911. “Sixty-forty-five, off-duty.”

“Go ahead, sixty-forty-five.”

“Rockslide in Eldorado Canyon State Park approximately one half-mile north of Redgarden Wall. Saw a woman go down with it. I’m en route, but I don’t have a damned bit of gear with me. I’ll call again when I have her location.”

“Copy sixty-forty-five—”

That was all he needed to hear.

He hung up and took off through the trees at a run.

# # #

It took Gabe almost ten minutes to reach the base of the rockslide area. Sucking wind, his heart pounding from exertion, he searched for her amid the rubble—boulders as big as trashcans, smaller rocks, mangled tree branches. He found a lone turquoise earring and a backpack that must have belonged to her. But he didn’t find her.

There was really only one possibility.

She was dead and buried, crushed somewhere beneath all that rock.

“Damn it! Goddamn it!” He pulled his cell out and dialed 911 again. “Sixty-forty-five, at the site.”

“Sixty-forty-five, can you repeat? You’re breaking up.”

“At the site. No sign of the victim, but there’s no way she walked away from this. She’s probably buried. There’s a good ton of rock here. We’re going to need—”

A cry.

Stunned, he stopped mid-sentence.

Another cry—the sound of a woman in pain.

“She’s alive! Are you getting a lat and a long on me?” Gabe hoped the signal from his phone was strong enough to give dispatch a solid GPS reading.

The answer came in a burst of static—and then the call disconnected.

Damned cell phones.

He pocketed the phone, hitched her pack over his shoulder, and ran uphill through the trees toward the sound.

She screamed again.

He adjusted his direction, quickened his pace.

And then he saw her.

Her jeans torn and muddy, she was crawling, or trying to crawl, her right leg dragging behind her, probably broken. She inched forward, crying out as her injured leg dragged across the damp forest floor. Then she sank onto her belly, whimpering. But before he could call to her to let her know help had arrived, she pushed herself up again and struggled forward another few inches, her scream catching behind clenched teeth.

She was heading toward the trail, he realized. She was trying to rescue herself, trying to get to where help could find her. Lucky for her, it already had.

“I’m Gabe Rossiter with Boulder Mountain Parks.”

She looked up at him with a startled gasp and tried to sit, but succeeded only in sinking onto her back, the movement making her moan in pain.

“Easy, there.” He walked over to her. “Just lie still. I’m here to help you.”

The first thing he noticed was her eyes. An usual shade of hazel green, they watched him warily as he knelt down beside her. Agony was etched on every feature of her pretty face, a streak of mud on her bruised cheek, pine needles in her long, dark hair, the other turquoise earring dangling from her left earlobe. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, no taller than five-five and small-boned—a red flag when it came to fractures. There were deep scratches on her arms and hands, but no obvious bleeding.

“The rocks… They fell.” She spoke with just a hint of an accent.

American Indian?

“I saw. Last night’s rain must have eroded the ground beneath them.” Because he couldn’t seem to help it, he looked into her eyes again, relieved to find that her pupils weren’t dilated. “What’s your name?”

“Katherine James.”

“How old are you, Katherine?”

“Twenty-six.”

“Do you know today’s date?”

She shivered, cold sweat on her forehead. “It’s Sunday… August twenty-sixth.”

In shock, but coherent. Probable broken leg. Scrapes and bruises.

“Help is on its way.” He kept his voice soothing. “In the meantime, I’ll do what I can for you. Can you tell me where you hurt?”

“Everywhere.”

“I’ll bet.” He dug into her pack. She wasn’t carrying a first-aid kit, but she had brought a sweater. He draped it over her. “I’m a paramedic and a park ranger. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to check you to see how badly you’re injured.”

She eyed him suspiciously, still shivering, her gaze dropping to his bare chest, with its chalk marks, to the chalk on his hands, to the climbing shoes on his feet.

Okay, so he looked like some kind of half-naked freak to her. Fair enough. “I’m off-duty. I was rock climbing nearby and saw you fall. Let me help you.”

She seemed to measure him, then nodded, wincing slightly with her next breath.

Broken ribs. Possible internal bleeding.

He put his hand on her shoulder, tried to reassure her. “I’m going to feel on the outside of your clothes, and you tell me where it hurts, okay?”

“O-kay.”

He stood, walked around to her other side and started with the obvious, sliding his hands over her jeans along the length of her right thigh. “Does it hurt here?”

“No.”

Thank God it wasn’t her femur. He’d seen more than one woman bleed out from a severed femoral artery, dead before help could arrive.

He slid his hands past her knee and heard her gasp just as he found the bulge on her shin. “Your tibia is broken.”

Not quite a compound fracture, but bad enough.

Her right ankle was tender and swollen, as well, either broken or sprained.

But of more concern to him than the broken bones was the fact that she was beginning to fade, slowly falling into unconsciousness, her dark lashes now resting on her cheeks, her eyes closed. He’d bet his ass that she had some kind of head injury. With a fall like that, she wouldn’t need to hit her head to injure her brain.

“Stay awake, Katherine. Stay with me.”

Stay with me.


Kat thought time must be playing tricks on her. He’d just spoken those words a moment ago, and yet it seemed like hours. She forced her eyes open, saw him watching her, a worried look on his face, his hands moving gently over her, seeming magically to find all the places she hurt most—her right leg and ankle, the ribs on her left side, the deep scratch on her left arm.

As if through a fog, some part of her noticed that he was a very attractive man, rugged and tall, with deep blue eyes. His square jaw was covered with dark whiskers, his temples trickling sweat, his thick, dark hair curling at his nape. There were calluses and chalk on his fingers and scrapes on his knuckles and his left shin. He was wearing only shorts and strange shoes, and although Kat had seen many men without their shirts, she’d seen very few men who looked like him—all lean muscle from head to toe, as if an artist had carved him from marble and then brought him to life.

Strange that she should notice such an unimportant thing right now.

His callused fingers worked their way gently along her collarbones, over her shoulders and into her hair. “Did you lose consciousness when you fell?”

She tried to think. She’d heard the rocks scrape, felt the ground give way, felt herself falling, and then…

The next thing she remembered was looking up at the sky, her right leg hooked over a rock, her entire body wracked with pain. “I think… I must have.”

Apparently done checking her, he sat back on his heels, looking down at her. “You are one amazing woman, Katherine James. I don’t know many people, men or women, who would have been tough enough to do what you just did. You crawled almost two hundred feet, dragging that broken leg behind you.”

But Kat hadn’t been brave. She’d been terrified. Once she’d come to herself, she’d realized that no one knew where she was and that unless she could make her way back to the trail where hikers could discover her, she would die right where she lay. Fear had gotten her onto her hands and knees, driving her forward each unbearable inch, the pain excruciating.

Without warning, the full weight of what had just happened hit her. Tears burned her eyes, spilled down her temples, her body shaking uncontrollably.

You almost died, Kat.

The ranger took her hand, held it, his fingers warm. “It’s going to be all right. I know it hurts, but they’ll be here soon.”

She looked up at him. “Y-you saved my life.”

He shook his head. “You’d have been all right without me. You’d have made it to the trail eventually. It wouldn’t have been fun, but you’d have made it.”

But she wasn’t so sure.

# # #

She lost track of time after that.

The park ranger telling her to stay awake, stroking her cheek, telling her everything was going to be all right. People crowding around her. An oxygen mask over her mouth. The prick of a needle in her arm. A warm blanket.

There was a moment of terrible, sharp pain when they put a splint on her leg, and she heard herself cry out. The ranger’s warm hand squeezed hers, his voice deep and soothing. Why couldn’t she remember his name?

“It’s almost over, Katherine. In twenty minutes you’ll be in Denver, and Saint Anthony’s will take good care of you.”

Was he coming with her? A part of her hoped he was.

She didn’t really know him at all, but somehow she trusted him.

“She fell from there?” a man’s voice said. “Holy shit! Why is she still alive?”

“I can’t believe she crawled all that way with a badly broken leg,” said a woman. “Just the thought makes me queasy.”

“So, you were free-soloing The Naked Edge when you saw her fall. Gee-zus! You have a death wish, Rossiter. One of these days we’re going to be rescuing you, only there won’t be anything left of you to save.”

And then Kat was bouncing along as they carried the stretcher out of the trees toward a helicopter, the ranger walking beside her, his voice her anchor.

“Stay awake, Katherine.”

Only after the helicopter had lifted off did she realize the he was gone.

And she hadn’t even thanked him.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

And too think you suspected this book would be for me...lol. You're too funny. Gabe--definitely sigh worthy ;)

I can't remember why I thought that... Maybe because he's been in love before? Or maybe because he's a bit of a man slut? I cannae remember, lass! I'm glad you found him worthy of a sigh or two. ;-)

Gabe might be a silly goat, but he could save my life any day. And I get the feeling he needs Kat to save him. Keep feeding us the excerpts!
Off topic: I thought it might amuse you to know that "Satan's hairy arse!" has become a favorite form of cussin' at our house. It works like a charm - makes us laugh and forget whatever made us mad in the first place. And it's no' takin' the Lord's name in vain, aye? lol!

Linda, I'm thrilled that you're using that phrase when you need to swear! LOL! I got it from Danish, then tweaked it to Scottish. In Danish, most swearing involves diseases, hell and Satan, not God and sex organs or acts. The very worst thing a person can say in Danish is, "Cancer eat me." Not, "Cancer eat you." Isn't that funny? They say, "For Satan!" a lot, so I just borrowed. Ah, the joys of being multilingual! It definitely helps when one is a writer.

Laurie D. said...

Thanks so much for sharing this - I'm already in love with Gabe (don't tell Reece and Julian - I'm a three-timer). NAKED EDGE can't come soon enough!

Kaye Manro said...

This is a great excerpt, Pamela. Can't wait to see the developing relationship between these two. And I Love the title.

Debbie H said...

There's our hot Gabe! Kat is going to be an interesting heroine. I can't wait to read the rest!

Hi, Laurie — You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And don't worry — your secret is safe with me! :-)

Hi, Kaye — I'm glad the excerpt piqued your interest. These two have a long road to travel because they're so different. But they're well on their way at this point, past the point of return. I got lucky with the title, because that's really what that particular climbing route is named.

Hi, Debbie — I'm glad you like Gabe! I always worry that my hero won't be hero-y enough. Not sure why...

OK, so I have a confession to make. Last night from supper time on, rather than writing I was watching TWILIGHT. I have the special edition DVD set, so I watched the movie once, then watched it with commentary, then watched most of the special features. That's about six hours of watching TWILIGHT instead of writing. I'm feeling VERY guilty this morning.

Back to Kat and Gabe...

Debbie H said...

So, what was your opinion of Twilight? I haven't watched it yet, nor have I read the books. I'm just not sure about it.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm Gabe...*sigh* Sexy.
I can't wait to read more of his and Kat's story, and see their relationship grow.
I wondered where the title came from, now I know. And that climb (?) is scary.

Twilight? Lucky you! I didn't watch it in the theater because it was dubbed and the translation would have p**ed me off and the DVD won't be out here until July!!! Not to mention that ordering it from the USA would be useless since it's not the same zone....Grr. Did you like it? (Though if you spent the night watching it, I guess the answer to that is a big yes lol)

Thank you for sharing the excerpt with us Pamela.

stef

Lori said...

Oh... me likey. Thanks for sharing!

Tena said...

oh my I can't wait to read your new book it sounds so wonderful you write wonderful thanks for the look Gabe sounds just as sexy as the guys and Kat is beautiful

Jane said...

Thanks for the excerpt.

Unknown said...

LOVE IT! So great...I can't wait until you're done with it. I'm so excited. See...I have this love/hate relationship with excerpts...because I love to get a little glimpse of the story...but then if I like it...I want the book NOW! I'm greedy that way, especially with your books! ;)

Hi, Debbie — I love it! I have to say that I didn't expect to love it. Nor did I want to love it. I don't like vampire romances. I don't find the blood thing sexy. Nor do I like paranormal romance as a rule. So maybe I'm just working too much and desperate for some relaxation, but I've watched it three times now. OK, four. Seriously!

Hi, Stef — That climb IS scary! The thought of anyone doing it without ropes makes me dizzy. But that's Gabe. He-man of the rock universe. ;-)

I can't blame you for skipping the whole theater experience. Dubbed movies drive me crazy. The nice thing about Denmark is that they never dub anything. I remember taking the little brother of a friend to see STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI when it opened, and I was dismayed to realize that, because he couldn't read the subtitles, he couldn't understand a thing. He liked the Ewoks, though. I hope you get your hands on the DVD soon! I'd lend you mine, but as you said... Wrong zone.

And you're welcome! I'm very grateful that you didn't throw rotten tomatoes at me when you read the excerpt. :-)

Hi, Lori — I'm so glad you liked the excerpt. That's a relief! I always think whatever I write sucks.

Hi, Heather — LOL! I want the book now too! I want so very much to be done with it. I answered more than a dozen reader emails today from fans of the series who just want to know when it will be out. It made me feel so bad that I haven't finished it yet! Oh, well!

Judy said...

Pamela - the excerpt sounds great. I don't think I could even stand on that mountain and look down let alone try to climb it.

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"I am an artist. I am here to live out loud."
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