A PERFECT RENDEZVOUS

A Vacation

"We're lost, I know it! Where in God's name are we going? What could possibly be up here except a deserted logging camp?" Harry's voice shook with nervous tension as he peered through snow hurtling at his windshield. They'd left the highway and turned onto a steep road that climbed the mountain in an endless series of hairpin turns, turns that would have made him nervous in the summer; now, with slippery snow and poor visibility to complicate things, the climb was hair-raising. And just when he thought the drive couldn't get worse, they'd turned onto a twisting road so narrow that the branches of the thick black pines on either side of it reached out and brushed against the sides of the car.

"I know you're tired," his passenger said. "If I'd thought there was a chance you wouldn't try to jump out of the car, I'd have done the driving and let you get some rest."

Ever since their kiss nearly twelve hours ago, he'd been treating Harry with a warm courtesy that was far more alarming to Harry than his anger had been, because he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd altered his plans—and his intended uses—for Harry. As a result, he'd responded to all his pleasant conversational efforts with sharp, barbed remarks that made him seem and feel like a shrew. He blamed him completely for that, too.

Ignoring his statement, Zayn gave him a frosty shrug. "According to the map and the directions, we're going the right way, but there wasn't any indication about a road that goes straight up! This is a car, not a plane or a snow plow!"

Zayn handed him a soft drink they'd bought at a gas station/convenience store, where they'd also gotten fuel and he'd escorted him once again to the rest room. As before, he'd prevented Harry from locking the door, and then he'd inspected the rest room to see if he'd tried to leave some sort of note there. When he handed Harry the soft drink without replying to his complaint about the treacherous conditions, Harry fell silent. Under any other circumstances, he'd have been enthralled with the breathtaking views of majestic snow-covered mountains and soaring pine trees, but it was impossible to enjoy the view when it required all his concentration and effort just to keep the car moving in the right direction. At long last, they were nearing their destination, Harry assumed, because they'd turned off the last decent road over twenty minutes ago. Now they were wending their way up a mountain in a full-fledged blizzard on a road that seemed only inches wider than the car. "I hope whoever gave you that map and the directions knew what he was doing," he said.

"Really?" he teased. "I'd expect you to hope we were lost."

He ignored the good-natured amusement in his voice. "I'd love it if you were lost, but I have no desire to be lost with you! The point is, I've been driving in terrible weather on rotten roads for over twenty-four hours and I'm exhausted—" He broke off in alarm at the sight of the narrow wooden bridge ahead of them. Until two days ago, the weather had been unseasonably warm in Colorado and melting snow had caused little creeks, like this one, to become swollen, rushing mini-rivers that flowed out of their banks. "That bridge doesn't look safe. The water's too high—"

"We don't have much choice." He heard the concern in his voice and fright sent his foot to the brake pedal. "I am not driving across that damned bridge."

Zayn had come too far to turn back, and besides, turning back on the narrow snow-rutted lane was impossible. So was backing down the mountain on those hairpin turns. The road had been ploughed recently—probably this morning—as if Liam Payne had learned of Zayn Malik's escape and guessed why Zayn had asked him to phone someone weeks ago with detailed directions to the mountain house. Evidently Liam had also had a caretaker plough the road to make certain Zayn could get in if he tried. Still, the bridge didn't look safe. The swollen creek had taken large tree limbs with it, and it was moving fast enough to have put intolerable stress on the structure. "Get out," he said after a moment.