Paul was evading her questions

      But Sierra just couldn’t figure out why. She’d steeled herself for a swaggering braggart who would try to impress her with tales of his mountaineering exploits. Instead, she’d met a disarming, slightly goofy regular guy who seemed reluctant to talk about climbing mountains at all.

      He was also decidedly better-looking than the blurry Internet photo she’d located had indicated. Not too tall, with short, spiky brown hair and brown eyes and the great legs she’d expect from a climber. He had a smile that would stop any female in her tracks—but if he thought he could use that smile to distract her from her purpose here, he’d be disappointed.

      She, of all people, was immune to the charms of a mountain climber.

      Dear Reader,

      The closest I’ve come to mountain climbing is hiking a few of Colorado’s fourteeners—peaks that rise over 14,000 feet above sea level. Getting to the top was a major rush, a little taste of what I imagine real alpinists feel.

      Overcoming any big obstacle can feel that way—scary, exhausting and triumphant. Some obstacles in our lives can certainly seem as insurmountable as any mountain: a serious illness or the pain of hurt suffered in childhood.

      In Her Mountain Man I wanted to write about two people who confront personal obstacles in different ways. Sierra thinks she’s conquered the hurts of her past by ignoring them, while Paul feels compelled to face down his personal demons over and over. Neither of them is getting anywhere until falling in love forces them to take a different approach.

      I hope you’ll enjoy Paul and Sierra’s story. Write and let me know. I love to hear from readers. You can e-mail me at [email protected].

       Cindi Myers

      About the Author

      CINDI MYERS fell in love with the mountains of Colorado the first time she saw them, and she fell in love with her husband almost as quickly. They met on a blind date and were engaged six weeks later. It’s no wonder she writes about romance and people who were meant to be together.

      Her

      Mountain Man

      Cindi Myers

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

       CHAPTER ONE

      ONLY THE DEAREST OF friends could have persuaded Sierra Winston to risk life and limb—and some very expensive shoe leather—on this wild-goose chase. She looked down at her nearly new pair of Christian Louboutins sinking slowly into the muddy streets of Ouray, Colorado. “Mark, you sooo owe me,” she muttered, as she pulled one foot, then the other, out of the mud and took stock of her new surroundings.

      The Victorian-era storefronts along Ouray’s main street looked straight out of a postcard, but the backdrop for this slice of small-town Colorado drew the eye and made Sierra’s breath catch in her throat. Snowcapped mountains soared above the former mining town, their icy granite spires and sun-washed slopes making the village and the people in it seem tiny in comparison.

      Sierra felt a little sick to her stomach, staring up at those mountains. They reminded her of too many things she’d avoided thinking about for too many years.

      That was part of the reason she was here today, she reminded herself. She would have to face her past if she ever wanted to let go of it, and this was the place to do it.

      She started across the street, slowing to allow an open-topped Jeep to pass. The two male occupants of the vehicle whooped and waved at her. She managed a thin smile, conscious of how out of place her designer miniskirt and red stilettos were in a town where most of the women wore jeans and hiking boots. You’re definitely not in Manhattan anymore, she reminded herself as she reached the opposite side of the street. Here, a life-size bronze sculpture of a bugling elk confronted her.

      “Can I help you, miss?” An older man with a thick head of graying hair approached her.

      “I’m looking for Sixth Avenue.” None of these dirt roads was what she’d term an avenue, but that was the address she’d been given.

      “Who’s the lucky person you’re going to see?” The question was delivered in a jovial tone, but the old man’s eyes sharpened. In Manhattan she’d have blown off the question, but this was a small town, where everyone knew everyone else. There was little chance she’d keep her destination secret for long.

      “I’m going to see Paul Teasdale,” she said.

      The man’s friendly manner quickly became guarded. “Are you some kind of reporter?” he asked.

      Apparently she wasn’t the first journalist to have found her way to this remote outpost. Then again, it wasn’t every day that the body of one of the most celebrated mountaineers of the twentieth century was recovered from the side of an Alaskan peak by one of the mountaineering stars of the twenty-first century—a man who just happened to live in Ouray, Colorado. Sierra offered her most disarming smile. “It’s all right,” she said. “Mr. Teasdale is expecting me.”

      “You want to head two blocks up that way,” the man said, pointing. “Though I can’t say if he’s home right now.”

      He’d better be home, she thought, after I flew two thousand miles and drove another forty to see him. And all because an old boyfriend had asked her to do him this one big favor.

      She thanked the old man and set off once more. After hours on a plane and in the small rental car, she’d decided to stretch her legs by walking to Paul Teasdale’s house. She walked everywhere in Manhattan, and two blocks didn’t seem that far. Sierra had looked forward to a pleasant stroll around town—not an endurance march. The sidewalk ended after only a few yards and she found herself picking her way along another dirt street, this one ascending sharply uphill. Her progress was slow, since she had to stop every few feet to catch her breath in the thin air. This gave her plenty of time to think about what she would say to Paul Teasdale when they met—and how she’d ended up here in the first place.

      “I need a reporter for an assignment,” Mark had said the morning he’d called Sierra in her office at Cherché magazine, one of the top women’s magazines in the country. Mark worked two floors up at the male-oriented Great Outdoors.

      “Why are you calling me?” As she talked, she searched in her desk drawer for a nail file. “I already have a job. And I don’t have time to freelance.”

      “I already okayed this with your boss. You can work on this assignment and still draw your salary from Cherché.”

      “What kind of assignment?” Her beat was gossip, glamour and women’s issues. Great Outdoors specialized in testosterone, grit and gear.

      “It’s a human interest story. Right up your alley. Top pay and all expenses.”

      “There has to be a catch.”

      “Yeah, that’s where the favor comes in. This is the kind of story that could make my career—and you’re the only one who can write it for me.”

      She gave up her search for the file and resisted the urge to gnaw the ragged nail instead. The uneasy quaking in her stomach increased with each word from Mark. “What’s the story?”

      “I’ve landed an interview with Paul Teasdale. But he’ll only talk to you.”

      Paul Teasdale—a name she’d heard far too often these past few days. “No.”

      “I know it’s a lot to ask,” Mark continued, as if he hadn’t heard her refusal. “But Teasdale isn’t talking to anyone. Rumor is he’s angling for a big book contract. My editor already