Faith (Beach Brides Book 11) Read online

  “This is the message-in-a-bottle-lady. Her name’s Faith.”

  “Wow. Really.” The little girl’s eyes widened.

  “Faith, meet my daughter, Holly.” Naomi settled one hand on the girl’s head and the other on the dark hair of the little boy. “This is our son, Andrew.”

  Andrew was busy assembling Lego bricks into something space age and didn’t even glance up.

  Faith greeted the children and exchanged a few words with Fergus, who was doing some homework.

  “A cup of tea?”

  When Naomi held up an old-fashioned teapot, Faith nodded. She’d hoped for coffee but she didn’t want to be difficult.

  The back door opened and snow swirled in on a freezing wind, virtually blowing Hew through the door. He turned and slammed it closed before brushing the caked white stuff off his coat and running a hand over his face. Crouching, he stroked the dogs who had jumped out of their beds and trotted to greet him, tails wagging.

  “Sorry, Duncan, there’s no chance.” He pulled off his hat and shrugged out of his coat, turning to hang them on a peg behind the door. Then he sat in a sagging old armchair by the door that looked as though it might be a dog chair, and unclipped his boots before levering them off.

  His gaze found Faith and he gave her an almost smile. “I’m afraid you won’t make it to Aviemore today. The slopes will probably be closed anyway. Too dangerous in this weather.”

  “That’s not a problem. I’ll let my friends know.”

  “A cup of tea to warm you up, Hew?” Naomi held the teapot aloft, and he nodded. “I’ll serve the porridge now that you’re in.” Naomi gestured at the table. “Sit down, everyone.”

  Before anyone could move, a succession of animalistic shrieks sounded from Hew’s pocket and he pulled out his phone.

  “White-tailed-eagle-cry ringtone,” Fergus said, obviously noticing Faith’s raised eyebrows.

  “Hello. Yes.” Hew padded towards the table in his socks and stopped behind a chair, raking his fingers back through his hair. “You’re joking.” He rolled his eyes heavenwards. “People don’t use the wits God gave them.” His gaze focused on the kitchen window. “Well, we won’t be able to do anything until this blizzard abates. Let everyone on the team know to be on standby. As soon as we have a window in the weather, we’ll head out. Talk to you later.”

  Hew sat and put his phone on the table. “A dog walker set out yesterday at dusk and hasn’t come home.”

  “And they’ve waited until now to raise the alarm?” Faith couldn’t believe nobody had missed the guy sooner.

  Hew shrugged. “I don’t know the story behind it. That was the local police liaison. I guess he’s only just been notified, but we couldn’t have gone out last night in the dark anyway.”

  Duncan shook his head. “If he’s been out all night in this weather, I don’t fancy his chances, not unless he found a bothy to shelter in.”

  “Did they say what sort of dog he had with him?”

  Hew shook his head.

  Faith glanced at the snow still racing past the window and winced. Unless it was a hardy breed, it would be in trouble too. “You’ll need a veterinarian when you send out the mountain rescue group. I’d like to volunteer.”

  Hew rubbed a hand over his mouth. “It’ll be challenging, Faith. Every member of the team has specialist training.”

  Faith met his gaze steadily. “Does the army’s cold-weather training in Norway count?”

  Duncan laughed. “She’s got you there, Hew.”

  • • •

  Hew hated waiting to go on a rescue. Once he knew someone was out there in adverse conditions, possibly hurt, he wanted to get going and find them. Even Faith’s company hadn’t banished his impatience. He had taken her on a tour of the castle, watching the weather out of the windows, distracted, even though he was grateful to the snow for keeping her here.

  Now he drove the snowplow along the track to the converted farm building about half a mile from the castle that housed the Kindrogan Mountain Rescue Team’s base. Faith hung on the back of his seat, togged up in protective clothing borrowed from Naomi. She’d tied her hair back in a ponytail and pulled a hat down over her ears, all business.

  Although part of him worried about taking her on a rescue mission that might put her in danger, he was pleased to have her with him.

  The forest track had been protected from much of the snowfall by the thick pines, and they made good time. They emerged into the clearing and headed towards the rescue center, pushing the snow aside as they went.

  “Okay, we need to load up the gear and take it to Kinder Flat. The others will take the road from the village directly there, and Daniel’s flashy new pickup should make it through the snow.”

  “What’s at Kinder Flat?” Faith said.

  “It’s the only place the helicopter can land around here.”

  Hew unlocked the padlock on the wooden door of what had once been a tumbledown barn and showed Faith the room where they kept the gear. Faith grabbed a pack over each shoulder and a snow pole in each hand, and he followed her to the snowplow and wedged the packs, protective hats, and poles behind the seat and in other nooks and crannies.

  Once they were loaded up, Hew climbed into the driver’s seat and held down a hand to help haul Faith up with the packs behind his seat.

  “Hold on tight,” he said, and moved off, the engine straining as the huge blade on the front of the tractor shoved the snow aside.

  Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the flat cement area, now a smooth expanse of white snow beneath a pale blue sky. They needed to hurry because dusk came early at this time of year, and they’d already lost half a day to the weather.

  “Hop down and wait here for a few minutes while I clear the helicopter landing area.”

  As Hew zipped back and forth, clearing the snow from the yellow circle on the cement that showed the helicopter where to touch down, he spied Daniel’s shiny red pickup charging across the snowy flat towards them. The vehicle headed for Faith and stopped beside her.

  The rescue team of seven guys climbed out of the pickup and gathered around Faith. Hew squinted through the windscreen, realizing three of them weren’t married. The sense of possessiveness he’d felt last evening crept back.

  “Crazy,” he said to himself. He’d only just met her, and they didn’t even know each other very well. What was it about Faith that made him want to claim her before another man did?

  He craned his neck around as he had to turn the tractor, sure Faith was standing unnecessarily close to Daniel. Thank goodness that man was already married and off the market. There was no way he could have competed with a good-looking army doctor.

  Hew hoped Faith liked him, had gotten that impression last evening, although he might have been imagining things. He was under no illusion he would make a good catch. Women liked professional men with a good education and plenty of money. He had bailed on his college degree, was a single dad, and his cottage and just about everything else he had belonged to his brother.

  With that dismal thought sinking his self-esteem, he scanned the area he had cleared to ensure it was large enough for the helicopter to land. Satisfied, he lifted the blade from the ground, and the tractor tires crunched across the snow towards the group. He parked well away from the landing zone and shouted a greeting to the other members of his team.

  They approached, offering greetings in return, and he tossed down a pack to each of them. A walkie-talkie crackled, and Hew exchanged a few words with the pilot of the Sea King search-and-rescue helicopter coming from RAF Lossiemouth to give them a ride into the mountains.

  “ETA five minutes,” he announced.

  They all shouldered packs, and he filled in the team on what they knew about the missing dog walker as the tiny yellow dot of the helicopter grew larger against streaks of cloud and blue sky. The rumble of the engine resolved into the whump-whump of the blades as it descended towards the ground.

  The team members
all turned away, sheltering their faces from the cold bite of the snow blown around by the downdraft.

  Daniel seemed to have taken Faith under his wing, which shouldn’t have annoyed Hew, but it did. Hew normally tended to step back and let men like Daniel have the limelight. But Hew was the leader of the mountain rescue group and this was his show, not his brother-in-law’s.

  Hew stepped up beside Faith and touched her arm as the door opened on the helicopter and one of the crew gave them a thumbs-up.

  He cupped a hand against the noise and shouted into her ear. “Okay?”

  She nodded, and then they were running side by side for the loading door on the helicopter. They threw in their packs and poles, and scrambled aboard with the rest of the team. Hew sat beside Faith and strapped himself in, watching as she did the same thing.

  They rose into the air with a wobble as the wind gusted, and the group exchanged banter like they always did.

  Faith gripped Hew’s arm. Her breath was warm on his cheek as she leaned close. “I feel guilty that I’m excited about the chance to get up into the mountains to see this beautiful countryside when we might find someone hurt up there.”

  “Better that than being frightened,” he said. As he drew back and met her gaze, her green eyes glowed as if lit from within.

  He’d always thought he would never find a woman who liked the things he did, but she obviously loved animals and wildlife, or she wouldn’t have become a vet, and it seemed she enjoyed the wild beauty of Scotland as well.

  She was a woman after his own heart.

  Chapter Six

  The mountainous terrain made it impossible for the helicopter to land, so the winchman lowered the mountain rescue team down one by one at the head of a wooded valley. The pilot and his crew were going to search from the air, while the Kindrogan Mountain Rescue Team did the same on foot.

  As Faith touched down, dangling in the strop, the snow was soft underfoot and she stumbled in the fresh powder.

  “Shame I don’t have my snowboard,” Daniel joked as he gave her a hand to find her feet.

  Once the team was on the ground, Hew called for attention. “The man we’re searching for is called Ralph Fuller, last seen with his dog on the footpath at the bottom of the valley. He can’t have walked more than a couple of miles before dark, so this is the highest he could have reached. We’ll split into three groups, one to follow this main footpath down the mountain, the other two to take the edges of the forest to check the gullies running off and any other places he might have fallen. Keep in contact by radio.”

  The group of men gathered around Hew listened quietly. He was soft-spoken but exuded an aura of authority Faith hadn’t noticed before. These men obviously held him in high regard, and there was no question that they would follow his directions.

  Hew allocated a medically trained person to each of the three groups—Daniel to the team taking the north of the forest, their medical technician to the footpath team, and Faith to the team that would strike out to the south where a number of rivers and gullies hidden beneath the snow might fool a walker and lead to disaster.

  The other two groups checked their maps and set out, while Faith found herself with Hew and the young man, Donald, who had recited a poem during the Burns Night supper.

  Hew pointed between the pine trees. “Since you know the valley so well, Don, you go in front and keep your eyes open, lad. Faith will go next, and I’ll bring up the rear.”

  “How come you know the valley, then, Don?” Faith asked.

  “My family has been tenant crofters on Mackenzie land for decades,” he said over his shoulder. “In the summer, I come up here to check on the sheep.”

  After that they carried on in silence, the effort of walking through the snow taking all their concentration. About fifteen minutes later, they reached the southern fringe of the trees. This high, the forest was only a narrow strip.

  “Follow in Don’s footsteps if you can,” Hew said to her.

  Faith glanced back at Hew and received one of his half smiles and a nod of encouragement.

  They made slow progress down the mountain, staying close to the tree line. Donald frequently stopped to prod the snow-covered ground in front of him with a pole to test the depth of the snow.

  After thirty minutes, Hew started calling out the name of the lost man. Periodically, Faith heard the distant sound of the other groups doing the same.

  “Good thing the army keeps me fit.” Even with the regular exercise regime of the military, she was feeling the strain of walking down the uneven snowy slope.

  “Here’s the first gulley,” Donald said.

  Faith halted, her gloved hand on the trunk of a tree as Donald and Hew edged out, prodding the snow until their poles sank deep.

  “Ralph,” Hew shouted. “Ralph Fuller, can you hear me?”

  “Do you know what his dog’s called?” Faith asked, thinking they should be calling for the dog as well.

  Hew got on his radio and checked in with the police. When he’d finished, he turned to Faith. “Admiral, apparently. They now know it’s a German shepherd.”

  This news heartened Faith. “Okay. That’s good. A German shepherd is fairly hardy with a thick coat. I’d give it good odds of surviving a night on the mountain. If it’s well trained, the dog might have stayed with his master if the man is hurt, so the dog could help us locate the casualty.” She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted the dog’s name.

  Hew gave her a thoughtful nod. “Good point.” He started calling the dog’s name as well.

  Despite their poling and shouting, there was no evidence of a man or a dog.

  Hew sucked in a breath and blew it out in a steamy cloud. “I doubt he would have made it up this far, anyway. I suggest we don’t spend any more time searching here. Let’s continue down.”

  They alternated between calling out “Ralph” and “Admiral” as they slipped and jumped down the snowy rocks. The radio crackled again and it was Daniel, checking how they were doing. Hew and Daniel exchanged a few words, and then Hew gestured forward. They continued, checking two places where rivers had cut away the rock to form dangerous drops disguised by the thick snow.

  From time to time, the yellow bulk of the RAF search and rescue helicopter passed overhead, and the continuous drone of its engine came and went on the wind as it worked its search pattern.

  After walking for two hours, Faith’s cheeks stung with the cold and her legs ached. Being classed as a noncombatant officer in the military, she didn’t take her fitness training quite as seriously as she probably should, and now she was regretting it.

  Leaden gray clouds flowed inexorably overhead until the earlier wintry blue sky was a memory. The atmosphere felt heavy, ready to burst.

  “Weather’s closing in again,” Hew said. “We’re nearly out of time.”

  Faith had paused to pull off a glove and push some loose hair back inside her hat when the sound of a distant dog bark snapped her head up.

  “Did you hear that?” She turned to Hew to find him staring around, his gaze sharp.

  The three of them stood still, their ears straining.

  “Call the dog,” Faith said to Hew. “Your voice will carry farther than mine.”

  Hew took off his gloves, cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed Admiral’s name. They all listened as the unmistakable sound of barking came from below them.

  After pulling on his gloves, Hew unclipped the walkie-talkie and contacted the RAF pilot. “There’s a dog barking down here. Might belong to our dog walker. Pick up our doctor and rendezvous with us. We might need him soon. You have my GPS coordinates, over?”

  “Affirmative. On our way. Out.”

  “Sound can be deceptive up here in the mountains, but I reckon that dog is no more than a hundred yards away.” Hew slid the radio into its pocket and straightened his pack. “Right, let’s get moving. Take it steady, though. Don’t risk hurting yourselves.”

  Her heart thumping at the
prospect of what they would find when they located the dog, Faith concentrated on where to put her feet and made sure not to let her mind run ahead and lose focus.

  As the helicopter approached, the engine noise beat in her ears, the heavy air beneath the low clouds almost vibrating. Their team of three took cover under the trees from the snow whipped up by the downdraft.

  Faith leaned against a tree trunk, Hew beside her, and covered her face with her arm, peering out to see Daniel lowered to the rocks, hanging onto his harness with one hand, the other holding a radio, looking like a daredevil in his trendy green-and-red jacket and trousers, his eyes hidden behind mirrored snow goggles.

  “Who does he think he is? James Bond,” she joked with Hew.

  In his utilitarian navy jacket and trousers, Hew simply grunted.

  Once Daniel was down, they joined him and continued along the fringe of the trees. The dog barked frantically now, probably spooked by the helicopter.

  A few minutes later, Faith caught sight of the large brown-and-black dog against the white snow. When it saw them, it ran down into a hollow in the snow, a sort of cave supported by tree roots hanging out from the rocks.

  “Okay, tie a rope to that tree,” Hew said, pointing. “Daniel down first.”

  “I should go first to deal with the dog.” Faith only had a med tech’s pack, but she could adapt the supplies it contained for animal use, if necessary. “The dog looks fine, but if it’s hurt it could be unpredictable.”

  “All right. Faith first, but I’m going second, then.”

  She glanced back at Hew, who loomed over her as she secured herself to the rope that dangled over the twenty-foot drop to the gulley below. It had been a while since she’d been climbing, but the army had trained her well, and she’d always been athletic and good at physical pursuits. She abseiled down, and the moment she unclipped herself from the rope, Hew started down so fast, she almost didn’t step out of the way in time.

  She lifted off her pack and held it in front of her to act as a shield if the dog did turn nasty, not that a pack would stand much punishment from a dog the size and strength of a German shepherd. Hew did the same, and he was right there with her as they approached the hollow beneath the tree roots.