Climbing High Read Online Free Page B

pulled down the zipper on his hoodie and unzipped the legs of his coverts to turn them into shorts. When he turned back from stuffing his clothes into his pack, he caught Siree eyeing the bunched muscles on his thighs. He drank water and watched her shuffle back on the ledge to pull her pants over slender hips, and remove the hoodie covering her cropped T-shirt.
    From the angle of the sun, they were well behind time. If they kept this pace, they wouldn’t be able to summit and get down before dark. She must have been thinking along the same line. Concern for her friends darkened her eyes, but didn’t sound in her voice. She leaned out to look at Lara. “It’s going to be straight up from here, kiddo.” She smiled. “ Comment ça va? ” “Like I’m ready to go straight down, and I’d rather do it under my own steam.” Lara grinned at Jake, then peered around him to question Frankie. “Et toi?”
    “I’m happy to turn around at this point and have plenty of time for a slow descent with a rest every time I can find a ledge,” he said, laughter coloring his voice. “I wouldn’t have made it this far without Jake. Merci , mon ami .” He extended a hand across Lara, Ernst and Gretta to reach Jake’s and almost tipped himself off the ledge in the attempt.
    Laughing, Jake pulled him back. He liked the guy, could easily see why Siree had become friends with him. “ De rien ,” he replied. “I hope I get to climb with you and Lara again. You’re good people and good fun.” Lara beamed. Siree let out a whisper of sound that could’ve meant anything.
    ****
    “I’m heading up.” Sig stood with a vigor that showed top cardio and a lot of experience. In his crisp Germanic English, he added, “I got to take a whiz, so give me a few minutes before you follow.”
    His four friends groaned. Ernst’s face twisted in distain, and Siree laughed. “Sig, I swear you have a bladder the size of a parrot’s.” She blew him a kiss. “Why don’t you just wait till we vacate this ledge and do it in comfort?”
    Sig looked hurt. “But then, my Desiree, I wouldn’t be lead climber.” He grinned, then his expression turned serious and his eyes flickered with remorse.
    Jake felt Siree stiffen, her arm brushing his. What’s going on here?
    “ Du bist ein Idiot .” Gretta stood and flicked her hands at Sig, her annoyance clear. Siree stood also, brushing her butt at Jake’s eye level, so that he lost the thread of conversation for a second. “Leave it,” she spoke softly, “no harm done.”
    “That big dummkopf , he always forgets,” Gretta returned in a whisper so high-pitched Jake easily heard her.
    He reviewed what Sig had said. He’d called Siree Desiree—pronounced Desiray in French, meaning the desirable one. Hmm . Once Lara had shared Siree’s education and work with him, he’d easily concluded Finchley had found the correct Siree Larain. However, he knew a protective reaction when he heard it, and all of Siree’s friends displayed one now. Desiree Larain . Given that new bit of info could he trust in her last name to be the correct one, or had he been skewered all the way through?
    When he looked up her golden eyes met his. She knew he’d caught Sig’s slip. She shrugged on her backpack and chalked her hands without responding to his raised eyebrow.
    He helped Lara follow Frankie off the slope. “Take it slow, test every hand and toe hold before you put weight on them, and pick that same path through the scree on the way down,” he advised. “You’ll be quite a climber in a few years, for a woman.” He winked just to get the scared look off her face.
    “ Cochon ,” she puffed through a strand of hair falling over her laughing eyes. She started down.
    Jake turned to find Gretta and Ernst stripping off their outer layers and stuffing them into daypacks that hung more heavily. They used a narrow chimney to lever themselves up the flat face. He pressed his feet and hands to either side of the long