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His body was still humming the next day. Whether it was because of his tent companion or the challenge that he knew lay ahead of him, Joe wasn’t certain.

For the sake of argument, he was willing to assign equal blame.

Joe forced himself to focus. The next leg of their journey took them to Mt. Evans. And then up Mt. Evans. As far as mountains went, it wasn’t one to top any lists as to degree of difficulty or height or danger.

That didn’t negate the fact that it was still a mountain and they still had to scale up the side of it with harnesses, winches and ropes. And their fingertips.

Rock climbing was the next challenge to be faced.

He secretly blessed his father. While other men golfed, his father sought relaxation in pitting himself against nature like a modern-day Kit Carson. Camping, rock climbing, white-water rafting, trailblazing, hunting...all of this had been second nature to his father. And he had passed on his survival traits to his sons. Except maybe to Max, he thought. Max was far more comfortable in a boardroom than the wild.

For safety reasons, each team had an experienced rock climber at its head, hired by the studio. The threat of injuries and law suits was a very real concern on the part of the producers, even though the audiences who ultimately watched the contest would never be privy to that part of the show.

Joe followed Frank Jessop, his team leader, up the side of Mt. Evans. Theresa elected to take her place behind Joe.

“You’ve been lucky for me,” she told him when he gave her a quizzical look as she began to hook up her harness to his.

To her surprise, he placed his hand in the way, preventing her from making the connection. “I was going to say you might do better at the end of the line.”

He expected her to take immediate offense at the suggestion. She didn’t disappoint him.

Why?” she demanded, bristling.

Joe knew that the notion that there was a physical difference between men and women as far as strength was concerned was distasteful to her, but it was true. Even though she might have been in better physical condition than the other members of their team, when it came to raw body strength, he had a feeling she’d come in last.

It wasn’t so much a matter of protecting her, he silently argued, as it was in keeping anyone from getting hurt.

“Because if there’s a problem with any of the climbers, I don’t think you have the body strength to help pull them back up.” He didn’t think, he knew, but to phrase it that way would only get him drawn into verbal combat. And they were wasting time. “That would make you a liability.”

Her eyes narrowed at what she felt was an insult. “I can pull my own weight,” she snapped.

He thought of the weight she’d pressed at the gym. It had been impressive. “I don't doubt it. But you can’t pull David’s, Ed’s and Jason’s.” And if she was ahead of them, that was exactly what she might have to do. “One wrong move on your part, or theirs, and it’s like a domino effect.”

Her hands were on her hips, her whole body challenging him. She’d spent years fighting her way up and she resented even a hint of the years that had gone before, when people tried to keep her down. When they didn’t see her, but where she lived. She hated sweeping generalities. “Well, aren’t you the expert.”

His smile was slow, easy, and she found it completely unsettling even though she was angry. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

Theresa stewed a minute. Damn him, he was right and she knew it.

Muttering under her breath, she turned on her heel and went to the back of the line.

They lost two from their team.

By the time they reached the top of the mountain, David, the real estate salesman, had missed his footing during the climb, panicked, missed it again and wound up spraining his ankle. Jason, their pre-med student, tended to it before announcing that he was dropping out from the race, as well.

“It’s too risky,” he told Joe when the latter asked him why. “I’ve got my whole life ahead of me with a great future. I want to be a surgeon and who knows what could happen on this so-called journey? David sprained his ankle. I could break the bones in my hand.” Jason held up his right one to emphasize his point. “And then where would I be?” He rose to his feet. He was going to accompany David when the man was airlifted back to a hospital. “It’s just not worth it to me.”

“And then there were three,” Theresa pronounced as she watched Jason hurry off beside David’s stretcher as two paramedics carried him to the helicopter.

“Nine,” Joe corrected, nodding at the other teams that were still in on the race. “From the looks of it, they’ve had people dropping out, too.”

It had taken them four hours to climb to the top of Mt. Evans, with several rest stops worked into the test. His entire body ached from head to foot. But sitting at the top of the mountain, as Joe looked out on the panoramic view, it almost seemed the incredible effort it had taken to get there was well worth it.

Theresa came up behind him. “Breathtaking, isn’t it?”

He looked at her over his shoulder. The same words could be applied to her, he thought. The wind that was a permanent resident up there was playing with the ends of her hair, teasing him. Making him want to run his hand through it.

“You might say that.”

She felt his eyes on her. Was he flirting with her? No, Joe Cooper wasn’t the kind of man who flirted. He was meat and potatoes, Mom and apple pie. And all the things she’d aspired to when she was growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in L.A. Looking for that chance to break out. To be someone else.

And not die as a statistic, the way so many of her friends and family had.

Joe roused himself before he let his mind get carried away. “What’s for dinner?”

“I don't know about you, but all I’ve got left are power bars.” Squatting down beside her backpack, she opened it and rummaged around in it. “I’ve got my choice of melted —” she held up one “— or not melted.” She held up a second bar.

That pretty much mirrored what he had in his own pack. They were going to have to find their own supplies tomorrow. “Take the melted. It’ll save you the trouble of having to chew.”

“Always looking out for me, aren’t you?” Theresa laughed. And then the laughter died when she looked into his eyes. Again, she felt something stirring.

“You want to get a head start getting through the woods?” Ed asked, coming up behind them. “We lost some time on the climb because of David. I thought we’d get it back if we went as far as we could through the forest before nightfall.”

Taking out one of the granola bars, she closed her backpack. “Okay with me.”

Joe nodded. They’d come in first during the run over the rapids and had gotten a head start climbing, but as Ed had just pointed out, that had been lost when David had gotten injured. “Let’s go.”

“Just let me make a pit stop,” Theresa requested.

Not waiting for an answer, she hurried off with her backpack to one of the three portable toilets that had been brought out for them. There was no cover up here and everyone had an inalienable right to relieve themselves when nature called without the benefit of an audience. It was part of the contract they signed.

The moment she got into the portable toilet and closed the door, Theresa slipped her Palm Pilot out of her pack and turned it on.

The device was also a two-way communicator and the person on the other end listened intently as she began to speak in a low voice.

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