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Lazarus paused as his brother's meaning seeped in. It was Jeri who voiced what was only common sense, despite the awkward situation. “If we don’t get her out of those wet clothes she’s going to freeze to death. Or at the very least be suffering from hypothermia or frostbite. I think she’ll have a lot more to worry about under those circumstances than a slightly compromised morality.”
Lazarus continued stripping off her clothing. Her sensible black, cotton panties were soaked as well, but after Dante’s caution he left them in place for now.
Dante sighed. “I know the sensible thing, but you need to be so damn careful these days. People take things the wrong way and twist stuff.”
“I’d like to think she might just be grateful that we saved her life,” Lazarus muttered to no one in particular. But he knew his brother was right.
“Look, she’s a hiker. A pretty serious one from the look of her gear. She must know the consequences as well as the preventions.”
“Let’s hope so,” Dante murmured as he adjusted his hold so Lazarus could get her coat off completely.
“Check her bag, Jeri. She might have a change of clothes in there,” Lazarus instructed as he pulled first one arm, then the other, out of the damp thermal top. He was about to rip her knit hat off to remove it completely, when he spotted the red stain against her skin.
He gentled his touch. “Shit, looks like she hit her head on something too,” he told the others as he peeled the wool away from her blood matted hair.
He took a cursory look, but right now the priority was to warm her up. He didn’t like the blue blush that was evident on her skin or the angry red of her extremities. She wasn’t even shivering and that was a bad sign.
Lazarus eased her sweater carefully over her head and cursed inwardly when he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her cold, dark nipples stared back at him, almost accusingly. She was a slight thing with long, lean muscles and her breasts were small and perky enough not to need the support, but suddenly Lazarus could understand his brother's unease.
He shook his head. There was nothing for it. If she started screaming bloody murder - or indecent assault - when she came to, they’d worry about that then. Personally, he hoped there was still a modicum of common sense left in this world where everything had become a blame game where someone had to be culpable.
Even if it was in the process of saving a life.
“There are no clothes in here,” Jeri piped up, breaking Lazarus away from his dark thoughts. “Looks like she was only planning to be up here for a day, much like us. But she has a lot of emergency items. Including a lighter.” The triumph in his voice was palpable as he brandished his find and went off to light the log burner.
“Is there anything else in there we can use?” Dante called after him. “We need to put her down somewhere and get out of our own wet gear.”
Jeri pushed up from where he was squatting to tend to the fire. “Yeah, there’s a space blanket. We can wrap her in that.”
He eyed the lumpy looking sofa that stood in front of the fireplace. It didn’t look very comfortable, and it was the only place to sit, but they could lay her there while they got things organized.
Jeri grabbed her bag and pulled out a silver pouch, unwrapped the thin, crinkly material and gave it a flick to shake it out. Between the three of them, they wrapped it around her and then Jeri took her so the two of them could get undressed.
With their coats and boots all hung up by the door and the chill air chasing goosebumps along their bare skin, it was time to work out a plan of action. They were well prepared, as, it seemed, was the injured woman, but none of them had intended anything more than a day trip.
