Page 164 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

‘There’s a storm coming later so if we could get extra footage, it would be great.’

‘I love the idea!’ Katherine beamed.

Of course she did.

‘Absolutely not,’ Lukas said in a voice he rarely used. ‘I’m not trusting her to drive this—’ he patted the car ‘—out there. I’m not risking an injury.’ He counted down the seconds to Katherine’s explosion in his head. It was barely two.

‘Excuse me!’ Katherine very nearly shouted.

‘Um…yes…well,’ the field producer said, ‘it would still be good to get those extra shots, so you two can head over to the tent for some touch-ups and a warm drink. We’ll call for you when we’re ready.’ He and the director walked away, leaving Lukas and Katherine to head for the tent set beyond the tree-line, well away from where they filmed.

‘You’re such a misogynist!’ Katherine accused as soon as they were away from the rest of the team. No one around to see them eviscerate each other. ‘Just because I’m a woman you assume that I’ll be a bad driver. God!’ She was quite literally red in the face.

Lukas was well and truly tired of how lowly Katherine thought of him.

‘It’s not because you’re a woman. It’s because you’re you. I don’t trustyou.’ He wouldn’t trust anyone from this crew in those conditions. Things very easily went from fun to dangerous on a track, never mind a frozen lake and snowy landscape where the trees beckoned.

Lukas sought thrills, but he was never reckless.

‘I cannot be around you for one minute longer, Lukas Jäger,’ Katherine huffed. She turned around and stormed off.

‘Where are you going? That’s not where the tent is,’ Lukas called.

‘Away from you!’ she yelled back.

Fine. Let her go off. She wasn’t his concern.

CHAPTER THREE

Katherine disappeared from view.

Lukas just wanted to be done with the day. Time alone would be welcome, but Katherine having walked away left him feeling uneasy.

He felt the direction of the wind change. Knew there was a storm incoming that night. They should all be away from there by the time it happened but then he thought of that ridiculous jacket Katherine was wearing and cursed. She should be safe…but the mountains he’d grown up around should have been safe too, and he still remembered careless tourists perishing while trying to explore.

They weren’t in Austria now. Nor were they in London. Storming off was a stupid thing for Katherine to do and try as he might, Lukas’s conscience wouldn’t let him leave without knowing she was okay.

He cursed once more for good measure and walked in the direction that Katherine had gone, then stopped. A rope, coiled loosely, sat in the snow. Someone from the production team must have dropped it there with the intention of fetching it later. Instinct from living so close to the mountains took over and he picked it up, draping it over his shoulder, then set off to look for the woman he hated more than anyone else.

‘Katherine!’ he called, after walking for ages and seeing no sign of her. The wind had picked up speed and glancing overhead, he saw that dark, ominous clouds had gathered. The storm was coming in much faster than they had anticipated and by the looks of it, would be worse too.

‘Katherine!’ he called again. Louder. He needed to find her soon because they wouldn’t have much time to find shelter. Then he thought, what if she wasn’t answering because it was him who was calling? He could see her being that petty. Everyone else on the shoot had called her ‘Kat.’ Even in the paddock hardly anyone used her full name. But Lukas did. He always did.

So as he walked a little farther, he shouted ‘Kat!’ as loud as he could manage.

‘I’m here!’ came a soft, strained response and his body simultaneously sagged in relief and went on high alert.

‘I’m coming! Keep talking!’

‘I’m in a crevasse. I fell.’

Lukas’s body went cold. Those were the last words he wanted to hear. He ran in the direction of her voice, sliding to a stop as snow sprayed over the edge of a narrow gap like a powdery waterfall.

Lukas lay on his stomach, flattening himself on the snow and crawling slowly to the edge. Peering in, he saw Katherine on a ledge.

‘Lu-Lu-Lukas?’ she could barely get his name out for how badly she was shivering. Her skin was bright red. The edges of her lips where she had bitten off her lipstick were starting to turn slightly blue. He needed to get her out now.

‘Are you hurt?’