Fresh out of college, Jake Landon’s heading to the mountains for a season as a forest ranger. A gap year before returning to school might give him enough time to sort out his residency and his sexuality—he’s deep in the closet and a complete rookie. Some crusty old partner who speaks three words a day won’t entice him. Except his partner turns out to be Kurt Carlson: confident, competent, and experienced. He's also young, hot, friendly, and considers clothing optional when it’s just two guys in the wilderness. Sharing a small cabin with this walking temptation is stressing Jake’s sanity—is he sending signals, or just being Kurt? How would Kurt react if he found out his new partner wants to start a fire of a different kind? Jake’s terrified—they have to live together for five months no matter what. Enough sparks fly between the rangers to set the trees alight, but it takes a raging inferno to make Jake and Kurt admit to the heat between them.

Champagne powder snow, gorgeously groomed slopes, and elegant hotels draw the expert and the wealthy to the exclusive Wapiti Creek Ski Resort, but for Jake Landon and Kurt Carlson, the lure is work. A novice skier, Jake's been assigned to run the bunny lift, but Kurt’s afraid he’ll be stuck shoveling snow all winter. Instructing at a private ski school should be his dream job, but it brings giggles and sideways glances among their new friends. All summer, Jake and Kurt were alone in the wilderness. If Jake wanted to stay in the closet, it didn’t matter. Now they have to navigate a relationship in public, where the five-year-old twins who’ve adopted Jake as their ski buddy are as big a nuisance as the ski patroller who has a crush on him. Would-be friends, vicious coworkers, and the perils of the mountain could mean the end for Kurt and Jake, but their biggest danger comes from each other. Second Edition First edition published by Torquere Press (November 2009) Bonus story: Mistletoe on the Mountain Jake’s agonizing over what to give Kurt for their first Christmas together—he knows what Kurt wants most can’t be gift wrapped.

This is Jake’s first Christmas away from his family, and his first Christmas with Kurt. Jake’s shoestring budget doesn’t matter, because what Kurt wants most can’t be gift wrapped. He’d like to stand openly with Jake as partners before the world, but Jake hasn’t come that far out of the closet. Wapiti Creek is hung everywhere with mistletoe, taunting them both with opportunities not taken. Jake is making a traditional Landon family dish for a Christmas pot-luck dinner with friends, but he’s short a key ingredient. Kurt manages to supply the missing ingredient for Jake’s recipe, but can Jake supply the missing ingredient for Kurt’s happiness?

A day off at the rodeo turns ugly when Kurt invades the area behind the chutes reserved for the bronc riders and the bucking stock, dragging Jake along for the ride. With hostile cowboys, dangerous horses, and a bet about a champion bucking bronco, is there any way they can get out of this in one piece? Or will Kurt's mouth get them both beaten to a pulp? Note: 8 Seconds on the Mountain is out of print in its original form, but the bulk of the text can be found within Blood on the Mountain (Mountain #4), published by Dreamspinner Press.

Every night ski patrol Mark McAvoy relives the avalanche that took a life on his watch. Emotionally fragile and single by choice, he’s aghast at his friends’ taking charge of his social life. At least hosting a potluck will provide him with a good meal. Invited to the potluck on a whim, Allan Tengerdie catches Mark's eye, and taste buds. This cuddly chef could be perfect for a lonely, hungry skier. Too bad Allan falls better than he skis. When Allan’s injured and frightened he’ll lose his catering company, he’s afraid to ask too much of a man he barely knows. Mark wants to help but has his own problems. Was the avalanche a tragic accident or cold-blooded murder? His role in the inquiry leaves Mark in trouble at work, at the mercy of the law, and with too much time on his hands. If he clings tightly to Allan, will they be swept away together?

Sequel to Fall Down the Mountain The Mountains: Book 3.2 Allan Tengerdie tumbles down easy ski slopes so often that he doesn’t believe Mark McAvoy’s assurances that he’ll enjoy cross-country skiing. Allan didn’t come to a fancy ski resort to trudge on the flats, but if a soft-in-the-middle chef has a chance to keep up with his ski patrol lover, he really ought to try. Allan and Mark have a great time on the trails, but it’s pleasure for which Allan pays dearly. How will Mark convince him to go again?

When driving snow and high winds force the Wapiti Creek Ski Resort to shut down the lifts, ski patrol Mark wants nothing more than to round up the last stragglers and get safely indoors. Chef Allan is still out in the blizzard on a borrowed snowmobile, delivering meals so a hundred people don't go hungry. While Mark's protective instincts scream to drag his lover inside, he respects Allan's need to honor commitments, even at the risk of frostbite. Allan's got another problem bigger than the storm. Mark has the solution—but Allan will never accept it if they don't reach the decision together.

Chef Allan's been slaving over a hot stove and a huge vat of dulce de leche all morning: he's ready for hugs and kisses. His ski patrol lover, Mark, has been doing something entirely different, and now he's behaving in the strangest way. Allan's determined to get to the bottom of this: will a spoonful of sweetness get Mark back to normal? A free, short read featuring the couple from Fall Down the Mountain.

Jake Landon thinks a second ranger season in the Colorado Rockies with Kurt Carlson is close enough to heaven, and a national forest is big enough to be his closet. Pharmacy school—and the luxuries of electricity and running water—can wait, maybe forever, as long as Jake doesn’t have to come out. He doesn’t plan on Kurt’s vision of his future being as narrow and direct as the single track roads through the trees. “Your future, your fear, and me,” Kurt tells Jake. “You can have two of the three, so choose wisely.” Jake may have no choices left after they stumble on armed men guarding a beautiful but deadly crop that doesn’t belong among the pines and spruces. Angry men with guns are only one danger in the Colorado wilderness, and Jake’s reluctance to come out is now his smallest problem. Kurt’s skills and Jake’s silver tongue may not be enough to get them out of this mess—how much of the blood shed on the mountain will be theirs?

Caddy Gary Richardson hungers for the lush life of the wealthy golfers he escorts around the course at Wapiti Creek. The contrast between his tiny trailer at the edge of a mountain town and the luxurious ski and golf resort is something he’s learned to live with but not like. Gary wants the fancy condo and late-model car not just for himself but for his childhood friend turned lover, Seth Morgan. He’d settle for security for the two of them, but even that seems out of reach. Seth is content with Gary and enough spare cash for greens fees at municipal golf courses. Going pro is beyond his means, even if he plays well enough to win on the championship resort courses. Gary would do anything to fulfill Seth’s dreams, even things he’d rather keep to himself. When an unheard of opportunity knocks, Gary can answer or resign himself to living on tips from affluent tourists. But Seth can’t live with that answer when it means his trust has been betrayed. He has to let go and hope the man he loves will find his way home.