Yep, of course I did!  I had to write a tribute to the dog racing community and the fierce challenges of racing across the snow, ice, rivers and mountains in Alaska! I have not read many novels or fiction tales with this background. There was a Harlequin ‘Superromance” some years ago but that’s about all I know of.

Here is the cover for Love is Snowblind  and the info. I’ll pop in an excerpt in a minute. Here’s teh info and buy link: Love is Snowblind by Deirdre O’Dare, ISBN 978-1-60272-689-5 Copyright © 2010 by Deirdre O’Dare, Cover Art © 2010 Trace Edward Zaber  Buy link: www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/bio_ODare.html 

Set up: Dylan Norgard is a wounded warrior now making a new life with sled dogs in Alaska. He’s in a serious pre-Iditarod race when he learns at a checkpoint there’s been a distress call and a blizzard is coming in fast. He agrees to try to go to the rescue. Sasha and Sergei are his lead dogs, brother and sister. Grey is a young sports reporter and writer doing dispatches and a special feature on mushing and has developed a case of hero worship on Dylan.

*****

When the team stopped, Dylan almost tripped over the sled. For an instant, the blizzard let up and he saw it, a patch of red, just in front of Sasha and Sergei. A tent? It looked like one, but a damned small one. He edged along beside the team until he reached it. Yep, a miniscule half-tube of red nylon, stretched by several light plastic arches.

He knelt at the end. “Hallo. Anyone here?”

The next instant he rocked back on his heels as a very pale face suddenly appeared in the opening as a zipper slid down.

At first, he did not recognize the person who opened the tent and began to wiggle out, dragging a green sleeping bag with him.

“Oh, my God, oh, my God, I’m not going to die after all.” A gloved hand grasped Dylan’s and another reached out to Sasha. “Somebody heard; somebody came. I didn’t think anyone would.”

“Don’t go bawling,” Dylan said. “The tears’ll freeze your eyes shut. Let’s get you packed up and on board, and head back to civilization before this blizzard gets any worse.”

“Mr. Norgard? Is it really you? I thought you were trying to win the race.”

Dylan didn’t know whether to laugh or cuss. It was that damn cheechako kid, the reporter. What in bloody hell was he doing out here alone in the snow?

“Where’s your team, your rig?”

The younger man was fumbling to try to collapse and fold up his tent. “I–a guy named Hoolihan was going to get me to the third checkpoint ahead of the racers. One of his lead dogs came up lame, and he said he was going to take it to a village a few miles back just off the way we’d come. He said he’d be back in two hours. After four or five, I figured he’d left me.”

“Hoolihan. Might’ve known. That sorry son of a bitch. You paid him, of course.”

The younger man nodded. “Yeah, I paid him. And he suckered me, didn’t he?”

“Looks that way.” Dylan took pity on the kid, and anxious to head back, slammed the tent into a bundle and jammed it and the sleeping bag into his sled bag. “Get on and hang on tight. We’re going to be fighting the wind all the way back, but we’ll make it, gods willing.”

Almost before he gave the command, Sasha and Sergei turned and headed back the way they had come, following the tracks and runner-ruts that were rapidly filling with new and blowing snow. No trotting now, but they kept a steady pace, leaning into the harness to take the extra weight. Dylan muttered a prayer they’d make it back to the checkpoint. If they got that far, he’d forget about the race. There would be other races, but he only had one life, as did his unexpected passenger and each dog of his precious team.

The trip that had taken two hours coming out took five going back. Long before they got there, the dogs had to break drifts higher than their backs. The wind howled like an insane banshee and ripped at them, sucking off every bit of heat their bodies could produce. A time or two Dylan considered stopping and making a cold camp, but he didn’t have enough to feed the whole team because he hadn’t picked up his drop bag before he left the checkpoint–mistake on his part. It was make it or die…no other choice.

He stumbled now, pacing beside the sled, knowing that his added weight on the runners would be too much for the tiring team to handle. All at once he tripped, his leg twisting beneath him and he fell. A searing pain knifed up his right leg. Oh, shit, I’ve done it now.

Somehow, the dogs knew, stopping almost at once. He grabbed at the sled and tried to get up, but he couldn’t. His leg was not going to bear his weight.

* * * *

Grey wasn’t asleep. He didn’t dare go to sleep. Even as green as he was, he could tell the dogs were tiring and the non-existent trail had vanished beneath the windblown snow. He sensed Norgard staggering along beside the sled and started to offer to trade places for a while. Then the big man went down.

The dogs stopped, somehow sensing something was wrong. Grey unwound himself from the sled and scrambled to Norgard’s side.

“You okay? What happened?”

He heard the big man draw a slow breath and let it out. “Think I broke my leg,” he said. “Tripped over something. Tired…” His voice slurred with exhaustion and pain. He slumped against the sled, resting on his left knee.

Panic gripped Grey for a moment, but then he steadied himself. It’s up to me now. I didn’t come this far to die, to lose everything. Damn it, what do I need to do?

Later, he could not have told anyone how, but he managed to help Norgard onto the sled. The man probably outweighed him by seventy-five pounds, but together they did it. This was going to be a heavier load for the dogs, but somehow they’d handle it. He had to lean close to hear Norgard’s mumbled words.

“Not too far, I don’t think. The village–maybe another mile or two. Just trust Sasha. She’ll get us there if it’s possible. Hold on to the handles, but try not to put too much weight on the sled. Talk to ’em. Tell Sasha it’s up to her.”

Grey wasn’t sure if Norgard passed out then or not, but he hoped the other man would stay on the sled. Norgard’s gloved hands seem to lock onto the side rails at any rate.

Grey raised his voice so the dogs might hear him above the wind. “Okay, Sasha, you know what to do. Mush, girl.”

Much to his amazement, the lead pair leaned into the harness again and started forward. They seemed just to be inching along, but they moved, and he had to keep walking to stay in his chosen spot at the back end of the sled. One foot after the other, slogging and struggling, but moving, moving, moving.

He held onto the handles like a lifeline, which indeed they were, but he didn’t lean, didn’t put any weight at all on the sled to add to the burden the weary team dragged through the snow, against the wind…

When the dogs finally stopped, Grey almost fell. It took a moment before he realized he could see dim lights through the dancing snowflakes. Lights? Then he heard voices.

“Hey, somebody’s here. Team in.” People seemed to come boiling out of the cold darkness to surround him.

“Hey, it’s Norgard.” Then the fact the musher was on the sled and a smaller figure stood beside it soaked in on them.

Grey tried to explain, but a haze wrapped around him as he felt himself sliding into a cold, silent, empty place. He sank onto the snow and everything went out like a quenched candle.

* * * *

Dylan fought his way upward through cold and pain. He felt himself being lifted free of the sled. “The dogs,” he managed. “Somebody take care of the dogs.”

“We’ve got them,” a voice said. “They’re already headed for the straw and some warm bowls. They’ve done their job, a hero’s job, each one of them.”

“What about the kid?”

“Got him, too. Don’t worry, Norgard. Everything’s under control.”

***

But was it???  Dylan’s life is about to get complicated! LOL