“I was a little tied up.” The ice cracked beneath his feet as he ran across the rest of the stream.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her.
All her anger and heartbreak dissolved. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him.
He was back! He was here. She felt his body relax beneath her hands as she kissed him. And eventually, when she couldn’t breathe or think or stand, he rested his cheek on the top of her head. She couldn’t believe he was holding her tight in his arms, his heart beating powerfully against her cheek.
“Where’ve you been?” she managed to ask.
“Jail. England. Getting treatment so I could come back to you with some hope for the future.” He held her at arms’ length. “I missed you.”
Happiness wound its way through her veins until it filled her body. “You couldn’t call?”
Daniel shook his head, and she noticed something different about his indigo eyes. The shadows were gone. She reached up and touched his face, and he shifted so they fitted closer together.
“I never got the chance to thank you for saving me,” she said.
He raised his face to the sky and laughed. “Aren’t I the idiot who set you up to work with a murderer?”
She pulled a face. “True, but I was the one who—”
He cupped her face. “Cam, do you honestly believe I saved you?”
She frowned and tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. “I’m always going on about being capable and independent but you saved my life twice. I’m an idiot. You can say it.”
The joyous sound of his laughter rang out again, probably traveling for miles in the frozen, frostbitten land.
“You’ve got it all wrong, Cam.” He held her face between both hands and kissed her until she no longer felt the cold. “Without you I’d have slammed into a cliff and taken others with me. I was so close to losing it but I didn’t even realize it until you came along with your freckles and your crazy hair.”
She touched her hair self-consciously, but he smoothed her hands away and kissed her forehead.
“The doctors said you should have been dead, Cam. You saved yourself. I just found you first.”
And he kissed her again and that was all she wanted, his mouth hot and wet and hungry on hers. Her knees dissolved and she clung to his shoulders for support.
“You saved me,” he told her between hungry kisses.
“We saved each other.” She grinned against his mouth, wanting him here and now.
He pulled back for a moment, breathing hard. “I’ve got a question for you—”
“Later.”
“It’s important.”
“Later.” She grabbed his shirt and dragged him to the ground. “Tell me you love me,” she demanded, sliding cold hands against hot skin.
“I love you.”
“Tell me you’re never going to leave me.” She nibbled his neck and felt the kick of his pulse.
His arms enfolded her carefully, then he rolled in the hoarfrost so she lay on top of him. “I am never going to leave you.”
“Then kiss me.” She wrapped her legs around his thighs and grinned down at his handsome face.
He cupped her cheek and stared deep into her eyes. “I could kiss you until the world stopped turning and it still wouldn’t be long enough.”
Her heart stumbled. “Prove it.”
“Every day. Every single day for the rest of our lives.” And he took his time, proving it to her one kiss at a time.
About the Author
Toni Anderson is a former marine biologist who conducted her Ph.D. at the Gatty Marine Laboratory in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. She was born and raised in the UK, but now lives in the harsh but beautiful Canadian prairies with her husband and two children, living about as far from the ocean as possible. Her stories are set in the stunning locations where she’s been lucky enough to live and work—the blustery east coast of Scotland, the remote, isolated mining communities of Northern Labrador, the rugged landscapes of the U.S. and the Red Center of Australia. She escapes the long brutal winters by writing romantic mystery and suspense stories.
For hobbies she loves traveling, photography, painting, drawing and walking—especially on the beach with a big hairy mutt splashing in the shallows.
Toni’s first romantic suspense, Her Sanctuary, was released in 2009. Readers can sign up for her newsletter on her website, http://tonianderson.shawwebspace.ca, plus, you can become a fan of her books or add her as a friend on Facebook.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9263-9
Copyright © 2011 by Toni Anderson
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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