Alaska Wild

by Helena Newbury

  I’d heard from Marshal Hennessey. He’d taken early retirement and was spending a lot of time with Megan. Her drawings of bears, Mr. Mason and Agent Kate now decorated the cabin’s walls and made the place seem less Spartan, more homely.

  Marshal Phillips, meanwhile, had been jailed for his part in Weiss’s escape and Weiss himself was behind bars. If he’d just accepted his fate when he was caught back in Nome, he might have wound up in a soft prison for white collar criminals. But in light of the murder of the pilot and his role in the kidnapping of a child and a whole host of other charges, the judge threw the book at him. He was now in a maximum security federal prison and the billions he’d stolen was gradually being returned to its rightful owners.

  Ralavich was back in Russia, licking his wounds. Losing the yacht, plus having to bear all the costs of getting Weiss out of the US without any of the payoff, had left him financially crippled. Word had it, the other mafia families were circling him like sharks who scented blood in the water. He wouldn’t be able to expand into the US for a long, long time...if ever.

  And one more person was suffering some long-deserved justice: Hopkins, the civilian who’d really killed the family in Afghanistan, had been arrested, tried and found guilty. He was just beginning what was going to be a very long prison sentence.

  I leaned my head back onto Boone’s shoulder and breathed in deeply. I could smell the dew on the grass, pine trees and, carried on the crisp morning air, the heady scent of coffee. I’d brought a big pack of really good coffee beans with me when I’d moved. You can take the girl out of New York….

  Boone bent and kissed my upturned chin and I felt his lips twitch against my skin as he smiled. He smiled more, these days, and he was sleeping better. The nightmares still came but we were down to once a week or so. I’d found a psychologist in Anchorage who specialized in treating veterans with PTSD and that was helping: Mason had been reluctant at first but he’d gradually warmed to it when it started to work.

  I felt him smile again. “What?” I asked.

  “When you lean your head back against me like that, I can feel your braid.” His voice dropped to a growl. “It’s making me want to do bad things to you.”

  He never got tired of that braid. I wasn’t completely sure I understood it, but I liked it. I only had to braid my hair and he’d dive across the room at me as soon as we were alone. Sometimes, he didn’t even wait that long.

  I nestled in even closer. “Soon,” I told him. “I want to watch the sun come up, first.”

  We settled into a comfortable silence for a few minutes as the sun gradually lit up the valley in pink and gold. When it was fully up, I looked around at the mountains and sky in awe and said in a small voice, “You think this’ll work? Me out here?” I was having a sudden pang of last-minute nerves. “Alaska’s too big. I’m too small.”

  Boone wrapped his arms around me even tighter and kissed me. “No,” he corrected me, “you’re both exactly the right size.”

  The End

  Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed Alaska Wild, please consider leaving a review.

  If you liked this book, you’d probably enjoy Saving Liberty.

  She's the President's daughter. I'm the last guy she should get involved with, a tattooed former Marine with a bad rep. When I see her in danger, the urge to protect her is stronger than anything I've ever felt. I save her life...but when she asks me to become her bodyguard, I know I should refuse. I can't guard a woman I'm this attracted to. But when I see how scared she is, I can't turn her down.

  Now I have to wear a suit and call her ma'am when all I want to do is slam her up against the wall and tear her clothes off. Neither of us can resist...but I can't let her get close, not with what's lurking in my past. And the danger is far from over. The White House is under threat...and I'll do whatever it takes to protect the woman I've fallen for.

  Saving Liberty is out now.

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