by Amy Ruttan
The wind was strong and howling down off the mountains into the little valley where they had landed. She could see the storm clouds moving in fast. They were close to the Aleutian Islands and right in the path of the edge of the storm. It wasn’t raining yet, but the temperature was dropping with the low pressure moving in.
It wasn’t the rain that bothered Ruby at the moment, but the wind speed.
“What’re we going to do?” Aran shouted over the wind.
“We’ll cover my plane and then seek shelter in the old airport. It’s an emergency shelter and it’s kept stocked. We’ll have to wait out this storm and then radio for help. With a leak in one of the engines I can’t get this plane off the ground.”
“And what about Dr. Franklin?” Aran asked.
Ruby sighed. “He knows what to do. We’ll get this plane fixed and then we can help with the clean-up after. As much as I hate this, there’s nothing else to do.”
She pulled out a tarp from the back of her plane and began to lash the covering down. The last thing she needed was the storm doing even more damage. After she’d finished securing it she jammed blocks under the wheels and hoped to heck that the plane would withstand the winds that were now whipping down through this wind tunnel of a ghost town.
When she was done the rain came down in a sheet, soaking them instantly. They ran for the shelter of the metal U-shaped airport. There was an old transistor radio for emergencies, but best of all there was a wood stove in the center of the room.
With the temperature dropping the rain had felt like knives cutting at her skin. Her teeth were chattering as she helped Aran collect wood from the lean-to attached to the entrance so they could start a fire.
It wasn’t long before they had a nice fire going, but they were still so soaking wet there was no way they were ever going to warm up.
She knew that they had to get out of their clothes.
Aran was already peeling off his wet clothing and hanging it on the line that ran across the room. He glanced at her, shivering. She knew she needed to get out of her own clothes, but she didn’t want to do that in front of him.
“I’ll get it.”
He went to the storage locker and brought back some Army blankets. He strung them up, making a room divider, and stepped onto the colder side, leaving her by the stove.
“Get undressed and wrap a blanket around you. It’s not ideal, but you really don’t want to catch pneumonia, now, do you?”
“No,” she said through her chattering teeth.
She quickly began to peel off her clothes and hung them on the line. The rain pelted like hammers against the metal roof while the wind howled like a banshee. It made her shiver even more, listening to it.
In all her years in Alaska she had never been in a typhoon before. They were rare. They never got typhoons in the Northwest Territories. The worst storm she’d ever been in had been a bad thunderstorm in Southern Ontario when she was going there to university, but that had been nothing compared to this.
And it was amplified by the fact that she was stuck in a small room, powerless to help her team and getting naked in front of her fake husband.
She knew one thing. It was going to be a very long night.
CHAPTER TEN
RUBY WAS HUDDLED on the floor and trying to keep warm. The wood stove was great, and did the job of heating the whole small space they were sharing, but it was nothing like a good crackling fire.
The makeshift wall parted and she saw that Aran had a blanket wrapped around him. He sat down close to her, next to the wood stove. The wind was howling outside and the rain was lashing the side of the building hard. Ruby trembled again.
“Did you take off everything?” Aran asked.
“Yes, but I can’t seem to get warm.” She pulled the blanket around her tighter.
Aran scooted closer and leaned against her, trying to give her some of his body heat. She was nervous about how close he was, knowing that the only thing between them was a couple of blankets.
Thinking about that made her tremble—not from the cold, but from something else.
Even though she shouldn’t, she leaned her head against him. It felt nice. It made her feel safe, even though she was afraid about what might happen if she just let him in. If she gave in to all the strange emotions that he stirred in her.
No one had ever affected her this way. Aran made her feel alive. She wanted him, desired him, and she cared about him.
She’d never cared about someone this much.
She’d never wanted to care about someone like this—especially after she’d watched her mother grieve over her father for years. Her mother never had got over Papa.
Ruby let out a long sigh. The thought of caring about someone so much, loving someone so much and losing them, was unbearable.
On those days when she lost the battle with death and lost a patient she’d see the pain in the family’s faces and know what they were feeling. She knew that pain, and she didn’t ever want to experience that kind of trauma again. It was too hard. It was too much.
But being around Aran stirred up feelings that she’d never thought she’d have and it was scary how much he affected her.
“What’re you thinking about?” Aran asked gently.
“What?” she asked.
“You let out a sigh.”
“I was thinking of my father. I was thinking about when he died.”
“Tell me about that,” he said softly.
She didn’t want to. She’d never talked about it with anyone before and she was terrified. But a little voice urged her to tell him. To let it out. To free herself from the burden she had carried around for so long. Alone.
“He was killed working in a diamond mine where there were no roads. There were no medical staff at the mine—which was a huge no-no. There was a winter storm that slowed getting help up there, and by the time the air ambulance got to him he was gone. If he’d have had the same injury in a city, or if medical staff had been there, he would’ve lived.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. It explains why you’re so dedicated to your job. That’s admirable.”
“Thank you.” Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about her father. “I never talk about him with anyone.”
“Thanks for talking about it with me.”
She nodded. “I saw the pain my mother went through, losing him. They were best friends. You know, they both went to the same residential school and they just formed a bond there. To survive. They lost track of each other when the last of those schools was shut down and they were sent back to their parents. My mother came from a reserve in northern Alberta and my dad was Bechokǫ̀, but they met up again when they were given the chance to go to college. My parents both wanted to better themselves, and to forget about residential school and everything they’d lost. Anyways, long story short, they got married and had kids. Papa taught me so much and then... I watched my mother grieve him and I just... I couldn’t ever...” Tears slipped down her cheek. “It’s not easy for me to let someone in.”
Aran nodded. “I understand. I watched my parents go through divorce and I watched my dad grieve. My mother wasn’t dead, but it was a different kind of loss. I knew I never wanted to go through that. I have no interest in that kind of pain. Of course, who does?”
“No one does.”
He nodded. “And I’m still not whole. Not whole after what happened to me at the front line. I’m not going to tie someone down. I’m not going to make someone else suffer because of what I do.”
“I understand. Probably more than most.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I know you do.”
She smiled and Aran leaned in and wiped the tears from her cheek with his thumb. The simple touch made her body tremble with delight and she reached out and touched him. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
�
��I’m glad I’m here too.”
And before she could stop herself, before she let the controlled and rational side of her take over, she kissed him.
The blanket slipped down off her shoulders as Aran kissed her back, his fingers moving to her hair. She moved closer. She knew she shouldn’t reach out and kiss Aran again, but she couldn’t help herself.
Right now she wanted to lose control. She wanted to feel. She wanted this. She chose this. She couldn’t fight it anymore. She wanted Aran as she had never wanted another man.
It was overpowering. Primal.
It thrilled her.
Made her feel alive.
How long had she been so numb? She didn’t know. All she knew was that Aran made her feel something she’d never felt before, and even though it scared her she couldn’t stop.
“Ruby,” he whispered against her hair. “Are you sure? I can’t promise you anything beyond what we have now.”
“Yes. I’m sure. And you know I can’t promise you anything either, but I want this, Aran.”
“I want this too. I have since the first time I met you and you looked me up and down with such indifference.”
“I was your challenge,” she teased. “Sorry.”
“No, you were more than that. It wasn’t that. You were strong and I admired it. Never be sorry for that, or for who you are.”
Ruby pulled him down to the floor and Aran laid kisses on her lips, her neck and lower. His strong hands roved over her body, igniting the flames that burned in her veins.
“Ruby, you make me feel like I’ve never felt before.”
He brushed a kiss against her lips, lightly, then deepened the kiss into an urgent need that made her body sing. They were skin to skin, pressed against each other, and it felt so right. She opened her legs to let him settle between her thighs. She arched her hips, wanting to feel all of him.
“Ruby,” Aran moaned. “We have to stop.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t have protection.”
“It’s okay. I’m on birth control. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.” She just wanted to have this moment and she didn’t care about the consequences.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Are you sure?” She bucked her hips and he groaned.
“God, yes.”
“How much do you want it?” she teased.
Aran kissed her again, his tongue pushing past her lips, claiming her. He ran his hands over her, driving her wild with need. Ruby pulled him closer and wrapped her legs around his waist.
“You’re so beautiful. From that first moment I saw you five years ago I’ve wanted you,” he murmured.
His hands slid between them and he began to stroke her. Ruby cried out at his touch. She wanted so much more. She wanted Aran to be inside her, to take her and claim her. She just wanted to forget everything. She wanted to forget her lonely life. Forget the storm that had forced them to land. Forget all the rules she’d put in place to protect her heart from pain—the rules that guarded her heart from feeling any kind of love.
She wanted to forget it all and have this moment with him.
“Ruby,” Aran whispered. “You feel so soft. I want you.”
“I want you too.” She kissed him. “I’ve always wanted you...since I first met you.”
Aran slowly entered her, filling her, and her body shuddered in pleasure. Being joined with him was exactly what she needed. What she wanted. She moved her hips, urging him to move faster, but Aran took his time and it drove her wild.
She wanted him hard and fast. Her instinct was to control him even now, to take control over the situation as she always did, but Aran was in control. It scared her, but she let all those inhibitions melt away. Aran was controlling the pace and he was taking his time and it drove her wild.
She moved in time with him. Her eyes locked with his in the dim light. The only sound was their breathing, their little cries of pleasure. The storm and everything else that weighed them down were miles away.
All she had in this moment was him.
It was just the two of them.
“Come for me...” He whispered the command. “Come for me, Ruby.”
“I don’t want this to end.”
She arched her body to press herself against him, tighter, and he trailed kisses down her neck, his hands cupping her breast.
“Come for me,” he repeated. “Let it go.”
And as she let him control the moment she could feel her body succumbing to the sweet release she was searching for. The release she so desperately needed and wanted.
It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Her body tingled as pleasure overtook her and she cried out, digging her nails into his back as she came around him. She wanted to hold on to this moment. Never to let go.
As her body drifted down from her release his rhythm picked up and he thrust hard and fast, seeking his own. She moved her hips, wanting him to come. Now she had some control over him, urging him on, and with the subtle movements of her hips it wasn’t long until his own release came.
Aran rolled away and she curled up against him. He put his arm around her, holding her close, and then pulled a blanket over them as they lay on the floor next to the wood stove. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the reassuring sound of his heart.
They said nothing. There was nothing to say. No promises had been made and she didn’t want them. Or she thought she didn’t. This had been about human contact. That was it.
Really?
She shook the thought away. She wouldn’t allow it in. She didn’t want to feel anything more than what they had shared here, this night. Their marriage wasn’t real and it had a time limit. Tonight had been about human contact, warmth and comfort. Just two lonely and broken souls reaching out to one another.
That was it.
She knew that, but there was a part of her that wanted more. A part of her that had never been here before. A part of her that wanted just a fraction of what her mother and father had had—which scared her.
It was the part of her that wanted love.
That wanted happiness.
That wanted more than just convenience.
* * *
Aran listened to the even, steady breaths of Ruby as she slept. He liked that she was curled up against him.
He had risked all his self-control, every part of him, when he had moved to the other side of the curtain.
He had rationalized it by telling himself he was just trying to survive. He was just trying to keep her warm. That was all. They were both cold and the last thing they needed was hypothermia while they waited for help out in the middle of nowhere.
She had looked so beautiful, sitting there. Her soft, silken hair curling as the heat from the wood stove dried it. Her body glowing in the light. And then she’d reached over and kissed him.
The moment she’d kissed him he’d been a lost man. His body had burned with need and he’d wanted her. He’d wanted her for a long time.
It had thrilled him that she’d wanted him too, though he’d been nervous. He’d wanted to be with her, but he hadn’t wanted to hurt her. All he could give her was this night. He wouldn’t burden her with his pain, with his hurt, with his ghosts.
Being with her and having nothing between them was more dangerous than being out in that storm.
So he had been nervous, but he hadn’t been able to pull himself away when she’d told him she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. Her hands on his skin had made him feel as if he was on fire. Her lips on his had made him ache with need.
He’d forgotten what a woman’s touch felt like.
He’d forgotten what passion tasted like.
He wasn’t even sure that what he’d had before had ever been like this. He couldn’t recall ever wanting a woman so much that it
had taken every ounce of his control not to rush through it.
It had never burned so slow as it had with Ruby.
What he’d shared with her tonight had been something completely different. He had been completely lost to her.
And, God help him, he wanted more.
Only he couldn’t have more.
He wouldn’t put his heart at risk—especially with someone who didn’t want commitment either.
Love just brought pain.
Who said anything about love?
The thought caught him off-guard. He shouldn’t have given in to Ruby. He should have held back when she’d kissed him.
But when it came to Ruby and her heady kisses he was a lost man. He couldn’t help himself. So he wanted more. But it just wasn’t meant to be.
Even if it could never happen again he would always care for her. He would always cherish this shared night together.
His heart was guarded, just as much as hers was, but it had been wonderful even just for a moment to share something so deep and intimate with her. To have that connection with someone.
It saddened him that it had just been a brief moment, and it frightened him that it didn’t feel like enough. Deep down, he knew that if he didn’t put some distance between him and Ruby he would never be able to let her go.
He knew he would always want more.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE SOUND OF the radio crackling woke him up and he shivered, realizing that the fire in the wood stove had gone out. There was silence except for the sound of Ruby beside him, sleeping still.
Aran got up and peered out the small window in the radio room. The storm was over. There were a few downed trees, and it was still raining, but not heavily. The runway, at least, was clear of trees.
He padded back into the other room and found his clothes were dry. He slipped them on.
Ruby stirred then. “What’s going on?” she asked drowsily.
“The storm’s over and the radio is back on.”
“The radio is on?” She sat up and wrapped a blanket around herself, running into the other room to call for assistance.