Chinook, Wine and Sink Her. Morgan Q O'Reilly

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      “What about the generator? Are you done with it?”

      Damn that voice of his. She didn’t want the thrills coursing through her body at the sound of it. Didn’t need him interrupting her peaceful existence just when she was relaxing and no longer dreading each boat floating down the river.

      Creed stood on the other side of the screened window, his head barely clearing the rafters of the eaves, peering into the cabin.

      “Let me check.” She turned toward the box in the corner and checked the dials then looked at her laptop on the table. “I need it to run maybe another thirty minutes. My batteries aren’t quite fully charged.”

      Creed’s snort made her look up at him with a frown.

      “Can’t leave civilization behind for a few weeks?”

      Before she could stop herself, she straightened and with fists on hips snapped out her response. “Unlike you, I’m out here to do a job. I need the laptop for my work. It’s more efficient to just type everything in from the get-go.”

      He threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get your dander up again.”

      Linnet forced herself to release her tension with a huge exhale. Blow it out. She was out here to get some perspective on life while doing routine data gathering. Mustn’t take offense at every hint of criticism. You’re too touchy. Just relax and go with the flow. You know your job, now learn the people skills to go along with it. Re-learn.

      Reminding herself of the words her supervisor had spouted didn’t help a whole lot, but it did help her back down. “Would you like a cup of cocoa or tea while waiting for the generator to finish?”

      That put the wide friendly grin back on his face. “I’d love some. Cocoa that is.”

      “Bring your mug. I’ll heat the water.”

      Creed ducked to move from under the low eves and she sighed. The man was simply overwhelming.

      As a wildlife biologist, she worked primarily with men, when she worked with people at all. During the summer, she spent most of her time outdoors and had worked toward positions just like this one. Frank Newbauer, her boss, had made it crystal clear, this was a test. If she did well here, she’d be given more remote assignments.

      As far as she was concerned, her entire career depended on doing this right. Failure meant office work and small jobs in town. Either desk work or public relations. Neither appealed to her.

      Through the screen door she heard Creed and Manley approaching. She lit the burner on the stove and felt a glow of satisfaction as she set the kettle over the flame. Lighting the stove in the closed-up cabin had made her nervous. Now she had plenty of air flow to do it safely.

      “Wow.” The quiet word from Creed made her glance his way.

      She saw a look of awe on his face as he looked around.

      “George gave you permission to make all these changes?”

      She shrugged. “After my first week up here I drove back to Fairbanks, told him what I wanted to do and he said he was cool with it.” In fact he’d had sort of a confused expression on his face as if he’d only just realized the cabin needed some work. “Didn’t think the owner would mind. Do you know who owns this piece of land anyway?”

      Creed gave her an odd look, as if considering his words. The moment passed and then he shrugged. “I do. I mean, I own it.”

      Mouth open, anything she might have to say froze in her throat. Linnet stared at him and felt all heat leave her body.

      In the space of one heartbeat Creed held her in his arms. “You okay? You went pale rather fast there.”

      “Oh.” Didn’t she know any other words? Shit. First she barred him from his own cabin and then she got caught making changes. No matter how needed repairs were, to touch a cabin was a huge no-no on the Federal- and State-owned public-use cabins, even more so in privately-owned cabins. As thanks for staying there, she’d hoped to do it quietly and anonymously, but no, she’d had to get caught red handed.

      “I like it. Honestly. The improvements are long overdue. Thank you for taking the initiative.”

      She stared up at him. Had she done something right for a change? Henry, her ex-fiancé, had nearly had puppies when she’d rearranged his houseplants so they’d get more light. It had taken him a week to admit her arrangement might be better. He’d been positively grumpy when his Chinese evergreen had produced its first flowers ever, three weeks later.

      “I did my best to keep it as authentic-looking as possible.” Heart pounding with renewed fury, the words left her in a rush. “If you don’t like anything I can put it back the way it was.” Hell, she’d even scuff dirt into the floorboards again if he insisted.

      “Linnet, hush.”

      His lips were awfully close to hers, his brown eyes darkening with something she wasn’t sure she recognized. Maybe didn’t even want to identify. At least it didn’t seem dangerous in the sense he meant to hurt her. Mint came to her again, warm and cool at the same time, as she took in the physical sensations. A strong arm encircled her back, and a large hand cupped her cheek, fingers stroking the edge of her hair ever so gently and non-threateningly. Warmth. From his body, eyes and hands, filling in the cold empty places inside her. Places she hadn’t even realized were cold and empty.

      “You did a beautiful job. The repairs needed to be made. The improvements make it more comfortable. Thank you.” Spoken quietly, the words as much as the gruff rumble of his voice contributed to the weak feeling invading her entire body. Flight and fight were both impossible at this point.

      His hand tilted her head back and she barely had time to suck in a deep breath before his lips lowered and brushed against hers. Blood pounding in her ears, she barely heard the kettle go quiet the way that meant it would begin to whistle in another minute. Opening her mouth to say she needed to get it, she never got the chance. Amazingly soft lips pressed against hers as he took her unintended invitation and fit his mouth to hers. Like a perfectly cut dovetail, СКАЧАТЬ