A Match Made In Alaska. Belle Calhoune
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Название: A Match Made In Alaska
Автор: Belle Calhoune
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Alaskan Grooms
isbn: 9781474056182
isbn:
“Bat!” she screamed again, pointing toward her hair. The bat was tangled up in her shoulder-length brown hair.
Declan searched the strands and immediately spotted a flapping bat’s wing. Thankful for Annie’s extra pair of mittens, he wrenched the bat from Annie’s tangled locks and hurled it to the ground. For a moment, the bat sat on the ground, seemingly stunned.
“I hope the poor critter is okay,” Annie said in a fretful tone.
With a wild cry, it flapped its wings and took off, soaring into the black night.
Annie stared after the bat as it flew off into the distance. “I was sort of hoping this was all a dream. There really was a bat in my hair, wasn’t there?”
“Yes, there was,” Declan said, still amazed by the turn of events. What more could this day possibly bring? A snowstorm and a pack of wolves?
“They can be dangerous if they bite you,” Annie said.
“Did it bite you?” he asked, alarmed. That was the last thing they needed to take this crisis over the top.
Her lips trembled. “I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Can you look for me?”
Declan lifted her hair up and away from her neck. He inspected one side, then the other. There was no evidence of a bat bite. No marks whatsoever. “I don’t see anything, Annie. I think you’re good.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Phew. Bats can carry rabies. Although most don’t, it would be unfortunate to be bitten by a rabies-infested bat.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against Declan’s cheek. “Thank you. That’s the second time you saved my life. All in one day. You really are a superhero, Declan O’Rourke.”
Superhero. Just hearing her say that word made his chest swell to twice its normal size. His heart began thrumming like a drumbeat.
Declan didn’t say a word as Annie settled back onto her pallet. She took her cloak and wrapped it around her face and torso, then burrowed under her clothes. Clearly she wasn’t taking any more chances with bats.
He raised his hand to his cheek and let out a ragged sigh. The kiss from Annie had come out of nowhere. Things had suddenly gotten very complicated. His chest tightened, and he swallowed past the emotions rising to the surface. He didn’t even want to analyze what he was feeling in this moment. It had been such a long time since he had felt anything simmering between himself and an attractive, appealing woman.
It didn’t matter. He couldn’t allow anything romantic to develop between them. Annie Murray wasn’t his type. She was looking for a husband. He had no intention of courting a small-town librarian who was in search of a soul mate. Although Operation Love was a smashing success in his opinion, he didn’t want to be matched up with anyone. He had long ago reached the conclusion that he wasn’t the settling-down type.
The past had taught him that happily-ever-afters weren’t meant for everyone, especially not the son of Colin O’Rourke.
From what he’d seen, Annie was way too sensitive for his liking. He’d already made her cry. And he didn’t like the way she rattled things off as if she was a walking encyclopedia. After a while it might get old to have someone constantly spouting off facts like a know-it-all. It felt awkward that he had opposed library funding. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that. He had been way too unnerved earlier by her tears. And something told him she would have been as mad as a hornet at the discovery.
Considering the fact that the town was still struggling to get back on its feet, funding a library didn’t seem practical. It was one thing for the town to support businesses like Hazel’s Lovely Boots, but a library wasn’t going to bring money to Love. It was simply going to put a strain on an already tight town budget.
All that was fine and good. But the moment Annie’s lips had pressed against his cheek, something had shifted a little bit inside him. Something that deeply worried him. She had just stirred up feelings inside him that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Feelings that terrified him way more than any bat ever could.
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