Safe In His Arms. Christine Scott

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СКАЧАТЬ was a statement of fact. One that did not offend her. Instinctively she knew it wasn’t a matter of disbelief on his part. Rather, he merely seemed curious. “That’s because I’ve only recently inherited a cottage on the island. Though it’s been in my family for quite some time.”

      “Which cottage is that?” he asked, his tone still polite, friendly, encouraging her to answer.

      “Gull’s Cottage.”

      His reaction was immediate. He flinched as though he’d been struck. She heard the sharp inhalation of his breath. His face paled beneath his tanned skin, his eyes widening in surprise. He looked stunned by the news. In a strained, almost harsh voice, he demanded, “What’s your name?”

      “M-my name?”

      He stared at her, not saying another word, his lips pressed in a firm, unrelenting line.

      “It’s Jessie, Jessie Pierce. Why do you want—”

      He didn’t wait for her to finish. Turning on his heel, he strode toward his truck. Jessie stared at him in disbelief as he climbed into the cab and slammed the door behind him. When he gunned the motor to life, a hot flush of anger melted her frozen limbs.

      Her Good Samaritan was abandoning her.

      “W-wait,” she called out, following after him. “Where are you going? My car…I’ve only got one spare tire. You can’t just leave me here.”

      Glancing at her briefly, he forced his gaze to the road before him. His face stony with suppressed anger, he said, “I’ll send out a tow truck, as soon as I get to town. That’s all I can promise.”

      With that he threw the truck into gear and peeled away from the shoulder, sending up a spray of crushed shell and dust in his wake. Jessie waved a hand in front of her face, trying to clear the air as she stood at the side of the road, unable to believe what had just happened.

      One minute the handsome stranger had seemed polite, friendly, ready to help; the next, he’d become cool, distant. He had abandoned her.

      Growling her frustration, she stamped a foot in a useless show of self-righteous indignation. For his sake, as well her own, it had better be the last time she ever laid eyes on—

      Dammit, she didn’t even know the man’s name.

      Well, hell! Whoever he might be, he’d just better stay out of her way from now on.

      Samuel Conners glanced out the side mirror of his truck at the woman standing alone on the shoulder of the road. An arrow of guilt pierced his heart when he saw how vulnerable she appeared. Tiny and petite, she couldn’t have stood taller than five-three, or weighed much more than a hundred pounds. He almost smiled when she stamped her foot in a show of anger.

      But he didn’t.

      Instead, despite the sultry heat of the day, he shivered. And he knew that the coldness that had enveloped him had nothing to do with the weather. It had to do with a chilling memory from the past.

      Jessie Pierce, all grown up and beautiful…

      What was she doing here? Why had she come back after all these years? Why couldn’t she have just stayed wherever she’d gone?

      If she had, he could have kept the past where it belonged…buried deep inside of him.

      Her image disappeared as he rounded a corner. Taking the curve too fast, his tires squealed in protest. His load shifted in the bed, slamming against the side of the truck. Belatedly Samuel slowed to a more manageable speed.

      Jessie had almost recognized him. After all these years, she’d seen his face and wondered if they’d met.

      It would be only a matter of time before she figured out the rest.

      Samuel’s muscles tensed reflexively. His knuckles were white as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. Prudence Island wasn’t very large, but it was big enough for two people to steer clear of each other if they really wanted.

      For her sake, as well his own, he had no intention of ever crossing paths with Jessie Pierce again.

      Chapter 2

      “How long will it take to repair the tires?”

      After waiting over an hour for the tow truck to arrive, plus enduring a long and bumpy ride over the bridge to Prudence Island, Jessie was impatient to get to Gull’s Cottage before dark.

      The mechanic lifted the brim of his baseball cap and scratched his head as he studied the BMW. “Well, it’ll take me a while to get the tires off. Then I’ll have to see if they can be fixed. If they can’t, I’ll have to find new ones to put on and—”

      “Could you just give me a rough estimate?” she cut in, her patience wearing thin.

      “Probably an hour, maybe a little longer,” he said with a shrug, seeming in no rush to get started.

      “Great,” Jessie said, sighing, as she glanced at her wristwatch. The sun would be setting by the time she arrived at the cottage. Thanks to the handsome stranger who’d abandoned her along the side of the road without a word of explanation, she’d wasted precious time.

      She should be miffed at the man and rightfully so. After all, it was his slow driving that had caused her near wreck in the first place. Then he’d had the nerve to leave her stranded. Most disconcerting of all, she didn’t have a name on whom to pin the blame. While he’d insisted that she identify herself, he’d never bothered to return the favor.

      Somehow that omission of common courtesy seemed an even worse offense than his unexplained abandonment, striking a blow to her feminine self-esteem. It was as though she were unimportant, as though she didn’t matter to him.

      No, Jessie told herself, with an uneasy frown, that wasn’t true. The stranger cared. In fact, he’d cared a great deal who she was. She doubted if she would ever forget the look in his eyes when she’d told him her name—that stunned, almost devastated look—and she couldn’t begin to understand its cause.

      “There’s a coffee shop around the corner. And the beach isn’t too far, if you’d like to take a walk while you’re waiting,” the mechanic said, drawing her out of her thoughts.

      Jessie considered the possibilities. “Is there a grocery store nearby?”

      “Right down the street,” he said, pointing to a weathered wood building a block away. “It’s just a local store, nothing fancy. But it’s got everything a person might need.”

      “Thanks, I’ll be back when I’m finished.”

      As long as she was waiting, she might as well kill time by doing something constructive. It had been hours since she’d had a meal. She would be hungry by the time she got to the cottage. Grabbing her purse from the back seat of the BMW, she headed for the store.

      A rush of cool air met her at the door of the building, evoking a sigh of delight from Jessie. After sitting outside in the hot sun, the air-conditioning was a welcome relief. The building was older, nothing more than one large room. The wood-planked floor was worn smooth with age. But the store was СКАЧАТЬ