LITMIR.BIZ

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I’ve served my time with the government and I want to end it soon.”

      “Living in solitude for the rest of your life is like a prison sentence,” she argued, hating to see him give up on life.

      “Solitude isn’t always bad. So what do you take pictures of?” he asked, turning the conversation away from himself.

      “People, mostly. I do all sorts of portraits. A lot of babies and little children, newborns. I do weddings. I like it all. I had one assignment with a national magazine that took me to Patagonia and I loved it. I’ve had some showings of my photographs in galleries.”

      “So, where are you building this house of yours?”

      “Near this one. I’ll live close by. I bought an old house and had it torn down and I’m rebuilding what I want.”

      “You wasted a house?”

      “I didn’t want it, but I like the location and there aren’t any more lots available right around here.”

      She heard the hall clock chime and then, an hour later, she heard it chime again. She liked talking to Colin, yet the whole time, she still felt an underlying sadness over the changes in him and the life he led. When the clock chimed three, she noticed the time.

      “It’s getting late. Let’s go find you a bedroom. I need to go to bed. Jessie is up about seven in the morning. She won’t care what time I went to sleep.” Isabella stood. “So how safe are we tonight? We don’t have an alarm now, and one pane is out of one of the windows.”

      “I’ll stay down here and guard you,” Colin decided. “I left a backpack outside behind the bush by the window. I’ll go out and get it.”

      “Let me get it for you,” Isabella suggested. “You tell me where you put it, and that way you won’t be outside where anyone can see you.”

      He nodded and led the way to the room where he’d entered the house. He pointed at the bush. “My backpack is there.”

      “I’ll get it. I’ll have to call someone to come out and fix the alarm tomorrow.”

      “Mike needs to get a different type of alarm. A lot of men can do exactly what I did. It was almost as easy as walking through the front door.”

      “I wonder if that’s true at Boone’s and Jonah’s,” she mused.

      “At least they’re out on ranches. That’s more challenging, but not impossible to break into. Wouldn’t hurt for all of them to take a close look at their security.”

      “I’ll get your backpack.” She raised the window and put her leg over the sill.

      “What are you doing?” he asked.

      “Going out the way you came in. It’ll be easier.” She slipped outside and dropped to the ground, retrieving the backpack and turning to hand it to him through the open window. He reached down to lift her inside, his hands picking her up under her arms. She placed her hands on his forearms and felt the muscles knot.

      He swung her inside with ease and set her on her feet, looking down at her. They stood in the darkened room. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and she was certain his had, also.

      “You’re as light as a feather,” he said.

      She didn’t want to move away, her hands still resting on his arms. His hands slipped down to her waist. She wondered how long since he had kissed a woman. Was he going to kiss her now?

      Chapter 3

      He stepped back, inches farther from her. “You’ve got your life, Isabella, and I have mine. Don’t conjure up things that aren’t there.”

      “You’re scared to let go and live again. Talk about waste—”

      “I’m not complicating my life or yours anymore than I already have,” he said, and she knew she should leave him alone.

      Wordlessly, she moved away and he picked up his backpack.

      “You know where the bathroom is. I’ll show you one of the downstairs bedrooms. We should be safe.”

      “I agree. But I’ll still sleep on the sofa. I’m a light sleeper.”

      She led him to a bedroom and switched on a small lamp. The four-poster was covered in white eyelet and she couldn’t imagine Colin in the fancy bed. And she knew she shouldn’t try. She eyed the backpack. “Those are your things?”

      “I travel lightly,” he said. “Clothes wash and I don’t need much to get along.”

      “I think there are clothes here, and Mike probably has some that would fit you. You’re thinner, but about his height. There may be a robe in that closet.”

      “I don’t need a robe,” he said. “I’m all right. Go to sleep and don’t worry. I’ll hear anything that’s amiss.”

      “Well, if someone breaks in, don’t be so polite this time. You hit the intruder.”

      “Now wouldn’t that have been terrible if I had hauled off and struck you?”

      “Me, yes. Someone breaking in here, no.”

      “Don’t worry. It won’t be anyone friendly coming after me, and I won’t hesitate,” he said, touching her hair. The light was a soft glow and they were standing close. Once again, her heart began a drumroll. His smoky eyes darkened as he stood looking at her.

      She tilted her head to study him and touched his jaw lightly. “You should live where there are people who care about you, get back your old life.”

      “Never.” He shook his head. “I won’t go through that pain twice in my life and I won’t ever trust a woman with my heart again, not after Danielle,” he said harshly, his gray eyes growing glacial.

      “Half the world takes love lightly,” she said in exasperation, wishing she could reach him. “People marry and divorce with tears shed and short-term pain. You four guys fall in love with someone and it’s a forever deal. Jonah didn’t want to live without Kate. He didn’t date. He was bitter. Now you’re the same way, torn apart over your fiancée after all this time.”

      “You’ve never been in love, Isabella, not really in love. Those guys who wanted to marry you and you didn’t want to, you weren’t in love. You don’t know what it’s like. And it is a forever thing. One love, always.”

      “If it had been a ‘forever thing,’ for your sweetheart, she wouldn’t have married someone else. Get over Danielle, Colin. It was over for her a long time ago. Life is wonderful and people are marvelous and caring and exciting. Stop trying to be the walking dead and come back into life.” Isabella knew she should stop, but this was probably the last time she would be alone with Colin. Tomorrow morning she would be busy with Jessie. Then she expected Colin to be with Mike and the other guys and then gone forever.

      “I’ll bet you’ve never been a coward about anything else in your life,” she said. “But you’re scared to live.”

      “You’re scared to love!” he snapped back, a muscle twitching in his jaw.

      She blinked and then stared hard at him. Slowly she shook her head. “No, I’m not,” she said. She stepped close, wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

      Stunned, he was caught off guard as much as he had been the first few seconds he had accosted her in the dark hallway when he’d broken in. When her tongue slid over his, his insides clenched, his heart thudded and he came to life.

      His arm banded her waist. Standing in the middle of an inferno could not heat him more. Holding her tightly in his embrace, he leaned over her while he kissed her in return. She wouldn’t call him scared again.

      The desire was like an explosion. Something he hadn’t felt in so long, it shocked him. His body had been as numb as his heart.

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