“You can do this,” she muttered under her breath. “He’s just your boss.”

Lies, her mind whispered. All lies. Not even very good ones. The sad truth was, Sean Ryan was so much more than the man she was currently working for. He was the first man in years who’d been able to … not just sneak past her well-honed defenses, but obliterate them. One smile from him and her knees quivered. One glance from his summer-sky blue eyes and her long-dormant hormones began a dance of joy. Oh, that was humbling to admit, even to herself.

She really didn’t need this.

Kate had a good life now. She’d built it carefully, brick by brick, and damned if she’d allow attraction to ruin it all.

Of course, standing strong against what Sean Ryan made her feel would have been much easier if he’d just been able to leave tomorrow as scheduled. But with the blizzard, they could be trapped together for days.

Which brought her right back to the sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Snowbound with the Boss is part of the Pregnant by the Boss trilogy: Three business partners find love— and fatherhood—where they least expect it.

Snowbound with the Boss
Maureen Child

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MAUREEN CHILD writes for the Mills & Boon Desire line and can’t imagine a better job.

A seven-time finalist for a prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award, Maureen is an author of more than one hundred romance novels. Her books regularly appear on bestseller lists and have won several awards, including a Prism Award, a National Readers’ Choice Award, a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence and a Golden Quill Award.

One of her books, The Soul Collector, was made into a CBS TV movie starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis. If you look closely, in the last five minutes of the movie, you’ll spot Maureen, who was an extra in the last scene.

Maureen believes that laughter goes hand in hand with love, so her stories are always filled with humor. The many letters she receives assure her that her readers love to laugh as much as she does. Maureen Child is a native Californian but has recently moved to the mountains of Utah.

To my daughter Sarah—a gift for

which I will always be grateful

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

Sean Ryan’s dreams were of hot beaches, ten-foot waves and ice-cold beer.

His reality was just ice-cold.

January in Wyoming was just...wrong, he told himself. A California guy had no business standing knee-deep in snow. And if he’d had a choice, Sean wouldn’t have been there at all.

But it was his turn to change a run-down hotel into a role-playing fantasy based on one of his company’s bestselling video games. “Why I couldn’t have gotten a damn hotel in Tahiti is a good question, though.”

But then, Celtic Knot video games were all based on ancient legends, and as far as Sean knew, there were no legendary Celtic tales set around a beach in Tahiti. Too damn bad.

A tall man, with thick black hair that hung past the collar of the brown leather jacket he wore over sweaters, Sean tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans and gave a quick look around. The great room of the old hotel was gigantic and echoed with the sound of his footsteps every time his scarred brown boots hit the wooden floor. There were enough windows in the room to make the snow-covered outside feel like the inside. Double-paned glass kept most of the cold out, but even then, so much glass was enough to chill the cavernous room.

The place wasn’t huge, only a hundred and fifty rooms, yet it gave the feeling of more. Probably all the wood and glass, Sean told himself. He could see how the hotel would be once the renovations were complete. And God knew there would be plenty of those. Every room needed to be freshened, brought up-to-date and then stocked with gaming systems and flat-screen televisions. They’d get their artists in to do the murals on the walls, bringing the “Forest Run” video game to life and making this a prime destination for gamers from around the country.

And, he had to admit, the setting was perfect to mimic “Forest Run.” The hotel sat on two hundred acres of land, with forests, meadows and a wide, beautiful lake. But he couldn’t imagine people wanting to come to the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter when everything was covered in snow. Who the hell would pick snow over sand?

Not him, that was for sure. But he had to hope that there were plenty of gamers who actually enjoyed freezing temperatures. As for Sean, he couldn’t wait to get back to Southern California. Shaking his head, Sean reminded himself that this trip was almost over. He’d been in Wyoming a week and now that all of the “consultations” with his contractor were finished, he’d be hopping into his company jet that afternoon and getting back to the real world. To his life.

Turning his back on the view, Sean glanced toward the ceiling at the sound of footsteps overhead. Instantly, a buzz of awareness shot through him. Scowling, he deliberately pushed aside the feeling, buried it deeply enough that he wouldn’t have to acknowledge it.

Nope. When he left, Sean wouldn’t miss the cold. Or the solitude, he assured himself. But the woman...that was a different story.

Kate Wells. Businesswoman, contractor, carpenter and current pain in his ass. He was only in Wyoming in the dead of winter because Kate, his contractor on this hotel job, had insisted they needed to meet on-site so she and her crew could get started on the interior renovations.

And from the minute he first saw her, construction work was the last thing on Sean’s mind. Instead, he was focused on thick black hair, usually pulled into a ponytail, lake-blue eyes and a mouth wide enough to give a man crazy, sex-fueled dreams.

It had been too long since he’d indulged himself in a really fiery affair, he assured himself. That’s the only explanation for why his body was burning for a woman who wore a damn tool belt, of all things.

He looked toward the ceiling again, the scowl on his face deepening as she moved around upstairs with quick, sure steps. He’d never met a woman as sure of herself as Kate Wells. He’d always admired strong women, but she took things to a whole new level. She argued with him on everything and as irritating as that was, Sean also sort of enjoyed it—which only went to prove that all this cold had frozen and killed off too many of his brain cells.

Shaking his head, he turned on his cell phone and gave silent thanks that at least he had reception out here. Hitting the video-chat button, he dialed and then waited.

On the third ring, his brother Mike’s face appeared on the screen.

“I hate Wyoming,” Sean blurted.

Mike laughed and leaned back in his desk chair. Right behind his brother, Sean could see the view of the garden behind the old Victorian in Long Beach, California, that served as Celtic Knot’s offices. “Don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel.”

“Funny.” Easy for his older brother to be amused, Sean told himself. He wasn’t in the middle of a forest with a woman who both attracted and infuriated him. Thinking of Kate, Sean glanced over his shoulder, just to make sure she hadn’t sneaked up on him. When he was satisfied, he shifted his gaze back to the phone. Easier to not think of Kate when he was talking about something else entirely.

“It hasn’t stopped snowing since I got here,” he said. “There’s like three feet of snow piling up out there and it’s still coming down. I don’t think it’ll ever stop.”

“Sounds cold.” Mike gave a dramatic shudder.

“Ha!” Sean snorted. “Beyond cold. Beyond freezing. I’m wearing two sweaters under my jacket—inside.”

Chuckling, Mike asked, “What’s it like when you’re not complaining about how cold you are? Have you managed, in all your misery, to check out the land and the hotel?”

Trust Mike to stay on topic. Sean sighed, then grudgingly admitted, “Yeah, I looked it all over. It’s pretty. Lots of trees. Lots of open land. And who knew the sky was so big when you get out of the city?”

“Yeah,” Mike said, “I discovered that for myself when Jenny and I were in Laughlin...”

Narrowing his gaze on his brother’s image, Sean wondered what the hell had happened exactly between Mike and Jenny Marshall, one of the company’s top artists. Mike hadn’t talked about it and before Sean had had a decent chance to really interrogate him over it, he’d had to leave for Wyoming.

“Something tells me there’s more to that story,” Sean mused, promising himself that as soon as he got home again, he’d take Mike out for a few beers and pry the truth out of him.

“If there is,” Mike told him, “you’re not hearing it.”

Not long-distance, anyway. But Sean had never been one to give up easily. And there was definitely something going on between his brother and Jenny. Still, that was for then, and right now Sean was more interested in getting out of Wyoming before he turned into a Popsicle.

“What’s the hotel itself like, Sean?”

“Big. Cold. Empty.” Sean blew out a frustrated breath and pushed one hand through his hair. He gave another quick look around and gave Mike a better answer. “The previous owner left some furniture downstairs, but the bedrooms are a refit from the ground up. No beds, no chairs, tables, nada.”

He shot a glance at the battered leather sofa and two matching chairs that were drawn up in front of a massive fireplace in the great room. Sean didn’t think much of the furniture, but since he and Kate were going to be stuck here for a while, he was grateful there was more than the floor to sit on.

“It’s no big deal,” Mike told him. “We would have redone the bedrooms the way we wanted anyway.”

“True. And the bones of the place are good.” Sean nodded to himself. “A lot of work to do to turn it into a ‘Forest Run’ fantasy, though.”

“And is Kate Wells up to the task?”

“To hear her tell it,” Sean muttered. He’d never met a woman so supremely confident in her own abilities. Just as he’d never come up against anyone so willing to argue with him. He was more accustomed to people who worked for him actually working for him. But this woman seemed to think she was in charge, and that was something he’d have to take care of real damn soon.

“Anyway,” he said, once again forcefully pushing Kate out of his mind, “there’s a hundred and fifty guest rooms, and they all need work.”

Mike frowned. “If we go with your idea to hold our own ‘game con’ on the property, we’ll need more rooms. Are there other hotels close by?”

“No. We’re ten miles from the closest. It’s a small town with two B and Bs and one motel right off the highway.”

Mike’s tight scowl deepened. “Sean, we can’t go with a big conference if there’s nowhere for people to stay.” He took a breath and added, “And don’t say people can pitch tents.”

Sean laughed. “Just because I like camping doesn’t mean I want strangers staying all over the property. Anyway, there’s a bigger city about twenty-five miles from here, with more hotels.” And that was where he was staying. A nice, comfortable, upscale hotel that he would have given anything to be in at that moment. He wanted a shower hot enough to melt the ice chips in his bloodstream. That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, though. “Kate—the contractor had another idea on that problem, too.”

“What’s she thinking?” Mike picked up his coffee and took a long drink.

Sean glared at his brother as annoyance sharpened his tone. “Is that a cappuccino? You bastard.”

Mike grinned and took a longer drink. “I’ll enjoy it for you.”

“Thanks.” The sarcasm was thick, but he knew Mike didn’t care. Why the hell would he? Sean wondered. His older brother was at home in Long Beach with access to their favorite coffee shop, the bar down the street, ocean views and, most importantly, Mike wasn’t freezing his ass off.

Damn, Sean missed civilization. Shaking his head, he said, “Kate thinks we should put in some small cabins, behind the main lodge, staggered back into the forest. Give people more privacy, a sense of being out in the wild...”

Mike nodded, thinking about it. “It’s a good idea.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Yet you don’t look happy about it.”

“Because she was so damn sure she was right,” Sean told him, remembering the conversation from the day before. Kate had had him trudging through snow to inspect the property and the areas she’d already selected for possible cabin sites.

As she’d laid it out for him, he could see it as it would be. Small cabins tucked into the woods would feed in to the fantasy of the place, and he was already considering how they could make each of the cottages different, give them each an identity that would be separate from the rest.

It irritated him, too, that he’d never considered anything like she was suggesting. But damn if the idea hadn’t hit home with him. The fact that Kate had come up with it was annoying, but Sean was smart enough to know a good idea when he heard it.

“Yeah,” Mike mused. “It’s a pain when they’re right, isn’t it?”

“You have no idea,” Sean muttered.

“I think I do.” Mike took another deliberate sip of his cappuccino. “Sounds like you’re having a great time.”

Sean’s eyes narrowed into slits. He’d have given his car for a hot cappuccino at that very moment. Just another irritation piled on top of everything else. “Yeah, it’s a laugh riot. This woman is the most hardheaded person I’ve ever dealt with and that includes you.”

Mike shrugged. “As long as she does good work, that’s all you should care about.”

His brother was right. That was all he should care about. But it wasn’t. Instead, Sean was thinking about her hair, how thick and dark it was, and he couldn’t help wondering what it would look like freed from its constant ponytail. He thought about the summer blue of her eyes and the way her tool belt hung low around curvy hips. He hated admitting it even to himself, but whenever she talked, he was so focused on her mouth, he hardly heard what she was saying.

Damn, he had to get out of Wyoming, fast.

Sean scrubbed one hand across his face and focused on the conversation with Mike. “Yeah, yeah. She wants to get her crew in here next week and start in on the rehab, and I don’t see a problem with it.” He paused and ran one finger around the collar of his black sweater. “As long as I can oversee it from California.”

“Okay, but since you didn’t take any of the artists with you, what’ll she do about the painting we’ll need done?”

“Come on,” Sean said sharply, “I couldn’t bring an artist out here when everyone’s doing the final run on ‘The Wild Hunt.’”

“True,” Mike agreed. “Everyone here’s working around the clock.”

And Sean should have been. He had to connect with marketing and their clients, check the advertising that was lined up to push the new video game once it was released. Work was piling up for him in California, but he’d had to come out here to get the reno started since he had such a fiery contractor eager for the work to begin. This trip had been bad timing all the way around, really. Every artist at Celtic Knot was focused on the finishing touches of the video game that would be released in the summer, so he hadn’t been able to justify pulling them away from their work yet.

“Anyway,” Sean continued, “how hard is it to leave walls blank? They can paint it white or something and then when we bring the artists in, they’ll have a blank canvas to work on.”

“That’ll work. You still coming home tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan, thank God,” Sean said. “Kate’s outside, bringing her truck around. We’re going to head back to town now. Naturally, it’s still snowing.”

“If it makes you feel any better, it’s seventy-five here today.”

“Great. Thanks. That just caps it.” A door slammed at the front of the hotel. Kate called out something, and Sean looked to one side and shouted, “What?”

In the next second, Kate was standing in the doorway, shaking her head to send a flurry of fresh snowflakes flying to the floor. “A blizzard’s headed in,” she said simply.

He covered the phone with his hand. “You’re kidding.”

“No joke,” she said, shrugging. “The pass is already closed. We’re not going anywhere.”

“For how long?” he demanded.

There was that shrug again. “No way to know.”

“Perfect.”

“What is it?” Mike asked.

“Karma probably,” Sean told him, expressing his disgust. “Kate just heard on the truck radio that the pass down the mountain is closed. I’m snowed in.”

Instead of sympathy, Sean watched as Mike unsuccessfully fought back laughter at the situation.

“Thanks for your concern.”

Mike held up one hand and tried to stop laughing. “Sorry, sorry.”

“How is this funny?” Sean snapped. “I’m trapped in an empty hotel with a crabby contractor and a mountain of snow outside the door.”

“Clearly,” Mike said finally, “it’s only funny from California. But have you got food, heat?”

“We’re covered,” Kate said, her expression telling him exactly what she thought of the description crabby.

“Yeah,” Sean said, then he turned to Kate. “Come here for a minute. Meet my brother.”

She didn’t look happy with the invitation—no surprise there, Sean thought. The woman had a chip on her shoulder the size of a redwood. She walked briskly across the room and stopped beside him to look at the phone screen.

“Hi, I’m Kate and you’re Mike,” she said, words tumbling over each other. She spared a quick glance for Sean. “Nice to meet you, but we don’t have a lot of time to talk. There’s firewood outside, we need to bring it in before the rest of the storm hits. Don’t worry, though. There’s plenty of food since I make sure my crew is fed while they work and we’ve been out here this last week taking measurements and getting ideas about the work.”

“Okay.” Mike threw that word in fast, thinking he probably wouldn’t have another chance to speak. He was right.

“The storm’ll blow through in a day or two and the plows will have the pass cleared out pretty quickly, so you can have your brother back by the end of the week.”

“Okay...”

Sean grabbed the phone and told Kate, “I’ll be right there to help. Yeah. Okay.” When he looked back at Mike, he was shaking his head. “She’s outside bringing in firewood. I’ve gotta go. And I was this close—” he held up two fingers just a breath apart “—from getting outta Dodge. Now I don’t know when I’ll get out. Tell Mom not to worry and don’t bother calling me. I’m going to shut off the cell phone, conserve power.”

“Okay.” In spite of the fact that he’d been amused only a few minutes ago by Sean’s situation, now Mike asked, “You sure you’ll be all right?”

Sean laughed now. “I’m the outdoors guy, remember? There may not be any waves to surf out here, but I’ll be fine. I’ve been camping in worse situations than I’ve got here. At least we have a roof and plenty of beds to choose from. I’ll call when I can. Just keep a cappuccino hot for me.”

“I will. And Sean,” Mike added, “don’t kill the contractor.”

Killing her wasn’t what he had in mind, but he wasn’t going to admit that to his brother. So instead, Sean said, “I make no promises.”

* * *

When he hung up and shut off his phone, Sean walked across the room in the direction Kate had disappeared. Damn woman could have waited a minute, he told himself, shaking his head as irritation spiked. He’d already spent a week with her and was walking the ragged edge of control. Now he was going to be snowed in with her for who knew how long.

“This just keeps getting better,” he muttered.

He walked through a kitchen that was big enough for their needs but would need some serious renovation. His quick glance covered the amenities he’d already noted earlier in the week. A long, butcher-block island in the middle of the huge room. More of the same counters ringing the perimeter, broken only by an eight-burner stove and a refrigerator that was both gigantic and ancient. The walls were white, yellowed with time and smoke, and the floor was a checkerboard linoleum with chipped-out and missing sections.

The windows were great and normally offered a view of the nearby forest. At the moment, the wide expanse of sky was a dull gray and snow was spitting down thickly enough to resemble a sheet of cotton. The back door was open and led into what Kate had earlier called the mudroom—basically a service porch area with several washers and dryers and a place to stow coats and boots.

Beyond was a covered back porch with a wobbly, needed-to-be-replaced wooden railing. Sean shrugged deeper into his jacket as he stepped into the icy bite of the wind. Snow. Nothing but snow. It was coming down thick and fast and for one split second, Sean could admit to himself that it was pretty. Then he remembered that the “pretty” stuff was currently blocking his only way out, and it quickly lost its appeal.

“Kate?”

“Over here,” she shouted.

Zipping his jacket closed, he turned toward her voice and ignored, as well as he could, the cold sharp snap of winter. Snowflakes slapped his face with icy stings and the wind pushed at him as if trying to force him back inside.

He paid no attention to the urge to retreat and instead turned to where Kate was bent over a neatly stacked supply of firewood. She had three split logs in her arms and was reaching for another.

“Let me get it,” Sean said, nudging her out of the way.

She whipped her head up to glare at him. “I can handle it.”

“Yeah,” he said, giving her a nod. He’d seen her stubbornness and her determination to do everything on her own all week. “I know. You’re tough. We’re all impressed. But if we both get the wood, we can get out of this cold that much sooner.”

She looked like she wanted to argue with him, then changed her mind. “Fine. Gather as much as you can, then we’ll come back for more.”

She headed into the hotel without another word, leaving Sean to grab as many logs as possible. When he straightened, he took another quick look around. Pine trees stood as tall and straight as soldiers on parade, in spite of the heavy, snow-laden wind pushing at them. The lake was frozen over and snowdrifts were piling up at the shoreline. He tipped his head back and stared up at the gray sky as thick flurries raced toward him. The air was thick and cold, and realization settled in on Sean. If this kept up, he could be stuck here for weeks.

* * *

Kate laid the stack of wood in a neat pile beside the stone fireplace, then grabbed the mantel and leaned on it. “The blizzard couldn’t have waited to hit until after he was gone?”

Of course not. That would have made her life too easy. Way better to strand her here on the mountain with a man who had shaken her nice, comfortable life right down to the ground.

Slowly straightening, she shook her head, hoping to clear out the ragged, disjointed thoughts somersaulting through it. Didn’t work, but she pushed through, pushed past. Bending, she took a few of the logs she’d carried in and set them in the hearth. Then she laid down kindling from the nearby basket, took a long wooden match, struck it and held the flame to the kindling until it caught. Taking a minute to get the fire started would help her settle—she hoped.

She watched the fire catch, licking at the wood until the hiss and crackle jumped into the otherwise quiet room.

“You can do this,” she muttered under her breath. “He’s just your boss.”

Lies, her mind whispered. All lies. Not even very good ones. The sad truth was, Sean Ryan was so much more than the man she was currently working for. He was the first man in years who’d been able to not just sneak past her well-honed defenses but obliterate them. One smile from him and her knees quivered. One glance from his lake-blue eyes and her long-dormant hormones began a dance of joy. Oh, that was humbling to admit, even to herself.

She really didn’t need this.

Kate had a good life now. She’d built it carefully, brick by brick, and damn if she’d allow attraction to ruin it all.

Of course, standing strong against what Sean Ryan made her feel would have been much easier if he’d just been able to leave tomorrow as scheduled. But with the blizzard, they could be trapped together for days.

And that thought brought her right back to the sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Frowning, she reminded herself that she’d already survived something that would have crushed most people. She could live through a few days in close quarters with Sean.

Nodding in agreement with her silent pep talk, she pushed up from the hearth and turned to get more wood. Sean stalked into the room, arms full of more logs than she could have carried in one trip. He didn’t look any happier about their current situation than she did.

Sadly, that didn’t make her feel any better.

“Just stack it there on the hearth,” she said, waving one hand. “I’ll go out for more.”

“Yeah,” he said, dropping the wood with an ear-shattering clatter. “I’ll get the wood. I can carry more than you, so that means fewer trips.”

She wanted to argue, but he was right. Still, it was hard for her to accept help. Kate stood on her own two feet. And for the last couple of years especially, she’d deliberately dismissed anyone who thought she couldn’t handle things herself.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ve got emergency supplies out in my truck. I’ll get them while you bring in more wood. Get a lot of it. It’ll be a long, cold night.”

“Right.” He paused. “What kind of supplies?”

“Blankets, lanterns, coffeemaker—the essentials.”

He gave her a wide smile. “Coffee? Now you’re talking. I’d give a hundred bucks for a cup of coffee right now.”

Why did he have to smile? Why did that smile have to light up his features, sparkle in his eyes and cause her already-unsteady nerves to wobble and tip dangerously? This whole adventure would be so much easier on her if she could just hate him. Damn it.

“A hundred dollars for coffee?” She nodded. “Sold.”

His eyebrows shot up, and that wicked curve of his mouth broadened. “Yeah? Well, I’ll have to owe you since I don’t have that much cash on me.”

Just too much charm, she thought. And he turned it on and off like a faucet. Her breath caught a little. “That’s okay, I’ll send you a bill.”

“No problem.” Amusement drained from his face, but his eyes glittered with promise. “We’ll settle things between us before I head back to California. You can count on it.”

Oh, boy. Kate watched him go, then turned up the collar of her jacket. She headed for the front door, giving herself a silent, stern lecture as she went. She couldn’t believe how that smile of his had affected her. Honestly, he’d been hard enough to resist when he was miserable and complaining about the snow. But a smiling Sean Ryan was even more dangerous.

She stepped outside and welcomed the blast of cold wind and the stinging slap of blowing snow. If anything could put out a fire burning inside, it was a Wyoming winter. But even as she thought it, Kate had to admit that the slow burn of attraction, interest, was still glowing with heat.

She trooped across the wide front porch, down the steps to where she’d left the truck. Snow was already filling up the bed and stacking against the tires. If she left it sitting out here, by the end of the blizzard she and Sean would have to dig out the truck before they could leave. Jumping into the cab, she started it up, then drove around the edge of the old hotel toward the four-car garage standing behind it. She had to jump out of the truck back into the snow to open the door, but once she had her vehicle parked, it was a relief to be out of the wind.

Kate reached over the side of the truck to the metal box in the bed. Unlocking it, she dragged out her stash of emergency supplies. A heavy plastic craft box that she’d commandeered for the purpose, along with a sleeping bag and the two blankets she kept there in case she was ever stranded in the snow.

Heading out of the garage, she closed the door behind her and paused for a moment to look up at the hotel. Sean was no longer on the porch, so he was inside, by the fire. Stranded alone would be a little scary. Stranded with Sean was terrifying.

Oh, not that she was worried about her safety. It was more concern for her sanity that had her biting her bottom lip as disjointed thoughts bounced off the walls of her mind.

He was too gorgeous. Too smooth. Too rich. And not to mention the fact that he was her boss. This one job for Celtic Knot would give her sometimes-floundering construction company a jolt that could keep them going for the next few years.

So it was imperative she keep a grip on the hormones that insisted on stirring whenever Sean was close by. She couldn’t afford to give in to what her body was screaming for. An affair with Sean was just too risky. It had been more than two years since she’d been with a man. In that time, Kate had managed to convince herself that whatever sexual needs or desires she’d had, had died with her husband, Sam.

It was lowering to have to acknowledge, even silently, that her theory had been shot to hell by Sean Ryan’s appearance in her life.

She shifted her gaze to the hotel, where firelight danced and glowed behind the window glass. Only midafternoon and it was already getting dark.

The wall of snow between her and the hotel was thickening, letting Kate know that this was a big storm. She and Sean could be stuck here for days.

How weird was it that she could be both annoyed and excited by the prospect?

Two

Inside, the fire was already spreading heat around the wide room. Firelight flickered across Sean’s features as he bent low to gently lay another log across the already burning wood. He turned his head to look at her, and Kate’s breath caught. Fire and light burned in his blue eyes and seemed to settle inside her, where that heat flashed dangerously bright.

A second or two of unspoken tension hummed in the air between them, making each breath she drew a victory of sorts. When she couldn’t take it another moment, Kate shattered the spell of silence by speaking. “If you bring in one more load of wood, that should see us through tomorrow.”

“Right.” He straightened slowly and shoved both hands into the back pockets of his jeans. Nodding at the pile of things at her feet, he said, “You carry a lot of emergency supplies.”

Happy to be on safe territory, she glanced down at the things she’d brought inside. “I’d rather be prepared than freeze to death,” she told him with a shrug. “You never know when your car won’t start or you’ll blow a tire or slide on some ice into a ditch...”

“Or get stranded in a blizzard?”

“Exactly.” She gave the black nylon sleeping bag a nudge with the toe of her boot, edging it closer to the two wool blankets beside it. “Blankets to keep warm and in the box I’ve got a battery-operated lantern, PowerBars, chocolate and coffee...”

“There’s that magic word again,” Sean said with a half grin.

“Finally something we can agree on,” Kate answered, a reluctant smile curving her mouth.

Sean’s grin only widened, and her heart tripped into a gallop. “Yeah, we’ve had an interesting week, haven’t we?”

“That’s one way to put it.” Kate sighed, bent down and opened the box to pull out her ancient coffeepot. Snatching the bag of coffee, too, she stood up again and met his steady gaze. “You’ve argued with every one of my suggestions for this place.”

“My place,” he said simply. “My decisions.”

She’d never had a client fight her on nearly everything before Sean. Normally, Kate didn’t mind trying to incorporate a client’s wants into the required work. But she also knew what was possible and what wasn’t. Sean, though, didn’t consider anything to be impossible.

“My crew. My work,” she countered.

“And here we go again,” Sean said, shaking his head. “Yeah, you’ll be doing the work, but you’re going to do it the way I want it done.”

“Even if you’re wrong.”

His mouth tightened. “If I want it, I’m not wrong.”

“You don’t know anything about construction,” she argued, even knowing it was fruitless. Her hands fisted on the coffeepot and the bag of coffee. The man had a head of solid rock. Hadn’t she been hammering at it for the last week?

He pulled his hands from his pockets, crossed his arms over his chest and stood, hipshot, giving her a look of resigned patience. “And how much do you know about video games? Specifically ‘Forest Run’?”

“Okay. Not much.” This argument was circular. They’d had it several times already, so Kate knew nothing would be settled and still, she had to admit again that he was right.

“Or nothing.”

“Fine. Nothing.” Her voice sounded defensive even to her, but she couldn’t seem to help it. “I’m a little too busy to be wasting my time playing video games.”

Briefly, insult flashed across his features. “Thankfully, there are a few hundred million people worldwide who don’t feel the same way.”

In a heartbeat, he’d reminded her of the difference between them. He was the billionaire. She was the hired help. “You’re right,” she said, though the words burned her tongue and nearly choked her. “I don’t know what gamers would want in a hotel designed especially for them.”

He gave her a short, nearly regal nod.

“But,” she added, “you don’t know about construction. What can and can’t be done and more importantly, what should and shouldn’t be done. You hired me because I’m a professional. When I tell you a wall is load-bearing, it’s not because I want to deny you the ‘open space to reproduce the sorcerer’s meeting rooms.’ It’s because if I take down that wall it destabilizes the entire building.”

His mouth worked as if he wanted to argue, but all he said was, “You have a point.”

“Thanks, I thought so.”

A brief twist of a smile curved his lips and was gone again in a flash. “You’re the most opinionated woman I’ve ever met.”

Kate took a breath. Strange but it was only Sean Ryan who brought out the argumentative side of her. Normally, she found a way to deal with clients with patience and reason. But he pushed every button she had and a few she hadn’t even been aware of. She found herself digging in, defending her position and never giving ground, which was no way to complete a job. Especially this job. She was going to have to learn how to deal with Sean Ryan in a calm, rational way, and she might as well start now. “Okay, I guess you have a point, too.”

His eyebrows lifted and amusement shone in his eyes. “Are we having a moment, here?”

Why did he have to be amiable along with irritating? Something inside her flipped over, and Kate took a long, hopefully calming breath. She’d been so solitary, so insulated, since Sam died, being this attracted to a man was staggering. And a little nerve-racking. But all she had to do was get through this storm. Survive being stranded with Sean Ryan long enough to see him get on his private jet and head back to where he belonged. Then everything would get back to normal and she could forget about how he made her feel.

“Why don’t you bring more wood and I’ll make that coffee.”

“And the moment’s over,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I’ll let it go for now, though, since I really want some caffeine.”

Kate held her coffeepot and the bag of grounds up like trophies. “The gas is connected. All I have to do is light a pilot light and we can use the stove.”

“You’re a goddess,” he said with a dramatic flair.

Amused, she shook her head. “You’re easily impressed.”

“Really not,” he told her and winked.

He winked, she thought as she walked to the kitchen and got things started. Why did he have to be gorgeous? she wondered. Was it some sort of trick by Fate, to send a man like him to her when she least wanted him?

Mumbling under her breath, she filled a pan with water and used a kitchen match to light one of the gas burners. While she waited for the pot to boil, she headed for the kitchen pantry to look through the food supplies she and her men had left here over the last week.

On normal jobs, they kept a cooler on the job site, stuffed with food, snacks and the guys’ lunches. But the hotel job was different. They would be working here for a long time and no doubt with lots of strange hours, so they’d more or less taken over the kitchen to store extra supplies—including paper plates, cups, towels and even, she saw, a plastic bag of disposable silverware.

Smiling to herself, she looked through the snacks and realized she could identify who on her crew had brought them in. Andy had a thing for Cheetos and Paco always had nacho-flavored corn chips with him. Then there were Jack’s Oreos and Dave’s peanut butter crackers. Kate herself had brought in chocolate, tea bags and those always-had-to-have Pop-Tarts. Brown sugar and cinnamon, of course.

“Not exactly a five-star restaurant,” she murmured a few minutes later, “but we won’t starve.”

“Yeah?” Sean’s voice came from directly behind her, and Kate jumped in response. He ignored her reaction. “What’ve we got?”

Kate moved away, forcing him to back up, too. “Cheese and crackers. Chips, pretzels and cookies. Everything you probably shouldn’t be eating.” She glanced at him. “My crew likes their junk food.”

“And who can blame them?”

A small smile tugged briefly at her lips. Kate closed the pantry door and opened the refrigerator. “There’s more in here, too. The storm hasn’t taken out the power yet. That’s good. Okay, we’ve got lots of those little cheese sticks, plus there are three sandwiches from yesterday, too. A few hard-boiled eggs thanks to Tracy, and some macaroni salad.”

He frowned. “When we brought lunch for everyone yesterday, there was one sandwich each. I didn’t expect leftovers.”

“Normally, you’d be right. The crew’s usually like locusts, mowing through anything edible—especially if they didn’t have to buy it themselves,” she said with an affectionate smile for the people she worked with every day. She looked up at him and added, “But thankfully for us, Lilah and Raul are both on diets so they didn’t eat theirs and Frank left early because his wife was in labor. So we’ve got food.”

“I forgot about Frank’s wife having a baby.” Sean leaned against the counter. “What was it, boy or girl?”

“A girl.” Kate couldn’t stop the smile as she remembered Frank’s call late the night before. “He’s so excited. They’ve got four boys already, and he really wanted a girl this time.”

“Five kids?” Sean asked, then whistled low and long. “Are they nuts?”

He looked so appalled at the very idea, Kate was insulted on behalf of her friends. “No, they’re not. They love kids.”

“They’d better,” Sean muttered and shook all over as if trying to ward off a chill.

“Wow, really hate the thought of family that much?”

Something flickered in his eyes—a shadow—and then it was gone, so fast, Kate wasn’t really sure she’d seen it at all.

“No,” he said, half turning to lean one hip against the battered kitchen counter. “Just not interested in having one of my own.”

“So no driving need to be a father,” she said flatly, thinking this was just another insight into the man she would be dealing with for months.

“God, no.” He shook his head and laughed shortly. “Can’t see me being a father. My brother maybe, but not me.”

Though he was brushing it off, Kate remembered that shadow and wondered what had caused it, however briefly. Curiosity piqued, Kate couldn’t help asking, “Why?”

He blew out a breath, crossed his arms over his chest and said, “I like having my own space. Doing things on my own time. Having to bend all of that to fit someone else’s schedule doesn’t appeal to me.”

“Sounds selfish,” she said.

“Absolutely,” he agreed affably. “What about you? If you like kids so much, why don’t you have three or four of your own?”

Her features froze briefly. She felt it, couldn’t prevent it and could only hope that he didn’t notice. One thing she didn’t want was to tell Sean about her late husband and the dreams of family they’d had and lost. “Just hasn’t worked out that way.”

“Hey.” Sean moved closer and his voice dropped. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she said briskly, lifting her chin and giving him what she hoped was a bright—not bitter—smile.

This was simply another reminder of the differences between them, Kate thought. Mister Billionaire Playboy probably thought having a family was like being chained in a cage. But it was all Kate had ever really wanted. She’d come close to having the whole dream—home, husband, kids—but it had been snatched from her grasp and now she was left with only the haunting thoughts of what might have been.

Something Sean clearly wouldn’t understand. But that wasn’t her problem, was it?

“Anyway,” Kate said, “we’ve got enough food for a few days if we’re careful.”

“Right.” He accepted the change of subject easily enough. “Do we have enough coffee to last?”

We. Now they were an unlikely team. As long as the storm lasted, they would be we. And she could admit, at least to herself, that in spite of everything, she was grateful not to be stranded up here by herself. Even if it did mean that she and Sean were going to have far too much alone time together.

But for now, dealing with their shared addiction to caffeine took precedence. “I’m on it.”

The water in the pan was boiling, so she carefully poured it into the drip filter on her travel pot. She felt Sean watching her. How odd, she thought, that the man’s gaze could feel as tangible as a touch. And odder still, she caught herself wishing he was touching her, which was just stupid.

For heaven’s sake, hadn’t she just been reminding herself how different the two of them were? How he was temporary in her life—not to mention being her client, so in effect, her boss. It was undeniable, though. This flash of something hungry between them. It was dangerous. Ridiculous. And oh, so tempting.

It was the situation, she told herself. Just the two of them, stranded in an empty hotel with several feet of snow piling up outside. Of course, her mind was going a little wonky. And the only thing wrong with that explanation was that her mind had been wonky since the moment Sean had arrived in Wyoming.

Over the sound of the howling wind outside, Kate listened to the water plopping through the filter into the coffeepot. A rich, dark scent filled the air, and behind her, Sean inhaled deeply and released the breath on a sigh.

“Man, that smells good.”

“Agreed,” she said and carefully poured more water into the filter. While the coffee dripped into the reservoir, Kate walked to the pantry, where she’d stored a few paper supplies for the crew. She grabbed two cups, tossed one to Sean and then turned to the now-ready coffee and poured some for each of them. The first sip seemed to ease some of the jagged edges tearing at her mind.

Leaning back against the counter, she turned to stare out the window above the sink. It was a bay window, with plenty of space for fresh herbs to grow and thrive in the sun. Right now it was empty, but Kate could imagine just how it and everything else about the hotel would look when she and her crew were finished. Still, it was what was happening beyond the glass that had most of her attention.

The snow was coming down so thick and fast, swirling in a wind that rattled the glass panes, she couldn’t see past the yard to where the lake stretched out along the foot of the mountains, and the forest was no more than a smudge of darkness in the world of white.

“This happen often?” Sean asked, as he moved up beside her.

His arm brushed against hers, and Kate sucked in a gulp of air to steady herself. “Often enough,” she said, determined to get a grip on the rush of something hot and delicious pulsing inside her. Another sip of coffee sent a different kind of heat sweeping through her. “Ask anyone and they’ll tell you. If you don’t like the weather in Wyoming, wait five minutes. It’ll change.”

He leaned forward and tipped his head back to see what he could of the sky. “So five minutes from now, the sun should be shining and the snow melted?”

She had to laugh because he sounded so hopeful. “Not likely. This looks like a big one. I figure we’re stuck here for a couple of days. Maybe more.”

He sighed, nodded and looked at her. “At least we have each other.”

And that, Kate told herself, was the problem.

* * *

They decided to ration what food they had, so an hour later, the two of them split a sandwich and shared a few crackers. Sitting in front of the fire, with the wind and snow pelting the windows, Sean glanced at Kate beside him. They’d pulled the old leather couch closer to the hearth, and now each of them had claimed a corner of the sofa for themselves.

Kate stared into the blaze, and firelight danced across her features and shone in her hair. Her eyes were fixed on the flames, as if looking away from the fire would mean her life. Her behavior told him she was nervous around him. He liked knowing it. Made his own unease a little easier to take.

He frowned to himself as that word reverberated a few times in his mind. Unease. Hell, Sean hadn’t been uneasy around women since freshman year of high school. Dana Foster—her red hair, green eyes and wide, smiling mouth had turned Sean into a babbling moron. Until he’d kissed her for the first time. That kiss had opened up a world of wonder, beauty and hunger that Sean had enjoyed ever since.

The women in his life—most of them—had come and gone, barely causing a ripple. Of course, there’d been one woman, years ago, who had affected him, changed him. But he didn’t allow himself to think about her or what had happened between them. Ancient history that had nothing to do with who and what he was today.

Now there was Kate. And what she did to him was so much more than that long-ago woman. Admitting that really bothered him and acted as a warning bell. Kate had him tied into knots, and he didn’t appreciate it. She made him feel nearly desperate to have her. And while his body clamored for him to go for it, those warning signals continued to ring out in his brain, telling him to keep his distance and to get the hell away from her as fast as he could. But that wasn’t going to happen, thanks to this blizzard.

He’d avoided any kind of entanglements for years and wasn’t looking for one now. But logic didn’t have a lot to do with anything he was feeling at the moment.

He wanted her. Wanted her badly enough that his mind was filled with images of her all the damn time. When he was with her, his body was tight and hard, and the longer he was with Kate, the worse it got. That need clawed at his insides, demanding release. Still, sex with her would only complicate matters, and Sean was a man who didn’t like complications.

His life would have been a lot easier if only he’d been able to escape Wyoming and put several hundred miles between himself and Kate. That wasn’t going to happen, though, so he had to find a way to survive this enforced closeness.

“Why are you staring at me?”

He came out of his thoughts and focused on the woman now looking at him. “Just thinking.”

“Now I’m worried,” she said, a half smile curving her mouth. “Thinking about what?”

Well, he wasn’t going to tell her the truth—that he was thinking about how soon he could get her out of her clothes—so he blurted out something that had been on his mind lately. “Wondering how you became a contractor.”

Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed and he had the distinct feeling she didn’t believe him. But then she shrugged and answered.

“My dad is the easy answer,” she said, shifting her gaze back to the fire snapping and crackling just a few feet away from them. “He’s a master carpenter. Started his own business when I was a kid.” She smiled in memory, and Sean noticed how her features softened. “I used to work for him every summer and he and the guys on his crew taught me everything I know about construction.”

“Funny, I worked summers for my dad, too,” Sean said, remembering how he had tried desperately to get out of work so he could go surfing instead.

“What’s your dad do?”

“Lawyer,” Sean said, bracing his hands on the floor behind him. “He wanted my brother and I to go to law school, join his firm.”

“No interest in being a lawyer?” she asked.

He shuddered. “No. When you worked for your dad, you were outside, right?”

“Usually, yeah.”

“Not me. Dad had us shredding old documents, sweeping, mopping and in general doing everything the building custodians needed us to do.” He shook his head. “Hated being locked up inside, so I promised myself that I’d find a job where I could take off and go surfing when I wanted to.”

She laughed. “Not many employers allow surfing breaks, I imagine.”

“Nope.” He grinned and added, “Just another reason I like being my own boss. You’d know what I mean by that.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

A moment or two of silence, broken only by the snap and hiss of the fire, stretched out between them. It was almost companionable, Sean thought. It was the first time since he’d met Kate Wells that they’d gone so long without an argument. It surprised him how much he was enjoying it.

“So,” he asked, “who’ll run things for you while you’re stuck here?”

“With a blizzard this heavy, the guys will just hole up at their homes and take a few days off. They won’t be expecting to work through it,” she said, then looked around the room.

It was filled with shadows that moved and shifted in the flickering light. “As soon as the snow stops and the roads are clear, we’ll get started on the renovations. The structure’s sound, but for needing some new shingles on the roof and some of the porch railings replaced. We’ll be working on the inside for now, of course, and move to the outside when spring finally gets here—”

“And we’re talking about work again,” Sean interrupted her. He’d noticed that whenever their conversations threatened to get personal, she “ran home to mama” so to speak and turned to talk of the job.

“Your fault this time. Besides, work is why we’re here,” she pointed out.

“No,” he argued with a wave of his hand toward the closest window that displayed a view of swirling white, “snow is why we’re here. We’ve talked about the job enough for today.”

“Well then,” she said abruptly, “what do you want to talk about?”

“Who says I want to talk at all?” he asked and gave her a slow smile.

She stiffened and her features went cool and dispassionate. What did it say about him, Sean wondered, that her reaction only fed the hunger gnawing at him? This woman’s obvious reluctance to admit to what was simmering between them only intrigued him further.

So maybe, he told himself, the secret to surviving close quarters with Kate was to go ahead and give in to the sexual tug happening. If they tried to ignore it, the next few days were going to be misery.

“Yeah,” she said, “that’s not going to happen.”

“Never say never,” he told her with a careless shrug. “We’re stuck together and I’m pretty damn charming.”

A hesitant smile twitched at her lips briefly. “I think I can control myself.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” He was a man who loved a challenge. And Kate Wells was surely that.

“Right. I think I’ll bring in more wood.” She pushed herself to her feet and looked down at him.

“Thought we had enough.” He glanced at the high stack of split logs he’d already carried in and set beside the hearth.

“Can’t have too much,” she said, pulling her jacket on.

He knew a displacement activity when he saw one. She was trying to get some space, some distance from him, and damn if he was going to let her. “I’ll get it.”

“I can do it,” she said and left without another look at him.

Muttering under his breath about hardheaded women, Sean grabbed his jacket and followed. He walked through the mudroom and stepped out onto the wide, covered back porch in time to see Kate grabbing several big logs. “Let me get it.”

“I said I don’t need help,” she countered.

Sean came up beside her just as she whirled around to face him. Her elbow caught him in the chest, and he took a step back and hit the edge of the top step. Off balance, his arms windmilled as he felt himself falling and knew he couldn’t stop it. The fresh snow cushioned his fall and puffed up around him in a cloud. He was flat on his back, staring up at still more snow falling out of a steel-gray sky.

“Oh, God, are you okay?” Kate dropped the wood she held and reached out one hand to him. “I didn’t know you were there, really.”

Sean only stared at her. Snowflakes gathered in her hair, on her lashes, on the collar of her coat. Her hand was out toward him, and he grabbed it. But rather than take her help to get out of the snow, he gave a hard yank and pulled her down to join him.

She gave a half shriek when she landed on top of him, then immediately struggled to push herself up again. But having her body pressed along his felt so good, Sean was in no hurry to release her.

“What’s the rush?” he asked, mouth just a breath away from hers.

“It’s freezing.”

“Cuddle up, we’ll keep each other warm.”

Three

“You’re crazy,” she said with a shake of her head. Thick, heavy snowflakes kept falling all around them, landing on his lashes, his cheeks.

“And charming. Don’t forget charming.”

“Right,” she said, laughing. Damn it, he really was charming. Most men getting pushed into a snowdrift wouldn’t have been so nice about it—though he’d made sure to yank her into the wet cold just to keep things even. “Pulling me into the snow? Charming.”

He grinned. “You started it.”

She had. And now that she was lying on top of him, she couldn’t really regret it. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

He slid one hand down her spine toward her behind, and her eyes flashed in warning. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“Like I said. Crazy.”

“Kiss me once and we’ll get out of this snow.”

Kissing Sean Ryan was absolutely not a good idea. But oh, she was tempted. Tempted enough that she knew she’d give in if she didn’t move.

“I’m going in now,” she told him and pushed against him again, trying to lever herself up.

Sean held on to her. “One kiss. See if we can melt all this snow.”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth then lifted to meet his eyes. Temptation had never looked so good, she thought, knowing that she was in far deeper water than she’d ever been in before. No, she wasn’t some shy virgin. She was a widow. And the man she had loved and married had been nothing like Sean.

Sam Wells had been sweet, kind, soft-spoken. An easygoing man with a ready smile and a gentle nature. Kate wasn’t used to dealing with a man who wore arrogance and confidence like a second skin. And blast it, she couldn’t understand why she found him so...attractive.

Then, while her thoughts were muddled and her defenses down, Sean tugged her closer and closed his mouth over hers.

So much heat. It was a wonder the snow they were lying in didn’t melt into slush.

While her body lit up like a glowing neon sign, Kate’s mind flashed a warning. Melt snow? If he kept this up, Sean would melt her bones.

Pull away, she told herself. Stop this now. But she wasn’t going to stop and she knew it. It had been so long—too long—since she’d been held, kissed. That was why she was reacting so wildly to Sean’s touch, she assured herself. It wasn’t personal. It was simply a biological need that hadn’t been so much as acknowledged for two years.

But when his tongue tangled with hers, she had to admit, at least silently, that it was this man causing her reaction. Not just a kiss, but Sean’s kiss.

For a week, she’d worked with him, argued with him and, yes, dreamed about him. Now his hands were on her, his mouth was devouring hers and all she could think was more. This was so unlike her. So out of the realm of her ordinary world she had no idea what to do or how to handle it.

He broke the kiss, stared at her as if she’d just dropped out of the sky from Mars, then shook his head. “Well, damn. If I’d known what kissing you would be like, I’d have done it a week ago.”

Gazing into his beautiful blue eyes, she blurted out before she could stop herself, “I might have let you.”

One corner of his truly fabulous mouth tipped up. “Might?”

He already thought far too much of himself, so no way was she going to feed an ego that was already strong enough for three healthy men.

“I think we’re way past ‘might,’ Kate,” he said, his fingers rubbing at the base of her neck until she wanted to purr in reaction.

That realization made Kate pull back, shake her head. “No, we are not going to do this.”

“Not here, anyway,” Sean agreed. “We’ll freeze to death.”

Not the way she was feeling at the moment, Kate thought. Despite the cold, the snow, the icy chill of the wind, she felt only the heat. That was the problem. Determined to put some space between them, Kate shoved herself to her feet. Sean did the same, then caught her elbow in a firm grip.

“You’re going to pretend nothing happened?”

“It was a kiss, Sean. That’s all.” She slipped out of his grasp, pulled off her cap, tore the band from her hair and shook it free until it lay thick around her shoulders.

“A hell of a kiss, Kate.”

She felt the imprint of his fingers right through her jacket and sweater as if he was touching her bare skin. What would it be like if he actually touched her? Oh, don’t think about that...

“Kate—”

“We need to get more wood.”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of wood.”

He gave her a slow smile as his eyebrows arched. Kate blew out a breath. Well, she’d walked right into that double entendre. “Funny.”

He grinned. “Told you I’m charming.”

“You shouldn’t waste it on me,” Kate told him.

“Who says it’s a waste?”

Kate sighed, tipped her head to one side and stared at him. “Why are you doing this?”

“We’re both doing this, Kate,” he said flatly. Moving in, he closed what little distance lay between them. His hands came down on her shoulders and though she knew she should shrug him off, she didn’t. That stirring of bone-deep heat was too irresistible. Too compelling.

In this world of swirling white and icy cold, it was as if they were the only two people alive. As if nothing beyond this old hotel existed. Mattered. She stared up at him, into those blue eyes, and felt herself weakening further.

He was so damn sure of himself, Kate thought. And as her willpower dissolved like sugar in hot water, she told herself he had every right to be. She’d had no intention of giving in to this attraction between them, and now she couldn’t think of anything else.

“So, what’s it going to be?” He looked down into her eyes as he slid his hands up from her shoulders to cup her face. The chill of his hands on her skin skittered through her and was swallowed by the building fire inside. “Are we gonna spend the next few days pretending nothing’s happening between us?”

“It’s the safest thing to do.”

“You always take the safe route?” His mouth curved.

Yes. She’d lived most of her life trying to be safe. Her mother had died in a car accident when Kate was a girl, and that incident had marked her. She always buckled her seat belt. Drove the speed limit. Safety—caution in all things, was paramount. In everything from driving to balancing her checkbook to salting her steps during winter. She didn’t take chances. Risks. She was always careful. Always vigilant. And the smart thing to do right now would be to continue being safe. To walk away from what she felt when she was with Sean.

Even while she was giving herself some excellent advice, he bent his head and kissed her. Once. Twice. His mouth was soft, his manner tender and she was lost. When he finished, leaving her breathless and just a little unsteady, he looked at her again.

Kate swallowed hard and said, “Safe is smart.”

“Be stupid,” he urged.

She couldn’t look away from that warm, determined gaze. “I think I’m going to.”

He kissed her again. This time gentle tenderness washed away in a roaring tide of clawing, greedy hunger that had been building between them for days. Even through the thick layer of sweaters and jackets they wore, Kate felt his hard, muscled chest pressed against her, and everything inside her caught fire.

It was as if embers that had lain smoldering within suddenly caught a draft of air that flashed them into flames. Her hands at his shoulders, she clung to him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight, close. Though they stood locked together in knee-deep snow, she didn’t feel the cold. His mouth fused to hers, his breath filled her, his tongue twisted with hers and Kate felt the already-blazing fire inside her erupt and flash white-hot.

He tore his mouth from hers and said, “Inside. We’ll freeze to death out here.”

“So not cold,” she told him, licking her lips to savor the taste of him.

He grinned, and her heart stumbled. “Gonna make sure you stay that way, too.”

Keeping one arm locked around her, he guided her into the hotel, through the kitchen door, then slammed it closed behind them. They left the wind, the snow, the cold, and now it was just the two of them.

Nerves rose up unexpectedly and Kate started thinking. Her body was churning, every hormone she possessed was doing a cha-cha of anticipation, but her brain had clicked back on the moment he stopped kissing her and now...

“No way,” he said, caging her against the counter, with his hands braced on either side of her.

“What?” She blinked up at him.

“You’re thinking too much. You’re starting to worry that maybe we’re making a mistake.”

“Are you a mind reader now?” she asked, trying to ignore the hard thump of her heartbeat.

He laughed shortly. “Reading your mind isn’t that tough at the moment.” His gaze moved over her face like a caress before meeting her eyes again. “You’re interested. You just don’t want to be.”

“I could say the same about you,” she pointed out in her own defense.

“Yeah, you could.” He nodded thoughtfully. “The difference between us is I’m not big on denying myself and you seem to be a champ at it.”

“I’ll agree with the first half of that sentence. You do seem to be the type who indulges himself whenever he feels like it.”

“Why not?” he asked with a shrug. “You don’t get trophies from the universe for being stoic and cheating yourself out of something that could be amazing.”

In spite of everything, Kate felt a rush of anticipation that fed a small smile. The man was arrogance personified. “You’re so sure it would be amazing?”

His mouth curved, his eyes gleamed and he leaned in closer until their mouths were just a breath apart. “Aren’t you?”

Stray snowflakes slipped from the collar of her jacket, went beneath the neckline of her sweater and snaked along her spine. Kate shivered and told herself it was the ice on her skin, not the heat in his eyes that had caused it.

“This is crazy,” she murmured, shifting her gaze from his eyes to his mouth and back again.

“I’m a big fan of crazy,” he whispered.

“Yeah, you would be,” Kate said with a choked-off laugh.

Her insides jumped, trembled and settled into a thrum of expectancy that wouldn’t be denied. Crazy is just what they were talking about here. Sex with Sean would be a mistake. A huge one. But if she let this moment pass, let him go back to California without taking the opportunity Fate had handed her, wouldn’t that be a mistake, too? Wouldn’t she have to live with regret for the rest of her life?

And she couldn’t handle more regrets.

Kate had been so closed off for the last two years, she’d never once felt even the slightest attraction for a man. And what she felt for Sean went light-years beyond a “slight attraction.” That could be a problem, too, she knew. Feeling too much was an open invitation to pain.

Kate had already had enough pain to last a lifetime.

So she’d have to keep her heart tucked neatly away. Of course, sex without love wasn’t like her at all. But then again, she’d already had and lost love and didn’t expect to ever have it again. So unless she wanted to live her entire life as if she was locked up in a monastery, she’d have to accept that things, for her, had changed. Affection would have to be enough. And as she met his eyes, Kate could admit to herself that as much as Sean irritated and annoyed her, she also sort of liked him. Hard not to, really. Looking up into Sean’s eyes, Kate thought he really was as charming as he claimed to be. Plus he didn’t cheap out on building plans, he was fair to her crew and even when he argued with her, he managed to make her laugh.

That kind of man was hard to resist. Though she’d been doing her best to do just that for the last week, she was done with it now. She took a breath and sighed heavily. She was finished trying to ignore the buzz of electricity between them.

If she was going to make a mistake, Kate preferred it be an active decision, not a mistake of omission.

“So, Kate,” he murmured, pushing the edge of her jacket aside to drag the tips of his fingers along the undersides of her breasts. “Are we going to be crazy together, or are we going to be sad and lonely separately?”

She shivered again as tiny twists of heat licked at her. Her eyes closed briefly and when she opened them again, Sean was there, staring into her gaze, searching for her answer.

She lifted one hand, cupped his face and drew him to her. “Crazy,” she whispered. “I vote for crazy.”

“Thank God.” He kissed her.

Kate’s entire body lit up in an explosion of light and color and heat. She hooked her arms around his neck and hung on, drawing him even closer. Now that she’d opened the floodgates of long-banked desires and needs, she was helpless to do anything but ride the tide cresting inside her. Kate groaned as he parted her lips with his tongue. That fast, greedy dance stole her breath, blurred her mind and set fire to her body.

His hands were busy, too, pushing her jacket off her shoulders and down her arms. Free, Kate did the same for him, then threaded her arms back around his neck as he lifted her and plopped her down onto the old, worn counter. He moved to stand between her thighs, and she hooked her legs around his waist.

They were eye to eye now and when he scraped his hands up beneath the hem of her sweater to cup her breasts, even through the fragile material of her bra, Kate felt heat blossom. Tingles flickered into life deep in her belly, and the core of her ached and throbbed in time with the beat of her heart.

Want. Desperate, frantic need clawed at her, and Kate threw herself into the conflagration. Outside, snow flew in an icy wind that rattled the windowpanes and slammed a stray shutter against the side of the hotel. Neither of them noticed or cared.

“Other room,” Sean muttered thickly, tearing his mouth from hers. “By the fire.”

“Not cold,” she assured him, leaning in for another kiss.

He indulged her, once, twice, then pulled back and shook his head. “Nope. Want you naked and,” he added, “in this room, we’ll both be too cold to finish what we started.”

He was right. The kitchen was cold and getting colder. The light was going outside, and the snow piling up was seeping its icy touch through the walls. True, the heat inside her was only building, but the thought of being with him in front of a roaring fire had its appeal.

“Right,” she said, giving him a nod, “let’s go.”

He scooped her off the counter and braced his hands on her behind. Kate kept her legs wrapped around his hips and held on while he carried her to the great room. At any other time, she might have objected to being toted around, but she was too busy enjoying the feel of his hard body pressed against her center. She went hot and wet, her own body trembling in wild anticipation. She wriggled against him, and he sucked in a gulp of air.

“Keep moving like that and we’ll never make it to the fire.”

“There’s plenty of fire here already,” she told him.

He glanced at her, his features tight, his eyes flashing with purpose, then quickened his steps. Kate grinned because she felt the same way. Hurry, hurry.

Now that she’d made the decision to be with him, she didn’t want to wait another second. She wanted him on her, inside her. She wanted him to claim what she’d only given to one other man before him.

A brief flicker of guilt sprang up in the recesses of her mind, but she smothered it. There was no room for thoughts of anyone else, of other times, other lives and loves. For this moment, there was only her...and Sean.

Sex. She hadn’t been with a man in more than two years. That had to be the reason she was reacting so wildly to Sean’s caresses. Always before, the best part of sex for Kate was the closeness, the snuggling that came after. She’d never before known this kind of hunger—hadn’t really believed she was capable of it. Now, Kate had to fight her sense of guilt for admitting even to herself that Sean was making her feel more than her husband ever had—but that was for later. For now, all she wanted was an end to the driving demands within.

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