Snowbound: Miracle Marriage (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 8)

‘I can’t see why you’d be possessive.’

‘Can’t you?’

All the air seemed to have been sucked out of the atmosphere and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. It was no longer about skating and Christmas—it was about her and Daniel. ‘Who I skate with is none of your business.’ Frustrated, angry and confused, she tried to pull away from him but he held her fast. ‘I can skate with who I like. I can go home with who I like.’

‘Yes.’ But the cold glitter in his eyes told her that her reckless remark had turned the situation from tense to dangerous. ‘Is that what you wanted? To go home with him?’

‘No, of course not. You know I’m not like that. And you’re not making sense, Daniel.’

His hold on her didn’t slacken. ‘I’m just telling you how I feel. I didn’t say any of it made sense.’

‘In two days’ time it’s Christmas Eve. It’s the two-year anniversary of the night you proposed to me.’

He inhaled sharply. ‘I know what day it is.’

Her cheeks stung from the cold. ‘And it’s the second anniversary of the day you broke off our engagement.’

‘I know that, too. But I still don’t find it easy watching you flirt with another man.’ His hand brought her into direct contact with his body and, because they were moving fast, she couldn’t resist.

‘I wasn’t flirting, but even if I was, it’s none of your business. I can flirt with who I like.’ Her fingers tightened on the hard muscle of his shoulders. ‘Why would you even care?’

Daniel spun her round, his mouth next to her ear. ‘I care, Stella.’ His voice was rough and male. ‘You know I care.’ He’d stopped in the centre of the rink, cleverly avoiding the rest of the revellers who were playing it safe around the edges. ‘There was never any question of not caring.’

‘Is that supposed to make it better? Because it doesn’t.’ Stella looked up at him, angry with him because it would almost have been easier if he didn’t care. Her heart was pumping as though she’d run a race and she felt a flash of desperation because the chemistry between them was as powerful as ever. ‘I care, too, you know I do. But I haven’t changed, Dan. And neither have you. I don’t want to spend my life as someone’s girlfriend. I want to make that commitment to someone and I want them to make that commitment to me.’

Someone.

Not just someone, she thought desperately, her arms locked around his neck as they stood motionless in the centre of the ice.

Daniel. She wanted Daniel. That had never changed and it was starting to look as though it never would.

The loudspeakers were playing Christmas carols and, as snow floated silently down and covered the skaters, Stella felt his hold on her tighten.

She closed her eyes, the sexual attraction so intense that she could hardly breathe. A stab of awareness shot through her body, spreading heat across her pelvis and making her legs tremble.

It was a feeling she’d only ever experienced with Daniel. Wanting a man like this.

Her desperately tempted body responded dramatically to the subtle pressure of his. She knew he was equally aroused and that knowledge heightened her own response.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ Daniel growled, drawing her towards the side and dragging off his skates.

Stella did the same thing, her hair sliding forward in a silvery sheet as she bent to pull her feet out of the skates.

Part of her knew she ought to go back out into the middle of the ice and stay there until Daniel left, but another part of her knew that that wherever he was going to take her, she was going to follow.

Another mistake?

Without a doubt.

If she was going to be safe and sensible, she ought to rejoin a crowd of her colleagues—there was protection in numbers, wasn’t there? But a reckless part of her drove her forward and she rescued her coat and bag from Ellie who was deep in conversation with one of the other nurses from the emergency department.

Ellie said nothing—simply gave her the coat and a worried look.

Without explaining himself to anyone, Daniel took her hand and led her away from the ice rink through the dark shadowy trees made ghostly by a frosting of snow and along the frozen, rutted path towards the lake. As they moved away from the noise and lights, he fished into his pocket and removed a torch.

‘Prepared for every eventuality,’ Stella said lightly, but her heart was bumping erratically and she was so conscious of him that every nerve ending in her body was crackling. ‘I don’t know why I’m coming with you.’

His hand tightened on hers. ‘Sometimes it’s good to do something just because it feels right. We need to talk and we can’t do that with everyone watching and listening.’