Sea of Christmas Miracles Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t
entrance him. He responded to them on a physical level. And there
were times he’d been captivated by their beauty. But entranced?
Ridiculous. Still, he couldn’t seem to look away, and although she
was definitely prettier than he’d first thought, it wasn’t that
that held him.
    Thomas couldn’t say why he lay there, staring
into her eyes, hardly able to breathe. No more than he could reason
why he risked his life to rescue a kidnapper, or why he heard a
voice while doing it.
    Then she smiled, a soft, sleepy smile and he
felt a tightening around his heart. He remembered thinking of her
smile when it looked as if they would both die. Thinking he never
saw it, and never would. Knowing now that braving the stormy sea
was worth it.
    But he’d wondered other things, too. What it
would be like to kiss that mouth. To gently suck the full bottom
lip. Thomas shifted toward her, hardly aware of what he was doing
until the feathery whisper of her breath caressed his chin.
    When his lips touched hers, Thomas could
swear he heard bells. Damn, he was going to have his physician
check his ears when he returned to Charleston. She tasted like no
other woman, felt like no other woman. His tongue wet the sensitive
seam between her lips and she opened to him like a flower to
rain.
    The kiss deepened, and Thomas luxuriated in
her innocence. His arms tightened and beneath the blanket her body
molded to his. Her breast was soft and fit his hand perfectly.
Thomas trailed his lips down her cheek, and across her stubborn
chin. Her skin was smooth, smelled citrusy-sweet and he couldn’t
get enough of tasting her.
    Her sigh sent his desire soaring. Thomas
never wanted a woman so much. “Maggie,” he whispered her name as
his fingers found the curved valley of her waist. “Oh, Maggie,” he
murmured as he captured her mouth again.
    Her only response was another sigh, this one
even fainter than before. Something about the sound made Thomas
pull back and stare. Her head rested on his arm, her hair a wild
array of curls. Her lips were moist, her eyes closed. And she was
obviously asleep.
    Asleep!
    He was so hard he hurt, so aroused he could
barely breathe, and she... she had fallen asleep. He wanted to
shake her, to call her name until her eyes opened and she finished
what she started.
    Except she didn’t start it. He did. She
probably had never been truly awake. Which made him... what? It was
bad enough that he was trying to make love to a woman who’d
kidnapped him, but to do it while she slept?!
    Thomas flopped onto his back, his free arm,
the one she wasn’t using as a pillow, thrown over his eyes. He was
going crazy. There was no other explanation for all the weird
things that had happened to him since Margaret Howe Lewis first
woke him.

    “What... what happened?” Margaret sat up with
a start. Her voice was even huskier than usual and her throat was
sore. Thomas Blackstone sat across from her, watching, one leg
bent, his forearm resting on his raised knee.
    He stared at her intently. “You fell out of
the boat,” was all he said.
    “Oh, my goodness.” Margaret dragged her
fingers back through a tangle of unruly curls and glanced around
the cabin. When she looked back at Thomas his gaze shot up to her
face. “I don’t understand? How did we get here?”
    “I found the cabin after we got to
shore.”
    “We? Did you fall into the sea also?”
    “No.” His response was curt. Thomas
concentrated on keeping his eyes focused on her face. “I jumped in
after you.” Her expression made it clear how surprised she was. But
apparently she believed him, for she didn’t question it. She just
continued to sit, the blanket pooled around her waist, her
beautiful breasts bare. Thomas squirmed, forcing himself to look
away as he pushed to his feet.
    He walked to the door without looking back.
“They might not be completely dry, but I think it best you put your
clothes on,” he said before pushing through the door. He knew