SNOWFIRES Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bed for
warmth."
    Though she tried to avert her eyes, she
stared as if she were mesmerized. He unfastened his jeans and
stepped out of them as casually as if he were alone. Standing in
only his underwear and socks, he carefully folded his jeans and
laid them across the bed. Had he no idea the effect the sight of
his body wreaked on her? Of course he did.
    She tried again to turn away, but her body
refused to obey. Her traitorous eyes inventoried him. The jagged
scar on his chest worried her, bringing to mind the vivid image of
him aboard ship, cutlass in hand as he faced another pirate. Was
the rumor true then? Had he been a pirate or merely a seaman? She
easily pictured him braced on deck, wielding a cutlass to defend a
maiden.
    Defend? Ha. More likely to capture her. All
he lacked was a patch over his eye and the black flag of skull and
crossed bones waving over his head.
    His muscles rippled with each movement. Dark
hair spread across his chest and she followed the vee that furrowed
toward his waist and into his skin-tight briefs. This man didn’t
need a rolled up sock to fill out his underwear. Dry cotton lined
her mouth and she couldn’t swallow. She licked her scorched lips
and a ball of heat curled in her abdomen.
    Once again her thoughts returned to the
fantasy his touch had evoked before dinner. In her mind she relived
the pleasure of his hands against her skin, the electric shock of
his touch as their gaze met.
    He slipped between the sheets and patted the
bed beside him. "Now that you’ve memorized all my parts, don't
forget to turn off the overhead light before you join me."
    The words jerked her back to the reality of
their situation. How could she let her imagination carry on so?
What must he think of her for staring at him? She’d show him.
    "Hell will freeze over before I sleep with
you." Holly flipped off the light switch as she left. Let him
freeze alone. At least she’d be in the room with the lousy
furnace.
    She grabbed a stuffed bear from the playpen
to use as a pillow. With her coat draped across her, she chose the
overstuffed chair nearest the furnace grate. The coat’s wet hem
sent an icy chill down her legs. She shifted until the soggy fabric
hung over the edge of the chair.
    In the other chair, the cat lay curled into a
rounded mound. "Some help you are. Socks. You could at least offer
to climb on my lap and help keep me warm."
    One feline eye opened, regarded her, and
closed again. Holly shifted her weight and curled to pull her feet
up under her coat, determined to sleep in the chair. She tucked the
bear under her head and closed her eyes.
    From the kitchen she heard the soft snuffling
snore of the dog asleep on the ragged old blanket Trent had folded
into a makeshift dog bed. Holly almost begrudged the dog his
cushion.
    The squeak of springs came from the bedroom
as Trent shifted his weight. Damn the man! She definitely begrudged
him the bed.
    She awoke cramped and freezing. Every muscle
in her body ached. Fluff from the darned bear stuck to her mouth
and eye. She wiggled her numbed feet before she stood.
    Okay, so far no one had died.
    So far no one had starved.
    So far no one had frozen . . . but Holly felt
well on the way to becoming a human ice cube. Surely, by now, even
hell had frozen over.
    With a resigned sigh, she removed the
confiscated boots and tiptoed into the bedroom. She spread her coat
across the bed before she slipped from her outer clothes and
distributed them among his then she crawled between the sheets.
    * * *
    When he heard the rustle from the next room
as she approached, Trent glanced at the electric clock on the
nightstand. Two hours. She’d lasted longer camped in that chair
than he had expected.
    He lay with his back to the door, cursing
fate and a certain beautiful woman. No longer did he think of hell
as a fiery place. His personal hades became the frozen plains of
Texas stranded with a woman he in turn wanted to choke or kiss
senseless while he worried