Page 16 of Undoing His Innocent Enemy (Hot Winter Escapes)

Sensation pulsed and flared, the hot rock between her thighs becoming molten as their gazes locked again.

‘Stay out of my way,’ he murmured, the hard line of his jaw and the dark arousal in his eyes making it clear he was holding on to his control with an effort.

He dropped her hand, then stood and left the room.

She watched him go, mesmerised by the muscular grace of his movements as he stalked away. The flash of memory blindsided her. He reminded her of an Arctic wolf—the leader of a marauding pack—that she had photographed a month ago. That wolf had been predatory, deadly, dangerous, but also staggeringly beautiful in its ruthless pursuit of its prey. She rubbed her wrist where the skin still burned from his touch.

His warning had been blunt and unequivocal, just like everything else about him. But it had also answered the question that had been hanging in the air between them during their meal.

He felt this devastating chemical reaction too.

The throb of arousal in her gut pounded harder, reckless and dangerous and like nothing she had ever felt before. The liquid heat settled, wedging itself between her thighs like a hot brick. Adrenaline surged, and an excitement she’d only ever felt for her work before now charged through her veins—reckless and intoxicating.

While she tidied away their bowls and cleaned up the kitchen, she tried to talk some sense into herself. And ignore the relentless pulse of desire.

She should do as he suggested. Avoid him. The house was big enough that they didn’t need to cross paths at all—and surely the storm would clear by morning. But she couldn’t shake the thought that the livewire sexual connection they shared was even more disturbing to him than it was to her.

She was playing with fire, she understood that. But there was something so raw and vibrant about this man, and she had always been drawn to the wild, the untamed... Which was precisely why she had made a career out of observing and capturing them on film.

Logan Colton was an enigma. A fascinating, compelling enigma. And imagining what it would be like to unleash the raw sexual energy she sensed pulsed just beneath the surface of that cast-iron control was as unbearably exciting as it was unsettling.

He’d told her to keep her distance. Made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. Just as he seemed to want to have nothing to do with the outside world.

But she knew the truth was a great deal more complex. Logan had needs, just like any man. Or woman for that matter. Needs she suspected he had been denying for a very long time—or he wouldn’t be living out in the Arctic Circle entirely alone.

Needs that she could admit now she’d always denied too.

He had warned her off because he didn’t want his control challenged. Didn’t want to acknowledge this attraction.

But unfortunately, she’d never been very good at following orders. Especially orders imposed on her by other people. Just ask her mammy.

And she’d never been scared to pursue the things that fascinated and excited her.

And at the moment, the thing that fascinated and excited her the most was him.

CHAPTER FIVE

STANDINGATTHEENDof the jetty he had built two summers ago over the lake, Logan unfolded the long serrated blade. He began to saw through the ice to recreate the swimming hole that had frozen over during the storm.

He grunted in frustration as he shoved the blade into the ice.

He would not be able to take his unwanted guest to her vehicle now until tomorrow, as it would be dark again in only a few hours. He had worked out a plan to take her to the broken snowmobile, check the photos on her camera, and then let her call for rescue. If he left her in the forest clearing before rescue arrived he would not need to compromise his privacy. Without a working GPS she would never be able to find her way back through the forest to his home. But his plan had been thrown into turmoil today, because the storm had continued to rage all morning. It would take over an hour to get to her vehicle, and he could hardly leave her alone in the forest after dark.

Blast her.

He breathed through his annoyance. He had avoided her so far today and left her a note explaining the situation, so she would continue to stay away from him until they could leave at first light tomorrow. But getting out of the house had seemed the best solution today after he had found her cooking them supper last night.

He should not have accepted the peace offering—even though the stew had been delicious. He was still furious with the foolish decision and the weakness that had caused it, that visceral spurt of yearning to stay... With her.

He would not make the same mistake twice, which meant heeding his own warning, and staying away from her too.

The late morning sunlight made the freshly fallen snow sparkle and warmed his exposed skin. He preferred to use the traditional hand tools for this job. It was hard, sweaty work, but it reminded him of his grandfather—and provided a useful and much-needed distraction from the confusing thoughts and feelings that had been consuming him for twenty-four hours now.

He had already spent half an hour drilling the four corners of the hole into the ice, using a hand-powered drill, but it was the saw work that was the most tiring.

His muscles warmed as he segmented the square hole into two triangular blocks then stepped on each one in turn to dislodge them. Eventually, after much careful pressure he was able to employ the pick to lever the ice blocks under the edge of the hole. Then he dropped the ladder and fixed it to the ice.

Ice swimming was a three-hundred-year-old Finnish tradition, which he’d happily embraced as a teenager at his grandfather’s instigation to help quell the night terrors. It was dangerous to swim on your own, but he had no qualms about having the brief dip whenever the weather allowed. It alleviated any stress in his life and unblocked his creativity when it stalled if he was feeling low. Or extremely frustrated.

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