Page 40 of Undoing His Innocent Enemy (Hot Winter Escapes)

Cara, lighten up. He promised you nothing. If you thought this could be more, perhaps it’s good now you know for sure it can’t be.

She braced her hands on the counter and watched the precious Arctic daylight bounce off the surfaces.

It was already close to noon. And she had no idea when he would be back. And when he deigned to return, would he be expecting her to be waiting for him, naked and willing, like a dutiful little sex object?

The anger and frustration at his high-handed decision not to give her a choice this morning to accompany him, not to stay and spend time with her, pushed the regret and yearning back. Mostly.

A shadow floated across the room and she spotted the snowy owl—which she’d seen several times before—soaring majestically over the frozen lake. Its large tawny wings spanned the air currents as it dipped and dived, then rose again, its predatory grace making her breath clog as a small creature struggled in its talons, before it disappeared into the towering birch trees that edged the lake.

She pushed away the stupid sense of loss. Why was she moping about? When she could be doing something she loved instead, but had neglected for over ten days now.

She’d thought about photographing the owl every time she’d seen it fly past in the last week, but she hadn’t been able to act upon it. The weather had been an excuse until yesterday, but the truth was she’d got sidetracked—because her time with Logan had been so precious. And finite.

What an eejit she’d been.

She marched towards the bedroom. After donning her first two layers, she headed for the garage where she kept her outer clothes—and the camera she’d had packed away for too long, her fingers already itching to use it.

After she had zipped herself into the cumbersome snowsuit, and double-checked the camera, she shouted out the Finnish command Logan used to open the garage door and headed out into the newly fallen snow. Her boots made crisp indents in the drifts, as she walked past his snowmobile tracks and headed towards the forest, her strides purposeful. Determined.

He had asked her not to leave the house without him, but he wasn’t here to stop her. Because he had chosen not to be. And she’d be damned if she would pass up the opportunity to study the owl and maybe capture it on film—and start reaffirming her priorities.

Logan turned off the snowmobile’s ignition and ordered the garage doors closed. He stripped off his outer layers, then began unpacking the food supplies he had picked up from the regular air-drop location on the edge of his land—even though every instinct was telling him to race through the house and find Cara.

He’d spent a whole day away from her, to prove that he could—so he forced himself now to complete the mundane task.

In three days, she would be gone. And his life would have to continue as normal. That he would miss her—the feel and taste and scent of her in his bed—was something he needed to get a handle on.

Except it wasn’t just the sex he would miss any more, he thought grimly as he unloaded and stacked the dry goods. Because the more he tried to focus on the physical, the more he found himself thinking about all the other things he would miss.

He’d avoided any more revealing conversations about her childhood since their first ice-swimming session, had stifled all the questions that remained lodged in his head. Because that would simply encourage more intimacy. And she might expect him to return the favour. To revisit parts of his own past he had no wish to discuss.

But the questions still haunted him.

How had she survived such a brutal upbringing? And become such a strong, independent woman? Forthright, bold, brave, and so open.

He had become addicted to swimming with her each morning since, seeing her duck into the water, seeing her grin when the rush hit, warming her up afterwards in the sauna...

It had become a ritual that he had woken up this morning wanting so badly to keep that he’d known he had to leave her alone for the day.

But it had been torture to be without her during the long ride to the drop zone. How was he going to survive once she was gone for good? The chatter of her conversation in the evening as they cooked their supper? The sight of her first thing each morning, her hair a mess as she took that first gulp of coffee with an indulgent sigh? Her rouged skin as she shot out of theavantowith an ear-splitting shriek...

He breathed past the growing obstruction in his throat.

Damn it...

All the moments he had greedily stored in his memory would haunt him when she was no longer here.

He slammed the cargo trunk shut. Then unhooked the sleigh. But as he tugged the towing vehicle past the shelving unit where they kept their snowsuits, he paused and frowned.

Where were Cara’s outer garments? He checked his watch. It was edging towards three o’clock, close to nightfall.

Had she gone out without him? He left the sleigh and shot up into the house to check.

‘Cara?’ he shouted. No answer.

He searched the living area, the downstairs guest bedroom, jogged up to his own bedroom. The bed had been remade. But there was no sign of her.

Eventually he headed to the basement complex. The gym, the workshop. He even checked the freezer room as panic began to wrap around his chest, making his heart pound harder.

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