Page 48 of Undoing His Innocent Enemy (Hot Winter Escapes)

He nodded and pressed a kiss to her nose. Then crawled out of the hide and dragged her out with him. ‘Come, it is time to eat. And get warm again,’ he said, eager to get back to the cabin and tell her his plan.

His heart skipped a beat when she laughed and murmured, ‘Oh, goody. Getting warm with you happens to be one of my favourite pastimes.’

‘If you stay with me, there is much you can photograph. The wildlife on my land has been untouched for generations.’

‘Stay? With you?’ Cara murmured as she placed the wine glass on the small table at the side of the bed, shocked not just by Logan’s offer, but the casual way he made it.

She turned in his arms, so she could see his face, the harsh planes and angles lit by the firelight below them.

They’d made love again after supper, long, slow, lazy love, her excitement at the shots she’d taken only tempered by the thought of what the morning would bring. But as they’d sat on the bed, her wearing his boxer shorts and an undershirt, him in just his shorts in the warm room, sipping the last of the bottle he’d produced to go with the stew, she’d been unable to keep the empty space at bay.

Until this moment.

Anticipation dried her throat.

But then he nodded, placing his own glass beside hers, cupping the back of her neck, and brushing his thumb over the thundering pulse point.

‘Yes. Stay,’ he said.

The wave of emotion gathered in her chest then barrelled through her tired body. She’d hoped for such an offer, but she hadn’t really expected it.

‘I cannot lose you,’ he said, the emotion in his voice matching her own as his eyes searched her face. This wasn’t just hunger, it was affection, caring, much more than a physical connection just as she’d hoped. ‘Not yet.’

Not...yet?

The single word echoed through her, bringing a discordant note to the symphony of joy and excitement.

The bubble in her chest deflated as what he was really offering her became clear. A relationship on his terms. An arrangement such as the one they already had, which involved her living a life of exile—and never probing too much, so he never had to face his demons.

‘What do you say, Cara? Will you come home with me?’ he asked, taking her hand in his and lifting her trembling fingers to his lips.

The yes lodged in her heart sat on the tip of her tongue as he kissed her palm. But somehow, she couldn’t seem to utter it.

She tugged her hand free and fisted it in her lap, shifting away from him on the bed, suddenly knowing she couldn’t give him what he wanted, or she would lose herself in the process.

‘I... I don’t know if I can,’ she said, hating the words and the need to say them.

‘Why not?’ he asked, tilting his head to one side as he studied her, the way she’d seen him study one of his sculptures. As if she were a puzzle to be solved. ‘You would be able to build your career as a photographer. Is this not what you want?’

‘But how? How would I be able to show my work or sell it, even?’ she asked.

It wasn’t just that his home was isolated, that he had no Internet as far as she knew. He hadn’t left his land in years. But more specifically, he hadn’t let her in, not really.

She didn’t expect him to give up his isolation. Nor did she expect a declaration of undying love.

They’d only known each other for two weeks. And she knew the last fortnight had been tumultuous for him too, as well as her. Maybetootumultuous.

But she needed something, a sign that there could be more eventually. That he was committed to making this a real relationship, at some point in the future. That he was prepared to bend for her, too? That he wouldn’t close her out of his heart for ever.

‘There are ways, we could figure it out,’ he said. ‘I sell my work to a gallery in New York through a subsidiary.’

‘But I would have to leave occasionally, Logan. The wildlife here is incredible and I would love to spend time observing it and photographing it, but if I’m really going to make a career, a living, out of my work I can’t limit myself to one location.’ She sighed. ‘Especially not while I’m trying to establish myself. And I’d want to go to Ireland to see my family, too.’ Maybe she hadn’t been to see them in over a year, but did he realise what he was asking of her? ‘Is that what you want?’

He frowned and she could see he hadn’t considered the ramifications of what he was offering her. And what he wasn’t.

‘I have a lot of money, Cara...’ He huffed out a breath. ‘You would not need to support yourself, while you were with me,’ he said. ‘There would be no need to leave. And if you must see your family, I would figure out how to do that.’

Her heart broke at the rough emotion in his voice. And the dark intensity in his eyes.

---