Chill (13 page)

“No. You get out now.” Ren raised his gun and cocked the trigger. “Now.”

Luke could tell from Ren’s expression that he was prepared to kill. Adam Fie would have accepted those stakes and upped the ante. Despite Ren’s claim that the poison still ran in Luke’s blood, and despite the urge to rip that gun out of Ren’s hands and take over the boat, Luke forced himself to sit still. He could not open that door to Adam Fie. It was too dangerous. “The girl will die if we jump.”

The plane was overhead now, and Isabella gaped up at it. It was flying low, maybe ten feet above their heads. Close enough for his face to be seen, but Luke didn’t look up. As long as there was a chance he was still only Luke Webber to their pursuers, he wasn’t giving them game.

Keeping his face hidden in Isabella’s hair, he cradled her against his chest and moved so he was sitting on the side of the boat. “Wrap your legs and arms around me.” He wasn’t going to force Ren to kill a friend.

Besides, getting a bullet in the chest wasn’t exactly conducive to saving Isabella from the bad guys, was it? Luke always prided himself on keeping the ultimate goal in mind. Such as staying alive.

A swim in a subarctic steam was crappy, but it was better odds than being shot in the chest at point-blank range, which he knew Ren would do without hesitation.

“Come on, Isabella. We’re going for a swim.”

“Dear God, I hope you know what you’re doing.” She plastered herself against his front and he wrapped his arms around her.

The plane was past them now, and he knew the pilot would have to circle back around to see the boat again. For the next forty-five seconds, they were invisible to their pursuers.

Now was the moment.

“Hang tight.” He met the older man’s gaze, and without breaking eye contact, Luke tipped himself and Isabella backward into the river that would kill them within minutes.

The shock of the cold water ripped the breath right out of her. Her muscles went rigid. She couldn’t breathe. She was so cold. Frozen.

Dying.

Luke kicked them to the surface and she gasped as her head burst above the surface.

“Take a breath,” he ordered. “We’re going back under.”

Isabella didn’t take time to argue. She sucked in what she could, and then Luke pulled them back below the surface. Her arms were so numb she couldn’t even tell whether she was still holding on to him. Her arms were like noodles, her legs useless.

But Luke’s grip on her was like a vise, his body a shield from the buffeting waters that felt like daggers ripping through her skin. Her lungs were starting to burn. She needed to breathe again.

Luke shoved them upward, and her head burst out of the water. She gasped, sucking in air. God. So cold. Had to get out.

“I know, babe. I know. One more time.”

Luke started to drag them down again, and this time she fought it. She was terrified she wouldn’t come up again.

“Isa.” Luke’s voice was a reassuring sound in her ear. “You have to trust me right now.”

With her life? “I can’t,” she gasped.

“You have no choice.” His ruthless, determined arrogance drilled through her panic.

She realized he wouldn’t let them die. Not her. Not him. Not yet.
I trust you.

She nodded and stopped fighting. She put herself in his hands and prayed she was right.

He didn’t reply. Just kept his gaze on hers as he pulled them below the surface again.

Isabella sucked in a breath and let him take them down into the icy depths for a third time.

Luke knew he had less than a minute to get Isabella out of the water. Her lips were blue, her eyes were sunken, and she was shaking violently against him.

Fifty seconds.

The time clicked off in his mind as he kicked them fiercely through the water, toward the one oasis he’d been able to locate on their first surfacing. The plane had been roaring overhead, but it had been flying low, upstream away from him, as if they hadn’t seen them go over into the river.

Forty seconds.

He swam harder, toward the small fishing boat that had been drifting not too far from them. The minute he’d seen it, he’d known it was a better option than trying to reach shore. On shore, they’d be too vulnerable once that plane landed. The boat would keep them moving in the right direction, and its small cabin was large enough to hide them.

His lungs were starting to strain, and he shot them to the surface so as not to tax Isabella beyond what she
could handle. He popped them up. The boat was only a few feet away. “Hey!” he shouted. “Help!”

No one appeared.

“Hey!”

He heard the plane roaring, and he looked over her shoulder. It was banking to circle back. Once they were on the approach, there was no way Luke would be able to get them in the boat without being seen, but Isabella was out of time in the water.

She was limp in his arms. Her head was on his shoulder. She was utterly still, except for the violent trembling of her body. “You’re not going to die,” he commanded her. “Come on!”

He broke out toward the boat and launched himself upward. He caught the rail with his hand, but the force of his descent ripped his numb grip right off it. He swore as he fell back toward the water—

A hand shot over the edge of boat and clamped around his wrist.

Luke grinned as a weathered face appeared over the edge. Black hair, dark skin, a native Alaskan all the way. A man who was probably in his forties, but carried enough sun and wind in his skin to pass for seventy. “Can we get a ride?”

The man barked over his shoulder, and another face appeared. A woman this time. Younger, with eyes of natural beauty and grace. She immediately reached out for Isabella, and Luke didn’t hesitate. He didn’t stop to question whether the woman had the strength to help. He simply shifted his weight and then basically threw Isabella upward toward the gal.

He stayed ready to catch her, but the woman caught Isabella under the arms and dragged her over the rim.

Luke’s anchor extended his other hand, and Luke
latched on to it. Wrist to wrist, a grip tight enough to withstand the pull of the river on his body.

“On three,” the man said.

Luke nodded and braced his boots on the side of the boat.

“One, two, three!”

Luke shoved himself off the boat upward toward his rescuer. His momentum gave them the leverage they needed, and together they dragged him over the rail. He landed on his face on the boat. His muscles were shaking, but he shoved himself up. The woman was bent over Isabella, already unbuttoning her wet clothes.

“The plane is after us,” Luke said quickly. “We need to hide.”

The man and the woman looked skyward at the plane, which was about three seconds from finishing its turn and coming into viewing range again.

The man ran to the miniscule cabin and jerked aside the curtain as Luke lunged for Isabella. He scooped her off the floor and dove into the tiny opening as the plane completed its turn. The man dropped the curtain, throwing them into near darkness, while the roar of the plane filled the air.

Luke was surprised to discover that the front of the cabin stretched below the deck, making it long enough for them to lie down. He bent his head over Isabella. “Hey, Isa.” He rested his hand on her icy cheek. “Come back to me, hon.”

He felt like cheering when her eyes flickered open.

“We’re safe now,” he said. “We need to get the wet clothes off you, okay?”

“Y-y-y-yeah.” Her teeth were chattering so hard he
could hear them knocking as she stared to fumble with her sweatshirt.

The flap lifted and the woman poked her head inside. “I’m Inite,” she said. “My husband is Roger. You both need to get those clothes off and get dry ones.” She set a pile of thick blankets inside. “There are clothes on that shelf.” She pointed to a plywood board braced above Luke’s head. “Put them on. We will watch the plane. They just flew past and are turning again. We will see if they noticed you come on board.”

“Th-th-thank y-y-you,” whispered Isabella.

“This is Isabella, and I’m Luke.” He caught Inite’s hand as she started to pull back. “
Thank you.
”

She smiled, a large, genuine smile. “You think we would let you drown?” She was still laughing as she ducked back outside.

That was Alaska. The land he loved. Where people put survival first.

Damn it. He was finding a way to stay.

But first, they were staying alive.

Which meant the clothes were coming off. Now.

Isabella couldn’t stop shaking. Her head was pounding. Her fingers throbbed with pain when she tried to grasp the hem of her drenched sweatshirt. “Luke.”

“I’m on it.” He pulled her upright and settled her between his thighs so she was resting against his chest.

Even through the soaked sweatshirt, she could feel the heat from his body and she tried to push herself harder against him.

Modesty and propriety didn’t make either of them hesitate, and she held up her arms as he dragged the
sodden material over her head. He jerked his own shirt off next, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest.

His arms were doubled around her. She could feel him trembling as well, and his skin was cold, but beneath his flesh was heat. Warmth she couldn’t generate herself. “God, you feel good.” She wanted to get closer.

“Pants. Lie down.” He shifted her so she was on her back and unfastened her jeans.

The light was dim, but not so dark Luke couldn’t see her. Sudden heat flushed through her as Luke worked the drenched material over her hips. She was still trembling violently, her insides shaking as if they were going to rattle right out of her belly, and yet she was aware of each inch of exposed flesh as Luke pulled off her jeans.

He looked up at her face as he pulled them over her feet, and his gaze was intense. So intense.

He didn’t break their connection as he stripped out of his own jeans and underwear, and then he was crawling back over her. Naked. As she was, except for her bra and her thong underwear.

She was so cold, and suddenly she didn’t care that they were almost naked. The wet material was like ice. She fumbled for the straps, but she couldn’t make her hands work. “My bra. Get it off.”

Luke moved fast, ditching her final garments with swift efficiency. Then he was above her again, his knees on either side of her hips as he snagged the blankets. His thighs were icy and his body trembling almost as much as hers was. He shifted his weight as he tossed the blankets over him and wrapped the worn fabric around them, tucking the edges beneath her.

And then he settled himself on her naked body so they were skin to skin from head to toe.

It was too intimate, too romantic, and it was the only thing that was going to save her life.

So she wrapped her arms around him and welcomed his weight, his heat and his body. She pulled him closer until he was blanketing her in the most sensual, erotic embrace of her life.

Except, of course, for the fact that her teeth were chattering uncontrollably and she couldn’t stop shaking.

“Hey, Isa.” Luke slid his arms beneath her shoulders and wrapped her up in an all-consuming embrace. She buried her face in his muscular shoulder and shuddered against him as he tangled his legs with hers. Thigh to thigh. Their calves were entwined. His feet were wrapped around hers. “You’re okay. We’re safe now.”

But as the words left his mouth, she heard the roar of the plane again. “They know,” she whispered. She started to shake again, this time from fear. “I can’t go back in the water. I’ll never survive it.”

“I know.” Luke tightened his arms around her and pulled her closer with his legs. “We’re not going in again.”

His skin was warm now, and she felt heat beginning to build between them. The warmth was starting to penetrate the deathly chill trying to consume her. She thought he was still trembling, but she was shaking so hard she wasn’t sure whether it was him or her.

Luke pulled the blanket over their heads, enveloping them in darkness. “Listen to me, Isa.” His voice was low and confident. Unworried. “If they knew we were on the boat, they’d have dropped someone on here by now. They’re still trying to find us.”

The air beneath the blanket began to heat up, and
Isabella took a deep breath, inhaling the warm heat. “They’ll check the boat, won’t they? I mean, where else could we be?”

“Hey.” He rested his cheek against hers, and she snuggled closer to his heat. She craved more of his warmth. She needed him to quell the aching coldness in her body. “They’ll drop someone to search the shore for us first. The odds are higher that we went to land.”

His breath was hot against her neck, and her tremors were lessening. “So, you think they won’t check the boat?”

Luke settled deeper onto her, and her legs slipped apart as he slid his own between them. She tucked her feet around his thighs to pull him closer, trying desperately not to think of the intimacy of their position.

It was dark under the blanket, and the rhythmic pitch of the boat kept rocking them against each other, building a tempo between them.

“They’ll come back for the boat,” Luke said. “If it’s Leon, he’ll check it out before leaving.”

“So what do we do?” She wiggled her arms out from under his weight and wrapped them around his neck, hugging tightly. He felt so good she didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want him to move.

“We’ll be gone by then. The minute they go back upstream to drop searchers, we’ll jet.”

She nodded, not bothering to ask where exactly they were going to go. She had a feeling Luke didn’t know yet, but that he’d create the opportunity when it was time, just as he had in the river.

She shuddered as her muscles began to relax. Despite the constant hum of the airplane as it searched the river for them, she felt safe. Luke’s body was heavy, and his strength was obvious. He’d kept them alive in the
water, and she still remembered the sensation of him tossing her up into Inite’s arms, despite his own exhaustion and depletion. He was smart and strategic, keeping them just ahead of their pursuers.

And now…he was bringing her back to life with the heat of his body.

In the darkness of their shelter, with the intimacy of their position…it felt surreal. A special world where rules didn’t apply. She felt close to him. Bonded. Intimate in a way she’d never been with anyone, not in her whole life.

It was a fleeting moment. A sensation that would fade the moment they pulled back the blanket and faced the world again. She knew her sense of isolation would come back. And Luke would still refuse to help her save Marcus. He would still leave, and she knew she couldn’t count on him.

Right now, though, he was staying where he was, and she knew, with absolute certainty, he would never leave her behind on this boat. And that felt good. Really, really good.

She wanted to live this moment. Make it the most she could, so she could relive it again and again, and remember what it felt like to be safe, truly safe.

So she would never forget her ultimate goal, to find a home and security. To create a life for herself in which she would feel safe, secure and loved every day, every hour, every second of her life.

He shifted his weight, lifting off of her slightly. “Am I too heavy?”

“No!” She used her legs to pull his hips back down on top of her, and he came willingly. Only this time, she felt the first hints of the hardness of his erection as he settled between her legs again.

Excitement pulsed deep inside her core, and she knew she should shift and move him to the side. But she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to lose this moment and the intense feeling it gave her. “Luke?”

“Yeah.” He adjusted his hips and nestled himself deeper between her thighs. The tip of his penis was resting right against the crevice at the top of her inner thigh. So close. Just a shift and he’d be inside.

But he was utterly still.

She sensed he was waiting.