In the Boss's Arms. Barbara Hannay

Almost forgot. All the drama must have fused my brain. We’re keeping our distance, aren’t we?’

      Whose idea had that been? His?

      She looked up at him again and this time her gorgeous grey eyes were shiny with tears. ‘I haven’t thanked you properly,’ she said. ‘You were so amazing. I—I don’t know how you landed that plane. It was a very brave thing to do.’

      ‘That wasn’t bravery. I was working on pure adrenaline. Anyway, what about your first aid? You saved the pilot’s life. The flying doctor said as much.’

      She shrugged. ‘My contribution wouldn’t have been much use if the plane had crashed.’ A tear trembled on the end of an eyelash, slipped down her cheek.

      Liam reached over and caught it with the tip of his forefinger.

      ‘Sorry,’ she said, blinking hard and releasing more tears.

      ‘Don’t be. It’s natural to be upset after a shock like that.’ What a hypocrite he was, pretending to be the cool, nerveless hero.

      Alice wiped her cheeks with her fingers and gave a little shiver, and then she hugged herself, rubbing her hands over her bare arms.

      Watching her hands, he couldn’t resist asking, ‘You want me to do that?’

      She stared at him, her mouth parted, her eyes damp, her lashes spiky and wet. ‘What?’ But then she looked down at her arms wrapped across her front. ‘Yes,’ she whispered so softly he only just caught it. ‘I—I need a hug.’

      His breathing snagged.

      Once more her eyes lifted, met his and signalled a silent message. Blood throbbed in his veins, pounded in his ears. There it was; the insane chemistry they’d felt on the night they met. The urge he’d been fighting ever since. Now it triggered a violent wanting in him, an echoing tremble in her.

      ‘Alice, come here.’

      She needed no further invitation. She floated through the doorway and into his arms. With his foot he closed the cabin door behind them.

      Her body seemed to merge into his, her arms linked around him and her mouth, her sweet, sweet mouth opened to him in a kiss that was one hundred per cent distilled passion.

      Liam was already lost. Lost in the need to touch and to taste and to hold her.

      ‘I’m so glad we’re alive,’ she whispered as she pressed eager kisses over his face.

      He knew their emotions were sweeping common sense aside. Alice was overwhelmed by relief and gratitude, he by his desire and his need to blank out dark memories. But as he framed her face with his hands, as her lips parted beneath his, inviting him into her, he knew that he was a mere man, and he’d wanted this woman, had craved her ever since the night they’d met and made love.

      Today they’d come face to face with the cruel mystery of chance. They’d been courted by death and had escaped its claws. And now they needed to embrace life. They needed this assurance, this coming together of warm bodies, of wildly beating hearts.

      The touch of Alice’s hands on his body made his heart jolt so fiercely it practically wedged in his throat. And her hands were merciless as they explored his shoulders, as her fingers made circles on his chest.

      Then the flats of her palms slid down his sides to his hips, to the waistband of his jeans, and he gave up all attempts to justify this pleasure. This was OK. Very OK.

      But just as he slipped his hands beneath her top, he remembered.

      God help him, he remembered the one thing that couldn’t be overlooked.

      ‘Wait, Alice. Alice, wait.’ With an anguished groan he closed his hands around hers just as she reached the snap fastener on his jeans.

      ‘Wait?’ She sounded breathless and embarrassed and she buried her face into his chest.

      ‘I didn’t bring anything with me.’

      Her head shot up. ‘I don’t understand. What are you talking about?’

      ‘Protection.’ He let out a deep, ragged sigh. ‘We weren’t going to do this. I gave you my word and I deliberately didn’t pack anything, so there’d be no chance of weakening.’

      ‘Oh.’ She wriggled her hands out of his grasp and pressed them to her bright pink cheeks.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

      ‘Actually, it doesn’t matter.’

      ‘Don’t be silly. Of course it does.’

      Alice smiled at him. ‘Don’t look so worried, Liam. I’m safe as houses. We don’t need protection.’

      What was she implying? That she was on the Pill?

      ‘I’m not going to get pregnant,’ she said and she forced a careless little laugh.

      The brittle, offhand way she said this made her look and sound tough, but Liam could sense vulnerability lying just below the surface. He stepped towards her and reached for her hand.

      Watching the way their fingers linked, she said softly, ‘I know pregnancy isn’t the only reason couples use protection.’

      ‘I’ve—I’ve never taken risks. I would never put you at risk, Alice.’

      ‘Well, you’re the only man I’ve slept with apart from my husband.’

      Was she telling him as clearly as she could that she wanted to take up where they’d left off? The thought robbed him of breath. ‘So you think—’

      ‘Yes,’ she said, looking up at him with a sweet, shy smile. ‘I think. I very definitely think.’

      This time when they kissed it was different. Not just because the kiss was slow and long and lush and warm, but because now they were no longer swept away by dangerously high emotions. They’d taken a step back; they’d had a chance for second thoughts, to think of the consequences. They’d given each other the space to say no.

      And they’d both chosen yes.

      This time as Liam’s fingertips roamed the silky smooth skin at Alice’s waist his desire was buoyed by a surge of relief. To hell with office politics. He was mad about this woman. He wanted her, and he didn’t care who knew it.

      It was late afternoon. The sun was a red ball, hanging hot and low in the west, reaching beneath the branches of the paperbark outside Liam’s cabin and spreading a warm pool of light over the bed where they’d fallen asleep.

      Alice woke first. For a while she lay still, thinking about how precious life was, how amazing and unpredictable. And the man whose limbs were entwined with hers was precious, amazing and unpredictable, too.

      She suspected that she was in love.

      She knew that most people would tell her it was impossible to really love someone on such a short acquaintance. Surely after her experience with Todd she should be more cautious? But she’d never felt like this about Todd. Even before he’d started cheating on her, he’d never really fired her admiration, or her passion.

      Liam had. And if what she felt for him wasn’t love it was so close to the real thing she couldn’t tell the difference.

      Carefully she lifted his arm and slipped out of bed, pulled on her top and pants and switched on the electric kettle. The sound of the water bubbling to the boil woke Liam and he rolled onto his side and squinted against the shaft of sunlight as he watched her.

      ‘There are tea bags or instant coffee,’ she said. ‘Which would you like?’

      ‘I’ll go for coffee, thanks.’

      Yawning, he stood, stretched and rummaged in his pack for boxer shorts, while Alice brought their mugs back to the bed and set them on a side-table, then piled the pillows into a comfortable mound and settled herself just so.

      Liam