Page 6 of Winter’s Heart (Three of Hearts #1)

JACOB HAD GONE very quiet as he kneeled before Nikki, studying her bare feet.

She was feeling slightly bewildered. The trek through the freezing temperatures had made her movements slower and her thoughts more labored.

But it wasn’t the cold that’d shocked her into speechlessness just now; it was the jolt of having her palms pressed against Jacob’s warm skin.

Right on top of his pecs. His very firm, very muscular pecs.

If only her hands weren’t quite so lacking in feeling, she might even enjoy the sensation, be able to luxuriate in the soft curl of his chest hair beneath her fingers.

Perhaps she could run her hands over the curve of his broad shoulders underneath his shirt, feel the flex of his well-built arms as he…

Nikki caught herself before her thoughts could go any farther.

This man was a stranger. Admittedly, a handsome stranger with intense hazel eyes, determined to protect her, but there was no way she should be fantasizing about him or his chest hair.

Or his arms. Her mind was muddled by the cold; she must have hypothermia.

Before she could properly process that thought, he suddenly scooped her off the bench, and she was in those muscular arms as she blinked in bewilderment, her backpack still clutched in her arms.

“What are you doing?” she demanded when she finally found her voice.

He didn’t answer, his mouth a grim line of determination.

Had she done something wrong? Had he somehow read her mind and found her indecent thoughts disgusting?

Gosh, the poor man was probably married, with a wife and children, and here she was fantasizing about touching him.

He wasn’t wearing a wedding band, but that didn’t mean much nowadays.

Searching his face for answers, she couldn’t tell if he was angry or merely intent on getting her inside. Perhaps a little of both.

Using his shoulder, Jacob pushed through the door from the mudroom and into the main living area.

Blessed warmth enveloped her, and she let out a sigh of relief.

The mudroom had been warm compared to outside, but in here it was even more cozy.

He placed her gently down on one of the four chairs surrounding a small, round table near a kitchenette.

“Wait here a second. I’m going to get the fire going again,” he instructed.

She did as she was told. Mainly because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stand, her feet were like leaden weights on the end of her legs.

Frozen leaden weights. Placing her backpack on the floor next to her with clumsy fingers still numb from the cold, she watched Jacob move around the hut, putting wood from a stack next to the door into a slow combustion stove, then blowing on the embers to get it blazing again.

He was all calm efficiency, but he also radiated a reined-in power, which intrigued her.

She could barely keep her eyes from tracing the solid curves of his upper chest and shoulders that were clearly defined now by his body-hugging thermals.

A very nice specimen of a man indeed. He moved as though he were at home in this little hut, and she wondered at his connection to it.

It looked old, with traditional carvings in the beams above the doors, and the wooden floors beneath the animal skin rugs scarred and worn by the passage of many feet.

Jacob busied himself at the small kitchenette bench, running some water into a sink, and Nikki was finally reminded of her own nagging physical needs as her body slowly came back to life.

She couldn’t tell if her hands were tingling with the remnants of having her palms resting on Jacob’s chest, or if they were now finally warming up.

Soon they were not merely tingling; painful pins and needles shot from her fingertips right up her arms, and her whole hands throbbed with a deep, continuous ache.

“My hands hurt,” she finally said to Jacob’s back as he bent down to retrieve something from a cupboard under the sink, trying in vain to keep the plaintive note out of her voice.

“That’s good,” he replied as he turned and walked toward her, holding a large metal bowl.

“It means they’re warming up. Keep them tucked between your legs; that will help them come back to body temp slowly.

” Okay, she figured he knew what he was talking about, so she followed his instructions.

She’d experienced cold climates before, but never been in such extreme conditions.

It was easily minus twenty Celsius out there now, and only getting colder.

Temperatures often dipped below freezing in her hometown of Seattle, but most of the time she was only out in the dead of winter for short bursts; going from her car to the shops, or walking down the street to the building that housed her workplace.

She wasn’t much of a skier, actively shunning cold winter sports for the balmy southern climes if she were to take one of her infrequent holidays.

Even during her career as a marine scientist, most of her work had taken place in the warmer areas, such as the islands in the South Pacific.

“But I still can’t feel my fee—” She never got to finish her sentence, as Jacob placed the bowl of water on the floor next to her and gently maneuvered both her bare feet into it.

“This is tepid water; it will help to bring the temperature of your feet up slowly.” He glanced up into her face, and she suddenly saw the worry there.

“Do you think I might have frostbite?” The idea of losing a toe or two didn’t appeal, and she peered down at her feet. They were red and swollen. Her stomach did a slow somersault as panic set in.

“No.” His firm tone made her look up, his face level with hers as he kneeled on the floor next to her. “You don’t. This is just a precaution.” He sounded so sure that a surge of relief filled her. Belatedly, she wondered about his fingers and toes.

“What about you? How come you don’t have your feet in water too?”

“I grew up here, I’m used to these temperatures.

” He stood, his scrutiny finally leaving her face.

She had to extend her neck and tilt her head way back to look up at him.

Gosh, he was tall. “And my police-issue gear is much superior to yours.” He seemed to hesitate for a second before he added, “I’m sorry I made you hike for so long without checking your equipment was up to the task.

It was remiss of me.” His stilted apology caught her by surprise.

Something like remorse flashed in his eyes.

Did he think her nearly getting frostbite was his fault?

Well, it wasn’t. He was merely doing his job.

If her boots were below standard, it was her own fault; she hadn’t been prepared for the weather up here.

She shrugged, and said, “I guess we were in a hurry.” It was true. But she had thought—naively—her clothing would withstand the temperatures. It seemed the cold in Seattle was nothing like the cold in northern Sweden.

“Yes, we were,” he replied. Then, changing the subject, he said, “I’ll fix us something to eat. I have soup in the freezer that will warm you up. I just need to heat it.”

Nikki’s stomach rumbled at the mention of soup.

She’d skipped lunch in favor of the sauna and had been planning an early dinner instead.

With everything that’d happened over the past few hours, she was surprised she could even think about food.

But now that the adrenaline had worn off, her body was telling her she needed to eat.

“That sounds great,” she replied, watching as he moved around the small hut in the capable manner she was quickly becoming accustomed to.

There was an economy of movement where Jacob was concerned.

Nothing seemed to fluster him, and he flowed from the freezer tucked into the corner, to the kitchen countertop and then to the microwave with a grace that surprised Nikki.

Like a cat, fluid and neat, but also with an air of lethal danger about to be unleashed.

She guessed that because he was a cop, a certain amount of his reserve came from his police training.

But there was more than just military training at play here; there was also an air of self-confidence.

A feeling that he knew who he was, and what he was capable of.

He was happy in his own skin. His English was also excellent, she thought she detected a faint trace of an American twang, and she wondered briefly where he’d learned to speak it.

Her hands twinged sharply with pain, and she shuffled them around, trying to find a more comfortable position between her thighs.

They were warming up now, and feeling was indeed returning to her fingers, but she almost wished for the sweet release of the numbness now that they throbbed continuously with an aching heat.

To distract herself from her hands, she asked the other question that’d been burning a hole in the fabric of her mind. “Aren’t you worried that whoever is after me will turn up here?”

He turned from his task of retrieving two bowls from an overhead cupboard and fixed her with his keen gaze.

Almost as if he were studying her, trying to determine whether to tell her the truth, and wondering what her reaction might be if he did.

Finally, he said, “Yes, I am. But I’ll know if anyone gets close to the hut.

I have some…protocols in place that will sound a warning. ”

“You mean you have the place booby-trapped?” She swiveled her head to stare out the window, but it was pitch black out there now, and all she could see was her own reflection in the glass.

Her imagination took flight as she thought about trip wires that released a deadly dart when triggered, and snares with jagged teeth ready to catch the unwary.