December Heat Read Free

not.
    “What are you doing here? I mean...like this...out of the blue?” She shrugged as if there was nothing left to say, or if there was, she was too stunned to form the words.
    The questioning surprise on her face fed his smile. “Hello, Nicolette. It’s good to see you again,” he said, feeling slightly nervous. She did that to him, but strangely, this time she didn’t seem as unfriendly and cold as he’d expected, which threw him a bit. Instead, she looked small and fragile and with a baby in her arms, her vulnerability surfaced to shadow her eyes.
    “Surprised to see me?” He couldn’t resist asking. Her face remained impassive. It was as if she struggled to school her features. The myriad of expressions in her eyes told him she was far from calm.
    Jake tried not to notice the way she was dressed, but the bright pink fluoro bikini was hard to miss, especially the way the barely-there brief clung to her shapely though narrow hips, and the triangular patches stretched taut to partially cover her full rounded breasts. The shoe-string straps looked as if any minute, they’d give up the task of holding everything together.
    Jake’s gaze flicked to the movement of tiny fingers as they played on the soft honey-tanned flesh just above the pink scrap of material. His fingers curled in response. Any minute now he’d have to throw himself in the river to cool off. His reaction had to stem from the December heat. He wasn’t used to it anymore, not since spending so much time in the bitter northern winters.
    “You could say I’m surprised. Yes. What brings you here, Jake? I never expected you to turn up on the doorstep. Mark had just about given up hearing from you again.”
    Well, she certainly didn’t sound welcoming. Guarded, in fact. “I’m sorry, it’s been a while. I got caught up. Circumstances beyond my control. You know the sort of thing.” But she didn’t know the half of it.
    She considered him with close regard.
    “Besides, in a war zone, the postal service leaves a lot to be desired.”
    Nicolette nodded. “I’m well acquainted with the kind of circumstances. Those where you get whisked off to the other side of the world, to any hot spot, with only a whisker of notice. When are you going to give it up, Jake? You must be sick of that lifestyle by now.”
    That sounded more like the Nicolette whose path had crossed with his in the past.
    Jake swore under his breath. It was going to be harder than ever not to let this woman get under his skin. One way or another, he was a doomed man.
    “Never!” he taunted. “You know me, fun-loving and adventurous, the sort who thrives on a good time and gets his thrills from running the gauntlet with danger and death.”
    She nodded ruefully. “I know it all right. The number of times you and Mark got into scrapes. Or more to the point, scrapes you got into and Mark had to get you out of.”
    “Ah, yes, we were always there for each other, always will be.”
    A curious shadow flitted across Nicolette’s lovely eyes.
    “He sent me this.” Jake fished the letter from his pocket. He’d kept it handy as Mark had written directions on how to get to the house. He handed it to her.
    She studied the aerogramme, fingering the postmark. She paled. “I didn’t know he’d written this,” she said, in a hushed whisper, handing it back to him. “He said he had trouble locating where you’d gone.”
    “In the letter he mentioned he’d only got hold of the address that day. He must have been in a hurry to post it.”
    Nicolette nodded. “Fate had a hand in that,” she whispered.
    “No doubt,” Jake acknowledged, not quite sure exactly what she meant, instead itching to satisfy his burning curiosity on another matter.
    “He yours?” Jake nodded toward the sleeping infant. Motherhood suited her. From the little he knew of her, he’d surmised that was the kind of woman she was, someone who’d dedicate her life to her husband and family. But she was still the