Solstice Surrender Read Free Page A

chest was tight, constricting her lungs. Her head was singing with a high, keening tension. “I know you, but….”
    “I know.” He glanced at the assistant. “Later,” he said, his tone a low command.   “Take off your coat.”
    She stripped off her cheap coat, her gloves and scarf, as she fought to bring to full consciousness the recalcitrant memory nudging at her. It seemed terribly important to remember.
    Down to sweater and jeans, she turned and allowed him to slide the coat onto her shoulders and suppressed a sigh of delight as the incredibly soft, supple material touched her flesh. The dark green shearling felt like silk. The lining was silk and gorgeous. She indulged in a purely feminine moment. I am never taking this off .
    He tested the fit at her shoulders, then tugged the fronts together to make sure the buttons closed without pulling and nodded. “We’ll take it,” he declared to the assistant and began snapping off the unbreakable plastic leads on the tags as if they were old cotton thread. “Leave it on. Find a hat,” he told her, confirming her earlier guess about his intention to disguise her. For the benefit of the assistant he added, “One of those ones you can tuck your hair up inside. You look beautiful that way.”
    Jenna nodded, understanding his silent message: Hide your hair. It’s too recognizable.
    She walked back to the shelves of hats at the rear of the store, in clear sight of the cash register. It took a few moments, but she finally found a knitted hat that felt like fur, but couldn’t be—not knitted.
    She leaned over and whipped her red-gold hair into a long twisted cable, then coiled it on her head and slid the cap over the top. The delicate touch of the material delighted her. Unable to resist preening, she glanced in the conveniently-placed mirror and found it didn’t look too bad on her at all. She had never bothered with hats before. Kevin hadn’t liked them much.
    She made sure all wisps of red were out of sight and went back to the cash register, where the man stood handing over a credit card to the smiling assistant.
    He wore a flat-brimmed western hat now and when she reached him, he pushed a pair of women’s leather gloves at her. Dark green. She slipped them on, while he removed the tags on her hat. He handed the tags to the assistant, who gushed over them and her amazing sale.
    A second assistant folded Jenna’s old coat, gloves and scarf and put them into a big shopping bag. The man picked up the bag and handed it to Jenna. “Merry Christmas.”
    He kissed her.
    It was a chaste kiss, as kisses go, but it shocked her twice over: once because she hadn’t anticipated it and the second time because her heart leapt at the contact. Firm lips against her own. Hot, full ones. How long had it been since she had last been kissed? She stared at him, her lips tingling and her breath coming a little faster.
    Then she pulled herself together, remembering their audience. “I just didn’t expect this. Honey, you’re so good to me.” She plastered on a big smile.
    “As you said, you know me, but you don’t.” He glanced at the women behind the counter. “She always makes it sound like a complaint.” And he smiled, showing even white teeth.
    They melted.
    Gripping her arm, he led her toward the back corner of the store once more. There was an arch there that led through to the other three shops that shared the common wall. In a town like Banff, tucked away in the depths of the Canadian Rockies, being able to move from shop to shop without stepping outside too often was an advantage.
    He chose the store directly behind the coat shop and they found themselves in an antique bookstore. They had been off the street for nearly ten minutes and in that time they had completely changed their outer appearances.
    He paused to stare hard through the plate glass at the front of the store, while she played her role and wandered the nearest stack of books.
    She couldn’t read