Алисон Робертс – At His Service: Her Boss the Hero: One Night With Her Boss / Her Very Special Boss / The Surgeon's Marriage Proposal (страница 19)

Mikki broke into his thoughts. ‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Were you an only child?’

Maybe they couldn’t stay away from this personal stuff after all. He’d brought this on himself, though, hadn’t he?

‘Yes and no,’ Tama answered reluctantly. He pushed the top of his water bottle shut with a snap, shoved it back into the pack and turned to climb back into the tunnel. Then he caught Mikki watching him and sighed inwardly.

‘Yeah, OK. It’s just not something I tell people.’ Ever. So why did it feel like the time to break that ironclad rule? Because Mikki had experienced something that might give her insight into how it had really been? There was something there. A connection. A kind of force that pulled the words from his mouth. ‘Yes, I was an only child. I didn’t have a dad that I knew about. I got sent to live with my uncle and aunt and eleven cousins.’

Tama ducked his head into the tunnel. He’d said enough. Too much.

Mikki’s voice floated into the tunnel with him. ‘How old were you?’

‘About six,’ Tama growled. He wriggled further into the mound. This conversation was over.

Mikki crouched at the neck of the tunnel, ready to scoop the snow that came towards her and spread it away from the opening.

She had barely heard Tama’s muttered response to her question but it resonated in her head as loudly as if he’d shouted it.

He’d been six. A small child.

For whatever reason, his mother had given him up and sent him to live with relatives. To be one of a huge family where one more mouth to feed probably hadn’t been noticed. He might not have been noticed.

Just like her, he’d lost his mother.

And he’d blamed himself, hadn’t he? That was why those words had been so heartfelt.

As a little boy, Tama had felt unloved and possibly very lonely, and he’d believed it was his own fault. That somehow, unknowingly, he’d done something so wrong he’d had to be severely punished.

Mikki’s heart ached. For Tama. For herself. For the children they had been and for what had been taken from them. No wonder she felt so drawn to this man. Was it the similarity of their pasts that attracted them both to this kind of work? This unique combination of risking yourself to care for others?

Was the reason she felt Tama was a soulmate as simple as that?

Maybe.

Except that there was another factor in this attraction.

A very physical one.

The inside of the snow mound had a wide platform against one side and a narrower one against the other.

‘We sleep there,’ Tama explained, pointing to the wider platform. ‘And we cook on this one.’

‘Cook?’

‘Didn’t I tell you I can cook?’ Tama was using a tiny bright light that was remarkably effective in the confines of this small space. ‘Watch this.’

He produced a tiny primus stove from his pack and a small, lightweight, aluminium pan. Mikki found the water and the packages of dehydrated food he requested and then did as instructed and watched, increasingly aware of how intimate this situation was.

Here they were, in a tiny cocoon, so isolated that the rest of the world might as well have ceased to exist.

Just herself and Tama. In a space small enough to be warmed by the combination of their body heat and the small stove. When an absolutely delicious smell began to emanate from the pan, it felt—ridiculously—like home.

Mikki cast an anxious glance upwards a moment later, however.

‘Won’t the heat from the flames melt the roof?’

‘A bit, but it won’t drip on us. That’s the beauty of making a good arch shape. It won’t cave in either, so don’t worry.’

Mikki smiled. ‘I’m so hungry I don’t care. It would be worth it.’

They both had a spoon and they took turns eating the hot mixture of pasta, meat and vegetables. A muesli bar stuffed with chocolate chips was dessert.

‘Still hungry?’ Tama asked as Mikki washed down her last mouthful with a swig of water.

‘No. And I’m heaps warmer. I feel great.’

The warmth from Tama’s approving gaze made her feel even better. Mikki liked it that they didn’t need to wear the goggles in here. She loved being able to see Tama’s eyes. To try and read his expressions. She just wished she knew more of what was going on behind those dark eyes. Maybe she was still hungry. Just not for food.

‘I’m warm, too,’ Tama said. ‘Amazingly effective shelter, isn’t it? Put your gloves back on, though. We don’t want to risk frostbite while we sleep.’

Mikki pulled on woollen gloves and then her waterproof, thermal mittens as Tama opened a small package that contained a foil sheet. He spread it on the sleeping platform as she pulled her woollen hat on more securely and made sure her anorak was zipped up. She stepped into the sleeping bag Tama handed her from the pack and pulled it up to her waist.

‘I’m going to turn off the light,’ Tama warned. ‘Come and make yourself comfortable on the bed.’

A bed they were about to share. Mikki’s mouth felt dry and she had to lick her lips. Did Tama feel this sudden tension? Should she try and make it go away by making a joke?

‘Hey.’ She grinned, hopping a step closer. ‘I’m not sure we know each other well enough to sleep together yet.’

The only response to her remark was to be plunged into total darkness as Tama flicked off the light. Then, out of the darkness and silence, came Tama’s voice. A low rumble that made Mikki’s toes curl inside her heavy boots.

‘We know each other just fine,’ he said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘YOU’RE perfectly safe.’

Tama sat down on the snow platform and then lay down, his head going behind Mikki’s back as she stayed sitting on the edge. His tone was amused.

‘We’d be risking hypothermia taking any of our clothes off. Lie down, Mouse. You must be tired.’

She was and she did. Cautiously. It was hard to share this space without touching the body of the large man lying beside her, but they were so padded up in their multiple layers of protective clothing, it didn’t really matter.

It shouldn’t matter anyway. But, then, she shouldn’t be able to sense the heat from his body like this. To feel his touch through all those layers as clearly as if he was touching her skin.

Mikki moved a moment later, uncomfortably aware of the pressure of Tama’s hip against hers.

‘Be still,’ Tama murmured.

Mikki froze instantly. The words transported her back to that day in the diving pool when he’d just pulled her from the helicopter ‘wreck’ and she was taking that long-awaited breath of air. She could see his face so close to her own. Could feel that first rush of desire to touch his lips with her own.

Oh, help! Her cringe was almost a wriggle.

‘What’s up?’ Tama asked. ‘You cold?’

‘Nope. I’m good.’

‘Could’ve fooled me.’

‘This is just a bit … weird.’

It was automatic to turn her head towards the person she was talking to. Not that she could see Tama. This was a darkness like nothing she had ever experienced. She wouldn’t be able to see her hand if she held it close enough to touch her nose.

Funny how it heightened other senses. She could feel Tama’s breath on her face. Smell him. A musky, masculine scent she could almost taste.

‘Scared, huh?’

Mikki hesitated. ‘Yes.’ The admission was reluctant because she wouldn’t be surprised if Tama thought less of her for it, but it was the truth. There was a real element of fear still lurking. If Tama hadn’t been here beside her, she would be terrified.

‘You should be,’ Tama said quietly. ‘Any intelligent person would be in a situation like this.’ He was shifting his weight now. Putting his arm around Mikki and pulling her closer. ‘You’re OK,’ he said. ‘I’m here.’

Mikki absorbed the reassurance. Allowed herself to sink into the circle of his arm and let the side of her body mould itself to his. Maybe she didn’t need to be so afraid of their environment but she still didn’t feel safe being this close to Tama.

‘It still feels weird,’ she said into the new silence.

‘Why?’ Tama chuckled and the puff of breath was warm. ‘You don’t make a habit of sleeping with men in holes in the snow?’

The teasing diffused the tension. ‘I don’t make a habit of sleeping with men at all.’

‘Whoa!’ She could hear Tama suck in his breath. ‘You a virgin, princess?’