“Yes. I would have had to tell him that I was in love with someone else. Though I suspect he already knows that.”
Seth took her in his arms. “Lauren.”
“Wait. There’s more I need you to know.”
He held her away from him, and again his dark eyes shone with uncertainty. “On the island, you found what you wanted, the thing that was most important to you.”
She nodded, and his features turned to stone. “Part of it. On the island I found you, ten days ago.” She smiled up at him. “Eleven, I guess, I don’t know. I’ve lost all track of time lately.”
“Come here,” he said, and pulled her close.
“The other part I found here, in Kachelik.” She nodded at the menagerie of buildings in the distance, bright sunlight reflecting off metal roofs.
“The other part?”
“That’s right. Me. I found myself, what I am, what I always was before I allowed others to change me.”
He looked at her, and she knew he understood. Still, he frowned in question. “What about the rock sample? I saw you put it in your pocket.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah, that. You’re a geologist, a damned good one. That sample would mean a lot to your company, to your career. And I’ve been a selfish idiot. Whatever you decide to do with it, I want you to know I’m behind you one hundred percent.”
“I appreciate it, Seth, but I don’t have a company anymore, or a career.”
“What?”
She enjoyed watching his expression change to one of stunned confusion. “At least not yet. I told Walters I was quitting. I gave two weeks’ notice, but as of right now I’m on vacation. I think I have about a zillion days saved up. That will give me time to interview for that teaching assistant job I saw posted at the Kachelik school. Science and math, stuff I’m pretty good at.”
“What?” He pulled her closer, a slow grin spreading across his ruggedly handsome face.
She shrugged. “I figured I could take some university classes over the Internet to get my credentials to teach. Earth science, most likely. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. It was my father’s dream, too. Did I ever tell you that?”
He kissed her, and her knees turned to jelly. She gave up her weight to his crushing embrace and reveled in the feel of his mouth on hers, his scent, the taste of him.
“Lauren,” he breathed against her lips, nuzzling her neck, pulling her so tight she feared bones would break.
“So…you think it’s an okay idea, then? To work here, live here?”
“As long as you don’t mind living with me.” His smile was dazzling in the dawn’s blinding light.
She kissed him softly, tenderly, unsure of how to demonstrate the magnitude of her feelings. In the end, she realized simple words would have to do. “I love you, Seth.”
“I love you.” His eyes shone with it, her heart nearly burst from it.
She realized she had one nasty task left to do. He saw the change come over her features, and tilted her chin up so he could see her eyes. “What is it?”
She shrugged. “Mother is not going to be happy when I tell her my wedding’s canceled. She ought to be overjoyed I didn’t end up married to a criminal, but knowing Mother, she’ll find some way to make it out a travesty.”
“So why disappoint her?” he said, grinning like the cat who ate the canary. “Why not tell her the wedding’s still on? But with one minor substitution—the groom.”
Warmth spread inside her. He kissed her again, long and slow and hotly.
“Two substitutions,” she whispered against his lips. “I want to get married here, in Kachelik.” She recalled the little church near the post office.
“That can definitely be arranged. I’m the chief of police, remember?”
“I remember. But—” Her face clouded as she remembered something else. “What about the FBI, your old job. Did Bledsoe ask you back?”
“Yeah, he asked.”
She couldn’t read what was in his eyes, and for a panicky moment she thought she’d made an embarrassing mistake. “Your father might have more, I don’t know…”
“Respect for me, if I took it?”
He’d read her mind. She nodded.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No. My whole life I thought I was the one who didn’t measure up. You know what? I was wrong. He was the one who didn’t measure up, as a father or a husband. I’m the one who’s okay.”
Her love for him spread like the sun over the ice, melting all her remaining doubts. “You’re more than okay,” she said, and kissed him. When they finally came up for air, she said, “So Bledsoe asked, and…your answer?”
Seth grinned. “Didn’t you seen him? He’s wearing my answer.”
They both laughed.
“So what about the rock sample?” His eyes turned serious again.
“Oh, that.” She flashed him an impish grin. “Actually, I sort of…dropped it.”
“Dropped it?” There was that look of incredulity again, that she was definitely beginning to love. “Dropped it where?”
“I don’t know exactly. Somewhere on the ice between here and the island?”
“You mean you dropped it out of the chopper?”
“Uh-huh.”
He started firing questions at her, but she ignored them, peppering his face with delicate kisses. Finally, he relented, and let the subject drop.
“I’ve never seen you in the daylight before.”
They turned together into the sun and let its warmth fuel their joy.
“Disappointed?” he asked, smiling.
She brushed an errant lock of blue-black hair out of his face. “No way.”
He laughed, his eyes dancing. “Me, neither. Though, on second thought, I would like my shirt back.” He slipped a hand into her jacket and tickled her through the flannel.
“Take me home,” she said, giggling, “and I’ll give it to you. And while we’re at it, you can see the rest of me in the light of day, too.”
“You’re on,” he said, and chased her all the way to the Jeep.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0115-6
ON THIN ICE
Copyright © 2002 by Debra Lee Brown
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On Thin Ice Page 23
