smell, not the fancy and expensive cologne disguising the vodka Prescott had consumed far too much lately.
“Get away from me,” she mumbled. “Why are you doing this?
“No one dies on my watch, Princess, and you were entering hypothermia. Body heat is the best way of keeping warm. I daresay your little dog knows this, otherwise she’d be nipping at my toes instead of snuggled beneath them.”
He added, with a wry sound, “And if you got frostbite, the local doc would have to amputate those pretty pink toes of yours.”
She had to get out of here, but oh, the warmth beneath the blankets and the firm, muscled body beside her gave off heat like a blast furnace.
Meg blinked hard, trying to summon precious energy. “Her name is Sophie.”
“Should have called her Ouchie.”
Meg’s mushy brain couldn’t register the joke, until she lifted her head and saw her rescuer hold up his hand where a half moon marked the skin. “Bit clean through my glove.”
“Oh no! I’m so sorry.” Mortified, she struggled to sit up, more concerned about her dog biting a total stranger who had saved them from death than her lack of clothing.
He pushed her down. “Easy now. You need to stay under these covers a while longer.”
“My dog...”
“No worries,” he said easily. “I trust she’s had her shots, and I’ve had mine, so you needn’t worry about your furball getting a disease.”
Meg realized he was joking. The tension gripping her sore, tight muscles eased a little. She peered upward to get a closer look at him. A thick shock of wavy dark brown hair was cropped short. He had an intense gaze, thin cheekbones and a wide mouth. Handsome, with a hint of Irish blood in those ice-blue eyes.
A dusting of black hair covered his muscled chest. Washboard abs rippled beneath smooth, tanned skin. He was mouthwatering, a prime example of masculinity. Meg stared, still struggling with the unreality that this man had rescued her from the cold and warmed her with his body.
“You’re Cooper Johnson?”
“The one and only,” he drawled. “Your host over the next several days.”
She pulled the blankets up to cover her breasts, well aware her lacy red bra provided thin covering in the chill, and her nipples had turned rigid.
From the cold. Not the pull of attraction toward this handsome stranger. It didn’t matter if her libido sat up and started shimmying.
All she had to do was think of what Prescott would do if he found her, and her heated blood turned to ice.
“Where’s Sophie?”
Cooper lifted the bottom of the blankets. Snuggled at his feet, wedged partly beneath the covers, her dog snoozed. Relief filled Meg. She tossed back the covers, climbed down the length of the bed and gathered her dog into her arms, checking her over anxiously.
“She seems okay.” Meg drew in a deep breath as the awakening Sophie licked her face.
Sheer male interest flared on Cooper’s face. He rearranged the blankets around his waist. Realizing he must have had a bull’s-eye glimpse of her rear end, Meg flushed. She clutched the dog just a little too tightly, and Sophie squirmed.
The interest faded as his expression shuttered. He scratched the bristles on his hard jaw. “You feeling okay now, Princess?”
At her nod, he flung back the blankets, displaying a pair of long, muscled legs. A dusting of hair didn’t hide a wicked-looking scar on his left thigh. Her fascinated gaze traveled upward to the black Jockeys he wore...
And the very large bulge beneath them showing a blatant male reaction.
Seems as if Cooper Johnson was equally attracted to her.
Not that she’d do anything about it. Not in her lifetime.
His mouth curved into a knowing smile as he reached down to the floor, retrieved a pair of jeans. Cooper slid into them and stood, buckling the belt.
“Had to get you warm. Can’t help the consequences. I’m a guy, and you’re a very attractive woman.”
He shoved a hand through his thick hair and the move flexed the biceps of his right arm. A tattoo of a snake writhed with the motion as well. Sailors got inked, from what she knew. And he was a Navy SEAL.
Not regular Army, like her brother had been.
SEALs were tough, Lacey had told her, but their missions and lives were shrouded in secrecy. She wondered what happened to him that he was here now with her.
It wasn’t her business. She released Sophie and held out her hand. “Thank you for rescuing us, Mr. Johnson. And my name is Meg.”
Surprise flickered across his face as he sat on the bed. “Cooper.”
His grip was firm, but not crushing, and he quickly released her hand. Then as he started to reach for her, Sophie growled.
Meg gripped her dog. As his gaze landed on her bruised arm, she flinched.
Cooper’s gaze narrowed as he muttered a low oath. “Is that what your husband did to you? Jarrett said you were in trouble, but he didn’t give details.”
“Ex-husband. Soon, anyway. I keep calling him my ex because I’ve x-ed him out of my life.” Meg felt her flush deepen, this time from shame. “It wasn’t that bad, this time.”
“This time is the last time,” he said in a low, deep voice that sent a shiver racing down her spine.
His expression turned intent. Totally concentrated and fierce, as if someone had flipped a switch inside him. She shivered. One would not want to cross him.
“I’m sure you have a story to tell me. Like why you’re driving. Why didn’t you take Jarrett’s offer of a bus ticket here?”
Keen, assessing. Little would escape this man.
“Too slow. I needed my own wheels. And I knew my ex would be able to trace my car, so I bought an older model for cash for the drive here from Palm Beach.”
Two nights in cheap motels, trying to sleep, fearing to shut her eyes in case Prescott had sent someone after her...
“Why did you buy such a lemon?”
Meg struggled with her pride. How ironic that she was once the heiress of Taylor Sporting Goods, one of the country’s largest producers of sports equipment, and she didn’t have a penny.
“I know it sounds implausible, but it’s all I could afford. My ex controlled all the money in our household, and all my accounts.”
She’d managed to save a little money and hide it. And she didn’t dare use her easily traceable credit cards.
Silence fell between them as he gave a pointed look to the diamond encased
