Gerald hadn’t missed it, either. “You aren’t getting too personally involved, are you?”
“I was planning to marry her,” he snapped.
The older man raised an eyebrow. “You seriously thought that was going to happen after this little engagement trip of yours? I think that is pretty naive of you. She doesn’t sound stupid. Even if this other man hadn’t come into the picture, do you really think she wouldn’t have caught on? You just picked up a wedding dress for her that she didn’t choose, didn’t even get to try on.”
“I could have sold that,” he said stubbornly. “After all, I talked her into this trip.” Gerald said nothing. “She was ready to marry me.”
“Until she saw this carpenter she believes is her dead husband.”
Collin looked away. “I told you, she might be right about that.”
“I suspect so, since he followed her all the way up here to get her away from you.”
“He’s just that kind of guy,” Collin said, thinking how much worse that would make it if his fiancée had fallen in love on their engagement trip with a complete stranger. It wasn’t a story he would be telling anyone when this was over. If he lived that long. That was still a chance he couldn’t ignore.
Gerald had found Kate. Collin would get her back, and they would cross the border together. That still left a lot of what-ifs. He saw Gerald check his phone.
“Your fiancée is about to get our version of room service.”
* * *
KATE WOKE FROM a restless, short sleep. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. But then it all came rushing back at her, leaving her emotionally exhausted. She eased out of bed. She wore one of Jon’s T-shirts and her panties. She couldn’t bear putting on the clothes she’d worn for the past two days.
Pulling the comforter around her, she tiptoed into the adjoining room. Jon lay on the couch, his eyes closed. She stopped to study his face. She couldn’t look at him without seeing Danny. Did she just want to see Danny in this man?
Maybe, since it seemed she couldn’t trust her instincts after trusting Collin. Had she known something wasn’t quite right with him? Was he right about her never getting to the altar with him, even if they hadn’t broken down outside of Buckhorn, Montana? Would she have seen through him?
“I’m not asleep,” Jon said, startling her as he opened his eyes. He swung his legs off the couch and sat up to look at her. He was still fully clothed as if he’d been biding his time until they left. “Can’t sleep?”
She shook her head, swallowing as she met his brown eyes. They were filled with so much concern for her. She’d gotten herself into this mess, and now she’d dragged him into it. And yet, he was worried about her.
He moved over to give her room to sit on the couch. They’d talked some before daylight. Jon wasn’t much of a talker—just like Danny. It made her heart ache to think of all the wasted years. Danny had been alone in the world because of a mix-up, and so had she. Their daughters hadn’t had a father. There was no going back. Worse, she’d now jeopardized his life.
Shivering even with the comforter wrapped around her, she sat down next to him, pulling the thick fabric around her bare legs.
“Do you want me to turn up the heat?” he asked. She shook her head. “I told you last night that your daughters were fine. You can use my phone to call them if you need reassurance.”
She looked over at him. It was her undoing. She felt a rush of emotions that threatened to drown her. Tears sprang to her eyes, blurring his face. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
His expression seemed to crumble as he put an arm around her and pulled her into him. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sobbed out the words, “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to get you killed.”
He held her tighter. “You won’t. I’ve been living on borrowed time for years now. None of this is your fault.”
She shook her head. “This is not what I wanted.” She choked on the last of her sobs and pulled back to look at him. “If I’d known that I could be jeopardizing your life—”
“No,” he said and did the last thing she was expecting. He kissed her. Suddenly his mouth was on hers, and he was wrapping her in his arms as if he never wanted to let her go.
* * *
JON DIDN’T THINK he’d ever known the power of a kiss. Because he hadn’t kissed the right woman? Or because he couldn’t remember kissing this one? He felt a jolt that rocketed through him, stunning him, leaving him shaken. Hadn’t he warned himself about getting too close to this woman? He hadn’t planned to kiss her—far from it. But he’d looked into her beautiful green eyes shimmering with unshed tears, and he’d lost it.
For so long, he’d told himself that he was content. That his hermit lifestyle was enough. Until she’d walked into his workshop. Even when he tried not to, he would remember looking up and seeing her silhouetted against the snowstorm outside. He’d caught his breath, feeling a punch to his chest. At the time, he’d told himself that she’d caught him by surprise, startling him. The surge in his pulse, the quickening beat of his heart, all had been nothing more than a reminder that he’d let his guard down, something he couldn’t do if he hoped to go on living.
But had he really cared about going on living before she’d walked into his woodshop? Wasn’t he merely existing at that point? He couldn’t recall the last time he’d actually felt alive. Until Kate.
This woman was the catalyst that had jarred him out of that mere existence and dragged him back into life. Kate and her stories about her beloved husband and her two precious daughters had made him yearn for a life he’d never known, even as he told himself she wasn’t talking about him. Even as he told himself it was too late for him even if she was.
She had made him feel, even made him hope, both dangerous for a man like him with a past like his. She’d upended his life even as he’d told himself that the best thing he could do was give the woman a wide berth for both of their sakes. But he hadn’t been able to do that once he’d realized that she was in trouble.
Now, he looked into all that green and knew there would be no coming back from this kiss. “Katie.” His voice broke as he pulled her to him, deepening the kiss as they clung to each other. What he felt was beyond need. He had to have this woman, knew his life would be worthless without her. The raging heat of that knowledge raced through his veins, stronger than desire, hotter than the passion that caught fire between them.
* * *
KATE KISSED HIM knowing that this was the way it was always supposed to be—whether this man was Danny or not. He was the man she wanted desperately as he trailed kisses down her throat and then lifted the hem of the T-shirt as he nuzzled her breasts. Her nipples ached, her center turning molten as if it had been years since she’d made love.