Fire & Frost (34 page)

Authors: Meljean Brook,Carolyn Crane,Jessica Sims

Tags: #Anthologies, #science fiction romance, #steampunk romance, #anthology, #SteamPunk, #paranormal romance, #Romance, #Fantasy, #(¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), #novella, #shapeshifter romance

FROZEN

Available June 2013

For a year and a half, Olivia Martin has tried to forget Erik Gulbrandr, the glacial man who’d scorched her mouth with a single kiss. But when Olivia finds herself snowbound with Erik on the winter solstice, she discovers that the man who set her body aflame is cursed by abominable needs — and a desire that might destroy them both…

THIS COULDN’T BE THE RIGHT DRIVEWAY. I pulled my Jeep onto the shoulder and checked the rearview mirror. No one was coming up the snowy road behind me. I hadn’t spotted another car since leaving the main highway; the only evidence that anyone ever came this way were the tire tracks leading into a few private drives. I’d expected Erik Gulbrandr’s driveway to look the same, but although my GPS navigator told me to turn right, I didn’t see a paved lane. Only a thick blanket of snow.

I didn’t doubt that the lane lay under the snow, however. The GPS might have miscalculated the route—it wouldn’t have been the first time the device steered me in the wrong direction—but I couldn’t mistake the wide, winding path cutting through the stand of pines that stretched east toward the mountains.

Great. Of all the driveways along this road, the one I needed was the only one that hadn’t been plowed.

I studied the lane and considered my options. The snow was about two feet deep—probably less beneath the shelter of the pine branches. Could my Jeep make it?

Maybe. My rig regularly handled rough terrain. Before starting up this road I’d put the transmission in four-wheel drive and locked traction chains around the tires. But it would only take one drift to bog me down, and I didn’t want to risk getting stuck—especially for Erik Gulbrandr. Though he was one of the partners at the engineering firm where I worked, I avoided him whenever possible. This detour hadn’t been my idea; I’d only come as a favor to the senior partner—Erik’s father—after he’d discovered that I planned on visiting my parents’ home for the holidays.

Erik will sign the papers and you’ll be back on the road within ten minutes
, John Gulbrandr had told me.
All in all, it’ll only take you an hour out of your way.

I’d agreed to do it because taking the papers allowed me to leave work at noon instead of waiting for the end of the day, giving me an early jump on my week-long vacation. Now it looked like I’d have to take another hour’s detour after Christmas. I’d be driving this way again on my way back home. Hopefully Erik would hire someone to plow his lane before then.

I pushed in the clutch and shifted into first gear, then stopped. Crap. I had no idea what documents were in the manila envelope on my passenger seat, or how important they were. But Gulbrandr had also asked me to send them express as soon as I could get to a mail drop, so he probably wouldn’t appreciate them sitting around my parents’ house for a week. Maybe he’d prefer that I leave the papers somewhere local so that Erik could pick them up.

With a sigh, I dug my phone from my bag. One bar. Out here in the middle of Nowhere, Colorado, I was surprised to get any reception at all.

Gulbrandr answered on the second ring. I could easily picture him at his desk, a big man with dark hair liberally salted by gray, wearing an engineer’s unofficial uniform of a chambray button-down shirt and tan trousers.

“John Gulbrandr here.”

My boss didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He was nice enough, I supposed, but all business—and that suited me perfectly. I’ve never been good as socializing, but I’ve always been damn good at my job.

“It’s Olivia Martin, Mr. Gulbrandr. I’ve just arrived—”

“Is my boy giving you trouble?”

“No.” Did he expect trouble? I only expected Erik to freeze me with his glacial stare and politely show me the door. “I haven’t seen him yet. The drive hasn’t been plowed, and I can’t make it up to the house.”

“Damn it. Hold on, then. I’ll call him on the other extension. He can meet you at your car.”

Silence filled the line. I waited, hoping that I wouldn’t lose my connection. Hoping that this little detour wouldn’t end up taking much longer than one hour.

From the corner of my eye, I detected a flash of movement within the trees. I peered through the passenger window, searching for another glimpse. Whatever it had been was already out of sight. A deer, probably. Too big to be a rabbit, and nothing else in these woods would move that fast. I was sorry to have missed it, but the view through the window was pretty enough to make up for my slow reaction. The craggy peaks of the mountains in the distance created a stunning backdrop to the forest. Alongside the road, pine branches hung low, weighed down with heavy snow that seemed to glow in the soft light of the afternoon sun. Only an hour of daylight remained—and the shadows between the trees were growing deeper. What the hell was Gulbrandr doing on the other line? Surely he’d had enough time to tell his son to get his ass down to the road.

Unless I hadn’t heard anything because I’d lost reception.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and glanced at the screen. Still connected. The call time counted away the increasing minutes. When I put it back against my ear, Gulbrandr was talking.

“—can’t get through. The lines must be down and I can’t reach him on his cell. Do you have a pair of winter boots and a coat with you?”

“Yes.” Of course I did. What did that have to do with anything?

“It’s only a quarter mile up to the house,” Gulbrandr said.

Oh, for Pete’s sake. He wanted me to hike there through the snow?
Really?
“Can’t I swing by on my way back to Denver next week?”

“Our accountants want those papers filed by the end of the year. And we’re cutting it close as it is, what with the closures and delays over the holidays.”

Maybe the firm shouldn’t have waited until the twentieth of December to file them, then. But I held my tongue. Obviously, it would have to be done.

“All right. I’ll head on out.”

“I appreciate it. You’re a good woman to have around, Martin.” A pause followed. He must have realized how close that comment came to condescension, especially considering that he’d sent me on an errand that didn’t fall under my job description. He quickly amended, “You do good work.”

I know I did—but I wasn’t usually a messenger girl. I said goodbye, then tossed my phone onto the passenger seat in a little snit. I wasn’t mad at him, not really. The quarter-mile walk didn’t bother me. But the way I’d pictured this going had just been shot to crap. I’d intended to drive up to Erik’s house, coolly knock on his front door, and maintain a disinterested expression as he signed the papers. Then, ten minutes later, I’d drive away.

And in that ten-minute period, I was determined
not
to remember how Erik had once kissed me like a man starving for my taste—then told me he’d made a mistake.

There was no chance that our encounter would last only ten minutes now. He’d insist on walking me back to my Jeep, with icy silence between us. And instead of knocking coolly on the door, I’d show up looking like a crazy mountain woman coming in out of the cold.

Goddammit.

I killed the Jeep’s engine and reached into the backseat for my boots.
Did I have them?
Of course I had them. A million things could go wrong while driving snowy roads in winter, so in addition to boots, a coat, and the long johns in my suitcase, I also had a sleeping bag, a week’s worth of dehydrated meals, a few jugs of water, and air-activated hand and foot warmers.

I liked to make plans. When events didn’t go according to plan, then I liked to be prepared for anything else.

In my seat, I toed off the ankle boots I’d worn to the office and switched them for a knee-high pair, tucking my jeans into the insulated interior and lacing them up. An orange down-filled vest topped the navy cable-knit sweater I already wore. Outside, the temperature hovered only a few degrees below freezing, so I didn’t bother to zip my coat. I tugged a shearling hat down over my ears and pulled on my wool gloves, then glanced into my bag. Spare set of keys, check. A whistle if I became lost. Pepper spray, in case I ran across a cougar or a bear out of hibernation—or worse, a man I didn’t know. I threw in extra hand warmers, then the manila envelope addressed to Erik. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I made certain the Jeep was far enough off the road, then locked the doors.

I hadn’t taken more than two steps when my phone vibrated, signaling a text message.

—Don’t worry if you can’t call later. I won’t expect you home tonight. Mom.

Disbelief dropped my mouth open. I read the text again, but her failure to mention
why
I’d be gone told me as well as words could have: She’d seen me staying the night with Erik.

God. What had she
seen
?

Heat spread across my cheeks. My mom almost never did anything like this. Despite her uncanny ability to look into the future and see trouble coming, she adhered to a strict “I’m Not Telling” policy, particularly in regards to my older sister’s and my futures. She’d only broken her rule a few times that I knew of—once to tell my sister to hide a drunken friend’s keys, and once to warn me that a boy I was dating in high school would hit me in a jealous rage after he saw me talking with another guy.

I hadn’t believed her. Joey had been one of the sweetest kids I knew. Then one night at a friend’s party, I grabbed a couple of drinks before making my way into the living room where my boyfriend waited. He’d stared at me with an expression that I couldn’t identify, until I realized that he’d seen me chatting with a guy from my Calculus class in the kitchen. I recognized his fury then, and saw his clenched fist—but I still hadn’t believed that he’d try to punch me until he’d swung.

My mom’s warning had prepared me. I’d ducked; he’d missed. So I tossed my drink into his face and slammed my knee into his crotch. He’d probably pissed blood for a week, but he never hit me.

Nothing my mother saw was inevitable. If she didn’t interfere, events usually progressed as they originally would have. But just because she saw something didn’t mean it had to happen.

And I wouldn’t be staying the night with Erik. She’d completely misread that future.

—You’re SO wrong,
I texted back.
I’ll be there.

I started up the driveway. A few seconds later, her reply came.

—Just be careful.

A little shiver ran up my spine. She never said ‘be careful’ lightly. Coming from someone with her ability, a ‘be careful’ could drive a person mad worrying about what she’d seen and what was going to happen to them.

My mother hadn’t said it to me in fifteen years—since the night of that high school party. One of the reasons I always prepared myself was so that she wouldn’t worry. She knew that I carried all of that stuff in my bag…yet she still told me to be careful?

Slipping the phone into my coat pocket, I returned to the Jeep. A lockbox sat under the passenger seat. I dialed the combination and lifted the lid. Inside, my 9-millimeter pistol lay nestled in gray foam. I made sure the safety was on and tucked the weapon into my bag—right next to a box of condoms.

I didn’t plan to use either. But I did like to be prepared.

Frozen
will be available on June 15, 2013, for 99¢.

We hope you have enjoyed these excerpts! Our full booklists are available on the next pages.

Other Works by Jessica Sims

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Midnight Liaisons

Vixen in
Wild & Steamy

Beauty Dates the Beast

Out With a Fang in
The Undead in My Bed

Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter

Speed Mating in
Fire & Frost

Must Love Fangs
(August 2013)