easily abused.
However, she still managed to deny any attraction for them even
as she snuggled into Jake’s embrace and waited for Kieran to show
her whatever they were waiting for him to show her. When he stood
and started peeling off his clothes, she watched his superb body
slowly revealed inch by glorious inch for probably a whole minute
before it occurred to her that maybe she should be a little worried.
What the hell could he show her that required him to be naked?
Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists
57
When he finally lowered his thermal underwear and stood
magnificently nude, she tried really, really hard—and failed really, really badly—to keep her eyes away from his erection. She
unconsciously licked her lips, and Kieran groaned even as his eyes
took on a pleading look.
“Princess, please don’t look at me like that. I need to stay in
control.”
She bit her lip, wondering how her reaction would threaten his
control. He didn’t actually like her, but she supposed she was the only woman in several miles at the very least. Maybe she should rethink
the whole feeling safe thing.
But then every thought process stalled in her brain as the man in
front of her somehow grew white fur all over his body. His jaw
changed, his teeth became more pronounced, his forehead grew
broader, but his eyes…his eyes stayed the same, and she looked in
wonder at the abominable snowman who’d placed her in bed several
hours ago.
“It was real?” she asked, feeling way off balance. “Everything?
Six of you? You–you saved me from my–my boss when he tried to
sh–sh–shoot me?” Oh, crap, so much for independent female. She was
about to bawl like a five-year-old.
Kieran lowered to his knee in front of her and pressed a fur-
covered finger to her cheek to catch the first tear. She grabbed his
hand and held it to her face, overwhelmed with the emotions swirling
through her. Somebody really had tried to kill her, and if it weren’t for Kieran and Jake, exposure would’ve killed her long before her boss
arrived with a rifle to finish the job.
“I’m sorry,” she said on a quiet sob.
“It’s okay,” Jake said soothingly. He rubbed his hands up and
down her shoulders, and she continued to stare into Kieran’s familiar eyes. It had been so much easier to believe they were behind it all,
and it was only a ransom attempt, not someone trying to kill her.
She’d actually spent several minutes reasoning in her mind that the
58
Rachel Clark
abominable snowmen had been created from a childhood memory of
a movie about yetis being decent folk. She’d convinced herself that it was only her mind creating protectors so that she could relax and not fight whatever fate had planned.
She hadn’t even considered the notion that what she’d seen was
actually real.
“Can you talk?” she asked the yeti kneeling before her.
Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists
59
Chapter Five
Kieran shook his head, still amazed at how easily his woman
seemed to be accepting their unusual form. He’d deliberately stripped off here—despite the uncontrollable erection—just so she couldn’t
claim it was some kind of setup. But to see her accept him so readily did something to his primitive heart.
Even though instinct clawed at him to claim her, he retained
enough sense to understand that acceptance on her part was far from
love. If they were going to claim her as their mate, he wanted love to be part of their lives. Having grown up with five fathers, Kieran
understood how much work it took to keep everyone happy in their
type of matings. Communication was the key, and in this form, his
yeti form, words did not come easily.
He let the change happen but stayed on his knee as he watched
Edwina’s expression closely. She smiled and wriggled out of Jake’s
hold to fall into Kieran’s arms and press a soft kiss to the underside of his jaw. “I’m sorry,” she said again quietly.
He
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