CROSSFIRE by Jenna Mills Page B

family. That was Miranda. Elizabeth dealt in reality. She knew the consequences of thinking she could walk too close to the fire without getting burned.
    Hawk just kept watching her. "Losing someone you love is the hardest part of life."
    Time is the great healer, she'd heard over and over. With time everything fades. "They say life goes on, and I suppose it does, but it's never the same." Couldn't be, not when a piece of her had died with her sister. "It's been eleven years, and I still think about her every day."
    "There's nothing wrong with that."
    God, the cold wouldn't stop, it just kept drilling through her, relentless, punishing. Hard to imagine that less than thirty minutes before she'd barely been aware of the frigid night beyond the cave.
    She drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tight. "I can't stand the thought of my parents going through that again." Her father was a strong man, her mother a tough woman, but she didn't think they could bear losing another child. The ordeal with Miranda had aged them visibly. "I can't stand the thought of them thinking, for even one minute, that they might have to bury another—"
    " Elizabeth ."
    The sound of his voice resonated through the small cavern, forcing her to look up abruptly. He still looked completely casual and relaxed against the wall, but the intensity in his gaze jump-started her heart.
    "You don't have to sit there and shiver."
    She went very still. "What?"
    He shoved dark blond hair back from his face. "I'm not blind," he said, and almost sounded angry. "Nor am I oblivious to the fact this cave feels like Iceland ."
    Her teeth wanted to chatter, but she refused to let them. "It's not that bad."
    "Your lips are blue."
    Instinctively, she drew them into her mouth, dismayed by the chill she found.
    "Come here."
    Caution whispered louder. "What?"
    "I can warm you, Ellie." To prove his point, he opened his arms to her. "I can take away the cold."
    Her heart kicked, hard. Blood roared through her veins. He spoke point-blank, matter-of-fact, but there was nothing tame or calm about the desire sizzling through her. He made it sound so easy. Just slide closer, let him warm her. And she knew he could. But another fundamental truth kept her from moving.
    "Your kind of heat isn't what I need," she said quietly.
    Through the playful light of the lantern, she saw the planes of his face harden. "Trust me, sweetness. I have no more interest in repeating mistakes than you do." He picked up a small rock and tossed it across the cave. "But if you'd rather freeze to death than accept help, if you don't think you can touch me without losing yourself, then that's your decision. I've never had to force a woman before, and I'm not going to start now."
    Elizabeth just stared at him. The gauntlet he'd thrown landed hard at her frozen feet. She didn't know how the man did it, how he twisted and turned her words until she barely recognized them, but she did know there was no way she was going to sit across from him all night long and shiver, not with that knowing "got you" look in his eyes.
    "I can touch you and not lose myself," she practically growled. The cave didn't allow her to stand, so she had to crawl toward him, and all the while she did, he just watched her with those hot, burning eyes.
    The blast of heat consumed her the second she lowered herself against him. His arms closed around her immediately, anchoring her to his chest. His body was hot and hard, and in a blinding flash she remembered how all that muscle felt naked and twined with hers. Could remember, had never forgotten. Had awoken night after night, heart racing, body burning from the memory of his touch. Dreams shouldn't be so real. So dangerous. So completely, absurdly, appallingly impossible.
    She could never have a future with a man who made a hobby of playing with fire.
    "How did it happen, Ellie?"
    Lost in the warmth weaving through her, she barely heard him speak, didn't know to what he referred, had no