Dr. Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride by Sarah Morgan Page B

hypothermia. We shouldn’t be doing this here. It isn’t the time and it isn’t the place.’ As if reorienting himself, he glanced around and gave an exasperated shake of his head. ‘Can you walk or are you too cold?’
    Meg felt numb, but she knew it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the way he made her feel. ‘I’m fine. Really.’ Or she would be once she’d got herself homeand talked some sense into herself. She had a child. She had a life she liked. Why, after all these years, was she risking all that?
    Misinterpreting her silence, Dino dragged her against him and held her close, warming her. ‘You must be freezing. I can’t believe I lost control like that. It’s you—the way you make me feel…’
    Despite the warning bells in her head, his words caused a buzz inside her and she pressed her lips to his cold cheek. ‘You smell good, have I told you that?’
    He turned his head to capture her mouth. ‘Unless you want to find yourself flat on your back in the snow again, you’d better not say things like that. All these months I’ve been feeling as though I need to take a cold shower when you walk into the room, and suddenly I discover that even freezing ice isn’t going to work.’
    Months?
    He’d felt like this for months? She’d had no idea. Seriously unsettled by how much that frank confession disturbed her equilibrium, Meg stooped and picked up a handful of snow. ‘Want me to help you out with that problem of yours, macho man?’
    Laughing, he caught her wrist in an iron grip. ‘Put that anywhere near my trousers and we won’t be able to take this any further.’
    Did she want to take it further?
    Confused by the feelings fluttering inside her, she dropped the snow and stepped close to him. ‘Dino—’
    He smothered her words with a kiss and then stepped back and held up his hands. ‘ Accidenti, enough! We need to get going before we are buried in another avalanche or it grows dark.’
    It came as a surprise to realise that she really didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to leave this place. If he hadn’t pulled herto her feet, she never would have stopped. She’d been willing to risk frostbite in order to claw her way closer to him. She hadn’t wanted the kiss to end. She would have happily gone on kissing him for the rest of her life, rather than confronting just how dangerous falling under Dino Zinetti’s spell could be for her.
    Looking around, Meg realised just how isolated they were. The sky was a threatening shade of grey. At some point while they’d been generating heat with each other, it had started snowing again.
    Dino hauled his backpack onto his shoulders and secured the waist strap. ‘Are you all right to walk?’
    Refusing to reveal how shaken she was, Meg gave a mocking smile. ‘You may be a good kisser, Zinetti, but even you’re not so good I can’t put one foot in front of the other.’
    â€˜Is that a challenge?’ His took her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers again. ‘Do you know how long I’ve waited to do this? I was about a day away from just throwing you onto a trolley in the emergency department.’ This second frank confession of need made her stomach flip and she laughed against his lips.
    â€˜That bad?’
    â€˜Worse.’ Reluctantly, he lifted his head. ‘Much as I’m appreciating the solitude of this place, we have to go. Otherwise our fellow team members will be making another trip up the mountain, this time to rescue us.’
    â€˜And that would be almost as embarrassing as being caught in an avalanche in the Lake District.’
    Dino helped her slide her arms into her backpack. ‘Rambo didn’t bark at us. Two bodies in the snow, and he didn’t bark. Do you think he knew he was supposed to be discreet?’
    â€˜No. He