Savage Alpha (Alpha 8) by Carole Mortimer Page A

outside to look for him. The air was brisk and freezing cold, and she’d been right about the six inches of snow on the ground. There was only an inch or so to spare from the top of her boots when she placed her foot down in it.
    Except the snow was completely pristine, no other footprints apart from her own to show that Jonas was out here. So where the hell was he?
    Lily stood in the snow and looked back toward the house. Which was when she saw that, although the main structure was all on one level, there was attic space above, with a huge picture window on one side of the house. The six-inch layer of snow prevented her from seeing if there were any windows in the roof, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. Could Jonas be up in the attic space for some reason?
    There was only one way to find out.

Chapter 8
    “There’s more snow forecast for later today.”
    Lily wasn’t surprised Jonas knew of her presence in the attic before she had a chance to speak to him. She hadn’t exactly been quiet in her climb up the metal spiral staircase.
    It had taken her some time to find that staircase. A thorough search of the empty rooms downstairs had drawn a complete blank. There was no access to the attic space above in any of them.
    The only room left to try was Jonas’s bedroom.
    Lily had taken a break to drink a cup of coffee and then taken another look for that access outside before venturing into the privacy of Jonas’s bedroom. And there it was, in the corner of the room, a spiral staircase leading up into the roof space. The fact that it was hidden away in Jonas’s bedroom probably meant no one else was supposed to go up there but him.
    Lily had thought of calling out to him, to let him know she was on her way up, but in the end, she decided she was too annoyed to bother. She had been searching for him for over an hour now and would have appreciated a heads-up on where he was, along with the coffee he had made and left for her.
    Jonas turned on the stool he was sitting on. “I said—”
    “I heard you…” she cut in distractedly, her attention all on the work in progress on the painted canvas in front of him.
    In fact, the whole studio was full of paintings. Even to Lily’s untrained eyes, it was obvious that the artist’s style was the same as the paintings hanging on the wall in the bedroom she was using. Bold, colorful strokes, the half-completed painting on the easel obviously of the scene outside the huge picture window.
    It was beautiful.
    Jonas had managed to capture every bit of color there was, the different shading of white and gray in the snow, the heavy branches of the fir trees, so lifelike Lily felt as if she could almost reach out and touch those different shades of green. Even the sky was a strange mix of shades of gray, orange, and pink. Obviously the sunrise from earlier this morning.
    Which meant that Jonas had been here in his studio for some time.
    Her gaze moved up to meet his. “I didn’t realize you painted.”
    He shrugged broad shoulders in the fitted black T-shirt. “No reason why you should.”
    She crossed the room to get a closer look at the painting. “You’re good. You’re very good.”
    “Thank you.”
    She glanced at him. “I meant that sincerely.”
    “Never said you didn’t.”
    “Your tone implied it.”
    “ You’re spoiling for a fight.”
    Her jaw tightened. “I would have appreciated knowing where you were, but I’m not spoiling for a fight. You should paint professionally, Jonas.” Her attention returned to the canvas.
    “I paint to relax, not for profit.”
    And there was no doubting he was very relaxed. More so than Lily had ever seen him, in fact. His shoulders weren’t tensed like they usually were, and his face had fewer sharp angles this morning too. There was even warmth in those piercing blue eyes when he looked at her.
    “Do you want to come outside and build a snowman?” Lily prompted impetuously.
    Jonas’s splutter of laughter was