The Shelter of His Arms (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Dawn Stewardson Page A

imagine.
    After a few endless seconds, he said, “I’ve been trying to think of a good way to say this, but there just isn’t one. Hank wanted to see me because he’d learned that...Celeste, somebody’s got a contract out on you.”
    His words hung between them, their meaning not sinking in right away.
    When it finally did, her heart began to pound and the room started to spin.
    A second later, Travis had his arm around her shoulders and was telling her to put her head between her knees.
    “Good. Now, take a few deep breaths,” he ordered.
    She tried to. But the terror crawling around inside her chest kept clutching at her throat—and she had to concentrate to breathe at all, let alone deeply.
    “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
    She managed another breath, wishing she could believe him yet knowing she’d be incredibly naive to.
    “Once you calm down we’ll talk. Figure out who’s behind this and how to take care of it.”
    Could they actually do that? Was there even the slightest chance she wouldn’t end up dead?
    She had no idea how they could possibly “take care of it,” but Travis sounded as if he really thought there’d be a way. So maybe, just maybe...
    Her heart still thudding and her breathing nowhere near back to normal, she shakily sat up straight.
    He gave her an encouraging smile. But instead of making her feel better, it started tears stinging her eyes.
    “Oh, Celeste,” he murmured as they spilled over. Then he pulled her into his arms and simply held her.
    Even someone who wasn’t normally a crier had a limit, and she knew she was beyond hers. She cried so hard and for so long that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to stop.
    All the horrible things that had happened during the past year had depleted her emotional reserves, and she was afraid she didn’t have enough left to cope with a broken fingernail, let alone the fact that someone wanted her dead.
    Gradually, though, she managed to regain control and just sat in the comforting warmth of Travis’s embrace.
    “All right now?” he murmured at last.
    “Yes,” she said.
    Travis exhaled slowly, feeling strangely bereft as Celeste eased away from him. Her softness made him wish he could hold her forever; her sultry scent was positively bewitching. And now, gazing at her face, he had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss her.
    He told himself that was crazy. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks tear-stained.
    Even so, there was something about her that made him want to just take her in his arms again and hold her until she forgot about everything in the world except him.
    But she was both terrified and vulnerable, as he’d known she’d be. And during the drive here he’d vowed he would act strictly as a friend to her while she was in that condition.
    Besides which, a few other factors were giving him pause. In his more lucid moments, he kept remembering cops and serious relationships didn’t mix. And remembering that was why he’d always made a point of backing off whenever he’d felt much more than a twinge of interest in a woman.
    So even though Celeste had gotten to him in a way no other woman ever had, if he was smart he’d at least proceed very slowly and carefully.
    He’d be crazy to let himself get in any deeper before he had a clearer picture of what she was really like, and what they might be like together.
    And getting romantically involved with her would definitely be getting in deeper. So deep, he suspected, that getting out again would prove very difficult. If not impossible.
    “Travis?” she said at last. “Are you sure about this contract? Couldn’t Hank be wrong?”
    As much as he wished that was likely, there wasn’t much chance of it. And he didn’t intend to lie to her. Downplaying how serious things were would be deadly dangerous.
    “Hank’s not wrong very often,” he made himself say. “And in this instance, he got the word from one of his most reliable