Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark - By Jennifer Labrecque Page 0,41

he’d been waiting for her, Lars followed.

10

LARS STOOD IN the aftermath of what qualified as the best sex of his life and tried to regain his breathing and his sanity.

“Mirror Lake is definitely my favorite place now.”

Delphi rested her head against his chest and shoulder, her ragged breath warm against his skin. “I knew when you said you wanted to show me something...”

He chuckled. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

“I don’t know that I believe that, but I’m not complaining.”

He laughed, smoothing his fingers over the ridge of her shoulder blade to the indentation of her spine. “No complaints is good. In fact, it was incredible. I could swear the earth moved under my feet.”

“I’m flattered—”

What the hell? There it was again, stronger, more intense.

“Delphi,” he cut her off. “It just happened again. The ground shifted. And the water is warmer. That means seismic activity. We need to get the hell out of here.”

She didn’t panic as they headed toward the shore. In fact, her face reflected more curiosity than alarm. “Seismic activity?”

“Yeah. The lake is fed by a hot spring.”

He saw the moment it clicked for her in her expression. “Which is tied into volcanic activity,” she said. “So when the ground shakes and there’s a surge in the lake temperature, you know something is going on with the magma below.”

“Yep, you got it.”

They climbed out of the lake and toweled off. Quickly, efficiently, they pulled on their clothes without further discussion. Lars shoved their two wet swimsuits into Delphi’s pack and the towels into his. The hike back to the truck was short and easy.

Lars looked at her as he turned the ignition. “You okay?”

She looked calm but the hand she ran through her short hair was slightly unsteady. “Fine.”

Lars leaned over and planted a swift hard kiss on her mouth. “It’s probably not a big deal, but just in case, we need to let people know.”

“Right.” He fully appreciated her calmness. Obviously, she’d been trained for emergency situations. He wasn’t so good with women prone to histrionics. “It seems that exploding things are following you.”

Lars drove down the potholed trail to the main road, a smile curving his mouth at her dark humor. “A bomb is one thing but I don’t want to tangle with an earthquake or a volcano.”

“Me either. I hate to sound stupid but I never really thought about why there would be a hot springs there.”

“That makes two of us.” His headlights picked up gleaming eyes in the dark ahead of them, and then they were gone. Probably a wolf. “I bet most of the people who swim in the lake haven’t given it much thought either.”

As they got closer to town, buildings replaced the towering evergreens. Nothing seemed amiss. He pulled up in front of the airstrip bed-and-breakfast. “Here you go.”

“You aren’t coming in?”

Lars shook his head. “I’m going over to Bull and Merrilee’s. I know it’s late but they need to know what just happened. Better safe than sorry. I thought you might not want to go since you’ve got an early morning ahead of you.”

It was her turn to shake her head. “I’m revved up right now. I’ll go. If I don’t, I’ll just be wondering all night what’s going on.”

He grinned. He liked that she hadn’t freaked out. She obviously had a sense of adventure. He backed out and headed to Bull’s. “All right, then.”

They pulled up in front of the hardware store. While the store was dark, a light glowed on the second floor. Lars parked the truck and said to Delphi as they climbed out, “This way.” He led her along the side of the building. “They live above the store. They’ve got outside access as well as stairs inside.”

“I noticed that at the restaurant next door to the B&B,” she said as they mounted the stairs.

“Most of the business owners live above their shops.” When they reached the top landing, Lars rapped on the wood door. In a minute or so, the light was switched on and Bull opened the door.

“Is there something wrong over at the bed-and-breakfast?” Bull cut straight to the chase.

“Everything’s fine there but there’s something we thought we should pass along,” Lars said.

“Come on in.” Bull stood aside and Lars ushered Delphi in ahead of him.

It was difficult to believe he’d been sitting at the kitchen table less than six hours ago. A lot had happened. Maybe some things had changed. Whichever way he looked at it, it felt more like a