The Firefighter's Fiance by Kate Hardy

Author:Kate Hardy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2006-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

WHAT was that?

Matt struggled to pull himself out of sleep. He’d heard a noise. Or had he been dreaming? The house was silent now. He strained to hear. Nothing. Maybe it had just been his imagination.

Or maybe Kelsey had woken with yet another nightmare and was crying into her pillow, trying not to wake him.

He climbed out of bed and padded over to Kelsey’s door. He listened in the doorway. Nothing. Must’ve been a dream, then.

Just as he turned to go back to his own bed, he heard a muffled sob.

Ah, hell. He knew he should keep some distance between them—but how could he leave her to deal with this on her own? Even though she wasn’t admitting it, she was suffering. She needed help. She needed him.

Quietly, he rapped on the door. Walked in. Sat on the edge of her bed. ‘Kels?’ He stroked her hair. ‘It’s OK. Just a bad dream.’

‘I couldn’t save them, Matt. I failed.’

‘It wasn’t your fault. Nobody expected the fire to suddenly come shooting out like that. None of the rest of the crew could have done more,’ he reminded her. ‘And look at earlier. You made a difference. If it wasn’t for you, Noel could have been in a really bad way. You got him out while we could still help him. Before he turned critical.’

‘It’s still not enough. It doesn’t make up for Mikey and Lucy.’

Her voice sounded gravelly—had she cried herself to sleep before she’d woken from her nightmare?

‘We can’t save everyone, Kels. I have heartbreak cases, too. Cases where the patients arrest on me and I can’t get them back. Cases where I think if I’d had just ten more minutes, I could have saved them. Sometimes it’s just not meant to be.’

‘But they were only kids! They were eight years old. It’s…’ The rest of her sentence was choked off.

‘Hey.’ He shifted to pull the duvet aside and slid into the bed beside her. ‘Come here.’ He pulled her into his arms, pillowing her head against his chest. She was shaking. Still crying? He wasn’t sure, though her face was damp. He held her close, stroking her hair and soothing her. ‘It’s going to be all right, Kels. I promise,’ he whispered. She’d be safe in his arms. Always.

And eventually she stopped shaking. Curled her arms round him. ‘Thanks, Matt. For being here. For…well. You know.’

‘Any time.’ He dropped a kiss on her hair. It was meant to be a friendly, comforting kiss. Except her hair felt like silk against his lips. She smelled of coconut. Mouthwatering. He wanted to taste her, feel her skin against his mouth.

‘I’m sorry I woke you,’ she said.

‘Not a problem.’ Though that wasn’t the absolute truth. There was a problem. A growing one. They were naked in bed together again. Skin to skin. Soft and warm. And that massage he’d given her a few days ago had made him even more aware of the effect she had on him. How much she turned him on.

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