Page 47 of Mountain Impact

She and Drake fell into step together, keeping Jamie directly in front of them.

“What would you have done if she’d attacked?” Isolde asked.

Drake flexed his arm muscles. “I could have held my own.”

“Yeah, you’d have made a great appetizer.”

He shrugged, his expression going serious for a moment. “Maybe. Glad it didn’t come to that. She was a beautiful animal.”

By the time they arrived at Jamie’s grandfather’s place, Jamie was asleep in his car seat. Drake picked him up carefully, leaning the boy’s cheek against his thick shoulder as he carried him into the house. Isolde watched from the car―her lower belly did a somersault as she watched the care Drake took not to wake the boy up.

A couple minutes later, Drake was back in the car.

“Are you okay, Isolde? You seem to be deep in thought.”

She nodded quickly. “I’m fine.”

He didn’t start the car immediately.

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“About the lynx?”

“No, nothing to do with the lynx,” Drake said, running a hand across his square jaw.

“Okay?” she said. “I’m listening.”

“I don’t want to rush you, but I meant what I said last night.” He took her hand in his much larger one. “Hear me out, please, before you say anything. I understand we’re still getting to know each other again, and I don’t want to rush you, but I’d like to do things right. I want us to tell the Colonel that we’re together.”

Isolde nodded slowly. It suddenly felt right, as if they’d been heading towards this the whole time, and this was inevitable.

“Okay,” she finally said.

“Okay?”

“Okay. We’ll take the risk.”

“You make it sound like so much fun,” he laughed. “Like a trip to the dentist.”

“I’m sorry. I just―”

“Relax, Isolde. I’m just kidding. You make me happy,” he said, looking almost surprised.

“You make me happy too.”

Chapter 16

Drake

A big storm was brewing―the kind that rarely came until November at the earliest. It hadn’t broken yet, but the reports they got from the top showed the weather was already unsettled, with uneven visibility and strong winds.

At least Damien was back at work. He’d returned from his honeymoon looking tanned and more relaxed than Drake had seen him since―ever, actually. Damien’s return had taken a load off Drake’s shoulders. He thought back to the time he’d spent―if not wasted―in status meetings over the last weeks. He wasn’t sure he was looking forward to his next promotion.

Drake had been hoping Damien’s return would mean some time off for him. He’d had been planning on taking Isolde to Lake Bourget for a surprise spa getaway weekend.

The upcoming storm had unfortunately put a hold on those plans―it was going to be all hands on deck until Monday morning.

Drake shook his head to clear the image of Isolde in a bathing suit at the Bourget thermal baths―he’d never been so angry at the sky before.