Dream Shadow (37 page)

That kind nature was part of why her leaving had hurt so bad. It would have been easier to get over her if she’d been nastier, selfish, vindictive. But she was none of those things. She never had been.

“I was just doing my job,” he said. But he knew that wasn’t strictly true. For a second today, it had been intensely personal. All he had to do was think about her wide, frightened eyes and he had the urge to pull her into his arms and protect her.

He was suddenly aware that his thumb was stroking the soft skin at the top of her hand. And that she hadn’t pulled away.

“I was so scared,” she whispered. “I knew I had to try to get as many out as I could, but I could taste the smoke and hear the fire and I was terrified. And then you were there.” She slid over on to the cushion between them, turned and put her arms around his neck. “I was never so glad to see anyone in my life.”

“You’d never know it.” His voice came out all husky, and he swallowed, putting an arm around her back, trying to hold on to his composure. It was difficult when she was pressed against him, smelling like his shampoo, wearing his clothes. “You started barking orders.”

“Only because I saw you and I knew it would all be okay. I knew you’d make sure it was okay.”

It was the grandest statement of trust he’d ever heard. And certainly unexpected from her, who’d been so disapproving about his training to be a firefighter and had made no secret of her feelings. She’d hated the fact that he’d wanted to be a fireman. But he had no regrets. The only thing that had kept him sane for the first year after their breakup was how much he loved it. He still did, even if it was only as a part of a volunteer department. He could have gone somewhere else with a paid department, but he’d wanted to come back to the one place that was home for him. This way he got to have both the job and still stay in the valley. It was where he belonged.

She was pressed against him and he closed his eyes. He could feel her breasts against his chest, free from constraint inside the soft T-shirt. He turned his head slightly and his lips touched a wisp of hair just behind her ear. A breathy sigh fluttered against his neck and he felt his judgment weakening.

Dream Shadow

Mary Wine

She doesn’t need backup…until love backs her into a corner.

Dream, Book 1

Sheriff Brice Campbell never met a psychic worth a dime. Until Grace. She’s the real deal, an Army psychic tracker with a flawless record for finding her target. And somewhere behind her bristling defenses is a woman he’s determined to coax out into the light of day.

Grace’s legendary ability to keep her emotions walled off from her gift is the key to her success. Unfocused equals unproductive. Only this time, her target is a child that’s gone missing. Worse, an unexpected attraction to Brice is messing with her concentration, big time.

Desire sends them both up in a firestorm of passion, which only makes it painfully clear that the Army’s secret weapon has one embarrassing flaw. In matters of the heart, she’s a rank amateur.

Brice is more than willing to help her navigate these unfamiliar waters, but bringing her heart out of the shadows exposes her to danger neither saw coming. And from which no army can save her.

Warning: Contains a small-town sheriff who isn’t going to let a few emotional walls get in his way, and a woman who can’t help but let him take hers down, brick by brick.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Dream Shadow

Copyright © 2013 by Mary Wine

ISBN: 978-1-61921-375-3

Edited by Heidi Moore

Cover by Angela Waters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: January 2013

www.samhainpublishing.com