Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists (4 page)

Satisfied with his logical reasoning, Kieran was all set to turn his

mind to the experiment he would be running in the next few months

until Edwina wriggled in his arms and pressed a kiss to his chest.

Despite all his good intentions, his supposedly dormant libido roared to life, and he had a hard time controlling the urge to press his cock hard against her. Only the fact that she’d kissed him in her sleep

stilled the roaring inside him.

Hell, she might even have a lover waiting for her back home.

* * * *

Mawson Scientific Research base

“Cal, call for you. One of your brothers.” Calvin Kodi nodded his

acknowledgement and headed toward the radio room. He knew that

26

Rachel Clark

all of his brothers were out in the field, so it was probably about some equipment or other that they needed replaced.

“Hello,” he said into the CB radio handset. It might’ve been old

technology, but he still preferred it over the telephone.

“
Hey,
bro,” Gary said.

Immediately on full alert, Calvin turned to the man behind him

and smiled. “I won’t be long,” he said in a friendly tone, hoping that the guy was polite enough to leave the room. He was and he did,

closing the door behind him. It wasn’t often that Calvin and his

brothers needed to speak privately, but when they used the “
Hey
, bro,” signal, it was usually for a damn good reason.

“I’m alone,” he said into the handset. “What’s going on, Gary?”

“Kieran and Jake haven’t arrived yet. Did they say anything about

a detour?”

“No,” Calvin said, feeling his stress level rise dramatically, “they

caught a chopper flight. They should’ve arrived hours ago.”

“Is the pilot back?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go find out.”

“Okay, but be discreet. If Jake and Kieran aren’t expecting a

rescue, things could get problematic.”

“No kidding,” Calvin said, rolling his eyes heavenward. He didn’t

need to be reminded of the unique qualities of their family. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll get back to you.”

Calvin hurried down the hallway to the communal dining area.

He’d seen the chopper take off and knew that it was their only female pilot at the controls, but when he didn’t see her, tension knotted his gut. From memory she kept to herself and often ate her meals alone,

so it was possible she’d already left the room. He hurried to her

quarters, found them empty also, and headed for the helicopters to

check. They seemed to be one short, but since he didn’t know the

schedules for earlier today, it was quite possible one of them was still at one of the other bases.

Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists

27

He doubled back, checking her quarters and the common areas

again before heading to the radio room. Fortunately it was still empty, and he immediately contacted his brother.

“Gary, it doesn’t look like she returned—not to this base anyway.

No one seems concerned by her absence, but, well, it seems an

uncomfortable coincidence.”

“We agree,” Gary said. “Simon, Evan, and Brian are going to start

a search as soon as the storm passes.”

“Storm?” Calvin asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He

was looking at the satellite weather feed for the entire continent, and there was no sign of anything but clear weather. He tapped a few

buttons on the keyboard and watched when the computer did

something strange, flashing dozens of messages onto the screen. He’d

seen something like this only once before when a computer virus

completely wiped out his hard drive a few years ago. He pulled the

internet connection cable from the back of the computer but the virus continued doing its thing. Out of sheer desperation, he grabbed the

power cable and pulled it from the wall.

The screen went blank immediately, and the fan inside the tower

made a whirring noise as it slowed to a stop. Hopefully he’d shut it

off in time and someone with computer tech experience could identify

the virus and figure out where it came from. Was it another weird

coincidence, or was something more sinister going on? Calvin sat

there for a full minute, wondering what all this could mean. His

brothers were missing. A pilot seemed to be unaccounted for, but

nobody had noticed. And now he had a weather map that hadn’t

shown the approaching storm and a computer infected by a data-

eating virus.

“Talk to me, Cal,” Gary said in a concerned voice over the radio.

“Something weird is going on.” He relayed the information and

his suspicions about the computer and then said, “Search for Kieran

and Jake, but be careful. My guess is that wherever they are, there’s a
28

Rachel Clark

good chance the pilot is with them. I’m going to check a couple of

things, and then I’ll start searching from this end.”

“Understood,” Gary said in that authoritative tone that often made

people forget he was the youngest brother of seven. “Stay safe.”

“You, too.”

* * * *

Finally the wind died down, and Kieran had his chance to go

explore. Trouble was that he felt comfortable lying here with this

sleeping woman in his arms. She felt so warm against him, so

feminine, so vulnerable, so unlike the harridan she was when she

wasn’t unconscious that he really was loath to wake her.

She must’ve sensed his inner turmoil because her eyes popped

open a moment before she pushed out of his arms. So much for peace

and quiet.

It was a tight squeeze in the bivvy bag, so she couldn’t go far, but

the look of horror on her face was enough to get him moving. Irritated beyond rational thought, he threw the words “stay here” at her, and crawled out of the bag, careful not to accidentally touch her.

He shook Jake’s bag to get his attention. The zipper slid open

almost immediately, and Kieran could only assume that he’d been

listening to his and Edwina’s almost wordless exchange.

“Keep her warm,” he growled, grateful at least that Jake had the

sense to keep his amusement to himself. “I’ll be back in a couple of

hours.”

Jake nodded and climbed out of the bag and onto his feet. He gave

Kieran a controlled smile before sliding into Kieran’s bivvy bag

beside Edwina. Kieran heard his brother’s quiet relaxed laughter a

moment before he turned and ran in any direction. When he was far

enough away from their makeshift camp, he stripped off his clothes,

changed forms, and loped away.

Hopefully his increased hearing would lead him to his brothers.

Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists

29

* * * *

“Everything okay?” Jake asked Edwina as soon as he climbed into

the bivvy bag beside her. She nodded slightly, but it was obvious that she was very cold. Without thinking too much about the possible side

effects of having this woman close, Jake wrapped his arms around her

and tucked her under his chin. Her hands were already like ice, and he had a brief moment to wonder what happened to her gloves before she

pressed them to his chest and snuggled closer.

“Is the storm over?” she asked in a small voice. She didn’t sound

like the cantankerous woman they’d been dealing with a few hours

ago, so he relaxed and nodded.

“Kieran has gone to explore the area. Hopefully we can figure out

where we are, and then we’ll know which direction to head.”

“He’s out there alone,” she said in a concerned voice. She tried to

sit up, but Jake used his strength to keep her pressed against him.

“It’s okay,” he said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in Antarctica. He’ll be fine.”

“But we should go with him. What if he gets lost? How will we

find him?”

She seemed ready to leap out of the bivvy bag and go rescue his

brother. Considering some of the accusations she’d been throwing

around earlier, she seemed awfully concerned for his brother’s safety now.

“It’s going to be fine, Edwina. Wouldn’t you rather stay cozy

warm here with me than traipse aimlessly through the snow looking

for a clue to where we are?”

“I’d rather be lying on the beach sunbathing,” she said with a

pout. Ouch, didn’t that deflate his ego? Fortunately, he had plenty to spare.

“So you’re not lying in my arms dying to know how good I am at

kissing?” He gave her his most lascivious grin and raised his

30

Rachel Clark

eyebrows in question. She laughed, as he hoped she would, but he

didn’t miss the way her eyes darkened with desire. So she wasn’t

completely turned off by the idea of kissing him. Interesting.

He was still trying to think of a change of topic when she wriggled

higher and pressed her lips to his. Thank heavens they were in a bivvy bag, partially under a snow cave, or they might’ve frozen together in this weather. Fortunately, his body temperature helped to stave off the threat of lip-lock, and he kissed her back softly.

She sighed the sweetest, neediest sound he’d ever heard a moment

before she pressed herself more firmly against him. His cock grew

rapidly, pushing hard against his snow pants, demanding release even

though he tried to keep the kiss light and playful.

But Edwina touched her tongue to his, and he groaned as he

deepened the kiss, plunging into her mouth, tasting her sweetness,

reveling in the feel of her against him. Her hands roamed over his

chest and abdomen, skimming lower across his erection. He wanted to

strip away her clothes and lose himself in her soft body. He wanted to thrust hard and deep and claim her as his woman. He was so needy for

her that he almost missed the sound on the wind.

He pulled away slightly. Breathing hard, staring at the woman in

his arms. Never before had he felt this overwhelming attraction. He’d never had any trouble finding a willing woman…but well, he usually

avoided the ones who disliked him. He tried to tune his hearing into

his brother’s
voice
, but in this form it wasn’t as easy to interpret.

The noise sounded again, and this time he understood the

message.
“Nothing yet.”

“What was that?” Edwina asked, looking rather spooked.

“What was what?” He tried to sound unconcerned.

“That noise. It sounded like a wolf or elephant seal or something.”

Jake tried to keep his face straight as he imagined Kieran’s reaction to being likened to an elephant seal.

“Just the wind,” he said, hoping she bought it. She seemed to relax

again until another voice sounded. Relieved to hear his brother

Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists

31

Calvin’s voice, Jake wanted to leap out of the bag, change and reply, but the woman in his arms shivered nervously.

“Was that just the wind too?” she asked skeptically. She made it

very clear by her expression that she believed he wasn’t being truthful the first time.

“I’m not sure,” he said, wondering how to explain without

explaining. He just hoped his brothers both retained enough sensible

judgment to walk around the campsite not through it. The last thing he needed was trying to explain the unexpected creature moving around

them.

Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky. Calvin called to his brother

again when he was no more than fifty feet away from their position.

Edwina froze at the loud noise and looked like she was about to crawl out of her skin. Jake held her tight, pressing her face into his chest, trying to minimize her movement. In his current form, Calvin’s

thought processes were simpler, and realizing that his brother shared a bivvy bag with a woman just might lead to some uncomfortable

behavior and even more embarrassing explanations.

Edwina jumped again when Kieran’s voice echoed from the other

side, but fortunately, Calvin seemed to get the message and didn’t

come any closer. Jake tried to stifle his sigh of relief as he held

Edwina close, whispering reassurances into her ear that they were safe in the bivvy bag. She clung to him, shaking with fear, and a part of him wanted to kick his brothers’ asses for scaring her. Even knowing

that the communication had been unavoidable didn’t soothe his

irritation.

Hell, it looked like Kieran wasn’t the only one falling for

Edwina’s grumpy charm.

* * * *

Standing in human form buck-ass naked in the snow was not

comfortable, so Kieran quickly relayed the information to his brother
32

Rachel Clark

Calvin, got directions to the research shack where their brothers were, and quickly changed back into his snow-loving form.

Kieran watched Calvin as he loped away, heading toward their

brothers to fill them in on the situation. Somebody had gone to an

awful lot of trouble to kill Edwina, and it was looking more and more likely that Kieran and his brothers would need to keep her at the shack for the winter. It might even be worth their while to not let anyone

else know they’d survived. Even if rescuers eventually found the

wreckage they’d likely assume that they’d wandered away and gotten

buried under the snow or fallen down one of the crevices that littered the area.

Calvin wouldn’t be missed at the Mawson base for at least another

day, so he planned to warn their brothers that they would have a