Free CHRISTMAS AT THUNDER HORSE RANCH by Elle James Page B

carefully climbed out to stand on the ground. She didn’t want a repeat performance of her earlier awkward actions.
    “I’m on the second floor.” She led the way up the outside staircase to the entrance of her apartment and bent to retrieve her spare key from beneath a flowerpot with a dead plant covered in a dusting of snow.
    “You really shouldn’t leave a key to your apartment out here. Anyone could get in.”
    “I’ve been living by myself for years.”
    “I know, but still, it’s not safe.”
    “Well, since my purse is in my crashed truck at the dig site, I’m glad I had a key beneath the flowerpot. It’s almost impossible to catch the apartment manager in his office on a weekend.” She unlocked the door and entered, switching on the lights.
    Nothing in her apartment had changed. After all that had happened, it seemed both anticlimactic and reassuring at the same time. “You can set your bag by the couch,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a lot of groceries. I had planned on stocking up when I got back from the dig site.”
    “We can go to the store when you want.”
    “I need to call my insurance agent and deal with my truck and I guess the state police to report the accident.” She turned toward him shaking her head. “I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do.”
    “I’ll take you down to the state police station and we can give a statement. My supervisor should already have given them a heads-up. That should get the ball rolling. They might want to bring in the Feds since it was attempted murder and an attack on federal property.”
    “And a federal agent,” Emma reminded him. He seemed more concerned about the helicopter than his own life.
    He shrugged and continued. “The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the downed helicopter. And the Department of Homeland Security will also want to get involved as it could be considered a terrorist attack since the man used a Soviet-made RPG to shoot me down.”
    A tremor shook Emma. “We’re in North Dakota, not Afghanistan.”
    Dante’s face grew grim. “And the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were here in America.”
    “It’s hard to accept that nowhere can be considered safe anymore.”
    A vehicle alarm system went off in the parking lot below her apartment, making Emma jump. She laughed shakily. “Guess I’m getting punchy.”
    Dante strode to the window, glanced out through the blinds and shook his head. “That’s my Jeep. I guess someone bumped into it accidentally. The alarm is supersensitive.”
    Emma joined him at the window and stared down at his SUV. The lights blinked and a siren wailed.
    Digging his key fob from his jeans pocket, Dante aimed it at the vehicle. The alarm and blinking lights ceased and it grew quiet again.
    Emma hadn’t realized just how close she was standing next to Dante until she turned to face him at the same time as he faced her.
    “Better?” he asked with a smile.
    She nodded, her tongue suddenly tied, words beyond her as she stared at those lips that had kissed her senseless.
    He reached out to cup her cheek. “I promise I’ll do my best to protect you.” Then ever so gently, he brushed his mouth across hers.
    Emma exhaled on a sigh, her body leaning into his as if drawn to him of its own accord.
    He slipped a hand around to the small of her back, and the one cupping her cheek rounded to the back of her neck, urging her forward as he returned for a longer, deeper kiss.
    His tongue thrust between her teeth, sliding along hers in a sensuous caress that left her breathless.
    The hand at her back slipped beneath her sweater, fingers splaying across her naked skin.
    She wished she was completely naked, lying beside his equally naked body. Though she was unskilled in the art of making love, she’d follow his lead and they’d—
    A car door slammed outside, breaking through her reverie.
    Dante lifted his head and glanced out the window. “I’m sorry. I