Free A Very Merry Iona Christmas by M. L. Briers Page B

chuckled.
    I’m not leaving the
kids alone…
    “Why am I here? I’m
sure I was on my way to…” Annie stood at the other end of the hallway looking
slightly confused and Iona chuckled.
    ‘ Call it a gift.
Now go get him…’
    “Annie, could you do
me a favour and watch those two so they don’t abscond again?” Carly asked as
she started down the hallway towards her.
    “Sure. Where you
going?” Annie asked as she snapped out of her daze.
    “To get me a mate.”
Carly grinned.
    “That’s my girl!”
Annie chuckled and Iona did the same.
    ‘ So, you can say
thank you now, cos as soon as you two start, you know, I’m gonna get ripped out
of here and tossed… who knows where?’ Iona informed her and Carly missed a
step.
    “I was getting used to
you being around.”
    ‘ Yeah, well, all
the best things have to come to an end, eventually. Except you though. You’ll
have a mate forever…’ Carly stopped dead in her tracks.
    Wow, Iona. That’s a
scary thought. Forever is a damn long time…
    ‘Oh no you don’t.
You made up your mind, now you gotta stick to it.’
    Maybe I was wrong…
    ‘Again? Girl, how
many times can a person be wrong?’
    Still…
    ‘You’re pulling my
damn chain, right?’
    Right.
    ‘That’s just mean.
I thought I was gonna be stuck in your screwy head for a while longer. That
ain’t a nice thing to do to a lady.’
    Lady? You…?
    ‘Don’t you be doing
me like that…’
    I got you good,
admit it. Say the words, Iona.
    ‘You did not.’
    Did too.
    ‘Girl, go get your
man and say goodbye to me.’
    Thanks, Iona. I owe
you one…
    ‘More than one, but
I’ll take what I can get. You’ll be ok, you know that right?’
    Thanks to you.
    ‘Yeah. You know
it.’
    Bye, Iona.
    ‘Bye, kiddo. Don’t
do anything I wouldn’t do, and trust me, that leaves… nothing.’ Iona felt that hard tug of the powers that be and she
cursed as she was wrenched out of Carly’s mind.
     
    ~
    ~
    ~
     
    “Mason!” Carly shouted
as she saw the man heading across the snow covered landscape towards the woods.
Mason stopped in his tracks the moment that he heard her voice.
    “What’s happened?” He
growled on a dark frown. Fate might have brought them together, but it seemed
destiny was trying to keep them apart.
    Carly stalked towards
him. He watched her close that distance and his heart beat double time. Her
hair was flying behind her and her eyes were so intent on him that she looked
like some kind of wood nymph out to tempt and tease him…
    “I don’t appreciate
being walked away from.” Carly frowned harder.
    “I didn’t walk away
from you. I walked away from an impossible situation…” Mason wanted her to know
the truth of it. He’d been that close to losing control with her that if he
hadn’t of left she’d be his now.
    “Impossible means it
can’t be done.”
    “Sounds about right…”
Mason tossed up an absent hand just as she launched herself at him. To his
surprise he caught her mid-air and brought her up against his body.
    “Quitter.” She
breathed out as she wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his
broad shoulders. Mason growled at the contact with his hard length…
    “I don’t quit…” Mason
started but she fisted her fingers into his hair and pressed her lips against
his. The growl that went through him made her toes curl within her boots.
    Mason was as shocked
as hell but he wasn’t about to stand there and debate her change of heart when
she was as hot as fire within his arms. He kissed her with so much passion that
she melted against him. With half a mind on what he was doing; he stalked
across the ground towards the nearest cabin and kicked the door open.
    His brother’s scent
filled the air, but the cabin was empty. He wasn’t about to turn tail and take
her back to his bed. There wasn’t going to be time for that and he didn’t have
the inclination…
    ‘ Dougie, you’re
cabin’s occupied and if you so much as come near the front