Free Magenta Mine: An Invertary Novella by janet elizabeth henderson

underground without there being at least three of you. That’s what cavers do, they go in teams, but this mine is different. I spent years exploring it as a kid. Sure, I was lucky I never got injured or lost, but it means that no one knows this place better than I do. If someone else came in here on their own, I’d blast them for it. But I know what I’m doing. I know this mine. Plus, I always tell the twins where I’m going and when I expect to get back. That way, if something freaky happens, someone can find me.”
    “I don’t like it.” She could have guessed Harry would say that even before the words came out of his mouth.
    Magenta couldn’t help laughing. “I don’t care what you like and don’t like, Hairy Boil.”
    He grunted. “I know, Maggie Fraser.”
    Without thinking, she swung her arm and smacked him in the vicinity of his stomach. Harry grabbed her hand and held it tightly. Her thoughts stuttered before she remembered she was annoyed. “Don’t call me that.” She tugged to free her hand. Harry threaded his fingers with hers, and the touch made Magenta hyperaware of her heartbeat.
    “Then don’t call me Hairy Boil,” he said with a laugh.
    “Imbecile.”
    “Tyrant.”
    Magenta stopped trying to free her hand and decided instead to pretend Harry wasn’t holding it. She didn’t want to admit to him, or to herself, that she liked it. She liked the feel of his skin against hers. The warmth of his touch. The strength in his hold. She liked it all a little too much.
    “You go rock climbing?”
    “Yes. Outside. In the air. Where nothing can bury me alive.”
    “Drama queen,” she muttered.
    “I’ll take you sometime. It utilises some of the same skills as caving, only in daylight.”
    “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
    “I tell you what. I’ll go caving with you, if you go rock climbing with me.”
    She wanted to. She really did. But each step closer to Harry was a step closer to watching him reject her when he discovered her secret. She’d known at thirteen that having Harry judge and reject her would devastate. It would be even worse to have him reject her now that all the potential he’d had as a teenager had been realised. He was sexy, built like a fighter and so freaking confident in his own intelligence that it dazzled. He wasn’t easy to resist, but she knew he would leave her broken beyond repair if she let him get close and then watched him turn away.
    “How about we don’t do either?” She hoped she sounded far cooler than she felt.
    Harry chuckled as he let go of her hand. A squeal left her lips as strong hands grasped her hips and lifted her up. Before she could form words, she was tucked in at Harry’s side, her head in the crook of his shoulder, his hand branding her hip.
    “What the hell?” She leaned up to face him, even though she couldn’t see him in the dark. His grip tightened.
    “You were driving us both nuts with your bashing around. You’re obviously uncomfortable and worried you’ll somehow touch me in your sleep. This way, you’re comfortable and you don’t have to worry about the touching.”
    “What if I don’t want to be wrapped around you like a pretzel?”
    His lips brushed her ear. “Oh, but you do want to be wrapped around me, Magenta,” he whispered.
    Magenta’s mouth went dry as need pulsed through her body. Her sensible, rational mind—the one that reminded her a future with Harry wasn’t possible—was overwhelmed by the nearness of him. A small voice whispered in her brain. It told her to take this. This one night close to Harry. She deserved this one chance to touch him, to breathe him in, to feel him surround her, because in the morning, when the door to the mine opened, she’d close the door to her heart for good. “I’ll sleep here, but only because it’s more comfortable. Don’t get any ideas.”
    “I wouldn’t dare.” He was mocking her. She knew it.
    Stiffly, she placed her head back on his chest. Why did he