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* * *
Annie was dreaming of Love, Alaska. Ice-skating at Deer Run Lake. Wintry nights. A tight-knit community where she would be welcomed with open arms. A spanking new library that changed lives, one book at a time. A soft place to fall when the world around her became chaotic. A strapping, tall man with golden hair and a magnetic smile.
She heard a flapping noise by her ear. She raised her hand to brush it away. Something furry was swirling around her neck. Oh no! This wasn’t a dream. This was real life. Something was burrowed in her hair. With a scream lodged in her throat, Annie sat up straight and started fighting it off with her fists. She managed to get it out of her hair. By the glow of the fire, she could see wings and squinty little eyes as he began flying around her in circles.
“Bat!” she yelled as the fuzzy brown critter swooped down at her. Once again it burrowed in her hair as she began to jump around wildly in an effort to dislodge it.
She had almost died earlier today in a plane crash. And now she was on the brink of being killed by a rabid bat bent on taking her down. She began shrieking at the top of her lungs.
“Declan! Help!”
* * *
It was a perfect Alaskan day. The sun was shining brightly in a robin’s-egg-colored sky. Declan soared above the clouds without a care in the world. Everything felt peaceful up here in the wild blue yonder, as if nothing bad could ever touch him again.
Something was wrong. He was flying Lucy. No, that wasn’t possible. Hadn’t Lucy gone up in flames?
Screams jolted him awake. As soon as Declan heard the word bat, his entire body froze up. Bats! The one thing in the world that he didn’t want to deal with head-on. Give him bears, wild moose and wolves. He’d take those animals on any day of the week without batting an eye. He had hated bats ever since one had bitten him when he was six years old. He and Boone had been spelunking in Nottingham Woods when they had stumbled upon a group of bats. Declan felt a chill crawl down his back at the memory.
He sat up straight and looked over at Annie. She was on her feet, jumping up and down while yelling at the top of her lungs. Pushing past the terror, he leaped up from his pallet and raced over to Annie’s side.
“Bat!” she screamed again, pointing toward her hair. The bat was tangled up in her shoulder-length brown hair.
Declan searched the strands and immediately spotted a flapping bat’s wing. Thankful for Annie’s extra pair of mittens, he wrenched the bat from Annie’s tangled locks and hurled it to the ground. For a moment, the bat sat on the ground, seemingly stunned.
“I hope the poor critter is okay,” Annie said in a fretful tone.
With a wild cry, it flapped its wings and took off, soaring into the black night.
Annie stared after the bat as it flew off into the distance. “I was sort of hoping this was all a dream. There really was a bat in my hair, wasn’t there?”
“Yes, there was,” Declan said, still amazed by the turn of events. What more could this day possibly bring? A snowstorm and a pack of wolves?
“They can be dangerous if they bite you,” Annie said.
“Did it bite you?” he asked, alarmed. That was the last thing they needed to take this crisis over the top.
Her lips trembled. “I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Can you look for me?”
Declan lifted her hair up and away from her neck. He inspected one side, then the other. There was no evidence of a bat bite. No marks whatsoever. “I don’t see anything, Annie. I think you’re good.”
Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Phew. Bats can carry rabies. Although most don’t, it would be unfortunate to be bitten by a rabies-infested bat.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against Declan’s cheek. “Thank you. That’s the second time you saved my life. All in one day. You really are a superhero, Declan O’Rourke.”
Superhero. Just hearing her say that word made his chest swell to twice its normal size. His heart began thrumming like a drumbeat.
Declan didn’t say a word as Annie settled back onto her pallet. She took her cloak and wrapped it around her face and torso, then burrowed under her clothes. Clearly she wasn’t taking any more chances with bats.
He raised his hand to his cheek and let out a ragged sigh. The kiss from Annie had come out of nowhere. Things had suddenly gotten very complicated. His chest tightened, and he swallowed past the emotions rising to the surface. He didn’t even want to analyze what he was feeling in this moment. It had been such a long time since he had felt anything simmering between himself and an attractive, appealing woman.
It didn’t matter. He couldn’t allow anything romantic to develop between them. Annie Murray wasn’t his type. She was looking for a husband. He had no intention of courting a small-town librarian who was in search of a soul mate. Although Operation Love was a smashing success in his opinion, he didn’t want to be matched up with anyone. He had long ago reached the conclusion that he wasn’t the settling-down type.
The past had taught him that happily-ever-afters weren’t meant for everyone, especially not the son of Colin O’Rourke.
From what he’d seen, Annie was way too sensitive for his liking. He’d already made her cry. And he didn’t like the way she rattled things off as if she was a walking encyclopedia. After a while it might get old to have someone constantly spouting off facts like a know-it-all. It felt awkward that he had opposed library funding. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that. He had been way too unnerved earlier by her tears. And something told him she would have been as mad as a hornet at the discovery.
Considering the fact that the town was still struggling to get back on its feet, funding a library didn’t seem practical. It was one thing for the town to support businesses like Hazel’s Lovely Boots, but a library wasn’t going to bring money to Love. It was simply going to put a strain on an already tight town budget.
All that was fine and good. But the moment Annie’s lips had pressed against his cheek, something had shifted a little bit inside him. Something that deeply worried him. She had just stirred up feelings inside him that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Feelings that terrified him way more than any bat ever could.
Chapter Four
Annie felt as if she had barely put her head down on her pallet before morning came, bringing with it hope for rescue and fear of the unknown. For a few moments, she sat back and enjoyed the sunrise as it crept into being. Oranges, pinks and purples graced the sky, serving as a reminder that God was all around her. He had created this magnificent scenery. And He would see to it that she and Declan made their way to Love. She knew it all the way down to the tips of her toes.
She swept her gaze around her. The fire that had burned so brightly last night was now barely a flame. The warmth it had provided was a thing of the past. Her tingling fingers could attest to that fact. At least it was still burning, which meant it could be resurrected. She raised her arms over her head and stretched, casting a quick glance in the direction of Declan’s pallet. He was still propped against the tree, but his eyes were pressed closed and he was fast asleep.
She felt a surge of gratitude for this strong, sturdy man who had been her anchor during this crisis. He had not only saved their lives by executing a perfect landing in the wilderness but also rescued her from a bat’s clutches and saved all her belongings from the plane. Declan had taken care of her, something she hadn’t experienced a whole lot in her life. One of the reasons she had always been so independent was that, other than Gram, there had been no one to lean on.
Annie let out a sigh as she stood up and headed toward the fire. If it was going to continue to burn, she was going to have to stoke it. Declan had stayed up through the night to accomplish that task. She was guessing that he had finally fallen asleep due to utter exhaustion.
Even though they were still stranded in the middle of Chugach National Forest and there was no hint of imminent rescue, she still felt blessed. They were alive and uninjured. And according to Declan, a search party would be looking for them today. Hope was ever present.
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