Their gazes locked, and, finally, after what seemed to Perrie like an eternity, he slowly started toward her. With each step his smile grew, along with the relief she felt. He stopped, then laughed out loud and held out his arms. Perrie gave a little cry and raced toward him.
She threw herself into his embrace, so hard that they both nearly fell back into the snow. His fingers furrowed through her hair and he brought his mouth down on hers, kissing her wildly, frantically, joyously. 'I thought I'd never see you again,' he murmured against her lips. 'What are you doing here?'
'I had to come back,' Perrie replied, trailing a line of kisses along his jaw. 'I had to tell you.'
'To tell me why you left?'
'No, I had to tell you why I have to stay.' She looked up into the brilliant blue of his eyes. 'I love you, Joe Brennan.'
He stared at her a long moment, then glanced up at the sky and smiled. 'You had better love me, Kincaid,' he said, looking back down at her. 'Because I sure as hell love you.'
With a shout of delight, Perrie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. 'Do you know how scared I was? When I called the lodge and they told me your plane was missing, I didn't know what to do.'
'I stopped to see Romeo and Juliet,' Joe said. 'I stayed a little too long and when I tried to take off, I couldn't get any power. Ice in the fuel line. By the time I figured that out, it was too dark to see to fix it. I just got it cleared when I saw your plane.'
Perrie held his face between her palms. 'Why didn't you use the radio and call someone?'
'I did. I radioed Fort Yukon but I couldn't raise anyone on that end. So I radioed the lodge and left my location with Sammy. I explained that he was supposed to have Tanner call Fort Yukon for me and tell them I'd be there in the morning.'
'Sammy didn't say a thing.'
'Hawk told me mat after Fort Yukon reported me late, Julia sent Sam off with Burdy, knowing mat he'd be upset if he knew I was missing. They didn't explain the situation to him. And Sam just forgot to mention that he'd talked to me.'
'I was so worried. I thought I'd lost you.'
'Why did you leave me, Perrie? Why did you just walk away?'
She pressed her forehead into his chest, unable to meet his gaze. 'Because I was stupid and scared and I didn't believe that you really loved me. I just thought you were doing your job, doing what Milt wanted you to do.'
Joe chuckled and tipped her chin up. 'Milt never mentioned anything about falling in love with you.'
'I meant sleeping with me.'
'He didn't mention that, either. I thought of that all on my own.'
Perrie felt a warm blush creep up her cheeks. 'We are good together.'
'Yes, Kincaid, we do make quite a pair,' he teased. 'And since you agree, I suppose there's only one thing left to do.'
Perrie gave him a coy look, as anxious as he was to return to the lodge and a nice warm bed. She felt as if she could sleep, and make love to him, for the next week. 'And what's that, Brennan?'
'You'll have to marry me.'
She gasped, his words taking her breath away. When it finally returned, she cleared her throat. 'Marry you?'
'Just say yes, sweetheart. We'll figure out where we're going to live and what we're going to do later. Right now, all I need to know is that you'll spend the rest of your life with me.'
With a shout of delight, she launched herself into his arms again, this time knocking them both down into the snow. They rolled over and over each other, kissing and laughing until Joe pinned her arms over her head and lay on top of her.
'So will you?' he asked.
'Yes, yes, yes. But only if we can live in Muleshoe,' Perrie replied.
Joe blinked in surprise. 'Really. You want to live in Alaska?'
Perrie nodded and Joe pressed her face between his palms and kissed her, long and deep. Then he looked up and smiled, his gaze fixed on the far horizon. 'We're being watched,' he said, rolling off her.
Perrie turned onto her stomach and braced her elbows in the snow. Across the wide expanse of flat land, she saw a movement, a flash of gray against a background of white. Romeo came into view and, a few seconds later, Juliet appeared.
Joe put his arm around Perrie's waist, then leaned over and kissed her on the temple. 'Do you think they approve?' he asked.
'Every lone wolf deserves a mate,' Perrie said. 'And now you've found yours.'
With a low growl, Joe pulled her into his arms, and, in that moment, Perrie knew she'd found her place in the wilderness. She'd found her soul mate. And together, they'd make a life for each other.
Kate Hoffmann
