“I’ve been looking all over.
Where the hell have you been?”
Charity took a step back, intimidated a little by the dark glint in Call’s eyes and the anger in his face. “I-I was taking some pictures. It’s such a lovely day, so much warmer than it has been, and I-I—”
“Do you know how worried Maude’s been?” He dumped his daypack onto the ground and continued walking toward her. “She was afraid something terrible had happened.” He reached out, caught the tops of her arms, and hauled her toward him. “She was frantic. How could you be so thoughtless?”
Charity blinked at him. “I told her I was going for a walk. I might have stayed a little longer than I intended but I didn’t think she’d be upset.”
“Well, she was.” He held her immobile, their bodies nearly touching. “She was worried sick.”
There was something in his expression. Fear, she realized. Concern for her. “Maude was worried?” she said softly. “Or you were?”
Those fierce blue eyes bored into her. His arm slid down, wrapped around her waist, and he hauled her the last few inches between them, pressing his body full-length against hers. “I was,” he said, and then he kissed her.
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MIDNIGHT SUN
KAT MARTIN
ZEBRA BOOKS
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
To the men and women, past and present, who risk it all for adventure. To the beauty and magnificence of Alaska and the great Northwest—and the journey of a lifetime. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
Manhattan, New York
“I don’t believe it. You can’t actually mean to go through with this.” Jeremy paced over to the dresser in the bedroom where Charity stood studying each piece of clothing she intended to take on her trip. “You can’t possibly mean to quit your job, give up your apartment, and go off to some godforsaken town in the wilderness.”
Charity flicked him only the briefest of glances and continued to fold her sweatshirt, a red one with a little red-and-white-checked collar she thought was particularly warm.
“It isn’t as if you didn’t know this was going to happen,” she said. “I’ve been planning this for weeks. I told you the day I made the decision to leave. As you do with anything that doesn’t fit into your plans, you simply chose not to believe it.”
He crossed the room and reached for her, turned her to face him. “Think about what you’re doing, Charity. Think what you’re giving up. You’ve got a good job at Glenbrook Publishing. You just got promoted to senior editor, for God’s sake.”
“I gave them notice weeks ago, Jeremy. They’ve already replaced the position.”
“They’d take you back in a heartbeat and you know it. You’re destroying your career, but if that isn’t enough—what about me?”
At five-foot-ten, with his perfectly styled, jet-black hair and deep green eyes, Jeremy Hauser was undeniably attractive. When Charity had met him at a literacy fund-raiser two years ago, she had fallen like a rock for his debonair good looks, Wall Street polish and charm. After dating him—practically living with him in his swanky East Side apartment—she knew how self-centered, how totally self-absorbed he could be.
She caught the hand he raised to her cheek and drew it away. “We’ve had two years, Jeremy. We’ve shared good times and bad, but you know as well as I do, things haven’t been great with us for the last six months. Maybe putting some space between us will help decide where our relationship is headed.”
Or if, as Charity suspected, it was headed nowhere at all.
“There’s nothing wrong with our relationship. I’ll admit I’ve been a little stressed-out lately. I’m up for that promotion and you know how much I want it.” He gave her one of his most charming smiles. “I realize I haven’t been very good company, but give up this crazy scheme of yours and I’ll make it up to you—I promise.”
“I’m sorry, Jeremy. I think this goes way beyond being good company. We haven’t even made love in nearly a month.”
He paled a little at hearing her come right out and say it. Jeremy had always been reserved in the bedroom, which in the beginning she’d found rather sweet. The truth was, sex just wasn’t a driving factor in Jeremy’s life. He was always too tired, too busy, too rushed. Mostly, he was just too preoccupied with his own needs to care all that much about hers.
She turned away from him, reached for a pair of Liz Claiborne jeans and started to roll them up. Jeremy leaned over and gently blew against her ear.
“Don’t