A Soldier for Christmas by Jillian Hart Page A

keep in the squeak of fear that erupted the moment he gave an effortless jerk on her inner tube and kept pulling. Her feet lifted off the rocky riverbed as he drew her through the eddies and directly into the teeth of the current. The force of it seemed to bite like a dog, held on and tried to drag her away. Not the best sensation.
    Help? She couldn’t seem to make that word come out of her terror-struck mouth. She wasn’t aware how it happened, but he was at her side and his steely arm drew her toward him.
    Their inner tubes bumped together and she jostled to a stop against him. There she was, in the shelter of his arms, up to her chin in water, protected from the river’s tenacious current and shaded from the blinding sun. Safe at his side, her fear trickled away into nothing at all.
    Her feet found a firm purchase on the rocks below and a different fear coursed through her as he casually drew her closer still. Somehow she found enough air to breathe in order to speak. “I thought we were going wading or something.”
    “That’ll teach you to jump to conclusions.”
    “No, it was more like wishful thinking. Clinging to false hopes.”
    “You do know how to swim, right?” Mitch could feel the way she trembled. Tenderness flowed through him with a force that was greater than the river, greater than anything he’d ever known before.
    The emotion sharpened until it ached in his throat. She was so little and fragile and dainty in his arms, and that well of tenderness just kept on brimming. He wished he could hold her close and protect her. Forever.
    The question was, would she let him?
    He tugged her a little closer, but she seemed to resist. That was his answer, apparently. Okay, he’d work with that.
    “I know enough to dog paddle basically.” There was that cute furrow again between her eyes. The one he wanted to kiss until her worry went away. He doubted that would make her calmer right now. In time, he thought, although it was tough not being able to take this up a level.
    Was it his imagination, or did she cling to him more tightly? His care for her was like nothing he’d ever known before. He longed to be with her in the way mountaintops needed snow, rivers needed the sea. The way night needed the dawn. To feel whole. With a perfect purpose.
    Ever since he’d left for boot camp, he’d found a great purpose to his life. One he felt qualified and called to do. But right now, being with Kelly, his whole heart crumpled and fell, changing him forever.
    “Don’t worry. I’ll be right with you,” he promised. “I’m qualified in water stuff.”
    “Water stuff? That makes me feel so much better. Not. ”
    “It should. I’m trained in all sorts of amphibious things. You’re in good hands. Ready?”
    No, she was so not ready. Kelly gave a squeak of fear as she was whisked up onto the seemingly enormous inner tube, which he held safely for her. As aggressively as the current tried, it could not tear her away from Mitch’s grip.
    This was a very bad idea. Panic roared through her with a quaking iciness, stealing the hot burn from the sun on her face and arms, and drowning out the rush of the river. It wasn’t the river that was scaring her now. That fear, as great as it was, was nothing compared to the panic threatening to take her over. It was Mitch. Her feelings for him were so strong.
    He made it all worse with the gentle brush of heat as he leaned to whisper in her ear. “No worries. I’ll keep you safe. Count on me.”
    It would be so totally tempting to care for him in a way that went beyond friendship, Kelly thought as she clutched the side of the rubber inner tube. Mitch looked like everything trustworthy in the world—he was strong of character and spirit. As a friend, he made her laugh, but he did more than that. He lit up her world.
    What could she do about that? She’d stop feeling this way, that’s what. She’d hold on tight to her common sense, that’s what. At least her panic was in