Unstoppable: Love With The Proper Stranger / Letters To Kelly

He, on the other hand, was a very, very big deal. He pulled her up from the sand, and she found herself standing much too close to him. But when she moved to back away, he steadied her with his other hand, his fingers warm against her elbow.

He was tall, with shoulders that went on forever and a broad chest that tapered down to a narrow waist and slim hips and… Embarrassed, Mariah quickly brought her eyes back to his face.

His eyes were blue. They were electric, brilliant, neon blue. And they sparked with the heat of attraction. Dear God, he found her attractive, too.

“Is it just you?” the man asked, and Mariah gazed up at him stupidly, wondering what he was talking about.

“Renting the house,” he added, and she understood.

“Yes,” she said, gently pulling free and putting some distance between them. “I’m here by myself.”

He nodded. God, whoever he was, he was so serious. She’d yet to see him smile.

“How about you?” she asked. “Are you vacationing with your family?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m here alone, too.” He motioned vaguely down the beach. “I’m staying at the resort, at least temporarily. I was thinking about renting one of the houses up on this part of the beach. I’m getting tired of room service—I’d like to have my own kitchen.”

“It’s a trade-off,” Mariah told him. “Renting a house is more private, but you lose the benefits of having a hotel maid. And if you’re not careful about cleaning up after yourself in the kitchen… Well, the variety of insect life you can attract is immense. You can’t leave anything out. Not even a plate with crumbs on it. You have to keep all the food in the refrigerator—or in plastic containers. But as long as you don’t mind doing that, it’s great.”

He nodded. “Maybe I’ll stick with room service for a while longer.”

Princess the dog inched forward and pressed her cold nose against the back of Mariah’s knee. “Yikes!” Mariah exclaimed.

“Princess, back,” the man said sharply.

“She was just playing,” Mariah protested as the dog immediately obeyed. “It’s okay—she just startled me. I don’t mind. She’s…an unusual mix.”

There was a glint of amusement in his eyes. “You’re unusually tactful. But it’s okay. She’s not a mix of anything. She’s a pure mutt, and she knows it. There’s no ego involved—for either one of us.”

“She does what you say,” Mariah said. Princess gazed up at her, tongue lolling from her mouth, eyes sharp, ears alert, tail thumping slightly even though she was sitting down. She seemed to understand every word of the conversation. “That’s worth more than a pedigree.”

“She was well trained,” he told her. “I…inherited her from a friend a few years ago.”

He glanced out over the ocean as if trying to hide the sudden sadness in his eyes. Or maybe she only imagined she saw such an emotion there—when he looked back at her, it was gone.

He held out his hand. “I’m Jonathan Mills.”

His fingers were warm and large and made her own hand seem slender and practically petite. “I’m…” She hesitated for a moment, uncertain of which name to give him. “…Mariah Robinson,” she decided. It wasn’t as if she were telling a lie. It had become true. Over the past two months, she’d acted less and less like Marie Carver and more and more like Mariah Robinson. At least more like the Mariah Robinson she’d heard about from her grandmother. The Mariah her own childhood nickname had come from.

He was still holding her hand, but his gaze had dropped to her breasts again.

“Are you here for the week?” she asked.

He looked up, and for half a second, Mariah thought she saw a flash of embarrassment in his eyes—embarrassment that he’d been caught staring. But it, too, was quickly gone. This man was a master at hiding his feelings.

“I’m here until my hair grows back in,” he told her.

Mariah gently pulled her fingers free from his grip. “Well, that’s one way to handle a bad-hair day.”

Jonathan Mills almost smiled. Almost, but not quite. He ran one hand across his short hair. “Actually, today’s a rather good hair day, if you want to know the truth.”

God, had she insulted him? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that your hair looks bad…or anything…” Her voice trailed off.

He finally smiled. “It’s okay. I know exactly what it looks like, and it looks much better than it did a few days ago.”

He had a nice smile. It was only a small smile, barely playing about the corners of his elegantly shaped lips, but it was very nice just the same.

He looked down at the camera she was holding, its strap still encircling her arm. “Are you a professional photographer?” he asked.

Mariah shook her head. “No, no, I’m…not.” God, what was her problem? It had been two decades since she was a seventh grader, so why was she suddenly acting like one? “It’s a hobby.”

Was it her imagination, or had Jonathan Mills just gone another shade paler?

“I’ve got a camera, too,” he said, “though I’ve got to confess I’m not sure I can get it to work. I bought it a few years ago and don’t use it much. Would you mind if I brought it over sometime? Maybe you could show me how it works.”

Would she mind? “Of course not.”

He looked down the beach in the direction of the resort. “I think I better go,” he said.

He was more pale. And perspiration was beading on his upper lip. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. The morning sun was hot, but it wasn’t that hot.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He pressed his temples with both hands. “I’m not sure. I’m feeling a little…faint.”

He was a stranger. Mariah knew she shouldn’t invite him into her house. But it couldn’t hurt to bring him up so he could sit for a minute in the shade on her deck, could it?

“Why don’t you come up to the house and sit in the shade?” she suggested. “I’ve got some iced tea in the fridge.”

Jonathan nodded. “Thanks.”

His entire face was slick with sweat as he followed Mariah up toward the cottage.

Even Princess was subdued, trailing after them quietly.

Mariah walked backward, watching him worriedly. “You’re not, like, having a heart attack on me, are you?”

Whatever was happening, he was hurting. His lips twisted in a smilelike grimace. “My heart’s fine.”

Mariah could see that it took him some effort to speak, so she didn’t ask any other questions. He staggered slightly, and she quickly moved to help him, unthinkingly supporting him by putting her arm around his back and his arm across her shoulders.

He was warm and he was solid and he was pressed against her side from her underarm all the way to her thighs. She may have reached for him unthinkingly, but now that she was in this rather intimate position, she could do nothing but think.

When was the last time she’d walked arm in arm with a man like this?

Never.

The thought flashed crazily through her mind as she misinterpreted her own silent question. She’d walked arm in arm with plenty of men—although not recently—but she’d never walked arm in arm with a man like this.