She sat up and tapped Joe on the shoulder. "Where are we?" she asked.
"That's the southern edge of the Yukon Flats below us," Joe replied. "We're not far from Fort Yukon and the Arctic Circle. I thought we'd take a little side trip. I have something special I want to show you."
"We're that far north?" Perrie asked. "What are we doing up here?"
Joe looked over his shoulder and smiled. "You'll see," he said.
A few moments later, Perrie felt the plane begin to descend. "What's wrong?" she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice.
"Nothing. We're going to land."
She stared down at the desolate wilderness below. Unlike the small area they'd landed in at the Gebhardts', there were plenty of wide open spaces to put down here. But there wasn't a cabin in sight. "There's nothing down there."
"There's a lot here," Joe replied, peering out the window, searching for something in the snow below. "You just have to look a little more closely."
He finally set the plane down on a wide, treeless expanse of snow, landing so smoothly the only thing that told her she was on the ground was the hiss of snow beneath the plane's skis. He shut the engine down, then helped her out of the plane, tossing a pair of down sleeping bags at her feet.
"We're spending the night here?" Perrie asked.
He threw a thick blanket over the engine to keep it warm. "Only if you get really lucky," he teased. "Come on."
They walked away from the plane, his eyes scanning the area, still searching. Then he stopped and unrolled the two sleeping bags. Wrapping one around her shoulders, he pointed to the ground. Once she was settled, he sat down beside her in the snow and handed her a pair of binoculars.
"Are you going to tell me what we're looking for?"
"Just be quiet and watch," he said.
They sat, silently, for more than a half hour. Though the sun was bright and the air calm, she still felt the cold seeping into her bones. She was about to ask him when they would leave when he slowly raised his arm and pointed to the horizon. "There," he murmured.
She held up the binoculars and stared out over the snow. A movement in her field of vision caught her attention and she carefully focused. Her breath caught in her throat as a huge gray wolf appeared out of the snow.
"I saw him for the first time about three years ago," Joe explained. "I was flying some supplies up to Fort Yukon in the Otter and had some engine trouble, so I had to put the plane down. I was working on the engine when all of a sudden I looked up and there he was, watching me."
"Weren't you afraid?"
"Wolves aren't aggressive. They're afraid of man and would never attack unless they're provoked. Or sick. I think he was just a little lonely, wandering around out here on his own. He was a lone wolf, a male without a family. Probably kicked out of his pack by the alpha male."
Perrie glanced over at him. "Burdy called you a lone wolf once."
Joe smiled. "I guess I am. But not as alone as Romeo was. He was completely alone."
"Romeo?"
"That's what I named him. Every time I flew up here I'd check on him. Sometimes I wouldn't see him for months, and then, there he'd be. He's harder to spot in the winter since he has to wander farther for food. But I think he's starting to recognize the sound of my plane."
"Really?" Perrie asked.
Joe laughed. "No. I'd just like to think we're friends."
"You do have a lot in common."
"Maybe." He paused, scanning the area with his binoculars again. "At least we did, until he found Juliet Look, there she is."
Perrie trained her binoculars to the left of Romeo. Standing near the huge gray wolf was a smaller black wolf. "His mate?"
"Yeah. Romeo finally decided to settle down a couple years back. I guess he got tired of playing the field."
"Maybe you should have given him some advice," Perrie teased. "The way I hear it, you've got quite a way with the ladies."
"Don't believe everything you hear," Joe said.
"If I were writing a story on your love life, Brennan, I'd have more than enough confirmation to go to print." Perrie studied the wolves for a long moment, then put the binoculars in her lap and looked at Joe. "What about you?" she asked. "Do you ever think about finding a Juliet?"
"Wolves mate for life. I'm not sure I'm the type to be with one woman forever."
"Me, neither," Perrie said. "I mean, with one man. I suppose some people are happy with that. But I've never met a man that I could imagine spending the rest of my life with."
"Maybe you just haven't met your Romeo," he said softly, looking down at her.
"And maybe you haven't met your Juliet," she countered.
His gaze locked with hers, and for a moment, she thought he might kiss her. But then he turned away. "Look," he said. "There's the rest of the family."
Three other wolves appeared behind Juliet, about the same size as their mother but lankier.
"They had five pups last summer," Joe explained, "but they lost two of them sometime in the fall. I'm not sure what happened."
"That's sad," she said.
"That's life in the wilderness," he replied. He glanced at her again. Then, without hesitation, he leaned over and touched his mouth to hers. His lips were incredibly warm, sending a pulse of heat through her body that seemed to drive away the cold.
His tongue teased at hers, and for an instant, she thought about drawing away. But her common sense had fled and she was left with only instinct and the overwhelming need to have more. Unlike their first, challenging kiss or the frantic meeting of mouths that they'd experienced in the snow, this kiss was different. It was slow and delicious, filled with a longing that she didn't know existed between them.
She didn't want him to stop this time. Instead, she wanted to pull him down on top of her and find out how Joe Brennan really felt about her. And how she felt about him. As if he read her thoughts, he gently pushed her back into the soft down sleeping bag, his lips never leaving hers.
Everything that had stood between them-the arguments, the mistrust, the fight for control-simply dissolved, swept away by the stark solitude of the wilderness. They were completely alone, a brilliant blue sky above and nothing but untamed country all around them.
She felt wild, primal, uninhibited, like the wolves they'd watched, driven by instinct and pure need. She wanted to touch him, to feel his skin beneath her fingertips, to run her hands through his hair. Impatiently, she slipped off her mittens then clutched at the front of his down jacket, pulling him closer.
He groaned softly, his breath hot against her mouth. "We're doing it again," he murmured. "You're making me crazy, Kincaid."
"I know," Perrie said, breathless. "We should stop. But I don't want to stop."
"No, we shouldn't stop," Joe said, tugging off his gloves. "Not this time." He pushed her hat off to furrow his hands into her hair. Tipping her head, he kissed her again, deeper and longer, his mouth plundering hers until her head spun with uncontrolled desire.
She shuddered, the passion radiating through her in waves. Joe pulled his sleeping bag over them both, ere-ating a warm cocoon. Slowly, he tugged at the zipper of her jacket, then slipped his fingers beneath the layers of sweaters she wore. When he finally met warm skin, she heard him suck in his breath and hold it.
"This is not the place to do this," Joe said. "It's ten below zero."
"It's warm enough," Perrie said.
Joe pushed himself up, then looked at her, playfully running his finger along her bottom lip. "But there are much warmer places to be, sweetheart. We don't have to risk frostbite to be with each other."
Perrie closed her eyes. "You know, we'd be risking a lot more than frostbite if we let this happen again." Her common sense had returned in full force and she sat up and tugged her jacket closed. "This is ridiculous, Brennan. We can't keep doing this."
"Why not?" Joe asked.
Perrie opened her mouth to reply, then realized she didn't have a good reason. There had to be a reason. "Because we can't."