Janice Sims - Safe in My Arms

Operation: love.

Former army pilot Mina Gaines isn’t looking for a hero. She’s too busy running her grandfather’s remote mountainside hotel to bother with love. That is, until a private plane crashes and brings danger to her doorstep…and a sexy stranger into her life. There’s no mistaking that a serious threat is near, but when faced with no other way to survive, can she trust that there’s more to Jake?

Bringing a drug kingpin to justice is undercover DEA agent Jake Wolfe’s top mission. Now, with the beautiful Mina caught in the criminal’s crosshairs, he’s ready to take any risk to protect her—and keep her in his arms forever.

“I gave it a try and I liked it,”

Mina said with a note of humor in her voice. “I’ve always been a physical person and this life suits me.”

Jake inhaled and exhaled. The clean mountain air was invigorating. “I can see what you mean. This is the life.”

Mina laughed softly. “I’m glad you like it. You know you could be in a luxurious suite at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. They have over 1,100 rooms, plus a casino and a world-class entertainment center where top country music artists perform every weekend—”

Jake leaned over and kissed her midsentence. He let her lead him, waiting for permission to deepen the kiss. He would have been satisfied with just the taste of her lips on his tongue. After a moment, Mina sighed softly and gave herself to him. Her hand came up to caress his cheek, and she leaned in to him. Jake marveled at how sweet she tasted and how well the two of them anticipated each other’s needs. It was a gentle kiss. It was a kiss to seal what they each knew was happening between them, a meeting of kindred souls.

JANICE SIMS

is the author of twenty-one novels and has had stories included in nine anthologies. She has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book Reviews, and her novel Temptation’s Song was nominated for Best Kimani Romance Series in 2010 by RT Book Reviews. A longtime member of Romance Writers of America, she lives in Central Florida with her family.

Safe in My Arms

Janice Sims

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Dear Reader,

What makes a hero? Are they born with a sense of duty to others? Or do heroes simply react when the time comes to step up and save someone? In Safe in My Arms, both Amina Gaines and Jake Wolfe have suffered severe personal losses and are scarred by them.

We all have scars. None of us go through life without being marked by them. It’s up to us whether or not those scars add to our character or detract from it. That’s what I found so fascinating about Mina and Jake: they were people who rose above misfortune and thrived. An accident brought them together, but what happened after that was no accident—it was Fate.

I’m presently writing the third book in the Gaines Sisters series. You can contact me via Facebook, www.janicesims.com, Jani569432@aol.com or at Post Office Box 811, Mascotte, Florida 34753-0811.

Janice

Acknowledgments

Thanks to both Shannon Criss and Rachel Burkot for their editorial expertise in the production of Safe in My Arms. Your insights were most appreciated.

This book is dedicated to my Yahoo group who has shown a great deal of loyalty over the years. You’re like an extended family. Thanks for being the kind of readers who not only write reviews all over the web, but have been known to make new converts by word-of-mouth.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 1

“Oh, my God,” cried John Monahan, his face set in grim lines and his eyes on the Piper Matrix G1000’s fuel gauge. The indicator was perilously close to empty. “Somebody’s tampered with the fuel line. We don’t have enough to make it to the next town, let alone Atlanta.”

Jake Wolfe, sitting next to him in the pilot’s seat, stared at him in disbelief. John had gone pale under his tan. Jake felt his stomach plummet as he leaned over to peer out of the side window. Although John had the plane in a controlled glide, it felt as if the forest of the Great Smoky Mountains was rising up to meet them.

“We still have time to jump!” he said while unfastening his seat belt. When he had been loading the plane earlier today he’d spotted a couple of parachutes in the overhead storage compartment.

“It’s worth a try,” said John, sounding far from confident.

Hope blossomed in Jake’s chest when he found the parachutes. But on closer inspection, he discovered the rip cords on both of them had been irreparably damaged.

He hurried back to his seat and buckled up. “They’re totally useless,” he reported to John.

“It’s my fault,” John said gloomily as he did everything in his power to slow their descent. “I called Lynn and told her what I was planning to do. I never suspected Charlie would bug my home phone. I put Lynn at risk.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Jake said tightly. He was trying not to panic. It wasn’t working. “Just concentrate on landing this thing.”

A DEA agent, Jake had been undercover for nearly a year to get evidence on Charlie Betts, one of the most notorious drug dealers in the southern United States. The agency had never been able to catch him with the goods. But now, here Jake was, in a plane with its cargo hold stuffed full of illegal drugs recently obtained in Canada and a pilot willing to testify against Betts, and they were going down!

John was still talking nervously as he worked furiously to land the plane in a clearing he’d spotted below.

“I can’t believe Charlie would sabotage a million-dollar plane and risk millions of dollars’ worth of product going up in smoke just to get rid of me.”

Jake figured John was talking to calm himself, so he joined in the conversation, even though he felt that discussing anything right now, other than how to save their lives, was counterproductive. “You sound hurt, John. What did you expect from a murdering bastard like Charlie Betts?”

John turned to look at him for a split second, fear and anguish in his eyes. “The clearing’s a no-go, but I’m going to get this baby down in one piece, one way or another, and if I don’t make it, take care of my family. I shouldn’t have told Lynn. I’m such a fool.”

“The agency’s been watching over your family for weeks now, ever since I suspected you were coming over to our side,” Jake told him. “And we’re both gonna make it.” He nodded at the controls. “Ground’s coming up fast. Work your magic, John.”

“Hold on!” John yelled. The plane careened into a pine forest. The sound of the crash was deafening. Shards of glass flew around them like sparkling rain. The nose of the plane slid down a huge tree trunk to the forest floor, and then the plane fell onto its back, which was lucky for them, because the fuel tank was on the bottom of the plane. That, and the fact that the tank was nearly empty when they crashed, saved them from an explosion. Jake didn’t have time to brace himself. His final thought before losing consciousness was that if he was going to die he hoped it would happen quickly.