Unsafe Haven by Char Chaffin

how idiotic she sounded.
    Denn loosed a strangled garble as he pointed to a cluster of buildings on the left. “North Star Apartments. They offer free HBO.”
    “Shut up. ” She was enjoying herself despite having her dignity stomped on. The realization rather stunned her. Still, she stuck her nose in the air. “At least I didn’t roll down the damned window and call here, moosie moosie .”
    “To my everlasting relief.” He eased onto a narrow street cluttered with assorted four-wheelers, a few trucks, and dirt bikes. “Start looking for a parking spot.”
    With interest, she stared out the window. After Denn’s talk of what was available here, she’d expected a town twice the size of Staamat. However, New Mina wasn’t much bigger, and certainly not as attractive. She noticed very few trees and more dust. But the downtown area seemed busy enough, if the packed wooden sidewalks were anything to go by.
    “There’re a lot of people walking around.”
    “Everyone comes to town in the spring and loads up on supplies.” Denn scanned the street for a place to park.
    A burly man in thick rubber boots loaded bags of feed into a small trailer he pulled behind his four-wheeler. His tangled beard hit him at about mid-chest. “Is that a sourdough?” She pointed toward him.
    “Definitely. He comes into town when he runs out of food for his team.” At her raised eyebrows, he said, “He’s a musher. Runs a dog team in the races. Iditarod, Yukon Quest, some of the local races. You want to meet him?”
    “I don’t—”
    Before she could demur, he’d shifted into park, climbed from the truck, and strode around to her door, then opened it and helped her out. “Come on. Bear’s a real character.” He caught her by the hand and led her across the street. “Yo, Bear!”
    The man’s head came up, his face wearing a fierce frown, which lightened into a surprisingly attractive smile when he spotted them. “Well, I’ll be go to hell. Hey, Nulo!” He boldly looked Kendall over. “What’s that ya got attached to ya, there? New girly?” He sent her a wink lusty enough to heat her face from chin to hairline.
    “As a matter of fact, yeah.” Denn shocked her when he curled an arm around her waist and anchored her to his side. She gaped at him and he put a finger on her chin to push it up until her teeth clacked together. “She’s kind of shy, aren’t you, baby?”
    Baby? Her eyes fired and she raised her hand to push at him, but he caught her fingers and pressed a kiss on them. “Meet Kendall. She’s spoken for.” He avoided the elbow she tried to grind into his ribs, and clasped her tighter. “Honey, this is Jim Bernard, otherwise known as ‘Bear.’ He’s even shyer than you.”
    While Bear snorted, Denn gave her a squeeze, and the protest died on her lips when she caught his subtle headshake. Something must be going on. Whatever it was, she’d find out. For now, she might as well play along.
    “It’s nice to meet you.” She couldn’t help but notice the way Bear’s dark eyes glowed when she offered him a smile and her hand to shake. “Why do they call you ‘Bear’?”
    He let loose a guffaw that made his beard tremble and cradled her hand in both of his. “Because I got paws like a bear, honey-pie.”
    His grip felt odd. When she glanced at his hands, she gasped. The tip of every finger was gone. “Oh my God.”
    “Wasn’t God, sweetheart. Was my own stupidity.” He patted her hand as he held it. “I came here from West Virginia, thought I knew all about winter survival. Spent my first summer building my cabin and my first winter getting drunk and climbing Little Staamat. Got trapped during a climb and wasn’t wearing decent gloves. Three days later they found me.”
    He winked at her, and she was struck by how good-looking he might be without all the facial hair. “I got enough left to hang onto my sled leads, and that’s the main thing, honey-pie. But frostbite ain’t nothing to mess