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Madison parked her car and crossed the street to the annual Ice Carnival. She definitely didn't want to talk to Nathan about what she'd read in today's paper, so she was hiding out here for an hour before her plane left.

That's probably why she'd allowed a loser boyfriend to walk all over her and a tightwad boss to withhold the promotion she deserved. Even after her retreat week, she still stunk at confrontation. But the difference in the new Madison was that she wouldn't stick around a situation in which she wasn't appreciated. And especially not when she'd been duped.

Therefore, she was hauling out of Lake Placid on a two o'clock charter flight and leaving behind the ice sculptures and igloos she never got to fully enjoy. Cowardly? Maybe. But in her mind, she'd come a long way by being able to say, This sucks, and walk away. Even if it practically ripped her heart out to follow her new instincts.

She had no idea how she'd come to care about Nathan so much over the course of three days, but she'd dived right in, damn it. Apparently her dating interview process was hideously ineffective because she never would have pegged Nathan for the kind of guy who would have stood between her and her work.

A cheer went up from a crowd on the ice twenty yards away. While Madison peered over at the group of revelers with flashbulbs popping, her shopping buddy Ines squeezed her way out of the throng and waved a purple-mittened hand.

"Madison, come here!" She ran over to Madison and dragged her closer to the crowd. "Nathan Abrams just won the ice fishing derby!"

Madison ground her heels into the ice. She had no idea how Ines knew about her connection to Nathan, but she wasn't waiting around to find out. And she definitely wasn't waiting around to see...him.

Her gaze connected with Nathan's as the small crowd parted between them. Madison recognized Nathan's friend J.D. at his side, along with several Hearthside Inn staffers. And thanks to a mug shot in this morning's paper, she was even able to pick out the columnist from the Adirondack News. It helped that the woman wore a heavy camera around her neck and even now flashed a photo of Nathan with his pile of fish.

Nathan took a step toward her, dragging every bit of the group's attention along with him.

"I competed in ice fishing in the hopes of taking a first place prize today." He talked to the crowd as much as he talked to her, this loner who had told her he went to the pool at three a.m. to avoid people. "You know why I wanted to take first place today, Madison?"

She arched an eyebrow, curious. Even though all of the first places in Lake Placid wouldn't excuse his underhanded tactics for keeping her away from her work while pretending to be besotted with her. The skunk.

"I needed a first place to get another quote in the paper." He reached for her arms, wrapped his gloved fingers about her shoulders.

"Your last quote in the paper already said quite a bit."

"But this time, I wanted to be sure to add that me not wanting the Adirondacks to turn into the next Vail or Aspen doesn't mean I don't want you to do your job." He stared into her eyes as if there wasn't anyone around but them. The same way he had stared into her eyes for the last three amazing nights. "And I also wanted to be sure to say that just because I'm a loner doesn't mean I expect you to be. Or that I'd ever hoard you all to myself. Unless you wanted me to, that is."

Something warm and tender and oh-so-precious unfurled inside her. Slowly. Carefully. Could she trust this man that she'd known for such a short time? "You wouldn't?"

"I should have told you I'm not a rah-rah publicist type as far as the mountains are concerned. But I didn't want to rain on your parade." He looked around at his neighbors and friends as if finally aware they were there, too. "This was your week, damn it. You should be doing what you want to do. I swear to you, Madison, all the time we spent together ? that was just because I wanted to be with you, not because I wanted to interfere with your work."

Maybe confrontation wasn't always such a bad thing. "If I do a feature on the Adirondacks ?" A hopeful gasp rippled through the crowd. "And I'm not promising I can, but if I do and Lake Placid turns into next year's hot spot, I'm pretty sure that I can find you five more exotic, remote locales where we can run away and be loners, Nathan." She edged closer to him, confident her instincts were dead-on with this man. "I have the feeling you could use a vacation or two in your work schedule."

Nathan smiled, a slow sexy smile just for her. "And I have the feeling I'm going to indulge you in that, Madison Blair."

He kissed her for all of the town to see. Madison had no doubt who would be on the front cover of the Adirondak News tomorrow morning.

She could already see the headlines ? "Local Couple Takes First Prize?"

The End

Read more from Joanne Rock in In Hot Pursuit, out now in Blaze Romance