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“Okay, that’s it,” he announced. “Let’s get movin’.” He dropped her leg as if it were a seashell; picked up, examined, then discarded as useless.
And just like that she hated him again.
“That’s your idea of a ‘rest’?” she asked. “Three whole minutes?”
Standing up, he held one hand out to her and pulled her to her feet. “Sun’ll be up in a few hours,” he said sagely, his gaze drifting across the far horizon. “I want to be tucked away nice and quiet before that happens.”
She shifted her gaze to the same horizon and realized that the sky did look just a bit brighter. They’d been walking all night. No wonder she was tired, for pity’s sake.
“And you think I’m going to be able to walk three more miles in under three hours?” If the way she was feeling at the moment was any indication, she’d be lying in a crumpled heap inside of a half hour. Her own fallen image rose up in her brain, and Lisa imagined the headlines—Billionaire’s Daughter Found Dead in Desert. And, of course, there’d be pictures. Of her mummified body wearing her once fashionable, now pitiful, designer dress.
Now there’s an epitaph.
“You’ll make it,” he said, his words shattering the thoughts in her mind with the steely ring of determination in his tone.
She looked up at him. Funny, she hadn’t noticed until just this minute how tall he was. At least six-three. At five-nine, Lisa was no munchkin, but he made her feel tiny in comparison. Maybe she could make it. With his help. He didn’t seem the kind of man to give up easily. If he had, they would have been captured hours ago.
“Okay, general,” she said, bravely swallowing the knot of fear lodged in her throat. “You lead, I’ll follow.”
“Ooh-rah,” he said, and gave her a smile that nearly knocked her over.
“Ya-hoo,” she answered, hoping she’d see that smile again really soon.
Travis wouldn’t have admitted it under torture, but he was beat, down to the ground. The cold was keeping him awake for now, but if he didn’t get some sleep soon, neither one of them was going to get out of here. Which was why he nearly shouted in joy when he spotted the cave.
If he hadn’t been looking specifically for just this, he never would have noticed it. A slight overhang of rock jutted out from the side of the mountain, looking like nothing more than an extrawide crevice. Yet, on closer inspection, he found a narrow but deep cave that would be a perfect place to hide.
Every bone in his body cried out for rest, but before he could, he had to make sure the place was safe. Leaving the princess at the mouth of the cave, he took his rifle and snatched a chem light out of his equipment belt. Cracking the hard plastic case, he then shook it until the crystals inside glowed a soft green. An ordinary flashlight or a flare would be too bright in this all-encompassing blackness. Too easy to spot from a distance. This thing would give off enough light to see by and still be hard to spot by their enemies. Carefully he inspected the shelter. The eerie green light glowed and cast soft, indistinct shadows on the rock walls. His right hand gripping the rifle, he held the light up high in his left as he squinted into the darkness.
“What do you see?”
He winced as her voice seemed to echo in the stony enclosure, and he hoped to hell the place was as empty as it seemed.
“Quiet.” His voice was hardly more than a raspy hush of sound. And still it traveled back to her with no problem.
“And what does quiet look like?” she muttered.
Travis grinned reluctantly and shook his head. This damn woman was as stubborn as he was. A moment later, though, the smile on his face faded as he concentrated on the task at hand. The walls were solid, no holes where critters could crawl or slither through from somewhere else. There was no sign of human habitation in here, but there was always the threat of snakes. Growing up in Texas had given him a healthy respect for the reptiles, and he sure as hell didn’t want any surprises while they slept.
Damn, his eyes felt heavy. Gritty. As though he hadn’t slept in a year. He blinked, shook his head again and focused. As he did, a slight movement caught the corner of his eye, and he turned his head to follow the snake’s movement. Just one, it was moving fast across the sandy ground.
“Damn it,” he whispered, knowing he couldn’t risk a gunshot to kill it. He’d been prepared to fire on a hostile human, but he’d rather not risk a rifle shot being heard for miles for the sake of killing a snake. Gritting his teeth, Travis set his rifle down, grabbed his knife and killed it, neatly slicing its head from its body.
Then he stood and gave a last look around. Everything else was secure. If the snake had had friends, they were long gone. The cave wasn’t much, but it looked damn good to him at the moment. They were safe—for now. They could get some rest and hide until he figured out the best route to get out of this country.
“What’s going on back there?” she called, and he heard the fear in her voice.
That woman could drive a saint right out of heaven, he thought. But then, a part of him couldn’t really blame her for being scared. She’d already been through more than most folks would face in a lifetime, and to give her her due, she hadn’t folded. And Travis admired grit in a person, male or female.
Of course, that didn’t mean he didn’t wish she was anywhere but there. But wishes wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. They were stuck together. And the fact that she was too blasted good-looking for comfort shouldn’t come into it. She was his responsibility—nothing else. He’d best remember that. “It’s okay,” he said. “You can come in now.”
“Good,” she said, and her voice told him how quickly she was making her way down the length of the cave. “I was getting worried back there by myself. You know you could have left me one of your little Halloween pumpkin light thingies.”
“It’s a chem light. Not the kind used in pumpkins.”
“Whatever,” she said, and he watched her walk into the circle of soft-green light. “The point is, it’s really dark in here and I—”
Her voice broke off as her gaze fastened on the dead snake. She took several deep breaths, slapped one hand to her chest and said, “Oh, God.”
“It’s dead.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Eyes wide, she backed up and looked around frantically as if expecting to see a pack of snakes sneaking up on her flank.
He bent down, picked up the carcass and held it up admiringly. At least a three-footer. “You’ll think better of it once it’s cooked.”
“Cooked?”
Travis could have sworn he heard her gag.
“Waste not, want not,” he told her.
“Look before you leap,” she countered.
“He who hesitates is lost,” he said, figuring this could go on awhile.
“He who eats snake will get sick,” she told him.
“That’s not an old saying.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” she said. “As of right now.”
Travis laughed shortly and set his pack down, then laid the snake alongside it. Jamming the end of the light into the sand at his feet, he said, “Have a seat. I’m going out to gather some brush. We can make a small fire.”
“You’re leaving me here?” she asked, lifting one hand to point at the snake. “With that?”
“Trust me,” he said tightly, “you’re more dangerous than he is.”
She swung her hair back from her eyes, and in the green glow those blue eyes gleamed like sapphires. Her face pale, her features drawn with fatigue and fear, she was still pretty enough to take a man’s breath away.
And he realized he’d been right.
She was dangerous.
Three
An hour later they were crouched beside a fire so tiny it hardly qualified as flames. But still, the hiss and snap of the burning brush was…comforting, somehow. Except of course, for the snake meat sizzling on a stick.
Lisa cringed just a little and shifted her gaze from the fire to the man opposite her. She watched as he used a rag from his pack to wipe the camouflage paint off his face. With steady, long strokes, he slowly revealed more of his features. Jet-black eyebrows. And his eyes. Darned if they didn’t look like melted chocolate—rich and dark—and they had almost precisely the same effect on her. A twinge of hunger, mixed with expectation. In the weird green light, his features looked sharp. Resolute. His nose had character, she decided, and combined with that strong, square jaw, he probably could have made a fortune as a model. Instead, he made his living by dragging women across dark deserts while crazy people shot at them.
“We’ll stay here until dark,” Travis was saying. “Then I figure we’ll head for El Bahar. It’s not far and the king there is friendly to the U.S.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, and though she heard the snap in her tone, she couldn’t seem to stop it. “And how far away is this place?”
He pulled out his map, checked it for what had to be the tenth time in the past hour, then glanced at her briefly. “Not far.”
“How far?”
“A day or so,” he said, deliberately ignoring the sarcasm in her voice. “But once we’re in their territory, you’ll be safe.”
“Day or so?” She tried to keep the groan out of her voice but she was pretty sure she hadn’t succeeded. Then, rather than concentrate on the march ahead, she focused on the last word he’d said.
Safe.
For the past two weeks of captivity, that was a word she’d concentrated on often. Before being snatched from her spur-of-the-moment shopping trip, Lisa’d never realized just how much she took her own safety for granted. It wasn’t something you normally thought about. It just…was.
She doubted she’d ever be that complacent again. In fact, she’d probably be looking over her shoulder for years.
But she hadn’t let her captors know she was scared, and she refused to give in to fear now.
“Once we’re in El Bahar,” he was saying, “we’ll go directly to the American Embassy and call for a ride home.”
“My father can send his jet.”
One black eyebrow lifted, and he shook his head, chuckling wryly under his breath.
She had the distinct feeling he wasn’t laughing with her. Stiffly she asked, “What’s so funny?”
“You,” he said, reaching to rotate his stick of snake meat in the fire. “A regular plane ride’s just not good enough, huh? Have to call for a private jet.”
All right, maybe that had sounded a little snooty. “I only meant—”
“Relax, princess,” he said, interrupting her neatly. “I know just what you meant.”
“Really.”
Shifting position, Lisa folded her legs in the most ladylike manner she could manage. Wincing slightly at the movement, she tucked her torn, dirty dress down over them and shrugged out of his shirt. With the rock walls cutting off the wind, and the tiny fire, she’d finally warmed up again.
“Yes, really,” Travis said, shaking his head again and leaning back against the cool rock wall. He had her number. Had had it from the moment she’d opened her eyes and looked up at him back there at the shack. And he didn’t mind telling her so. “I’ve known women like you most of my life,” he said. “The rich girls, counting out daddy’s money and buying what they could never earn.”
“Now just a darn minute.” Her eyes flashed, outrage obvious in her tone.
“Struck a nerve, huh?” he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he went on. “Let’s just look at your story so far. You decide to visit an area rife with civil unrest to do some shopping and promptly get snatched.”
“The papers at home didn’t say anything about the dangers of—”
“And then,” he said, his voice easily overriding hers, “when you’re in trouble up to your pretty neck, you just expect Daddy to pay the demanded ransom.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” she asked. “I’m his only child.”
“For which he’s probably grateful,” Travis commented and took real pleasure in the murder he saw glinting in her eyes. “My point is, even if he’d paid the ransom, there was no guarantee you’d be released.”
“Of course they’d have released me. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Darlin’,” he said, “after spending most of the day with you, I’m only surprised they didn’t offer to pay your dad to take you off their hands.”
“You have no right to say such—”
He waved off her indignation. “But back to our story. See, this is where me and my friends came in. The government convinced your daddy to hold off on paying up and to send us in instead.”
“It’s your job, isn’t it?”
“My job is to help people who need it. Even spoiled little rich girls whose only job is to look gorgeous and spend cash that isn’t theirs.”
And she was gorgeous, he admitted silently, his gaze moving over her quickly, thoroughly. Even after all she’d been through, she looked damn good. Blond hair that just dusted across her shoulders was tucked behind her ears now, and a soft fringe of bangs stopped just above her finely arched eyebrows. In the firelight her eyes looked as blue as the sea at dusk, and her mouth looked delicious. Her teeth continually tugged at her bottom lip until it was all Travis could do to keep from offering to help with that little chore. Damn, this was not the time or the place or hell…the woman to be having these thoughts about.
He’d do well to remember that she was nothing more than a mission gone wrong. If she hadn’t held him up. If she hadn’t wasted so much time looking for her damn purse. If those expensive but worthless high heels had made better time in the sand…if any of those things had been different, he would already be rid of her. They’d have parted ways and he never would have had the time or opportunity to notice that her right breast was just a little fuller than her left.
Oh, man. Travis got a grip on the suddenly rampaging hormones charging through his bloodstream and reminded himself that she was no different from the girls back home. Those girls, backed by their daddies’ oil money, had run roughshod over anybody in their way. And when it came to guys like him—they were happy enough to snuggle up in the dark, but they never brought his kind home to daddy.
Travis Hawks didn’t come from money and as far as he could tell, having it hadn’t done those girls—or this one, for that matter—any good.
“I resent that.”
He blinked and drew himself back to the conversation at hand. Hell, fighting with her was one sure way to keep his mind on the job rather than on fantasies that didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of coming true. “I bet you do,” he said. “But you’re not denying it.”
“I do deny it,” she said hotly, and leaned toward him. Firelight mirrored in her eyes until it looked as though her gaze was shooting sparks at him. “I am not spoiled. And for your information, I’m on the boards of some very worthwhile charities. I do work.”
He nodded sagely, but there was amusement in his eyes. “Oh, I’m sure your telephone dialing finger gets a real workout.”
That blond eyebrow lifted again and disappeared behind her bangs.
“So you work,” he said. “Do you have to live off what you make? I don’t think so.”
“I see. Because I don’t have to worry about income, what I do is worth nothing?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You most certainly did.”
All right, maybe he shouldn’t have started any of this. It was none of his business how she lived. His job was simply to return her to the lap of luxury and get the hell out of Dodge. They had another few days together, and there was no sense in being outright enemies, for Pete’s sake.
“You know what you are?” she asked, tilting her head to one side and studying him as if he were smeared on a glass slide beneath a microscope.
“I’ll bet you’re about to tell me.”
“I’d be happy to,” she said, a soft smile curving that luscious mouth of hers.
She looked like a woman with a point to make, and Travis, like any other sane man, battened down the hatches and waited for the blow.
