Harlequin Intrigue September 2015--Box Set 2 of 2 by Cynthia Eden

Author:Cynthia Eden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Harlequin Intrigue
Publisher: Harlequin

Chapter Twelve

Marco stared at the snake, the mottled brown-and-tan coils seeming to emerge from the earth like a mythological beast, born of mud and rotting matter and menace. He tried to swallow, dry mouthed, and struggled to breathe evenly through his nose, to slow his racing heart. He was smart enough to be afraid of many things—enemies with guns, for instance. But some fears went beyond rationality to something more innate and primitive. Chief among these was the fear of snakes. No matter that Michael Dance had assured them that the native prairie rattlers found in the park were much less lethal than their cousins to the south and west—a rattlesnake was a rattlesnake, venomous and terrifying.

All this time he’d been so focused on Richard Prentice and his men, he’d forgotten that they weren’t the only enemies he and Lauren had to worry about out here in the wilderness.

The snake flicked its tongue and coiled tighter, ready to strike. Lauren’s calf was in striking distance. She stared at the viper, mesmerized, her face drained of color. Marco searched the ground for a rock or a stout stick to use as a weapon, but found nothing.

A memory came to him of a television show he and Rand had watched one evening about snake hunters in the Amazon, who had killed venomous snakes with their bare hands. He and Rand had joked that they preferred using a pistol, but he didn’t have a pistol now. Time to try the snake hunters’ method, but he’d only have one chance.

He pulled his key ring from his pocket and tossed it so that it landed about a foot to the snake’s right. At the metallic chink on the rocks, the snake swiveled its head away from Lauren. Marco lunged and grabbed the snake by the tail. It was like picking up a heavy garden hose, one pulsing with flowing water. Lauren screamed as he whipped the snake into the trunk of the nearest tree. He released it and jumped back, then stood, breathing hard and staring at the limp body of the predator.

“Is it dead?” Lauren asked from behind him.

“It’s not after us anymore,” he said. “That’s all that matters.”

She moved into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified,” she said. “It was worse than facing Prentice and his guards, or those men in the parking lot who tried to kidnap me and Sophie.”

“There’s something about snakes,” he said, rubbing his hand up and down her back. The contact calmed him, too. “I think it’s a primitive fear, hardwired into our DNA.”

She raised her head to study him. “I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.”

“I’m a man, not a robot.”

She smiled. “Good to hear you admit it.”

He started to ask what she meant by that, then thought better of it. He’d spent years learning to hide his feelings from others. Maybe he’d gotten a little too proficient at that particular skill.

Cautious, keeping

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