Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2 by Delores Fossen

Author:Delores Fossen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459293731
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Getting over his earlier scare about the panther hurting Faye was proving to be more difficult than it should have been. Jake sat silently through their breakfast of beef jerky, granola bars and water. Faye kept giving him questioning looks, but he just couldn’t say anything. He still wanted to shake her.

He’d never been so scared in his life. And that scared the hell out of him. He was losing his perspective, getting too attached. He couldn’t deny that now. And that made this trip even more dangerous than it had started out to be.

After packing their gear, they headed out, searching in a grid pattern southwest of where they’d made camp. Nearly three hours later, they found what they’d been looking for—footprints. According to Faye, who was a much better tracker than Jake could ever hope to be, the prints were recent, made in the past day. It was unlikely anyone else would be in this area except for Gillette.

They headed through the trees, occasionally trekking across broad swaths of saw grass marshy areas. Jake kept his gun holstered close at hand, expecting to step on an alligator any minute. But Faye seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She knew the signs to look for, and their jaunt was largely uneventful.

As they neared the edge of another “tree island” and were about to step under the shade of a group of pine trees, Jake put his hand on Faye’s shoulder. He’d had enough of the tension and uncomfortable silence between them. And it was time he set it to rights.

She turned with a question in her eyes.

He’d meant to apologize, but instead he framed her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a soft, gentle kiss, at first anyway. But it seemed that any time he touched her he couldn’t control himself. He groaned low in his throat and deepened the kiss, crushing his lips to hers. And in spite of how surly he’d been all morning since the “panther incident,” she responded with just as much enthusiasm as she had last night.

When he realized he was thinking about pulling her down to the filthy ground and making love to her right there, he forced himself to end the kiss and step back.

“Wow,” she said. “What was that for?”

“For being an ass, I suppose. I’m sorry about getting so angry with you earlier. I just...when I saw—”

She pressed her finger against his lips. “Don’t apologize. You were upset because you thought I was going to get hurt, and because I didn’t tell you about Sampson. I understand, and you’re right. I should have told you about him.” She stood on tiptoe and pulled his head down to hers so she could press a quick, soft kiss against his lips. “Thank you for caring. It’s been a long time since anyone did.”

That soft admission sent another punch of guilt straight to his gut. “How did you end up with a pet panther?” he asked, desperate to change the subject.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.