The Ranger. Carol Finch

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СКАЧАТЬ time and wrong place for a lust attack.

      Damn it, what was there about this defensive, elusive, hostile woman that kept getting to him? He’d dealt with several female victims during his years with the Rangers, but not one had affected him the way this one did.

      “You can let go of me now,” he murmured as he accidentally brushed his lips against the side of her neck.

      And it was an accident, he tried to convince himself. He was only nuzzling against her because she needed comfort and reassurance after her near brush with calamity.

      Shiloh tried to loosen her fierce grasp on his neck, tried not to burrow her head against his sturdy shoulder. But for those few unnerving seconds, when it felt as if the earth had dropped out from under her, panic had overwhelmed her. She had grabbed hold of Hawk and clung to him for dear life. She savored his solid strength, enjoyed the feel of his warm breath against her cold skin.

      Arousing sensations flooded through her, thoroughly baffling her. How could she possibly be attracted to this man? She still wasn’t sure if she trusted or even liked him. But he sparked the same kind of sensations that she had experienced when Antoine had taken her in his arms while they danced at parties in the palatial ballrooms of New Orleans.

      She shouldn’t have felt those vulnerable feelings then and she shouldn’t be feeling them now. With him.

      What the blazes was the matter with her?

      Aggravated with herself for experiencing pleasurable tingles she swore never to feel or trust again—and at the worst of all possible moments, and with a stranger, no less—Shiloh lurched back to brace herself against the crumbling stone wall.

      “Sorry,” she said unevenly. “My survival instincts must have caused me to get a little carried away.”

      “You have both feet beneath you now. You’ll be okay.”

      His crackling voice drew her bemused frown. “Are you all right, Hawk? Did I injure you when I threw myself at you?”

      “No.” He cleared his throat and looked away. “I’m fine.”

      He lied. He was not fine. He wasn’t even remotely close to fine. He did not want to be attracted and distracted by this prickly woman. He didn’t want the slightest emotional ties to her or any other woman. Period. He didn’t have a personal life because his professional life with the Rangers was a demanding challenge. He didn’t have the time or inclination for tender feelings that conflicted with duty.

      Unfortunately, today’s sequence of unfortunate events was conspiring against him. For one reason or another he’d had his hands all over this woman. Necessity had also demanded that he plaster his body against hers more times than he cared to count. Now he was so aware of her scent, her appearance and the feel of her that he couldn’t look at her or touch her without reacting fiercely.

      And, damn it, this had to stop! He had to concentrate on the serious task of getting them up and over Ghost Ridge to reach Sundance Canyon—a haven that held bittersweet memories that he didn’t want to deal with unless absolutely necessary.

      Which it was right now.

      Annoyed with his uncharacteristic preoccupation with this female, he clamped hold of her good arm and half dragged her uphill. He was anxious to reach the peak before total darkness descended. He gave her a boost onto the rain-slick boulder that led to the next leg of the treacherous journey.

      “This is where the horses will have the most difficulty,” he said as he gestured for her to continue on without him.

      “Dear God…”

      He heard her voice wobble, saw her drop to her knees. She clutched her stomach when she made the critical mistake of glancing at the wild tumble of boulders that filled the V-shaped arroyo beside them.

      “Look at me!” he barked sharply. “This is not the time to lose your nerve. If you can’t proceed without me, then you’ll have to wait here until I return with the horses. Find something to anchor yourself to until I get back.”

      She bowed her neck then surged from her knees to her feet. “I’ll be fine,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll—”

      “Watch out for that—” Hawk cursed mightily when she banged her head on the jutting rock.

      Her groan died beneath the report of long-range rifles. Bullets whistled over their heads and zinged off the rocks. Hawk cursed the fact that the bandits had spotted them and were trying to pin them down so they could catch up.

      Cursing inventively, Hawk scrambled over the slick boulder, trying to reach Bernie before she took another bullet or staggered so far sideways that she keeled over the ledge and bounced off every sharp-edged rock until she landed in a broken heap at the bottom of the ravine. Unfortunately, the volley of bullets startled her and she lost her footing. Hawk made a wild grab for her, but only connected with air.

      Serenaded by gunfire and the ringing in her ears caused by the blow to her forehead, Shiloh cartwheeled over a boulder. The world spun before her eyes and nausea churned in her stomach. One moment she was glancing back at Hawk and the next instant she smacked her head—hard—into the jagged overhang. And then bullets started flying.

      She shrieked in terror when she couldn’t gain her balance. But there was nothing beneath her right foot. The wind was howling like a chorus of banshees, it was spitting rain again and now the crack-shot bandits were after them.

      Wild eyed, she tried to pivot on her left foot and throw herself down on the narrow trail. But momentum and a fierce wind pushed her over the edge. She could see nothing but the ghastly shadows of boulders that reminded her of prehistoric monsters waiting to gobble her alive.

      She cried out when her left foot slipped and she banged her hip against the rocks. Panting for breath, she dug in her nails as she slid downward, hoping to find a handhold before the pull of gravity dragged her to her death.

      “Hawk!” she howled, even though she knew there was nothing he could do to help her.

      Despite her best attempts, she slid downward, bumping over the angular stones and eroded pebbles that left her feet dangling over the ten-foot drop—and then the rest of her body went over the ledge before she could anchor herself.

      She crash-landed on another jagged boulder, twisting her ankle—and knocking the air clean out of her.

      The wind wailed like the eternal damned, drowning out her hoarse cry for help. Her panicky gaze leaped to Hawk. She was amazed by his ability to bound from one boulder to the next like a graceful cougar, in his attempt to reach her. There was just enough daylight left for her to see the grim expression on his face. She heard his pithy curses above her as she clutched her throbbing ankle and struggled to draw breath.

      Shiloh couldn’t decide if the pain in her head, the fiery sensations in her injured arm or the throb in her aching ankle hurt the worst. It was too close to call.

      “Bernie? Are you all right?” Hawk called down to her when the bandits ceased fire to reload.

      “My name is Shiloh,” she confided with a seesaw breath.

      The way she had it figured, she was going to be stuck in this crevice of this rocky ravine until buzzards came along to pick her clean. There was no way she could СКАЧАТЬ