A Silverhill Christmas. Carol Ericson

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      “Hell no. You wanna slide down that hillside and hit those rocks on your way into the ocean? My loyalty to Alexi only goes so far.”

      “I’ll tell him you said that. I’m going over.”

      Even if Rio could find sufficient cover for himself and Tori, he couldn’t allow Alexi’s goons to discover his backpack with his weapon inside. He’d have to grab that, and then they’d have to…leave.

      He nestled his lips close to Tori’s ear and whispered, “Do what I tell you to do and just maybe I can save your life.”

      She drew a quick breath and jerked away from him. “How are we going to get out of here?”

      He held up his hand to her, palm out, and crept toward his pack, hunching forward. As he expected, leaves and twigs crackled beneath his hiking boots. This time when Rio heard the click, he knew someone had released the safety on a real gun, not a lighter.

      One of the men said, “There’s something down there. I’m going to check it out.”

      Rio grabbed his backpack and spun around, lurching toward Tori. He gripped her arm, yanking her along a jumbled path.

      She whispered, “Where are we going?”

      A crack resounded behind them, and the bright beam from a powerful flashlight skimmed across their legs.

      Rio rounded the corner of the makeshift trail, pulling Tori behind him. When the ocean stretched below them like smooth glass, he knew they’d reached the escape route.

      Gripping Tori’s hand, he pulled her to his side. He then removed his hiking boots and flung them skyward. “We’re following those boots.”

      Her perfect lips formed an O, but before she could utter a sound, Rio pushed off from the side of the hill with his bare feet taking the former Princess of Glazkova with him into the inky blue Pacific.

      Chapter Two

      Tori hit the water feetfirst and tunneled into its warm embrace. When she and McClintock had made contact with the ocean, the force ripped her hand from his. She bobbed to the surface and toed off her sneakers while she twisted her head around looking for the maniac who had pulled her off a perfectly good hill into the sea.

      She screamed as a dark shape emerged beside her.

      “Shh.” McClintock grabbed her flailing arm. “They didn’t see us. There’s a beach around this bend. Can you swim?”

      “You’re asking that question now?” Tori’s legs felt like lead as she treaded water with the heavy denim of her jeans clinging to her.

      “You looked like an athletic woman.” He sluiced his dark hair back from the sharp planes of his face. “This way.”

      She paddled after the form slicing through the water, and then pulled up straight and yanked off her jeans. She didn’t plan on drowning within sight of Alexi’s palatial rental. That would give her ex too much satisfaction.

      McClintock floated on the surface of the water and called back, “You okay?”

      Free of her jeans, Tori skimmed through the calm ocean toward him. “As long as there are no sharks out here, I’ll be fine.”

      When she drew abreast of him, he placed his hands on her shoulders. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t leave my backpack for them to find, and I knew they’d hear me when I collected it. We had to get out of there, and I’d already scoped out this escape route.”

      “Some escape route—a twenty-foot drop into the dark ocean.” The pressure of his hands through her thin, wet T-shirt soothed her, and judging by his size and talents she figured he could take on a shark if it came to that.

      “Better than facing the wrong end of a gun. Follow me.”

      Did she have a choice? They swam side by side, and just as Tori’s muscles started burning, a strip of white sand beckoned beyond the breakwater. They headed for the shore, and got some assistance from the gentle waves cascading onto the sand.

      Tori allowed the final wave to carry her in where she collapsed on the sand and gulped moist air into her lungs. McClintock crouched beside her, not even breathing heavily after their unexpected swim.

      “That’s it. Take a few deep breaths. I’m going to check out the contents of my backpack.”

      The moon, no longer hidden by the dense trees on the hill, cast a warm glow over the beach. McClintock unzipped his pack and started pulling out a few items.

      While her heart hammered in her chest, Tori stretched out on the wet sand as she watched McClintock dig through his backpack. She’d almost slipped up earlier by calling him McClintock, which he was, just not the McClintock she’d expected.

      As soon as she had looked up at him, straddling her body after he had yanked her from the ledge, she had realized her mistake. When her friend in the FBI, Dana McClintock, had given her the tip about Alexi’s whereabouts, she’d mentioned that her husband’s brother was on his trail. Tori had expected to find Ryder McClintock, a CIA operative, on the job.

      But she’d grown up with sandy-haired, blue-eyed Ryder McClintock, and this man with his long, black hair and brooding dark eyes looked nothing like the Nordic McClintocks. But she’d guessed his identity immediately.

      This McClintock came from the wrong side of the blanket—one of old Ralph McClintock’s indiscretions. She’d heard all about how the McClintock brothers discovered the existence of an illegitimate half brother almost a year ago.

      When Dana, Rafe McClintock’s wife, had given her the tip about Alexi they’d both been on cell phones. All Tori heard was McClintock brother…tracking…Alexi… Maui. That’s all she needed to know.

      She hadn’t known how to play it when faced with this gorgeous stranger instead of her childhood friend, Ryder McClintock. She knew Ryder would’ve helped her in true McClintock fashion. She had her doubts about this one. How much McClintock blood did he have running through his veins?

      He shoved the items, including a gun, back into the pack and pushed to his feet. “Are you ready? There’s a small town less than a mile ahead.”

      He’d shed his own jeans in the water, and his wet boxers clung to his muscular thighs. His T-shirt outlined the hard planes of his chest as water dripped from the ends of his shoulder-length dark hair.

      Tilting her head back, she shifted her gaze from all that blatant maleness on display to his face. McClintock’s nostrils flared like an animal sensing his mate’s de sire.

      Stop, Tori. She burrowed her fists into the wet sand. Her impulsiveness had always gotten her into trouble in the past, including this current mess with her ex. Time to think with her head instead of other parts of her anatomy.

      She tossed a handful of sand into the air. “Uh, we’re both a little underdressed to be walking the streets of a small town.”

      “We’re in Maui.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “The clothes we have on look like beach casual around here but if you’d like to wear my T-shirt into town, СКАЧАТЬ