Jeopardy. Linda Howard

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       Chapter Six

      MINDFUL OF CHANCE’S WARNING, Sunny didn’t wander far. In truth, there wasn’t much to look at, just grit and rocks and scraggly bushes, and those vertical rock walls. The desert had a wild, lonely beauty, but she was more appreciative when she wasn’t stranded in it. When rain filled the stream this sheltered place probably bloomed with color, but how often did it rain here? Once a year?

      As the day warmed, the reptiles began to stir. She saw a brown lizard dart into a crevice as she approached. A bird she didn’t recognize swooped down for a tasty insect, then flew back off to freedom. The steep canyon walls didn’t mean anything to a bird, while the hundred feet or so were unscalable to her.

      She began to get hungry, and a glance at her watch told her she had been meandering through the canyon for over an hour. What was taking Chance so long? If there was a clog in the lines he should have found it by now.

      She began retracing her steps to the plane. She could see Chance still poking around the engine, which meant he probably hadn’t found anything. A chilly finger of fear prodded her, and she pushed it away. She refused to anticipate trouble. She would deal with things as they happened, and if Chance couldn’t repair the plane, then they would have to find some other way out of the canyon. She hadn’t explored far; perhaps the other end was open, and they could simply walk out. She didn’t know how far they were from a town, but she was willing to make the effort. Anything was better than sitting and doing nothing.

      As she approached, Chance lifted his hand to show he saw her, then turned back to the engine. Sunny let her gaze linger, admiring the way his T-shirt clung to the muscles of his back and shoulders. The fit of his jeans wasn’t bad, either, she thought, eyeing his butt and long legs.

      Something moved in the sand near his feet.

      She thought she would faint. Her vision dimmed and narrowed until all she saw was the snake, perilously close to his left boot. Her heart leaped, pounding against her rib cage so hard she felt the thuds.

      She had no sensation or knowledge of moving; time took on the viscosity of syrup. All she knew was that the snake was getting bigger and bigger, closer and closer. Chance looked around at her and stepped back from the plane, almost on the coiling length. The snake’s head drew back and her hand closed on a coil, surprisingly warm and smooth, and she threw the awful thing as far as she could. It was briefly outlined against the stark rock, then sailed beyond a bush and dropped from sight.

      “Are you all right? Did it bite you? Are you hurt?” She couldn’t stop babbling as she went down on her knees and began patting his legs, looking for droplets of blood, a small tear in his jeans, anything that would show if he had been bitten.

      “I’m all right. I’m all right. Sunny! It didn’t bite me.” His voice overrode hers, and he hauled her to her feet, shaking her a little to get her attention. “Look at me!” The force of his tone snagged her gaze with his and he said more quietly, “I’m okay.”

      “Are you sure?” She couldn’t seem to stop touching him, patting his chest, stroking his face, though logically she knew there was no way the snake could have bitten him up there. Neither could she stop trembling. “I hate snakes,” she said in a shaking voice. “They terrify me. I saw it—it was right under your feet. You almost stepped on it.”

      “Shh,” he murmured, pulling her against him and rocking her slowly back and forth. “It’s all right. Nothing happened.”

      She clutched his shirt and buried her head against his chest. His smell, already so familiar and now with the faint odor of grease added, was comforting. His heartbeat was steady, as if he hadn’t almost been snakebitten. He was steady, rock solid, his body supporting hers.

      “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “That was awful.” She raised her head and stared at him, an appalled expression on her face. “Yuk! I touched it!” She snatched her hand away from him and held it at arm’s length. “Let me go, I have to wash my hand. Now!”

      He released her, and she bolted up the slope to the tent, where the towelettes were. Grabbing one, she scrubbed furiously at her palm and fingers.

      Chance was laughing softly as he came up behind her. “What’s the matter? Snakes don’t have cooties. Besides, yesterday you said you weren’t afraid of them.”

      “I lied. And I don’t care what they have, I don’t want one anywhere near me.” Satisfied that no snake germs lingered on her hand, she blew out a long, calming breath.

      “Instead of swooping down like a hawk,” he said mildly, “why didn’t you just yell out a warning?”

      She gave him a blank look. “I couldn’t.” Yelling had never entered her mind. She had been taught her entire life not to yell in moments of tension or danger, because to do so would give away her position. Normal people could scream and yell, but she had never been allowed to be normal.

      He put one finger under her chin, lifting her face to the sun. He studied her for a long moment, something dark moving in his eyes; then he tugged her to him and bent his head.

      His mouth was fierce and hungry, his tongue probing. She sank weakly against him, clinging to his shoulders and kissing him in return just as fiercely, with just as much hunger. More. She felt as if she had always hungered, and never been fed. She drank life itself from his mouth, and sought more.

      His hands were all over her, on her breasts, her bottom, lifting her into the hard bulge of his loins. The knowledge that he wanted her filled her with a deep need to know more, to feel everything she had always denied herself. She didn’t know if she could have brought herself to pull away, but he was the one who broke the kiss, lifting his head and standing there with his eyes closed and a grim expression on his face.

      “Chance?” she asked hesitantly.

      He growled a lurid word under his breath. Then he opened his eyes and glared down at her. “I can’t believe I’m stopping this a second time,” he said with a raw, furious frustration. “Just for the record, I’m not that noble. Damn it all to hell and back—” He broke off, breathing hard. “It isn’t a clogged fuel line. It must be the pump. We have other things we need to do. We can’t afford to waste any daylight.”

      Margreta. Sunny bit her lip to hold back a moan of dismay. She stared up at him, the knowledge of the danger of their situation lying like a stark shadow between them.

      She wasn’t licked yet. She had four days. “Can we walk out?”

      “In СКАЧАТЬ