Surviving Seduction (27 page)

Deciphering the tracks he passed was like reading those of an anthil . There were thousands upon thousands of footprints, al mingled and stamped upon one another, headed in every direction. Among these were hundreds of hoof prints. How far these prints ranged from camp was a very unpleasant surprise. As he’d expected, he couldn’t find Star’s trail, or any more tracks that were distinguishable as Selena’s. His search became increasingly frantic and he felt himself on the verge of insanity. Al he could do was bottle up his fury.

He didn’t return until evening, but Josie had been waiting for him, it seemed. Angela hailed him to tel him so, but she was stil too afraid to look him in the eye. He couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want to look
himself
in the eye, now. He wouldn’t have been surprised if people could physical y see a black cloud of danger surrounding him.

Dan removed his weapons and the moment he stepped inside, he felt the thick tension in the air. Josie wore a severe expression, which was directed at three shifty men.

Before he saw their faces, he smel ed their fear.

Fourteen

Selena recognized this sensation. It was that same feeling you get when you’ve made up your mind to jump from a great height and pray you'l land safely. Your hands sweat and your heart pounds, but since you know you've worked up the courage and in a moment you wil be fal ing, your gut screams out in final protest of what you might endure as a result of your shocking recklessness.

Selena felt al these things, and jumped. She moved into him, abruptly pressing her lips against his. Her face burned in answer to what she'd done, but as with jumping from a great height, the choice had been made and she had flung her destiny into the capricious hands of chance.

Jack sucked in a deep breath through his nose and savored the moment before kissing her back with feverish desire. He worked his mouth against hers like it was the last kiss of his life. He bent down against her, hard, forcing her to lean far back, relying entirely on his arms to keep her from literal y fal ing. Selena's mind was hurtling through the dizzy weightlessness of space, where anything was possible and everything was unknown. It felt good, but she had no way to know how she'd land.

Her arms clung shakily to his strong shoulders, and she paid back his affection with her own, matched his lustfulness with hers, and met his passion with her own passion.

Now, as she spun through the potent wildness that was Jack Thompson, she glanced jarringly off the rock of intimacy. She knew she should share herself this way only with someone that she could trust and depend on. This instinct prompted Selena to begin resisting, but as Jack persisted in taking his pleasure from her soft lips, part of her begged for it to go on for as long as he wanted her. His bold touch seemed to tel her the story of everything that he was: strong, selfish, clever, indulgent, fearless and above al else, free. She had been worried about giving him too much of herself, but wasn’t prepared for the reverse. She knew him now in a way she never had before. It was too much. He was too much. It had to stop. Her muscles felt limp and she knew he wouldn't notice at first when she tried to pul away. It took al of her wil and determination to find her strength and detach herself from his embrace. When he sensed her intention, he stole one last triumphant kiss and careful y released her.

Selena stumbled to catch herself through an overpowering fog of disorientation and fel back against the base of a pine.

The two of them watched each other, breathing heavily to recover from the bewildering tempest they had endured in each other's arms.

While her eyes felt dul and out of focus, his looked more alert and alive than she had ever seen them, but to his credit, Jack stayed where he stood.

She knew he was thirstier than ever for her, and made no effort to hide it in the heady expression he wore, but he made no move, just as he promised.

Selena, on the other hand, was shaken with awe.

How had he convinced her to kiss him of her own free wil ?

Al his passionate words had wrenched her mind from her troubles and made her feel like she desperately needed to break free. She hadn’t had time to think of Dan. Now, as his powerful presence reentered her mind, her gut was deeply unsettled, and she final y acknowledged how reckless she’d felt since her rescue. She knew she had underestimated Jack, and final y she broke the silence.

“You're a more dangerous man than I thought,” she conceded breathlessly.

Half a smile slowly emerged on his face, and he answered, “I couldn't let you make your choice without al the information.”

Selena couldn’t help smiling back.

“
All
the information?” she queried, getting to her feet unsteadily.

He let out a mischievous chuckle. “Al the information I’m going to give you,” he amended.

Selena lifted a skeptical brow, and because she felt long gone from timidity, asked, “You’re saying you wouldn’t finish this if I wanted you to?”

His eyes flashed at the chal enge, but he stood firm.

For her most rare experience with him yet, Jack did not answer at al .

Selena closed her eyes, giving herself a moment to catch her breath and clear her head. Soon Jack interrupted, holding out her mount’s reins.

They rode on in silence, and Selena hardly saw the scenery around her as the time passed. That didn’t matter of course, because she had no idea where she was. After what had just happened, in fact, she could hardly tel up from down.

Thanks to what she’d done, after al her prior efforts to avoid him, there was now something substantial between them. At the moment, it was overpowering. She tried to shake it off and pay attention to where the sun was, but the shake it off and pay attention to where the sun was, but the feeling of his thril ing, warm lips darted through her mind, stirring her emotions again. She took a deep breath and listened to the breeze and the birds that moved through the gently swaying treetops, but in it she heard the sound of his breath when he’d kissed her. Selena squeezed the reins in her fist to bring herself back to the present, focusing on the stability of the animal she rode on, only to remember the feel of how he’d wrapped his strong arms around her and pressed his hard body against her. When she tried to shake these thoughts off the third time, the gesture accidental y became physical. Luckily, he didn’t see it.

“Do you think those men were acting out their own plan, or was someone else behind it?” Selena asked, hoping that if they simply continued their earlier conversation, she might be able to ignore that kiss for a while.

“If they weren’t under orders, I’d be surprised,” he answered, without taking much time to think about it.

“So who do you think it was? Josie?”

“I’d bet on Roark. And don’t be fooled. He seems like a guy with average brains, but he’s playing himself down. He’s not as smart as me, of course,” Jack boasted, flashing her a smile that implied he wasn’t exaggerating.

Once again, she couldn’t help but smile back.

“That’s why I gamble with him and play cards. He’s the only chal enge I get.”

“What was that bet about? The one you made when we first met them?”

“Oh,” he chuckled. “That was about my sisters. I told him they could recite any woman’s scene in Shakespeare and he didn’t believe me. He lost.”

“Why was he so upset with you?”

Jack looked a little guilty, “Wel , I wasn’t entirely fair about what we were betting.”

“How?” Selena prompted, feigning disapproval.

“Wel , I told him if I lost he’d get the whole bottle of wine I was carrying.”

“And?”

“It was empty.”

“Jack! That’s just mean! What did
he
bet?”

He hesitated, looking rueful and pleased with himself at the same time.

“Wel ?” she pressed impatiently.

“Twenty pounds of food,” he muttered, rubbing his hand over his mouth to distort the sound of his words.

“What did you say?” Selena asked in disbelief, wondering if she had heard wrong.

“Twenty pounds of food,” he said clearly, gazing at her with a sheepish smile.

“You bet an empty wine bottle against twenty pounds of food?” Selena choked.

“Guilty. Josie was pissed,” Jack snickered.

“Although she didn’t care if it was empty or not. She was just mad at Roark about the food. That’s about when I skedaddled. Of course not long after, we ran into you and I couldn’t possibly walk away from your al uring self.” He favored her with a bold, seductive smile.

Selena smirked and looked away, feeling herself blushing.

After Jack had drawn the moment out just long enough to unsettle her, he went on. “Then I got ... talked into going back for a visit and Roark thought he could declare the bet invalid and take the food back. I told him there was no way, especial y because it was back with the wagon in the Crater anyhow. Of course I had to sleep on my bedrol out in the open that night and then Roark thought it would be fun to get back at me by abusing that fucking harmonica al goddamned night. And I’m being real generous when I use the word ‘abusing.’ It was a nightmare. No one with a fine appreciation for music like myself should ever be persecuted that ferociously unless he’s murdered somebody. So although the bet was won, I real y felt like I lost it.”

Selena saw another stream ahead, and since the day had grown warm, she was ready to freshen up. She knew she should have found some of Jack’s story amusing, but the idea that Roark was behind what those men did, and what they might have been planning to do, only gave her a chil . For the first time since her abduction she wondered what Dan was going through, and what other trouble Roark might be causing if he real y was behind al this. Selena stil wasn’t convinced. Josie had excel ent motivation for wanting to get rid of her.

“Okay, it was pretty bad, but not that bad,” he said, watching her brooding expression as they reached the bank. “No need to look so sad on my account, Sweetheart.”

“I wasn’t thinking about you,” she informed him, dismounting. “And you aren’t al owed to cal me
sweetheart
just because you kissed me.”

“Huh. That’s funny, because the way I remember it, you kissed me,” Jack pointed out smugly.

Selena ignored him and splashed the cooling water on her face and neck. She felt anxious again, and knew she needed a safer outlet than the one Jack offered. Suddenly, she felt the urge to hunt, so she picked out some nice round stones for her sling and thrust them into her pack.

Sufficiently refreshed, they continued on their journey. They were quiet most of the way, and Selena gave up trying to bury thoughts about their kiss. She’d never felt such daring exhilaration. Dan was always struggling to rein himself in. Jack was the opposite. If Dan was like thunder, Jack was like lightning. She was beginning to think his fearless spirit was contagious, and that’s why she’d been feeling so unhinged. Of course her narrow escape from an awful fate could also have been responsible. She’d been in a situation like that before, but last time everyone else was in danger as wel , and she’d been too worried about them to think about what would become of her.

It was nearing evening when Selena spotted a smal , grassy meadow amidst the trees. When Jack turned the horses toward it, she cut him off.

“Shh,” she whispered, dismounting quietly and handing him her horse’s reins.

Jack watched with bemusement as she pul ed her sling and a few stones from her pack. Judging by the look on his face, he was unfamiliar with this particular weapon.

Selena hunched low and stepped silently to the edge of the trees. She watched and listened.

She heard the quail clucking quietly before she saw them. They moved as a group, obscured almost entirely by the grass, sometimes darting about, and sometimes holding stil to peer around for danger. There were quite a few of them, but Selena had a clear sight on one in particular.

She placed a stone in her sling, waited for the opportune moment, and swung it. When the animal spotted the movement, it made the mistake of hesitating to evaluate the danger. It was a merciful y quick death.

As the others scattered, some running and some flying from the field, Selena felt the satisfaction of triumph mingled with empathy for her dinner. It felt good to hunt, but she didn’t enjoy kil ing.

She strode out to claim her prize and Jack steered the horses to the field before dismounting. He rested his hands on his hips and looked at her appraisingly as she marched back with the fat bird.

“That was ... interesting,” he told her, drinking in what he’d seen.

“I kil ed it, you clean it,” she chanted, tossing it at him.

He caught it without argument and handed her the reins.

Selena untied her pack and took the bridles off the horses so they could graze without the obstruction of their bits, then turned them loose in the field. As she’d already observed, they were not prone to wandering off.

She found a bare patch of ground nearby and set out to gather firewood. It was a good area for them to camp for the night, and the sun was setting.

It took her a few trips to gather an adequate supply.

By the time she returned with the last armful of branches, Jack had done an expert job on the bird without a trace of mess on him. He was fashioning a spit over a wel -

constructed little pyre.

When he’d finished, Selena dug through her pack for her flint and bent down to light it. After a few tries, she got the spark to take and began nursing the little flame, but she was distracted. Jack stood behind her and she could feel his eyes. It was agitating, and she felt again that strange energy bottled up inside her despite the long day of riding.

When Selena stood and turned to face him, he wore a smal smile and watched her quietly from under that damned hat, with arcs of red flung overhead behind him in the evening dusk.

She let out a huff of breath, then marched over, reached out, and shoved him.

She’d only managed to move him one step back as he chuckled with shameless amusement.

“Easy, Sweetheart, I’ve been behaving myself, haven’t I?” he asked in his throaty, rugged voice.