Hero for Hire Read online

  At the feel of his erection, she sucked in a breath. “Is that the danger making you excited? Or me?”

  “You!” he shouted.

  She sagged against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Oh, Rick. Do not let anyone kill you. I like you alive.” She nuzzled her face against his neck and breathed him in, making his knees weak. “I like it a lot.”

  Sighing, he hugged her close, marveling at the fact he didn’t want to let her go.

  Ever.

  “Nina...” Ah, what the hell. “I like you alive, too.” He closed his eyes and held on, having no idea how he was going to let her go when this was over.

  He opened his mouth to tell her so, his heart pounding with nerves, when suddenly Nina gasped and pulled away. “We have to hurry!”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Someone went to a lot of trouble to kill us. And whoever that someone is knows where we were headed, right? They must know about what we were going to do.” Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her eyes filled with terror. “My God, we have led them right to her.”

  “Jolene Daniels.”

  “Yes! We have to get to her first! Then we have to find Terry and warn her, too! Before it is too late.”

  He looked into her angst-ridden face, the face he’d come to dream about day and night, and let out his pent-up breath.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “DID YOU KNOW forests cover half of Brazil?” Nina asked. Nightfall was only moments away now. Hot, sticky and thirsty, she tried to distract herself from this impossible situation.

  Rick walked in front of her, clearing the way when he had to, grabbing any large heavy branches, holding them back for her to walk through unscathed.

  She’d rather he turn and grab her, but how unrealistic. She’d committed the ultimate mistake, she’d fallen in love. And she’d done it with a single-mindedness that shouldn’t have surprised her.

  The problem wasn’t whether Rick could feel that way in return. He had a heart, a big one. She’d seen him panic over her well-being. She’d seen him deep in the throes of passion. She’d seen him every which way. He cared, she had no doubt.

  But he didn’t want to.

  And ultimately that was what would keep them apart, because when she loved, she loved forever, and she wanted it to go both ways.

  They’d reached the river an hour ago, and were currently making their slow, painstaking way downstream through the bush, hoping to come across a clearing in which to be safe through the night.

  Rick hadn’t spoken in hours.

  She wished he would say something, anything. “In these forests, it rains something like two inches a day,” she said. “It all eventually flows into the Amazon.”

  He grunted and swung the knife. His shirt clung to the muscles of his shoulders and back as he worked with a strength and determination she knew to be an innate part of him.

  “Not that you would want to be right on the banks of the Amazon,” she said, turning a wary eye on the water. “The piranhas come out this time of day. They are nothing but teeth and bad attitude. Oh, and then there are the giant, bloodsucking leeches that latch on to a human host at any available opportunity.”

  He didn’t break stride.

  “They love human blood.”

  “Nina?”

  Finally! “Yes?”

  “Are you going to talk all the way there?”

  “Probably.”

  She got another grunt.

  Frisky monkeys and brilliantly colored birds darted in the overhead canopy, while millions of insects droned all around, heard but not seen thanks to their effective camouflage.

  Rick kept slapping at his neck, making her worry. She didn’t often get stung by anything—she didn’t have sweet blood, Terry used to say—but if Rick was getting stung, and if he developed a reaction, it could be bad. “You getting bit?”

  “Only everywhere.”

  “Pull up your collar a bit.”

  His disbelieving laugh vented the air. “We lived through a crash landing. You probably have two cracked ribs and a damn near cracked cheekbone. I have a slice out of my head and a concussion to boot, and oh yeah, we’re racing against the clock and a cold-blooded murderer, and you’re worried about a mosquito bite?”

  “Take more of those malaria pills.”

  “I did.”

  “Maybe we should stop so you can eat something.”

  “You’re talking to me as if I were a cranky child.”

  “Well, if the shoe fits...”

  “So you are going to talk all the way there.”

  Oh, that was it. Moving toward him, she jabbed a finger in his chest. “At least I am trying to get along! You just bully and boss your way through life or jungle, never worrying or wondering what other people think, and—”

  “I don’t give a damn what other people think, that’s true.” Snaring her finger in his hand, he tugged, and when she fell against him, he grabbed her and held on. His eyes were hot and fierce and so was his voice. “But I give a damn what you think. Did you know that? I give lots of damns, and I tried to tell you, and all you wanted to talk about was this stupid case that I’m wishing I never took on!”

  Her heart had taken off, slamming against her ribs. Or maybe that was his. “Is that right?”

  “Yeah.” He grimaced and slid his jaw to hers. “You’re killing me, Nina.” His arms tightened around her. “I want you to forgive me for not telling you about the baby, for—”

  “For not trusting me?”

  Slowly he pulled back. “Yes.”

  “I told you I understood, and I meant it. After all, trust has to go both ways, right?”

  “Uh...yeah.”

  “Yeah.” She started walking again, this time leading the way.

  * * *

  FOR A MOMENT Rick just stared at her. Then he realized she was disappearing into the thick growth and he stumbled after her, swearing when a branch slapped him right in the face. “Nina, wait!”

  Naturally, she didn’t.

  “Damn it, wait!” he yelled. “I want to talk to you.”

  “You mean you want to yell at me.”

  “No, I don’t. And about that untrusting thing—” Another branch slapped him in the face, and yet another moment was taken to swear colorfully. “Would you stop!”

  Amazingly, she did, but kept her back to him. Coming up behind her, he stared down at her bowed head and the exposed sweet spot on the back of her neck. “Okay, maybe I have a few issues. Being stubborn and untrusting among them.”

  She snorted, and he slowly shook his head. “But you have the same issues, sweetheart.”

  She let out a long breath. “Did,” she agreed. “But not so much anymore.”

  “Really? You completely trust me?”

  “With my life,” she said simply, making him feel weak and strong and humbled and terrified all at the same time.

  “I’m working on doing the same,” he said very quietly.

  She didn’t move, which he took as a good sign. The way his blood roared in his ears was a sign, too—a sign to get on with this and get it over so he could breathe again. “Remember what you said on the plane about you wanting there to be something between us? You said that you wished that more than anything.” He reached out and stroked that spot on her neck, the spot he wanted to nibble. “I want that, too.”

  “Wanting is easy.” She was walking again, at such a fast clip, he was left dodging flailing branches.

  “I more than want,” he called after her.

  “Uh-huh.” She ducked beneath one branch, then stepped over another.

  “Look, I’m trying here!” He struggled to keep up with her brutal pace while jackhammers were going off in his head. “You think it’s easy running and talking and spilling my guts all at the same time?”

  She slowed slightly.

  Taking heart in that, he gulped in some badly needed hot air. “I’m tired of living with regrets and hollow emotions.”

  Though she