A Game of Chance Read online

  She poured a bottle of water over herself, then scooped up a handful of sand and began scrubbing. Rinsing off the sand was a matter of refilling the bottle several times. When she was finished she felt considerably refreshed and her skin was baby smooth. Maybe the skin-care industry should stop grinding up shells and rock for body scrubs, she thought, and just go for the sand.

  Naked and wet, she could feel a slight breeze stirring the hot air, cooling her until she was actually comfortable. She didn’t have a towel, so she let herself dry naturally while she washed her own clothes, then quickly dressed in the beige jeans and green T-shirt that she always carried. They were earth colors, colors that blended in well with vegetation and would make her more difficult to see if she had to disappear into the countryside. She would have opted for actual camouflage-patterned clothing, if that wouldn’t have made her more noticeable in public. Her bra was wet from its scrubbing, so she hadn’t put it back on, and the soft cotton of the T-shirt clung to her breasts, clearly revealing their shape and their soft jiggle when she walked, and the small peaks of her nipples. She wondered if Chance would notice.

  “Hey,” he said from behind her, his voice low and soft.

  Startled, she whirled to face him. It was as if she had conjured him from her thoughts. He stood motionless about ten yards away, his eyes narrowed, his expression focused. His whiskey-coloured gaze went straight to her breasts. Oh, he noticed all right.

  Her nipples got even harder, as if he had touched them.

  She swallowed, trying to control a ridiculous twinge of her nerves. After all, he had already touched her breasts, and she had given him permission to do more. “How long have you been there?”

  “A while.” His eyelids were heavy, his voice a little rough. “I kept waiting for you to turn around, but you never did. I enjoyed the view, anyway.”

  Her breath hitched. “Thank you.”

  “You have the sweetest little ass I’ve ever seen.”

  Liquid heat moved through her. “You sweet talker, you,” she said, not even half kidding. “When do I get a peep show?”

  “Any time, honey.” His tone was dark with sensual promise. “Any time.” Then he smiled ruefully. “Any time except now. We need to move these clothes so I can set the trap up here. Since this is where the water is, this is where the game will come. I’ll set the traps now and try to catch something for supper, then wash up after I clean whatever we catch—if we catch anything at all.”

  He wasn’t exactly swept away with lust, but there was that reassuring steadfastness again, the ability to keep his priorities straight. In this situation, she didn’t want Gonad the Barbarian; she wanted a man on whom she could depend to do the smart thing.

  He began gathering the wet clothes off the rocks, and Sunny moved to help him. “Let me guess,” she said. “The clothes still smell like humans.”

  “There’s that, plus they’re something different. Wild animals are skittish whenever something new invades their territory.”

  As they walked back to the overhang she asked, “How long does it normally take to catch something in a trap?”

  He shrugged. “There’s no ‘normal’ to it. I’ve caught game before within ten minutes of putting out the trap. Sometimes it takes days.”

  She wasn’t exactly looking forward to eating Peter Cottontail, but neither did she want another nutrition bar. It would be nice if some big fat chicken had gotten lost in the desert and just happened to wander into their trap. She wouldn’t mind eating a chicken. After a moment of wishful thinking she resigned herself to rabbit—if they were lucky, that is. They would have to eat whatever Chance could catch.

  When they reached “home,” which the overhang had become, they spread their clothes out on another assortment of hot rocks. The first items she had washed were already almost dry; the dry heat of the desert was almost as efficient as an electric clothes dryer.

  When they had finished, Chance collected his two handmade traps and examined them one last time. Sunny watched him, seeing the same intensity in his eyes and body that she had noticed before. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asked, only mildly surprised. This was, after all, the ultimate in primitive guy stuff.

  He didn’t look at her, but a tiny smile twitched the corners of his mouth. “I guess I’m not all that upset. We’re alive. We have food, water and shelter. I’m alone with a woman I’ve wanted from the first minute I saw her.” He produced a badly crushed Baby Ruth candy bar from his hip pocket and opened the wrapper, then pinched off small pieces of it and put them in the traps.

  Sunny was instantly diverted. “You’re using a candy bar as bait?” she demanded in outraged tones. “Give me that! You can use my nutrition bar in the traps.”

  He grinned and evaded her as she tried to swipe the remainder of the candy bar. “The nutrition bar wouldn’t be a good bait. No self-respecting rabbit would touch it.”

  “How long have you been hiding that Baby Ruth?”

  “I haven’t been hiding it. I found it in the plane when I got the rest of the stuff. Besides, it’s melted from being in the plane all day.”

  “Melted, schmelted,” she scoffed. “That doesn’t affect chocolate.”

  “Ah.” He nodded, still grinning. “You’re one of those.”

  “One of those what?”

  “Chocoholics.”

  “I am not,” she protested, lifting her chin at him. “I’m a sweetaholic.”

  “Then why didn’t you pack something sweet in that damn survival bag of yours, instead of something that tastes like dried grass?”

  She scowled at him. “Because the idea is to stay alive. If I had a stash of candy, I’d eat it all the first day, then I’d be in trouble.”

  The golden-brown gaze flicked at her, lashing like the tip of a whip. “When are you going to tell me why you packed survival gear for an overnight plane trip to Seattle?” He kept his tone light, but she felt the change of mood. He was dead serious about this, and she wondered why. What did it matter to him why she lugged that stuff everywhere she went? She could understand why he would be curious, but not insistent.

  “I’m paranoid,” she said, matching his tone in lightness. “I’m always certain there will be some sort of emergency, and I’m terrified of being unprepared.”

  His eyes went dark and flat. “Bull. Don’t try to blow me off with lies.”

  Sunny might be good-natured almost to a fault, but she didn’t back down. “I was actually trying to be polite and avoid telling you it’s none of your business.”

  To her surprise, he relaxed. “That’s more like it.”

  “What? Being rude?”

  “Honest,” he corrected. “If there are things you don’t want to tell me, fine. I don’t like it, but at least it was the truth. Considering our situation, we need to be able to totally rely on each other, and that demands trust. We have to be up front with each other, even when the truth isn’t all sweetness and light.”

  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, giving him an “I’m not buying this” look. “Even when you’re just being nosy? I don’t think so.” She sniffed. “You’re trying to psych me into spilling my guts.”

  “Is it working?”

  “I felt a momentary twinge of guilt, but then logic kicked in.”

  She sensed he tried to fight it, but a smile crinkled his eyes, then moved down to curl the corners of that beautifully cut mouth. He shook his head. “You’re going to cause me a lot of trouble,” he said companionably as he picked up the traps and started back to their little water hole, if a trickle could be called a hole.

  “Why’s that?” she called to his back.

  “Because I’m afraid I’m going to fall in love with you,” he said over his shoulder as he walked around a jutting curve of the canyon wall and disappeared from sight.

  Sunny’s legs felt suddenly weak; her knees actually wobbled, and she reached out to brace her hand on the wall. Had he really said that? Did he mean it? Would a man