The Complete Mackenzie Collection Read online

  Her lips trembled, but he had her full attention now. “Even for your own sake?” she whispered, distress leaching the blue undertones from her eyes and leaving them an empty gray.

  He paused for a fraction of a second, wondering if she was referring to her father. “Especially for that,” he replied, and set himself to the sweet task of arousing her. This time was totally for her; he wooed her with a skill that went beyond sexual experience. His extensive training in the martial arts had taught him how to cripple with a touch, kill with a single blow, but it had also taught him all the places on the human body that were exquisitely sensitive to pleasure. The backs of her knees and thighs, the delicate arches of her feet, the lower curve of her buttocks, all received their due attention. Slowly she came alive under him, a growing inner wetness easing his way. She began to move in time with his leisurely thrusts, rising up to meet him. He stroked the cluster of nerves in the small of her back and was rewarded by the reflexive arch that took him deeper into her.

  She sighed, her lips parted, her eyes closed. Her cheeks glowed; her lips were puffy and red. He saw all the signs of her arousal and whispered encouragement. Her head tossed to the side, and her hardened nipples stabbed against his chest. Gently, so gently, he bit the tender curve where her neck met her shoulder.

  She cried out and began climaxing, her peak catching him by surprise. So did his own. He hadn’t meant to climax, but the delicate inner clench and release of her body sent pleasure roaring through him, bursting out of control.

  He tried to stop, tried to withdraw; his body simply wouldn’t obey. Instead, he thrust deep and shuddered wildly as his seed spurted from him into the hot, moist depths of her. He heard his own deep, rough cry; then both time and thought stopped, and all that was left of him sank down on her in a heavy sprawl.

  Shadow had crept across the canyon floor when he wrapped her in the blanket and carried her back to the sheltering overhang. The surrounding rock blocked the sun during the day, but it also absorbed its heat so that at night, when the temperature dropped, it was noticeably warmer in their snug little niche than it was outside. Sunny yawned, drowsy with satisfaction, and rested her head on his shoulder. “I can walk,” she said mildly, though she made no effort to slide her feet to the ground.

  “Hey, I’m doing my macho act here,” he protested. “Don’t ruin it.”

  She tilted her head back to look at him. “You aren’t acting, though, are you?”

  “No,” he admitted, and earned a chuckle from her.

  Time had gotten away from him while they drifted in the sleepy aftermath of passion. The sun was so far down in the sky that only the upper rim of the canyon was lit, the reds and golds and purples of the rock catching fire in the sunset, while the sky had taken on a deep violet hue.

  “I’m going to check the traps while there’s still a few minutes of light left,” he said as he deposited her on the ground. “Sit tight. I won’t be long.”

  Sunny sat tight for about two seconds after he disappeared from view, then bounced to her feet. Quickly she washed and dressed, needing the protection of her clothing. She had the uneasy feeling that nothing was the same as it had been before Chance carried her out into the sunlight. She had been prepared for the lovemaking, but not for that overwhelming assault on her senses. She had hoped for pleasure, and instead found something so much more powerful that she couldn’t control it.

  And most of all, Chance had revealed himself for the marauder he was.

  She had seen glimpses of it before, in moments when the force of his personality broke through his control. She should have realized then; one didn’t bolt a steel gate on an empty room. His control had given her the rare, luxurious feeling of safety, and she had been so beguiled that she had ignored the power that gate held constrained, or what would happen if it ever broke loose. This afternoon, she had found out.

  He had said he’d been in the Army Rangers. That should have told her everything she needed to know about the kind of man he was. She could only think she’d let the stress of the situation, and her worry about Margreta, blind her to his true nature.

  A shiver rippled down her spine, a totally sensual reaction as she remembered the tumultuous hour—or hours—on the blanket. She had been helpless, totally blindsided by the force of her reaction. She had known from the beginning that she responded to him as she never had before to any man, but she still hadn’t been prepared for such a complete upheaval of her senses. He wasn’t the only one accustomed to control; her very life had depended on her control of any given situation, and with Chance, she had found that she couldn’t control either him or herself.

  She had never been more terrified in her life.

  The way she had felt about him before was nothing compared to now. It wasn’t just the sex, which had been so much more intense and harsh than she had ever imagined. No, it was the part of his character he had revealed, the part that he had tried to keep hidden, that called to her so strongly she knew only her own death would end the love she felt for him. Chance was one of a very special breed of men, a warrior. All the little pieces of him she had sensed were now settled into place, forming the picture of a man who would always have something wild and ruthless inside him, a man willing to put himself at risk, step into the line of fire, to protect what he loved. He was the complete antithesis of her father, whose life was devoted wholly to destruction.

  Sunny hadn’t had a choice in a lot of the sacrifices of her life. Their mother had given her and Margreta away in an effort to save them, but hadn’t been able to completely sever herself from her daughters’ lives. Instead, she had taught them all her hard-learned skills, taught them how to hide, to disappear—and, if necessary, how to fight. By necessity, Pamela Vickery Hauer had become an expert in her own brand of guerrilla warfare. Whenever she thought it safe she would visit, and the kindly Millers would go out of their way to give her time with her girls.

  When Sunny was sixteen, Pamela’s luck had finally run out. Their father’s network was extensive, and he had many more resources at his disposal than his fugitive wife could command. Logically, it had been only a matter of time before he found her. And when she was finally run to ground, Pamela had killed herself rather than take the chance he would, by either torture or drugs, be able to wring their location from her.

  That was Sunny’s legacy, a life living in shadows, and a courageous mother who had killed herself in order to protect her children. No one had asked her if this was the life she wanted; it was the life she had, so she had made the best of it she could.

  Nor had it been her choice to live apart from Margreta; that had been her sister’s decision. Margreta was older; she had her own demons to fight, her own battles to wage, and she had never been as adept at the survival skills taught by their mother as Sunny had been. So Sunny had lost her sister, and when the Millers died, first Hal and then Eleanor, she had been totally alone. The calls on her cell phone from Margreta were the only contact she had, and she knew Margreta was content to leave it at that.

  She didn’t think she had the strength to give up Chance, too. That was why she was terrified to the point of panic, because her very presence endangered his life. Her only solace was that because he was the man he was, he was very tough and capable, more able to look after himself.

  She took a deep breath, trying not to anticipate trouble. If and when they got out of this canyon, then she would decide what to do.

  Because she was too nervous to sit still, she checked the clothes she had washed out and found they were already dry. She gathered them off the various rocks where they had spread them, and though the little chore had taken only minutes, by the time she walked back to the overhang there was barely enough light for her to see.

  Chance hadn’t taken the flashlight with him, she remembered. It was a moonless night; if he didn’t get back within the next few minutes, he wouldn’t be able to see.

  The fire had been kept smoldering all day, to maximize the smoke and conserv