His gaze slipped lower and his mouth went dry at the sight of her graceful throat. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her there. To run his tongue along the delicate curve and taste the flesh. He wondered if she would taste the way she smelled. Sweet and secret and soft as wet velvet….
Raw lust struck him in the gut like a fist. Blood pooled low and hot in his groin. Muttering a curse under his breath, he turned away from her and stared blindly out at the wind-blown peaks. He thought inappropriate thoughts about the woman behind him and all the things he wanted to do with her. He thought about what all those things would cost him, and cursed under his breath.
“Is it safe for us to stay here? I mean, with that guy with the gun outside?”
Jake glanced at her over his shoulder, warning her with his eyes for her to stay away. “Why? You got someplace to go?”
She held his gaze, challenging his question. “Actually I do.”
“Where?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Didn’t think so.”
“Jake, we could split up. You could head back down the mountain. You could tell the D.O.C. guys about the sniper. Tell them I—”
“I’m taking you back, Abby. If you’ve got a beef with your conviction, you’ll have to fight it through whatever legal channels are left.” He felt like a bastard saying that to her, knowing what he did. But the alternative was too crazy to contemplate.
She hissed an obscenity that left no doubt in his mind how she felt about those legal channels. “I could just take off.”
He shot her a sour look.
“I know you won’t shoot me in the back,” she said.
“You know I’ll come after you.”
“So, we’re stuck here?” she asked.
“We don’t have a choice for the moment.”
“You mean, because I fell through the ice and got a little disoriented?”
“You’re a nurse. You figure it out.”
She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m not some Denver daisy who went out for a jog this morning. I’ve trained for six months for this. I’m strong and feel just fine.”
“You go out in subzero weather in wet clothes and a body that was hypothermic just a few hours earlier and you’re asking for trouble.”
“I’m in good shape, Jake.”
He didn’t want to think about what kind of shape she was in. He’d seen her long, toned legs and flat belly. He’d seen the muscle definition in her arms. Yeah, she was in good shape, all right. So good, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
Wrapping the sleeping bag more tightly around her, she approached him. “Let me go,” she said.
“Abby—”
“Please.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a cop, damn it.”
“You know I’m telling the truth.”
Jake didn’t want to have this conversation. It wasn’t his responsibility to judge her guilt or innocence or any of those gray areas in between. All he was supposed to do was take her back. And he planned to do just that come hell or high water.
He turned his back on her. “Put another log on the fire, will you?” he asked quietly. “Try to get some rest. I’m going to feed the stock and take a look around.”
“Damn it, Jake—”
“Rest while you can, Abby. We leave at first light.”
CHAPTER 9
Jake avoided going back inside until dark. He fed the stock, put some snow in a pail and melted it for the animals to drink. At noon, he tacked up Brandywine, sheathed his rifle and rode a one-mile perimeter around the cabin, hoping to spot a spent casing or some tracks or some other clue that might tell him who’d been taking shots at them. Later, he spent a couple of hours hauling dry firewood into the cabin. He even built a small bonfire on the off chance the RMSAR chopper was out looking for them. He knew it was futile; for the second day in a row, the winds were kicking in from the north and the Bell 412 was likely grounded.
But even something as futile as building a bonfire was better than going back inside. Spending time with Abby was making him crazy, filling his head with thoughts he had absolutely no right to be thinking.
But Jake knew he was going to have to go inside at some point and face her. He couldn’t avoid it much longer. It was barely above zero outside. His hands and feet were numb. His face tingled from the cold. He had to go inside. He needed to eat. He needed to rest, so he could keep watch tonight.
Hell, he was going to have to spend the night with her.
Jake didn’t want to think about her any more. He didn’t want to want her, didn’t want to know anything more about her. He didn’t want to know what she’d been through or how it had affected her. All he wanted was to get this job over with so he could go back to his life where things were black and white.
But for the first time in his life things weren’t quite so black and white and he was scared to death that doing the right thing included helping an escaped con.
The cabin was dim when he finally pushed open the door and stepped inside. The only light came from the low, burning fire in the hearth. The tang of smoke hung in the air. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. On the floor a few feet in front of the fire, Abby lay on her side, wrapped in her sleeping bag, asleep. She looked fragile and innocent and incredibly sexy lying there with that mane of hair spread out under her like coils of silk.
The sight of her stopped Jake dead in his tracks.
Stomping the snow from his boots, he tore his eyes from her. He went to the small table in the kitchen, picked up the kettle and filled it with snow. When he took it to the fire, she was sitting up, watching him, her face soft from sleep.
“Thirsty?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She rubbed the back of her neck and looked out the window. “I can’t believe I slept the day away.”
“That’s the hypothermia. The cold will zap you.” He walked over to the window facing the ridge and pulled the frayed curtains closed.
“Do you think he’s still out there?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He looked at her and felt the now familiar tightening sensation in his gut. “Probably.”
Scowling, Jake walked over to his saddlebag. “I’ve got two more meals. Do you want to eat now, or in the morning?”
“Do you have anything left to snack on tomorrow?”
“Not much. A couple of protein bars.”
“Let’s eat now.” Rising, the sleeping bag wrapped around her, she walked over to the fireplace and lifted her jumpsuit from the back of the chair. “I mean, if you don’t mind. I’m starving.”
“No problem.”
“I need to get dressed.”
Hell. “Ah…okay.”
“Would you mind turning around for a second?”
“Sure.”
Because her back was already to him, Jake hesitated a moment and watched her. The lady definitely had a nice back. And he knew even after this was over, he’d be thinking about that slender back for a long, long time to come.
Turning away, he busied himself with their last two meals while Abby dressed. In short order, they were sitting cross-legged in front of the fire with their meals on their laps. They ate in silence for several minutes. Sipping water from the cup between them and savoring their last two meals. Jake had just begun to relax and believed he was going to get through this when she started in with the questions.
“So, how long have you been in law enforcement?”
“Twelve years.”
“You like it?”
He frowned at her, hoping she’d get the message and cut it out. She gazed back at him, unfazed. “It’s a living,” he said.
She forked a piece of broccoli. “You’re also with a search and rescue team?”
“Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue.” He wondered if she was merely curious or if she was going somewhere with all the questions. “Don’t ask me if I like it.”
“That was
my next question.”
“Eat your dinner.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to make conversation.”
Silence fell between them again when she reached over and used a small container of salt. “You ever been married?” she asked.
He shot her another dark look. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I never met anyone I wanted to marry.”
“No need to get testy.”
“Yeah, well, no offense, but I’m not real big on conversation.”
“Now there’s a surprise.” She forked a carrot, then chewed it thoughtfully. “You believe I’m innocent, don’t you, Jake?”
“What makes you think that?”
She shrugged. “I can tell.”
He tried to concentrate on his meal, but the chicken and vegetables had lost their taste. “This is your last meal until we get back, Blondie. I suggest you eat it while it’s hot, try to enjoy it, and stop talking so damn much.”
“You want to let me go, but you can’t because it goes against your grain, doesn’t it?”
He continued eating, avoiding her gaze. “I’m not going to have this conversation with you.”
“Really?” she asked sharply.
“Really.”
“You want to know what I think, Jake?”
“Not particularly.” Sighing, he set down his fork and glared at her. “But I reckon you’re going to tell me anyway, aren’t you?”
“I think you can’t trust me because someone hurt you. My guess is it was a woman. Am I close?”
Jake nearly choked on a piece of carrot. Clearing his throat with a sip of water, he set his plate down and shook his head. “Look, Abby, I really don’t want to talk about this.”
“Am I right?”
“No.”
“Who was she?”
“Nobody.”
“I think she would have had to be someone, Jake. I mean, you’re not the kind of man who would…get involved with just anyone.”
“I’m the kind of man who likes to keep my private life private.”
“Since we’re stuck here together for the next few hours, I thought we could use this time to get to know each other.”
“I know all I want to know about you.”
“That may be so, but I’m curious about you.”
“I’m boring, believe me. You don’t want to know.”
“You’re closed.”
“Closed? Well, hell, maybe you could take a hint.”
“You’re dying to know what I mean by ‘closed’ aren’t you?”
He scowled at her. “Not in the least.”
“It means you don’t invite people into your life. You don’t let them get inside your head, so you don’t have to care about them. It means you’re not comfortable talking about yourself. You don’t like people to know what you’re thinking or feeling—”
“And people with hard heads like you just keep digging, don’t they?”
Undeterred, she continued. “I mean, look at you. I ask you one little question and you go into a panic.”
“Now that’s a hoot.”
“You’re touchy about it, too.”
Determined to ignore her, he forced a laugh and resumed eating. “I suppose you moonlight as a shrink in your spare time.”
“What did she do to you?”
“What did who do to me?”
“The woman who hurt you.”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Rising abruptly, he took the empty container to the trash bin in the kitchen area. Abby hadn’t finished with hers, so she remained by the fire. But Jake could feel her eyes on him, like sunlight coming through a magnifying glass, burning him. Damn, the woman knew how to drive a man nuts.
He went back to the fire, and sat cross-legged on his sleeping bag. Maybe if he turned the tables, she’d stop with the questions.
He shot her a hard look. “While we’re playing Twenty Questions, why don’t you tell me how you broke out of Buena Vista?”
She looked up from her food and considered him. “Are you asking as a cop, or are you merely curious?”
“I’m asking because I have absolutely no intention of talking to you about my personal life. How’s that?”
She took a sip of water, trying to look casual, but Jake could tell the conversation they were about to have was anything but casual for her. “After that night in the shower room, and I figured out that someone didn’t want me talking to the wrong person, I realized I wasn’t going to survive unless I got out. I knew someone would eventually catch me off guard. That I’d get a knife in my back or have an accident.”
“The D.O.C. guys said you had a gun.”
“It wasn’t a gun…exactly.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
She bit her lip. “Can I tell you this in confidence?”
“I’m a cop, Abby. I can’t—”
“You can, Jake. It’s just you and me here. We’re stuck together. When this is over, you’re going to go back to your cop life. I’m going to go back to prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”
He sighed, not liking the way she’d put that. “Okay. Off the record.”
“I called…a friend. I told her what was happening. I didn’t want to involve her, but I was scared and desperate and we finally…came up with a plan over the phone.”
“What was the plan?”
“She came to visit me.”
“How did you get the gun?”
“She smuggled it into the prison in her—”
“Whoa!” Jake threw up his hands. “Stop right there.”
“—panty hose.”
A relieved breath slid between his lips.
“And it wasn’t a gun.” He must have looked at her blankly, because she explained. “It was a squirt gun.”
“A squirt gun?”
She nodded. “I’ve never used a gun, so I probably couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. And then there’s that nifty metal detector at the prison entrance.”
“You mean to tell me you broke out of Buena Vista Corrections Center for Women with a squirt gun?”
“Turns out I didn’t need it.” She bit her lip. “I know it sounds crazy.”
“That appears to be the theme we’ve been keeping.”
“Evidently.”
“How did you plan to clear your name?” he asked after a moment.
She slanted him a look, her eyes cool. “Are you asking as a cop, Jake?”
He stared back, realized he was—and that he would use it against her if he had to. He hoped it never came to that. Her status as an escaped con aside, he’d grown to like Abby Nichols. Hell, he’d even developed a strange sort of respect for her. “Maybe I am.”
“In that case, I’ll take the fifth.” Turning away from him, she walked over to the duster hanging near the mantel and pulled it down. “Nice and dry,” she said to no one in particularly.
The duster made him think of that morning. She’d been wearing it when she’d left the cabin. When he’d tackled her off that horse and come down on top of her. He stared at her, willing himself not to remember the way she’d felt beneath him. The smell of her hair. The way her body had conformed to his. She’d fought surprisingly well for such a small woman. And when that hadn’t worked, she’d kissed him, and Jake had lost his mind and kissed her back.
Hell.
He looked down at his hands, realizing he couldn’t let what happened between them pass without comment. This situation, his relationship with this woman, was getting more complicated by the minute. If he wasn’t careful, he could find himself in serious trouble—if he wasn’t already. If she got back to the prison and yelled foul—or God forbid, accused him of sexual contact—Jake could very well find his career down the tubes.
“There’s something we need to talk about,” he said gruffly.
She didn’t even bother to look at him as she folded her sleeping bag and spread it on the floor. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“
Well, we need to discuss what happened today.”
“A lot of things happened today, Jake.” She sat on the sleeping bag, pulled the duster around her shoulders and shot him a challenging look. “Do you think you could be a little more specific?”
“I guess you’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”
“I guess not.”
Jake scowled. “The…kiss, damn it.”
“Oh. That.” She busied herself smoothing the duster over her. “It was no big deal.”
The offhand way she’d said the words shouldn’t have ruffled him, but it did. He didn’t want to admit it, but that kiss had definitely been a big deal. Considering he was an officer of the law and she was an escaped convict in his charge, Jake figured the entire fiasco was pretty damn monumental.
“Don’t pull that again, Abby.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“If I’m not mistaken, it takes two people to engage in a kiss.”
He would have argued the point if she hadn’t been right. But she was. He’d kissed her back, and he hated himself for it. True, she might have initiated it, but he should have shown a little restraint and stopped it. Why was it so hard to do the right thing when it came to this woman?
“It was…improper. I’m a cop. I shouldn’t have…done that.”
“Worried I might tell someone, Jake? Get you into trouble?”
That was only part of the problem. The simple part. The other part wasn’t so cut-and-dried. “I’m not going to let you jerk my chain,” he growled.
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
This was not playing out the way he’d planned. In fact, nothing was working out the way he planned when it came to this woman.
He stared at her for a long while. She stared back, her expression challenging and, perhaps, a little hurt. He wasn’t sure why, but he was having a difficult time reading her. That was unusual for Jake; knowing what people were thinking and feeling was second nature to him. That was what made him such a good cop. Why couldn’t he read Abby? Why the hell was he having such a hard time doing the right thing?