by Debra Webb
When Raine completed his survey of the room, he bent over and began to put the bed back in order.
“What are you doing?” Kate asked, puzzled by his actions. She wouldn’t have taken him for a neat-freak.
“I’m making sure things are left the way we found them. So we don’t leave a trail.”
Kate frowned. He certainly seemed to think of everything. She wasn’t complaining on that score though, the view from her position was pretty good. Faded jeans strained against his tight butt as he bent over the bed. His bomber jacket covered his back and shoulders, but she already knew exactly what that broad torso looked like. Kate concentrated hard on his long, muscled physique and tried to recall exactly how he had looked naked. A ripple of awareness made her shiver again as she closed her eyes and allowed the images to flood her mind. Tanned skin stretched taut over ridges and planes of hard muscle. Heat rushed through Kate as her breathing grew shallow and rapid.
If she had to be stranded in the wilderness, this was definitely the man to be stuck with. He was rugged, handsome, strong…he was a killer. What the hell was she thinking? Kate forced her eyes open to face the reality of her predicament. Raine stood right in front of her, studying her closely. Those piercing sky-blue eyes made her heart skip a beat.
“Are you all right?” he asked, a hint of concern tinging his low, husky baritone.
“Fine. I’m fine.” Kate retreated a step and stumbled on the blanket hanging around her feet.
Raine advanced the step she had retreated and tugged the blanket from around her. “I don’t think you’ll need this.” He folded the blanket and draped it across the foot of the bed just as she had found it.
Kate pushed her hands through her hair, careful of the tender spot on her scalp, and tried to smile, but her efforts fell far short of her goal.
“Let’s go.” He flicked one last glance at her before striding out the door.
Drawing in a fortifying breath, Kate followed him into the biting cold. She hesitated at the corner of the cabin. “Wait,” she said suddenly. Already a half-dozen yards ahead of her, Raine stopped and turned around. “I need to…do something,” she stammered, heat rising in her cheeks.
He adjusted the collar of his jacket higher around his neck. “So do it.”
“I…I can’t do it here.” Kate shifted with growing discomfort. Obviously she hadn’t been awake enough until just this moment to realize she had to go—bad. Or maybe it was the cold. Whatever it was, she had to go now.
He nodded toward the cabin. “Go around to the other side and make it fast. We’re wasting time.” All signs of concern had vanished. The cold, emotionless man who had mocked death when it came in the form of two armed goons was back.
Not wanting to be left behind, Kate hurried through the knee-deep grass and briars. The dead blades crunched beneath her hiking boots.
After finding a spot that represented the least possible threat to her bare bottom, Kate took care of business. She checked her purse for anything useful, like lip balm. Nothing but a hairbrush, her driver’s license, and a wallet that contained a few small bills. Knowing his lack of patience, she quickly rejoined Raine. He might be cold and emotionless, but he was all she had. She met his impatient gaze and produced a smile.
“You’re ready now?” he asked archly.
“Do I have a choice?”
“I knew I would regret this.” His tone matched the implacable expression on his face. Raine turned and strode toward the trail they had abandoned the night before.
Kate followed quietly. She focused on trying to remember how she had ended up in this man’s company. He had said something about a car accident. Her head ached from the concussion she had received, according to Raine, in that accident. But Kate didn’t really remember anything before waking up in his bed. Fleeting snatches of memory about his naked body and their being in the shower together were about all she could recall. Except those sensations of knowledge that plagued her from time to time. She frowned. She would experience a sudden feeling or sense of knowing, but not quite a memory.
Kate sighed. Surely it was only a matter of time before her full memory returned, with or without medical attention. Wasn’t that the way it happened in the movies? How would she know? she mused bitterly. Who was to say that the flashes of insight she experienced weren’t scenes from movies? They could be fragments of her life just as easily. Maybe she was some sort of spy or cop or something, she thought, laughing bitterly at herself. Whatever she was, Kate decided reluctantly, she had definitely been hanging around with the wrong crowd.
The trail climbed steadily for a short distance before they reached the crest and began the descent. Kate felt immensely grateful for the downward trek. She took care to watch for icy patches this time. Before long she even got the hang of stepping over the many hazards of the rocky trail. She felt immensely more coordinated today, and not as weak.
Raine waited for Kate at each of the slide areas. He warned her to stay away from the edge and to move slowly since there were no cables to hold on to this time. He stuck to her like glue as she braved the more precarious areas. Kate didn’t bother to thank him since he didn’t seem in the conversational mood. A hundred questions flitted through her mind, but she didn’t vocalize them, either. She had a bad feeling she wouldn’t like the answers. What were the old sayings? Ignorance is bliss. What you don’t know won’t hurt you. Kate hoped like hell that at least one would prove true.
Each time Raine took her hand and helped her across a particularly hazardous spot, a tingle zipped through her. Kate didn’t really understand her physical reaction to the man. Did they know each other intimately as she feared? Did they have a history? If they did, he wasn’t telling. Raine was the kind of man who probably had women falling at his feet all the time. For a man like him, she was most likely nothing more than another roll in the hay. Too bad she didn’t remember the roll. She shook herself mentally.
Kate clenched and unclenched her fists against the numbing cold. She glanced down at her coat and for the first time realized she had pockets. Stuffing her hands inside the protective material, Kate also discovered gloves. An appreciative smile spread across her cold, stiff lips. She tugged the gloves out to slip them on and something fluttered to the ground. Kate frowned as she reached for the small object. Matches. A small book of matches. The kind people in bars always wrote their telephone numbers on and then gave to a prospective date. The cover was plain white, no advertisement. Kate opened it. No telephone number was scrawled inside. Why would she have matches? Did she smoke? If she had known she had matches in her pocket, Raine could have lit that kerosene heater in the cabin.
“What’s the holdup?”
Raine’s steely voice jerked Kate from her reverie. She stuffed the matchbook back into her pocket and hurried to catch up with him. She could mull over the mysterious matches later. Right now she had to follow her fearless leader.
Like a big orange ball of fire, the sun finally rose above the treetops in the east and bathed the beautiful mountains in a golden glow. Its warmth melted away the thick blue mist that had enveloped the majestic trees that covered the landscape around them. Kate stopped and held her face to the sun, allowing its kiss to warm her. When she opened her eyes once more, she viewed the solitude and serenity of her surroundings with renewed interest. This was surely the most beautiful place she had ever seen. She sensed it in the deepest recesses of her soul.
A distant whop-whop-whop sound suddenly cut through the serene fabric of the morning, the cacophony wholly out of place in the beautifully untamed environment.
Raine had already turned toward the sound, his searching gaze roaming the treetops.
“What’s that?” she asked. Dread filled her midsection, followed swiftly by fear. Kate knew instantly that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
“Trouble,” he told her, his voice low.
Kate tried to rally her intellect. To determine exactly the source of the sound or what he meant by that on
e word, but she couldn’t. She could only stand there, frozen with the fear of the unknown.
The bad guys. It had to be the bad guys. She could feel her forehead wrinkle with worry. Was it the bad guys? Or was he, she turned her attention to Raine, the real bad guy? He’s good, maybe too good. The words sifted through the empty sieve of her mind. Kate’s frown deepened. How could she know that? Good at what?
“It’s a copter, they’re looking for us at the lodge,” he said mechanically. “We have to move faster, Kate.”
He was beside her now. She hadn’t even realized he had moved. Kate blinked rapidly, trying simultaneously to focus on him and the whirlwind of emotions churning inside her. Raine took her hand, wrapping his long fingers around hers and urging her forward.
“We have to hurry,” he repeated grimly.
She didn’t ask any other questions and he offered no further explanations. Kate simply allowed him to pull her along behind him. Raine moved with lightning speed and absolute silence. Kate stumbled frequently, but he always caught her. Soon the sound of the helicopter’s blades cutting through the air faded entirely. Kate focused intently on the task of keeping up once Raine had released her hand.
Faster and faster they moved down the trail as it followed the contour of the mountain. Kate didn’t know exactly how long they had been running, but surely the danger had passed. Raine continued to push forward anyway. She needed to slow down, but forced herself to keep his pace. If he could do it, she reminded herself, she could do it.
Just when Kate thought she might collapse, the unmistakable sound came again, blades beating through the frigid air. Kate turned to look out over the valley. Fear slithered up her spine. Without warning, Raine pulled her into the thick underbrush.
“Don’t move,” he whispered against the shell of her ear.
Kate nodded, too breathless to speak. She forced herself to ignore the feel of his hard body beneath her backside. He held her in his lap, his arms firm around her as if he feared she might suddenly make a run for it.
Her eyes widened and the breath vaporized in her lungs when the helicopter rose above the cliff and hovered over the trail on which they had been running only moments before. Kate turned into the protection of Raine’s embrace. His powerful arms tightened around her, and for reasons she could not comprehend, she felt safe, no matter that the helicopter veered ever closer.
The wind whipped around them. Branches slapped at their bodies. The thunderous sound of the propeller echoed through Kate’s body, making her heart pound harder. She closed her eyes and pressed her face into the curve of Raine’s neck. She inhaled the scent of leather and man and took comfort in the promise he had made to protect her.
What felt like a lifetime later, the sound once more faded into the distance. Kate lifted her gaze to find Raine watching her. Something about the way he looked at her unsettled her, yet drew her. She couldn’t look away. His gaze dropped to her lips, and her breath stalled in her chest. Just when she felt sure he intended to kiss her, he reached up and tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. Slowly, gently, he traced the bruise on her temple. Desire, unbidden yet hot and insistent, raced through her veins.
“Raine,” she murmured.
That steady blue gaze returned to hers. Kate moistened her lips, suddenly as afraid he might just kiss her after all as she was that he wouldn’t, and asked, “Do you think they’re gone for good this time?”
“Maybe…probably.” The low, raspy sound of his voice sent goose bumps skittering across her skin.
“What do we do now?” Kate wasn’t sure how much longer she could bear the unmistakable sexual tension sizzling between them. She wanted to fight it, to push him away as she had earlier. But she simply could not bring herself to move. She felt safe by his side. Safe from the men chasing them. Safe from the bitter cold. Safe.
His warm breath whispered across her lips as he exhaled. “We stay put until we’re sure they’re gone.”
She hadn’t noticed just how full and well shaped his lips were until now. Their movement as he spoke mesmerized her. The heat of his body tempted her to burrow more deeply into him.
“Kate.”
She forced her gaze upward, away from those lips. “Yes.” He was closer now, she felt sure of it.
Long fingers curled around her neck and pulled her closer—so close that their lips almost touched. Almost.
The faint sound of propeller blades jerked Raine’s attention skyward. Kate followed his gaze. “Are they coming back?”
Raine listened intently a moment longer. “No, they’re headed back toward the lodge.” He got to his feet, pulling Kate up as he went. “Let’s get moving.”
Still unsettled by the intensity of that near kiss, Kate followed the man who had promised to keep her safe from the bad guys.
But who would keep her safe from Raine?
FOR HOURS they continued the downward trek that took them through several shallow streams. Using rocks and fallen tree limbs, Raine helped Kate keep her shoes and feet dry and to avoid icy patches. It was definitely too cold to get wet. From time to time, he offered her a drink from the water bottle he carried.
Kate had accused him last night of not being a gentleman. This morning she’d had to eat her words. He was proving more of a gentleman than she would ever have imagined.
And Raine had been wrong this morning, as well, when he’d said that there hadn’t been any heat in the cabin last night. Not to mention the nuclear meltdown that occurred while they hid from the helicopter. Kate’s skin still burned from the feel of his strong body against hers. Even through the layers of clothing, she’d felt the strength of him and the power he emanated. She shivered at the recollection.
Focus, Kate. This wasn’t the time to fantasize about a man who might be more killer than hero. Thankfully they hadn’t heard the helicopter anymore. With the thick canopy of trees overhead she doubted they could be seen from the air at this point even if their pursuers decided to come back. Kate didn’t know if she had ever been chased by killers before or not, but it wasn’t an experience she wanted to repeat anytime soon.
Kate shuddered when she imagined the sound of barking dogs behind them. How could she remember all these scenarios from movies—if that’s what they were—when she couldn’t remember anything about her own life? Maybe she was a writer or director or film critic?
That’s rich, Kate. If that were the case, what the hell would you be doing in the middle of nowhere following James Bond? Kate had to laugh at herself then; she was pathetic.
She wondered briefly what god she had antagonized to deserve this fate. Whatever she had done in life to bring this penance, Kate prayed she would eventually remember it so she could be sure never to do it again.
Your life will be in constant danger—perhaps from more than one source. Kate jerked to a stop as the words slammed into her mind. She swallowed the fear rising in her throat. Why couldn’t she remember what those words meant? Or who’d said them?
Kate pushed aside the haunting questions and forced herself forward. She had to keep up. It would all come back, eventually. It had to.
They reached an intersection of sorts and Raine took the left fork, announcing that it was the Appalachian Trail. Kate wasn’t sure if she had known anything about the Appalachian Trail before today, but she’d had her fill now. The trail seemed more like a ditch at times. Heavily eroded, it was even rockier than the previous terrain they had plodded over. Fir, spruce and birch trees surrounded them on both sides as they continued their downward descent. The only views were of trees and sparse patches of sky.
She scanned the now-familiar landscape and sighed. They had walked for hours with no sign of anything in the distance but trees. For the first time since they had started their journey, Kate wondered if Raine really knew where he was going.
A large, treeless outcropping came into sight. A huge rock jutted up the side of the mountain. It looked oddly out of place, as if someone had lifted it from some faraway spot a
nd deposited it here as a conversation piece. Kate surveyed the strange sight. The trail wound right in front of the large, naturally misplaced rock. Raine again warned Kate not to veer off the trail. His concern was needless—she had no intention of getting more than a few feet from him. The possibility of getting lost or running into Raine’s “friends” again tormented her thoughts. Not to mention the possibility of being attacked by a bear.
Lions and tigers and bears. The Wizard of Oz. This time she knew the memory was a movie. She even remembered the name of it. Bears? Kate wondered again if there were bears in these woods. She opened her mouth to ask, but thought better of it. If there were no bears here, Raine would laugh at her stupidity, and if there were bears, he would think her afraid. Besides, any self-respecting bear would be hibernating this time of year, she reminded herself. Kate dismissed the worry as one she could definitely do without.
Raine took a hard right, leaving the Appalachian Trail behind. If this man did not know where he was going, they were in serious trouble. Kate could not have found her way back to the lodge if her life depended on it—at this point she truly hoped it didn’t. According to Raine, this part of the trail was rarely used. It continued downward, becoming weedy and even rockier. It soon opened up into a wider, somewhat grassy area. Kate was so exhausted by then that she hardly noticed the lovely mountain views around them. She stored away the glimpses of nature’s beauty in its purest form for later consideration. Much later, when she had her life back and wasn’t running for it.
The mountains jutted toward the sky on either side of them now as they moved steadily downward. Kate trudged on, numb and beyond exhausted. Snags of old chestnut trees stood on either side of the trail, haunting remnants of times past.
Raine moved forward, seemingly oblivious to anything and everything except advancing toward their destination. Wherever the hell that was. He hadn’t uttered more than a sentence or two in hours.