for his help and rushed out the front door.
* * * * *
Shane closed the barn door and hurried back to the house, pushing the damp hair
out of his face. He was soaked again. He couldn't blame that on anyone but himself.
He'd wanted Reddins to have enough time to question Emma without her feeling
pressured to say something she didn't mean. Fat chance in hell anyone could compel
Emma into doing something if she really, really didn't want to. But he'd give her space.
Thinking about Emma brought forth a fresh desire to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do
so much more. Their picnic lunch conversation had revealed things about her that he
hadn't expected. He'd enjoyed seeing her reaction when he'd mentioned he liked
blondes. When he was around her he couldn't seem to help stop flirting with her, from
saying whatever he wanted.
He could understand Emma's distrust. Did her misgiving toward him hide
innocence, or was she a clever actress? Was she trying to find Sadie's treasure for the
archaeological aspects? Or could she be a part of a larger conspiracy?
If she was innocent then she was in deep danger. She couldn't know what forces
she'd unveil if she continued her quest. That scared the crap out of him.
Still, she'd caught him talking on his I-Doc communicator when Dorky had called.
He should have been more careful and gone outside to answer the phone. Fuck, he
needed to watch it.
Son of a bitch. He couldn't blame Emma for being suspicious of him if he had to lie
to her so blatantly. Now that he'd frightened her, it would be harder than ever to
protect her from forces she couldn't understand. Somehow he must work his way back
into her confidence. Huh. As if she'd ever trusted him.
Yeah, Shane. Other than this assignment, to finish the mission, why do you need her trust?
The question hung there in his mind without an answer.
As he walked into the utility room, his gaze landed on Emma's bra and bikini
panties hanging on the small clothesline he'd pulled from one wall and hooked to
another.
He smiled and reached up to finger one bra cup, enjoying the sensation of lace and
satin against his skin. The damp material clung to his finger, and he wondered if she
liked the touch of cotton against her breasts. These hot numbers, though, were satin and
lace. Nothing innocent or sweet. He looked at the size on the bra. Thirty-four C cup. Not
huge, but certainly not little. He ached to cup those rounded breasts and this time kiss
the nipple he'd teased through her bra earlier today. Hell, he wanted to lick and suck
her in the worst way. Numerous scenarios raced through his mind. Emma naked as the
day she was born, his hands around her breasts, his mouth tasting her hard nipples.
Her legs spread wide for him as he dipped his head and licked through her hot pussy
lips. Her hot sheath embracing his cock in wet, soothing heat as he moved in and out of
her. He'd find out if her blonde hair was real or from a bottle. He grinned widely. Oh,
yeah.
It didn't take him long to realize that Emma had left the house and the Explorer had
disappeared. Anger rippled through him, but he took a deep breath and stifled it before
it could grow.
"Where the hell did you go?" he said to the empty living room.
Charlie trotted into the living room and examined him with innocent chocolate
eyes.
"Where is she, girl?" Shane asked Charlie. He sighed, cursed. He patted the dog on
the back. "Yeah, like you're going to tell me."
The Lab swiped her tongue on his hand and grinned. Shane saw a small piece of
notepaper lying on the coffee table, picked it up and read it. He frowned and then
cursed.
He went into his bedroom to change, wondering if Emma had returned to the site
regardless of his warnings. Sheets of rain pounded the ground, creating a soupy,
muddy mess. She'd be lucky if the Explorer didn't become stuck in the canyon. As he
tugged on dry jeans, a biting worry for Emma's safety clamped onto his mind.
"Stop it," he mumbled. "She can take care of herself."
She had to be the most obstinate, maddening, pain-in-the-neck woman he'd ever
met. "That alone should keep her safe from anyone and anything."
It would serve her right to get her neck in a noose. Maybe she'd understand then
that you didn't thumb your nose at danger for long before it bit you in the ass. Perhaps
her headstrong behavior would even protect her from him. He couldn't afford to
constantly feel this gnawing ache in his groin for a woman he couldn't have. She wasn't
the one-night-in-the-sack kind of woman, and he couldn't chance emotional
attachments. Hell, he doubted he could be devoted to any woman for long. But he
remembered that look on Emma's face when he'd told her she shouldn't go anywhere
because of the weather. Suspicion had covered her expression.
Hell, he didn't want her to be afraid of him.
What the fuck do you want from her other than a good wall banger? No answer came.
Since Emma had come into his life, he'd reeled from one conflicting emotion to
another. He'd never reacted to a woman's sensual pull this quickly. Like a potent
aphrodisiac, she melted his blood. All he could think about was keeping her safe and
his need to fuck her hard and fast, then soft and slow. Damn it, he wanted to fuck her
every way possible. Then maybe this driving, intoxicating craving would leave his
system.
Not likely.
* * * * *
Later that evening, the short man did the One's bidding again, even though the One
had bloodied his hands. Why did he have to do the One's dirty work? Because he had
no choice, he supposed.
The body sagged limply in the short man's arms as he dragged it toward the secret
place where no one would find it. Emma Baker wouldn't venture here—no one did if
they understood the forces involved. Of course, he didn't linger long. After stuffing the
body away, he walked toward Sadie Cutley's mine less than a mile away. He'd brought
a flashlight because night had started to descend. God, he hated this human body. What
he could do if he went back to his original form…ah yes, how powerful he could be
then. Soon he would change back, and then he would enjoy.
Down the dry creek bed that wound between the towering mountains on either
side, the journey didn't take him too long with his quick pace and urgent need to see
the place he'd discovered years ago and needed to return to late at night when he was
certain Shane O'Donnell wouldn't know. He knew better than to wander too close to
the mine again. The first time had put him into the state he lived within now. The One
warned him repeatedly not to enter the mine and told what could happen to him if he
ripped the boards away and stepped inside the cavelike structure. Damn, how did
Sadie survive this place so long? What drove her to work here when only destruction
and death belonged in this secret opening to the realm? Greed? Hate? Curiosity?
Perhaps all three. Shit, she was nothing more than an ignorant old wench anyway. Of
course she'd failed, the way Emma Baker would fail. A forbidden thrill ran through him
at the thought of stepping into the forbidden mines and caves hidden from view now
by layers of ve
getation and boards.
Shane O'Donnell might think he could protect people from what lay in wait in the
depths of the mine, but he couldn't. After all, when the Shadow Realm decided to
venture forth, to spill into this space and time, no one could escape.
Confusion spilled through the short man's mind and then he remembered. He
wasn't really this man—after all, he owned this body for a short time. Oh, how he hated
this corporeal body.
With a low laugh that rustled through the breeze, he continued forward on his
quest. When the One had his treasure, they would enter the mine and release the great
evil upon the people of Gambit Creek.
* * * * *
After she left Shane's house, Emma went straight to the campground with the idea
of confronting Grant. Better to meet with him now than wait for him to come to her.
Grant's RV sat like a hulking monster nested down for the night, but no lights showed
in the windows. No sign of the small SUV he used to drive around town rather than
take his RV everywhere. She decided to get dinner first and return to the campground
later.
At eight o'clock Emma arrived at The Golden Brand fully expecting the parking lot
to be semi-empty. A small banner on the outside declared it was Golden Brand Famous
Thursday Night Chili and Country Line Dancing. She circled the lot twice before
someone relinquished a space. After today's antics she didn't relish a big crowd, but her
stomach protested loud and clear and she didn't want to grab a quick hamburger. She
needed time to think through everything that happened recently.
She climbed out of the SUV and ran through the downpour into the restaurant.
After a ten-minute wait, a waitress showed her to a table. Packed with people, the
restaurant hummed with voices. The nasty weather hadn't deterred anyone from
having a good time. Country line dancing posters graced the swinging doors that led to
the bar, and a sorrowful Travis Tritt tune came from the room.
She stared at the menu but nothing seemed appealing. Her stomach flip-flopped
and she realized her nerves had frayed. Confronting Grant wouldn't be easy.
It took several moments for her to notice that someone had stopped at her table. She
expected to see the waitress when she glanced up.
Surprise made her suck in a quick breath. "Shane." Her gaze flicked up to the
brown cowboy hat on his head. "Wow."
"What?" His voice sounded rusty.
"You do own a cowboy hat."
He blinked. "Yeah, what about it?"
She smiled, despite her surprise and the disconcerting excitement that dashed
around inside her at the sight of him. "Um…never mind."
One corner of his mouth turned up in his trademark half smile. "Women never say
never mind to me."
Her mouth plopped open. "Aren't you the arrogant one?"
"So you tell me."
She shook her head and chastised herself internally for starting the conversation in
that direction in the first place. She shrugged. "Before I met you I had this vision of a
man who looked like a stereotypical cowboy. You didn't have a cowboy hat that day at
the site."
He took the cowboy hat off and tossed it on his side of the table. "Shocked you, did
I?"
She nodded and decided to be honest. "In more ways than one."
Damp and unruly, his hair curled about his head and shoulders in disarray. His
grim expression reminded her she'd run away from him. Without asking if he could sit
down, he pulled the extra chair away from the table and sank down into the seat. His
knees bumped hers under the small table. All her senses locked onto the sensation.
"Why did you leave without saying goodbye?" he asked with a quiet intensity that
did nothing to diminish the sharpness of his gaze.
Emma perused her menu, but didn't see the words in front of her. "Would you
have let me go?"
"Maybe." He shrugged. "Maybe not."
"I don't respond well to caveman tactics, Shane."
He nodded. "So I noticed. Sometimes caveman tactics are necessary."
She let every inch of her disapproval show in her expression. "So you think
violence is the answer to your problems?"
"No." He shifted in his chair, and his face went expressionless. "Remember what I
told you. I'd never hurt you. You don't need to be frightened of me."
She considered his words, wanting to believe, feeling her instincts telling her to
release suspicions where he was concerned. "I'll admit that telephone conversation
frightened me. You weren't talking to your uncle, were you?"
"No, I wasn't." He cleared his throat. "I was talking to a friend."
"A woman."
"Yeah."
"One who knows what's going on with the excavation?"
"That's right."
She nodded, not one hundred percent convinced that he told her the truth. "You
understand now why I bolted?"
"Not entirely. You ran away, Emma. You didn't confront me."
Ran away. Yeah, she'd been doing that all her life. Shame made her sigh and she
closed her eyes a moment before opening them. "I was confused and made a snap
decision. I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "It's all right." His gaze caught hers and held steady. "If there is
one thing I need you to believe, Emma, it's that you can trust me. Will you do that?
Nothing I ever do is meant to harm you."
"I'll try." When he didn't speak, she continued. "Why are you here?"
"I'm hungry."
"No, I mean why are you really here? Were you looking for me?"
"You left something at my house." He reached into his front jeans pocket and
pulled out her bikini panties. He allowed them to dangle from his index finger.
"Good God," she said, her eyes going wide.
She snatched them from his finger and stuffed them in her tote bag. She looked
around the restaurant in embarrassment, certain everyone had seen him produce the
panties. Just then the waitress arrived at their table looking amused. Though she
shouldn't give a damn what anyone thought, she wondered if the waitress had seen
him with her panties. Shane declined to order, and Emma ordered a draft beer.
After the waitress left, Shane leaned on the table and stared at Emma. "What's
wrong, Emma? You're about as bug-eyed as a woman can be."
"Did you have to return my panties like that?" she whispered.
"What other way would you have me return them?"
Her temperature soared. She ought to leave him sitting there alone with his smirk.
"I don't know, but not in a public place." She fidgeted with her water glass, watching
condensation roll down the side. "You don't have my bra hiding in your pants, do
you?"
He smiled slightly and his gaze heated. "Now there's a thought. No. It's hanging
from my rearview mirror."
"Hanging from—you're not serious?"
His gaze trailed over her face and drifted to her lips, their message sensual and
searching. "Absolutely. I rarely get a prize like that."
Beyond flustered by his hot gaze, she barely managed to speak. "I find that hard to
believe."
His lips curved into a carnal grin. "Why?"
She hadn't expected him to ask. "Because you're…"
"Yes?"
She shrugged. "Never mind."
He leaned b
ack in his chair, hooking his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. "I
went to the hotel and they wouldn't tell me if you'd checked back in. When I didn't see
your car there, I took a chance you might be with Grant at the campground. When I
went there no one was home."
Was he crazy? "What are you trying to do? Start another fight with Grant?"
He straightened in his chair, his eyes as stormy as thunderheads in an approaching
storm. "I wasn't the one who started the first fight."
She clutched her hands together in her lap and then relaxed them. "If he'd been
there who knows how he would have reacted? Don't you think it would be wise for you
to stay clear of him? If provoked he might press charges against you."
"Would that bother you? Or would you like to see me behind bars and Charlie in
the pound?"
"Of course not. Besides, Charlie was only doing what any good, loyal dog would do
for its master."
He didn't look pacified. "How would you feel about Grant's ass being tossed into
jail?"
"I thought you said you weren't pressing charges?"
"I'm not. I'm asking how you'd feel about it."
She fessed up. "I'd be pleased. Sometimes I think he needs to be taught a lesson.
Way too many times he's acted like a spoiled child."
The waitress appeared at that moment with her beer, and Emma immediately took
a swallow. The semi-bitter taste of the cold drink tasted good on her dry tongue. Maybe
the alcohol would calm her sudden jitters.
Shane stood abruptly. "Come on. Let's go in the bar."
She frowned. "Why?"
"I like the music."
Bemused, and not ready to end the conversation, she followed him into the dimly
lit bar. He found a small, secluded booth in the back.
Smoke drifted around the room and her nose twitched. She didn't care to suck in
cigarette fumes. Like the restaurant area, the bar was crowded, and several people
strutted to a line dance on the small dance floor. When she settled on one side of the
booth, he slipped in beside her. He sat excessively close, his proximity enough to send
little explosions of awareness along her nerves. She shifted, putting more space between
them.
"What time did you go to the campground?" she asked.
"I just came from there."
"I stopped there earlier, but Grant wasn't around then either." She gazed into the
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