Too Close To The Fire/Too Hot To Handle (Montana Men 3)

by Jaydyn Chelcee

  He squinted at her. “You remember my kisses, all right. Hell, you practically fell into my arms and begged me to kiss you. I curl your socks, all right.”

  “Bullsnark! You dragged me into your arms!”

  “Bullsnark? What the hell kind of word is that?”

  “My kind!”

  “I don’t recall dragging you into my arms. It didn’t happen that way. What the hell are you doing with a gun?”

  “It did happen that way. And it goes with the badge.”

  “What badge?”

  She dug in her bag and laid a gold badge in his hand. “This badge.”

  He gawked at it. “New York City Detective? Where’d you get this, out of a Cracker Jack’s box?”

  “It’s the real deal, Spencer. I’m a cop.” She dragged it out of his hand and tossed the shield back in the bag. “I even come with a pair of handcuffs. Wanna get kinky sometime?”

  He snorted. “You’re joking.”

  “About which part, getting kinky or being a cop?”

  “Being a cop. You can’t be a cop.”

  “I can. I am. What? You don’t think I have the brains to be a detective?”

  “I know you don’t have the brains.”

  “Careful, Spencer, I might not have the brains to aim the gun properly next time.”

  His mouth worked. “Well, hell. No one at the ranch ever said anything about you being a cop.”

  “That’s because no one knows, except Duel, and he’d never betray me.”

  “Wait a minute, if you’re a cop, why did you get so upset, sick, and scared when you found Jillian’s body? You must be used to seeing things like that.”

  “I’m hardly used to stumbling over a body in the Star’s stables, wallowing in the victim’s blood or seeing someone I know skinned and mutilated. Do you think you could finish sewing me up now, minus the lip job?”

  “Yeah.” Taylor took the gun from her hands and jammed it in the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. “Let me finish this last stitch, then I’ll get rid of the body. It’ll draw flies, and who knows what else.”

  “Sure. Just don’t go too far. I really don’t feel well.”

  Taylor eyed her a moment. She looked pale and shocky. He snipped the thread and put the needle back inside the sewing kit. “Come on.” He held out his hand to her.

  “What?” She looked suspicious.

  “Get on the sleeping bag and relax. Rest a bit. I’ll wake you in about thirty minutes.”

  “I’ll get blood on it.”

  “Then we’ll wash the damn thing.”

  She flashed him a feeble grin. “There are crocs in the water. If we’re lucky enough to even find water.”

  “All of it?”

  “Rule of thumb in the Land of Oz, if there’s water, you can bet your ass, there’s crocs. Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there in the water waiting to make you their next meal.”

  “How do you know this trivia crap?”

  “I used to spend summer vacations here with Uncle Rufus and Aunt Marion when I was a child. I picked up a few things along the way. Besides, running around with my cousins here, it was survival of the fittest or eat shit and die.”

  Taylor laughed. “I’ll be right back.” He stilled. “Uh…don’t move.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, right, you already said that little trick doesn’t work. You’re right, it doesn’t.”

  “I swear, Dianna. Don’t move. There’s a spider on you.”

  She froze. “What kind?” Her voice rose in a squeak.

  “How should I know? It sort of looks like a black widow, it’s a little different.”

  She froze. “Redback.”

  “Yeah. It has a red back.”

  “No, I mean it’s a Redback. It’s related to the black widow. Its bite is poisonous. Where is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Her eyes widened. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

  “I mean, I can’t see it anymore.”

  “Well find it!”

  “Ah, there it is.”

  “Where? Where the hell is it? I’m freaking out here!”

  “Don’t move, Dianna. It’s on your shoulder, headed straight to your…throat.”

  Dianna groaned. “Do you have to make it sound like a freakin’ bloodsucker or something?”

  “I said don’t move. I’m not kidding. It’s right at your jugular. If it bites you there…well, I figure you know what will happen.”

  She glared. “I’m not going away that easy. Either kill it or–or capture it, but get it off me!”

  Dianna sat perfectly still and watched the Redback spider traipse across her partially exposed breasts in slow, awkward, delicate-legged steps. Oh, God. Please don’t let it drop inside my bra.

  Her palms felt hot and sweaty. On the verge of hyperventilating, she tried to pace her breathing by taking slow, deep breaths and just as slowly exhaling.

  “Do something. Can’t you get it off me?”

  “You said it’s poisonous,” Taylor replied. “I don’t want to cause it to bite you. Keep still.” He picked up a skinny twig. “Don’t move, sweetheart. Don’t breathe so fast.”

  “Easy for you to say, you don’t have an ugly-ass, long-legged black spider crawling on your breasts.”

  “I don’t have breasts. Neither do you. Stop breathing so hard or it’s going to fall inside your thingamajig.”

  “What? My what?”

  Taylor held the twig across her breasts in the spider’s path. “That thing.”

  “You mean my bra?” Dianna tried to cut her gaze to see what he was doing.

  “Bra? Is that what you call it? I thought it was some kind of training thing for titless females.”

  “Training?” Dianna fumed. “You’re such an asshole, Spencer.”

  “Stop wiggling! God, you are the antsiest female.”

  The arachnid made good use of the twig and walked onto it as if it knew exactly what they wanted it to do. As soon as it was off her, Taylor tossed the stick away. “There now, that wasn’t so bad.”

  Dianna eased off the sleeping roll, limped toward Taylor, and flung herself in his arms. He automatically closed his arms around her waist. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  “I hate bugs! I hate spiders! I hate snakes! I hate the freakin’ rainforest! I wanna go home.”

  He gave her a gentle squeeze, couldn’t resist pulling her closer. “You’re a woman. You’re supposed to dislike those things, but I agree with every word you said.”

  She leaned back. “You do?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Give me back my gun. I swear to God if another spider gets on me, I’ll shoot it.”

  “Uh-uh.” Taylor laughed, his eyes crinkling with amusement. “We need the bullets, baby. You can’t waste them on something as stupid as a spider. Calm down. It’s gone.”

  She was still in his arms, her arms around his neck. Hell, he wasn’t complaining. She felt utterly delicious. Her breasts were flattened against his chest. It dawned on him she was pressed tight against the blisters, and damn, they hurt. He thrust her away and glanced at the ugly red area where several of the blisters had ruptured. The skin underneath looked raw and stung like hell. “Shit. Look what you did.”

  Her green eyes widened with dismay. “I’m so sorry. I forgot. I have a tube of ointment in my bag.”

  “Forget it. Just stay away from me. God, you’re a walking catastrophe!”

  Dianna bit her lip. “I said I was sorry. What are we going to do? What if…what if things get in bed with us? Bite us? We’re in a lot trouble.”

  “Oh, you just now recognized that little fact?”

  “What if one of us gets killed?”

  “Dianna.”

  “I’m serious. What if a poisonous snake gets in bed with us and bites one of us or both of us?”

  “Stop it, Dianna! That isn’t going to happen. Don’t create problems that aren’t there. What are the odds o
f a snake getting in bed with us? Probably not all that great. You need to rest and stop borrowing trouble.”

  “I am not getting back on that bedroll. It could have hundreds of spiders on it by now, or–or any kind of creepy-legged thing that’s mean-tempered. You put it under a tree. What if something falls off the tree and bites us?”

  “Jesus. I’ll move it away from the fucking tree. Right now, I need to check our supplies. We need to build a shelter before night falls. It’s going to rain.”

  “Now? It’s going to rain now? What are you, the local weather forecaster?”

  “For Christ’s sake, Dianna, calm down. I can’t think when you’re hysterical.”

  “I am not hysterical. I’m scared!”

  “Well, so the hell am I!”

  “I want my gun.”

  “Why?”

  “I figure I’m the better shot. If something comes close, and it looks mean, I’ll shoot it, so don’t be looking mean at me.”

  “The hell you say. Are you still seeing double?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Then hell no, you aren’t getting back the gun. You have another clip?”

  “Not with me.”

  “You have any idea how many bullets you have left in the clip?”

  “About six. Eject the clip and check.”

  Taylor did exactly that. “Three. There are three shells left in the clip. Shit! And you wasted one on a wild dog we could probably have beaten away with a stick.”

  Dianna snorted. “That wild dog had foam around its mouth. I wasn’t taking any chances of you getting bit by a rabid animal.”

  “Jesus, Dianna. It was probably only slobbering.”

  “Yeah, well what if it wasn’t? What if it was infected?”

  “And what if one of us gets bitten by a snake? Jesus, you are so fucking paranoid!”

  “Maybe I am paranoid, but if that’s true, what is that crawling on the ground by your foot?”

  Chapter Six

  The woman who appeals to a man’s vanity may stimulate him, the woman who appeals to his heart may attract him, but it is the woman who appeals to his imagination who gets him.

  ~Helen Rowland

  North Western Australia

  The Kimberly

  February 7, Saturday

  Taylor knew before he looked, Dianna was toying with him. There was too much sparkle in her green eyes. The only snake anywhere near him was her. Long before the crash, he’d had his fill of the Remington family. The one good thing about Jace ordering him to accompany Dianna to Australia was the fact he was now alone and isolated with her.

  Not only would it piss Jace off that his only sister was stranded with a man he detested, but she was at that man’s mercy. Where Dianna was concerned, if he got the opportunity to screw her, Taylor had no intention of showing her a drop of clemency.

  It would have been difficult to seduce her at the ranch. For one thing, she lived in New York and visited the ranch infrequently, even though lately, the entire Remington clan had made it their goal to hang out at the Star.

  Here, she needed him. Maybe not in a sexual way, not yet, but she needed him in order to survive. Whether she realized it or not or wanted to or not, she was dependant on him for protection. He had a feeling rescue wasn’t coming any time soon. It meant long days and longer nights in each other’s company. People bonded when it came to survival. Dianna would cling to him, connect with him, and through that connection, her fate would be sealed. Eventually, she’d need him to satisfy other needs.

  However, bonding time wasn’t happening right this moment.

  He eyed her, frustration and anger slapping him hard. Did she honestly think they had time to play games? He saw the laughter in her green eyes, the amusement twitching around her lips, and still, he couldn’t resist glancing at the ground, just in case there was a snake. “Don’t kid around about crap like snakes. Not here! Do you have any idea how many different species of poisonous snakes there are in Australia?”

  Dianna shook her head. “No. Do you?”

  “I don’t care. I have no desire to meet a single one of the beasties.”

  “We have to be careful, watch where we’re stepping.”

  “Dianna, some snakes strike so fast, they aren’t even seen until after they hit. You might not even see it then.”

  “For Pete’s sake, do you always have to be such a grouchy stick-in-the-mud? Do you ever relax and just have fun?”

  “Fuck, no! We don’t have time for fun. And this is not the place to have fun. In a few minutes we’re going to be drenched. Why the hell would I want to have fun with you? You aren’t amusing. You’re a pain in my ass!”

  Dianna sobered instantly. The teasing light faded from her eyes. “Fine! But I don’t see anywhere to shelter. We’ll get wet.”

  “No. I’m going to rig us a temporary shelter with pieces of the plane. It will have to do for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll leave.”

  “We should stay by the plane.”

  “We can’t stay by the plane. There’s no water here. We have to find water and better shelter.”

  “We should remain by the plane. That’s what the rules say. Remain by the aircraft. It’ll be spotted from the air, and we’ll be rescued. I’m staying by the plane.”

  Taylor clenched his fists to keep from reaching out and shaking her. “You’ll go where I go.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  “Dianna, I’m not going to spend every moment arguing with you. I don’t give a damn if you’re a female Dick Tracy or not. Where I go, you go. End of discussion.”

  He turned on his heel and headed toward the pile of burned rubble, all that was left of the wreckage.

  “Don’t you want me to look at the wounds on your shoulder and treat those blisters on your chest?”

  Taylor paused and turned to face her. “How many of me do you see?”

  “Two?” She licked her lips. “Yeah, both of you look grumpy.”

  “Then how the hell would you know which grump to doctor?”

  “Oh.” She grinned. “I suppose I could treat both of you.”

  Taylor muttered and went back to examining the ragged and tangled body of the aircraft. “It’s still too hot. I can’t get close enough to drag anything out.” He glanced at the darkening sky. “Not yet. Wait a little longer.”

  “Are you talking to the sky?”

  “The clouds.”

  “So what are they saying back to you?”

  He flung her a fulminating glare. “You aren’t funny, you know.”

  “What are we going to do now?”

  Taylor whipped around. “Jesus, don’t creep up behind me like that! I have a buck knife in one of my duffle bags. I’m going to cut some vines and broad leaves and build us a shelter for the night.”

  “Oh. You hunt?”

  Taylor curled his top lip. “Believe it or not, sweetheart, I wasn’t always a cripple. I had a life before the accident. A normal one. I jogged, hunted, fished, camped, and fucked, all the things males do as a rule.”

  Dianna’s face turned red. “That’s a little more information than I want to know, Spencer, but hey, when you start talking, you really let go.”

  “As I recall, you wanted conversation.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Tough. I’m in a talking mood. And don’t act so damn innocent. I have little doubt you’ve had plenty of men revolving through your life. You’re far from virginal.”

  “I never claimed I was a virgin, Spencer. There haven’t been men, but there was a man, once, yes, one I loved and lived with for three years.”

  “Oh, he left your ass high and dry, huh? I can understand that. What I’m surprised about is it took him three years to decide to leave you.”

  Dianna swallowed hard and twisted her hands. “He didn’t decide to leave me. He made a choice. He stepped in front of me and took the bullet in the heart meant for me.” She turned and left him standing there.

  Taylor watched her walk away.
Shit! Inside, he felt like a hideous monster. Anger and frustration chewed at him. He always said the wrong thing. One of these days, he’d learn to keep his mouth shut. But today wasn’t that day. “Where are you going?”

  She kept walking, a little unsteady, toward a stand of bushes. “If it’s okay with you, I need a few minutes alone. Nature calls.”

  “Well, nature will bite you on the ass if you aren’t careful. So, no, it’s not okay with me for you to just take off. Get back here. I don’t want you wandering off alone.”

  She turned to face him, her face pale. “I have to pee.”

  “Yeah, well, do it over there by that tree.”

  “I’m not a dog. I can’t just hike a leg and let ‘er rip. Neither do I have a penis.”

  “Lucky me. Over by the tree. Within sight. And make it fast.”

  “Why do you always have to be contrary?”

  He shrugged. “When you get finished, go lie down before you fall down. You’re swaying like a sway-backed mule.”

  She gasped. “Don’t order me around. I’m not one of your little bimbos you take camping.”

  Taylor grinned. “Who said I took women camping with me?”

  “You did!”

  “No, I said I fucked them. You wanna give it a whirl?”

  She blinked. Her mouth worked like a fish gasping for air. “I’m going to lie down. That is not an invitation, Spencer.”

  “Aw, too bad.” He clutched his heart. “And I had such high hopes.”

  She snorted and waved him away. “Go cut brush or something. Play on the freeway. Play dodge the cars.”

  He turned away, muttering.

  “Hey, Spencer!”

  He turned back. “What?”

  “You’re right about one thing. Watch out for snakes. There are some deadly fellows here.”

  “Yeah, well, as far as I can tell, I’m looking at the deadliest one.”

  Dianna swallowed hard and watched him walk away. “Right, Spencer, but you happen to be the one with the longest fangs!”

  He turned back and grinned. “Remember that, sweetheart. When I take a bite out of you, I’ll bite deep.”

  Chapter Seven

  It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone—so far.