Hunter

by Diana Palmer

  “Chiricahua,” he said. His eyes searched her face. “Is your ancestry Nordic?” he asked.

  “It’s German,” she said softly. “On my father’s side, it’s English.” Her eyes wandered helplessly over his lean face.

  Her intense scrutiny disturbed him in a new and unexpected way. Her eyes were enormous. Dark blue, soft, like those of some kitten. He didn’t like the way they made him tingle. He turned away, scowling.

  “We’d better go, Jennifer.”

  Her name on his lips thrilled her. She felt alive as never before when she was with him, even if it was in the line of duty.

  She started toward the door, but he turned as she reached it, and she bumped into him. The contact was like fire shooting through her.

  “Sorry!” She moved quickly away. “I didn’t mean to…!”

  He put a strong hand under her chin and lifted her face to his eyes. Her eyelids flinched and there was real fear in them at close range. “You really are afraid of me,” he said with dawning comprehension.

  She hadn’t wanted him to know that. Of course she was afraid of him, but not for the reasons he was thinking. She moved back and lowered her eyes. “A little, maybe,” she said uneasily.

  “My God!” He jerked open the door. “Out.”

  She went through it, avoiding him as she left. She hadn’t expected the confession to make him angry. She sighed heavily. It was going to be a hard trip, all the way, if this was any indication. He was coldly silent all the way to the motel restaurant, only taking her arm when they were around people, for appearance’s sake.

  They were halfway through their meal when he spoke again.

  “It’s been years since I’ve scalped anyone,” he said suddenly, his angry eyes searching hers.

  The fork fell from her fingers with a terrible clatter. She picked it up quickly, looking around nervously to see if anyone had noticed, but there was only an old couple nearby and they were too busy talking to notice Jennifer and her companion.

  She should have remembered how sensitive he was about his heritage. She’d inadvertently let him believe that she was afraid of him because he was an Indian. What a scream it would be if she confessed that she was afraid of him because she was in love with him. He’d probably kill himself laughing.

  “No, it’s not that,” she began. She stopped, helplessly searching for the right words. “It’s not because you’re…” She toyed with her fork. “The thing is, I’m not very comfortable around you,” she said finally. She put down her fork. “You’ve never made any secret of the fact that you dislike me. You’re actively hostile the minute I come into a room. It isn’t exactly fear. It’s nerves, and it has nothing to do with your heritage.”

  She had a point. He couldn’t deny that he’d been hostile. Her beauty did that to him; it made him vulnerable and that irritated him. He knew he was too touchy about his ancestry, but he’d had it rough trying to live in a white world.

  “I don’t find it easy, living among your people,” he said. He’d never admitted that to anyone before.

  “I can imagine,” she replied. Her eyes searched his. “You might consider that being a female geologist in an oil company isn’t the easiest thing to do, either. I loved rocks.”

  His dark eyes conquered hers suddenly. The look was pure electricity. Desert lightning. She felt it all the way to her toes.

  “I find you hard going, too, Miss Marist,” he said after a minute. “But I imagine we’ll survive. Eugene said we were to camp on the actual site the second night.”

  “Yes.” Her voice sounded breathless, choked.

  He found himself studying her hand on the table. Involuntarily his brushed over the back of it. He told himself it was for appearances. But touching her gave him pleasure, and she jumped. He scowled, feeling her long fingers go cold and tremble. His eyes lifted back to hers. “You’re trembling.”

  She jerked her hand from under his, almost unbalancing her water glass in the process. “I have to finish my steak.” She laughed nervously. “The stores will close soon.”

  “So they will.”

  The subterfuge didn’t fool him, she knew. Not one bit. His chin lifted and there was something new in the set of his head. An arrogance. A kind of satisfied pride that kindled in his eyes.

  He was curious now. A beautiful woman like Jennifer would be used to giving men the jitters, not the reverse. He let his gaze fall to her soft mouth as it opened to admit a small piece of steak, and he felt his body go rigid. Over the years, he’d only allowed himself the occasional fantasy about making love to her. As time passed, and he grew older, the fantasies had grown stronger. He could keep the disturbing thoughts at bay most of the time. But there was always the lonely night when he’d toss and turn and his blood would grow hot as he imagined her mouth opening for him, her hands on his back, her soft legs tangling with his in the darkness. Those nights were hell. And the next few, alone with her, were going to sorely test his strength of will. For her it would be a field expedition. For him, a survival course, complete with sweet obstacles and pitfalls.

  He had to remember that this was an assignment, and enemy agents were following them. Strategic metals always drew trouble, not only from domestic corporations struggling to get their hands in first, but from foreign investors interested in the same idea. He had to keep his mind on his work, and not on Jennifer. But her proximity wasn’t going to make that job any easier. He almost groaned aloud at the difficulties. There hadn’t been a woman in a long time, and he was hungry. He wanted Jennifer and he was relatively sure that she was attracted to him. She was certainly nervous enough when he came close.

  But, he thought, what if her fear of him was genuine and had nothing to do with attraction? Her explanation that it was because they were enemies didn’t hold up. It was far too flimsy to explain the way she trembled when he touched her hand. Fear could cause that, he had to admit. And he had been unkind to her, often. He sighed heavily. Thinking about it wasn’t going to make it any easier.

  They went to a hardware store when they finished their meal, and Jennifer watched him go about the business of buying camping supplies with pure awe. He knew exactly what to get, from the Coleman stove to the other gear like sleeping bags and tent and cans of Sterno for emergencies. Jennifer had gone out into the field before, many times, but usually there was some kind of accommodation. She hadn’t relished the idea of camping out by herself, although she loved it with companions. Hunter, though, was going to be more peril than pleasure as a tent mate. She had to get a grip on herself, she told her stubborn heart again. The prospect of a few nights alone with him was sending her mad.

  He loaded the gear into the four-wheel drive vehicle he’d had waiting for them at the airport. It was a black one, and he drove it with such ease that she suspected he had one of his own at home. That brought to mind an interesting question. Where was home to him? She knew he had an apartment in Tulsa, but he spent his time off in Arizona. Near here? With a woman, perhaps? Her blood ran cold.

  “We’ll be ready to go in the morning,” he told her when they were back in the motel room again, with their gear stowed in the locked vehicle outside. All except her computer and his surveillance equipment, of course. He wasn’t risking that. “Do you want to shower first?”

  She shifted uncomfortably. “If you don’t mind.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll watch the news.”

  She carried her things into the bathroom, firmly locking the door, despite what he might think about the sound. She took a quick shower and put on clean blue jeans and a clean white knit shirt. She felt refreshed and sunny when she came back out, her face bright and clean without makeup.

  He was sprawled across a chair, his shoes off, a can of beer in his hand. He lifted an eyebrow. “Do you mind beer, or does the smell bother you?”

  “No. My father likes his lager,” she said as she dealt with her dirty clothes.

  He finished his drink and stood, stripping off his shirt. “If you’re finis
hed, I’ll have my shower. Then we’ll think about something for dinner.”

  She was watching him as helplessly as a teenage girl staring at a movie star. He was beautiful. God, he was beautiful, she thought with pleasure so deep it rivaled pain. Muscles rippled in his dark torso from the low-slung belt on his jeans to the width of his shoulders as he stretched, and her eyes sketched him with shy adoration.

  He was aware of her scrutiny, but he pretended not to notice. He got a change of clothes to carry into the bathroom with him and turned, faintly amused by the way she busied herself with her computer and pretended to ignore him.

  Her helpless stare had piqued his curiosity. He deliberately paused just in front of her, giving her an unnecessarily good view of his broad, naked chest.

  “Don’t forget to keep the door locked,” he advised quietly, watching the flicker of her lashes as she lifted her blue eyes to his. “And don’t answer it if someone knocks.”

  “Yes, sir, is that all, sir?” she asked brightly.

  He caught her chin with a lean hand and his thumb brushed roughly over her mouth, a slow, fierce intimacy that he watched with almost scientific intensity. She knew her eyes were wildly dilated as they looked into his, and she couldn’t help the shocked gasp that broke from her sensitized lips or the shiver of pleasure that ran through her body.

  His dark eyes didn’t miss a thing. Her reaction, he decided, was definitely not fear. He couldn’t decide if he was pleased about it or not. “Don’t be provocative,” he said softly, his voice an octave deeper, faintly threatening. “Get to work.” He moved away before she could find anything to say that wouldn’t be provocative.

  She sat down at her computer, her fingers trembling on the keyboard.

  He closed the bathroom door behind him. His action had been totally unexpected, and it made her even more nervous than she already was. If he was going to start doing that kind of thing, she’d be safer in the lion cage at the zoo.

  She was uncertain of him and of herself. Being around him in such close quarters was going to be a test of her self-control. She only hoped that she wouldn’t give herself away. She’d had some naive idea that because Hunter disliked women, he didn’t sleep with them. But she was learning that he knew a lot more than she did, and the sultry look in his dark eyes really frightened her. If she didn’t watch her step, she was going to wind up with more than she’d bargained for.

  His motives were what bothered her most. He didn’t like white women, especially her, so what had prompted that action? She didn’t want to consider the most evident possibility—that he thought she was fair game, and he had seduction on his mind. She ground her teeth together. Well, he could hold his breath. She wasn’t going to be any man’s light amusement. Not even his.

  4

  When Jenny heard the shower running, she got up from her computer and sat in the chair Hunter had occupied to watch television. The chair still smelled of him. She traced the armrests where his hands had been and sighed brokenly. Jenny felt like a fool. She had to stop this!

  She got out of the chair and went to work on her contour maps, trying to pinpoint the best place to look, given the mineral structure of the area. She’d begged time on Landsat earlier for another project, using the expensive computer time to study the satellite maps of this region of southern Arizona. The terrain they were going to survey was between the Apache reservation on one side and government land on the other. A narrow strip of desert and a narrow strip of mountain made up the search area, although they were going to be camping in several different spots to throw any would-be thieves off the mark.

  She was deep in concentration when Hunter came back out of the bathroom, wearing clean jeans and no shirt, again. She had to bite her lip to keep from staring at him. He was unspeakably handsome to her, the most attractive man she’d ever known, but she couldn’t afford the luxury of letting him know that. Especially not after the way he’d touched her mouth…

  “Found what you’re looking for?” he asked, placing one big hand on the table beside her and resting the other on the back of her chair. He leaned down to better see what she was studying. His cheek brushed hers and he felt her jump. His own breath caught. He wanted her. He should never have agreed to come on this expedition, because being close to her was having one hell of a bad effect on his willpower and self-control. He’d thought of nothing except the vulnerable look in her eyes when he’d touched her mouth so intimately, the yielding, the fascination. He wanted to grind his mouth into her own and make her cry out her need for him.

  She was feeling the same tension. She knew he sensed her reaction, but she kept her head. “You startled me,” she said breathlessly.

  He knew better. His lean, warm cheek was touching hers as he stared at the map on the computer’s small screen. She looked sideways and saw the thick, short lashes over his dark eyes, the faint lines in his cream-smooth tan. “Hunter…” His name was a soft whisper that broke involuntarily from her throat.

  His head turned, and his eyes looked deeply into hers from scant inches away. She could taste his breath on her mouth, smell the clean scent of his body, feel the impact of his bare arms, his chest. He intoxicated her with his nearness, and she saw the hot glitter of awareness in those black eyes. She could see the thick dark lashes above them lower as his gaze suddenly dropped with fierce intent to her parted lips.

  She shivered. All her dreams hadn’t prepared her for the impact of this. Like a string suspended from a height, waiting for the wind to move it, she hung at his lips without breathing. A fraction of an inch, and his mouth would be on hers…!

  The knock at the door startled them both. Hunter stared at her and cursed himself for his own vulnerability. She was intoxicating him, damn her. He was a new experience for her, that was all. He had to get himself under control.

  He jerked erect and moved to the door. “Yes?” he asked as he opened it.

  “Mr. Camp?” a feminine voice said loudly enough that anyone listening could hear. “I’m Teresa Whitley.” A tall brunette moved into Jennifer’s line of vision. The woman was smiling up at Hunter. “You requested some information about tour spots?”

  “Inside,” he said, holding the door open. He actually smiled at the woman, and Jennifer wanted to scream.

  “Miss Marist?” Teresa smiled warmly, extending a hand as Jennifer came forward. They shook hands. “Nice to meet you. I’m with the corporation—under Mr. Hunter, in fact, so I’d better call you Mrs. Camp outside this room.”

  “Good idea,” Jennifer replied absently. She was still vibrating.

  “I’ve got some more information for you about the area. It’s all here, on disk.” She frowned. “I’m still learning about computers, I’m afraid. You do use the 312 inch diskettes in your laptop?”

  “I have a hard disk drive,” Jennifer told her. “But I can use the diskettes, as well.”

  “Thank goodness!” She handed the diskette, in its plastic case, to Jennifer. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about science.” She sighed, and her dark brown eyes sought Hunter’s flirtatiously. “I’m just a security officer, so I deal with people instead of machines.”

  And, oh, I’ll just bet you do it well, Jennifer thought. She didn’t say so. She murmured something about checking out the new data and went back to her computer.

  “If you’d like, we can run by the office and I’ll give you the results of that security check you had us run,” she told Hunter. “We could have dinner afterward, if you haven’t already eaten?”

  Jennifer ground her teeth together. She knew now what Hunter had meant earlier when referring to his “other project.” This was it, and it had brown eyes and a svelte figure. Jennifer wished she’d dressed to the hilt and put on her makeup. In full regalia, she could have given that exotic orchid a run for her money, but she’d thought dressing up might give Hunter wrong ideas about her.

  “Fine,” Hunter replied tersely. “Let me get my shirt on.”

  Finally, Jennifer thought. He
hadn’t bothered before, but perhaps he didn’t want to drive Miss Security Blip out of her mind by flashing his gorgeous muscles.

  Hunter glanced at Jennifer, watching the way she studiously ignored Teresa, not to mention him. He glared at her as he pulled a pale gray knit shirt out of his drawer and put it on. He ran a comb through his hair, with Teresa sighing audibly over him.

  “You haven’t met Teresa before, I gather, Jennifer?” he asked too casually.

  “No,” she replied, forcing a smile.

  “She’s Papago.” He said it with bitter pleasure, knowing Jennifer would catch the hidden meaning. This woman was Indian.

  “Tohono O’Odham,” Teresa teased. “We changed our name from ‘bean people’ in Zuni to ‘people of the desert’ in Papago.”

  “Sorry,” he said with a smile.

  Jennifer hated that damned smile. She’d never seen it, but this woman was getting the full treatment. Of course, Teresa wasn’t a blond scientist, she thought darkly. Well, he needn’t think she was going to play third fiddle while he courted his secret agent here.

  “I’d rather you stayed here….” he began as Jenny said, “I have a headache….”

  He cocked an eyebrow and she cleared her throat.

  “I’ll order something from room service,” she continued. “If I feel like eating later,” she amended without looking at him. “I’ve spent too much time at the laptop. The screen bothers my eyes.” God knew why she was trying to justify her nonexistent headache. He and his brunette wouldn’t notice.

  “I hope you feel better,” Teresa said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Shall we go?” Hunter asked as he pulled on his tan sports coat over his knit shirt. He turned at the door. “Keep the door locked. If you have room service, check credentials before you let anyone in here.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said with resignation.

  He let Teresa out and started to close the door. He looked back at Jennifer first, and the intensity of his stare made her lift her head. His eyes held hers for one long moment before they went to her mouth and back up again.