He’d known metal, rubber and the engine had been overheating from the intense fire. But for the last few minutes, he’d become more concerned about spontaneous combustion.
Driving right into the twelve-foot-wide stretch of water, Michael imagined he could hear the actual sizzle of metal cooling. But then, because he’d turned the pickup broadside in the stream, the fast-running current began buffeting them.
“Oh,” Lexie gulped. She reached out to steady herself with both hands on the dashboard.
He stepped on the gas and fought the wheel again, this time swinging the pickup downstream. Not liking the idea of being stuck in this narrow canyon when the fire arrived and raged over their heads, Michael wasn’t sure what his next move should be. The water’s current was flowing too hard at the moment for him drive across to the far side. His only choice for now seemed to be continuing downstream. But he didn’t like staying in this narrow canyon.
The sky turned dark again and he heard the roar of wildfire over the sounds of engine and rushing water. They weren’t making fast enough headway to outrun the flames.
Stopping, he threw the truck into park and turned to Lexie. “I think our best bet is to get out and run for it.”
“Run? Where to?”
“Downstream. Until we find a cleft in the canyon where we can climb the far rim.”
“But the truck. Our stuff?”
“We’ll carry what we can.” He shut off the engine and unbuckled. “But we have to go now. ”
Lexie turned to look behind them. Then turned back to him with barely concealed panic written across her face.
“If you say so.” She unbuckled and inched open her door. “Damn. I can’t believe I’m in the middle of a flood again and in a vehicle with the water rising. Didn’t I just go through this same thing?”
“Come my way,” he told her as he pushed open his own door. “I’ll help you.”
The water was barely lapping at the running boards, but he figured she deserved a break. He lifted her out of the driver’s side and carried her to the far bank before returning for their things in the truck’s bed. After making two trips for as much as he thought they could carry, it was time to go.
Each of them began loading up. As fast as he could, he tied a duffel onto Lexie’s back with a braided rope so she could use her hands for other things. Then he did the same for himself before they set off walking along the bank, heading downstream.
It was slow going with heavy packs, scrambling over gravel and the occasional boulder. After a few hundred yards, the canyon walls seemed to be widening out, becoming less steep. Good for climbing out, terrible if the fire reached them first.
He urged her to go faster. In about another mile they rounded an abrupt bend in the canyon and he spotted a stone hogan on their side of the wash. The place had been built high enough up the slope to be safe from potential flash floods. And he could see a natural path that would make an easy climb up from the canyon floor.
“That’s our way out,” he told Lexie.
They staggered up the path to the rim and found the second abandoned hogan they’d visited today. This one wasn’t as neat as the other. The roof was made of tar paper with a rusty chimney pipe sticking out of the center. There was also a lopsided shed, a tiny animal pen and an old outhouse on the property.
Not much to look at. But it would shelter them from the sun while they rested and decided what to do next.
“No one’s here,” Lexie said as they came close. “Do you think someone died?”
He shook his head. “There’s no hole in the north side. I would imagine these people have taken their sheep down to flatter ground for the coming winter. This is rough territory and it may take weeks to get the animals moved from here.”
“Is there a chance the fire could reach us up here on this side of the water?”
“It’s wide enough here, I doubt the fire would be able to jump the canyon in this spot.”
“Then do you think they’d mind if we stayed for a little while?”
She really did look beat. Her nose had turned pink from the sun and she was bent under the strain of her pack.
“I think they would invite us in to rest. That’s the Navajo Way. I’ll bet they don’t even lock their doors.”
He tried the door, calling out as it opened with a creak. “See there. Let’s get out of the sun.”
Inside, the place was not much to look at, either. With an old cookstove in the middle of the room, blankets and sheepskins lining one wall and shelves with foodstuffs lining the other, it was minimalism at its finest. But the place had an actual plank board floor instead of dirt, and it was spotless. He helped Lexie unload what she’d been carrying, handed her the canteen and then spread a sheepskin out for her to sit down.
She took a drink, eased down on the sheepskin and looked up at him. “Thanks. Do you think your phone will work from here? Maybe we can call for help now.”
Reaching into his pocket and finding nothing, Michael shook his head with chagrin. “Maybe we could’ve called if I had my phone. I’m not sure where I lost it. But we’re safe here while we figure out our next move. Don’t worry.”
Telling her not to worry had been easier to say than it would be for him to do. They were safe, he would make sure of it. But he didn’t want Lexie to know there might be plenty left to worry about. So he plastered on a smile and tried to think of ways for them to get out of here while he searched through the cans for something to eat.
Lexie awoke, sat up and looked around, trying to gain her bearings. It took a second to remember that she’d been taking a nap after they’d finished their meal. Michael had mixed up canned tomatoes and beans, threw in some dried peppers and cooked it all in a frying pan along with a little canned meat. Then he’d encouraged her to rest during the hottest part of the day.
But where was he now?
She got up and opened the hogan’s door, not sure of what she would find. Thrilled to discover the sky was clear and without a trace of smoke, she took a deep breath. There was a slight lingering smell of burning brush in the air, but she didn’t feel the same threat of fire as before.
Concerned about Michael, Lexie found him outside saying a chant just as the sky was beginning to show early signs of a robust sunset. Crimson and plum streaks shot out around the edges of the western mountains, making for a spectacular display against an indigo sky.
Waiting until he’d stopped singing and looked up at her, Lexie asked, “What’s the chant for?”
“I’m protecting the hogan and surroundings against Skinwalkers.” He looked away a split second, then met her gaze straight on. “I haven’t found a way to get you out of here just yet. We’ll have to spend the night. If something doesn’t change by tomorrow morning, though, I’ll walk out to the nearest neighbor with a phone.”
“How far will you have to go?”
He shrugged. “I’m not positive. Maybe as much as twenty miles since I have no idea exactly which direction.”
Twenty miles? Lexie didn’t know what to say. All of sudden their situation looked desperate.
Michael grinned at her. “Don’t look so grim. It’s me that’ll be walking. I’ll leave you with plenty of food and water. You’ll be fine.”
When Lexie still couldn’t get her mouth open wide enough to speak, he suddenly changed the subject. “Since you’re awake now, I’ve rigged up a sun shower if you’d like to clean up a bit. But you’ll have to use it soon before the sun drops behind the mountaintops.”
“A shower? For real?”
“Close enough. I brought soap along in my backpack and there’s water and a hose arrangement from the well.”
“You’re on,” she told him. “Can I wash my shirt and underwear while I’m at it?”
The expression on his face was a riot. She could’ve sworn the great professor-slash-medicine man was embarrassed. Then after a second, she watched as electricity took over and heat sprung up in his eyes. Heat and hunger. It made her burn
with a sudden flash of desire, just by looking at him.
He cleared his throat—twice. “Do you have something to change into while it dries? I could lend you the extra T-shirt I brought along. But I don’t have any…any underwear that you…”
She waved away his concern and his embarrassed stuttering. “The T-shirt will be great. Thanks.”
The luxury of feeling clean put Lexie in a much better mood. By the time the sun disappeared and dusk was nearly finished creeping along the cliffs, she was drying off and ready for almost anything.
She went looking for Michael and found him in front of the hogan airing out a couple of sheepskins. “Can I help?”
Swinging around in her direction, he opened his mouth, took one sharp look at her and turned away again. “What the devil happened to your jeans?”
“They smelled like smoke. I rinsed them out and hung them up with my other stuff.”
With his back still turned to her, he nodded. “I see.”
“But I’m perfectly decent. This T-shirt you gave me comes all the way down to my knees.”
“Right,” he said as he brushed past her holding the sheepskins between them like a shield.
Lexie followed him into the hogan. “My clothes should air-dry fairly quickly in this low humidity even without the sun. I’ll be able to put them back on in the morning.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Without so much as a glance in her direction, he spread the sheepskins out on the hogan floor. One set of skins he placed in the southernmost corner and the other set in the northernmost corner.
He pointed to the north corner of the hogan. “That side’s yours. Males sit and sleep on the southern side.”
When he seemed satisfied the nests he’d made would be as comfortable as possible, he stirred the fire in the cookstove and finally turned. “And the real point is that I have to stay near you tonight for your protection. But I can’t even look at you without imagining what you’re like with nothing on under that T-shirt.”
Well, what do you know? He was finally—finally—admitting out loud the sensual draw so evident between them. Lexie immediately felt the draw herself as her nipples peaked against his T-shirt and a wet heat sprung up between her legs. She took a step in his direction.
“Don’t,” he told her. “It isn’t going to happen.”
He brushed past her again and headed out into the twilight. She followed him, trying to keep her anger and desire from getting the better of her. She would not beg the man to make love to her.
When she came up behind him, he was leaning against a low fence staring up at the many red dots of light on the mountainside. “Is that the fire?” she asked to his back.
“Yes, but it appears to be receding. I suspect the Navajo Nation’s firefighters got a handle on it this afternoon. Maybe by tomorrow the worst of the fire will be contained. That should make things easier for us.”
She thought not being threatened by the fire might make things simpler for them to get out of here, but leaving would do nothing to make things easier between the two of them. They needed to talk about their desires and hungers.
“Michael…” she began, not knowing how to approach the subject but desperate to find a way.
“Go back inside and go to bed. There’s nothing to do without electricity after dark except for sleeping. Morning comes early here on the eastern slope of the mountains. By then we can decide how best to get out of this place.”
The damned man wouldn’t even talk to her about how best to deal with their desires. Furious with him for cutting off any discussion—and furious with herself for wanting him anyway—she spun around and stormed into the hogan, slamming the door behind her.
She lay down on the sheepskins and closed her eyes, positive she was way too angry and wide-awake to ever fall asleep. The next thing she knew, her eyes blinked open and she realized the fire in the cookstove had gone out. How long had she been asleep and what time was it?
Sitting up, she listened carefully and heard soft snoring coming from the southern corner. It was too dark to see much but she imagined Michael must’ve come in after she’d gone to sleep and settled into his own spot.
Wide-awake now, Lexie needed a breath of air. She also needed to back away from the growing temptation to crawl right beside him and let the heat take them where it would.
She forced herself toward the door, which they’d left standing ajar for the moonlight, and silently closed it behind her. If he didn’t want her, she would find the strength not to want him.
Once outside, she was struck by the spectacular isolation and the beauty of the stars without any electric lights to obscure their brilliance. Walking to the same fence Michael had leaned against earlier, she marveled at the sheer vastness of the earth and the enormity of the universe above their heads.
The night sky made her feel a part of humanity. Yet in another way, it also made her feel isolated and alone.
Just then, she heard the creak of the door and knew Michael must’ve awoken and come outside to find her. But she refused to turn around and acknowledge the damned man.
Minutes of silence went by and she wondered where he’d gone. Before she could surrender and call out to him, she heard—no, maybe she only sensed his presence behind her. He made no sounds at all, yet his warmth and scent were close enough to send sensual chills up her spine.
Okay, then. This time she vowed he would not back away until she’d had her chance to talk.
11
S he turned, ready to make him listen for once. But when she found him standing over her in the bright moonlight, the expression on his face said more than any words could. She could see desperation painted in those eyes. Desperation that had changed him from an arrogant professor into a man with enormous needs and wants. Both her words and muscles failed as she froze and stared up at him.
Only able to focus on his eyes, she imagined they were speaking to her—mesmerizing her.
The desert night air encased them in a private cocoon. For long minutes, no sounds disturbed their world. No wind, no night noises. Then from a distance a bird screeched and a coyote called. Still, Michael never flinched nor made any move to back away. His gaze held her in a tight prison of the senses.
As the wind began picking up, a dark cloud swirled above their heads. Like him, Lexie never moved a muscle as she stared up through the moonlight into his eyes. Then something flickered between them and anticipation flipped a switch of heat inside her body. There was a wildness in the air, as a static charge lifted and frizzed her hair, leaving her dangling on the teetering edge of danger.
The two of them remained where they were—caught in some warp of a magic night. She’d thought at first he might kiss her. Now she silently begged him to. Begged him with a gaze to stop her tension and growing need.
Instead of bending to kiss her, though, he lifted his hand and used a thumb to rub across her lips. Steady and slow. Achingly slow. The friction was glorious. And then it was hell as the charge ran along her skin and torched her nerve endings.
Wanting him to touch her and needing him to put an end to this standoff, her frustration grew to monumental proportions. Tremendous heat rolled through every body part, and the tiny hairs on her arms and the back of her neck prickled until she at last retreated from the extreme tension. She dropped her gaze down his body—only to find him bare-chested. Why hadn’t she noticed?
The sight of those broad, bare shoulders, the ones she’d only been able to guess at before, threw her even further into an erotic recklessness. Those rippling chest muscles devoid of hair. The toned, bronze-colored biceps. The sexy picture he made half-naked went far beyond her imagination. Her throat went dry and a drop of perspiration rolled down her temple.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move and finally she couldn’t take any more.
Turning her back to him, she tried to steady herself enough to find her voice. What was he doing out here without saying a word? Why hadn’t he made a mo
ve? Stay or go. Something had to give soon.
With a whisper of rustling air, she felt him close the small gap between them. Just as she was going to turn around and meet his silence with questions, Lexie felt his palms settle on her hips. Those hot, large hands that held her pinned in place, caused what was left of her mind to spin in wild imaginings.
Still without saying anything, she picked up on his erratic breathing, felt the heat of it steaming through her hair. Fisting her hands, she bit her tongue to keep from saying anything until he did. Her heart rate increased as he pulled her back against the hard pressure of his erection.
Starting to feel light-headed from the combination of erotic silence and breathtaking frustration, she wondered if he was trying to torture her. Would she pass out from the intensity of it?
Then he made his move. She jumped as his mouth came down on her damp neck and his hands shifted upward to her ultrasensitive breasts. Hearing him growl, she went nuts as the sound came out low and urgent, from somewhere deep within his chest. Feral, she thought. Raw and primitive.
It was all so suddenly savage and thrilling her head started to spin. She worried about reaching a peak too soon. No one had ever taken her this high this fast. Tilting her head slightly to give him better access, she fought to hold back the billowing internal explosion threatening to end it all.
Heat from his palms seared right through the T-shirt she wore. Massaging her breasts until each peak was wound painfully tight, he pulled and pinched each nipple in turn until she thought she would go crazy.
Then she noticed he’d only been using one hand. That thought hit her just as his other hand glided upward under the T-shirt and palmed her bottom. The sensation of hot skin against hot skin shimmered through her, becoming velvet fire.
Lexie’s eyelids grew heavy. But she could swear she saw shooting stars as they strobed across a silken sky.
Then Michael’s other hand spread out wide, encompassing the material covering her belly. He inched that hand lower, until it, too, found its way under the T-shirt. With her naked lower torso caught tightly between his two palms, the skin there heated as if it had been scorched by flames. In moments, her very womb began to boil and her knees turned to melted butter.
Books by Linda Conrad Page 105
