Burn (Page 73)

"I don’t need your help," he said pointedly. "And I don’t need a weapon." Though, damn, he’d love to have one right about now.

She snorted. Yeah, he had her intimidated, all right. "So you’re telling me if I get out of hand you’ll kill me with a paper clip?"

That was actually possible, but he didn’t think she needed to know it. "I make do with what’s available, when I have to."

Bridget was trying to keep from smiling, and in an effort to deflect the argument she said lightly, "Anything’s possible. Samson slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass."

"What a coincidence," Jenner exclaimed, then jerked her head in Cael’s direction. "We can use his."

Bridget’s eyes almost bugged out in her struggle to hold in a laugh. "I’ll get word to our man in security," she said, which was way more than she should have said in front of Jenner, and all but tore the door off its hinges in her haste to get out of the room before she exploded.

Cael scrubbed a hand over his face, hiding his own expression. He had to laugh, or he’d kill her. She thought he was worried? Larkin was selling classified stuff to the North Koreans, something else besides that was going on, and in the meantime he had to deal with her. Why should he be worried?

He really didn’t like the idea that Jenner could read his expressions so easily that she’d looked at him and immediately realized something was wrong. It wasn’t as if he was running around in a panic; he was concerned, but in control. Most people would say he pretty much had a poker face. Unfortunately, she wasn’t most people.

"You aren’t part of this," he finally said. "So don’t make demands. I’ll tell you everything you need to know."

"No, you’ll tell me what tiny bit you think I need to know, which up until now has been nothing."

She wasn’t afraid of him anymore, he realized, and if there had ever been an unwelcome thought, that was it. She was worried for her friend, but the fear was gone. That was a problem, since only fear would truly keep her in line. He didn’t think he could seriously threaten her with physical harm, at least not seriously enough to make her believe it, because he’d have to go further than he was willing to take something like that – at least with her. But he did hold the key to her cooperation.

He said coolly, "One more word, and you won’t talk to Syd today."

She knew him well enough to see that he wasn’t bluffing, and she clamped her lips shut.

Oh, yeah. He was worried.

Chapter Twenty-three

ON THE MORNING THEY REACHED HILO, HAWAII, JENNER woke with her nose almost pressed to Cael’s chest. They were lying facing each other, one of his legs inserted between hers. Familiarity was a terrible thing; she’d become accustomed to being handcuffed to him while she slept. He still kept the room too cool at night for her, so when she went to sleep she ended up rolling into him, instinctively seeking out his warmth. Several times during the night a movement restricted by the cuffs would wake her, a little; she’d move away from him as much as possible, and when she woke again she was in the same sort of position, all but on top of him.

He didn’t seem to mind. Hell, he didn’t even stir, though she knew if she tried to go for the key again or smother him with a pillow, he’d be awake and aware in an instant.

In the past couple of days they’d come to an uncomfortable truce. She didn’t push for details he refused to share, even though it galled her to be left out of the loop; he continued to let her speak to Syd. Yesterday the conversation had even gone on a few moments longer than usual. She’d had the chance to really hear Syd’s voice, and note the lack of fear. They didn’t exchange details that might endanger the precious concession their captors had made, but it was clear that Syd was surviving the ordeal as well as Jenner was.

Cael had even gone to yesterday’s early-morning yoga class, though he’d made it clear to her that one class was to be the last. Just as well. She’d been looking forward to watching him try to contort himself into knots, and keep his balance at the same time, but she’d been disappointed. As muscled as he was, he still hadn’t had a bit of trouble with any of the positions, which made her think he’d done some yoga or tai chi before. He was, however, a definite distraction in a room full of women – a pleasant distraction, but still … he threw the entire class out of whack just by being there, and being who he was.

The world was filled with all sorts of men, but damned if she’d run into any quite like this one.

She moved away from him and dozed off again, because it was still dark out, but morning was coming and according to the schedule they would reach Hilo about seven a.m. When she woke the next time, light was peeking around the heavy curtains and she was once again curled up against Cael’s side. There had been a time when she’d have panicked at being so close to him, but not anymore. Unfortunately, she liked it. There was no way in hell she’d ever let him know it, but she liked the dip of the bed where his big body lay, the warmth she got from him, even the way his skin smelled.

This time, she didn’t roll away. She couldn’t; he’d thrown one heavy arm over her body. Her face was tucked close to his chest, again, and her feet were entwined with his. It was as if her body wanted to be close to him and every time she let her guard down by going to sleep, it automatically moved closer.

He’d kidnapped her, bullied her, scared her. She had no idea what he was up to and he refused to enlighten her; he made it clear day after day that even though she’d done her best to do what he demanded without giving him too much grief – not too much by her standards, that is – he didn’t trust her. Damn it, that wasn’t fair. She wasn’t the kidnapper here; she wasn’t the one who had proven to be untrustworthy.