Raven’s Prey(3)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“No. Sometimes I don’t believe anything I’m told.”

“That sounds as if you might be suffering from a bit of paranoia yourself!” she challenged wryly.

“I’ve always felt that a certain degree of paranoia was a useful survival trait,” he allowed calmly. “Keeps a man alert.”

“Or a woman.”

“But in this case,” he continued easily, “it doesn’t much matter what I believe. I’m just being paid to do a job. I learned a long time ago that it’s bad policy to ask too many unnecessary questions.”

She bit her lip and watched him broodingly. “What if I said I don’t want to return to the States, Mr. Raven?”

“I’d say you don’t have a whole hell of a lot of choice”

If he was simply an innocent employee sent to fetch her back, perhaps she could reason with him, Honor told herself resolutely. He might have a policy of not asking questions because he didn’t always like the answers. If he cared about answers there might be a chance that he still retained some semblance of a conscience. And if there was a small streak of morality or honor in him somewhere she might be able to appeal to it It was her only hope.

“Mr. Raven, I am twenty-nine years old. I am not a runaway child. I have the right to go where I please and at the moment I choose to stay here in Mexico. You have no right to try to take me back to the States.”

“I think,” he said very politely, “that you might as well call me Judd. Something tells me we’re going to get to know each other fairly well tonight.”

Her sense of shock was plain. There was no point in hiding it. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she bit out, a new kind of fear rising beneath the old, familiar variety she had been living with for so long. There was still no sign of masculine desire in those dark eyes but perhaps this man’s emotions were so cold that even lust took the form of a chilled passion instead of a heated one. The thought was frightening.

“It means,” he said calmly, “that the dirt road I had to use for a landing strip on the other side of the village isn’t going to work as a runway at night. I’m not about to risk my neck or my plane trying to take off without being able to see a damn thing. We’ll leave in the morning. So I’ll be spending the night with you.”

Honor shook her head dazedly. “No. I’m not going to leave with you in the morning and I’m not going to spend the night with you. Get out of here, Judd Raven. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself involved in. You have no conception of the size of the mess. Get out while you still can. And leave me behind!”

“I don’t buy the paranoia act. Your father and brother might believe it and God knows a professional shrink will believe almost anything a patient wants him to believe. But I’m just a hardworking guy who’s seen neurotic, spoiled females before. What you probably needed instead of a psychiatrist during your formative years was the application of your father’s belt to your backside. But that’s his problem. I’ve only been hired to take you home, not straighten out your self-centered, childish approach to life.” His mouth kicked upward at the corners in a grimly amused expression. It was the first sign of any kind of emotion Honor had seen in him and she didn’t like it. “If I had been hired to straighten you out, I would have charged a hell of a lot more for the job than I’m going to get just to fly you home!”

“Just how much are you being paid to kidnap me?”

“Kidnap is a strong word,” he noted mildly.

“It’s the only word that applies, given the fact that I’m not going to go with you willingly!” she shot back.

“A couple of thousand plus expenses.” He gave her the answer to her initial question and overlooked the accusation that had followed.

“A couple of thousand! Is that all?” Was that all a human life was worth these days? But then he hadn’t been paid to kill her, only to deliver her to the executioners. “What kind of a man are you to do this sort of thing for a living?” she hissed.

“The kind of man who works for a living.” He appeared totally unperturbed by the taunt. Was there any way of getting through that wall of indifference? Could anything reach this man?

Money. If he was doing this for money perhaps that was the way to get through to him. A few crucial seconds ticked past as Honor considered the possibility. “A couple of thousand” she repeated carefully. He nodded in polite agreement, saying nothing. “A couple of thousand plus expenses,” Honor went on, striving to sound as cool and cynical as he did. “I’ll double that if you’ll just go away and leave me here.”

He was silent for a long moment and she couldn’t even begin to tell what he was thinking. “They told me you probably had some money with you,” he finally said.

“Everything that was in my bank account” she assured him quickly, daring to let a spark of hope ignite. “All in cash.”

“And all belonging to your father,” Raven concluded bluntly. “Hell, lady, at your age don’t you think it’s time you started working for a living instead of sponging off your family? Maybe if you went home and got a job you could learn a little self-discipline, start putting your life in order.” He sounded as if the suggested therapy was only of academic interest to him. “Or maybe what you need is marriage to a man who won’t let you get away with playing your stupid head games. It’s obvious your father has handled you all wrong but the right kind of husband might be able to undo some of the damage and make an adult woman out of you.”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” she gasped, struggling against the defeating knowledge that she didn’t know how to deal with Judd Raven. So much depended on finding the key to this stranger and there was so little time. “Are you interested in my offer or not?”

He shook his head briefly. “Not. Don’t look so crushed. It was a good try. It’s just that I already have a job and accepting your offer would have created a definite conflict of interest, don’t you think?”

“I’ll triple the offer!” she tried desperately.

“Forget it. Finish your meal and let’s go to your place. We’ve got a long flight ahead of us in the morning and I want to get some sleep.” He downed the last of the tequila and sat waiting with the patience of a hunter.

“I seem to have lost my appetite. Listen to me, Judd Raven. If you won’t accept my money because you feel it would put you in conflict with [_my father’s _]offer then you must have some sort of business ethics…”