Raven’s Prey(50)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

He spun around when he reached the jeep, his expression relentless and urgent. “Honor, don’t play games with me tonight. I want you and I know you want me. I could feel you trembling back mere on the dance floor. And surely to God you know what you do to me!”

She turned her face up, the moonlight making her look very pale in the velvet darkness. “You haven’t answered my question, Judd,” she said evenly. “What type of man are you?”

“I don’t know what the hell you mean by that! You know exactly what type of man I am. I’m the same man I was when you pointed a gun at me that first night in Mexico. I’m the damned mercenary who accepted the contract to find you and bring you out of Mexico. Two thousand dollars plus expenses, remember? I’m the guy who spent the morning yelling at you in the cockpit of an airplane. I’m the man who kidnapped you from your home in Phoenix. I am not romantic. There are a few things in my past that won’t stand up very well to close scrutiny. I don’t always understand your sense of humor and your parents would probably collapse in shock if they ever met me. But, by God, I want you, Honor Knight, and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to keep you. Is that very clear?”

Honor felt her soft, romantic mood slipping away in the face of his unexpected harshness. “Why are you yelling at me? We’ve had a lovely evening so far and~; ~now you’re raining it!”

“I’m trying to put things in perspective. I want you to know exactly where I stand. I’m sorry if I’m ruining the evening but I seem to make a habit of doing that, don’t I? Entertaining a woman for an evening isn’t my forte.”

“But yanking her home and taking her to bed is? You’re pretty fundamental in your outlook on life, aren’t you, Judd? You just do as you damn well please. You fly your plane, make a few bucks now and then off jobs you don’t question too thoroughly, drink a little tequila and occasionally, when it suits your mood, take a woman to bed.”

He stared stonily down at her for a long instant. “You’re trying to make me lose my temper, aren’t you?” he finally asked. “Why, I wonder?”

“Maybe because when you lose your temper you seem almost human,’’ she whispered throatily.

They stood searching each other’s faces beneath the cold glare of the parking-lot light, and then Judd opened the door of the jeep and pushed her gently inside. “Come on, Honor. We’re going home.”

“To bed?” she demanded tightly.

“To talk. I think we need to talk a little more tonight.” He got in beside her and started the engine. Without a word he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street

The drive to his home was one of the longest of Honor’s life. She alternated between hope and despair. Every time she thought she had made some progress toward reaching Judd on an emotional level things seemed to collapse. Right now she had no idea of the mood he was in. Was he angry? Was he still feeling passionate? It didn’t matter, because he was back in full control of himself and during those times she felt locked out as solidly as if he had slammed a door in her face. It seemed to Honor that she had been trying to open that door ever since she had met him.

The house was dark, just as they had left it, and when Judd killed the engine Honor automatically reached for her own door handle. She was feeling increasingly nervous about what lay ahead, a part of her longing to resolve the tense situation between herself and the complex man she loved. But another part of her warned that she might not like the resolution. At least while things were uncertain there was hope.

As Judd reached for the keys in his pocket he realized his hand was shaking a little and the knowledge irritated him. Right now a lot of things irritated him. Everything had been going so perfectly. Why had he gone and ruined it all by dragging Honor off the dance floor? Was he never going to learn?

Maybe it was the pressure of that damned time limit she had given him. Four days. And he only had a couple left. They [_had _]to talk tonight. He had to make her understand that he couldn’t just let her walk away from him.

Afterward, he decided it was because he was concentrating so hard on how to handle Honor that he failed to react to the situation inside the house until it was much too late. On the other hand, he told himself grimly, there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot he could have done.

He simply hadn’t been expecting to open the front door and find Nick Prager sitting in his living room holding a gun.

‘‘Well, well, Mr. Raven. It’s about time you got home.[_ _]I’ve been waiting for you for two hours.” Nick’s cool gray eyes switched to Honor, who stood quite still beside Judd. “So now I know what happened to you, honey. I’ve been wondering.”

“What the hell do you want with us?” Judd asked coldly.

“Isn’t it obvious? I need someone to fly me over the border. I managed to slip into the country on a fake passport but I seem to be having a little trouble finding a way out. Then I remembered that you’re always available for hire if the price is right, Mr. Raven. Believe me, tonight the price is going to be most attractive. Fifty thousand dollars for a few hours of your time. For that kind of money Fm sure you won’t mind throwing Miss Knight into the bargain, will you? I have a small score to settle with her.”

Chapter 11

“Fifty thousand?”

Honor heard Judd repeat the figure as he calmly turned and closed the door. Then he lounged back against it, his arms folded across his chest, midnight eyes focused on the handsome face of his uninvited visitor. Honor watched the two men as if she were a rabbit in the presence of two predators: a raven and a snake. She eyed Nick Prager’s well-groomed brown hair, expensive business suit and smooth countenance, and wondered how she could ever have dated the snake. At least with the raven you knew right where you stood.

“You heard right, Raven. Fifty thousand.” Nick smiled with chilling satisfaction. The hand holding the gun never wavered. “Interested?”

Judd didn’t move. “You have the money on you?”

Nick patted a small suitcase standing beside the chair in which he was sitting. “Right here.”

“How far into Mexico?”

“Some place I can catch a commercial jet liner,” Nick said easily. “The Mexican authorities won’t be on the look out for me. Once I get back to Hong Kong I’ll have no more problems. I have friends there. What do you say, Raven?” Nick waved the gun in a small arc, calling attention to it. Then he smiled again. “Shall we do business together?”