Raven’s Prey(6)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Moving with a slowness that was almost painful, Honor slid her arm out from under the old sheet and groped blindly for the drawer pull. Her heart pounded with the tension of the moment and she wondered briefly how Judd could keep from being awakened by it. It took an effort of will to control her breathing. Thank God she had taken the time to practice with the weapon after she’d bought it off that sleazy street vendor just across the border into Mexico. But she’d never used it on any living thing, Honor reminded herself. It wasn’t going to be easy this first time.

And then her fingers closed on the old wooden knob of the drawer. Holding her breath tightly in her throat, Honor tugged cautiously. The slight scrape of the wood didn’t cause any response form Judd. He really was sound asleep.

With a swallowed sigh Honor touched the cold metal of the gun. It came into her hand like an alien thing, chilled and deadly. For an instant she almost lost her nerve. She had never used it on a living thing. Not even a field mouse!

Gripping the weapon tightly Honor sat up slowly in bed. She used both hands to aim while she slid quietly out of bed. When she was on her feet she tried to find her voice and nearly failed.

“J-Judd,” she managed, aware of the fact that she was trembling from head to foot. “Judd, wake up. We’re going to talk.”

He didn’t stir and for an instant she thought she had failed to waken him. Honor was moistening her lips, about to try again when his voice came floating across the room in a low, sleepy growl.

“Go back to sleep, Honor. I’ve got the bullets in my pocket.”

Honor stilled in sudden shock, knowing somehow, even before she tried to fire the gun, that she’d been outmaneuvered.

“No, damn you! [_No!” _]She raised the weapon to a level well above his reclining form and pulled the trigger. There was only a dry click to tell her there was no bullet in the chamber. “Damn you to hell, Judd Raven!” Fury broke free within her, overshadowing all the other emotions she had been experiencing that evening.

Fury and hatred for the man who had so casually foiled her one hope of escape made her draw back her arm and hurl the useless weapon at him with a savagery that surprised even herself .

She heard him swear softly as the small weapon struck his leg. Then in a frustrated rage she followed the gun, throwing herself across the room and down onto his recumbent form.

“Damn you! Damn you Damn you! “With the ferocity of a cornered cat Honor lashed out at her captor, her flailing fingers going for his eyes.

Chapter 2

The battle was over almost before it had begun, and if she’d been thinking coherently in those first few seconds of anger and panic, Honor would have realized there could be only one ending.

But logical thought was not what was driving her as she launched herself at Judd Raven. And because she was beyond realizing the hopelessness of the attack, she was able to carry it further than it normally would have gone.

Raven didn’t fight back, which was the one thing that would have ended it quickly. Given his superior size and strength he could have knocked her sprawling with a couple of cuffs. Instead he seemed to absorb the brunt of her fury, catching her wrists so that she couldn’t get at his eyes, but otherwise not seeking to retaliate.

“Calm down, you little hellcat,” he grunted as she tried to knee him. He barely managed to deflect die blow, shifting his body so that she was trapped beneath him. “Honor, settle down! This isn’t going to do any good and you know it!”

But she refused to listen to the advice, surging and struggling and scrabbling upward against his steadily increasing weight. When one of her legs came free momentarily she kicked at him and he grunted in pain. One of her hands got near his cheek and she raked furiously with her nails, gouging deep enough to draw blood.

“Honor! Stop it! Don’t make me hurt you!” His grip on her wrists tightened and he threw his leg heavily over her twisting lower body. “Stop it!”

“Let me go, you damned mercenary! Let me go or so help me I won’t stop trying to kill you all the way back to Arizona!” she cried, gasping for breath even as she felt her strength draining rapidly.

“You’re out of your head!”

“I know! I’m crazy, remember? I’m supposed to be under the care of a psychiatrist at all times!” Viciously she snapped her teem, trying to take a chunk out of his forearm. She only got a mouthful of black cotton fabric for her efforts.

“Honor, if you don’t stop fighting me I’m going to have to hurt you!” he gritted. He caught both of her wrists in one of his hands, stretching her arms over her head and pinning them to the bed.

“Go ahead,” she taunted violently, her small br**sts heaving as she tried to draw air into her lungs. “Go ahead and hurt me! Show me what a tough man you really are! But whatever you do, it had better be pretty violent because unless you cripple me I’m going to keep trying to escape!”

She was almost totally helpless now, pinned beneath his weight, her hands useless. Her head twisted on the floor, amber hair fanning out against the boards, and in the shadows her hazel eyes flashed fire.

“Honor, just give up, will you? Pack it in, lady, you haven’t got a chance!”

“I know,” she rasped. “I’ve also got nothing left to lose.”

“For God’s sake, woman, be sensible! All I’m trying to do is take you home! I can’t figure you out, you know that? You seem too damned smart, too much like a real woman to resort to this kind of thing. Why the hell do you insist on acting like a child?”

She heard the genuine lack of comprehension in his voice and wanted to laugh hysterically. It was impossible to move now. Her whole body was completely trapped by his superior strength. All she could do was lie there looking up at him in the darkness with all the impotent fury of a beaten but unbowed woman in her eyes.

“Are you going to behave?” he demanded, eyes narrowed as he studied her defiant face.

“Sure,” she spat.

He sighed. “Honor, if you’re not going to be reasonable—”

“Most people become unreasonable when their lives are at stake!”

“Don’t give me that paranoia routine!” he ordered. “I told you earlier this evening, I don’t buy it!”

‘Too bad! I’m going to fight you every step of the way, Judd Raven. As I said earlier, I haven’t got anything left to lose!”

“Do you want to spend the whole trip tied to the seat of my plane?” he snarled warningly.