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.With the grays and browns of arid rock outcropping nestled between coastal sage scrub and wildflowers, it was a picture to make a postcard jealous.She drained the lukewarm thermos water in long hungry gulps.She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.Under it, she snuck a peek at the one who'd witnessed her humiliating collapse.He regarded her patiently.He wasn't even winded, but lounged like a basking lizard.A cloud crossed the sun.His face was flushed with healthy color, she noticed.His lips, shaped so perfectly cruel and compelling, were relaxed and smiling slightly.She suddenly felt how alone they were, under the sky, miles from anyone."I'm sorry," he said."I knew I walked pretty fast back there, but I thought you'd speak up.I should've know better," he gently mocked, with concern still in his eyes."Big, bad Stanna wouldn't dream of crying defeat, would she?"Wouldn't she? She wondered.She just might, if he kept looking at her in that teasing, gentle way.A breeze from over the ocean buffeted her, cooling the perspiration on her bare arms and legs.She gazed out toward the west.The clouds seemed to be thickening and moving a little closer.The sinking sun still shone intermittently though them.She looked sideways at Jake, smiling."Looks like it might be a race: us versus the weather.How far are we from the top?"He tilted his head up toward Sandpiper Peak."Should have an even better view from thirty-one hundred and eleven feet.Pretty close race.Another half-hour.""At Jake-speed or a more traditional pace?"He laughed, a deep amused chuckle.In a fluid movement, he was sharing her rock and rubbing arms with her.He looked down sideways at her, curved his arm around and tucked a stray blond lock of her hair back behind her ear."We'll go at your speed." His voice sounded very masculine for all its softness.His eyes glowed with a warm heat.Stanna was all too aware of the heat radiating from his body.His strong upper arm was a warm, welcome solid pillar against hers.It felt deliciously hard, and she had the sudden unreasonable urge to nuzzle against his chest and feel that arm folding her to him.She moved slightly away from him, trying to clear her mind.He seemed aware of her thoughts.He looked at her evaluatingly.Another gust of wind blew his shaggy golden chestnut hair back from his face, and he raised his head suddenly to the west and frowned, distracted."It hardly ever rains heavily in L.A.," he murmured almost to himself.He shrugged on his backpack."But those look like they might be serious rain clouds.How badly do you want to see the peak?""Pretty badly," she answered, her voice more breathy and sultry than she intended.He smiled, and cute laugh-lines appeared at the corner of his eyes.He gazed into her own eyes teasingly."Then the next question would be, do you mind getting a little wet?"She didn't laugh, but it was an effort not to."No.I don't mind getting a little wet."His mischievous smile went well with his speculative gaze.He leaped up from the small boulder, bowed before her and held out his hand, palm up."Come then, my lady.For there are sights worth seeing further up yonder trail." He was the very image of an old-fashioned knight for a moment, his broad shoulders bent to her service, his bearing gallant.Laughing and delighted with his antics, she grasped his hand.The touch tingled through her as he pulled her to her feet.He didn't let go, but kept her hand enfolded in his larger one as he paced beside her.The connection warmed and centered her.She'd never felt more safe.Ian had never felt more furious.After more than a month of miscellaneous dirty tricks, from petty vandalism to promoting Men's Weekly's bad publicity… from agitating the feminist groups to calling in favors from his shadier contacts… from Internet discussion group trolling to emails sent off wherever they might do the most damage.the stupid magazine was showing no sign of stumbling.Jake was showing no signs of stumbling.How he hated that damn usurper.Jake was using the money Ian himself had once easily embezzled to launch the magazine into national prominence.His latest trick, paying off that Mexican actress to make her suicide call to Stanna, was diabolical if he did say so himself.Keeping Stanna primed against Jake and on Ian’s good side was key to his success.The key that got Jake out of the way for good.He was running out of time.The thugs were becoming persistent.Just last night he'd discovered all four tires on his beautiful Jaguar punctured.How they’d managed to do it while he dined at the famous French restaurant L'Orangerie he didn't discover.Probably bribed the valets.The note was more ominous.Tucked under his wiper as if it was a ticket, the note read simply, "Thirty days.Then we turn you into geezer pate."He could’ve done without such unpleasant, not to mention nauseating, reminders.Yet he owed enough money they’d never let him go with a slap on the wrist if he defaulted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]