"You're going to make me climb up there and get you, aren't you?" Mack asked, exasperation evident in his voice.
This was a Princess Bride-level-damsel-in-distress act.
Marley peeled her eyelids open and forced a small amount of oxygen into her locked-down lungs. Was she really going to give up now?
Yes, rescue me!
"I've got it," she ground out.
There was a long drawn-out sigh beneath her. "Just stay put, I'm coming up."
Mack's words had her scrambling to find the next limb. She had no intention of allowing him to carry her down out of the tree like a damn kitten being rescued by a burly fireman. Marley, looking over her shoulder, spotted a limb within reach, stretched her leg down to get a toehold, and then pushed herself onto it. She was close enough now that she could see the fine weathered lines around Mack's eyes. They gave him a ruggedly sexy appearance.
Great, now she was noticing more details about his looks.
Marley eased down to the next branch; it was only a couple of feet down.
"Jump, I'll catch you," Mack said.
Oh yeah, he was trying to pull the firefighter routine again. Not today, buddy. Confidence growing, Marley made her way down until she was on the lowest limb of the tree, about ten feet off the ground. Taking a deep breath, and ignoring the two men on the ground, she lowered her body until she was dangling off the edge, holding on with her hands. The five-foot drop was a piece of cake. Marley squeezed her eyes shut and let go.
Before her feet hit the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and caught her. The scent of mint and sage filled her nostrils and she opened her eyes, only to find herself staring directly into Mack's gray orbs.
4
She weighed no more than his parachute, and was as soft as one on top of that. Mack stood there a minute longer than necessary, marveling in her surprisingly womanly curves against his chest. The flight suit contained more than he'd realized.
And she smelled good, too, like fresh daisies on a sunny day.
He could get used to this.
Until she started struggling, attempting to very violently wriggle from his grip, reminding him that women weren't all soft petals, they had sharp thorns, too.
Mack let her drop, but he grabbed her arms when she nearly flopped on her butt at his feet. She rewarded him with a glare. "I told you, I don't need your help."
Her dark brown hair had escaped her ponytail and now hung in wild tangles around her shoulders. Her dark blue flight suit was torn down the left arm and blood stained the sleeve; the rest of her uniform wrinkled and covered in dirt. She reminded him more of a misbehaving teenager than a cool and collected Air Force pilot.
"You've made that abundantly clear." He didn't have any more time to waste contemplating her hidden curves or silky hair. Jack Mankel had just taken down their plane. Mack had to find the rest of his men, figure out how Mankel had found out about their flight, and get them all the hell out of Dodge.
The added disturbance of a semi-freaked-out female would only slow him down.
Mack crossed his arms and lifted his shoulders up and back, a measured stance that had an equally measured effect of intimidating anyone who dared to speak back to him. "Riser is a medic; he will attend your wound."
His intimidation tactic failed. Marley lifted her chin and crossed her arms, mimicking his stance with precision he found both alarming and amusing.
"I don't need him to clean up a scratch." While talking, she uncrossed her arms and reached down into the large Velcro-shut pocket on her right thigh. She pulled out a small black kit he recognized as an emergency field medical kit. "I've been disinfecting my own wounds since I was three years old, thank you."
She spun and made it exactly one step before she nearly stumbled over the lifeless snake right behind her. Marley let out a shriek, flailed her arms in the air, and he grabbed the back of her suit to yank her back, pleasure turning up his lips into a smile. "I'd say that's the third time I saved your ass today. Not such a good rate for self-sufficiency."
His words had hit their target. She stiffened straight as a two-by-four and jerked from his grip. "Anacondas and giant jungle trees are more extreme conditions than I'm accustomed to." She gave him a once over. "Obviously they're not so far removed from your Neanderthal roots."
Mack's amusement vanished and he glared at her. Was this the thanks he got for sticking his neck out for her? He'd had to practically shove her out of the airplane, which was strange enough. She was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. It was part of their training to learn how to parachute out for safety. Yet Marley had clearly been terrified.