Sanctuary(38)

Colors were still swimming in her head. "What?" she blinked to clear her vision. "What?"

"The damsel-in-distress routine worked. Score one for your side."

she came back to earth with a thud. His eyes were as hard and hot as his mouth had been, but with passion of a different sort. When his words and the meaning behind them registered, her own widened with shocked indignation.

"Do you honestly belleve I staged this, made a fool of myself just so you'd kiss me? You arrogant, conceited, self-important son of a bitch!" Insulted to the core, she shoved him away. "I don't have routines, and I'm not now nor will I ever be a damsel of any sort. And furthermore, kissing you is not a major goal in my life."

she pushed her tousled hair back, squared her shoulders. "I came here to see Jo, not you. You just happened to be in the way."

"I suppose that's why you jumped into my arms and wrapped yourself around me like a snake."

she drew a breath, determined to cloak herself in calm and dignity. "The problem here, Brian, is that you wanted to kiss me, and you enjoyed it. Now you have to blame me, accuse me of perpetrating some ridiculous female ruse, because you want to kiss me again. You want to get your hands on me the way you just had them on me, and for some reason that really ticks you off But that's your problem. I came here to see Jo."

"she's not here," Brian said between his teeth. "she's out with her cameras somewhere."

"Well, then, you just give her a message for me. Heron Campground, nine o'clock, site twelve. Girls' night out. Think you can remember that, or do you want to write it down?"

"I'll tell her. Anything else?"

"No, not a thing." she turned, then hesitated. Pride or no, she simply couldn't face going back into the trees alone just yet. she shifted directions and headed down the shell path. It would more than double the distance home, she thought, but a good sweaty walk would help her work off her temper.

Brian frowned at her back, then into the woods. He had a sudden and certain feeling that none of what had just happened had been a pretense. And that, he decided, made him not only a fool but a nasty one.

"Hold on, Kirby, I'll give you a ride back."

"No, thanks."

"Damn it, I said hold on." He caught up with her, took her arm, and was stunned by the ripe fury on her face when she whirled around.

"I'll let you know when I want you to touch me, Brian, and I'll let you know when I want anything from you. In the meantime. . . " she jerked free. "I'll take care of myself."

"I'm sorry." He cursed himself even as he said it. He hadn't meant to. And the raised-eyebrow, wide-eyed look she sent him made him wish he'd sawed off his tongue first.

" I beg your pardon, did you say something?"

Too late to back out, he thought, and swallowed the bitter pill. "I said I'm sorry. I was out of line. Let me drive you home."

she inclined her head, regally, he thought, and her smile was smug. "Thank you. I'd appreciate it."

You were supposed to bring a six-pack, not fancy wine, big shot." Already disposed to complain, Lexy loaded her sleeping bag and gear into Jo's Land Rover.

"I like wing." Jo kept her voice mild and her sentences short.

"I don't know why you want to spend the night dishing in the woods anyway." Lexy scowled at Jo's tidily rolled and top-grade sleeping bag. Always the best for Jo Ellen, she thought sourly, then shoved her two six-packs of Coors into the cargo area. "No piano bar, no room service, no fawning maitre d'."

Jo thought of the nights she'd spent in a tent, in second-rate motels, shivering in the cab of her four-wheeler. Anything to get the shot. she muscled in the bag of groceries she'd begged off of Brian, shoved her hair back. "I'll survive somehow."

"I set this up, you know. I set it up because I wanted to get the hell away from here for one night. I wanted to relax with friends. My friends."

Jo slammed the rear door, clenched her teeth as the sound echoed like a gunshot. It would be easier to walk away, she thought. just turn around and go back into the house and leave Lexy to find her own way to the campground.

Damned if she was going to take the easy way.

"Ginny's my friend too, and I haven't seen Kirby in years." Leaving it at that, she circled around to the driver's side, climbed behind the wheel, and waited.

The pleasant anticipation she'd felt when Brian had relayed Kirby's invitation had disappeared, leaving a churning pit in her stomach. But she was determined to follow through, not to be chased away by her sister's bitchiness.

she was bound to have a miserable time now, but by God she was going. And so, she thought when her sister slammed in beside her, was Lexy.