“Steady.” Jack used that patient but commanding voice Morgan knew so well.
Something deep inside her responded instantly, wanted to heed that voice. Another
part of her feared… She didn’t know what exactly. That virtually anyone could wish her
harm, especially someone she trusted. Reggie only proved she couldn’t judge the
character of those around her. What if she’d mistakenly trusted a stranger, not just with
her safety, but with her body, her soul?
The stranger she only knew because Reggie had passed Jack’s information her way.
An icy chill of fear blasted through Morgan. She kicked at Jack’s shins, throwing an
elbow into his stomach. He clasped her tighter and dodged her sharp jabs.
“I’ll call you later,” Jack growled into the phone. Then he slammed a finger on the
button and ended the connection with Deke.
Jack picked her up around the waist. Morgan struggled harder, panic streaking
through her belly, down her legs. He grunted when she managed to land a heel in his
shin. Hope sprang inside that he’d let her go.
He held tighter.
Jack backed into the bedroom, dragging her with him. Morgan tried to grab the
doorknob and use it as an anchor, but he was too fast, too strong.
“Damn you, put me down!” Morgan shouted. “Put me the hell down!”
“I know what you’re thinking,” he growled, ignoring her demand. “Stop it now.”
“You can’t tell me what to think, asshole.”
“Think logically, cher.”
Moments later, she found herself tossed onto the rumpled bed, flat on her back.
Faster than a flash of lightning, he covered her chilled, frantic body and pinned her to the
mattress. His arms stretched out over hers, hot fingers clasped around her wrists in a
gentle but unyielding vice. The weight of his longer legs secured her own against the soft
sheets.
No. The word burned across Morgan’s brain as she struggled, the need to escape and
find an isolated hole to hide in overriding all else. Jack tightened above until he held her
completely immobile. No!
“Relax.” His dark stare slammed into her, penetrating her fear with a calm,
commanding stare.
“Let me go!” Morgan tensed against him, arms, legs, doing her best to remain
unyielding.
“I know what’s running through that pretty head of yours, cher. Stop. I’m not going
to hurt you.”
“If Reggie is guilty, then…then anyone—you—could want me bleeding, dead…”
Her voice sounded breathy, trembling. Morgan hated the fact that her voice shook.
On TV, she was the sexy bleachedblonde show hostess, professional with a hint of a wild
streak. It worked. Out on the middle of the Louisiana swamps, under Jack’s roof, she was
a terrified natural redhead who hated this crappy, helpless feeling, hated being out of her
element physically, mentally, environmentally…sexually.
Jack frowned, concern etching the furrow between his brows. “You’re thinking with
adrenaline, Morgan, not logic. Don’t. We’ve been here alone for two days. At any time, I
could have hurt you, if that was my intent.”
Morgan paused, panting. Her mind raced. Jack’d had a million opportunities to rape
or kill her—or both. He’d done neither. But coming down off the ledge wasn’t that
simple.
“How do I know you’re not toying with me, waiting for me to lower my guard and
completely trust you before you move in for the kill? What do I know about you at all?”
Jack paused, those endless chocolate eyes drilling into her, breathtaking in their stark
sincerity and tight with frustration. “I am not your stalker. Nor am I in league with the
scumbag. If you’d listen to your gut, you would know that.”
“You never had any sort of plan to harm me?”
“Harm you?” He pinned her with a stare stripped of everything except resentment
and honesty. “Who helped you escape the shooter? Who brought you to safety?”
She answered with a pregnant pause, her mind racing. Clearly, Jack hadn’t harmed
her, despite constant opportunities. He had saved her that day in Lafayette; she knew
that. She just didn’t understand why.
“Damn you, what have I done to earn your distrust?” he demanded. “Not one fucking
thing except try to make you see who you really are and what you pretend not to want.”
“Three days ago I’d barely heard your name,” Morgan shouted into his tense face.
“Now I’m supposed to place my sexuality and my entire life in your hands and think
nothing of it? How many men would just…risk their lives to help a stranger?”
“That’s what a soldier does every day, Morgan.” He clutched at her wrists, holding her