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  She left him and he couldn’t have stopped her even if he wanted to, even if she ran. But in minutes she was back. A hot, wet washcloth cleaned away his release and he closed his eyes at the tender way she washed him.

  It was the second time in his life that he took. Greedily took. He opened his eyes and watched as she stroked his body slowly and lovingly. “Maxie.” His voice came out husky.

  She looked up and smiled. “What?”

  He didn’t know what to say. The words would not come. Instead, he reached out and drew her against him, kissing her mouth.

  This was not the way he’d fantasized they would be—he would be. Well, not the first time, anyway. He’d wanted a quiet room with a wide bed and silk sheets with hours of exploration and discovery ahead of them. He wanted to bring her to the edge of ecstasy, ease back and take her there again, before finally tumbling with her into a pleasure-soaked darkness where he could saturate himself in the sweetness of her body. A lengthy, sweaty, shimmering, overwhelming, energy-sapping encounter that she would never forget.

  He didn’t want her to forget him.

  He’d gotten his pleasure and it should have been enough, but he wanted more. He hadn’t satisfied all the rampant sexual curiosity he was harboring about her. Though she’d slaked his lust, that should have been the end of it.

  Her opinion of him meant more than just the physical. It suddenly, overwhelmingly meant everything to him. With that revelation, he realized that she was probably telling the truth about the money and clearing her name. He was supposed to be putting distance between them, but it seemed that every step he took brought her closer and closer to him—to his heart.

  Burying his face in her short curls, he shivered. When she slipped her arms around him, cupping the back of his neck, feelings he didn’t want to examine too closely overtook him, making him edgy.

  He broke away from her, cursing her, cursing himself. The vision of her in jail rose in his mind. She’d be in a cold cell, all alone and shivering. He didn’t like that vision and he didn’t want to think about it. It was much easier to talk. Convince himself that he had to take her in.

  “What were you doing sitting on that porch as if you didn’t have a care in the world? You’re not even trying to outrun me.” He reached out and cupped her chin, bringing her eyes level with his.

  “No. I don’t need to outrun you.” She met his gaze, her eyes a brilliant blue in the dim room.

  “What?”

  “I told you my story.” She pulled her chin out of his fingers. Her soft skin cupped in his hand made his insides go crazy.

  He shifted on the floor, bracing his back more firmly against the wall. “You told me some sob story,” he said, but he gentled his voice.

  It didn’t seem to matter to Maxie what tone he used. She bristled, her spine going ramrod straight. “It wasn’t a sob story. It’s the truth. I’m not going back to Sedona until I’m good and ready.”

  “I know it’s the truth.” The words came out of his mouth and surprised even him, but he was sure about what she’d said. Except there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

  “What did you just say?”

  “I said I think you’re telling the truth. I can’t fault you for escaping—twice. But I can’t let you go either.” He turned his face away and rose to adjust his clothes, so she wouldn’t see him wince at those words. “I’m still bringing you in.”

  “You can try. I’m ready to face the charges the moment I can clear my name.”

  She got up and grabbed a hold of one of his belt loops and jerked him close. His body was too ready to give in again to the hot temptation of her.

  “You’re not ditsy at all, but smart and sweet. I hope Jake works fast….” He swallowed hard when she ran her hand around and cupped his backside.

  “I have to admit something to you, Austin. When you called me ditsy, it did make me want to show you up.”

  “That gives you pleasure?”

  “A little satisfaction, yes.”

  He tilted his head and gave her a look full of skepticism.

  “Okay. It gave me a lot of satisfaction.”

  “So it did give you pleasure to see me ass over tea kettle in that bathtub?”

  “Pleasure? No. What gave me pleasure was watching your face when you came in my hands, feeling the hot, hard contours of your body, holding your rigid erection in my hands. That gave me a lot of pleasure. I bet you know just how to pleasure a woman. I bet you know many, many ways.”

  He groaned. The woman was going to kill him. Her hands moved up his body. “Austin, you are so beautiful.” Her mouth reached up and he couldn’t deny her anything as he claimed her hot mouth, her demanding lips. He wanted to sink into her hot wet heat with a need that was almost too big for him to manage.

  He held her by her upper arms and backed her onto the bed, pushing his hips against her with a deep, all-consuming moan.

  He could feel her clever hands on the snap of his jeans and, when she pulled the zipper down, sanity returned. He couldn’t do this. Maxie had told him that she got satisfaction from besting him. This was just another ploy. But God, he cared about her and her sister. Damn them. He cared what happened to her club. He’d known it wouldn’t take much to get him to feel close to her. He remembered her photograph. She was like a whirlwind, sucking everything into her, creating a vortex of need and want.

  Her hundred-watt-smile, her sweet voice, her spontaneous personality, her killer body all pulled him in, but he had to resist. Jessica depended on him. Everyone in his family depended on him and this income. At this moment, Jessica’s future could ride on the money he made off this bounty.

  It tore him up inside to know that she was innocent and he couldn’t do a thing about it. According to the rules he followed, her innocence wasn’t his concern.

  “Thanks for believing me.”

  He liked everything about Maxie, but he liked the sensual promise of her even more. Lessons in life were sometimes learned quickly, and at other times, not ever learned well enough. The lesson she taught him would stay with him forever. Honor and duty had to come before anything else, because it was the basis on which he’d built his life. He relished the teasing, the sharpened awareness, but he also realized that nothing could come of it. It was hard to admit that he enjoyed just the expectation with her ten times beyond what he felt during the act with any other woman. He wondered if it would fade with time and then realized he would never know.

  The smartest way to handle Francesca Maxwell was to do his job and clear out of her life. And he couldn’t do that until he got to Sedona.

  He pulled away from her as a knock sounded on the door. Austin rose and did up his pants. Maxie walked to the door and opened it. Star stood there.

  She glanced at Austin, and when she realized what he was doing, a gleam came into her eye. “I see that he found you.”

  “Yes, he did,” Maxie said, meeting the woman’s knowing gaze straight on.

  “Couldn’t have been too hard. I told him exactly where you’d be. Of course, catching you isn’t really his problem, is it?” She laughed. “See you next time around, Maxie.” She leaned in and gave Austin a cheeky grin. “Until next time, bounty boy.”

  He grabbed Maxie’s hand, snatched her makeshift bag of things and brushed past a smug Star. “Wait. I need my purple bag. I have something important in…”

  “Tough. We’re leaving.” He wanted to save her. He did, but he’d taken an oath and how could he face himself in the mirror if he didn’t do his job. Except now, doing the right thing wasn’t feeling so right to him. He admired what Maxie was trying, but it didn’t change the facts. He was trapped and so was she.

  WHEN THEY PULLED into Cimarron hours later, he took her with him when he checked into the room. Maxie wasn’t sure what that meant or whether it meant anything at all. He asked her if she was hungry and they found an all-night diner. He was edgy as they ate, but when the door closed behind them at the hotel, he seemed to get more agita
ted and jumpy. He was afraid of anymore contact with her of either a physical or emotional nature.

  She sensed his withdrawal and did everything she could not to touch him.

  After he snapped the handcuffs first to his wrist and then to hers, he turned out the lights. The darkness was very thick and almost oppressive.

  On a soft whisper, she touched his mouth. “I scare you, don’t I?”

  “You scare me? Yes, dammit, you do. I don’t like this situation. It should be cut and dried and it’s way too complicated,” he confessed.

  “And you don’t like complications, do you?” Maxie asked, sucking in her breath when he slid his hand down her neck, his thumb absently stroking her throat.

  She closed her eyes at the distracting feel of his caress.

  “No. I like to have control. I feel off-balance without it. Bounty hunting is supposed to be clear-cut. Pick up the skip and collect a paycheck. This gnaws at me because I care about what happens to you and to your sister.”

  “My situation makes you have to change your way of thinking.”

  “Yes,” he admitted softly. “I feel like change is coming, and I’m not prepared for it. I don’t like change.”

  “What kind of change are we talking about here?” she questioned. Sliding her free arm around him, she pulled him into a loose, almost friendly embrace. But her thoughts were far from friendly and she gasped softly when his chest pressed against hers.

  “The kind of change that’s irrevocable. My life. Your life. The kind that breaks foundations and hearts.”

  “Ah, violent change.” She nodded her head and shivered.

  “Then what I guess we have to decide is simply, is it worth it?” She flattened herself against him, and her eyes widened when she felt the hard heat of him press against her. “Austin…” She would have to take this time with him and treasure it. Her feelings were stronger than she’d realized, and her heart was at risk. But the risk was worth it. She knew it in her soul.

  “Shh,” he murmured, pressing his finger over her lips. “Just let me hold you.” By now her eyes had adjusted to the dark. He watched her, his eyes smoky and intent, his expression taut. A fluttery weakness moved through her, and it took all the willpower she had to keep from giving into the drugging sensation. She couldn’t let herself get lost in it this time.

  Feeling as if every nerve in her body was stretched to the limit, she avoided his gaze, but Austin cupped her face and brought it back up to his hungry eyes.

  Overwhelmed by his action, she turned her face into his hand. Austin inhaled sharply and cupped the back of her neck. Murmuring her name, he drew her into his arms and covered her mouth in a kiss that heated her blood, and touched her heart.

  Austin stopped kissing her and with a heart-wrenching look in his eyes he stared at her as if she was shining gold. He closed his eyes, his mouth sought hers in a sudden need that passed from him into her. She parted her lips as she hung on to him. She pushed her hips between his thighs and tight to his groin. The feel of his hard male body, fully aroused, made her moan softly into his frantic mouth.

  Austin shifted his hold on her back, and resealed his hot, hungry lips against hers in a kiss that seemed to ravage her very soul. A kiss that was fueled by loneliness, by need, by a fever of want. It went on and on until Maxie was swimming in a sea of desire.

  “Austin,” she pleaded, knowing that she was asking for his touch and not being able to deny herself the pleasure.

  “Maxie, you don’t know what you’re asking,” he said, the surrender already in his voice.

  “Yes,” she panted. “Yes, I do. Oh God, please Austin.”

  “I don’t have any protection.”

  “If only you’d let me get my purple bag. There were condoms in there.”

  As if realizing that she was beyond recovery, Austin released her and got the key, and removed the cuffs. He twisted her against one thigh and shifted his hold. Tightening his arm around her torso, he slid his hand over her buttocks until he reached the buttons of her shorts. Slowly he opened them and she could feel the provocative heat of his hand against the heart of her. His fingers caught the waistband of her shorts and suddenly he was absorbing her cry as he touched her where she so wanted to be touched. Maxie clutched at him, her body going taut, and he pressed her face into the curve of his neck as she automatically bowed against the caressing heat of his fingers. An explosion ignited inside her, and a series of convulsions ripped through her as she came apart in his arms. Austin hugged her against him, his arm supporting her back.

  Unable to speak, Maxie cried his name against his neck, and removing his hand from her shorts, he enfolded her in a powerful, all-encompassing embrace.

  She tried to move off him and his voice was strained when he whispered against her temple. “Don’t.”

  Maxie tightened her arms around him, too spent to make a reply, knowing it was going to hurt when she had to trick him again.

  MAXIE DREAMED. Erotic, sensual dreams of Austin, his hard hands, his taut body, his beautiful mouth. She moaned and shifted, but always resettled. There was a warmth that surrounded her, cocooned her with a strong presence that made her feel safe and secure. Something tickled her nose, and her eyelids fluttered. A wonderful heady scent filled her nostrils. She found herself trying to identify that scent. She reached up to brush away that aggravating tickle. She froze when her hand moved over a stubbled cheek. Then her fingers slid into thick hair, and that wonderful scent registered on her brain and brought her to full awareness. He was a devastating man to wake up to.

  Austin was still asleep, his black lashes thick on his amazing cheekbones. When he was awake she barely noticed them because of his intense eyes.

  Unable to stop her exploration, she trailed her hand down the strong column of his throat. He shifted and exhaled but didn’t wake. Emboldened, she let her fingertips glide over the heavy, velvet muscles of his chest, over the hard, ridged muscle of his abdomen down to the waistband of his jeans.

  No underwear. It would be so easy to release him. With a flick of her wrist and slide of a zipper, she could have him hard and hot in her hands. She could have him moaning and crying out like he had in her little room behind the bar in Mesa Roja. She wanted the quick, uncontrollable thrust of his hips, sliding hot powerful flesh between her hands, making her heart pound, her body throb.

  A strong hand gripped her wrist and her head whipped around to find Austin fully awake.

  7

  AUSTIN CLENCHED his jaw when her hand settled at the snap to his jeans. Her touch created a focal point of heat beneath his flesh. He bit back on the lust that crawled edgily into his belly. This wasn’t good timing. He was hard and hot already from thinking about her. It wouldn’t take much to slide her beneath him and slake his hunger.

  But they had no protection, and he wasn’t going to risk it. It was the first time in his life he didn’t curse his formidable control. He needed it now, desperately.

  He’d never wanted a woman more than he wanted Maxie. A sudden realization had his hand curling against the steel of the handcuff. As much as he wanted her physically, he wanted the woman more. Wanted to look into her eyes and see only himself reflected there. Wanted the right to press his hand to the small of her back. Wanted… Mentally, he hesitated. Was he falling in love with her? Had he already fallen?

  The questions brought a rush of emotion he wasn’t quite sure how to handle. If the answers were there, he couldn’t see them, or maybe he wasn’t ready to see them.

  “There’s no protection.”

  Her shoulders slumped and she leaned back into him, making his breath hitch at the feel of her soft skin against his.

  “Right. I forgot.”

  “It’s easy to forget, but the consequences would be hard to forget.”

  He reached down and got the key and unlocked the cuffs. He eased away from her. “I have to say that I’m at a loss as to what to do.” He didn’t have any second thoughts about his growing feelings for her. His
heart had tightened painfully when she so trustingly slid into his arms last night. If he were to make love to her, he was afraid he would lose a part of himself, probably for good.

  She met his gaze candidly. “I’m not going to say I don’t want to sleep with you, Austin, because I do. Take it for what it’s worth.”

  “Right. You don’t mind hot, wild sex.”

  “Sex with you and escaping you are two different things. I can separate the two.”

  “I have a hard time doing that. It’s not very honorable on my part to be sleeping with a person I’m taking in so I can collect money on her. It’s a bizarre situation.”

  “I agree with you, but I don’t like the alternative. Once I get back to Sedona there isn’t going to be any time. We only have this. Right now.”

  “Maxie, it’s not that easy.”

  “It is that easy.” They stared at each other for a long moment. “Your honor is one of the things I admire in you. I’ll get my stuff together. I’m sure you want to get on the road. You have a bounty to collect.”

  “That’s right,” he said with resignation. “I do.”

  When she disappeared into the bathroom, the words rang in his head like a bell. You have a bounty to collect.

  His sister was depending on him. How could he have forgotten that? Easy. He wanted Maxie and not for a few nights and days. A part of him wanted to go after her with everything he had. Another part of him—the part that told him that this situation was too complicated—couldn’t accept that she was going to jail and he was the man who was going to put her back there.

  That part of him sent the message to get the job done, to not want. To beware.

  Still, that same part of him didn’t know what the hell to do with her.