Free A Kiss of Adventure by Catherine Palmer

shouldn’t trust, she shrugged away. “He would have killed you! It’s not worth it. Whatever the treasure is, it’s not worth a human life.”
    “Nobody got hurt.”
    “Not this time.” She met his eyes. “Look, we both know he’s not going to give up. We’re in this leaky little boat. A boat we stole—”
    “We’ll get it back to the fishermen.”
    “Maybe so. But how far can we go? The river may be deep enough for a boat right here, but Arthur told me it’s been so dry there are places you can just about wade across the Niger. And we’re moving at a snail’s pace. He’s going to catch up, Graeme, and I’m not about to sit by and watch him behead you. It’s all a misunderstanding, anyway. The treasure, the tree-planting woman, all of it. Once I explain that I don’t know anything about any treasure—”
    “Explain? Was that a man you can explain things to?” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Come on, Mat, cheer up. We won this round.”
    She let her focus drift to the shore. Every time she looked at Graeme, she saw that sword swinging toward his neck. Her stomach turned over. She didn’t want him to die. Not on her account. Not on any account. She glanced at him again.
    “Mat,” he said, taking her hand between both of his. “Tillie . . . there’s nothing wrong with feeling scared when the situation fits. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. You’ve got a strength, something inside you. It’s something I’ve never seen. Back on the road yesterday you told me you didn’t believe God ever abandons us. So this morning in the brush and on the river . . . did he?”
    “No. His love never leaves us.” Pulling her hand away from his, she stared out at the swirling brown river. “But that doesn’t mean we live under some lucky charm, some guarantee of safety or protection. We can be victimized by circumstances like illness or accidents . . . or by human evil. It’s just that during those times we know he’s there, loving us, helping us endure. All our lives, in whatever we face, he loves us and stays with us.”
    Graeme studied her face for more than a minute, his eyes searching hers as if he could read answers in them. “If you honestly believe the God of the entire universe is with you through every problem, and he’s always there to love you no matter what, that’s something. That’s really something.”
    “I’m sure of it.” She managed a smile. “And maybe because of it, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    “Aw, I thought your worries had something to do with the prospect of never seeing my handsome face again.” He sat back and regarded her with a lazy grin. “Now I find out you just want to make sure I don’t die before you can save my sinful soul. Baptize me in the waters of the Jordan. Pluck me from the fires of hell. Rescue me from eternal damnation. Wash my transgressions in the crystal—”
    “Enough!” Tillie had to smile. “In the first place, I can’t save your sinful soul. That’s between you and Christ. In the second place, I’m beginning to like you better than I should. And third, if you’ve never felt the peace—”
    “Whoa, let’s go back to the second place.”
    She stared at him, nonplussed. Why had she let that come out? “Let’s don’t.”
    “Let’s do.” His voice was quiet as he spoke. “Look, Tillie, the truth is, I didn’t plan on you any more than you planned on me. I didn’t count on . . .” He paused, searching for words. “I didn’t expect to . . . it’s just that I’m a basic kind of guy, you know? Happy, sad, mad—that’s about the range of my emotional makeup. I like to eat, sleep, take a hot shower when I can get one. I figure you live and then you die, and that’s about it. But while I’m here, I like to do things that make me feel good.” He bent and brushed a kiss on her lips. “Like kiss a beautiful woman.”
    As he drew back, she covered her mouth with her fingers. His