Free The Treasure by Jennifer Lowery Page B

right now. Not when she wanted him to kiss her.
    “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
    She met his eyes. “My ankle. I twisted it when I pulled you out of the plane.”
    He scowled. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”
    But she hadn’t, and she was proud of herself for finding the courage to rescue him. She had always been the one being rescued, never the opposite. It was liberating.
    “You shouldn’t take risks like that.”
    Lost in his eyes, Amelia nodded, her body still shaking. She was in no hurry to do it again. One plane crash a lifetime was enough for her.
    Brody reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His touch was gentle, almost tender. So unlike the man. She turned slightly into his hand.
    “Promise me you won’t risk your life for me again.” His gruff voice belied his soft touch.
    Right now she’d promise him anything just to have him keep touching her like this. Well, almost anything. If his life needed saving she wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
    Something dropped on the roof with a loud
thud.
Amelia jumped away from Brody. Breathing hard, she pressed a hand to her chest where her heart pounded like a drum. Lord, she couldn’t take many more scares tonight.
    “Just a branch.” Brody slid back so that he leaned against the opposite wall. “Storm’s coming in.”
    Rain pounded on top of the plane now. Thunder cracked. Amelia wished she were still in Brody’s arms. She would feel safe there because in this tin can she felt like a sitting duck waiting for the whole thing to tumble over and wash away.
    Needing a distraction, she said, “I can bandage your wound.”
    Brody shook his head, already doing it himself. “I got it.”
    Resting her head back against the wall, Amelia let her lids drift closed, suddenly very tired. “I think I’ll just rest for a minute.” She closed her eyes. Silently, she prayed she made the right decision and that
Paraíso
really existed, because risking her life for nothing seemed more outrageous than following a map drawn by a woman her sisters insisted was crazy.
    • • •
    Brody tossed a bloody gauze pad aside and applied a bandage to his temple. Amelia had fallen asleep, her chin resting on her shoulder. Adrenaline crash.
    Damn. His plane.
Rubbing his eyes, he tipped his head back. He didn’t want to think of the consequences. His plane was insured, but it would take time to replace her. Just the thought made his gut churn. He had bought the Cessna in his early twenties, when she was nothing more than a heap of metal and peeling paint. Over the years, he had fixed her up, a little at a time. His military career had kept him busy, out of the country more than he was in, but he had managed to turn her into a thing of beauty and he was damn proud of his work.
    He loved this plane. Not only because he practically built her, but because she was the one constant in his life. Growing up a foster kid and always on the move in the military, he never had anything solid. That was why it was so easy for him to pick up and come down here with Jeremy. Nothing held him back.
    Not only had he lost his plane, he lost the ability to charter the scientists into the jungle and pay off Jeremy’s debts. Which, since his friend had disappeared, were now
his
debts. Which meant he was in trouble. Big time.
    He hoped to hell that Pandora had found
Paraíso
because he needed a stroke of luck. Only a fool would believe its mysterious stories of buried treasures, but a buried treasure worth a mint would solve a lot of his problems right about now. He hated to do it, but if they found riches, he was going to take it, his growing attraction to her aside. Only a blind man would miss the way she stared at his mouth or the way her blouse pulled tight over her perfect breasts. For all her ridiculously inappropriate clothing, she was one sexy woman. Stubborn, willful, tenacious. Yeah, she was more like Pandora than she thought.
    If he was smart, he would walk away right now.