Free Bridal Jitters by Jayne Castle Page A

any female would do.”
    “Trust me, no one else will do.”
    There was a short, tense silence. Then she cleared her throat and wriggled her fingers in his grasp. “In that case, stop acting like some macho jerk hunter.”
    He kept her wrists anchored against the wall. “But I am a macho jerk hunter.”
    “No, you are not,” she muttered, seriously disgruntled now. “Stop talking like that.”
    “You’ve as good as said I behaved like a macho jerk hunter a couple of hours ago when I made love to you just before I crashed. What happens the next time we get into this kind of situation? Am I going to have to listen to a lot of accusations about how anything in skirts would do? When it’s over, will I have to explain that I knew it was you I was having sex with?”
    “Just because I wanted to be sure you knew it was me—”
    “Believe me. I knew it was you. Just like I know it’s you now.”
    He kissed her, hard and deliberately, letting her feel the frustration and temper she had aroused in him, letting her know that this time he knew full well that she was the woman he had pinned against the glowing quartz wall.
    She went rigid. Despair knifed through him.
    “Virginia.” He released her wrists and caught her head between his hands. “Damn it, Virginia. I want you so much.”
    She gave a muffled cry and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him feverishly. “I didn’t mean to call you a stupid, macho jerk hunter.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” Relief surged through him. “Sometimes I am a macho jerk hunter.”
    “No.” She clenched her fingers in his hair. “Never. I knew from the first day that you weren’t a macho jerk hunter.”
    “Yeah?” He took her tender earlobe between his teeth and nibbled hungrily. “What was your first clue?”
    “You were reading the
Journal of Para-Archaeology
instead of the latest issue of
Sex-Starved Psychic Playmates.
”
    “Lucky for me my subscription ran out three months ago,” he said very fervently against her throat. “I never got around to renewing it.”
    She laughed softly. Her head tipped back against his arm. “Oh, Sam, do you really think this will work?”
    “We’ll make it work.” Two years. He had two full years to make it work. He touched the edge of his tongue to the soft skin beneath the collar of her shirt.
    She stiffened.
    “Sam?”
    “It’s okay. Even without the skirts, I’m positive I’m dealing with the right lady here.”
    “No, wait.” She planted her palms against his shoulders and pushed him away from her.
    He stilled, aware that something was wrong. “What is it?”
    “Psi energy. I can feel it. Someone is trying to take down the big trap at the entrance to this zoo.”
    “Drummond’s friends. So they did come looking, after all.” The charge of sexual anticipation that had been arcing through him instantly transmuted itself into another kind of high-rez buzz.
    “Wait here.” He turned and went swiftly across the fountain room. He halted in the outer doorway and listened intently. Sound carried underground. So did the feel of psi energy.
    He heard voices reverberating in the distance. They came from the vicinity of the entrance to the vast zoo chamber.
    “… waste of time. Don’t care what Drummond says. No way the S.O.B. coulda made it through that waterfall with the little lady tangler. No small-time security guy could be that good. Even if he was that good and even if he did make it through with her, he’d have one hell of an afterburn. He’ll be wasted for at least another hour or two.”
    “We’re working for Fairbanks, not Drummond. He said not to take any chances, and he’s the one paying us. The orders were to check out every possibility in this damned corridor, so that’s what we’re gonna do. Now, shut up and untangle this trap.”
    “Okay, okay. Give me a minute. It’s a big sucker.”
    Sam left the doorway and went to where Virginia stood waiting.
    “Let’s go.” He took her