Free Carved in Stone by Kate Douglas Page B

breaking branches and shouted curses drew a low moan from Alex’s throat. Nate pressed her face tightly against him, hoping to muffle the sound.
    “What is it?” The cowboy pushed through the heavy undergrowth not four feet from their fallen log, moving in the direction of the disturbance. Nate exhaled a long sigh of relief, thanking whatever forest creature had bolted noisily through the trees.
    Another set of footsteps paused near the far side of the log.
    “No sign of ’em. Must’ve been a deer. C’mon. I wanna get the rest of the weed loaded, grab a few more of those pots. We can close up camp and be outta here in a couple of hours. They’re probably a couple of dumb tourists. It’ll take ’em at least a day before they can get to a phone, whoever they are. By then we’ll be long gone.”
    “Right, Ed. Probably just tourists.”
    “Let’s hope so, Sidney.”
    A cowboy named Sidney? Nate held his breath as the voices moved closer.
    “I think I spotted a tent when we circled around to come up here. We outta check it out.” Nate recognized the voice, the man in camouflage. The one with the assault rifle.
    “Good idea, Duke. Get the chopper warmed up. No stupid tourists’re gonna screw me out of a haul like this. C’mon.”
    The footsteps moved away in the direction of the helicopter. In the silence that followed, Nate was suddenly aware of the heat where Alex clung to him, the rapid flutter of her breath against his throat. Softly he brushed her hair back from her fear-darkened eyes, and his gaze was drawn to her parted lips, to the tiny beads of perspiration above her mouth, the smudge of dirt just to the left of her nose. In that instant, his entire existence spiraled down into the space between her lips.
    Without any conscious thought at all, Nate closed the gap between them, softly pressing his lips against hers, thrusting his tongue into the tiny cleft that opened on her sigh to admit him.
    Her eyelids flickered closed against his cheek, and the trembling in her body eased when their tongues met and touched and explored, oblivious to the danger on the plateau.
    The rational part of Nate’s brain insisted on dissecting the kiss, commenting on the concept of danger as an aphrodisiac, and offering congratulations for coming up with such a terrific idea to calm Alex.
    The rest of him was quickly moving into sensory overload.
    Suddenly, Alex’s eyes flew open and she pulled out of his arms. She rolled away from him, looking shocked and disoriented, and Nate shivered at the unexpected abandonment.
    Nate gave Alex’s shoulders a quick squeeze, wondering briefly at the rigid set to them, then eased up over the log to see if the men had gone. Alex’s taste was still on his lips and tongue, and he had the irrational desire to stand up and ask everyone to hurry up and leave so he could kiss her again.
    But the men’s voices still carried through the dark woods and the helicopter waited silently at the forest’s edge.

Chapter 6
     
     
    Nate moved silently back to Alex’s side, stretching out so close beside her she could feel his touch at shoulder, hip, and ankle. Avoiding his eyes, she listened for the sound of the departing helicopter. Finally she heard the engine cough to life, then the frighteningly familiar sound of the chopper rising and then hovering over the plateau. The noise slowly faded and finally disappeared altogether.
    Alex touched her swollen lips with the tips of her fingers, not certain whether to be angry with Nate or to thank him. Never in her life had she been so afraid. That kiss definitely had taken her mind off the danger.
    She still felt a heaviness deep in her belly, a warmth that even fear couldn’t chill. She wondered if Nate had been as affected by the kiss as she had. Before she had time to think about it, she asked him. “Why did you kiss me?”
    “I don’t know. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” He didn’t look at her. Taken at face value, his