Free Water Witch by Jan Hudson Page A

his lips met hers in a moist kiss. With a soft sigh, she melted in his arms, savoring the breathless wonder of the taste of him as his tongue nudged past her parted lips.
    She reveled in the power of the strong arms around her, delighted in the heartbeat pounding his chest against her hand. She clung to him as his tongue thrust against hers and he pulled her closer to his body.
    His fingers slipped under her shirt and kneaded the bare skin of her back. There was longing in his touch, yet she could feel him holding back. Demanding, she ground her pelvis against his and whimpered.
    Sam went wild. Growling deep in his throat, he pulled her hips against him. When she sucked in a cry of pain, he went dead still, then dropped his hands and broke away.
    “Oh, Lord, I hurt you. I’m sorry.” His breathing was ragged and his expression alarmed as he looked into her face.
    She smiled and smoothed the lines from his brow. “You didn’t really hurt me, Sam. I think you just located another bruise from my fall.”
    He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “I’d better go and let you get some rest.”
    When she walked him to the door, he reminded her to lock the bedroom window. “I’ve been wondering,” she said, “how you got in to leave the groceries.”
    “Buck and Honey Bear left a key with Loma in case of emergencies. But I promise,” he said, smiling down at her, “I won’t use it again without your permission. Unless it’s an emergency.”
    She grinned. “Whose definition of emergency? Yours or mine?”
    He laughed and kissed her nose. “Good night, Angel.”
    Max found herself humming again as she locked the door and the window. More words for the song came.
    I chase my haunted dreams . . . with green, Guadalupe-green . . . cries.

Chapter 5
     
     
    The first golden rays of the sun were breaking over the hills as Max pulled the truck to a stop and got out. She turned up the collar of her wind-breaker against the slight chill of a northerly breeze, stuck her fingers in the back pockets of her jeans, and breathed in the fresh, clean air of the hillsides. Yawning, she stretched to loosen the kinks before she began her search. How she would have loved to be snug in bed right now, catching a few more hours of sleep.
    It had taken a long time for her to fall asleep the night before. Of course the thrill of her find had kept her adrenaline pumping, but it was more than that. Every time she closed her eyes, memories of her evening with Sam replayed in her mind: his laughter, his touch, his kiss. The very scent of him lingered in her nostrils. She must have dozed and awakened half a dozen times until she finally decided to get up. Well before dawn she had loaded her gear in the pickup and whistled for Dowser.
    Her early start was partly excitement and partly a need to leave before Sam could arrive and put a crimp in her plans. As fond of him as she was growing, he always seemed to divert her attention from everything else.
    Even now, when she needed to be about her business, she was thinking about Sam. He had been so sweet last night, treating her like a princess on a pillow. She was surprised that someone so obviously masculine could be so sensitive, so solicitous. That side of him didn’t fit the image of the typical corporate executive. Oh, there was no doubt that he was used to bossing people around. She’d seen that side of him too. And she’d gotten the full force of his overprotective streak. Although she had to admit that she’d enjoyed his fussing, she didn’t need his clucking over her like a broody hen today, of all days. First things first, she reminded herself once more.
    After flexing her hand a few times she decided that, while it still felt a bit tight, the pain was gone and she could use it well enough to work. The few sore spots from her fall barely registered as she studied the serpentine row of markers. In the light wind of early morning, red ribbons flirted along the rocky ground, teasing, enticing