Free Dangerous Desires by Dee Davis

to define. He reached out, the pad of his thumb running gently below the line of the swelling beneath her eye.
    “So how did you get the bruise?”
    She lifted her chin, trying to ignore the spirals of pleasure emanating from his touch. “I colored outside the lines.”
    “Why am I not surprised,” he said, his fingers moving to cup her chin, his gaze probing. She swallowed, but held her own, determined not to let him see how easily he’d gotten to her. “Still, I never would have figured you for a drug lord’s mistress.”
    Her mind cleared, and she jerked away, anger flashing. “Sometimes there isn’t a choice. You do what you have to do.” And sometimes the price paid was too high. But she wasn’t about to share that fact. Instead, she tilted her head, studying his face. “You don’t think much of me, do you?”
    “I don’t know you well enough to have an opinion. But if there’s one thing this job has taught me, it’s that everyone is working an angle. I just haven’t figured yours out yet.”
    “It’s simple,” she shrugged, reaching up to highlight her bruise. “I want out.”
    “Nothing’s ever simple, darlin’.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, the lines around his mouth turning harsh. “Believe me, that’s a fact.” He turned his back then, staring out at the rocks flanking the entrance of the clearing. The air hummed with insects and in the distance Madeline heard the plaintive cry of a macaw.
    She started to retort and then shook her head. There was no sense in arguing. And besides, it was perfectly clear that he didn’t want to talk. So with a pointed sigh, she made a play of exploring the upper terrace, trying to ignore the man behind her. But after about fifteen minutes, she couldn’t take the silence.
    “If the situation is compromised”—Madeline frowned, coming to a stop in front of him—“wouldn’t it be better to cut our losses and get out of here? Maybe it’s better if you just finish documenting the site and then come back and destroy it when you have the right equipment.”
    “We can’t take that chance,” Drake said, still not looking at her. “By the time we organized a second mission, di Silva would have had the opportunity to move everything. He’s certainly going to be on high alert with you gone. Which means it won’t be long before he sends his people back in here.”
    “All the more reason why we should leave,” she said. “Especially when you add in the bit about sabotage. That most certainly didn’t come from di Silva. Which means someone else wants this mission to fail.”
    “Like maybe you?” he asked as he spun around to face her.
    “Are you out of your mind?” she spat, forgetting allabout keeping her cool. “Sabotaging your efforts would be like signing my own death warrant. Do I look like I want to die?”
    “I told you, I don’t know what to make of you.” His eyes were the palest blue she’d ever seen—like ice—cold and potentially deadly. “But you’re as likely a suspect as anyone else.”
    “You love thinking the worst of people, don’t you?” she prodded, even though she knew it was dangerous to goad him. For some reason the man seemed to bring out her baser instincts.
    “Maybe it’s just you,” he said, stepping closer, his breath warm against her cheek. “Or maybe Jason was right. Maybe this was the plan all along. Isolate us in a narrow-necked gorge with no other means of retreat.”
    “God, you’re an ass,” she said, her face hot with anger. “Figures I’d ask for help and they’d send you.”
    “If I’d known what a treat it was going to be to rescue you, believe me, I’d have stayed in New York.” His jaw tightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek, and she was surprised by the urge to reach up and soothe him.
    “If wishes were horses…” she said instead, turning away, fighting her rioting emotions.
    “Look, maybe I was a little quick to judge.” The words weren’t exactly an apology,