Rogue's Revenge - By Gail MacMillan Page 0,61

it?” She looked into the bubbling greenery. “Spinach?”

“Fiddleheads.” He drained off the water. “Immature ferns. They look like the head of a fiddle, thus the name. Try some.”

He handed her a pronged twig and grinned.

“You’re really quite adept at making unique utensils,” she said. “Maybe guests at the Lodge might enjoy them…the crowning touch of their wilderness experience.”

“Maybe.” He reached out and ran his knuckles lightly down her cheek. The expression in his eyes upped her heartbeat to way past the speed limit.

“You know, Heath Oakes, I’m getting a tad fond of you.” The admittance was soft, almost shy.

“Just fond?” He drew her into his arms. The next moment he was kissing her, kissing her until her feet left the ground, until all she was conscious of was him, his mouth, his body. “Just fond?” He raised his head to look down into her eyes with his amazing ones that narrowed when he was intense.

“Maybe more than fond.” He kissed her again, his tongue tasting, probing, and when he looked at her again, she could only breathe, “Oh, yes, definitely more than fond.”

“If I hadn’t promised your mother…” His words tickled her ear as his hands slid down her back.

“Heath.” His name was a breathed permission, a sensuous request.

“No, no, no.” He threw up his hands and backed off. “Hell, no. I’m a fool, but I do keep my word.”

“You pick the damnedest moments to get all trustworthy and righteous.” Frustrated, she jerked away from him.

“Sorry. But I never promised anything once we’re out of this mess and back on equal footing. I don’t think Myra, who married a cowboy, will expect her daughter to keep her own maverick waiting too long.”

“Great, good, wonderful. Let’s get going.”

****

It was nearing dusk when they reached Adams Landing and headed up across the field toward the tombstone looming out of the fog.

“We made it…” Allison began. A deafening roar and a rifle bullet ricocheting off her grandparents’ headstone cut her short.

The next instant she was flat on the ground behind it. Heath’s body pinned her to the earth. Damn it, déjà vous!

“Don’t move!” he hissed.

As if I could. His body giving her no alternative, Allison lay still and felt his heart pounding against her back.

“Stay close to the headstone.” Barely audible, his words fell into her ear.

“Heath…”

“Stay!”

He eased away from her, catlike, into the fog. Alone, with her heart trying to hammer its way out of her chest, Allison lay with her fingers clutching the base of her grandparents’ tombstone and prayed.

Time became a dragging, wretched thing, its passing an excruciating endurance test. Then a voice made Allison start so violently she felt her shoulders snap.

“Get up!”

She turned and looked up to find the long barrel of a rifle pointed at her head. The woman holding it was Candace Breckenridge, dressed in camouflage bush gear.

“Candace!” She stumbled to her feet. “What…?”

“You spoiled brat!” she snarled, and Allison felt her blood turn to ice water as she saw the insane rage in the woman’s face. “You think your grandfather left you a lover in his will, don’t you? That you own Heath Oakes just like you own this land? Well, think again, honey. A sexy little body like yours might be okay on a camping trip, but it takes money to keep the fire burning three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Heath Oakes knows that. He also knows that while your daddy might be rich, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are. But he damn well knows I am! He might exude all the trappings of a gorgeous savage, but remember where he came from and what he still is under all that earthy charm.”

“You can’t buy people!” From somewhere Allison found the courage to snap back.

“That’s what you think. Heath has a taste for money and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. He got rid of old Jack and seduced that doctor into signing the death certificate, no questions asked. He’ll convince her to do the same with you after the unfortunate accident you’re about to have. Once we’re rid of you, Heath and I will turn your grandfather’s Chance into a sure thing…and have our own private love nest.”

“That will never happen.” I have to keep her talking until Heath gets back. It’s my only chance.

“Sorry to disappoint you, sweetie, but it will. That fool Jim Wilcox may have failed in doing what I paid him to do, but I won’t! Heath Oakes is still a kid from