Amber Eyes - Maya Banks Page 0,9

of the nearby streams. The cabin was surprisingly modern despite its remote location.

Now that the idea was planted in her mind, she couldn’t resist the lure of having hot water rain down over her body. She reached into the cubicle and turned on the water. After a few moments, she sent her fingers seeking into the stream.

A sound of absolute delight escaped her lips before she could call it back. Eager not to waste a drop, she stripped out of the shirt and stepped under the spray.

She closed her eyes and turned her face upward as water rolled over her cheeks and down her neck. This was almost as good as the promise of a hot meal.

Chapter Five

Jericho stood outside the bedroom door listening as the shower came on and then to her sounds of pleasure. She sounded almost carefree in that one moment, as though she’d been denied the simplest of comforts and rediscovered them.

What was the fool woman doing running around the mountains naked? She didn’t seem crazy, just…unusual in a way that he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Is she staying?”Hunter called from the kitchen.

“Yes, she’s staying,”he said with mild exasperation. “Where the hell is she going to go?”

“And that stopped her before?”

Jericho didn’t bother with a response. Hunter usually had to have the last word anyway.

He stood there several more minutes and was about to go in to make sure she hadn’t taken a dive out the window when the door cracked open and she peered cautiously out.

Those amber eyes flashed against her small face, and unbidden images of the cougar came to his mind.

“Breakfast is about done. You coming out?”he asked when she made no move to walk out of the bedroom.

She hesitated for another brief second before opening the door wider. She slipped by him with barely a whisper, and she seemed to draw in her entire body to refrain from making incidental contact. Hell, he couldn’t be that scary.

But then again, in her place, he’d probably be a little worried. Being hauled out of a cave—no matter how weird that might be—by two strange men and taken to a remote cabin. No, that still wasn’t more bizarre than her running naked through the Rockies in the dead of winter.

He followed her into the kitchen and nearly ran over her when she came to an abrupt halt. Hunter was standing next to the small stove eyeballing her with that piercing stare of his.

She trembled against Jericho, and despite his resolve to exercise extreme caution when it came to handling her, he reached out and folded his hands over her slight shoulders.

“He won’t hurt you. He always looks like a bear with a sore tooth.”

She nodded solemnly. “Bears can be very cranky creatures. I try to avoid them at all costs.”

Hunter lifted one brow. “Good policy.”

“Go on and sit down,”Jericho coaxed. He nudged her toward the small table in the corner and gave Hunter a reprimanding glare as they walked by.

Hunter rolled his eyes as he slapped ham on a plate.

Jericho took the seat across from their guest and realized he had no clue what her name was. She sat there almost primly, ill at ease, as if with the slightest provocation she’d bolt like a deer.

“What’s your name?”

“I am Kaya.”

He puzzled over her stilted speech, trying to place the accent. He’d been a damn lot of places, but he couldn’t remember hearing someone who sounded like her.

“You are Jericho.”

His eyes widened. “How the hell did you know that?”

She paled and her eyes flashed with panic for a moment. “You told me.”

“No, I didn’t. We haven’t exchanged names yet, sweetheart. Hard to do that when you’re out cold.”

“I must have heard you and Hunter talking,”she mumbled.

Hunter plopped the food on the table between them and gave Jericho a look that clearly said I told you so before he settled into the seat next to Kaya.

She picked up both the fork and the knife and held them in tightly curled fists as she surveyed the plate in front of her. It was as if she didn’t know where to start.

“Dig in,”Hunter said as he speared a slab of ham and dragged it onto his plate.

She started by taking a piece of the ham as Hunter had, but then she quickly got into the spirit and spooned eggs, grabbed two biscuits and took some of the sausages as well.

There was no delicacy in her table manners. She dug in with almost scary zeal. Jericho exchanged a glance with