Heir Untamed - By Danielle Bourdon Page 0,19

of him; sandalwood, musk and spice, a subtle note of amber and leather oil. She felt every contour of his muscular body, from his toned chest to the cut of his abdomen and the thick pressure of his thighs.

There was no way she could get up, even if she wanted to.

Reaching back, he dug out his phone. After another sweep of the area, he glanced down at the face while he thumbed over the surface.

Chey couldn't see what he typed. It was brief, that was all she knew, because he used one finger and only for a few moments. Code, perhaps, sent to other cell phones to put people on alert.

He ducked when another shot rang through the day. Breath hot on her throat, he spoke there near her ear.

“We're going to leave here. Stay low, follow me and follow my lead. Do not stand up, and do not speak.”

Chey nodded her understanding rather than agree vocally. He wanted her silent, she would be silent. Fear licked along her spine and spread out through her limbs. Someone was shooting—but at who? Them? The thought made her blood run cold. Surely it was just a mistake, someone out shooting at birds or engaged in target practice.

But then why was Sander on alert like this? He wouldn't be, she argued with herself, unless he knew the shooting was unscheduled or out of the ordinary.

He stared down at her face while he slid the phone back into his pocket. His eyes glittered, mouth pinched into a thin line. Then he was moving. Sliding off her with too much ease, staying low to the ground as he belly crawled toward the nearest trunk of a tree.

Chey, lamenting leaving her camera out in the open, rolled onto her stomach and did exactly as he did. Any second she expected to hear another shot or feel the whiz of a bullet pass her head.

When Sander reached the tree, he used it for cover, rising to a crouch. He gestured for her to come up to her feet at the tree next to his and made a point of indicating she should face the same direction, blocking sight of them from the east.

Chey reached her tree and climbed to her feet, positioning herself as he wished. This skulking about was not her forte; she left the decisions to someone who obviously knew better.

He inclined his head, holding her gaze. Telling her she'd done well. After another few moments, he crept from his tree to her own, using a hand on her hip to guide her to another tree, and another, then behind a cluster of boulders that gave them broader coverage.

Leaving the horses tethered, they exited the area near the lake in the most clandestine manner they possibly could, with pauses every so often so Sander could listen. No other shots had been fired since the last.

Using foliage for cover, he grasped her hand and led her into a light jog, moving quicker through the forest. Chey felt safer the further they got from the initial starting point, but not safe enough to run fully upright or to speak.

It seemed to her they jogged for several miles, enough to begin to put a stitch in her side. She wasn't a runner by nature. Chey preferred fast walks with little hand weights on flat ground. Hardly in a position to complain, she sucked it up and kept going, one hand cinching the spot near her ribs that ached.

A clearing broke open ahead, giving Chey a glimpse of a cabin nestled on a few acres surrounded by trees. One story, it had a large wrap around porch, a peaked roof and several rocking chairs adjacent to the front door.

Sander paused at the last tree before the clearing and pulled his phone from his pocket. Chey watched him scan through a few menus and draw up what looked to be a blueprint.

He pulled her by the hand into the clearing itself after that, traversing the distance between the forest and the cabin at a quick jog. Chey felt strangely exposed even for that short time.

Loping up the front steps, he released her and opened a screen door, then the regular wooden door, holding it for her to pass through first. Chey ducked under his arm and stepped across the threshold. The inside matched the outside for quaintness. Pine walls made the atmosphere cozy, along with plush leather furniture in shades of brown and sage green. A rock fireplace took up