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It took Karim a moment to react. He was too busy staring slack-jawed at his employer clutching a semi-dressed female in his arms.
‘Err…um…yes, Sahib. Yes, definitely. About half a mile to the northeast.’
‘All right. We’ll have to try the same river trick to disguise our tracks, and hope that it works better than last time.’ He glanced down at me, sharply. ‘Can you hold on for that long, Mr Linton?’
‘I could, but I won’t! You can’t carry me for half a mile! I should know - I have to carry myself around all day, every day! I’m damn heavy!’
Most men would have tried to deny it. Most men would have said something like ‘Oh no, darling, you’re as light as a feather!’
But this was Mr Rikkard Ambrose.
‘I won’t disagree with you there. What do you stuff yourself with to get like this?’
Did I have enough strength left to strangle him? My arms were already around his neck. It shouldn’t take much energy to shift my hands a bit and squeeze. But then - if his neck was as hard as the rest of him, the actual throttling would probably be beyond my meagre strength.
‘None of your business!’ I growled. ‘Now put me down! I’ll hide in the bushes! Run! Take the manuscript and get out of here! I’ll be all right on my own! I’ll-’
I started to loosen my hold around his neck.
He moved so fast I didn’t see it coming. One moment I was preparing to let go, determined not to be a millstone around his neck, not to hinder his escape - and the next he was kissing me, his lips fervent and unrelenting
. All thought of letting go evaporated. Raising me up in his arms as high as I would go, he clutched me to his chest, kissing the breath out of me, devouring my mouth as if his life depended on tasting me.
When he finally broke away, my body had turned to goo in his arms, and my brain to molten mush. He gazed down at me, and I gazed back up, whatever protests I had been about to make before long vanished from my mind. His perfect, chiselled face was so close, his eyes incredibly dark and intense as they stared into mine.
‘What were you saying?’ he enquired, cocking his head.
I blinked. ‘Wrgsfgl?’
‘That sounds about right.’ He tightened his grip on me. ‘Hold on!’ he commanded.
And what did I do?
I nodded like a good little damsel.
‘Adequate. Let’s go!’
And he marched off into the jungle, the helpless maiden tightly clutched in his arms.
God! If Patsy ever got wind of this, I was never going to live it down!
*~*~**~*~*
‘That is it. We’re safe.’ Closing his eyes, Mr Ambrose sank against the tree behind him and let himself slide down onto the ground. ‘Or at least as safe as we’re going to get.’
‘Err…good.’ I cleared my throat. ‘You can let go of me now.’
Yes, everyone, you heard correctly. I was still clutched in his arms. He had refused to set me down when we reached the river, wading through the current with me held tight as if it were nothing. Even when I had told him that I was fine now, that I’d rested enough and gotten my strength back, the damn man wouldn’t let go of me! Bloody chauvinistic, insufferable, arrogant son of a bachelor! How dare he treat me like some damsel in distress? How dare he care that much about me? How dare he look into my eyes like that and make me feel all warm and gooey inside? That was simply not fair!
Which reminded me…He still had his arms around me.
‘I said,’ I informed him once more, just in case he hadn’t heard me the first thirty-seven times, ‘let go. Now!’
‘I heard,’ he told me, his eyes still closed. It didn’t show on his face, but carrying me had taken it out of him.
‘Then why won’t you let go?’
‘Firstly,’ he murmured, ‘because you are my secretary, not the other way around. And I will never take orders from you.’
