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A shiver cascaded down her spine, but she wasn’t cold. Suddenly, she was afraid, grateful to be alive, and still more than a little suspicious. Jordan would never look at Alex through the same lens, but did that automatically mean she could trust Travis?
Hell no. Once he leads me back to civilization, I’ll get myself out of this mess.
She strode to the emergency blankets Travis had laid out for them, removed her coat, and folded it into a pillow. “Stay out ofmyway too, Travis,” she murmured into the night breeze.
Chapter Ten
Jordan must have finallyfallen asleep in the early hours of the morning. There’d been no escape from the accusations Travis had made. It didn’t seem feasible that she could have been so wrong about Alex, yet the proof that would have refuted Travis’s claims simply wasn’t there. Of course, neither was there proof that he was telling the truth.
Dawn was turning the forest gray when she woke, cold, hungry, and unable to remember finding a single comfortable position on the hard-packed ground. She sensed Travis lying close behind her, his breathing slow and steady. He’d stayed up long after she’d gone to bed, feeding the fire and walking the perimeter of their encampment. When he finally joined her, he’d eased beneath the blanket as though not to wake her, and sleep had not come easily to him, either. She’d listened to him change positions, sigh, and mumble for hours. What thoughts kept a man like him awake at night?I probably don’t want to know.
Her muscles ached from hours of unyielding ground and inactivity following the unexpected abuse she’d packed on yesterday. A groan escaped at the thought of another day’s hike through similar terrain. She shifted slightly, and her back and shoulder came in contact with Travis’s warm body.He’s like a radiator.She froze, resisting the urge to jerk away for fear her sudden movement would wake him. She wasn’t ready to face him just yet.
His deep, even breathing continued uninterrupted. The hair at Jordan’s temple stirred softly with each breath. She closed her eyes, soaking in his warmth and the comfort his closeness offered as he slept.
She hadn’t meant to doze, but she was startled awake when Travis’s arm fell across her upper body, tucking her against him from shoulder to hip. His erection jerked and hardened against her bottom, and he groaned, pulling her closer and nuzzling her neck. Jordan reacted instantly, scrambling and scratching to escape his fondling. She brought her elbow forward and then back, ramming a sharp blow to his ribs.
He grunted and rolled onto his back. “What the hell?” Travis growled, his voice groggy with sleep as he rubbed his side.
Jordan crawled away, rising to her knees, and glared into slumber-hazed eyes.
“Keep your hands to yourself.” The warning escaped despite the apparent fact he’d been asleep and unaware of breaching her space and decorum.
He frowned and kicked back the remainder of the blanket clinging to his legs. Easing to his feet, he stretched muscles that were clearly as stiff and sore as hers. Gingerly, he massaged his ribs where Jordan had jabbed him, the fabric of his T-shirt flexing with each movement and his arousal evident beneath his jeans.
Irritation vying with amusement, Travis eyed her. “I’m sorry if I find you attractive. I was barely awake, and I’m guessing it wasn’t my hands you were worried about.” He chuckled.
Arrogant ass!Her gaze followed him as he strapped on the shoulder holster, reclaimed his semi-automatic, and donned his flannel shirt and vest.
His confidence seemed to flow from within and overshadowed every move he made. Clearly, their current situation didn’t bother him, and he always appeared to know what should happen next. Jordan envied that and wanted nothing more than to put herself in his capable hands.In more ways than one.What was holding her back? When Travis turned and met her gaze, she quickly glanced away, hoping the pesky flush that warmed her face went unnoticed.
Pushing to her feet, she grabbed her coat and slipped it on, grateful for its warmth in the chilly temperature. She strode to the creek without looking back and knelt to splash the cold, clear water on her face and throat. She had to settle for rinsing out her mouth with creek water and running her fingers through her hair, smoothing the worst of the tangles. No doubt she’d have to cut out the burrs and sticky pine needles she’d collected on her trek.
A few minutes later, Travis joined her by the stream, his pack slung over one shoulder. He dashed water on his face and the dark growth of whiskers that made him look rugged and dangerous, then wiped off the excess with the tail of his T-shirt. “How’d you sleep?”
“Well enough.” She shrugged off the lie.
He grinned as he topped off the canteen. “Yeah, it wasn’t the Hilton.”
She smiled despite herself and accepted the jerky and cheese he offered. They ate silently, sharing the grassy bank, and finished with chocolate bars from her stash of stolen food. After washing down their meager meal, Travis filled the canteen again and hooked it to his belt. From one of his pockets, he pulled a strip of white cloth and offered it to Jordan. She regarded him questioningly.
Instead of answering, he turned her away from him, gathered her tangled hair, and quickly tied the strip in a knot, forming a ponytail that held her hair out of her face. Surprised and touched by his kindness, she swung around to thank him, but appreciation died on her lips when she saw him holding Brody’s revolver.
He opened the cylinder and slowly turned it, placing a shiny bullet in each of the five empty slots. Closing it with a sharp click, he held it out. “You’ll need this.”
