Kiss and Tell by Cherry Adair Page A

woods on either side as he helped her down the rocks and boulders alongside the spillway.
    After scrambling the last few steps down to flat land, Marnie turned to glance up at the wall where they'd clung like spiders moments ago.
    As they watched, an enormous sheared-off tree shot to the edge, tangled with other debris, and did a free fall over the lip. Jake's gaze followed the descent of the ladder as it was ripped away from the old and crumbling cement. The whole mess crashed and splintered into the raging waters below.
    He turned and gave her a pointed look.
    She grinned, wiped her brow, then flicked off imaginary sweat. "My hero!"
    Her eyes sparkled. Her cheeks and the tip of her nose bloomed bright pink from the cold. Water trickled down her face from her saturated hair.
    Jake pushed his hands into the wet pockets of his down jacket. It was a ridiculous time to be charmed.
    "Judas! We could be dead right now. In case you haven't noticed, they're trying to kill us."
    "Yeah, but they didn't . You saved us from the baddies." Marnie flung herself into his arms and kissed him, hard.
    With his hands in his pockets, he was trapped for a moment. Jake pulled away, freeing his hands to hold her firmly by her upper arms. He made sure there was not a glimmer of warmth in his eyes. She was either one damn fine actress or she was for real. He didn't have time right now to figure out which.
    "Own a fur coat?"
    "What?" She gave him a blank look. "No, ugh. I'd never wear fur. But if there was a nice woolly bear around I'd be ecstatic to snuggle up to him to get warm."
    "And get eaten for your pains."
    "Why'd you ask me, then?" She gave him a puzzled look. "You'd have gotten cranky no matter what my answer was, wouldn't you?"
    He kept his tone sleety. "If the idea is to distract me so your pals have another easy shot at me, forget it."
    "Huh? You're the one who asked the dumb question." She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "You're a real jerk, you know that?" She didn't sound particularly bothered by the fact, which annoyed him for some reason.
    "So I've been told."
    He took her arm roughly, and she winced.
    "Now what?"
    As the words left his mouth he remembered the moment when she'd put her own life on the line by holding him until he could regain his balance. "That was a damn foolish thing you did, grabbing me like that. You could have fallen yourself."
    "Too bad I wasn't thinking that way. I just figured it would be tough for you to swim with broken bones."
    She hadn't taken a breath for that one. Jake stared at her. She couldn't work for the bad guys – unless she was their secret weapon, he thought morosely. "Let's go."
    "I'm quite capable of walking by myself, thank you."
    Jake felt as though he'd kicked a puppy for bringing him his slippers. Shit .
    "Fine. Let's see you do it, then. Those guys aren't going to wait forever before they try again."
    "They think we drowned. Why would they still come after us?"
    "They'll keep coming until they see my body. I don't plan on hanging around for a sighting, do you?" he bit out. "And just in case it slipped your notice, my weapon is floating somewhere downstream on its way to Sacramento."
    "Maybe you could just look at them and freeze them to death." She turned around smartly and marched ahead – dignity personified in saturated clothing, remnants of mud still streaking her face.
    Obviously danger was a turn-on for her. He understood only too well what she was experiencing. He got a high from the adrenaline rush, too. He also knew without a doubt this situation wasn't going to be a pleasant rush for him. Not this time. Because his wasn't the life he was playing chicken with.
    The burning question of the moment was which side these guys were on.
    Who had given the order to off him?
    The bad guys?
    Or, as he was starting to suspect, his own team?

Chapter Six
     
    J ake pulled himself up a rise using the same small fir tree for leverage as Marnie had. She was several paces