Temperatures Rising

Chapter Three

"Shoot me? For what?" he asked in amusement. "For kissing you?"

"For wrongly presuming that I wanted to be kissed and carressed like a seaside prostitute."

He propped his hands on his hips. "What was I supposed to think after you lured me out here?"

"I didn't lure you."

The hell you didn't," he said his temper flaring up.

"You followed me. I didn't encourage you."

His amusement had vanished. "Don't pull that self-righteous crap on me, princess. You wanted me to follow you. Your rejection was your come-on. You liked the kiss and everything else," he said with a sly glance down at her breasts and their still standing n*****s. "You can't very well pretend when I can plainly see otherwise."

Her eyes went dangerously bright and she pulled herself up to military erectness. "This isn't about your kisses."

"Then what?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Turn around and start walking."

He snorted another laugh as he scanned the impenetratable grassland surrounding them. "Forgive the cliché, but it's a jungle out there."

"Walk, Mr. Hunter."

"Like hell."

"Need I remind you that I've got you at gunpoint and you'd be wise to do as I say?"

His lips curled into an arrogant smirk. "Oh, I'm real scared," he whispered mockingly. "A woman who looks like a goddess and kisses like an expensive w***e is dangerous, all right. But her weapon of choice is not a handgun."

Outraged, she cried, "How dare you----"

He lunged for the pistol. They wrestled for control of it.

Lisa gave a small, surprised exclamation as the gun went off in her hand. They stood frozen, staring at each other with unbelief. Then Lucian staggered back a step and looked down at his thigh. It was pumping blood.

"You shot me," he said, stupidly stating the obvious. Then, angrily, "You shot me! You actually shot me!"

The delayed pain finally hit him. The pain felt like a hot, sharp knife, covered in salt, slicing through his skin and into his muscles and bone. Lights exploded around him. He gaped at the wound and stared at the woman, then issued the roar of an enraged beast and lunged for her again.

This time the pain came crashing down on the base of his skull. He collapsed onto the spongy jungle floor. Then he was covered with darkness.

Lisa was horrified by the unexpected turn of events. "Mon Dieu! Why did you strike him, Gabriel?"

The man who had crept up behind Lucian knelt down beside him now. "I was afraid he would hurt you."

"I was handling it. How badly is he injured?"

"I struck him hard enough only to knock him unconcious."

When Lisa saw the self-doubt registered in the man's eyes, she changed her critical tone. "I know you reacted out of concern for me. Thank you. But now we must deal with this."

She, too, was kneeling and bending over the unconcious engineer. She searched through his most accessible pockets until one yielded a handkerchief and used it to form a tourniquet around his thigh above the bullet wound. His blood stained the front of her dress. "He's bleeding heavily."

"The jeep isn't far. I'll carry him."

The young islander was agile and strong, though he wasn't very tall, not anywhere close to Hunter's height. With an effort he lifted the man over one shoulder and, with Lisa's help, struggled to his feet.

"He doesn't look as heavy as he is."

"He's very muscular."

Her remark caused Gabriel to glance at her curiously. She hastily looked away. She knew Lucian was muscular becaused she had caressed the muscles beneath his tuxedo shirt, felt the power in his thighs, and sensed the strength under his leanness.

Before they started through the jungle, she examined the back of Lucian's head where a goose egg was forming. As her fingers moved through his thick brown hair, he moaned.

"We must hurry, Gabriel," she said, slipping out of her high-heeled sandals.

"Oui."

They moved soundlessly through the jungle, though no one from the resort could have heard them over the loud music thta was playing there. Fireworks was still exploding over the lagoon, the same pyrotechnics that had kept the gunshot from being heard.

"I'll sit in the back with him." Upon reaching the jeep, Lisa scrambled into the backseat. Gabriel placed Lucian's slumped form beside her. She laid his head in her laps; his legs were folded into the small area between the seats. Gabriel got behind the wheel and started the engine. Within sceonds they were under the way.