Raven's Prey

and foot, throw her into the plane and leave at dawn tomorrow morning. But once he had delivered her to her family he would probably never see her again. And after having searched for her for nearly a week, Judd Was beginning to realize that he wanted a little time with this woman. Time to determine whether or not there was anything real beneath the soft mouth and the big eyes. Two days wasn’t going to matter one way or the other, he told himself, knowing even as he did so that he was rationalizing the situation. “But in return I’d want your personal guarantee that you’ll give me no trouble when it comes time to leave.”
    “You have it,” she vowed rashly, her relief shimmering in her eyes. Once again she impulsively put out a hand and touched his arm. “I swear you have it. Just give me a couple of days to explain this whole mess to you. Then, if you don’t believe me—”
    “You’ll start in all over again, won’t you?” he groaned “I’m a fool [_to let _]myself get talked into this.”
    “The worst tiling that can happen to you is that you’ll make an extra two thousand dollars!” she stormed.
    Damn it, why did she have to keep harping on the money? “No that’s not the worst thing that can happen to me,” he shot back bluntly. “The worst thing is that I’ll give you the impression that I’m a fool of a man who can be manipulated.”
    “But I don’t think that!” she protested, snatching her hand away again. He felt the loss of the warmth of her fingers and wondered at it. He liked having her touch him spontaneously, Judd acknowledged silentiy.
    “Yes, you do. At this point in time you do.” He sighed. “Just don’t go overboard with the idea, though, because you’ll only be deluding yourself. Go back to bed, Honor. You can start talking in the [_morning. _]I really don’t think I’m up to hearing the wild tale tonight.”
    “But it won’t take me long to give you a rough outline of what really happened and then you can ask questions—” she began earnestly.
    “Honor, so far you’ve threatened me with a gun, attacked me physically—yes you did,” he injected when she started to protest. He touched the side of his face meaningfully. “Something tells me I’ll be wearing a few scars tomorrow. And you nearly provoked me into taking you by force. In all honesty you’ll have to admit I’ve suffered enough tonight. Let tine explanations ride until tomorrow, okay? I’m tired, even if you aren’t.”
    She didn’t want to retreat to her cot, he realized. She wanted to sit there on the floor and give
him
the whole crazy tale she’d concocted. She was a determined Utile thing, he had to hand it to her.
    “Bed, Honor,” he repeated levelly.
    “Oh, all right” she said, scrambling to her feet “But you will listen in the morning, won’t you? With an open mind? You’ll give me a chance to explain?”
    “I’ll listen. I’m making no promises beyond that” He refused to let himself offer any further comfort and as she turned back to the cot he was aware of her mixed reaction. She was depressed because she hadn’t completely gained the upper hand and relieved because at least she’d accomplished something with her fierce attack. What kind of female was he dealing with? Judd asked himself for the thousandth time.
    He lay back down on the hard floor, adjusting the makeshift pillow and the tattered blanket Across the small expanse of space separating them he watched her climb back into bed and pull the covers up around her chin.
    The thought that had been hovering at the back of his mind ever since he’d walked into the cantina finally came forward.
She was real.
    My God, was she real, he repeated, touching the small wound on his cheek with a grimace. He had the marks to prove it now.
    But for the past few days he had felt as if he were chasing down a fantasy. It had made him uneasy at first, telling everyone he met that she was his runaway wife, but gradually the fiction had seemed to cross the bounds of reality in his own mind. Every time he glanced at the photo he had wondered what it would be like to have a real claim on her, to know that when he found her he could keep her.
    Loneliness had never been a problem before, Judd thought fleetingly. He’d been on his own for so long that he had a hard time imagining any other sort of life. He preferred being alone. It was natural for him now. A habit. People who lived with each other had skills he couldn’t even