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  “You know that old saying, once you’ve learned to dance, you never forget.”

  “I think that was about riding a bike.”

  “You don’t say!” he said lightly and she looked up at him. He was looking down at her and desire burned in his gaze. “Until now, I haven’t wanted to ever dance again. I didn’t think this could possibly happen. I shouldn’t admit that to you, though, because it’ll encourage you.”

  When she laughed, Colin tightened his arm around her waist. Every word he’d said to her had been the truth. He suspected she intended to save him from himself whether he wanted to be saved or not, but he also had to face the fact that she was succeeding and he was happier.

  “I don’t believe I should say thank-you to you,” she replied. “You don’t sound happy about enjoying life more.”

  “I’m an ungrateful wretch. Actually, I’m glad. Now let me see…what was it you said to me in the car? I think it was something to the effect that I’m a threat to your heart. Is that right?”

  “Of course, you are.”

  “You’ve never really been in love, Isabella, and that’s an impossibility with us.”

  “Why impossible?”

  “For one thing, I know you don’t want to fall in love with me because you’re all wound up in that photography business of yours—right?”

  “I suppose,” she answered.

  “Therefore, how can I be any kind of danger to your emotions?”

  “I might get where I care too much about you,” she replied lightly, gazing up at him. “You know I don’t like to see anything lost or hurt. You admitted that you felt half dead and didn’t want to live. I don’t want you to go through life feeling that way.”

  “Just what I suspected. I rank right up there with the dogs and you are on a mission of saving me from myself. You’ll always care too much about people and animals.”

  “There are worlds of people I don’t give a rip about.”

  “They’re probably happy, smiling souls who are busy as little bees. What about Nick? Is he one of your projects? Or Sandy?”

  Isabella looked away and raised her chin. “I like to see people happy. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Of course there isn’t, if they have a need,” he replied, amused and knowing he’d guessed correctly. “Now if they prefer a solitary life, then it’s not your place to try to change their manner of living.”

  “You don’t say,” she replied, and he knew she absolutely did not agree.

  “What about Nick and Sandy? What did you rescue them from?”

  “Whatever makes you think I rescued them?”

  “Because you’re not answering my questions about them. What was the deal with Sandy?” Colin persisted.

  “If you must know, she got thrown out of her house by her alcoholic mother. Her father has long ago disappeared and Sandy wanted to go to college and needed a job. She’s plenty smart and quite nice.”

  “See, there’s someone who needed help and wanted help and I think that’s admirable that you provided a job for her,” he said lightly, turning Isabella, more aware of holding her in his arms than their conversation. His gaze went over her head and he glanced around the room, looking to see if anything seemed amiss, but it looked as though customers were enjoying themselves either eating or dancing, the wait staff doing the necessary services, nothing out of the ordinary.

  “I think you’re laughing at me, Colin.”

  “I thought you told me that I never laugh.”

  “Not out loud, you don’t, but I think you’re laughing right now.”

  “In spite of the progress I’ve made because of you, I’m just trying to stay out of your save-a-soul clutches. I’ve been saved enough.”

  “You’re safe. You have such a wall around you, I couldn’t possibly scale it.”

  “I think you’ve quite successfully scaled it several times lately. There’s no wall when we kiss,” he admitted, thinking that’s what he would like to do right now and knowing he better not.

  She looked up at him, her blue eyes plainly smoldering with desire that sent his pulse speeding.

  The dance ended and he took her hand, wanting to dance the rest of the night as she had suggested, but he knew what he needed to do.

  “The evening is great, but I’d feel a lot better if we’d cut it short and head home while it’s still early and more people are out.”

  “Running from me, Colin? Or from yourself?” she asked, that flash of mischief back in her eyes and the challenge flung bluntly at him.

  He inhaled and yanked her into his embrace. The music was a ballad and he pulled Isabella tightly against him, wrapping both arms around her and moving slowly while he leaned down to trace the delicate curve of her ear with his tongue.

  “You like danger, Isabella,” he said quietly into her ear. “You enjoy provoking me.” She was warm and soft, moving with him, and he was rock-hard with desire. He wanted her and he knew that was the last thing he should be feeling. He didn’t want to fall in love because he was vulnerable, on the rebound, and Isabella wasn’t going to fall in love with anyone except her job. There were a million reasons to leave her alone, he thought to himself. Or if not a million, three big ones: she was Boone’s sister; she would never love him in return; he would bring danger into her life—he was already doing that one.

  Chemistry. Hot, intense, unwanted, but evident every minute they were together. And her constant taunting.

  While he showered kisses down her throat, she wound her arms around his neck, pressing against him.

  He suspected he was a game to her. He knew damn well he was a project—another stray to make happy and put back together and leave him behind when she went on to other things.

  Boone had left an endless trail of broken hearts behind. Colin suspected Isabella might have done the same on a smaller scale.

  Then his anger evaporated as he stopped thinking and just relished holding her close. For minutes they barely moved around the dance floor until he realized what he was doing. Playing into her hands.

  But he better watch himself or he would go from one heartbreak to another. Isabella was wrapped in her own world and he was merely one of her projects, and he better remember that.

  And not take advantage of it, either.

  The minute the music stopped, he took her hand.

  “Now we’re going and you’re not going to goad me into any more foolishness here. I think we’re in danger and we need to get back to the security of the ranch.”

  “Scaredy-cat,” she said softly, but she turned for their table to retrieve her purse.

  Dropping his arm across her shoulders, he walked with her to the door where he stepped to one side to turn her to face him.

  “Let me go out ahead of you. We’re not going to argue this one,” he ordered when she opened her mouth. He gave her a look that he hoped was enough to keep her safely behind him.

  Colin strode ahead, opening the door to step outside.

  When nothing unusual occurred, he gave the tag for the car to a valet and went back to get Isabella. They waited inside until he saw the valet arrive with their car.

  “Let’s go. And be quick,” he said. His skin crawled and he couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. He just hoped the person watching him was one of his friends.

  Colin helped Isabella inside the car and went around to slide behind the wheel, letting out his breath as he slammed his door and started the engine. He paused at the exit lane from the restaurant to shed his coat and tie, flinging them onto the back seat. He placed his pistol on the seat between them.

  They turned out of the lighted parking lot onto the street.

  Isabella watched him, which she realized she could easily do all the time. “Everything’s all right, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “I hope so.”

  “You don’t really think it is.”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s just one of those feelings I get that things aren’t rig
ht. Call your brother to see if he can come meet us. I can pull off somewhere and you can ride with him.”

  “I’m not scared,” she said. “You keep driving. I’d rather be with you than with Boone, Mike or Jonah. I’m not riding home with my brother like a parent and child after my first date with you.”

  Colin shot her a look and his pulse jumped. She had turned so she could watch him and even in the darkness of the car, there was enough light from the dials and gauges on the dashboard and lights outside to see the challenging look she was giving him.

  He shook his head. “You’re the feminine copy of Boone.”

  “And that’s good or bad?”

  “There are moments when it’s damned exasperating. I didn’t feel responsible for Boone.”

  She laughed. “You’re not responsible for me, either!”

  “I don’t want anything to happen to you or to Boone, but if you’re my date, I feel more protective than ever. I didn’t ask you out to get you into danger or to have you get hurt.”

  “I know that, Colin. Stop worrying about me,” Isabella said, knowing that he was truly concerned, but she didn’t want to ride home with Boone or one of the others.

  She knew she had taunted and teased Colin tonight. Sometimes he had been lighthearted and returned the teasing, but occasionally, she knew she’d annoyed him and the barrier between them was definitely in place.

  Deciding to leave him alone, she turned to gaze outside as they left Stallion Pass. “I had a wonderful time tonight, Colin. And dinner was delicious.”

  He smiled. “Fine, Isabella. I’ll admit, I had a grand time, too.”

  “I’m glad!” she exclaimed, impulsively reaching over to squeeze his hand. Instantly he caught her hand in his.

  “Is this friendship or flirting?” he asked, squeezing her hand lightly in his.

  “Friendship, of course,” she replied.

  He raised her hand to his lips and brushed light kisses across her knuckles. “Glad to know,” he said in a husky voice as sparks from his feathery kisses stirred the smoldering blaze within her.

  She started to pull her hand away, but Colin held it, placing their hands on his thigh. His leg was warm, his hand that held hers was warm, but nothing compared to the heat rising in her.

  “All right, Colin, I started something I shouldn’t have,” she said, trying once again to withdraw her hand. This time he let her go and placed both hands on the steering wheel, glancing again in the rearview mirror.

  “You think we’re being followed?” she asked.

  “I know we are, but I imagine it’s Peter or Tyler. It could be Brett, but I don’t think I’ll ever spot Brett. And there’s a possibility it could be your brother or one of the guys. We agreed today they wouldn’t tail me any longer, but that was Peter’s idea. Those guys might have their own ideas about it.”

  “So you don’t have a clue who’s back there. I’ll call Boone to see if he knows.”

  “The guys need to work out a different arrangement. This isn’t accomplishing anything with one of them trailing along behind me.”

  When she turned to look back, the next car was far behind them.

  “They won’t do much good back there.”

  “It wouldn’t take long to catch up. I’m not sure it’s one of them, but when we turn off on the county road, we’ll know.”

  She called her brother but got the answering machine, so she broke the connection.

  “Here’s the county road,” Colin said.

  He didn’t signal, but made a sharp turn, pulling off the road and bouncing over the rough ground. He stopped behind a cedar and cut the lights and engine. Silence enveloped them.

  “You’re waiting to see if you’re being followed?” she asked.

  “Yes. And here comes a car.”

  Headlights swung around the turn as a black car shot past.

  “So now what do we do? And how do you know whether that was friend or foe?”

  “We wait until that car is out of sight, then we go on to the ranch. I imagine that was one of my friends, but just in case, we’ll tag along behind.”

  “If it was Boone or Mike or Jonah, he’ll be ticked that you eluded him again. You’re making them look really out of practice.”

  “If that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is,” he said. “This cat-and-mouse game was their idea.”

  She smiled, knowing her brother would be exasperated with himself if he lost Colin a second time.

  Colin started the engine and pulled out onto the narrow asphalt county road. He switched on his headlights and slowly gained speed. “Now we have it all to ourselves,” he said.

  Isabella sat facing him and noticed that he still watched the rearview mirror often. But, except for them, the road remained deserted.

  Their lights cut a bright swath in the blackness that surrounded them and she began to feel isolated. As they approached the ancient bridge over Badger Fork Creek, she saw something moving in the darkness off to the side of the road. She twisted in the seat.

  “I think there’s a car—”

  Lights burst on and a car raced onto the road behind them.

  She glanced in the passenger side-view mirror and saw that the car behind them was gaining with amazing speed.

  “Colin!”

  “Dammit!” Colin swore. “Hang on!”

  She watched as if it were happening to someone else instead of them as the car behind shot forward in a great burst of speed and pulled alongside them.

  They were rammed by the other car and metal screeched against metal.

  Colin had already turned the wheels. They spun out of control, going off the road and scraping the bridge abutment, smashing through a guardrail and plunging down the hillside.

  Colin pumped the brakes, dodging trees, branches scrapping the car. Shots were fired and the rear windshield shattered.

  “Get down!” Colin yelled, but Isabella had already grabbed his pistol. She twisted as much as possible, straining against her seat belt to fire through the open rear window at the car that had stopped on the road. The blast was deafening.

  Someone returned fire. She squeezed the trigger to fire again and the car on the road sped away.

  “Get down, Isabella!” Colin roared again and she turned, doubling over as much as she could with the seat belt still buckled over her. A broad cedar loomed ahead and Colin tried to avoid crashing head-on into it.

  It sideswiped the car, but slowed their momentum. In seconds they hit another cedar and slammed to a stop.

  “Are you all right?” Colin asked instantly, turning to her and taking the pistol from her hand.

  “I’m okay if I can stop shaking,” she muttered, grabbing her purse and fishing out her cell phone. “I’m calling Boone.”

  “Isabella, you were amazing!” Colin ground out the words.

  Startled, she looked up at him. Even in the darkness, she could see a burning admiration in his expression that obliterated the danger and the past few seconds. Her heart thudded against her ribs. His hand slipped behind her head.

  Before she could catch a breath, his mouth came down on hers and he kissed her. A hard, devouring kiss that turned her white hot with passion. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss and forgot danger, her fears, the past few minutes, everything except Colin.

  He leaned over her, tongues tangled, his fingers wound in her hair as he kissed her senseless. She still trembled, only now it was different. Need escalated and she combed her fingers through his thick hair at the back of his head while she kissed him in return, yielding to all the feelings she had for him, thankful to be alive and suspecting that was what had prompted his sudden kiss.

  He’d had too many near-death experiences in his life and this was just one more when he was beginning to come out of the consequences of the last one. She wanted to kiss away his past, his hurts, his depression.

  After coming so close to tragedy, it was bliss to be alive, to be able to hold each other and to af
firm their escape with scalding kisses that stirred up other needs and wiped out the terror of the last few minutes.

  And she had been even more impressed with his swift action and quick thinking that had saved them from crashing into the bridge or being rammed off the road at a point where they couldn’t have survived.

  She ran her hand across his broad shoulder, down his strong arm, feeling the bulge of thick muscle. She wanted him, so much more of him than mere kisses.

  He raised his head to look at her.

  Dazed, she opened her eyes to find him watching her. All she wanted to do was to pull his head back down for more kisses, but she remembered how they’d gotten where they were.

  “Are we safe sitting here?” she asked.

  “We’re safe from the killer,” Colin replied solemnly. “We’re not so damn safe from each other.” He placed his palm against her cheek. “You really were fantastic back there, Isabella,” he said in a husky voice, and there was no mistaking the sincerity of his praise. “Your warning about a car in the woods, gave me a split second to react that I wouldn’t have had. You keep a cool head.”

  “You do, too,” she replied, warming to his praise.

  “I’m trained to. Let’s call Boone and get the hell out of here. It isn’t smart to sit here in the dark and kiss. We better move,” Colin said. “The driver could come back to see what happened, although since you shot at him, I doubt that he will.”

  She found her cell phone while Colin turned the keys. “I’ll try Boone’s cell phone this time.”

  Colin was surprised when the car engine kicked over and started. “I didn’t think the car would run after that wild ride.”

  He backed up, branches scraping her car. “Reliable car, Isabella. We’re okay except for a flat tire or two.”

  She related to Boone what had happened and broke the connection. “Boone’s coming to get us now,” she said to Colin. “He’s already on the way.”

  Colin nodded and turned the car. “I don’t know whether we can make it back up the hill. We’ll try.”

  The motor roared as he pressed the accelerator. Turning the car around in a slow, bumpy circle, Colin started up the incline.

  The tires were flat and the rims dug into the ground.