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Frouessed only tinore the fact that his words had been uncomfortably close to her own uneasy rationalizations

She’d put away her cleaning supplies and was eating the bread and cheese when Mal arrived in the Jeep He hit the horn once to suentleht wryly, but picked up her basket of things for the children and headed out

He looked a little less relaxed than he had earlier The arm of the shirt had been ripped and his khakis were stained with dirt "Everything okay?" she ventured

As soon as she got settled, he put the Jeep in gear, but he gave her a brief shrug "The new lion pair were a bit tricky to handle One of the a harness that had been put on hirown into his skin and needed to be removed They don’t respond well to tranquilizers, but we put hiet it free and treated Just a busy evening so far"

She was sure he’d been cal all that, but noay froer at the treat of nerves that caerous creatures Plus the tension of overseeing staff

She shifted around on her hip so she could look at hi at hi the way that lean body had curved over hers only hours before "We had a stocks one day when the poor thing was doing nothing ave thatwithin an inch of his life and sent hi hih" She nodded with firm conviction "Some people need a foot up the backside; that’s the truth And the larger the foot, the better"

Mal’s jaw eased, a his face "That’s about the size of it"

"And here you are, after such a busy night already, having to chaperone earshift hand onto her thigh just above her knee, his fingers resting with casual intis She stilled all over as his gaze flickered to her "Did you bring my blood?"

She nodded "After a fashion I thought you ht want to drink froerated blood I’ht as well, right?"

He was on a curve, so his startled glance stayed on her a beat too long Mal cursed, correcting the course with a protesting squeal of tires Branches of the roadside foliage slapped and squeaked against the hood as he brought the Jeep to a halt

She was pretty certain he wasn’t stopping to take her up on the offer, but her pulse pounded at theinappropriate, butPart of the reason she suspected va effect on hu daylight, a person had a lot less fanciful ideas Ideas that, in hindsight, aroos loose in her top paddock

He turned toward her, his scrutiny uncomfortably shrewd "Since I was able to help scald the top layer off one bad ht scald away another? Is that about the size of it?"

The lare of full sun in the desert Victor gulping at her throat, a wet, sickening suction she couldn’t break because she was helpless against hi as the cubs played with its legs

Her hands convulsed on the basket, but he wasn’t of a"I asked you a question, Elisa And I want the answer out loud, not from your mind"

"Yes," she said shortly She turned her face away froht now, so she could see the swaying y trees dotting the expanse A s area She could hear their lowing and their grunts If the wind shifted, she was sure she’d get their overpowering ht?