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married, so you pick women who don't want to, either. But that sort of woman only lasts as long as the
money does. Or am I wrong?"
He looked down at her from his great height with narrowed eyes and wounded pride. "I suppose
you're one of those women who would rush right over to a penniless man and offer to get a second
job to help him out of debt!"
She smiled sheepishly, ignoring the sarcasm. "I guess I am." She shrugged. "I scare men off. They
don't want me because I'm not interested in what sort of car they drive or the expensive places they
can afford to take me to. I like to go walking in the country and pick wildflowers." She peered up at
him with a mischievous smile.
"The last man I said that to left town two days before he was supposed to. He was doing some
accounts for Mr.
Kemp and he left skid marks. Mr. Kemp thought it was hilarious. He was a notorious ladies' man, it
seems, and he'd actually seduced Mr. Kemp's last secretary."
Micah didn't smile, as she'd expected him to. He looked angry.
She held up a hand. "I don't have designs on you, honest. I know you don't like wildflowers and Lisse
is your sort of woman. I'm not interested in you that way, anyhow."
"Considering the way you just kissed me, you might have trouble proving that," he commented dryly.
She cleared her throat. "You kiss very nicely, and I have to get experience where I can."
"Is that it?" he asked dubiously.
She nodded enthusiastically. She swallowed again as the terror of the last hour came back and the eyes
she lifted to his were suddenly haunted. "Micah, he's never going to stop, is he?"
"Probably not, unless he has help." He lifted an eyebrow. "I have every intention of helping him, once
I've spoken with the authorities."
"What authorities?"
"Never mind. You know nothing. Got it?"
She saluted him. "Yes, sir."
He made a face. "Come on out. We'll have Mac make some sandwiches and coffee. I don't know about
you, but I'm hungry."
"I could eat something."
He hesitated before he opened her door. "I really meant what I told you," he said. "Lopez won't get
within fifty yards of you as long as there's a breath in my body."
"Thanks," she said unsteadily.
He felt cold inside. He couldn't imagine what had made him tell such lies to Bojo, where she might
overhear him. He hadn't meant it, that was honest, but he knew she thought he had. She didn't trust him
anymore.
He opened the door to let her go through first. A whiff of the soft rose fragrance she wore drifted up
into his nostrils and made his heart jump. She always smelled sweet, and she had a loving nature that
was miraculous considering her past. She gave with both hands. He thought of her with Bojo and
something snapped inside him.
"Bojo's off limits," he said as she slid past him. "So don't get too attached to him!"
She looked up at him. "What a bunch of sour grapes," she accused,  just because I withdrew my
proposal of marriage to you!" She stalked off down the hall.
He opened his mouth to speak, and just laughed instead.
Chapter Nine
They ate lunch, but conversation among the mercenaries was subdued and Callie got curious glances
from all of them. One man, the Mexican called Rodrigo, gave her more scrutiny than the rest. He was
a handsome man, tall, slender, dark-haired and dark-eyed, with a grace of movement that reminded
her of Micah. But he had a brooding look about him, and he seemed to be always watching her. Once,
he smiled, but Micah's appearance sent him away before he could speak to her.
After lunch, Callie asked Bojo about him.
"Rodrigo lost his sister to Lopez's vicious temper," he told her. "She was a nightclub singer who
Lopez took a fancy to. He forced himself on her after she rejected Lopez's advances and... She died
trying to get away from him. Rodrigo knows what was done to you, and he's angry. You remind him
of his sister. She, too, had blue eyes."
"But he's Latin," she began.
"His father was from Denmark," he said with a grin. "And blond."
"Imagine that!"
He gave her a wry glance. "He likes you," he said. "But he isn't willing to risk Micah's temper to
approach you."
"You do," she said without thinking.
"Ah, but I am indispensable," he told her. "Rodrigo is not. He has enemies in many countries overseas
and also, Lopez has a contract out on him. This is the only place he has left to go where he has any
hope of survival. He wouldn't dare risk alienating Micah."
She frowned. "I can't think why approaching me would do that. Micah tolerates me, but he still doesn't
really like me," she pointed out. "I overheard what he said to you, about using me as bait."
He smiled. "Yes. Curious, is it not, that when one of the other men suggested the same thing, he paid a
trip to the dentist?"
"Why?"
"Micah knocked out one of his teeth," he confided. "The men agreed that no one would make the
suggestion twice."
She caught her breath. "But I heard him tell you that very thing...!"
"You heard what he wanted me to think," he continued. "Micah is jealous of me," he added
outrageously, and grinned. "You and I are friendly and we have no hostility between us. You don't
want anything from me, you see, or from him. He has no idea how to deal with such a woman. He has
become used to buying expensive things at a woman's whim, yet you refuse even the gift of a few
items of necessary clothing." He shrugged. "It is new for him that neither his good looks nor his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]