Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

his neck and hung on hard. After a moment of hesitation, he sat down on the couch, still holding her.
    He couldn’t fold the blanket around her unless she let go of him, and she showed no signs of doing that. Her skin was as white as salt. Her eyes were dry and wild. She was still shaking. He dragged the blanket over both of them as best he could and held her while she trembled.
    “Adrenaline is a funny drug,” he said. “Especially if you aren’t used to it. Knocks you over like a tidal wave.”
    She made a sound that he took as agreement.
    “When adrenaline hits some people,” he said, “they freeze and stay frozen. They couldn’t scream or run if their life depended on it. Other people holler loud enough to put your alarm clock to shame.”
    Honor’s lips tried to smile. As smiles went, it wasn’t much, but Jake felt like he had been given a gift. She was shivering less now and leaning into him more. Slowly her skin was warming against his.
    “Either way,” he said, “freeze or scream, hide or flee, the choice usually isn’t a conscious one. Your body decides and you go along for the ride. When the crisis passes, there you are, still loaded with adrenaline and no place to go. So you stand there and shake or you pace everywhere and shake or you throw up your toenails and then you shake.”
    “How” Honor’s voice cracked. Her dry tongue tried to moisten equally dry lips. “How do you know?”
    “The usual way. Been there. Done that. And yes, I have the shirt to prove it.”
    “Where is it?” she said, rubbing her cheek against his bare chest.
    “You’re wearing it.”
    Honor started laughing and kept on. She knew what Jake had said wasn’t that funny, but she couldn’t stop laughing. She tried to explain or to apologize or just to say his name. Her voice kept breaking over the laughter she couldn’t control.
    “It’s okay,” he said. “Don’t fight it. Let it out. It’s a harmless way for your body to let off steam.”
    He gathered her closer and held on to her until the laughing jag ran down to a ragged kind of breathing. Finally her breaths evened out and the waves of trembling passed. She drew air in deeply and sighed so hard that it stirred the hair on his chest.
    Jake’s body pulsed to full alert. So did his conscience. For some people, danger could act as a world-class aphrodisiac. Honor might well be one of them. He would be a selfish, insensitive, exploitive bastard if he took advantage of her.
    And he wanted to. That was the problem. He had gotten used to the effects of adrenaline, but he wasn’t making any headway getting used to his inconvenient lust for Honor Donovan.
    Subtly he changed position, trying to get more distance between their bodies. She followed him like water following gravity. Utterly natural. Completely unstoppable.
    Jake told his conscience to get stuffed. Honor was old enough to decide if and when and where and how to take a lover. If the time was here and now, he was ready, willing, and able to the point of outright pain.
    He shifted his hold on her, curving her more deeply into his body. “Better?” he asked, his voice husky.
    “Yes, but . . .” Honor sighed again. “Is it always this bad? I feel like an idiot.”
    “You get used to it after a time.”
    “Feeling like an idiot?”
    “That too.”
    She laughed softly. This time it was amusement rather than the crumbling edge of hysteria.
    “More lessons learned in rough bars?” she asked.
    “Among other places. The first few times you run slam into danger are the worst.”
    “After that it’s no big deal?”
    “After that it isn’t new anymore. You react, but not as much. Want some wine or brandy to settle your nerves?”
    “Only if neither one of us has to move. I’m just getting warmed up.”
    Jake was already warm and then some. He liked the feel of Honor’s cheek on his bare chest and her breath like a hot silk brush against his skin. He liked even better the feel of her hips snuggled into his lap. He would have liked it best of all if he were still naked, but he was smarter than that. Half smart, anyway; he had pulled jeans on before coming back to the cottage. If he asked nicely, maybe Honor would give him the shirt off her back. And the T-shirt, too.
    “Jake?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Thatthat creature. He was here while I was asleep. He could have”
    “Try not to think about it,” Jake interrupted.
    “Try not breathing,” she retorted.
    “Okay.”
    With that he lowered