Raven's Prey

shadowy light she could see a trace of the savage gutter she’d elicited a few minutes earlier when she’d taunted him.
    “You did try sex,” Judd growled softly. “And your efforts nearly got you raped. That’s all you would have achieved, Honor, believe me. Taking you physically would not have made me more vulnerable to your arguments and schemes. I want that very clear between us. I want you to understand that seducing me isn’t going to buy you a damn thing except a night in bed with me. It’s certainly not going to convince me not to take you back to Arizona.”
    She flinched under the harsh impact of his words even as she registered the fact that his tone was at last carrying some nuance of emotion. He was still angry at her for causing him to nearly lose his self-control, she realized vaguely. There wasn’t time now to sort out what that might mean, but she stored it away for future reference.
    “I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about money. I understand that money probably holds a lot more interest for you under the circumstances,” she retorted.
    Once more a measure of fury, quickly checked, flashed into those raven-dark eyes, but when he spoke again Judd had himself firmly under control. “I’ve told you that you can tell me your story on the trip back to Arizona in the morning. It can’t be that long a tale!”
    “I want more time than the few hours it will take to fly me back to the States!”
    “Time to convince me.”
    “Yes, damn it! Believe it or not, I get the feeling that if I can just drum the truth into your thick skull I might have a chance of surviving this disaster. I’m banking on the fact that you wouldn’t willingly turn me over to people who want to kill me. Not if you know the truth.”
    “What gives you so much faith in my integrity?” he mocked.
    “Maybe it’s not a case of having any faith in your integrity,” she shot back heatedly. “Maybe it’s just a feeling mat you’ve got sense enough to look out for yourself. And getting involved in murder might cause you more than a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of trouble. If I can make you see that, I might be able to get you to leave me here in Mexico. You’ll be able to go home to your precious airplane-ferrying business with the two thousand you left it to collect and without having gotten yourself mixed up with murder.”
    “You throw a big word like murder around pretty freely, Honor. I wonder if you have any idea of what you’re saying?”
    “Believe me, I know what I’m talking about!” she breathed.
    “God, maybe your shrink is right. Maybe you really are borderline paranoid. Maybe you’re already over the border,” he muttered.
    “But you don’t believe that, do you?” Honor challenged, suddenly aware that she had found a wedge. “You don’t think I’m really crazy. You think I’m just spoiled and difficult and childish. But would even a spoiled brat carry a tantrum this far? You think I’ve enjoyed living in this shack for the past few weeks? You think I like not being able to have a conversation with anyone in my own language? You think I like having to boil every drop of water I drink because I’m afraid I’ll get sick? You think it’s been pleasant doing without a telephone or a refrigerator or a car? For God’s sake, Judd. Spoiled brats don’t like to go too long without their creature comforts, do they? I would have headed for Acapulco or one of the other tourist centers if I’d just been trying to upset my family. Why would I make myself suffer in the process?”
    “You tried suicide once,” he pointed out inexorably. “Someone who did that might have some strange notions of how to make others suffer. Maybe living like this” —he waved a hand vaguely around the shack— “is your idea of punishing your father in some way.”
    Honor closed her eyes in hopeless frustration. “There’s no reasoning with you, is there?” she finally asked in a dead voice.
    Silence greeted the question and when she opened her eyes again it was to find him watching her with a long, brooding stare. “If,” Judd began cautiously, “I agreed to give you two (lays, would you be willing to promise me that you won’t give me any trouble when the time comes to take you home?”
    Honor swallowed, not quite believing her ears. “Do you mean that? You’ll grant me the time?”
    “I might.” Why the hell was he even considering the damn bargain? He should just tie her up hand