Raven's Prey

Raven [_had _]nerves. Not until I saw him leap out of that plane and start yelling at the little lady here a few minutes ago.”
    “He lost his temper,” Honor explained far too kindly. Her eyes were brimming with laughter as she looked at Judd.
    “Another first. Never saw Raven lose his temper before, either” the crop duster mused with a wide grin. “You must really have a powerful effect on him, ma’am.”
    Judd lifted one dark brow with an air of cool superiority. “Honor and I tend to rile each other on occasion. It’s because we’re so [_close, _]I suppose.”
    “Not quite as close as he and the Cessna are, naturally,” Honor interposed dryly. “But, then, I realize that’s a very special sort of relationship.”
    Judd’s eyes narrowed as the others chuckled in appreciation, and for an instant Honor wished she’d kept her mouth shut. From the very beginning Judd hadn’t liked her caustic remarks about his relationship with the plane.
    Then quite suddenly he was laughing. Honor stood staring in absolute amazement, realizing it was the only time she had ever heard him laugh. It was a deep, warm, vibrant sound that seemed to come from far down in his chest and it did something strange and wonderful to her senses. A moment later, she was joining him, and for the first time since she had met him Honor knew the fundamental pleasure of laughing out loud with the man she loved.

Chapter 10
    S he loved him. Honor cautiously absorbed the information into her system as if it were a potentially dangerous narcotic. She loved Judd Raven. She’d probably been in love with him ever since that first time they had slept together in Mexico. Perhaps earlier. The knowledge explained so much: why she had been so angry the morning he had announced he was taking her back to the States, her strange sense of vulnerability around him, and the unbelievable gladness she had experienced when he did something as simple as sharing her laughter.
    “Honor?” Judd’s questioning voice interrupted her thoughts as they drove back down the road from the airfield.
    “Hmmmm?” The warm wind whipped her hair as the jeep swept along the highway. She didn’t look at him.
    “What are you thinking? You’ve been awfully quiet for a while,” he complained gruffly. “Are you still upset about the flying lesson?” he added uneasily.
    “No. I was thinking of something else,” she responded evenly. “I was thinking about how long I’ll be staying here with you in Albuquerque.”
    There was silence from the driver’s seat for a critical minute and then Judd asked with surprising calm, “And how long is that?”
    “Four days.” She turned her head to look at him. “That’s how long you gave me down in Mexico, Judd. Four days. I owe you my life. If you hadn’t gotten me out of Mexico, sooner or later Garrison and Prager would have sent someone who might have had fewer scruples than you did. I can’t repay you for my life so I’ll give you the four days you originally granted me. Fair enough?” It was an ultimatum of sorts and they both knew it. Honor waited uneasily for his reaction.
    Judd slid her a cool, unreadable glance. “We’ll talk about it at the end of the four days.”
    As a response it was a little unsatisfactory, but Honor told herself she was dealing with a complicated situation and a complex man. She mustn’t expect Judd to react in predictable, conventional ways. He lived by his own rules. “Where are we going now?” she asked as coolly as possible.
    “To the store. The bacon and toast was the last edible stuff I had in the house.”
    Four days, he thought, aware of a sudden sensation of being trapped; of time running out. Four days. She was right. It was what he had given her down in Mexico. There was a certain justice to the ultimatum but he refused to tell himself he would abide by it. Four days was so little time!
    He had known from the beginning that he couldn’t really keep her long against her will. They both knew it. But he needed time. Was this how she had felt down in Mexico when she had been frantically trying to convince him that she was in real danger? Judd realized abruptly that he was gritting his teeth and forced himself to relax. He’d taken it one day at a time and at the end of the four days he’d see where matters stood. It shouldn’t be so hard. He was accustomed to taking things as they came, wasn’t he?
    The hard part was going to be leaving her alone at night. How the hell