Sanctuary

looked so strong and alive. So male and capable. So sexy with that plain gray T-shirt over a broad chest, those faded and worn jeans snug over narrow hips.
    “I see why you don’t do portraits as a rule.”
    She blinked, straightened. “What?”
    “Your model would lapse into a coma waiting for you to set the shot.” Smiling, he stretched out his arm, giving her a come-ahead curl with his fingers. “It doesn’t have to be art.”
    “It always has to be art,” she corrected. She fussed for another moment, then set the timer and went to stand beside him. “Ten seconds. Hey!”
    He shifted, pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I like this pose. Relax and smile.”
    She did, leaning back against him as the shutter clicked. When she started to move, he nuzzled her hair.
    “I still like this pose.” He turned her around, arms sliding and continuing to circle as he lowered his mouth to hers. “And this one even more.”
    “I have to put my equipment away.”
    “Okay.” He simply moved his mouth from hers and skimmed it down her throat.
    Nerves and desire did a pitch and roll inside her. “I—the light’s changed. It’s not right anymore.” Because her knees were going to shake, she drew back. “I didn’t mean to take so long.”
    “It’s all right. I liked watching you work. I’ll help you stow your gear.”
    “No, I’ll do it. I get edgy when anyone fools with my equipment.”
    “Then I’ll open the wine.”
    “Yeah, that’d be nice.” She walked back to her tripod, easing out a long, quiet breath. She was going to have to make up her mind, and very soon, she thought, as to whether she was going to advance or retreat.
    She unhooked her camera, carefully packed it away. “Lexy said she’d been with you this morning.”
    “What?” He could only hope the pop of the cork masked part of the shock in his voice.
    “She said she went by your cottage.” Jo was already cursing herself for bringing it up, and kept her eyes firmly on her work.
    Nathan cleared his throat and suddenly wanted a glass of wine very badly. “Ah, yeah, she did. For a minute. Why?”
    “No reason.” Jo collapsed the tripod. “She said you’d shown her some plans you were working on.”
    Maybe he’d underestimated Lexy after all, he mused, and poured two hefty portions of wine. “The Mexico job. I was doing some fine-tuning on it when she . . . dropped in.”
    Jo carried her equipment over, stacked it neatly at the far edge of the blanket he’d spread over the ground. “You sound a little nervous, Nathan.”
    “No, just hungry.” He handed her the wine, took a deep gulp of his own before sitting down and diving into the basket. “So, what do you have to eat?”
    Jo’s muscles tensed. “Did something happen with Lexy?”
    “Something? Happen?” Nathan pulled out a plastic container of cold fried chicken. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    Her eyes narrowed at the all-too-innocent look on his face. “Oh, don’t you?”
    “What are you thinking?” When you didn’t want to defend, he decided, attack. “You think I ... with your sister?” Insult coated his voice, all the more effective from the desperation that pushed it there.
    “She’s a beautiful woman.” Jo slapped a covered bowl of sliced fruit down on the blanket.
    “She certainly is, so of course that means I jumped her at the first opportunity. What the hell kind of man do you take me for?” Temper snapped out, some of it real and, Nathan felt, all of it justified. “I go after one sister in the morning and switch to the other for the afternoon? Maybe I’ll give your cousin Kate a roll before nightfall and make my points off the whole family.”
    “I didn’t mean—I was only asking—”
    “Just what were you asking?”
    “I . . .” His eyes were dark and hot, fury streaking out of them. The jitter of alarm came first, which surprised her, then it was smothered quickly by self-disgust. “Nothing. I’m sorry. She was baiting me.” Annoyed with herself, Jo dragged a hand through her hair. “I knew she was baiting me. She knew I was coming up here with you, and that I’ve been seeing you, more or less, and she wanted to get a rise out of me.”
    She blew out a breath, cursed herself again for not keeping her mouth shut. “I wasn’t going to mention it,” she went on when Nathan said nothing. “I don’t know why I did. It just slipped out.”
    He cocked his head. “Jealous?”
    She would have