THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

his life to save her?
    Offering him an apologetic smile, she lifted one leg for him to clean. His long fingers wrapped around her ankle and her pulse jumped.
    He tenderly cleaned the cuts with an antiseptic cloth. It stung, but she could handle that better than the embarrassment of a stranger seeing what Mason had done.
    No man would ever lay a hand on her again and walk away unscathed.
    Zane lingered over a particularly nasty bruise.
    She knew the minute he noticed the difference between fresh injuries she’d gained during her escape and those she’d had longer. He drew a slow breath as if trying to get past the fading yellow and blue splotches.
    But he said nothing and she silently thanked him.
    The airplane skimmed along through inky darkness punctuated by flashes of light from storm clouds a little ways off. She closed her eyes, fantasizing that she could stay up here forever where she was safe. An unfamiliar feeling.
    Warm fingers grazed her legs with more care than she’d known since her mother had died.
    After Mason’s brutality, this man’s consideration was a balm to her ragged emotions. She hadn’t felt the sting of tears in years because she’d simply refused to cry, but Zane’s kindness drew on emotions she’d buried to survive.
    He’d lulled her into a semi-comatose state until he replaced the cloth with fingers that glided across her skin, applying a salve.
    Her eyes flew open to see the top of his head where he bent over her leg. Close enough to smell his fresh aftershave. Her skin tingled and came alive. She clamped her lips shut to keep from sucking in air at the way her body was reacting. Heat sizzled along her legs, racing up to where they met and...
    He leaned forward, his hands moving higher along her leg.
    She bit hard on her back teeth, determined not to tremble and give him the wrong idea. He was only smoothing antibiotic cream over her skin, not trying to tantalize her.
    Tell that to your body .
    Her next breath drew in a scent of male, lots of male. The sexy combination overrode her shaky nerves to ignite a burst of feminine response – the last thing she’d expected.
    Sure as heck hadn’t seen that coming. What could be wrong with her to be turned on now of all times?
    One look at the attractive pilot answered her question.
    She liked large men. And sexy men.
    Zane Black fit the bill on both counts. He was gorgeous and had the kind of touch a woman craved.
    Her breathing hitched.
    He glanced up. His warm eyes darkened with a gleam of interest.
    She gave him a that-wasn’t-what-you-thought-you-heard shrug and waited to see if her bluff worked or if he was going to make a crack about how she could join the mile-high club.
    But he didn’t. With a quick look at his instruments, he went back to his ministrations.
    Life had been strange to this point, but not this strange. She’d escaped a maniac who would unleash all his extensive resources to find her. Mason would be out of his mind over losing the fortune in rare coins, but he also had a deadline for delivering them.
    Regardless, if she handed those over to him now, he wouldn’t let her walk away.
    No one embarrassed Mason and survived.
    She had a chance. Slim, but still a chance if tonight was any sign.
    Being saved by a dark warrior who could turn a nun’s head topped everything she’d faced before.
    At Zane’s gentle pull, her leg moved up and across his lap as he sat straighter.
    She didn’t resist, didn’t want to. After six days of pure torture, Angel struggled to muster the cool disinterest she normally offered men. But Zane applied salve over her legs as earnestly as a sculptor working on his masterpiece.
    A warm tremor stirred in the pit of her stomach again. Her breathing quickened at the intimate contact.
    Dammit, there couldn’t be a worse time for her to be attracted to a man, but clearly her body lived in the moment with no concern for the future. After all the misery men had put her through, she could come up with only one explanation for this strange attraction. As part of her training for a triathlon she’d hoped to compete in, she’d taken a survival course. The instructor had explained how complete strangers would bond almost immediately when thrown into life and death situations.
    Made sense.
    Mix fear of dying and adrenaline overload with one mouth-watering, white-knight hunk for instant attraction.
    And that would explain her lack of a love life since she hadn’t run into anyone like Zane