Can't Say No by Sherryl Woods Page A

timing.”
    â€œIf my timing were any worse, you’d be getting your feet wet in another few minutes.”
    His eyes still locked with Audrey’s, Blake inquired distractedly and without much interest, “What are you talking about?”
    â€œYou’re losing altitude. I thought at first you were heading down to a better current, but you’ve been dropping for too long now. I don’t like the looks of it. Is there some sort of problem?”
    That brought him out of his trance. Blake glanced out and saw that they were, indeed, lower than any of the other balloons in the vicinity. He couldn’t even spot the blue and gold of Larry Hammond’s entry.
    â€œWhere’s Hammond?”
    â€œForget Hammond for the moment, unless you want to take a dunking in the creek.”
    That woke Audrey up. The dazed expression in her eyes faded. “What creek?” she said, suddenly trying to free herself to get a look. Blake knew she wasn’t going to like what she saw one bit. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about it himself. He tried to nestle her head in the curve of his shoulder, but she was having none of it.
    â€œI want to see!” She peered past him and her body sagged in his arms, as she murmured, “Oh, dear heaven, we’re going down in a river. We are going to drown.” She glared at him and repeatedly punched a finger square in the middle of his chest. “And if we do, Blake Marshall, I’m going to give you a very nasty time of it.”
    He tried not to chuckle at the threat, because she was obviously so serious about it. “It’s a piddly little creek,” he observed pointedly. “Even if we were to go down in it—which we’re not going to—there’s no way you’re going to drown.”
    Black brows arched in feminine skepticism. “You don’t mind if I ask John about that, do you?”
    â€œDon’t you trust me?”
    â€œYour track record for the day isn’t exactly top of the line.”
    â€œWhen have I lied to you?”
    â€œLet me count the times,” she muttered darkly. “Would you just stop bickering with me and get this thing headed in the right direction.”
    â€œIt wasn’t so long ago that you thought down was the right direction.”
    â€œThat was before we had a raging river underneath us.”
    â€œIt is not...”
    The radio crackled. “Blake, have you found the problem yet?”
    Blake knew perfectly well what the problem was. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He’d been so infatuated with Audrey, so lost in the sensuality of that kiss that he’d let the air—in the balloon, anyway—cool too long. All he needed to do was send another long burst of hot air into the envelope and they’d be flying high again. He might have been foolish, but they were certainly in no real danger, despite Audrey’s conviction that they were about to be well past their earlobes in swirling, violent white-water rapids.
    â€œNo problem,” he told John, casting a significant glance at Audrey as he spoke. He urged her toward the side, then went to turn on the propane tank.
    That was when he noticed the problem. “Oh, hell,” he muttered before he could catch himself.
    Audrey was leaning over his shoulder before he could take his next breath. “What?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œâ€˜Oh, hell’ is not nothing. It is most definitely something. I want to know what.”
    This was no time to start getting distracted, but he tried to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. She shook it off. “Blake! You can’t placate me like some child. If we’re going down, I deserve to know the truth. I might have plans to make or something.”
    He just barely managed to restrain a chuckle. His lips twitched, though, and she caught it. She frowned.
    â€œSorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to placate you. I swear this