Morgan's Hunter by Cate Beauman Page B

Maybe they could take a walk, relax, try to clear the air again. It was going to be a very long month if they couldn’t find a way to get along.
    He stood in the doorway of the station, zeroed in on the closed padlock on the shed door. Uneasy, he stepped outside, scanning the dirt parking lot and trees close to the cabin. Where was Morgan? He walked around the corner of the house. She wasn’t there. A small tingle of panic bloomed in his stomach as he hurried to the other side. She wasn’t there either. “Son of a bitch.” He rounded to the front again and spotted Robert. “Have you seen Morgan?”
    “Yeah, she said she wanted a walk. She headed down the southwest trail about ten, fifteen minutes ago.”
    “Goddamn it!” Hunter took off running.
    He ran the mile from the ranger’s station at a dead sprint, cursing her the entire way. The uneven dirt path was littered with sticks and rocks jutting from the ground, threatening to trip him with every hurried step. He should’ve come across her by now. Where the hell was she? What if something happened to her?
    When he broke through the tree line, Morgan stood in the valley with a camera in hand, a smile on her face. Relief swamped him before hot, ripe anger flooded his veins. He was going to teach her a lesson she wasn’t about to forget.
    Hunter never broke his stride as he caught her in a tackle and rolled with her to take the brunt of the impact. She let out a surprised gasp as his body careened into hers. The camera went flying. The deer ran away. When the momentum of the roll stopped, Hunter lay on top of her.
    She said nothing as he stared into her huge, green eyes.
    “What the hell is your problem? I told you not to go anywhere. So what do you do? You take off anyway.”
    “Get off of me,” she said quietly, still dazed. “You’re crushing me.”
    He didn’t move. “What am I going to do with you? You don’t listen to a goddamn thing I say. How can I do my job if you won’t fucking listen ?”
    “So this is your solution, to tackle and crush me? I just went for a walk. I brought a weapon, and don’t you dare talk to me like that!”
    Hunter looked over at the gun, back again. If he wasn’t seeing wavy shades of red, he might’ve laughed. “Is that your weapon, the goddamn tranquilizer gun? Are you serious ?”
    She shoved at his shoulder, raised her chin, answering him in her haughty tone that drove him insane. “Perfectly. Now get off .”
    Completely out of patience, he grabbed her wrists with one hand, pushed them over her head. Firm breasts pressed against his chest and he wanted her with a power so swift it took his breath, making him more furious. “Don’t you get it, Morgan? You’re completely defenseless right now. You didn’t even hear me come up behind you. How can you protect yourself with a tranquilizer gun or anything else for that matter when you’re so caught up in your pictures you don’t know someone’s coming? What if I wasn’t a nice guy? I could—”
    “You’re not,” she spat.
    “You’re right. I’m not. I think I’ll show you what happens to a woman who goes out in the middle of nowhere by herself.” He had to taste her.
    She went perfectly still when his mouth brushed hers, testing, teasing. Her eyes burned into his as he nipped her full bottom lip, tracing lightly with his tongue. Her breath turned ragged and her eyes flutter closed. Unable to do anything else, he crushed his mouth against hers.
    He let go of her wrists still trapped above her head, braced himself on his elbows, took her face in his hands, changing the angle of the kiss, deepening it, tasting her exotic flavor, tangling his tongue with hers.
    A hum of surrender purred in her throat while her hands found their way to his hair. Her fingers stroked the nape of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine. He was losing his shaky grip of control.
    As abruptly as he initiated the kiss, he ended it. Hunter lifted his head, stared into eyes that had