r and blue corset pushing her breasts up, her dark navy jacket doing nothing but framing them. Now he did groan out loud.
Her concern was immediate and altogether too comfortable. “Are you okay? Did I hurt your shoulder?”
“No, you didn’t hurt me.” The silence wasn’t totally uncomfortable, but she continued to stiffen under him and he knew that she was fighting down whatever she’d faced in Plymouth. So he did the only thing he could think of: piss her off.
“The only reason I kissed you was because I needed to distract you.”
Well-bred young ladies weren’t sarcastic. But something about Taggart brought out the worst in her. “You thought it would be a good idea to distract me in the middle of a fire fight?” she asked drily. “Wouldn’t it be easier to kill me by simply asking me to stand up?”
She could hear the irritation in his voice. “If I wanted you dead, I’d have left you back there in the tunnel.”
She shuddered. Trapped with those mercenaries, the men who would take her to Richard Stone—her father’s ill-advised business partner and internationally-known sex trader.
Taggart continued as if he hadn’t felt her full body reaction. “And, for your information honey, you’re so damn stubborn that unless I distract you, you’ll never follow a single order.”
“I’m not stubborn!” she argued, only to accept his point with chagrin a moment later as it sank in that she was still trying to argue with him.
“You’re a walking disaster and because I distracted you, you didn’t die.”
She mulled it over. Maybe he was right. Just because it was the best kiss—the only kiss—she’d ever had in her entire life didn’t mean it was anything important to him. He’d probably kissed tons of other women and she knew her lack of experience likely wasn’t an advantage with a man like him.
A change in the sound of the water caught her attention. “What’s happening with the river?”
A soft blue light emanated from the cuff around his wrist, highlighting his sardonic face. He would actually be handsome if he ever managed to smile. But doing that would probably break his face. “We’re coming out of the tunnel,” he told her, shutting down the map.
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Better than being trapped on this fucking raft.”
“Do you always swear this much?”
She could feel his hand on her waist, felt him preparing to roll off her so he could pop up when the ceiling’s clearance allowed. “Babe, I usually swear a hell of a lot more than this.”
“Oh. Then thank you for being such a gentleman.”
“Do you ever get tired of being such a snob?”
That shut her up for a while. When the ceiling finally rose, Taggart was off of her, already looking ahead toward the other men’s raft. Satisfied that they were safe, he turned back to Emmaline and gave her a hand up. “We’re almost above ground,” he warned. “I don’t know if anyone will be waiting for us.”
“Did you plan for this?”
“We’re currently on plan B.”
“How are we going to get away? Stay on these rafts the entire time?”
“Fuck no. There’s a big ass waterfall coming up. As soon as we’re out in the open, we’re making shore and booking it to the Stallion.”
At least she recognised the declassified Lawman assault vehicle. Made for rough terrain and armoured within an inch of its life, it would provide the protection they might need to get out of the area. He really had planned for everything. “Then what?”
“Well, the plan’s changed and if we don’t deliver you to your father, he’s going to be pretty pissed.”
“I know.” She lowered her eyes, uncomfortable with the turn in conversation. “I’m sorry I put you in that situation.”
“It’s a job. It happens more than you think,” he threw back casually. “Just don’t count on your father making it out of this alive.”
At least that managed to get a grim smile from her. “You’d better not be teasing me, Mr. Taggart.”
Chapter 3