Raven's Prey by Stephanie James (Jayne Ann Krentz) by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

joyriding and that if I did it for Paco I'd have to do it for the others. He understood and we compromised."
    "Compromised?" Honor made her way across the small room to where the electric hot plate sat on a shelf.
    "I agreed to let him and the other kids take turns sitting in the pilot's seat this afternoon. He's gone off to tell the others."
    Honor smiled with sudden, unexpected gratitude. "Oh, Judd, that's very nice of you. Thank you. The kids will love that."
    He eyed her mouth, not quite knowing what to make of the smile. "It's no big deal. I don't mind since it looks like I'm going to be stuck here for two wasted days anyway." He could have kicked himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. The dazzling, apparently genuine smile she was giving him disappeared instantly and the warmth that had momentarily lit her eyes was gone as if it had never been. It was replaced by the now-familiar wariness.
    "Yes," she agreed in a grim little voice. "You will be stuck here for two wasted days, won't you?"
    There was a small silence while she began heating a tiny skillet over the hot plate. Honor sensed that he was searching for another topic of conversation and the fact that he was temporarily at a loss for words was unaccountably satisfying.
    "Paco seemed to like you," Judd finally remarked. He swung around one of the two straight-backed wooden chairs in the room and straddled it backward, his arms resting on the top.
    Honor lifted one shoulder dismissingly. "I pay an outrageous sum for fresh eggs. I also pay well for fresh tortillas and fresh vegetables. Nothing like having money in a poor town to make one popular!"
    "Or very unpopular," he retorted wryly. There as another pause and then he remarked laconically, "Everyone I've talked to for the past week who remembered you seemed to like you. They all spoke enthusiastically of the polite lady with the beautiful smile."
    "I guess I have the bulk of the Mexican population fooled, haven't I?" she retorted bleakly, concentrating on the eggs while she heated two tortillas on the side of the hot plate. "Too bad everyone I've met hasn't had the opportunity to discuss my character failings with my loving family. Tell me something, Judd. How did you convince all those nice people to tell you about me?"
    "I gave them an explanation they could comprehend very easily."
    "I'll bet. What was it?" She dished out the eggs onto two chipped pottery plates and added a corn tortilla to each.
    "That you were my woman who had run away and that I'd come to find you and take you home," he told her very casually, accepting one of the plates.
    "So that's why Paco kept calling you my man." Honor sighed, having guessed as much. "What a joke."
    He expertly curled the tortilla and used it to scoop up a section of egg. "If it's any consolation everyone seemed to be on your side."
    "Then why the hell didn't they refuse to tell you where I was?" she snapped in annoyance.
    "They wouldn't dream of interfering in a domestic situation of that sort," he drawled as she took the other straight-backed chair and began to eat in short, angry bites. 'They all recognize the elemental fact mat a man has certain rights over his woman."
    "Uh-huh. So how did you get the impression they were on my side?" she demanded bitterly.
    "Nearly everyone I talked to urged me not to beat you too severely when I eventually located you. They all seemed to feel you were just a high-strung, temperamental female who needed a gentle hand, not a heavy one."
    Honor made a small, disgusted sound and downed another bite of egg and tortilla. "It looks like Mexico wasn't such a good choice as a hiding place, was it? Maybe I should have tried Canada." Except that there she wouldn't have had the language barrier to slow down the two men who were hunting her. For all the good that had done her in the end, she thought sadly. They had simply hired someone who spoke Spanish to come after her.
    Judd made no immediate response to her rhetorical comment.