Killjoy

He felt as if he were hugging an ice cube. The bottom of his chin rubbed the top of her head. Damn, she smelled good. Like peppermint, maybe, he thought as he began to rub her back.

'You're one big goose bump.'

She didn't have the energy to talk. His warmth was so comforting, she closed her eyes and let him caress her. Her T-shirt

had ridden up above her navel, and too late, she felt his hands slip under the fabric. His fingers splayed wide across her back.

She lurched upward at the same instant he felt the scar tissue, her head slamming into his chin.

'Damn,' he muttered as he dropped back. 'What the hell did you do that for?' he asked, rubbing his jaw. Avery frantically

pulled her shirt down and rolled away from him. 'Go to sleep.'

She'd closed up on him quicker than he could snap his fingers. He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. What in God's

name had happened to her back? He knew what he'd touched was scar tissue. Who had done that to her?

'Leave me the hell alone,' Avery whispered. She was coiled for a fight. She waited tensely for the questions to start, holding

her breath. She expelled it loudly. Why was he silent? Why wasn't he asking questions?

She told herself she had nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about, but very few men had ever seen or touched her back, and she had memorized their reactions. The look of shock, and in one instance, disgust. Mostly she remembered how one man

she had actually believed wasn't superficial had visibly shuddered. Then, of course, the sympathy and the questions came…

the hundreds of questions.

John Paul wasn't talking, though. She couldn't stand his silence long. She rolled toward him, propped herself up with her elbow,

and glared down at him. The jerk's eyes were closed, and he looked as if he were sleeping. She knew better. 'Open your eyes, damn it.' 'My name's John Paul, not Damn It.' What the hell was the matter with him? Why wasn't he asking her questions…

or flinching? She knew he'd felt the knotted scars. 'Well?'

He sighed. 'Well, what?'

She was getting angrier and angrier by the second. 'What are you thinking?'

'Trust me, sugar, you don't want to know.'

'Oh, yes, I do. Tell me.'

'You sure?'

'Answer me,' she demanded. 'I want to know what you're thinking.'

'Okay. I'm thinking that you're a real pain in the ass.'

Her mouth dropped open. 'What did you say?'

'You heard me. I said you're a real pain in the ass. You damn near broke my jaw when you jerked up. One second you're

letting me warm you, and the next you're trying to kill me.'

'I was not trying to kill you.'

He rubbed his jaw. 'I could have chipped a tooth.'

Oh, brother. 'Look… I'm sorry, okay? I was just startled, and I… Wait a minute. Why am I apologizing?'

He flashed a devilish grin. Her heartbeat immediately quickened. ' 'Cause you should,' he drawled in his seductive southern accent.

The big jerk was so aloof and impassive, so why were her senses going berserk now? With the bursts of lightning, she could

see his face clearly. The day's growth oi whiskers should have made him look scruffy, but it didn't. She had to resist the urge

to touch his cheek. His wonderful scent was driving her to distraction too. He smelled like wintergreen and musk and fresh wood shavings. And when he had held her in his arms to warm her, his body had felt like a smooth block of sculptor's marble. Everything about him was sexy, damn it. He was so masculine, so… Get a grip, she told herself. Remember, you're in charge.

Yeah, right. She put her forefinger and her thumb up in front of his eyes about a half-inch apart and said, 'I'm this close to really hating you.'

She'd used just the right amount of anger in her voice. She nodded too, just to let him know she meant every word.

He wasn't impressed or intimidated. He simply closed his eyes and lazily said, 'I can live with that.'

Chapter 18

'We go through the wall.' Anne made the announcement and then waited for the women's reaction to her suggestion.

Sara looked incredulous; Carrie looked irritated.

'Yeah, right,' Carrie muttered. 'I'll use my superhuman karate kicks and my X-ray vision…'

'Now, Carrie, let's hear what Anne has to say,' Sara chided.

'I'm telling you, it could work. When I got out of the car, I walked over to the stone wall and looked down. The mountain slopes

on this side of the house. It's not a sheer drop like it is outside the living room windows.'

'Go on,' Sara urged.

'I also noticed the sides of the house are cedar boards, not stone like the front,' she said. 'There's an outside wall in the pantry that's just on the other side of the stone wall. I suggest we punch a big hole in the Sheetrock near the floor, so that when we do kick the cedar boards out, we won't be seen from the front.'

'But Anne, there's more than just Sheetrock and cedar boards,' Sara said.

'I know exactly what's between those walls,' she boasted. 'There's insulation, but that won't be difficult to tear out, and maybe wiring too, which we could work around, and a layer of sheathing…'

'And what else?' Sara asked. She leaned forward while she considered Anne's idea.

'Two-by-fours,' Anne said. 'Studs are usually about sixteen inches apart. We should all be able to squeeze through.'

'How do we make a hole in the Sheetrock? With our fists?'

'We use the poker from the fireplace,' Anne said. 'And knives to widen the hole. I took inventory, and the kitchen knives are

still in the drawers. If we started now, who knows? We might be out of here by morning.'

'Time's running out,' Carrie said. 'I say we try to break a window and hope we don't…' She stopped when Sara shook her head.

'Too risky,' Sara said. 'I say we go with Anne's plan.'

'What about the cedar boards?'

'It won't be as difficult as you think,' Anne said. 'They're nailed in, but if we hit them hard enough or kick them, they'll

eventually pop right out.'

'My goodness, we've got a plan,' Sara said. She slapped her hand on the table and smiled. 'I'm sure we won't be able to find

any rope to use to climb down, but wouldn't sheets work?'

'In the movies, they always use sheets to get out,' Carrie said.