Man of Her Dreams by Debra Webb (good ebook reader txt) 📕

it work. She’d done it before with Madam Talia’s help. She’d gotten this far on her own tonight.

The need to close her eyes and focus was very nearly overwhelming, but how could she do that with Aidan dragging her through the woods?

Her boot snagged on a root. She pitched forward but Aidan caught her. Righted her and kept pushing forward.

She wanted to ask him where the hell they were going, but she didn’t dare speak.

Safety.

The word slammed into her brain like a speeding bullet.

Safety. He was taking her to safety.

She tried to rationalize that explanation, but considering the thickening canopy of trees overhead and the mushy ground beneath their feet, she couldn’t reconcile the two. He wasn’t from here…didn’t understand the danger.

Bears…wolves…snakes…not to mention quicksand.

The swamp was many things, but safe didn’t rate high on that list.

Then she heard it.

The squish of waterlogged soil behind them. The brush of foliage against man-made fabric to the far right. Her head jerked left as a twig snapped in that direction.

Fear hijacked her courage and sent the sting of adrenaline soaring through her veins.

Cops?

That was her first thought. Maybe they thought she and Aidan were Lester and…

No.

Not cops.

Whoever had fanned out around them were not the good guys.

Evil.

Not Lester, either. He’d only come back here to see after his interests…the children.

She ran faster, staying right on Aidan’s heels.

She smelled the water before he stalled on the bank.

The odor of decaying fish and foliage was stronger the closer they got.

He yanked her against his chest and whispered in her ear. “We’re going into the water. Try not to make any more sound than necessary. They may have night vision and thermal imaging. We don’t need to give them any other ammunition.”

Everything he’d said after water was lost on her.

They couldn’t go into the water.

It teemed with nature’s handiwork…with danger.

As if reading her mind, he shoved the gun into his waistband at the small of his back and lifted her off her feet. She bit down on her lower lip to stem a gasp. He brought her against his chest and started forward.

She felt him descending into the water but incredibly he made no sound.

How could he do that?

In less than a minute, she felt the cold liquid swishing against her bottom. He was waist-deep in the water and moving forward without the slightest sound.

Despite the physical exertion required to carry her one-hundred-ten pound frame and trudge through water at that depth his respiration was slow, even. His heartbeat strong and steady. It didn’t flutter like hers. She stared at the handsome face only inches from hers. A new kind of trepidation trickled through her.

Who was this man?

A dozen little things flashed through her mind.

The way he could practically read her mind. The way he moved…soundless, fluid. He was one with the water. One with the night.

Those silly ideas about vampires and such attempted to edge into her ruminating but she banished them.

He stilled, held her tight against him.

She heard nothing. Sensed nothing. Only the roar of blood in her ears, the desperate hammering of her heart.

He started moving forward again.

The water deepened.

She shivered as the cold enveloped her almost to her neck. The water was really deep here.

He stopped again.

This time, he tilted his head down and whispered into her ear. “How long can you hold your breath?”

Panic flared like fireworks on the Fourth of July. She wanted to rant at him. Was he kidding? Instead, she forced the trembling in her body to cease. She had to be strong. He would have a good reason for asking the question.

She lifted her mouth to his ear. “I’m not sure. A minute, maybe.” God, could she hold it that long? She’d never timed herself. She had no idea.

“They’re very close,” he murmured. “Four, possibly five. I don’t want to risk those odds.”

“You’re sure it’s not the police?” She stared into his eyes as best she could in the near total darkness, praying it was a possibility.

He moved his head slowly up and down.

His attention jerked back toward the woods behind her.

Whatever he’d heard, it must have been close because she felt the tension radiate through his strong body.

His gaze moved back down to hers and he took a deep breath.

Her eyes rounded with terror, but somehow she managed to drag in a gulp of air before he plunged beneath the water.

Aidan opened his eyes and watched her through the dark shroud of water. In moments, his vision had adjusted fully. She was afraid. She felt stiff in his arms. They needed to stay under as long as possible.

Galen’s men were close.

He needed them to survey this area, deem it clear and move on.

He’d known when he saw the bullet hole in the back of the cop’s head that this wasn’t Jerry Lester’s work. Galen had counted on her being drawn back here.

Her eyes suddenly opened wide with fear. She struggled in his hold but he held her tighter, reached out to her with his mind. Relax. Trust me.

Galen’s men were on the bank now, directly overhead. Though muffled, the amplified sounds of their approach reached Aidan’s ears well ahead of them.

Darby jerked, almost breaking free of his hold.

He pulled her hard against him. And then she did the one thing that there was no turning back from. She exhaled. He watched the bubbles move upward, break the surface.

He froze, braced for attack.

Nothing.

She struggled to free herself once more.

A sound vibrated from above, as if the enemy was once more on the move.

A few more seconds—that’s all he needed. But she wasn’t going to make it a few more seconds.

He held her tightly against him and closed his mouth over hers, used his tongue to pry her lips apart and forced the last breath he possessed into her lungs.

Even as his brain rebelled against his action, his body reacted to kissing her. The sensations devoured him like a raging lion, dragging him deeper and deeper into that place of pure need.

She stopped fighting him, fisted her