I have to do something.That was the thought that occupied Xavier's mind most of the way to Artist Point. The problem was, he didn't know what he had to do. He just knew that he was balancing on a fine edge, and that one step in the wrong direction would send him and everything that mattered tumbling down into oblivion.He'd never seen Roth like this. The leader of the Set had always been bullheaded. But this hunt had done crazy things to all of them. There was a hard-edged ruthlessness to Roth now. He never would have referred to an innocent woman as "leverage" before. Or would he?Maybe Tavish was right. During their brief chat back at the Norris Geyser Basin, his former teammate had implied that Xavier didn't know everything about Roth, that the leader of the Set was keeping secrets from him and the rest of the group. But what? And why the hell hadn't Tavish just told him outright?Xavier's fingers gripped his empty pocket. The loss of that little elephant had left a hole in him

Xavier had done a lot of crazy, dangerous shit in his life. He'd risked his neck dozens of times, survived things that most people wouldn't even dream of attempting. And he'd done most of it without even blinking, without the smallest amount of fear.This was different.This time, it wasn't just his neck on the line. This time, it was Penny's, too. And nothing was going to stop him from getting her to safety.Her arms were tight around his neck. Almost too tight, but as long as he could breathe, he wasn't going to complain. Her job was to hold on, and she was admirably good at it.His job was a little trickier.By himself, he could have made this climb easily. But he wasn't used to climbing with an extra weight on his back - and precious weight, at that. He was far more concerned for her than he was for himself.He picked his way up the side of the canyon carefully. There were plenty of hand holds and foot holds, but shifting their combined weight even the slightest bit in the wr

The moment she touched him, Xavier lost what little control he'd been managing to maintain.Her hand was on his neck, pulling him forward, drawing him down to her. He shouldn't have said the things he'd said. Once, he'd promised himself that he'd never speak of her again - avoidance had seemed like the easiest option at the time - but he should have known better. You didn't forget a woman like Penny. You didn't pretend she was never in your life. Their relationship had changed him, morphed him in ways he was still discovering, years later.And now she was pulling him into her arms, and he was tired of holding back.His mouth fell on hers, hot and eager. Desperate. That kiss earlier today had happened in a moment of pure relief - and it had only served to stoke the fiery pit of desire inside of him. One taste wouldn't be enough, now.Her hand moved up into his hair, and the other one joined it. Her fingers tangled in the strands, tightening and pulling, drawing him back to long, hot

It felt like it took an agonizingly long time for Penny to free the can of bear spray from the holster at her waist, but in reality, it was probably only two or three seconds.They were still the two or three most terrifying, heart-pounding seconds of her life. And that included that brief moment earlier in the day when she thought she might plummet to her death. The thought of getting eaten alive by a grizzly was a lot more horrific.Finally, though, she managed to get the canister free. And she didn't even wait to point it in the right direction before pressing down on the nozzle.The spray shot out of the can with a sharp hissssssssssssssss. Penny squeezed her eyes shut - in part to protect herself from the cloud of spray and in part because, if it didn't work, she didn't want to watch those claws and teeth coming at her. Or Xavier. He was on top of her, blocking most of her body, and she couldn't bear the thought of his death being the last thing she saw on this earth.Xavier p

Whether he denied it or not, Xavier was cruel. How could he just blurt out something like that and expect her to believe it? What was she supposed to do with that information?Penny closed her eyes, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. She'd managed to hold herself together so far - she refused to cry in front of him now.Even though she knew better than to believe him, his words had brought a whole swell of emotions up inside her - hope, anger, fear, joy, regret...and all of them were inconvenient.It doesn't matter what you feel, she told herself. Your actions will be the same. He lied to you once about this very thing, and you're not falling for it again. The minute this is over, you tell him to walk away. He already promised to do so.They rode in silence the rest of the way to Artist Point. She didn't trust herself to open her mouth, and Xavier wisely decided not to test her further.By the time they reached the canyon, she'd more or less composed herself. The other tw