Born to Be Wild Read Free Page A

So why ask?” He stood with surprising speed and braced his hands on her desk. “You never had any intention of letting me run this trip. This whole thing is really just a formality, isn’t it,
Ms. Colbourne
?”
    His teasing smile was long gone, his unshaven jawrock-hard, lending an air of ruggedness that only enhanced his sex appeal. She hated herself for noticing.
    “You’re just following procedure, right?” he went on. “I came halfway around the globe because you needed my signature on a formal refusal form, which will allow you to line up some other board-approved outfitter the second you locate McCullough. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new guy’s appointment is right after mine.”
    His intensity was palpable, almost frightening. Having all that energy and vitality harnessed and focused solely on her was quite overwhelming, and it took her a few seconds to find an appropriate response.
    “There is no other outfitter,” she said when she finally found her voice.
Not yet, anyway
. “I wouldn’t do that.” His snort brought more than a frown to her lips, but she swallowed it at the last possible second. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “But the truth is, I don’t think you should run this trip, and, yes, I would appreciate it if you would formally decline.”
    He leaned farther over her desk, his voice dark and ominously low. “If you really believe that I’d actually put those kids in danger, then maybe it is better to wait for Jarrett to come back and okay a switch.” His demeanor was hard and tough and completely foreign to her perception of him.
    He straightened. “Can I ask you something?” His tone was deceptively gentle.
    “What?” she asked warily.
    “Jarrett and Dane stay in fairly close contact, so I imagine you’ve seen Jarrett occasionally over the years or keep up with what he’s doing through Dane, right?”
    Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Right.”
    “You know Dane would trust Jarrett with his life?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “So would I. And the feeling is mutual.”
    “I don’t see what—”
    “Do you trust Jarrett, Dara?”
    His tone was insistent, provoking. “Of course,” she answered automatically, “next to Dane, he’s the most dependable person I know.” The inference that Zach wasn’t was clear, and she knew he hadn’t missed it.
    “Do you really think he’d name me to this position if he thought I couldn’t handle it?”
    Dara released a deep breath. “I’ve thought about that, Zach. But I don’t think Jarrett has a full understanding of the sort of obstacles these kids face. I know he trusts you, and he probably knew you’d help him out on this, but—”
    “No buts, Dara. I’m willing to do this, I
want
to do this. Not just for Jarrett, but because it’s a damn good cause and I’m a damn good outfitter. Whatever you think about me personally doesn’t matter. What matters is getting these kids the trip they wished for, right?”
    Sensing he was leading her into a trap, but unable to see it, she nodded slowly. “Right. But you need my approval to get the board’s approval, and you don’t have it.”
    The sober expression on his face broke slowly into a wicked smile. “Yet.”
    One word, so softly spoken, and the air between them vibrated. With challenge, she told herself. As it always had been between them; Zach challenging her, proddingher until she lost her temper only to find out he’d intentionally staged it to happen at the very worst time—for her.
    She pulled up another memory—recalling the time he’d humiliated her in front of Mr. Jackson’s biology class by daring her to kiss a frog—which she’d had to take him up on—then showing the rest of the class that the poor thing was dead. The frog had croaked, he’d announced loudly, rather than become a prince for skinny little Dart. Of course, Mr. Jackson had walked in at the exact moment she’d dumped a beakerful of formaldehyde down Zach’s shirt.
    But