Read Online Bitter Wild by Jennie Leigh - Free Book Online

around as he heard Skip swear. He had the
jar she’d tossed him open and his nose was wrinkled up.
    “She
wasn’t kidding.”
    Jack
shrugged. “At this point, do you really care what you smell like?”
    Skip
shook his head. “If it takes the pain away, I’ll roll in the stuff.”
    Casey
didn’t stop until she knew she was well out of sight of the two men. Night was
falling fast now and the darkness was creeping through the trees like a living
thing. She leaned against the trunk of a large tree and shifted all her weight
off her left leg. It was throbbing with pain and she sucked in a sharp breath
as she massaged her thigh. She’d thought she was as healthy as she’d ever been.
She should have known better. Spending half a day on the back of a horse was
hard on even the most fit person. And it would only be worse tomorrow. She
sighed and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree. Maybe John had
been right. What if she was pushing herself too far? She shook her head. No,
she needed to do this. The pain she could live with. She’d suffered worse.
She’d just suck it up and go on. It wasn’t anything more than what she was
asking the two federal agents to do. She felt a small smile touch her lips as
she thought about the pain she’d seen Jack Hall trying so desperately to hide.
His partner wasn’t nearly as macho. She knew they were both hurting. They were
going to be so stiff in the morning that they’d think they couldn’t move at
all. The liniment would help, but nothing would take the pain away completely.
She felt Chance nudge her hand and she looked down at him.
    “Okay,
we’ll make the rounds and get back. I’m hungry, too.”
    Jack
could barely stand the smell of himself, but he had to admit he did feel
better. The pain was at least tolerable now. The chili Casey had dumped into
the pot had long since gotten hot. Skip had poured instant coffee into the hot
water and they’d both finally given in to the loud roaring of their stomachs
and eaten. Jack didn’t know what Skip was thinking but he was desperately
trying not to let the worry he was feeling show. Casey had been gone for more
than an hour. A number of less than pleasant scenarios had been playing out in
his head from the moment she’d disappeared into the woods. Anything could have
happened to her. He was trying to figure out just how long “a while” was when a
sound somewhere to his right caught his attention. His hand went automatically
to his gun as he spun around. Casey was less than five feet away. She had a
sardonic look on her face as she strode toward him.
    “Good
thing I’m not a threat.”
    Jack
was too relieved to see her to be riled by the barb. He took his hand off his
gun as he spoke. “Find anything?”
    She
shook her head. “Nothing close enough to be a danger.” She laid the rifle
against her pack, then headed toward the fire. Jack had left the pot of chili
sitting close enough to keep it warm without burning it to a charred crisp. She
ate right out of the pot and somehow managed to look classy doing it. Jack
couldn’t believe what an amazing wealth of conundrums she was comprised of.
Beautiful and graceful while being deceptively strong and tough. She could make
him so angry he could barely see straight and still leave him feeling a need to
protect her. He was swiftly starting to suspect that she didn’t need his
protection, though. She was independent and intelligent and apparently
completely at home in the woods. Beneath all the strength was a touch of
vulnerability that he couldn’t seem to avoid noticing. That’s the part of her
he wanted to protect. That was the part that held the pain he’d only caught
glimpses of.
    Casey
finished the chili, then cleaned the pot. She skipped the coffee, knowing she
was wound up enough already without adding any caffeine to her system. The two
federal agents were so exhausted that they would no doubt sink right into deep
sleep the moment they closed their eyes. She,