Read Online Her Last Defense by Vickie Taylor - Free Book Online

anybody catches it. Why the hell is that monkey still alive, anyway?”
    “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Maybe the cells he was injected with were mishandled, and he was never infected at all. Maybe the virus has mutated somehow.” Her brows furrowed, then lifted. “I do have some good news, though. The blood tests on the work crew were all negative.”
    He blew out a breath. “Maybe there is a God.”
    And maybe not, since Dr. Attois bent over to set her bedding down right in front of him. He made a retreat toward the door before he found himself staring at her backside the way he’d ogled her front.
    “Let’s hope so.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “And let’s hope his favor holds out twelve more hours until you and I are in the clear.”
    Even the sight of her rounded little rear end shining up at him couldn’t stop that statement from garnering his full attention. “What?”
    Her hands stilled where she was busy spreading the mattress and blankets into a pallet. “We could have been exposed today. I mean, I’m sure we’ll be fine, but…. It’ll be morning before we’ll know for sure. In the meantime, it looks like you and I will be spending the night together.”
     
    The Ranger didn’t say a word, but his stiff expression made Macy feel that he’d rather jump into a pool of leeches than spend the night with her.
    Well, why shouldn’t he? Jennifer Lopez she was not. And there was the little matter of her being responsible for an epidemic that could kill thousands of his friends and neighbors.
    Not to mention the Ranger himself.
    Suddenly embarrassed, she turned away from him, moved across the tent and busied her hands at the instant coffeemaker that had seen more of the world than most diehard travelers. She filled the battered carafe from a gallon jug of water on the floor. “I’m sorry I can’t provide better accommodations, but the Ritz was all booked. There’s an air pump in the footlocker.”
    She glanced over her shoulder without thinking about it, found him staring at her and shuddered.
    How could a man’s expression be so inscrutable and his eyes so…penetrating? She’d never been good at hiding what she was feeling, but when the Ranger looked at her, she was sure he could read her every thought.
    Given what she’d been thinking when she’d made up a bed for him, she found the possibility distinctly uncomfortable.
    He eyed the pallet, dragged a hand through his close-cropped hair and blew out a breath. “Guess it could be worse. I was assigned to a tent with Skip Hollister.”
    A harsh laugh burst out of her. “Glad to know I’m not quite the bottom of the roommate barrel.”
    “He snores like a freight train.”
    “How do you know I don’t?”
    He eyed her up and down, bringing the blood up her neck. “Do you?”
    “You won’t have to worry about it tonight.” She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, the seriousness of their situation eating its way through her mind like slow poison. “I doubt I’ll be sleeping much.”
    He didn’t ask why. Guess he didn’t have to.
    Without a clue what to do next, she sat on the edge of her cot while he blew up his air mattress, then realized she still had the coffee carafe in her hand and got up to pour the water in the reservoir. Her nerves didn’t need the caffeine, but she didn’t know what else to do with herself. The Ranger finished inflating his bed about the same time the coffeemaker quit gurgling.
    After he put the pump away, she handed him a cup and reached for another mug for herself. “I don’t have any sugar or cream.”
    “Black is fine. Thanks.”
    They both stared into their coffee in silence. The Ranger sipped, blew the steam off the cup and drank again.
    She wrapped her fingers around the mug, absorbing its warmth. Time seemed to thicken. To pass the way molasses poured from a bottle. Painfully slowly. At this rate, morning would never come.
    Macy sat on the edge of her cot again, fiddled with