Tender Taming

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Authors: Heather Graham
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within minutes they were pulling off the road. They had arrived at a small Indian village. Bright, neatly printed signs announced that visitors were welcome, and on the outskirts of the slatted pine enclosure were two large, modern gas pumps. Whitney started to smile with inner relief. They weren’t going to be so terribly isolated after all!
    “This isn’t where we are staying.” The laughing whisper in her ear sent mixed shivers of apprehension and delight tingling along the length of her spine. Eagle had an uncanny habit of reading her thoughts.
    “Airboat from here,” Randy said cheerfully, hopping from the jeep. “Katie could take you into the village for a minute, though—”
    “She can see the village next week,” Eagle said, vaulting out of the vehicle to join Randy. “You two have to get back.”
    “I’d like to see the village now—” Whitney began, determined to voice her opinion.
    “No time,” Eagle shouted from the rear, where he was busily disengaging the airboat. “Don’t worry, it won’t go away.”
    Whitney suddenly wished that White Eagle would find a quicksand pit and sink into it. He was drawing her into a trap, one she could see clearly, yet she was powerless to stop the bars from closing around her. He wasn’t forcing her deeper into the Glades; it was if he had somehow magnetized her. He kept making up the rules, and she kept following them. What else could she do? If she demanded that they see the village now, she would be the one to appear petulant and domineering! Sound reasoning had been given her—there wasn’t time.
    But there was more to it than that. She just didn’t know what. Either I have swamp fever or I’ve gone crazy, Whitney told herself with disgust. No, that wasn’t true. She was going into the swamp because she sincerely cared about her job and the people it involved.
    Liar! A voice spoke from her heart with an impetus she couldn’t control. She was going because she had never been so fascinated by a man before in her life, and if White Eagle had challenged her to join him for a flight to Pluto, she would have found an excuse to hop right into the rocket …
    “Are you with us?”
    Startled, Whitney jumped and turned to Eagle with guilty eyes, praying he hadn’t read her thoughts again.
    “Are you with us? We’re all set. You weren’t daydreaming about a luxury suite on the beach, were you?” he queried blandly.
    “No … no …” Whitney rushed away from him, scampering down the embankment to the canal where the airboat now waited, its propeller beginning to rev.
    “Ever been on one of these before?” Randy asked loudly as she picked her way through the weeds and climbed to the flat bed of the airboat.
    “I’ve never even seen one before!” Whitney admitted.
    “You’re going to love it!”
    She did love it. The sensation of racing over the sea of grass was exhilarating. A rush of air whipped around her face and through her clothing as they passed through the canal and over miles of marshland, flushing birds into graceful flight with their noisome coming. Randy slowed the airboat, and Whitney felt that strange current of electricity as White Eagle set an arm around her waist to point out the reason for the delay—her first sight of an in-the-wild alligator.
    “’Gator or crocodile?” Eagle quizzed, his voice and breath whistling softly in her ear.
    “’Gator!” she responded smugly. “Crocodiles are coastal!”
    “Right.” His arm remained around her as they hovered closer to the beast. Whitney shivered involuntarily. The animal was a green color that blended well with the high grass; its jaw, even as it sat motionless, raised several inches so that she could see the open, waiting mouth and its rows of razor-sharp teeth. Black beady eyes observed them in a silent, chilling stare.
    The arm around Whitney tightened reassuringly. It was odd; the man teased her mercilessly, yet he intuitively knew when she was really frightened and was

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