Dangerous Talents Read Online Free PDF Page A

his gaze drew her back to the map.
    The light from the nearly full moon revealed the markings clearly enough. Cele followed the curved line of a road with her finger. “This is about where I fell, I think. And over here is–” Cele stopped, confused. She recognized various trail icons, and the topographical lines that indicated changes in elevation, but the words were incomprehensible. She knew the little marks said “Tucson” and “Coronado National Forest,” but she couldn’t read them. She blinked hard, then brought the paper closer to her face. The letters were clear. Lack of light or blurred vision wasn’t the problem. The words simply made no sense.
    “My lady?” Sorn asked.
    “I can’t read it.” Cele said softly. “I should be able to read this,” she said louder. She couldn’t have a brain injury bad enough to keep her from reading without having other serious problems. “What’s going on here?” Panic edged her voice and she looked wildly from Dahleven to Sorn and back again. “What’s happening to me?” The world had twisted strangely about her yesterday, changing its shape, and now she was changing, too.
    Dahleven kept his eyes on her while he spoke in an even tone to Sorn. “You were about to offer Lady Celia something to eat, were you not?” Then he knelt, picked up a rock, and scratched something in the sand.
    It was the words, “Are you hungry?”
    She could read it!
    Cele’s laugh had a ragged edge, but some of the tightness in her chest relaxed. “Yes! Yes, I am.” Her panic receded, but her confusion remained. Why couldn’t she read her map when she could read what Dahleven had written?
    Dahleven redirected her thoughts. “I regret we can offer only a cold supper. A fire could be too easily seen at a distance.” He offered her his hand and led her to the low rock he’d sat on earlier, then seated himself on another a little distance from her.
    He watched her while she ate. She half expected him to keep badgering her with questions she’d already answered, but he didn’t say anything; he just watched her. His steady gaze made her nervous. She tried to ignore him, but he made that impossible by apologizing for retaining her Swiss Army knife.
    “You are clearly no enemy known to us, but even a small blade can draw blood,” he said, as though the knife were more a danger than she was.
    She found his courtesy as puzzling as his arrogance was annoying, but she said nothing and kept chewing the spicy dried meat Sorn offered. It was salty and delicious. Unfortunately, Dahleven stopped her from eating anywhere near enough.
    The day’s heat fled and the night turned chilly. With the edge taken off her hunger and no longer warmed by her anger, Cele began to shiver.
    Dahleven offered her a warm hand to help her rise. “You’ll sleep with me and Sorn tonight. We–”
    Alarm and anger flared through her. Cele snatched her hand back. “Not in this lifetime!”
    She should have seen this coming. His motives were clear now. He hadn’t been protecting her from that younger man’s attentions, he’d been saving her for himself. That’s why he’d softened his approach–to make her more compliant. And if she didn’t cooperate? Cele’s fears crystallized with sharp cutting edges. She might have been mistaken before about his intentions with the knife, but it was clear Dahleven wasn’t the kind who accepted no for an answer. Still, “no” was all he was going to get.

 
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    Dahleven blinked with surprise at the woman in front of him. The moonlight had turned Lady Celia’s fair hair to silver, but her face was tight again with stubborn anger.
    “I’m not sleeping with you, any of you, now or ever!”
    The camp fell silent.
    “You will–”
    She cut him off again. “You think you can pass me around? Buy me with a little food and water?” Rage vibrated in the air around her. “I’ll fight if I have to. I won’t be your toy, and I won’t let you