Driven by Fire Read Online Free PDF

her fingers came away wet and sticky. She didn’t have to look at her hand to know it was covered with blood, and she gulped. She’d never been good with blood, particularly her own.
    “You tell me,” he said. “And it may be your little friend they were after. Whoever they were, they were a piss-poor shot. If it had been me, your head would have been blown apart with the first bullet.”
    Jenny wasn’t sure which was worse, her nausea at his gruesome image or his calmly stated expertise. “Thrilled to know you’re so accomplished,” she muttered.
    The bastard actually smiled. “You have no idea how talented I am,” he said. Before she realized what he was doing, he slid his arm behind her back and helped her into a sitting position. She didn’t want him touching her, but she wasn’t strong enough to sit by herself—not with a ridiculous amount of blood pouring down the side of her face.
    “Am I dying?” She realized too late that it gave him the perfect opening. He was probably going to respond with “I should be so lucky.”
    Once again he surprised her. “No, though you might have a hell of a headache. Head wounds bleed like crazy.” She felt the pressure against her waist as he slowly helped her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
    She really wanted to stand on her own two feet, but the feel of the blood sliding down her skin and Soledad’s horrified little squeaks only added to her dizziness. She started to sink back, and Matthew Ryder simply did the unthinkable and picked her up in his arms.
    “Put me down,” she gasped.
    “Don’t be an even bigger pain in my ass than you’ve been already,” he said tersely, starting up the curving front stairs with Soledad keeping pace with them. “Once you get cleaned up you’ll feel a lot better.”
    If she didn’t throw up first. The thought of vomiting all over him filled her with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it would be completely embarrassing, and on the other, it would be perfect revenge for his lack of sympathy. In the scheme of things she didn’t like vomiting, so she did her best to swallow her bile, despite the slight bounce as he carried her up the long flight of stairs. She just wanted to go home and go to bed, but Ryder seemed to have other ideas.
    “Press your head against my chest.” His voice was matter-of-fact.
    “Why should I?” The last thing Jenny wanted to do was cuddle up against him. She could already feel the beating of his heart and the warmth of his skin against hers as he mounted the stairs, and it disturbed her. She didn’t want to think of him as a living, breathing man—he was too tempting when she was much better off thinking of him as the enemy.
    “Because otherwise you’ll bleed all over the goddamn carpet.” His rough voice was heartless. “We just had this place decorated, and I don’t need your blood leaving a trail up to the bedrooms.”
    “Why, how thoughtful of you. I’ll do my best not to bleed on you as well.” Her voice was admirably cool.
    “Too late for that.”
    Having someone carry her was a strange sensation, she thought. It made her feel safe, protected, wiping out her instinctive feelings of distrust. He was so strong and warm that she wanted to burrow against him, looking for comfort, but she did her best to simply press her bloody head against his shoulder without rubbing against him. “You’re probably used to people bleeding all over you.”
    “Not really. I usually shoot them from a distance.”
    That left her speechless. Soledad was with them, a worried expression in her big eyes, and Jenny leaned forward, wanting to reassure her, when Ryder simply pushed her back against his shoulder, holding her there as he reached the top of the landing. “Worry about yourself, not your little waif.”
    “Is there something I need to worry about?” She couldn’t keep the edge from her voice. “I thought this was just a graze.” Suddenly she began imagining all sorts of