The Bronzed Hawk Read Online Free PDF

you to get them to leave so that I could get on with my job.” She could feel the tears brimming in her eyes. Why did it hurt so much to realize that he thought of her as some kind of unfeeling vamp? The man meant absolutely nothing to her.
    O’Brien studied her tear-bright eyes and pale, taut face for a long moment before his hand resumed its leisurely stroking motion. “Poor baby,” he said gently. “I don’t think you even realized it yourself. Can’t you see that you wanted to provoke a response from me even if itwas a violent one? I can’t let you keep doing that, Kelly. I’ve never had the coolest temperament anyway, and you seem to be able to stir me up without trying. Prod me too far, and I won’t care if I hurt you or not.”
    Kelly shook her head, her jade eyes clouded with bewilderment. “You’re wrong, Nick. I wouldn’t do anything like that.” She couldn’t be that sort of sensation seeker, could she? She had a fleeting memory of that surge of impish triumph she’d felt when she had left Nick in that room with those two angry men, and she felt suddenly sick.
    “You won’t be doing it anymore,” O’Brien said quietly. “Because we’re going to be closer than Siamese twins, Goldilocks, and I know you better than you do yourself. There aren’t going to be any more no-win situations for you, Kelly.” The elevator doors slid silently open, and Nick took her arm and propelled her firmly through the lobby toward the glass entrance doors. “And if you bring me face-to-face with any other of your ex-lovers, I’ll probably murder them,” he said grimly.
    ————
    “Is there anything I can do to help?” Kelly shouted over the roar of the burners.
    O’Brien looked up from his intent scanning of the altimeter to give her a smile. “Just relax and enjoy,” he shouted back. “I have to keep an eye on these burners for a bit. If we climb too rapidly, the air resistance could cause the balloon to split.”
    “What a pleasant thought,” Kelly replied sarcastically, moving to the side of the wicker gondola to peer down at the Rio Grande valley far below. It looked just like a painting by Grandma Moses from this height, she mused, all patchwork green and brown. Her gaze moved up anxiously to the brilliant scarlet balloon blossoming above her like an enormous mushroom. Propelled by the hot air generated by the burners, the balloon was soaring like a toy released by a child’s careless hand.
    But there had been nothing careless about their ascension. It had taken six men to restrain and hold the billowing chute open after the burnershad been lit until it was time to heave the gondola into the air.
    The air was growing rapidly cooler, and Kelly slipped on her jacket and zippered it before reaching into her duffel bag for her camera. For the next five minutes she occupied herself with shooting the interior of their six-foot-square gondola and then, with considerably more interest, O’Brien’s dark, intent face and taut, alert form. Against the stunning blue backdrop of the sky, he appeared even more aggressively masculine.
    O’Brien looked up briefly, and raised an eyebrow, but her snapping shutter received no further attention. It was only when he noticed her seated on the rim of the gondola with only one arm around the metal strut for balance that he protested. And it was a silent protest; he gave her a ferocious, menacing frown and gestured abruptly with one hand.
    After grimacing at him, Kelly reluctantly climbed down and leaned against the side of the basket, where she continued to shoot pictures. She was startled out of her absorption with hertask by the sudden absence of any sound. O’Brien had turned off the burners.
    “We’ve reached fifteen thousand feet,” he explained, as he reached for his black flight jacket and pulled it on. “We’ll only need to use the burners occasionally from now on. Our optimum altitude is seventeen thousand, and the wind will carry us the remaining