Worth Dying For Read Online Free PDF Page A

real danger they were in, he would never have let Amber stay on the island. She smiled weakly in response, seemingly not feeling too reassured by David’s reckless boast.
    Bane studied Amber closely over the next couple of hours. She had an air of vulnerability around her despite the cool front she put on for her colleague. The dark circles under her wide green eyes could have been due to the restless night Bane had given her, but they looked to be more permanent. Every once in a while, her hands shook as she performed the most mundane of tasks and she blew out constant frustrated breaths as she struggled with whatever she attempted to do. Her demeanour didn’t match that of a woman who would organise and manage a trip to an uninhabited island and feel confident enough to lead the staff she’d brought along. People as nervous as Amber appeared to be, usually stayed at home, hiding behind four walls. Something had happened to her, Bane surmised, something that threatened to change her forever if she let it.
    He turned away to doze against the tree again, closing his eyes and his mind to her troubles. He had enough of his own.
    Bane woke with a jolt a little while later and guessed he hadn’t been asleep long. The shadows on the ground had not moved but a few inches since he’d last checked, and Amber and David were where he’d seem them last.
    A glistening sheen of sweat covered her brow as the effects of both the building heat of the morning and her apparently frail emotional state began to take their toll. The imbecile with her seemed oblivious to the struggles of his colleague and Bane had to fight the desire to leap to her side and urge her to rest a while.
    Damnation! The woman had got under his skin, maybe just because of her resemblance to Mary, but he couldn’t be sure. Bane cast a critical eye over Amber, assessing her with the type of cold appraisal he had once employed as a slave owner back in Georgia many, many lifetimes ago. Emotion played no part in his assessment of what he had considered to be no more than livestock back then. He had torn apart families with a callous disregard for their dignity or happiness in a way that appalled him when he thought of it now. But regardless of his shame at the man he had once been, he retained the skill of taking the measure of a person in one, all encompassing glance and had used the technique often, to gain an advantage over an opponent.
    Amber’s firm, lean physique would please most, but Bane usually favoured a more voluptuous woman. And yes, her fiery mane of curls was her crowning glory, and the perfect foil for her peaches and cream complexion, but that alone would not have held his fascination for long. Bane knew absolutely nothing about her, save for what he’d learnt in the last few hours, and he had met many women who were far more beautiful than she—so why had this one begun to occupy his every waking thought?
    The couple continued on their way as the sun reached its zenith, cataloguing and photographing anything that caught Amber’s eye. David didn’t contribute much to their expedition and seemed to tire of it easily. Eventually, he stopped pretending to work and concentrated on seducing Amber.
    Finally, she snapped. “Jesus, David. Stop mauling me.”
    He snatched his hand away as if she’d burned it. His knuckles had brushed the outside of her breast yet again when he helped Amber to her feet after she stooped to examine something. Bane marvelled that she’d kept her patience as long as she had.
    David dragged a hand through his hair. “Give me a fucking break! I’m getting a little sick of the terrified virgin routine.”
    Amber squeezed her eyelids tight and pressed her palms to her ears, like she wanted to drown out the sight and sound of the man with her. When David reached for her again, mumbling the beginnings of an apology, she turned on him.
    “When will you get it into your thick skull that we are here to work and nothing