Just Dare Me...

Weather forecast. He looked toward the sky. Hmm, maybe he should have read those papers after all.

“A guide will meet us at the site and give us more instructions from there.” She ran her finger down one of the sheets. “Says here there’ll be ten of us.”

He frowned. Not enough bodies to keep them from bumping into each other.

She pivoted her head. “Do you know Nick Ocean?”

Oh, brother—he knew that look. He’d seen it in Courtney’s eyes when she talked about the movie star. “I’ve met him a couple of times at trade shows.”

“What’s he like? He seems so macho onscreen.”

Dell shrugged and shifted in his seat. “I guess.”

“Tori wants me to get his autograph.”

“Just be careful around him. I’ve heard that he likes to hit on young women.”

“That’s funny,” she murmured, looking back to the papers. “I’ve heard the same thing about you.”

He frowned and only the ringing of his cell phone in its mounted cradle kept him from defending himself. In deference to the ban on holding a cell phone while driving, he hit the hands-free speaker button on the visor. “This is Dell.”

“Hey, gorgeous, it’s Courtney.”

He glanced sideways at Gabby. She didn’t act as if she were listening, but he wished he’d remembered to bring the headset for his phone. “Hi. This is a surprise.”

“I just called to wish you luck on your wilderness weekend—wink, wink.” She laughed gaily.

He shifted in his seat. “Uh, thanks. We’re on our way up there now.”

“We?”

“Gabby—I mean, Gabrielle is with me.”

“Oh.”

“She doesn’t have a car.”

“I see,” she said, her voice laced with innuendo. “Well, Gabby, should feel right at home in the mountains, with all the trees.” Laughter at her own joke burst over the speaker.

Dell shifted in his seat. “Courtney, you’re on the hands-free speaker.”

“Oh. Sorry, Gabby,” she said, not sounding sorry at all.

“How are things in Manhattan?” he asked, trying to reroute the conversation into safer territory.

“Great,” she said brightly. “My apartment is fabulous, the view from my office is unreal and the men here think my southern accent is exotic.”

“That’s nice,” he said breezily.

“In fact, I need to run. Have fun this weekend you two,” she said, her voice singsongy. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Thinking sourly that Courtney’s parting remark left way too much leeway, Dell disconnected the call. “Sorry about that,” he said, feeling annoyed with Courtney over her insensitive remarks, and feeling guilty that she had struck a nerve implying that in a cozy setting with a member of the opposite sex, he would behave accordingly.

Gabby didn’t respond, just kept reading, which only disgruntled him more. Why wouldn’t the woman talk to him? She just sat there, exuding some kind of light, fruity scent that made him wonder if she tasted as good as she smelled.

He wondered if she had any idea of how appealing she was, if she’d ever been thoroughly kissed or if she’d ever had those long, fabulous legs of hers wrapped around a man who knew what he was doing.

Then Dell pulled his hand down his face. He had to get a grip on himself. These unforeseen feelings of lust were messing with his head.

He glanced at Gabby’s tempting profile, groaning inwardly.

And they weren’t even there yet.

5

GABRIELLE TRIED to concentrate on the papers she was pretending to read, wishing that she hadn’t been privy to a conversation between Dell and his ex-whatever. And the last thing she needed was for Courtney to taunt her about the two of them being thrown together in an intimate setting. As if she weren’t supremely aware of the man sitting next to her.

His seemingly constant questions had rattled her, but in truth, she preferred him talking—when she was answering him, it took her mind off the fact that he looked so sexy in his khaki shorts and pale blue T-shirt. Her gaze kept straying to his tanned, bare arms and legs, thinking how much more at ease he looked in hiking clothes versus suits.

Maybe he was more at ease, but seeing his muscular limbs sprawled in the seat and the athletic way he controlled his body was causing her a great deal of discomfort. And she couldn’t afford to let her irrational attraction to Dell distract her from the competition—she needed all her faculties if she were going to have a fighting chance. With every mile that ticked off the odometer, the stone of dread in her stomach grew heavier and heavier. She nibbled on her thumbnail—what had she gotten herself into?

Dell seemed to have picked up speed since his phone call with Courtney. He turned off the state highway onto a two-lane road that led to the Amicalola Falls State Park, and with the change in landscape, her nerves ratcheted higher. Hoping to calm herself, she pulled out the “Adrenaline Rush” article that she’d torn out and brought with her for moral support.

Everyone has untapped talents, or talents that you take for granted and can apply to other parts of your life.

She reread the words she’d already practically memorized, desperate to drum last-minute courage into her brain, but her brain seemed a little…woozy. Maybe it was her imagination, but the roads seemed to be getting more steep…and more curvy…

Suddenly her stomach roiled and she grabbed the handle on the door frame above her.

“What’s wrong?” Dell asked.

“I…think…I’m…carsick,” she murmured. “You might…want to…slow down.”

“You might want to stop reading,” he said irritably. “We’re running late, remember?”

“I…don’t…ride…in cars…very…often,” she said, grabbing her stomach.

“Oh, good grief,” he muttered.

The vehicle slowed, and he zoomed her window down, bathing her with hot, but fresh, air. She hung her head out the window and breathed deeply, knowing that she probably looked pathetic to Dell, but acknowledged it was better than throwing up in front of him. Several minutes later, her stomach was feeling a touch better…but her throat was feeling scratchy and her nose had started to run.

Ragweed.

Getting back to nature had brought her dormant allergies roaring to life. This did not bode well for the weekend. “Do you have a tissue?” she asked, wiping at her watery eyes.

He tapped the brake. “Are you going to be sick?”

“No, at least not yet. My allergies are acting up.”