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foraging. The gravel crunched under her boots as she made it to the pool.
    Had it only been a day?
    It seemed so much longer. The water was still spilling into the pool, roaring as the warming temperatures melted the snow at higher elevations. She stripped down to her suit and waded into the water.
    Maybe he’d be gone when she returned.
    She started swimming, trying to ignore how that idea made her feel.
    It really shouldn’t bother her.
    Really.
    She made it up onto the rocks beneath the falling water and let it cascade over her. Today, her troubling thoughts centered on her guest. Maybe that was an improvement. But she still felt herself growing anxious as she left the water for the swim back to shore.
    “I guess the swimsuit is for my benefit.”
    She hesitated, looking for him. Up the bank, where the trees were, he’d taken a position against one of their trunks. The way he watched the edges of the clearing made her nervous.
    “Did you remember anything?”
    She walked out of the water and ordered herself to not shield herself with her hands. He was inspecting her with his dark gaze, but she needed to remember he’d seen more.
    He choked on a soft sound of male amusement and her cheeks flared with a scarlet blush.
    “Don’t you have any manners?” She stepped into her sweatpants and boots. “I mean, when it comes to listening in all the time?”
    He shrugged, a grin curving his lips and making him look far too good. He’d been eye candy before, but without his stern, unapproachable expression, he was pure intoxication for her female senses.
    “You’re not too hard on the eyes either.”
    She was still blushing, but for a different reason now. Maybe it was misplaced, the timing completely off, but she enjoyed the compliment. She ended up smiling at him, their gazes locking and fusing. A shiver went down her back and it had nothing to do with the chilly mountain water. The delicate skin of her lips tingled, desire for a kiss teasing her. It was fueled by more than what he looked like. She felt him, his strength, and it combined inside her to trigger a flame that she was positive she couldn’t control.
    Her nipples tightened, making two little points that betrayed her. She grabbed her sweatshirt and hurried into it. But when her head made it through the opening, horror flooded her.
    Two men stood behind her guest, black high-powered rifles in their hands. She blinked, half-certain she was imagining the scene. But they were still there, the guns looking deadly and the hold they had on them all too comfortable. He sensed her distress, whipping around, but the men had those rifles pointed at his chest.
    “Hands up.”
    He didn’t want to comply. His entire body drew tight, but there was nowhere to go. For a moment, it felt like she could feel his thoughts still and the pure rejection of surrender filled her mind. He would rather die.
    “You too, sweetheart.”
    She jumped, stumbling on the unsteady ground as another man spoke from behind her.
    “Do what he says, Kalin.”
    She was gripping her sweatshirt so tightly it didn’t feel like she’d be able to let it go. “What do you want?”
    “You’re not in a position to demand information.”
    The one talking had a grim look on his face that chilled her blood. He had four gold-capped teeth and no hair on his head. There was two days’ growth of stubble on his face that combined with the memory of how her guest had responded the first time they’d met.
    “No calls…no one. Or you’ll end up dead.”
    “Move one inch and I’ll shoot your kneecaps off.”
    The one talking nodded to his partner and the man shouldered his gun. He pulled a set of handcuffs off his belt and snapped one onto her guest’s hand. She heard him growl.
    “Not an inch,” the rifleman warned. “I need you alive, which leaves me plenty of places to put bullets.”
    The second man pulled her guest’s opposite hand behind his back and secured the metal cuff.
    “Bring