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to toss a glare behind him and growl, “What?”
    “Water.”
    “So you can talk. I was beginning to think they’d cut your tongue out.”
    His mocking voice disturbed her for some reason. She ignored that as he pulled the canteen from a hook on his waist and handed it to her. She accepted it and took a long swallow, then rammed the canteen into his face.
    Blood spurted. A vile curse erupted from his mouth as he grabbed his nose. Squatting, she snatched the knife he dropped. The sharp blade sliced the tie that bound her hands and the one that bound her to him. She took off. With blood pouring from his nose, he’d have difficultly following her for a few seconds. She had to make the most of his distraction.
    Speed more important than stealth, she didn’t bother to soften her footsteps. For an instant, she wished she hadn’t left the knife with him but knew it was too cumbersome to carry. Branches cut and clawed at her skin as she forged through the thick green wildness. Gasping sobs raked over her lungs. A part of her felt surprise at that noise. It didn’t sound normal coming from her. She felt no emotion other than the need to escape her captor; why, then, did it feel as though she might lose control?
    A slight breeze of warning—then a hard, powerful body slammed into her, tumbling her to the ground.
    Gut-wrenching fury almost overwhelmed Ethan. His nose pounded and his side throbbed, alerting him he’d started bleeding again. White-hot anger burned in his brain. Betrayal beat a heavy, agonizing tune against his heart. Shea had turned. There was no other explanation. Earlier today, she had tried to kill him. He had searched for an answer but hadn’t come up with one. Now, without a doubt, he had the answer, though it clawed his gut to admit it. The one woman he had believed in, trusted above all others, had turned bad.
    His body covered her as she lay facedown on the ground. Slender arms stretched in front of her; her shapely, firm ass jerked up, trying to knock him off. Despite the hurt and fury roaring through him, his body recognized the unique scent and soft femininity of his former lover. Ethan cursed his physical reaction, though he knew it was pointless. This beautiful woman was the only one who’d ever caused his libido to overrule his good sense. Just because Shea had turned into a killer made no difference to his hardening erection as it pressed against her, searching for her familiar soft, sweet heat.
    With no small amount of regret, Ethan did the only thing he could do to save them both. Clipping the edge of her jaw to stun her, he pressed his thumb against her neck with the right amount of pressure, forcing unconsciousness. As her struggles ceased and her body relaxed, a part of him wanted to gather her in his arms and howl with hurt fury at her betrayal, while another part was furious for even caring.
    Breath wheezing from his overtaxed lungs, he rolled off her body and allowed himself a few seconds of rest. Dim light filtered through the trees and indicated that in an hour, perhaps two, the jungle would be in total darkness. There was little time to spare. He sat up, pulled a wet towelette from a plastic container in his pack, and wiped at his sore nose. Damn thing had thankfully stopped bleeding. He knew from experience it wasn’t broken, but it throbbed like a toothache and would most likely result in some colorful bruises.
    The bloody towelette tucked away, he pulled out more ties from the pack and bound Shea’s hands and legs again. Teeth clenched against the slash of pain in his side, he hauled her unconscious form up and then over his shoulder. He needed to find civilization before nightfall. His cellphone had no signal, so calling for help was out until they were closer to a town. How he would explain the tied-up, unconscious woman on his shoulder, he’d worry about later.
    As he trudged down hills, around tree stumps, and over vines the size of elephant trunks, Ethan tried not to think