listened to the two men talking and caught some of their enthusiasm. For the first time since she’d risen at such an ungodly hour, she felt terrific, even invigorated. It had a lot to do with the day, which had fulfilled its early-morning promise by whisking the last of the clouds away beyond the mountain range. The sun was burning off the morning chill and the azure sky was a postcard-perfect backdrop for the bright yellows, reds, greens and blues that were billowing to the height of tall buildings as they filled with cool air. Her exhilaration also had just a little to do with the man who’d been working side by side with her and John Harley. Blake’s instructions had been crisp and precise, but after his initial sternness he’d flashed her a few unexpected and thoroughly devastating smiles that had made her pulse skip erratically.
Now he hopped over the edge of the gondola and began checking the equipment for a second time, sending a stream of fire upward to heat the air in the balloon, which tugged against the tethers holding it to the ground. His concentration was intense, his finely chiseled mouth was set in a line of determination.
Audrey had never met a man who seemed to thrive so on what she considered such a frivolous challenge. She’d met ambitious men, who viewed success as the ultimate achievement with money as the only measurement. She’d met womanizers who thrilled only to the chase and left behind a wake of broken-hearted lovers. She supposed she’d even met a few men who took their games—tennis, golf, even poker—seriously. But there was a fierce, single-minded edge to Blake Marshall’s drive to win that was a bit frightening in its intensity.
It also piqued her curiosity. What made such a man tick? Why wasn’t he satisfied with the professional acclaim, the growing wealth, the well-publicized social whirl?
“Are you all set?” he was asking her now, his voice still rough with an early-morning huskiness that strummed across her nerves.
“Yes. I think I have everything I need.”
“Okay, then, why don’t you hop in?”
Audrey’s delicately arched brows shot up and her mouth dropped open.
“Hop in?” she repeated blankly.
Blake acted as though he hadn’t heard the note of horror in her voice or noticed that her complexion was turning an interesting shade of green. “Here, I’ll give you a hand.”
Before she could voice a violent protest, one exceptionally strong arm snagged her around her waist and the other caught her behind the knees. She felt herself being effortlessly lifted high in the air, then set back on her feet in the confined space of the gondola. She grabbed the sides and started to hoist herself right back out again, but Blake’s hand was firmly attached to her belt.
“Whoa! Where do you think you’re going?”
With the strength of sheer terror, she jerked free, whirled around and faced Blake Marshall, her eyes flashing with the sparks of a finely cut amethyst. This time she found the words and the emphasis that had been missing in her conversation with Harvey, the authoritative, indignant tone that might have saved her from getting into this preposterous situation in the first place.
“Let me out of here, you idiot! I am not going up in this thing!”
“It’s too late to back out now, love. When I hire a crew, I expect them to stay until the job’s done,” he said. “I want you along for this ride.” As if that settled the matter, his attention once more focused entirely on the equipment.
With Blake’s attention diverted, Audrey scrambled back toward the side. “I am not one of your crew and it is not too late,” she said, trying desperately to swing one leg up over the edge of the basket...gondola...whatever.
If only she’d been half-awake, she would have seen this coming. From the minute he’d put her to work, she would have realized he’d mistaken her for someone else. Well, she’d just have to get out of here and find that someone else for him. Either that or he could fire her. She didn’t much care, as long as she stayed on the ground where God had meant her to be.
With a dawning sense of absolute horror, she realized it was too late. The ground was receding rapidly and she felt the gentle, almost indiscernible sway of the basket as it drifted skyward. She looked from the shrinking landscape below to the flames shooting puffs of hot air above her head, then glanced out toward the mountains looming before her in the distance.
“Oh, my God,” she sighed softly, clamping her eyes shut and sinking down into a sitting position. She drew her legs up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and buried her face on her knees. “I will never, ever, not in a million years forgive Harvey for this.”
Subconsciously, Audrey’s solemn vow registered in Blake’s head, and suddenly he really looked at her for the first time. She was huddled in the bottom of the gondola and clinging to her purse with the desperate, white-knuckled grip of a woman trying to prevent a mugging.
An unexpected and untimely shaft of sympathy pierced his heart and he muttered a disgusted oath under his breath. Judging from the way she was swallowing and from her ashen complexion, she was probably trying to quell the beginnings of a well-earned anxiety attack.
Why the devil hadn’t he listened to his instincts? From the moment he’d met her, he’d sensed that Audrey Nelson didn’t know a blasted thing about ballooning. Hell, she’d told him as much.
But then he’d been lured by something in the depths of those violet eyes of hers and some part of him—no doubt his self-indulgent libido—had wanted her along for the ride almost as much as he’d wanted to win the race. Blake was used to taking risks. He thrived on them, in fact. Hauling Audrey Nelson into the gondola over her protests had been a risk, but one he’d been so certain would pay off.
His well-honed self-confidence had convinced him it just might be possible to have both a victory and the companionship of the woman with the delightfully fiery temper, valiant determination and, most intriguing of all, an almost childlike sense of wonder. With some arrogantly masculine, possessive urge, he’d wanted to initiate her into the glories of ballooning and he’d simply made up his mind to do it. That same decisiveness had made him a success at business, but today it just might have gotten out of hand. If only he hadn’t felt such an unexpected and overwhelming need to hear that tart tongue of hers whispering his name, he might have stopped to think twice about what he was doing.
What an insensitive fool he’d been!
For one thing, he hadn’t counted on her sheer terror. For all of Audrey’s rather vocal protests, he’d expected eventual delight and he was still getting unfeigned panic. Obviously more than inexperience was at play here. He had to find some way to distract her, to calm her down before she fainted. He’d have enough trouble guiding the balloon without having her passed out at his feet or delivering well-aimed blows to his shins, which was what he suspected she wanted to do.
Charm, Marshall, all the tabloids say you have it.
Almost casually, he glanced down at her. Referring to her muttered threat—the last words she’d spoken—he asked, “Harvey who?”
He already suspected the answer, and he knew now why there’d been a sense of familiarity
