Breakaway by Nancy Warren Page A

getting married until I was grown up.”
    “And have you?”
    “Married?” His tone provided the answer. “No.”
    “Maybe that means you haven’t grown up yet.”
    He chuckled. “Oh, yeah. You want to know how immature me and my buddies are? We ended up making a bet the night of Adam’s party. All of us were determined to be the last bachelor standing.”
    “Last bachelor standing? This is something to be proud of?”
    “That was a long night. Scotch may have been involved.”
    “I thought you said your friend Adam was getting married?”
    “He is.” He turned back to her and his teeth gleamed white. “One down, one to go.”
    It sounded to her like a singularly foolish bet and annoyed her on some level. “And what do you win?”
    “Win?”
    “Does this foolish bet include a prize?”
    He turned once more to look at her. A sheen of sweat gleamed on his forehead, otherwise he looked as cool as a bowl of ice cream. “Prize?” He seemed to think about it for a moment. “Bragging rights, I guess.”
    She could feel a hot spot forming on her heel. She hoped there were blister pads or some kind of plaster in the first-aid kit. “It sounds to me as though Adam is the person who really won your bet.”
    “Yep. That’s exactly what Adam says.”
    Well, at least one of them had some sense, she thought as she trudged on.
    Was she seriously considering dating a man who would enter a contest where not getting married was the goal?
    She watched him moving through the forest, his shoulder muscles rippling as he beat back the branches and vines, his body moving with athletic grace. Even through her fatigue she felt a quiver of desire.
    What did it matter? She wasn’t looking for anything permanent. She could have some fun with Max knowing he wouldn’t suddenly go all serious on her.
    It was a perfect arrangement. He’d proven himself to be a good pilot, a good man to have around in an emergency. She enjoyed his company, was attracted to him physically. Something about him suggested that he wasn’t going to make a thirty-year career out of his job at Polar Air. They’d probably keep him until the snow fell. If he couldn’t handle an Alaskan winter, he’d move on. And even if he did she doubted he’d last more than a year. She could enjoy him while he was here and they’d part friends.
    So why did she feel so irritated by that stupid bet?

11
    C LAIRE WAS BEGINNING to think they’d never hit water, that, somehow, in spite of the compass, they’d been wandering in circles, going nowhere.
    And then, they heard the blessed sound of water. It felt as though they burst out of the trees and there was the river, swift, blue and as welcome to her as the sun in the morning.
    With a cry of relief, she ran to the edge of the river and knelt down, plunging her hands into the cold water, splashing it on her face, and then, using her cupped hands, she drank and drank until she could drink no more. She couldn’t imagine waiting to purify the water and at the rate it was racing, she doubted there was any need to.
    Water had never tasted so good. Even the most expensive champagne she’d ever sipped, and admittedly she’d never sampled the really top-drawer stuff, didn’t come close. She glanced down river and saw that Max was sucking back cold, clear water as greedily as she was. Clean, tidy Max glanced up at her and grinned, water running down his chin. For a second their gazes held and she felt a surge of sexual heat so strong she caught her breath.
    He rose, never letting his gaze drop, and she felt powerless to break the connection. He came closer, not even bothering to wipe the water off his face so it caught in the late-afternoon sun and sparkled.
    Closer.
    Never breaking stride until he stood right in front of her, so close she could see the stubble on his face and glimpse the black flecks in his dark brown eyes. Eyes that stared at her with an intensity that made her shiver.
    He moved even closer. She didn’t step