“Gah!” The pressure made her bend forward as her arm rode up her back. He levered the gun from her other hand. Absurdly, she felt pleased at the level of his training. Her own inattention had gotten her in this position—well, the bear had distracted her. A poor excuse, though.
Now, she suddenly became acutely aware, she was bent over naked in front of the guard and Dankyo. She shut her eyes, groaning in embarrassment when sounds from behind told her another two guards had arrived.
“Let her go, Dankyo!” Theo snapped. “Claire is not a threat!”
“She threatened Ericson, sir, and she had a gun in her other hand.”
“Understood. Her own actions were wrong, and I will be explaining that to her. But she is not a danger. At all. I expect you to remember that.”
“Yes, sir.”
Her arm released, Claire brought it to her front, grunting at the discomfort.
“Here.” Theo draped his coat around her, hugged her to his chest, soothing the ache in her shoulder with massaging fingers. “Now apologize to Ericson, please, Claire. And to Dankyo.”
She fumed and said nothing. He waited a few seconds, then directed the guards. “Thank you for your help, all of you, but now return to your posts. Ericson, I apologize on behalf of Claire. She’s a little ruffled right now.”
With the stabs in her shoulder muscles subsiding to dull throbs, Claire relaxed into Theo’s hold, snuggling up against him. She’d never tire of this, of his warmth and masculine aroma—even after the swim it remained to tantalize her. Her black mood was gone, burned away by the violence. She just wanted him. They stayed that way for a while, comforting each other.
His grip tightened. “Don’t you ever do that again! I know what you did, trying to draw the bear away from me. Why?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to kill it. I’m fast. I could have gotten it to chase me, then doubled back or climbed a tree.”
“It was foolhardy. Next time, if there is one, let me have the gun. I won’t hesitate. I doubt either of us wants to stay here with the bear. We’ll return to the manor.” He let her go.
She looked up at him. “You didn’t tell me you had a cordon around us. All that time. They might have been watching!” She shook her head. “Dankyo even. I would never have—”
“What? Made love like you did? I told them to not watch the clearing, though considering the attraction…” He reached under the jacket, curved his hand under her breast. “Some of them may have watched, or heard your rather loud screaming. At least they’ll know you’re not a danger to me.”
“Not Dankyo,” she said tersely, remembering the way he’d twisted her arm. He’d still thought her a danger. Screaming? Oh Lord, I did, didn’t I?
“Hmm, I don’t know.” Theo waggled his eyebrows. “You didn’t see the look on his face when he had you bent over with your ass up.”
“What! Oh!” She huffed. Dankyo had looked at her? At her bottom? She wished fervently she’d given the man a heart attack. “I’m getting my clothes on.”
Having dried themselves with towels from the basket, they dressed quickly, packed the picnic gear, and hauled it back to the gyrocopter.
The bear lay where he’d fallen. A male. Unusually aggressive or maybe wounded after encountering one of the house guards? What did it matter now? He was dead, crumpled like a big furry toy. Flies had arrived, buzzing in a sociable crowd near the wound. Blood leaked onto the grass at his chest. Hell and damnation. She’d never have made a good assassin anyway.
After stuffing the last cushion in the gyrocopter, she turned to find Theo observing her with arms folded.
“Yes?”
“I haven’t forgotten. There are two issues of disobedience to be dealt with when we get back. And this time, there’s no excuse.” That said, he climbed into the pilot’s seat, leaving her puzzling over what, exactly, he’d meant.
Chapter Fourteen
The ride back seemed swifter, but she made sure to mark the distance and direction of the crash site when they passed to the south of it. Soon the manor lay beneath them. From above it was clearly U-shaped with two equal wings attached to the main section—the landing pad sticking out from the upper story like a gigantic tongue. The red armored balloon of the Final Rebuttal challenged the manor for size—equal in width if not in length.
Shadowing them from a half mile away was another gyrocopter. She eyed it sourly. Dankyo would be on that one. Maybe it could crash. She was going to have to have it out with him sometime. She’d get it through his head that she wasn’t to be messed with.