Page 95 of Esperance

She kept walking, her eyes on the trail rather than on him. “You don’t need to pretend to worry about me.”

“I’m not pretending.”

She drew even with him and paused, finally meeting his gaze. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not the one with a fear of falling off mountains.”

He blinked. Her voice was edged with a threat, and that was the last thing he’d expected from her. Under other circumstances, he may have laughed. Now, he just stared at her. “But you’re afraid of the jungle.”

She grunted. “What a sorry pair we make.” She resumed walking, and the path was just wide enough here that he moved to walk at her side.

All around them, the jungle hummed with life. Colorful birds squawked at them and small brown and gray monkeys chirped and swung on vines, following them overhead. Lizards zipped off the path ahead of them, and though Carver didn’t see any snakes, he knew they were in the underbrush and in the trees.

He thought it would be best not to tell Amryn that.

“I’m surprised you didn’t insist on doing this hike with Marriset.”

He glanced over at her. “Why would I have done that?”

She rolled her eyes. “As if I need to point outwhy,” she muttered.

“I thought you didn’t care.”

“I don’t.” She kicked at a small stone in the path, and it skittered across the packed dirt.

He gentled his tone. “It was never my intention to hurt you.”

“Don’t worry. Your intentions were glaringly obvious.” Her hands fisted at her sides. “To be honest, you didn’t strike me as the sort of man to share. Is it every other night with you and Darrin?”

He shot her a look. “I haven’t been with her. Not like that.”

She snorted. “How naïve do you think I am?”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You want to tell me the truth? Fine.” She stopped walking and they faced each other, a mere pace between them. He could see the flush in her cheeks, the barely leashed hurt in her accusing eyes. “Where were you our last night at Esperance? I woke in the middle of the night and you weren’t in the apartment.”

He’d been with Ford, but he couldn’t admit that. “I wasn’t with Marriset.”

“Then where were you?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I went for a walk.”

“You’re lying.” She started walking again, and her tone was tighter than before. “Perhaps we could set up a rotation and I can entertain Darrin. We wouldn’t want him to miss his wife too much.”

The mere thought of Darrin touching Amryn made Carver’s blood heat. “Stay away from him.”

Her chin tipped up in challenge. “Or what?”

It was that red hair, he decided. He’d grown up on stories about legendary harpies who had flaming red hair and tore men asunder, and Ford had warned him that redheads of Ferradin had notorious tempers.

He just hadn’t expected his own to be so easily riled by her.

He smiled, and it wasn’t a nice one. “If Darrin touches you, I’ll kill him.”

She folded her arms with a huff. “That’s one way to get her all to yourself.”

Frustration made his skin itch. “How do I convince you that I haven’t done anything with Marriset?”

“Youwon’tbe able to convince me. I’ve seen it for myself.” Her sharp tone couldn’t mask the hurt in her voice.

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