“Dislike women?” His brows arched. “My likes and dislikes aren’t as generalized as that, Lenore.” Her skin was warm and slightly damp when he curled his fingers around the back of her neck. “Have I given you the impression I dislike you?”

She had to fight the urge to stretch like a cat under his hand. “I don’t care what your personal feelings are toward me. This is business.”

“For you.” His fingers squeezed gently, bringing her an inch closer. “I’m on vacation. Do you know, your mouth’s every bit as appealing now as it was the first time I saw it.”

“I don’t want to appeal to you.” But her voice was breathy. “I want you to think of me only as a reporter.”

The smile hovered at the edges of his mouth, around the corners of his eyes. “All right,” he agreed. “In a minute.”

Then he touched his lips to hers, as gently as he had the first time, and as devastatingly. She stood still, amazed to feel as intense a swirl of sensation as she had before. When he touched her, hardly touching her, it was as if she’d never been kissed before. A new discovery, a fresh beginning—how could it be?

The weight on her back seemed to vanish. The ache in her muscles turned into a deeper, richer ache that penetrated to the bone. Her lips parted, though she knew what she invited. Then his tongue joined with hers, slipping into the moistness, drinking up her flavor.

Lee felt the urgency scream through her body, but he was patient. So patient, she couldn’t know what the patience cost him. He hadn’t expected pain. No woman had ever brought him pain with desire. He hadn’t expected the need to flame through him like brushfire, fast and out of control. Hunter had a vision, with perfect clarity, of what it would be like to take her there, on the ground, under the blazing sun with the canyon circling like castle walls around them and the sky like a cathedral dome.

But there was too much fear in her. He could sense it. Perhaps there was too much fear in him. When they came together, it might have the power to topple both their worlds.

“Your lips melt against mine, Lenore,” he whispered. “It’s all but impossible to resist.”

She drew back, aroused, alarmed and all too aware of how helpless she’d been. “I don’t want to repeat myself, Hunter,” she managed. “And I don’t want to amuse you with clichés, but this is business. I’m a reporter on assignment. If we’re to make it through the next two weeks peacefully, it’d be wise to remember that.”

“I don’t know about the peace,” he countered, “but we’ll try your rules first.”