Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set by Patricia Rosemoor, Toni Anderson, REBECCA YORK, Dana Marton, Sharon Hamilton, Kaylea Cross, Debra Burroughs, Lori Ryan, Jill Sanders, Marie Astor Page B

slamming the door shut behind them.
    The instant it closed he was on top of her again, flattening her facedown against the leather seat. She squeezed her eyes shut.
    “Hold on,” Gage said as he reversed and shot the vehicle backward at an alarming speed, the engine revving high and loud. Above her, Hunter took her hands, setting one against the doorframe and the other against the back of the front seat.
    “Brace yourself,” he commanded.
    For what? she wanted to yell but couldn’t get the words out and did as he said. A second later Gage cranked the wheel hard to the right. The truck spun in a sickening half circle, sending Khalia sliding along the slippery leather toward the door.
    She cried out and pushed back with her straightened right arm, but Hunter was there. He caught her, bolstering her with his weight and strength as he struggled to hold them in place against the wild swing of the vehicle. The squeal of tires registered for a moment, then she heard Gage shift the transmission and they were driving forward once again, racing away from the scene.
    A tense minute passed before Hunter finally let her up. She slowly peeled herself off the seat and pushed into a sitting position with shaky arms. Her scraped cheek and palms stung and she’d be covered in bruises by morning, but at least she was still alive and in one piece.
    She still couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
    A hard arm reached around her waist to drag the seatbelt across her body and snap it into the buckle. Immediately she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stem the violent shivers wracking her and risked a glance over at Hunter. His gaze was intense, the look in his eyes frightening, but that didn’t scare her as much as what she heard him mutter under his breath when he looked away from her to stare out the window.
    “Welcome to Pakistan.”

Chapter Five
    Khalia somehow managed to put one sore bare foot in front of the other despite the rigidity in her muscles as Hunter steered her into her hotel room. The lock clicked into place behind them, sounding overly loud to her heightened senses. Her heart rate still hadn’t normalized. She took slow, deep breaths to calm herself. It wasn’t working.
    “Let’s take a look at you,” he said, ushering her into the bathroom with a solid hand on the small of her back. The warmth of his touch registered more than his voice did. She winced when he flipped a switch and bright white lights flooded the room. With a nudge forward he settled her on the closed toiled lid and grabbed a facecloth from the rack above it. He ran the tap and moistened it before turning back to her. “Here. Clean up your cheek while I check your feet.”
    Feeling stiff all over, Khalia turned her head to look at herself in the wide rectangular mirror above the vanity. Her eyes looked huge in her too pale face and the side of her right cheek was scraped up to the temple. It was raw and oozing from being mashed against the sidewalk. And it could easily have been so much worse.
    Lowering her gaze, she pressed the cool cloth to her cheek, ignoring the sudden sting. Hunter was crouched at her feet, one bronzed hand reaching for her left ankle. She put out an arm to stop him, recoiling from the intimacy. She was a heartbeat away from bursting into tears. Having him touch her right now, even if only to check for injuries, would be too much. “They’re fine.”
    He raised his eyes to hers, that steady gaze sending a jolt of heated interest through her overloaded system. “They’re bleeding. I want to make sure there aren’t any bits of shrapnel in them.”
    She repressed a shudder and pulled her foot back. “I can do it.”
    He brushed her hand away with an impatient motion and grasped her ankle in a warm grip. “Just sit still and let me look.”
    Pushing out a sigh, Khalia allowed him to cradle her foot in his hands, unsettled at the way his touch sent streaks of sensation up her legs. How could he be so calm