Breaking the Rules (1st in Breaking Series)

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Brody had a fire going and had picked some of the long grasses to improvise a makeshift bed by the time Elizabeth returned. The sun was nearly set and dark shadows stretched across the land as the firelight glowed. Brody had some sticks over the fire and the snake meat was stretched across them. The scent of the cooking meat filled Elizabeth's senses and caused her to drool.

"Took you long enough," Brody snapped roughly.

Elizabeth bristled at first but then stopped herself from responding just as harshly. She was starting to understand that his temper was often a cover for other emotions like fear and tenderness. She thought maybe he was ashamed to show those things and so he used his temper to cover them up. Just the same as her temper often came out at innocent people when she was irritated at someone or something else.

"I found us some prickly pears," Elizabeth held out the treats she'd found.

Brody nodded, "Those'll taste good with the snake." He pulled another cigarette from his pocket and lit it in the campfire.

"You might want to slow down smoking those things," Elizabeth warned as she sat down cross legged, on the other side of the fire.

Brody took a long draw and then he blew out perfect smoke rings, that floated up into the darkness. Elizabeth wondered if he was trying to impress her and when she looked back at his face she saw that he was smiling with amusement.

"Why's that?" he asked.

Elizabeth quickly looked away from his face and poked a stick at the small fire. Looking at him made her body fill with a tingling heat that made it impossible for her to think. Had she really looked down on women that couldn't control their thoughts, emotions and bodies around attractive men? Every time she looked at Brody or their bodies brushed together she had to fight the urge to throw herself into his arms and kiss him with reckless abandon.

She felt a heated flush color her cheeks and when she cast a glance back at Brody she saw that his eyes had darkened in the firelight. The fire was casting shadows across his face and judging by the way his head was cocked to the side and the intensity in his green eyes as they roamed over her, he knew where her mind had gone.

"Why what?" she whispered, suddenly forgetting what they had been talking about.

Brody shifted and held out his hand, "Give me them pears," he said, his voice deep and rough.

She handed them to him and sparks flew through the night air as their hands brushed. Brody pulled away quickly and began peeling the pears with his knife. "Why should I slow down on the cigarettes?" he asked.

Elizabeth looked at the cigarette that was now hanging off his firm lip and remembered what they'd been talking about before her thoughts had become completely out of control, "Because you'll run out... I know that Braxton becomes as grouchy as a bull with a toothache if he runs out of tobacco."

The mention of Braxton drove all sensual thoughts of Elizabeth from Brody's mind. Anger took their place as he remembered his suspicions that Braxton was the one that had had Elizabeth kidnapped and Braxton was the one that had told those men to kill her. Brody could only thank God that Braxton's hired men hadn't been worried about honesty or loyalty because killing her would have been easy while he'd been unconscious. He shivered at the thought of her dying and since it was an unpleasant thought he pushed it aside.

"Don't worry, Elizabeth, I promise I'll be nice even if I run out of cigarettes."

"You, nice?" she snorted with laughter and Brody looked truly hurt.