Drake remained motionless, watching the leaves quivering, and then he took a deep breath, let it out and glanced at Rio. “Back off, man, the little runt deserved to be kicked.”
“Fritz was attacked by a leopard, Drake. Franz is a little on edge. You could have given him a break.”
“I don’t understand,” Rachael interrupted. “I thought you two were friends.”
Rio immediately dropped his hand onto her shoulder. “Drake and I understand each other, Rachael.”
“Well I don’t understand either of you.”
Rio laughed softly. “It has something to do with bad-tempered cats. Come on, let’s get that leg taken care of.”
“You mean put that homemade brownish paste on it?” Rachael sounded horrified. “I don’t think so. I’ll take my chances with the care you gave me.” She stared at the railing behind Drake. There were fresh claw marks in the wood and she couldn’t remember them being there earlier.
“Surely you aren’t going to be a coward,” Rio teased, picking her up as if nothing had happened. He didn’t glance at the claw marks or seem to notice them. All the tension was gone as if it had never been.
“Maybe we could mix a few more petals in with it and change the color,” Drake suggested, preceding Rio into the house. “Tama, she doesn’t want your healing concoction. Can you change the color to princess pink?”
Rachael made a face at Drake. “I’ll go without it, regardless of color.”
Kim smiled at her. “It works, Miss Wilson.”
“Rachael,” she corrected, trying to look dignified when Rio placed her on the bed. She was already tired and wanted to just lie down and sleep for a while. “How fast does it work? And does it hurt?”
“Your leg already hurts,” Rio pointed out. “It won’t make the pain worse.”
Rachael curled up, drawing her leg up as best she could to protect it from any voodoo concoction Tama had whipped up. “I’m a modern sort of woman. The kind that goes with modern medicine.”
“Haven’t you ever heard the phrase, ‘when in Rome...’?” Rio teased.
“Yes, well, we’re not in Rome and I doubt if their medicine is that particular shade of green.” Rachael glared at him, slapping his hand away as Rio tried to pull her leg out for inspection. “Back off if you don’t want to lose that hand!”
“Is she always like this?” Drake asked.
“She gets worse. Don’t put a gun in her hand.”
“That was an accident. I had a high fever.” She shoved Rio’s hand away again. “I’m not getting near that stuff. You sure turn bossy when your friends are around.”
“Stop squirming around. I want Kim and Tama to see what they can do.” Rio sat on the edge of the bed, casually leaning his weight across her hips so she couldn’t sit up. “Just do it, Tama, don’t pay any attention to her.”
“What did she shoot?” Drake asked.
“The radio.”
Drake laughed. “Fortunately I brought mine. You can have it and I’ll pick up another. We’re going to have to go after Kim’s do-gooders and get them out of Tomas’s camp. That was the real reason we came, you know, not to rescue you, Rio.”
“Kim’s do-gooders?” Rachael echoed, feigning outrage. “When I’m feeling better, you’ll be taking that back.”
Rio tried to ignore the black jealousy swirling in his gut. He might come from a primitive species but he didn’t have to act like it. He could be civilized. It shouldn’t matter that Rachael smiled at Drake. And maybe it didn’t. But it did matter that she teased him. He wanted that particular note in her voice to be reserved exclusively for him. He reached inward, searching for a calm center, a place he often went to conquer the part of him that lived by forest rules. Air moved through his lungs. He breathed in and out, determined not to sway from his chosen path. It was all important for him to be in control.
He felt the touch of her fingers. Feather-light. Barely there, the smallest of connections. Her fingers twisted in the waistband of his pants, knuckles pressing against his bare skin creating instant heat. It was a small gesture, but he recognized her need for comfort, for reassurance. And that brought him instant relief.
“Rio, are you going to go after Don Gregson and the others?” Rachael had planned her escape so carefully. She had planned to live her life alone. She hadn’t even been that afraid, yet now everything seemed different. She didn’t want Rio to leave her.
“WE can’t leave any of those people with Tomas,” Rio answered with a heavy sigh. “I don’t think we have a choice in the matter.”
“This isn’t going to be like the other times,” Drake cautioned. “We’ve always done the smash-and-grab and gotten them out of the country while we scatter into the forest. The reward money changes everything.”
Rachael could feel four pair of eyes on her. She kept her face averted. She should have known the reward would be too large to ignore, especially in countries where people had very little. “Money talks. That’s the motto in my family. El dinero pavimenta la manera.”
“Money paves the way,” Rio translated. He had heard the phrase before, but the origin eluded him. He glanced at Drake, arched an eyebrow in inquiry. “Interesting motto for a family.”
Drake shrugged and shook his head. He thought he’d read the motto before, perhaps in the papers, but he couldn’t remember anything about it.
“Yes, well, I have an interesting family. Sooner or later, they’ll send a representative to bribe your government officials if they haven’t already. I’ll have to leave the country fast.” She tightened her fingers around the waistband of Rio’s pants. If he was going to lie across her and hold her down while Tama smeared his foul-looking concoction over her leg, he may as well be of use. Deliberately she brushed her fingertips over his skin, hoping it was a punishment.
“You can’t leave the country now, Missy.” Tama shook his head. “Tell her Rio. The bandits will close the borders. They have spies all up and down the river, along the borders, everywhere. Most of the people are afraid and just want the bandits to leave them alone. With the reward so high, they’ll have more help than usual. It will be better to just hole up and wait until the storm blows over.”
Kim nodded his agreement. “My brother speaks the truth, Miss Rachael. There are good people up and down the river, but that much money would bring prosperity to an entire village. It would be easy to justify such a small thing as passing information along. Better you stay unseen in the forest and wait until it is believed you perished in the river.”
Rachael went very still beneath Rio. She studied the four men carefully. “I suppose you’re right, Kim. It would bring prosperity to an entire village. The government would want the money. Any of you could probably use it too.”
Rio’s hand went to the nape of her neck, his fingers beginning a slow massage as if to comfort her when they both knew there could be no comfort. Not with the kind of money being offered to betray her.
“You have nothing to fear from my people, Miss Rachael,” Kim said.
She smiled at him without really looking at him. “Keep telling yourself that, Kim, and sooner or later you’ll be disappointed. People who love you will betray you for less. Money buys everything from food, medicine and education to freedom and power. People kill each other for fifty dollars. Even less than that. Anyone in this room might want that money, and who could blame them? I’m a stranger to all of you.”
Rio sat up, adjusting her pillows into a more comfortable position. “No one in this room will betray you, Rachael. Drake and I have prices on our heads. If we tried to betray you to any of the bandits, they would kill us on sight. Kim and Tama have no need of money.”
Rachael’s dark eyes met Rio’s gaze in challenge. “I’d be willing to bet you wouldn’t have to deal with any of the bandits. If you give me up to a government official, you’d most likely get your reward.”
Rio wasn’t going to continue to argue with her. And he wasn’t going to admit, even to himself, that her suspicion bothered him. He met her eyes steadily. “I’m sure you’re right, Rachael, but for all you know I’m wanted by the government too. You said yourself I was running away from something or I wouldn’t be here.”
Rachael couldn’t pull her gaze away from Rio’s stare. He was always direct and focused. Always intense. She felt as if she were falling into the depths of his brilliant green eyes. He was sheer black magic, a product of voodoo and love potions. She was a grown woman with a price on her head. She didn’t have flights of fancy and she didn’t fall head over heels just because a man had a killer body.
Rio unexpectedly leaned very close to her, his lips against her ear. “You’re doing it again. You can’t look at me like that. It’s going to get you into trouble someday.”
Drake cleared his throat. “Why in the world would someone put up a million dollars to get you back?”
Rachael continued to look at Rio. She saw only Rio. His weathered face, the lines etched there from too many missions, too many decisions he didn’t want to make. Eyes that held so much focused intensity. Eyes that could be as cold as ice or burning with such heat she caught fire. Eyes that were a vivid green instead of the yellow-green she’d seen so often.
“Well, that is the question, isn’t it?” Rachael murmured. “What have I done? What did I steal? Because no one would put up that kind of money without a just cause.”
“You forgot the most important question. What do you know?” Rio amended.
Rachael took a deep breath, turned away from his all-seeing stare. “I thought you all had to go rescue the others.”
“It isn’t that easy. Tomas moves his camp and moves his prisoners all the time. They have tunnels in the fields they drop down into. The cane fields can cover a maze of tunnels that go for miles,” Rio explained.
“Rat holes,” Drake said. “They have so many bolt-holes it takes time to find them and pinpoint their location.”
“And just about the time we have a fix on them, the prisoners are moved again,” Rio added. “We have to move carefully, especially with Tomas. Drake and Tama were able to get Kim out because no one expected a rescue so soon. This series of storms are some of the worst we’ve experienced in years. The last thing anyone would think was that Kim’s family would know something happened and go after him using one of our people to aid him.”
Rachael was too exhausted to do anything but lie back on the pillows and think. She hated to admit it, but the strangely colored concoction Kim and Tama had smeared on her leg had definitely taken away much of the pain. She glanced down at her leg and nearly laughed. Her calf and ankle were still swollen nearly double the normal size and now appeared as if she were wearing a brownish-green sock. The two puncture wounds continually drained, which added to the entire effect. “Lovely,” she murmured.
“I think so,” Drake said, grinning at her with boyish charm.
Rio waited for the sudden surge of black jealousy that seemed to be a curse hanging over his species, but surprisingly it didn’t come. He could feel the brush of Rachael’s fingers along his back, the way she tugged absently on the waistband of his pants. It was such a small thing, but it was familiar and comforting. He felt confident and secure in his relationship. Rio smiled and shook his head. He had to keep reminding himself he didn’t have a relationship with her. He reached behind him to capture her hand. “I swear, Rachael, I have flashbacks around you.”
They stared at one another, completely in tune at that moment. Their smiles were slow and genuine, smiles of complete understanding, spreading warmth through them both.
Drake cleared his throat to draw Rio’s attention. “And you always thought it was a myth. Rachael, my dear, I don’t think you have to worry about anyone turning you in for money or for anything else. You’ve come home where you belong.”
“Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?” Rachael asked. But she could see it on Rio’s face. He knew exactly what Drake was talking about. And she saw something else. Just for the briefest of moments she saw hope and happiness in Rio’s eyes. It flickered there and was quickly covered up. “You do know.”
“Drake has a thing about old legends. He believes in fairy tales. I don’t,” Rio answered gruffly.
Drake nudged him. “But you’re beginning to. What about Maggie and Brandt? Are they a myth? You just don’t want to admit when you’re wrong.” He turned his attention to Rachael. “Rio’s stubborn. No one’s ever been able to do a thing with him. Good luck is all I’m going to say.”
Rio groaned. “Don’t believe him, Rachael. He always has more to say. If we were lucky he’d shut up now, but it isn’t going to happen.”
Kim and Tama nodded in agreement, laughing aloud as they did so.
Rachael was very aware of Rio’s thumb sliding intimately back and forth over her wrist. “Is that true, Drake?”
“Lies, all lies,” he denied, clutching his heart. “And they call themselves my friends. I risk my life for them and this is how they repay me.”
“Poor thing,” she commiserated, trying not to laugh. Drake and Rio were such powerful, dominant-looking males, yet at that moment they looked like two boys laughing over a silly joke together. Rachael had all kinds of questions, but she put them aside until she could be alone with Rio.
“Rachael’s tired,” Rio said. “We should let her rest while we decide what we’re going to do about finding this lost group of do-gooders.” He saw her swift frown and hastily retracted. “Kidnap victims.”
Drake laughed again. “I always wondered what could make you politically correct. It isn’t a what, it’s a who.”
Rachael watched the four men go out onto the verandah, leaving her with Fritz. They closed the door, but she could hear the low sound of their voices. Somehow it was reassuring to hear them as she drifted between waking and sleeping. Rain was intermittent. There would be the murmur of the wind in the trees, the flutter of leaves and the continual sound of insects and birds, of troupes of monkeys chattering back and forth as they moved through branches. The sounds crept into her dreams, familiar and soothing. The humidity was never oppressive, but rather heightened her senses, making her aware of the curves of her body, of her nerve endings, of her sexuality. She felt drops of sweat running down the valley between her breasts.