by Linda Turner
Have you lost your mind, man? What the hell are you doing? We’re talking virgin here. V-I-R-G-I-N! You put stars in this girl’s eyes, and she’s going to be expecting you to put a ring on her finger. Is that really what you want?
Stung, he jerked back like a man who had been goosed with a cattle prod and stared down at her with a confused frown, his gut clenching at the sight of her dreamy-eyed expression and the slight, enticing puffiness of her still-parted lips. Alarm bells clanging in his head, he realized too late that Maddy Lawrence was everything she appeared to be— a prim, innocent woman who had never done anything more risqué in her life than read men’s adventure novels. And only an idiot kissed a woman who had spent most of her life in a mythical ivory tower waiting for a prince to rescue her from the tedium of her own existence. Hell!
His jaw clenching on an oath, he knew he had to do something, and damn fast, or the lady was going to be jumping to all kinds of wrong conclusions. Pushing her to arm’s length, he looked her up and down and said with deliberate mockery, “You look at that guy in the bar the way you’re looking at me right now, and I guarantee you you’ll have him eating out of your hand in no time.”.
The intoxicating taste of him on her lips and her heart still doing flip-flops in her breast, Maddy gazed up at him like a wide-eyed baby owl that didn’t understand a word of English. What guy in the bar? she wondered, dazedly.
Then she remembered.
Hurt hit her first right in her pride. Then mortification. The blood drained from her face, only to rush back into her hot cheeks again, dragging telltale color in its wake. Oh, God, what had she done? Without a word of protest, she’d let him kiss her and never thought to ask herself what a man like Ace could suddenly see in her. The new hairstyle and contacts might have done wonders for her self-esteem, but she was still the same plain-Jane woman she’d always been, still the shy, bookish woman who had been completely passed over by the sexual revolution and had never felt the loss. Until now.
“Is that the only reason you kissed me? So I c-could… come-on…to another man?”
For a second, she thought she saw regret flash in his blue eyes, but then he was arching a brow in amusement at the familiar phrase that even he could tell sounded strange on her tongue. “You seemed like you needed a confidence builder,” he retorted mockingly. “The way I see it, I was doing you a favor.”
A favor, she thought dully. He’d knocked the earth loose beneath her feet with a single, soul-shattering kiss, and all he cared to label it was a favor. Her eyes stinging suddenly with a horrifying rush of tears, she blinked rapidly and whirled away. “Then I guess it’s my turn to do us both one and do whatever I have to to get us out of here.”
Not bothering to see if he followed, she stormed into the cantina, her angled jaw set at a determined angle. She could do this. She could march up to that man at the end of the bar and give him a smile that would knock his socks off. All she had to do was pretend she was the heroine in an Ace MacKenzie book. The fictional Ace liked his women spunky and daring and they wouldn’t think twice about taking advantage of a man’s interest to get information out of him. And neither would she!
Inside, eyes watched her from the smoky shadows, but the only man she was interested in was the solitary figure sitting alone at the far end of the bar. Heading straight for him, she lifted her chin to a proud angle, pasted on her brightest smile and reminded herself that this was going to help her get back home…and away from Ace. For no other reason than that, she’d find a way to get through it.
But as she drew closer to the middle-aged man who barely sipped from the nearly full schooner of beer leaving rings on the bar in front of him, doubts crept in, weighting her feet until she was all but dragging them. He already had a beer. Now what was she supposed to do? Just sit down next to him and hope a smile would start him talking? Oh, God, what could she have been thinking of to let Ace talk her into this? She wasn’t one of Ace MacKenzie’s gutsy women—she just didn’t have it in her. She’d never even been in a bar before, let alone tried to pick up a man. She didn’t have a clue how to proceed.
Her heart knocking out a frantic rhythm, she settled onto the stool next to the man, her fingers instinctively climbing to the neckline of her T-shirt and the tiny patch of bare skin that seemed to throb like a neon sign. Behind her, she was aware of Ace as he silently took the seat at a table within easy listening distance, but she couldn’t spare him a glance. Nervous to the point of nausea, she should have at least smiled when she glanced over to her companion and found his eyes waiting for her, but even that simple task was beyond her.
“Señor,” she began hesitantly, only to have her mind go embarrassingly blank. What could she possibly say to the man? she wondered wildly. And what would he understand? “Do you by any chance speak English?”
It was the height of arrogance to come to his country and expect him to speak her language, but she was desperate. And he obviously knew it. Giving her a forgiving smile, he nodded graciously. “Sí, señorita. What can I do for you?”
“Oh, thank God!” Her smile tremulous, she never consciously came up with a story of a woman done wrong, but suddenly it was spilling from her lips. “I’m looking for a man, sir. An American.” Quickly and succinctly she described her former boss, unconsciously using the same words Ace had earlier. “He’s short and round and pock-faced and looks like a weasel with a bad toupee. The last time I saw him, he was headed for Caracas, and I have reason to believe that he came to this area of the city to look for a guide. If he came in here, you couldn’t have missed him. He would have been in a hurry and wearing a suit. Have you seen him?”
The man merely stared at her, his shuttered face giving nothing away. “Maybe. Maybe not. Why are you looking for him?”
“Because he’s a liar and a thief! He—he used me….” Her cheeks burned at the admission that was nothing less than the truth, though not in the way she was sure the man next to her took it. She told him then of the hidden warehouse and the items that had been stolen from some of the most famous museums in the world. “If I had known what he was doing, I never would have worked for him. Please help me,” she pleaded. “He can’t get away with this. The things he took are very rare and valuable, and I’ve got to get them back.”
For what seemed like an eternity, the man didn’t say a word. He simply stared at her consideringly while the seconds dragged by. Finally, just when she thought his answer couldn’t be anything but a no, he nodded, as if coming to a decision in his head. “He was here about four hours ago waving a wad of money around,” he told her. “As you suspected, he was looking for a guide.”
Without a sound, Ace joined them, taking up a position directly behind Maddy. “Did he find one?”
“Sí. Miguel Rodriguez.” A look of distaste skimmed over the other man’s craggy face. “He’s a rodent. A roach. He promised to take the American into the jungle to the headquarters of Carlos Barrera.” Worry lining his brow, he turned back to Maddy in concern. “You must not try to follow him alone, señorita. The jungle is dangerous, and Barrera is a vicious man. A drug lord. There are rumors that he imprisons anyone caught near his hideout. For your own safety, don’t go anywhere near there.”
His words sent a chill sliding down Maddy’s spine. Glancing to Ace’s set face, she said, “I really don’t have much choice, sèñor. We have to recover what he stole. Do you know where we can hire a guide?”
The older man looked from Maddy to Ace and back again, openly studying them both. “Are you sure you want to do this? Surely whatever was stolen is not worth your lives.”
“It’s not going to come to that,” Ace said grimly. “I’ll make sure of it.”
There was no doubting his word. His blue eyes icy in his hard face, he had the look of a man who wouldn’t back down from a fight with the devil himself. Reassured, the older man said, “In that case, I would be happy to act as your guide.” Rising from his stool, he offered his hand first to Maddy, then Ace. “My name
is Dominic Salazar. I grew up in the jungle and know it well. I can take you anywhere you want to go.”
“Including Barrera’s place?” Ace asked shrewdly after introducing Maddy and himself. “You know the location of his hideout?”
“Sí.”
“How? I don’t imagine that’s something Barrera wants known.”
His eyes bored into Salazar’s, but to his credit, Dominic didn’t look away. “There are places in the jungle, señor, where it is common knowledge it is not safe to go,” he said with quiet dignity. “Men who have tried to go in there have not returned. That is where Barrera lives.”
“And you’re willing to take us there? For how much?”
“Only to the boundary. I’ll wait twenty-four hours there for you to return. After that, you’re on your own.” He named a sum that, while high, was not completely outrageous. “That fee will include my services, as well as two of my men to help carry the food and tents—”
“No,” Ace cut in. “We only need one guide—you.”
“But, señor—”
“One guide,” he repeated curtly. “No more or the deal’s off.”
“But it’s a long way,” the older man protested. “And without my men, the three of us will have to carry the tents and supplies ourselves. I have no problem with that, and I doubt that you do, either, but the woman—she doesn’t look that strong.”
Insulted by that, Maddy stiffened like a poker. “I’m tougher than I look. I can carry my share.”
“And if she can’t, I can,” Ace added tersely. “So will you take the job, señor, or do I have to find somebody else?”
Not a man who hid his emotions well, Dominic Salazar hesitated, his black eyes clouded with worry as they drifted back to Maddy’s slender figure. The jungle was no place for a woman, especially one who was so fragile she looked as if she’d blow away in a good stiff wind. There was no question that the man could take care of her, but to go after Barrera! He shook his head just at the idea of it. Americans! They were either incredibly brave or stupider than dirt, he didn’t know which. He just knew that he couldn’t let them trust their fate to another guide when he knew for a fact that he was the best to be had.
“I will take it,” he said with a heavy sigh, “and pray none of us live to regret it.” Pushing his barely touched beer away, he rose to his feet. “If we’re going to leave within the hour, I have much to do.”
“Before you go, there’s one more detail we need to get straight before we actually shake on this,” Ace said in flawless Spanish, stopping him in his tracks. “It’s about the woman. I saw the way you were looking at her when we came in—”
“No, señor!”
“Don’t bother to deny it. I’m not blind…or a fool. And I can hardly criticize you for appreciating the lady’s looks when I’ve done the same thing. But we need to get one thing clear right now. She’s mine. Got it?”
A hot tide of color slowly flushed the older man’s weathered cheeks. “You misunderstood, Señor Ace,” he, too, said in Spanish. “The lady is attractive, no? But I’m not interested. I’m married!”
Not the least impressed with that argument, Ace merely arched a brow. “You wouldn’t be the first married man to think the grass looked greener on the other side.”
“But I love my wife,” he insisted sheepishly. “And she would take the broom handle to me if she thought I even smiled at another woman. So please don’t worry. Señorita Maddy is safe with me.”
Her ears perking up at the mention of her name, Maddy wondered what the two men could be discussing about her that would make the color come and go in Dominic’s swarthy face. Before she could ask, however, Ace nodded and said, “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Glad to hear what?” she asked suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”
His color higher than ever, Dominic couldn’t even look her in the eye. “Nothing, Señorita Maddy. Nothing at all. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get our supplies.”
He was gone before she could so much as open her mouth, hurrying away like a little boy who’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Puzzled, Maddy turned back to Ace. “What was that all about?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” he retorted with a maddening grin, then took her arm and pulled her toward the exit.
Chapter 5
After arranging to meet Dominic at a regional landing strip where they would rent a private plane to take them to San Miguel, a small town near the southern border where Barrera was reportedly said to live, they had almost two hours to kill. Hustling Maddy back to their waiting taxi, Ace gave orders to the driver in Spanish, and within seconds they were once again rushing through the narrow, winding streets at a pace that left her clinging white-knuckled to her seat. When an old Cadillac convertible suddenly darted out in front of them at an intersection, she gasped and braced herself, sure they were dead. But their driver only laid on his horn and swerved around the Caddy with a quick jerk of the wheel that caused the taxi to rock on its wheels.
Seconds later, they were shuddering to a squealing stop. Sprawled out on the seat next to her, Ace chuckled. “You can open your eyes now. We’re here.”
“Here” turned out to be a small but elegant hotel. A hotel, for God’s sake! Maddy thought, unnerved. After only one kiss he thought he could take her to a hotel? The nerve of the man!
Outrage stiffening every nerve in her body, she gave him a look that should have turned his blood to ice. “If you think I’m going in there with you, you’re out of your mind.”
Confused, he glanced over at the flowered entrance of the hotel, but it was the same place he’d stayed the last time he’d unexpectedly found himself in Caracas. First class, beautifully decorated, it was one of the finest establishments in South America. “The hotel? Why? What’s wrong with it?”
Her brown eyes flashing with fire, Maddy couldn’t believe his nonchalance. “What’s wrong with it?” she exclaimed. “Do you actually think that after only one kiss, you can…” Flustered, she couldn’t find the right words and tried again. “That I would just go along with this…this…” She waved her hand ineffectually, heat suffusing her cheeks, and let her breath out in a frustrated huff. “I’m not that kind of woman.”
Biting the inside of his cheek, Ace just looked at her. “And what kind of woman might that be?”
“The kind who…one who…” Unable to force out the right words, she saw the glint of devilment in his eyes then and almost threw her sack of new clothes at him. “What are you laughing at?”
“Me? Nothing,” he claimed innocently. “I just thought you might like to get a room and clean up before we meet Dominic and leave civilization behind. But if you’ve got sex on your mind—”
“I never said that!”
He arched a masculine brow at her. “Didn’t you?”
He had her and they both knew it, but she’d have died before she’d have admitted it. “I told you—I’m not that kind of woman.”
“But I’m that kind of man, right?” When she only sniffed, refusing to answer, he chuckled, opened the cab door next to him and started to step out. At the last second, however, he turned, his grin full of mischief, and leaned close. “You’re damn right I’m that kind of man, sweetheart,” he taunted softly. “And with the right man, you’ll be that kind of woman.”
Not giving her a chance to so much as sputter a response, he stepped out of the cab and turned to help her out. She wanted to refuse it—both his help and his claim—but as she stared at his strong, callused hand, she knew in her heart she could do neither. To ignore his hand would have been childishly rude. And to deny the truth in his words, she discovered to her chagrin, was quite simply beyond her. Without a word, she placed her fingers in his and joined him on the sidewalk, while deep inside, her heart started to throb.
She promised herself she wasn’t going to say another word. She’d already put her foot in her mouth once, and that was her limit for the day. But st
anding beside him while he registered for a room that they only intended to use for a couple of hours was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Painfully aware of the fact that the only thing they had that passed for luggage was the two sacks that held the items they’d bought in Mexico City, she watched the very distinguished-looking desk clerk glance past Ace to her and back again and could just imagine what the man was thinking. Her cheeks burning, she waited for him to inform Ace that this wasn’t that kind of establishment, but he only handed him the key with a soft, “Gracias.” Within seconds, she was trailing Ace down a carpeted fourth-floor hallway.
The silence was so thick it fairly vibrated. Resisting the need to twist her hands together, Maddy didn’t show so much as a flicker of unease as she joined him before the locked door of room 410. There was, she knew, nothing to be nervous about. She wasn’t some heroine in an Ace Mackenzie book, about to be seduced in some foreign hotel room. He’d only been teasing her in the cab, pushing her buttons to get a rise out of her. And it had worked. He couldn’t have been serious about the kind of man he was.
Could he?
The doubt came out of nowhere, sneaking past her guard to eat at her self-confidence with an ease that was frightening. Too late, she realized she may have trusted him too quickly. After all, what did she really know about him other than what he’d told her? And could she trust that?
“Here we are, milady,” he said cheerfully as he inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open. “A room fit for a princess…for a couple of hours, anyway. Enjoy.”