by Linda Turner
Her stomach knotted with apprehension and her overactive imagination going wild, she stood flat-footed beside him, her feet refusing to budge. This was it, she thought, unconsciously wiping her damp palms on her shorts. The moment of truth when she learned just what kind of man he was. She wanted to believe he meant her no harm—her instincts told her she could trust him with everything from her virtue to her life—but at this point, she was so confused, she didn’t even know if she could trust her instincts. His was the only familiar face in a crowd of foreigners, and even though he, too, had been a stranger less than twenty-four hours ago, it was all too easy to think of him as a partner, a confidant, someone she could place all her faith in in a hostile environment.
The truth was, however, that for all she knew, he could be just as ruthless as her former boss and Cement Johnny. He was going to a great deal of trouble and expense to get his hands on jewels that weren’t his, and she had to ask herself why.
Sick at the thought, she looked at the hotel room that lay just beyond the open door and knew she had to get this settled now. “Ace…” she began, but he was already proceeding down the hallway. “Where are you going?”
“Next door,” he retorted. Stopping at the next room farther down the hallway, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, his grin mischievous as his gaze swung back to hers. “Why? D’you think I was going to share a bed with you?”
“No, of course not!”
Her answer was too quick, too outraged, her cheeks too hot. “Liar.” He chuckled. Lord, she was easy to tease! She set herself up so beautifully, he just couldn’t resist. “Sorry to disappoint you, darlin’, but we don’t have time now. We’ve got to meet Dominic soon, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be rushed when I get in bed with a lady. Maybe next time.”
Daring to wink at her, he hurriedly stepped inside his room and shut the door before she could find something to throw at him. Seconds later, something thumped against his door, drawing a laugh from him. Whatever Maddy Lawrence was—and he was still working on figuring her out—she had yet to be a disappointment. And there weren’t many women he could say that about.
Refreshed and somewhat rested, they met Dominic at the regional airport at the appointed time and found him loading gear into a small twin-engine plane that looked as if it had been through both world wars and barely survived the experience. Backpacks and supplies filled the baggage compartment area and spilled over into the cabin area, leaving just enough room for Maddy in the back and the two men up front. Once they reached San Miguel, everything would be unloaded and packed into the Jeep that Dominic had already arranged to have waiting for them at the other end.
Eyeing the whole setup warily, Maddy couldn’t help wondering if they’d made a drastic mistake in hiring Dominic. They were placing an awful lot of faith in a man they had picked up in a bar. How did they know he was on the up-and-up? Or that the plane, which had to be as old as her grandfather, would get them where they wanted to go in one piece? If the slightest thing went wrong on this expedition, they would not only lose any chance of capturing Mr. Lazear, but they’d have to make their way out of the jungle by foot. It could take weeks!
Ace, however, didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned. He cast a quick, knowing eye over the lot and nodded in satisfaction. “Looks good. We should be able to handle everything between the three of us once we reach San Miguel. How far into the jungle do the roads go?”
“Forty or fifty miles where we’re going,” Dominic said. “From there we’ll go upriver by canoe.” Taking the wrinkled bags that served as their luggage, he added them to the things at the back. “It’s a hard journey. We can make it in four days if we take it in stages, three if we really push it.”
“We haven’t got that long,” Ace retorted. “Not if Lazear’s already eight hours ahead of us and we’re going to catch him before he reaches Barrera.”
Dominic nodded, but his gaze was unconsciously doubtful when it drifted to Maddy, which bothered her no end. Just because she was the only woman in the group and had never done anything like this didn’t mean she was going to hold them up! Lifting her chin, she coolly told both men, “If we don’t catch Mr. Lazear, it won’t be because I held you back. I want to catch him just as badly as you do so I can get back to my own life.”
Leaving both men standing on the tarmac, she climbed into the back seat of the plane without waiting for help from either of them. Ace and Dominic looked at each other and started to grin. Both of them, however, were wise enough not to so much as chuckle as they took their places in the cockpit.
Whenever Maddy had pictured them foraging into the wilds of the rain forest, an old Tarzan movie had immediately sprung to mind. With no trouble whatsoever, she’d seen the three of them driving down a narrow dirt track that was hemmed in on both sides by huge, towering, vinecovered trees. The air would be thick with the scent of exotic flowers and damp from waterfalls that would put Niagara to shame. The image had been so real, so lush, that she’d almost heard Cheetah grunting excitedly from the foliage overhead.
The rain forest of South America, she discovered to her delight three hours later when they drove away from San Miguel in the Jeep that had been waiting for them at the landing strip, was all that and more. The trees—ebony and mahogany and what she thought was rubber—seemed to reach halfway to the sky and were as thick as ants in an anthill for as far as the eye could see. Sunlight searched for breaks in the canopy of greenery overhead, but the forest floor was bathed in shadows that were only rarely broken by sudden, surprising pockets of light. It was beautiful, intimidating, mysterious.
It was the noise, however, that caught Maddy completely by surprise. Parrots and toucans and hundreds of species of birds she had no names for chattered from the trees like old ladies at a bridge club catching up on the latest gossip. And then there were the monkeys who added their two cents to the cacophony, screaming and yelling at one another as they swung through the trees with ease on the vines that were everywhere, warning anyone who cared to listen that there were intruders in their midst.
Clinging to her seat in the back of the Jeep as they raced over a jarring, rutted road that was little more than a mud track through the undergrowth, Maddy couldn’t absorb all the sights and sounds fast enough. The heat, oppressive and cloying, seemed to sit upon her chest like a lead weight, but she hardly noticed. She was really here, she thought dizzily, pinching herself. In the rain forest. And she loved it.
Wishing she had a camera, she paid no attention to the quiet conversation between Ace and Dominic in the front seat or the worsening condition of the winding road ahead until they went around a bend and Dominic suddenly slammed on the brakes. Unprepared and unbuckled, Maddy promptly slid into the floorboard with a startled cry.
“Sorry, señorita,” Dominic said quickly. “There’s a log in the road.”
“Make that a tree,” Ace corrected. With a single step, he was out of the Jeep and reaching for her, helping her up and over the side onto the ground. “Looks like this is the end of the road. You all right?”
Distracted, she pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Yes, of course. What do you mean, this is the end of the road? We’ve barely gotten started.”
“Tell that to the tree,” Ace said dryly. “Unless you brought a chain saw along without telling me, we’re not going anywhere.”
“The road ends less than a half a mile from here, anyway,” Dominic added. Out of the Jeep the second it had rattled to a stop, he moved to the back and started to unload their gear. “We’ll have to portage the canoe a little farther, but that shouldn’t be a problem between the three of us.”
Before they’d landed at the tiny promise of an airport in San Miguel, Maddy would have sworn she didn’t have the energy to lift her little finger, let alone help carry the canoe Dominic had rented from one of the villagers. But just the thought of actually getting a closer look at her surroundings had her moving to his side to help. “How far is the river from h
ere?”
Dominic smiled at her eagerness. “A mile—maybe a little less. The real portaging will take place tomorrow.”
That didn’t sound all that far, but Maddy wasn’t foolish enough to think she was just in for a little stroll in the park. Sweat was already popping out of every pore on her body and she hadn’t done anything. She could feel Ace’s eyes on her, watching her, studying her. If he thought she was going to be a liability, she knew he’d send her back to town so fast he’d make her head spin. Just last night, she would have jumped at the chance to get away from him. But she was no longer afraid of him, and she was in an honest-to-God rain forest and up to her ears in adventure for the first time in her life. She wasn’t going to miss a second of it for anything.
Shrugging as if she didn’t care if it was one mile or ten, she said, “That doesn’t sound too bad. What do you want me to carry?”
“Try this for now,” Ace said, separating items from the pile Dominic had already taken from the Jeep. “If it gets to be too much, just holler.”
Maddy had no intention of doing any such thing. But the things he set aside for her to carry kept growing and growing and growing. Dismayed, she blurted out, “You want me to carry all of that?”
Chuckling, he assured her, “It’s not as bad as it looks. Here, let me help you. Turn around.”
It wasn’t until she had her back to him and he was guiding her hands into one of the backpacks Dominic had provided that she felt the first faint stirrings of misgiving. His hands brushed over her with an almost casual indifference as he guided the straps onto her shoulders and adjusted them, but it was the first time he’d touched her since he’d kissed her, other than to help her out of the Jeep. Suddenly he was close, too close, leaning over her, his eyes on his hands as he made sure the backpack fit her right, and her heart started somersaulting in her chest.
Standing as still as a statue, she told herself not to be such a pathetic ninny. He was just helping her and only a foolish old maid would get all hot and bothered over such an innocent act. He didn’t mean a thing by it…or the kiss he’d given her earlier. Men like Ace never did, especially with women like her. She wasn’t his type; that was glaringly obvious. And unless she wanted to make a total fool of herself during this trip, she’d remember that.
In spite of the silent lecture, however, his breath was warm against the back of her neck, an unconsciously erotic caress that sent goose bumps tingling down her spine. Her throat dry, she knew she should tell him to stop, she didn’t need this kind of help, but she perversely found a hundred reasons not to. He would think she was skittish and paranoid and probably laugh at her. And it wasn’t as if she was making up excuses to get close to him—she couldn’t load all the stuff onto her back by herself and Dominic was busy. Ace already had her backpack half-packed. If she lied and insisted she didn’t need his help to finish the job, he’d know something was wrong and start asking questions she had no intention of answering.
“There. How’s that?” His hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him, his fingers testing the weight and balance of the loaded pack to make sure it was evenly distributed. “Think you can handle that?”
Staring up at him wordlessly, every nerve ending in her body starting to stir to life, she nodded because anything more complicated than that was simply beyond her. This would be so much simpler, she thought inanely, if the man didn’t look so darn good.
“So what do you think?”
Lost in her heated thoughts, she looked up and saw herself reflected in his eyes and forgot to breathe. For the span of a single, endless second, time ground to a halt. His fingers tightened ever so slightly on her shoulders, and suddenly the air was humming between them. He felt it, too, that sudden kick of awareness that came out of nowhere. She could see it in the dark depths of his blue eyes, feel it in the way he kept touching her long after the pack was loaded and adjusted, as if he couldn’t stop himself.
“Is there enough padding on the shoulder straps or do you want me to tie a couple of T-shirts around them?”
The deep rumble of his voice washed over her like the slow brush of his hands. Bewitched, she wondered if he could hear the uneven rhythm of her breathing. Feel the skipping of her pulse—
“Maddy?” Smiling crookedly, he pressed his palm to her damp forehead. “Are you feeling all right? I swear you haven’t heard a word I’ve said. Maybe I should have left you in Caracas, after all. You’re not used to this heat.”
Snapping out of the fog that shrouded her brain, she stiffened in alarm. “No! I’m fine. Really,” she said quickly when he didn’t look convinced. “And the pack doesn’t bother me at all. Anyway, I only have to wear it while we’re portaging the canoe.” Turning away before he could come up with another argument, she told him pointedly, “Dominic could use some help.”
Ten minutes later, they struck out for the river with all the gear loaded into the packs on their backs. Carrying the canoe right side up, they suspended it between the three of them and tried to make the best of an awkward balancing act. It wasn’t easy. Dominic lined up at the front on the starboard side, with Maddy behind him at the rear of the canoe. Ace, because he was the strongest, took the port side all by himself, positioning himself in the middle as they made their way over the muddy ground.
And the ground underfoot didn’t help matters any. Slick and muddy from the rain that fell almost daily, it was as treacherous as a sheet of ice. Within the first twenty feet, Maddy slipped three times and just barely caught, herself before the men noticed. Digging her feet more firmly into the mud to find some traction, she tried not to wince as the gooey stuff oozed over the tops of her shoes.
It was slow going and nearly forty-five minutes before they reached the river. Drenched in sweat, a blister already forming on her palm, Maddy helped ease the canoe into the water and sighed in relief. Finally! The last hundred yards had been the toughest. All downhill, she’d had to fight just to remain upright, and her legs were like noodles.
There was, however, no time to rest, not if they were going to catch up with Lazear. Their packs were quickly stowed in the canoe, and almost before she caught her breath, Maddy found herself seated in the middle with a paddle in her hand. And she didn’t have any idea how to use it.
From his place in the stern, Dominic pushed away from the bank with his own paddle and said, “Watch Ace, señorita. You’ll pick it up in no time.”
The paddle felt heavy in her hands and awkward, but she did as he said and studied Ace. Not surprisingly, the man knew what he was doing. He sat with his back to her in the bow, facing forward, his left hand comfortably gripping the top of the handle, the other gripping the slender wooden neck just above where it widened into the paddle. With easy grace, he plunged it into the water several feet in front of him and made a long smooth stroke alongside the canoe that immediately propelled it forward. With a gracefulness she couldn’t help but admire, he lifted the paddle from the water, turned it sideways so that it feathered a foot or so over the surface of the river as he brought it back out in front of him, then immediately began the procedure all over again.
Fascinated, Maddy couldn’t take her eyes off him. There was a languidness to his movements that was surprisingly sensual for such a big, athletic man. Her gaze slowly trailing over him, she noted the power in his strong hands, the steeliness of his hard forearms, the rippling of his shoulder muscles beneath his shirt as he sank the paddle in the river again and again. Given the chance, she could have watched him for hours.
But she wasn’t along for a free ride. Frowning, she copied the way Ace held the paddle, hesitantly sank it into the water and felt the pull of the wide, slow-moving river against her stroke as the canoe jerked forward. The beginnings of a smile played with the corners of her mouth. Watching Ace, she timed her stroke with his, and the forward motion of the canoe immediately turned into a smooth, powerful glide. Just that easily, she was in love.
Later, she couldn’t have said how long they were
on the river that first day, but it wasn’t long enough. Once she caught the rhythm, paddling was like breathing—she did it instinctively—and she was able to turn her attention to her surroundings. Craning her neck, not wanting to miss anything, she soaked up the colors and smells like a sponge.
Over the course of the day, they passed a number of villages that had been hacked right out of the jungle on the edge of the river. Each time they came to one, they stopped so Dominic could go ashore and question the locals about Lazear. And each time he returned to the canoe, it was with the news that they were on the right track. Two men, one matching Sneakers’s description, had been through there earlier in the day and had seemed in no hurry. They were still hours ahead of them, but Sneakers and his guide obviously had no idea they were being followed.
Encouraged, the three of them continued upstream with renewed enthusiasm even though they knew there was no way they would catch their quarry that day. They could, however, shave considerable time off the clock by pressing forward long after they should have stopped for the night. Dominic had warned them that they didn’t want to risk setting up the tents once darkness fell or they might have to contend with snakes, but long after twilight fell, they were still on the water, pushing the envelope.
Finally, Ace called a halt. Peering through the thickening shadows up ahead, he said, “There seems to be a clearing on the starboard side about a hundred yards ahead. It looks like a good spot to pitch the tents.”
Turning the bow of the canoe to the right with a simple flip of his paddle, Dominic sent them gliding toward the spot. “A trader used to sell his wares here,” the older man informed them as the canoe bumped into the shore and Ace stepped out to drag it up onto the bank. “He would make the trip upriver once a month and set up a tent here until he sold out his inventory. He hasn’t been seen for several months, however, and no one knows what happened to him. Six months from now, you won’t even be able to tell he was ever here.”