Woman of Innocence

by Lindsay McKenna

  She couldn’t stop crying as the doctor examined her behind the cloth curtain. Luckily, Matt never left her side, never allowed his hand to slip from her shaking shoulders. Since she had been nearly hypothermic, Matt had stripped her out of her wet clothing, nearly tearing off her boots and heavy socks. He’d wrapped her tightly in several blankets and then sat her up on the gurney and begun to briskly rub her back, shoulders and arms to force the blood to flow.

  The nurse had given her coca leaf tea to drink, because it was warm. But most of all, Matt’s care had brought her back to life. Now Jenny wondered if she’d heard things as she lay on the bank near death. Had Matt really said he loved her? Her heart contracted. Snuggling beneath his hard, unforgiving jaw, she tucked her bruised hand beneath her chin and felt the lull of exhaustion creeping over her. Just the way his hand trembled lightly on her drying hair made her want to start crying all over again.

  Matt closed his eyes and held her gently. “You almost died out there today,” he said in a low, rasping tone against her ear. “Jenny…I was so scared. Scared of losing you.” Compressing his lips, his brow wrinkling, Matt knew he had to get out how he felt toward her. Would Jenny push him away? Was his love one-sided? Would she become scared and run? He had no way of knowing, but in his gut he sensed that Jenny was far stronger and more resilient than he’d ever given her credit for. Anyone who would leap into that icy coffin called a river to save another’s life was heroic beyond his scope of understanding. She was a real-life heroine. And she had a heart as huge as the universe. More than anything, he wanted to share his own heart with her. Would she feel the same way?

  Matt felt her stir at his murmured admission. He eased her back just enough so that her head rested on his shoulder and she could look up at him. Her eyes swam with tears, but the flecks of golden sunlight in their depths gave him the courage to go on. His hands tightened slightly on her shoulder and the hand he held. Such a small, delicate hand. But what a courageous heart she had. Giving her a slight, unsteady smile, he added, “Did you hear me out there earlier? You may not have. You were going down for the count. Maybe you weren’t conscious enough….”

  Jenny felt her heart began to skip beats. She saw the stormy, narrowed look in Matt’s eyes and knew…knew what he was going to say. Her heart expanding like a flower opening, she held her breath and waited.

  “Hell…Jenny, I love you.” There, it was out on the table. Now she could either accept or reject him. Matt felt suffocated in those seconds as he saw his words register. Her eyes widened enormously. Her petal-perfect lips parted. There was shock and…something else in her eyes. What it was, Matt wasn’t sure.

  Matt’s strained features blurred. Since becoming conscious, all Jenny could do was weep off and on, having no control over her ragged, tattered emotional state. Huge tears formed and rolled down her cheeks as she held his anxious gaze.

  “Y-you do?”

  Licking his lips, Matt growled, “Yes. How do you feel about me?” His heart bounded once. Hard. Never had he been so scared as now—and he was an ex-Navy SEAL, who had encountered hundreds of situations where he’d been scared to death. But not like this. Her tears tore at him. He lifted his hand from her smaller cooler one and tenderly wiped her tears away with his callused fingers.

  Choking on words that stuck in her throat, Jenny closed her eyes as his gentle touch caressed not only her flesh, but her aching heart, and made it expand with euphoria. As he drew his hand away, she caught it, her still-white fingers wrapping around his thicker, stronger ones. “I can’t explain it, Matt,” Jenny began brokenly. Gripping his hand, she confessed, “I feel like such a coward. You’ve got more courage than I do. I—I’ve been feeling so strongly toward you since I met you that it’s been driving me crazy. I was afraid to call it love because it seemed too soon. I was scared…that maybe how I felt about you wasn’t how you might feel toward me.” Gulping unsteadily, she could barely hold his burning gaze. “Does that make sense?”

  Whispering her name, Matt carefully turned Jenny so that she was facing him fully. Cognizant of her bruised ribs, he maneuvered her so that her drawn-up legs settled against his hip. With one arm around her blanketed shoulders, he released her hand and cupped her face.

  “Do you know how priceless you are to me, sweet woman? How I look forward to waking up with you beside me every morning? I’ve been fighting myself every night not to drag you into my arms and love you until your body sang with joy along with mine. So many times your melodic laughter had flowed through me and lifted me up. You make me feel happier than I’ve ever deserved to be.”

  Sighing audibly, Jenny closed her eyes. “You’re so beautiful with your words, Matt…a poet.” Touching her heart with her hand, she reopened her eyes and stared warmly up into his. “I think I’ve loved you from the beginning.”

  Nodding, Matt felt an avalanche of fear melting off his tense shoulders. Jenny loved him! Heart soaring, he tried to keep it in perspective. Grazing her cheek, which was now damp with tears and rosy with emotion, he said, “I think I did, too. I think it took this incident to drive it home—to both of us.”

  Nodding, Jenny closed her eyes and absorbed his continuing touch. “Yes…yes, it did….” As he caressed her, his fingers created a pleasant, building fire from her temple and cheek, down to her neck. In that moment, she felt like a sacred vessel—much loved, hotly desired.

  Swallowing hard, Matt kept his caress light and tender. He saw the pleasure in Jenny’s sweet face and smiled inwardly as her lips parted. He continued to explore her face, neck and small, proud shoulders, but he told himself not to go too far. She was in no condition to make love. Bruised ribs were as bad as broken ones, as far as he was concerned. She couldn’t even take in a full breath of air because of the pain. Luckily, the bruises were low on her rib cage, and she was able to wear a tight spandex wrap to keep them protected and stable. No, right now, all he wanted to do was let her know how much he loved her. Touch was one form of communication, one he was very good at. And Jenny needed to be cradled, cared for, nourished and held as never before. After all, she had died back there on the banks of the Urubamba. She had told him earlier about the tunnel of light and how she was told to go back, that it wasn’t her time yet. When he’d heard that, fear shot through him like an icy pick stabbing him through his thudding heart. His breath had brought her back. Back to him. Now everything else could wait. They had time now. Precious time.

  “Kiss me, Matt?”

  Her voice was trembling. He saw her lovely blue eyes open. Saw the tears, the joy, the shining light in her gaze that was meant only for him. This time, he realized her tears were happy ones. To be shared. Giving her a very male smile, he cupped Jenny’s face with his hands and leaned down. Above all, he wanted her to know that he worshipped her. That she was priceless, and beyond anything he’d ever imagined for himself. Matt had thought love was a four-letter word that could only wound and hurt. Well, he was wrong. The woman whose lips he now grazed, whose breath he inhaled deeply into his heart, his needy soul, had shown him he was wrong.

  A little moan moved through Jenny as Matt’s strong, sure mouth covered her lips in a butterfly light caress. His hands were steadying as she leaned upward, wanting more, desiring much more from him. Seeming to understand what she was asking, he pressed his lips firmly against hers, rocking hers open and moving his tongue languidly against her own. The effect was so surprising, so potent, that Jenny quivered.

  “Like that?” Matt whispered raggedly against her ear. He opened his eyes and saw her grow languid beneath his stroking caress. Something told him Jenny was not all that experienced in lovemaking, and until he knew for sure, he was going to take his time with her. He would teach her, share with her, find out what she liked and what she was ready for.

  “Umm…” Jenny melted completely beneath the heated onslaught of his very male mouth. Just the brush of his bearded face against her cheek created wild tingles within her. Jenny lost herself in his strength, in his tende
r assault upon her senses. She felt him holding back, as if she would break if he was too rough with her. Under the circumstances, her reeling mind told her, she was in no condition to make love to him right now. Not with her cracked sternum and bruised ribs. Matt had more sense, more control than she did presently.

  Gradually, Matt eased his mouth from hers. As he opened his eyes, his hands still framing her rosy cheeks, he saw the slumberous quality of Jenny’s gaze as she peered wonderingly up at him. His lips curved ruefully. Moving his fingers across her unmarred brow, trailing them down the sides of her clean jaw, he whispered, “I love you, Jenny Wright. And I’m looking forward to the day when I can love you totally….”

  She trembled at his husky tone and the caress of his fingers against her face and neck. Her breasts ached to be touched. The throbbing fire in her lower body was almost painful. Hungering for him desperately, she managed a soft, strained laugh as his hands settled back on her shoulders and he eased her around so that once again she lay against his warm bulk.

  “I don’t know if I can last that long,” she murmured shyly. No man had ever looked at her and made her feel so feminine, so wanton, as the way Matt did. For whatever reason, he made her feel bold—deliciously so. At her comment, she saw that wonderful mouth of his crook in a kind of little-boy smile that melted her soul.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Jenny replied, grinning and putting a frisky note in her voice.

  Laughing deeply, Matt hugged her, but carefully. He kissed her brow, her nose and dipped quickly down to capture her smiling mouth. “You know what, sweet woman? I think I’ve got a bead on you now. You go around with this meek, mild, shadowy facade.” He tapped her nose teasingly. “And you’re really Princess Xena underneath—courageous, strong and invincible.”

  Giggling, Jenny caught his hand. She basked in his tender teasing. “Invincible? Oh, I think not. If you hadn’t had the presence of mind to pick up that rope and toss it to me, I’d be dead now. No, I’m not invincible, darling…but with you, I feel that way. You’re such a role model for me.”

  Losing his smile, Matt cupped her chin. “Listen to me, Jenny. Don’t you ever think you aren’t heroic, because you are. I’m a trained SEAL, and I’m not sure I would have survived that river. That water would freeze the strongest SEAL in minutes.” Matt gave her a grave look. “You were in that ice water for nearly three minutes, Jenny. Plenty long enough to go completely hypothermic, and you didn’t. You held Daniel up above you so he wouldn’t take in water until the very end. By that time, we had you in the shallows. You are so strong. You’re passionate. It was that huge heart of yours that gave you the courage, the physical strength and doggedness to save that little boy.”

  His words fed her. Nourished her starving soul as nothing else ever could. Matt was completely sincere in his analysis of her attributes, and he honored her decision to jump in after Daniel in spite of the danger. Suddenly she saw herself in a way she never had before. Sliding her fingertips across his raspy face, Jenny whispered, “Your belief in me, that I could be courageous…a heroine…helped me believe in myself. Believe that I could do what I did.” She gazed up at him, knowing he was her role model. “Isn’t that what love is really all about, Matt? One partner supports and helps the other become all that they can be? Love means building up, not tearing down.”

  Nodding, he rasped, “Yes. Yes, it is, Jenny.” Catching her hand, Matt pressed a warm, long kiss to the center of her palm and watched her eyes grow slumberous with pleasure again. “I think a couple of days of rest are what you need now. I’m going to talk to Major Stevenson, ask her for some time off to let you heal up before we finish these interviews. Okay?”

  Her brows shot up. Jenny sat up, too quickly. She grimaced and tenderly held her ribs with her hand. “No! No…don’t do that! I promised her I wouldn’t take up a lot of her time. She simply doesn’t have it. I’m fine, Matt. I want to go to the base tomorrow morning just as planned.”

  “Okay, tiger woman,” he sighed. Giving her a charged look filled with love, he said, “You stay here. I’m going to go down to the plaza for a minute.”

  As he eased away and stood up, Jenny frowned. “Why?”

  “Kannie and Patrick, owners of the India Feliz, are making you your favorite meal, and they’re walking it down here for you. It’s their way of honoring and thanking you for saving little Daniel.” He grinned. “And it’s supposed to be a surprise, nosy.”

  She smiled softly. “That’s so nice of them! They didn’t have to do that.”

  Matt opened the door to their room and smiled back at her. “Expect to get a few accolades over your rescue, sweet woman. Well deserved, I’d say. I’ll be right back.”

  Jenny was stunned when the civilian helicopter, flown by one of the Apache pilots masquerading as a civilian, flew them into the military side of the base instead of to the mining side, which was general protocol. She gripped the seat, her knuckles whitening, as Chief Warrant Officer Akiva Redtail whipped the small Bell helicopter through an opening in the black lava wall that led to the military complex. Jenny sucked in a sharp breath as Akiva moved the chopper through the hole, barely large enough to accommodate the whirling blades, as if she were on a Sunday drive. One wrong move, and Jenny saw all too clearly that the blades could smash into that unrelenting black basalt and they’d die in a fiery inferno. She felt Matt’s hand settle over hers for reassurance.

  No sooner had they cleared the hole than Akiva said cheerfully over the intercom, “We call it the Eye. Extreme, eh?”

  “Uh, yes…extreme….” Jenny whispered, fear lumped in her throat. She heard Akiva laugh huskily as she adroitly guided the helicopter to the lip, a smooth basalt slab at the edge of the gargantuan cave.

  “Why are we landing on the military side?” she asked Akiva, frowning. They always flew to the mining side, their cover. And flying the Eye was a frightening experience for Jenny. Something she never wanted to do again.

  Akiva maneuvered the Bell helicopter around, hovered and then descended to the deck of the cave. “Major Stevenson ordered me to bring you in this way,” she told her enigmatically. She lowered the helicopter to the lip, settling gently on it. Immediately, Akiva cut the power and the blades began to slow. She turned and grinned at Jenny. “Take a look out there.” And she pointed inside the cave.

  They had to wait until the blades stopped turning before the ground crew could forward to place chalks beneath the tires of the helo and put the blades in a sling that would stop them from turning in the breeze.

  From the grin on Matt’s face, Jenny knew something was up. But what? Frowning, she leaned down and looked out the window toward the cave. Just about every single person who worked at the base was standing at stiff attention, in a rectangular formation. Everyone was in dark green, U.S. Army dress uniforms, not their normal workday clothing. She saw Majors Stevenson and York at the front of the ranks looking toward them expectedly, smiles of welcome on their faces.

  “What’s going on?” Jenny asked as Matt opened the door once the blades had stopped.

  “A formation,” Matt told her. He helped her out of the helicopter, taking care to lower her gently to the basalt floor so she wouldn’t jar her taped ribs. Today, despite a little shyness on her part, Matt had helped Jenny to dress, because she couldn’t raise her right arm far due to her painful ribs. He’d pulled out an apple-green blouse and khaki slacks for her this morning. She’d managed to wriggle into everything by herself, except she couldn’t button the blouse. Matt tried not to make her feel embarrassed when he saw that she wore a simple white cotton chemise and not a bra beneath the blouse. Jenny had blushed furiously as he awkwardly fumbled to close all the buttons on the shirt, plus work the snap closed on her slacks. It was obvious Jenny didn’t like feeling helpless.

  Now she stared at the military formation, mystified. Akiva came around the helo, grinning like a jaguar who had sighted her quarry. Her cinnamon eyes shone with happiness. She looked over at Matt.
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br />   “Ready?”

  Matt nodded and smiled down at Jenny, who was completely perplexed as to what was going on. She was not familiar with military procedures or protocol. As he slid his fingers beneath her left elbow and guided her toward the others, she hung back a little in trepidation.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered as he leaned down, his lips near her ear. “This is for you, Jenny. It’s a celebration of sorts.”

  Reluctantly, she fell into step with Matt. As they approached, the two commanding officers of the base came to attention and saluted her crisply. Confused, Jenny saw Akiva also come to attention and snap off a smart salute to her, as well.

  “What’s going on?” she asked Maya.

  The CO smiled a little. To her left stood a woman at attention who was holding two items in her hands.

  “Jenny? Why don’t you come forward? We want to honor you.”

  Honor her? Why? Her head swam with even more confusion as Matt gently eased her forward so that she stood between Maya and ranks of uniformed personnel. Matt had a proud look on his face, his teeth even and white as he smiled at her.

  “Jenny Wright?” Maya Stevenson’s husky voice rang throughout the cavern.

  Startled by her name being called so loudly, she gasped. And then Jenny gathered herself. Maya picked up an official-looking piece of paper and stepped smartly in her direction. Stopping in front of her, she faced the formation and began to read from it.

  “Let it be known that civilian Jenny Wright is being honored for her bravery in saving the life of a little boy yesterday at the tributary in Aqua Caliente.” Maya lifted her chin and nailed Jenny with a narrowed look. “As commanding officer of the Black Jaguar Squadron, it gives me great pleasure to award you the Purple Heart Medal, a medal reserved for someone wounded in action who turns and helps her comrades instead of thinking solely of herself.”

  Stunned, Jenny watched openmouthed as the brunette sergeant stepped up, carrying a small, gold velvet pillow that had a purple heart with a purple-and-white ribbon draped over it. Maya picked up the medal, and turning, moved briskly over to Jenny. Gently, Maya pinned the medal on the left side of her blouse. Stepping back, she saluted her, as did the other officers who stood nearby.