Chapter Three
Eli was already up and dressed when Ray came into the kitchen the next morning. It was early, only six o’clock, and the sun had just begun to rise. Ray yawned as she sauntered in and casually seated herself at the table.
She still wore that damned provocative shirt, but now she had on loose matching shorts, too.
It didn’t help.
The army green, mannish getup should have looked ridiculous. It didn’t. With her trim healthy body, a burlap sack would be sexy.
“Coffee?” His voice emerged as a low rumble. He’d awakened with thoughts of Ray on his mind, which had caused his morning erection to linger. Now, with her here in the flesh looking sleepy and tender, his dominant male instincts surged.
“Yeah, that’d be terrific.” She yawned again. Assuming he’d serve her, assuming he could ignore the provocative way she dressed, she lounged back in her chair.
Her legs were sleek with muscles, smooth and straight. Her shoulders were toned, proud. She showed a lot of skin and all of it looked creamy enough to kiss. When she’d first appeared last night, he’d been hit with such a wave of lust it had almost staggered him.
Throughout the long night, his thoughts had centered on her, and when he had managed to sleep, he’d dreamed of her. Restlessness had driven him from his bed nearly an hour ago.
He handed Ray the coffee, then settled himself across from her. Unwilling to alarm her or put her on guard, he tried to be casual, too, but damn, he’d never known a woman so completely comfortable in her own skin.
Her short, midnight hair stuck out at very odd angles, and her eyes were alert but puffy from sleep, the lids heavy. Her cheeks were flushed, one of them bearing a small crease from her pillow. She obviously hadn’t suffered the same distractions he had.
He propped his head up on an elbow and smiled at her. “You don’t look like you could take on a rescue right now.”
Sipping the hot coffee, she peeked at him over the rim of the cup and shrugged. “It isn’t necessary that I do any rescuing right now, is it?”
“And when it is necessary?” he asked, doing his best to keep his gaze on her face rather than the sleep-warmed skin of her upper breasts, revealed by the low neck of the undershirt.
She paused in the middle of a drink, then gulped down a good portion before plunking the mug onto the tabletop. “What’s the matter, Eli, getting cold feet? Your fiancée convince you I wasn’t right for the job?”
Her comment gave him the perfect opportunity to clear up at least one misunderstanding. She’d run off to bed last night, taking away his chance then. Which was maybe a good thing, because the way he’d felt last night, he’d have ended up kissing her before she reached her room, and Ray being Ray, she might have crippled him for it.
“Contrary to what Jane might say, she’s not my fiancée. She was just being possessive.” He grinned, remembering Jane’s expression. “You made quite a grand entrance last night. Really took her by surprise.”
Ray snorted in doubt. “Not a fiancée, yet she came all the way from Kentucky to declare herself, to offer up her body and her undying love?”
Beneath the sarcasm, Eli could hear Ray’s genuine curiosity. And the way she didn’t quite meet his eyes was telling. He knew her question wasn’t just to pass the time and that pleased him, especially since she had been so careful to remain impersonal. “Jane has a business office here, also. She probably had a meeting to attend and decided to kill two birds with one stone. Actually, she travels a lot more than I do. We generally don’t see each other all that often.”
“Then how did the two of you ever get together?”
Briefly, Eli considered teasing her about the forbidden nature of her personal question, but he didn’t want to discourage her. It’d give him leverage when he got around to asking his own questions.
But he also wasn’t willing to go into detail, sensing that Ray would find too many differences in their backgrounds. “With each of us in the department store industry, we have similar interests.”
Ray’s dark eyes were enigmatic and unconvinced. But as if she’d belatedly recalled her rules, she said “Whatever.” She had one arm crossed over her stomach, the other holding her cup. “You have anything for breakfast? I’m starved.”
Her outspoken manner and brazen attitude delighted him. She was so different from other women he’d known. Hell, she was different from the men he’d known, too. “Tell you what. Why don’t you get dressed and we can go out for breakfast?”
She shook her head. “No, I’d rather eat here. We still need to get you some clothes, and you need to gather up some cash and book our flights into southern Texas this afternoon.”
“Cash?”
“To pay off the informants. It’ll be cheaper than the ransom would have been, but it’s going to cost you.” She gave him a suggested amount to have on hand, her sharp gaze waiting for any resistance. It was less than he’d anticipated paying, so he didn’t argue.
“After we land in Texas, we’ll meet up with a friend of mine who’ll fly us into Mataya in the morning. We may have to spend one night there depending on how things roll out with my contacts. Then we get your brother and come home.”
“Just like that?” He was amazed by how simple she made it sound, how nonchalantly she discussed invading a foreign country and enacting a clandestine rescue.
“I hope. Things can always go wrong, but there’s usually a way to correct problems before anything disastrous happens.”
She stood and walked to his cabinets to scrounge for food. Eli leaned back and enjoyed the sight. She had a terrific body, honed and sleek like a female jungle cat, sexy in a way only a female body could be.
She was on the slim side, her hips flaring gently from a narrow waist. Her breasts weren’t large, but they were high and firm, displayed beneath the cotton shirt when she stretched up her arm to reach for a bowl.
Her nipples pressed against the soft cotton and he felt his muscles twitch. Damn.
After locating a loaf of bread, some eggs, and the bologna and cheese, she searched for a pan. “I’m going to cook. You want some?”
“Uh, what are you making?” Eli was pleased that she’d offered to fix him breakfast, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat whatever she intended to concoct with her ingredients. Bologna for breakfast didn’t seem particularly appetizing.
“I’ll just scramble the eggs and the bologna and cheese together. Sort of a lazy man’s omelet. Trust me, it’s good.”
Actually, he would have said “yes” just so he could stay and watch her cook. Every movement was agile and flowing without deliberate effort and she seemed to get a great deal done without rushing.
That was something he’d noticed about her. She seldom hurried, but she was always productive. At one point, she stopped stirring the eggs to give an elaborate stretch. Eli nearly strangled on his coffee.
Though she’d assured him Jeremy would be fine, and he trusted her experience in the matter, he wouldn’t relax completely until he had his brother home safe and sound. He should have been concentrating solely on that, not on Ray, not on the firmness of her ass or how sweet her belly looked and how he’d like to kiss her there . . .
She glanced up, saw where he was looking, and rearranged her undershirt so it again covered her stomach.
Her expression was devoid of emotion.
Because he normally went after what he wanted, and he definitely wanted Ray, he had a hard time restraining himself. “Sorry.”
She turned away, an odd introspective mood clouding her previous lack of inhibition. The kitchen remained silent while she finished cooking. But when she returned to the table to dish up the eggs, she made a wry face at Eli.
“I guess I don’t have any modesty left. Being in this line of work has a way of forcing you to get to the core of survival. After being around men so often, I’ve begun to feel like one of the guys, and men have always treated me just that way.”
Eli had a really hard time believing any man, young, old, single, or attached could be around Ray without complete and total acknowledgement of her as a woman. It didn’t matter what she wore or how she acted with the men. Unless they were blind, they’d be noticing her.
She gave a self-conscious shrug. “I’m only in this mode when I’m on an assignment. There’re just too many other things to concentrate on to worry about my appearance. I hope you don’t mind too much.” She pushed her bangs away. “I’ll try to remember a little more modesty.”
He didn’t want her to do that. But after that speech, where she took everything so seriously, concentrating solely on the job of saving his brother, mentioning that he had enjoyed the show might seem insensitive.
He’d just have to try harder to hide his reaction to her.
But then she took her seat, reached for her toast, and the strap of the undershirt slid down her arm. For one breathless, heart-stopping, anticipatory moment, Eli thought the shirt would give way to gravity and reveal the fullness of her breast. Neither heaven nor hell could have pulled his gaze away from her.
But she caught the strap and tugged it back up, oblivious to his turmoil.
Eli rubbed his face. Much more of that and he’d be making a fool of himself at the kitchen table. He concentrated on the food, on his brother, on anything and everything other than Ray.
Eating eggs and fried bologna while feeling like an anxious adolescent preparing for his first intimacy wasn’t easy to pull off. His lack of control annoyed the hell out of him.
As she wolfed down her portion of breakfast, Ray pulled out a map and laid it on the table between them. Using her fork, she pointed to a spot in Central America. “This is where they have your brother, just a couple of miles from the Macal River.”
He glanced at the map. “A plateau?”
“Yeah. Real pretty land, but riddled with caves, some pretty treacherous. There’s a clearing here,” she said, pointing to the map, “that used to be an old logging camp. It’s being reclaimed by the forest, though, and isn’t really passable except on foot. Deadfalls are everywhere. The wood makes good campfires, but it also houses some deadly insects and snakes.”
Eli wasn’t worried about a few bugs. “Is the pilot you mentioned reliable?”
Her eyes came up to his with a suddenness that was both startling and provoking. “Would I suggest him if he wasn’t?”
With the morning sunlight flooding through the window, her eyes appeared a shade of brown, rather than black. But there were flecks of gold and ebony in them. They were beautiful eyes, eyes that could eat a man alive. Without thought, Eli reached out and took her hand where it rested on the table. “I didn’t mean to insult you, Ray. The truth is, despite everything, I’m still anxious.”
A strange expression came over her face, and she nodded. “I understand. All I can tell you is that worrying won’t help. In fact, it’s the worst thing you can do because it weakens you, both physically and emotionally.”
“So you never show fear and you never worry?” He said it teasingly, while wondering what kind of restrictive life she’d led when she didn’t want to laugh, didn’t want to connect with people, didn’t want to care enough to feel concern.
“I try not to. Sometimes . . .” She shook her head and sighed. “I have my weaknesses like everyone else, Eli. But if I hear you repeat that, ever, I’ll make you sorry.”
Her threat lightened his mood and gave him a smile.
As if that had been her intent, she smiled, too, then curled her fingers into his and gave his hand a hardy squeeze. “Distract yourself. Think of pleasant things, fond memories, whatever. But don’t dwell on it.”
He already knew what those pleasant thoughts would be, and they all centered around her. Still holding her hand, glad that she hadn’t pulled away yet, Eli asked, “What do you do to distract yourself?”
“Exercise to the point of exhaustion, which I’ll probably do tonight. Sometimes I read a book. If I’m home, I play with my dog.”
Doing a double take, he said, “You have a dog?”
She smiled, a full, genuine smile for once, and Eli felt his stomach muscles contract in reaction. The smile transformed her face, taking her from cool and aloof to warm and open.
“Yeah,” she whispered, “I have a dog. He’s about the meanest mutt you’d ever want to meet. Growls at everyone, and wow, he hates men.” Then, very softly she added, “But he loves me.”
Eli was entranced, there was no other word for it. He sat there staring at her, knowing he’d just been sunk, that he was in over his head and didn’t even care.
Ray was so tough one minute, so oblivious to her femininity, then within a blink of the eye, she turned gentle and sweet. His gaze drifted over her face, taking in every nuance, every small detail. There were tiny lines at the corners of her eyes, testimony to the seriousness of her missions. And those small scars . . .
She looked fragile, if such a thing were possible for a person of her capabilities. But with her shoulders bare, no makeup on her face, and her features relaxed, she looked utterly female and frail. He wanted to protect her, from the world and her own sense of herself. Even more than that, he wanted to mark her as his own.
And if Ray had any idea of his thoughts, he’d be in trouble for sure.
She broke his pensive mood by saying, “If you’re not going to eat your eggs, can I have them?”
The hilarity of the situation hit him. Here he was mired in profound ruminations of the heart—and she’d only been coveting his eggs.
Laughing, he pushed his plate toward her. “Go ahead. I wouldn’t want you to deplete your resources.”
She gave him a very prim “Thanks,” then dug into his food.
Eli knew it wouldn’t be wise to push her, not yet, maybe not ever. He couldn’t tell her the carnal course his thoughts had taken, but he could tease her, perhaps get another smile from her. “You know, your naturalness is refreshing—I think.”
Ray glanced up from her contemplation of the map. “My what?”
“The way you say and do just as you please. It’s nice not to have to wonder what’s in your head.”
She blinked at him lazily while storm clouds gathered in her eyes. “You think I have it so easy? You actually think you know my thoughts?”
Uh-oh. Apparently, he’d stepped in it again. “Ray, you haven’t exactly been circumspect in your speech or”—he glanced at her body, teasingly displayed—“in your attire.”
Her eyelids narrowed just the tiniest bit. She propped her chin on a fist. “You didn’t by any chance think to get to know me better, did you?”
Eli wasn’t quite certain what was going on now. Seconds ago she’d been open and friendly. She’d told him about her dog, damn it. Of her own accord, she had opened up. “I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Why?”
He couldn’t tell her that he wanted her, that despite the situation with his brother, he couldn’t get her off his mind. He shrugged and settled on saying, “You fascinate me.”
Her smile was mean. “Kind of like the strange animals at the zoo, huh?”
“No.” He resented the gibe, especially since it had come on so suddenly. “I think you’re very independent and honest and up-front. I like and admire that about you. You don’t meet too many people with those traits.”
She continued to scrutinize him. “You don’t know me, Eli. If you did, you wouldn’t say such a stupid thing.”
From bad to worse. She was so damn defensive, so hurt. “I want to know you.”
She laughed without humor.
“When this is over, we could see how things go.”
Before he’d finished that statement, she was already shaking her head. “Not possible.”
“Why?”
Ray stood and paced to the sink, put her empty dish inside and ran water over it. She was gathering her thoughts, her arguments, but Eli didn’t know how to reassure her.
He knew for certain she didn’t realize the picture she made, leaning against the sink with the undershirt hugging the soft lines of her hips. She turned, putting her hands behind her on the counter, which only served to push her breasts forward. Again, she seemed oblivious to the sensuousness of her stance.
“I never see the people I work for after the job is done.”
“Why, Ray?” His gaze held hers, taking in her carefully wrought expression of indifference. “Explain it to me.”
“What’s to explain? I just don’t.”
“You must have a reason.” He pressed her when he knew that could be dangerous. But he sensed an emotional opening and he fully intended to take advantage of it. “I would think you’d get pretty close to a person if you rescue him.”
She shook her head. “No, that would be stupid.”
“Why?”
Exasperated, she said, “You wouldn’t understand.”
“You sound so sure of that.” Despite his efforts to remain calm and in control, his brows pulled down. “You know, it’s just possible I’m not really as shallow as you think.”
Her arms came around to cross over her chest. It was a protective gesture, and Eli wondered at it. Why did she feel threatened? How could she feel threatened by a man when she was comfortable traipsing about in her underclothes in front of him? That alone denoted a certain amount of self-confidence and trust.
He stood, crowding in close to her. Her face turned up to his and he stared into her eyes. He wanted to touch her, to make the physical connection between a man and a woman. The compulsion was almost too great to resist. “Explain it to me, Ray,” he insisted quietly.
Her chin tilted stubbornly in a sign of defiance. She was always so contained, so laid back, she wouldn’t have cared enough to be defiant. But this topic got to her, threatened her in some way, and damn it, he wanted to know why.
“It would be like mixing two entirely different worlds. And I know from experience it doesn’t work. People like you—”
“What the hell does that mean, ‘people like me’?”
“People with money,” she clarified, drawing the word out like a curse. “You hired me, Eli, you did not make a social call. This is a business arrangement, that’s all. Quit trying to make it something more.”
Her insistence only made him more determined. “Maybe it could be something more if you’d let it.”
“For what purpose?” she almost yelled.
“Because I want you.”
Her eyes flared, color rushed into her cheeks—anger or embarrassment, he had no idea which. Her chest rose and fell, then her expression settled into lines of rage. As she turned to stalk away, he grabbed her shoulder.
Big mistake.
Within a heartbeat, his thumb was twisted backward at an awkward angle. Eli locked his jaw in serious discomfort. Feeling his own anger erupt, he growled, “Let go, Ray.”
She did, backing up a step and looking very sheepish. “I’m sorry. It was pure instinct.” Then she caught herself and her brows snapped down. “You shouldn’t touch me. Especially not after spewing garbage like that.”
“Garbage?” He rubbed his thumb but it continued to throb.
Going on tiptoe, she stuck her face in his and snarled, “I’m not out for a quick toss in the hay, Eli. Save that for Jane.” Her sneering tone irked him all the more. “Just because I have some unusual habits doesn’t mean I’m easy.”
He wanted to turn her over his knee. His anger had risen until he had to speak through his teeth. “If you had let me finish instead of being so damned prickly—just like a damn woman—you’d know that wasn’t what I meant at all.” He tried shaking his hand, but the pain continued to pulse through his thumb. He glowered at her. “I only meant that I like you and I’m attracted to you.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? You don’t think you’re likable? Hell, Ray, you’re giving me your expertise and assistance, and if that’s not enough—”
She curled her hands into fists. Not a good sign. “I’m not giving you anything. You’re paying good money for it.”
Eli didn’t appreciate that little reminder. His expression became stony. “You didn’t have to agree to help. Money or not, you could have said no.”
He tried bending his thumb, and grimaced instead.
Just that easily, Ray relented. Dropping her weight onto one leg, thrusting out the other hip in an arrogant slouch, she said, “Here.” She grabbed his hand, turned his thumb sharply, making him grunt, then asked, “Is that better?”
Strangely enough, it was. Feeling less than pleasant, Eli said, “I’ll live, thank you very much.”
She looked at him, shook her head with a short laugh, then attempted to wipe away her grin. “You’re funny, Eli, you know that?”
“Putting a torque on my thumb amuses you, does it?”
She shrugged, which wasn’t much of an encouraging answer. “Look, let’s forget all this nonsense about getting to know each other, okay? We need to concentrate on getting through this job.” Her natural confidence restored, she sauntered lazily toward the door. “I’ll shower first, then we can get things going.”
Eli watched her go, but just before she disappeared from sight, she turned to him again. “Eli?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
In a tone as reverent as her own had been, he asked, “For what?”
“For wanting to get to know me. Even though it’s impossible, it was a nice thought.”
She turned again, but Eli’s implacable words stopped her. “Like hell, Ray. It isn’t impossible, and I will know you. You might as well get used to the idea now.”
That particular challenge had her shoulders stiffening, but as she walked away, Eli was almost positive he’d seen a small smile on her mouth.
Deep down, she was exactly like other women—confusing as hell.
They were almost ready to leave for the airport, and Ray looked Eli over approvingly. He’d flat out refused to shop anywhere except at his own store, but she had to admit, he’d done well. Now wearing faded black jeans and a fashionably worn black T-shirt with low boots, he appeared much more casual. Of course, the watch would have to go, but Ray put off telling him so since he’d been so adamant about wearing it.
That morning he’d started to shave, but Ray had caught him in time, insisting he leave the whiskers alone. His beard shadow wasn’t heavy yet, but by tomorrow it would be. He looked downright rugged and disreputable and all too appealing for her peace of mind.
Eli nodded at the bag she’d carried from the mall. “So what’d you get?”
It had been a frivolity on her part to purchase anything, but she’d felt compelled to obtain one particular item. Pulling a sour face, she opened her bag to show Eli her new pajamas.
He laughed, shaking his head, and then in a husky, intimate whisper, said, “Personally, I preferred what you wore this morning.”
Didn’t she know it. He’d been plain about it to the point he had her thinking of it, even though she knew better. “And that’s why I thought it might be a good idea to get something a little less revealing. It’d be stupid to let old-fashioned lust be a bother on this mission.”
Ray almost flinched when his palm cupped her chin, turning her face up to his. His hand was big and hot and rough, and everything in her curled in response.
The pajamas were coming a bit too late, in her opinion. She was already way too bothered.
“I love the way you state your case, Ray. Old-fashioned lust? Are you feeling it, too?”
She cleared her throat—and lied. “Oh, I think I can control myself.” Her statement was meant to be sarcastic, but the words emerged as a breathy whisper, losing some of their impact. Eli smiled knowingly.
“For now.” His thumb brushed her bottom lip, prompting her to pull away. “For now, we’ll control ourselves.”
He took liberties she’d never allowed before. “You’re taking a lot for granted.”
That had his left eyebrow raising a good inch. “Am I? And I thought I showed incredible restraint.” He chuckled at her disgruntled frown. “Now don’t get riled. We still have to finish packing our stuff and that’d be tough for me to do with a mangled thumb.”
He kept teasing her instead of getting mad. She didn’t understand him at all. Ray shook her head and went off to her room to add the absurd pajamas to her duffel bag. She was most comfortable sleeping nude and had worn the undershirt out of modesty. She could just imagine how uncomfortable sleeping in the stupid cotton pajamas would be. They were lightweight, made like a T-shirt and short pants, and would cover her from the scooped neck to just below her knees. Much as she hated to admit it, she knew the purchase had been necessary.
For her as well as for him.
No way could she give in to her attraction to Eli, remarkable though it seemed. He was of the elite, richer class. He was involved with Jane. And damn it, employers didn’t get seriously involved with their employees, especially not when the employee was in effect a hired thug. She liked to think her talents were more refined than that, but he wouldn’t think so. How could he? She’d attacked him in the kitchen, for crying out loud. When she thought of what she’d done to his thumb, she wanted to groan. It had been her equivalent of a slap—and that was too emotional to suit her.
Yet around him, her control was obliterated. Her reactions were involuntary, out there for him to see before she even realized what she might do. It made her feel raw, exposed.
As she packed and prepared, Ray tried to remember how long it had been since she’d been so attracted to a man. She’d given up on finding a “happily ever after” about five years ago, when she was only twenty-six. Since that time, she’d met a few men who had momentarily piqued her interest. None of them had known she could muscle her way out of a mob or load an AK-47 with lightning-fast reflexes. She’d kept the most basic part of herself hidden, and still it hadn’t lasted.
Not that she’d mourned the ending of any relationships. Men had a way of opening their mouths and destroying whatever illusions of suitability she tried to give them. True, she was more independent than most and likely that was a problem, because she just couldn’t take the natural arrogance that seemed to accompany most men. They saw women in one-dimensional ways, small, weak—all the things she most detested.
Funny, but Eli’s arrogance had only sharpened her interest. Maybe because she felt his was more deserved. He was self-confident, strong, and hard. And big.
He stood a head taller and his shoulders were twice as wide. In comparison, he made her feel small, a circumstance she hadn’t encountered too many times since she’d matured.
Of course, they hadn’t gotten to the thick of it yet, where she’d really test Eli’s mettle. Once they were in Mataya and he had to follow her lead, he wouldn’t find her quite so amusing. He’d back off on his own, so she really had nothing to worry about.
He was in a chipper mood when they left the apartment, which only served to annoy Ray further. She was disgruntled, but with herself, not Eli. It seemed that despite everything she’d just told herself, she already felt a sense of loss. Eli wasn’t hers, would never be hers.
But damn it, she wanted him to be—at least for a little while.