Chapter Seven
As Buddy circled the river, looking for the best place to land, Ray pulled away from Eli. Letting him hold her during the trip had been wonderful, better than Pepto-Bismol for her upset stomach. But his promise, more like a threat, had stayed with her, churning her up whenever she tried to figure his meaning.
Regardless of what he wanted to believe, she knew she wouldn’t see him after the mission. It didn’t seem worth arguing about when the end was inevitable anyway.
But now they had arrived, so she was no longer willing to take comfort from him, no longer willing to divide her thoughts. She needed all her concentration and attention on burying the memories of that one awful mission—a mission she’d failed, no matter what anyone else said—so she could get the job done.
The landing was rough. The plane hit the choppy river with jarring impact, bouncing a few times before gliding smoothly. Ray heard Eli curse and glanced up to see him brace himself.
Scooping up a pair of compact but powerful binoculars, Ray tossed them to him. “Here, put these around your neck.” Then she picked up a backpack and turned to Buddy. “Everything’s inside?”
“Hey, you know I take care of you, babe. I didn’t forget anything.” Buddy nudged the plane’s pontoons up close to the shore. He left the cockpit to open the cabin door, then peered out into the deserted landscape.
Hot, steamy air poured into the plane, rich with the scent of the lush jungle, brackish water, and dense humidity. Animal sounds rose from the bush, a cacophony of cries and alerts. Ray stared out the door and let it all seep into her, familiarizing herself with the sights and sounds and smells of Central America once again.
Eli picked up the other sack. “This is going, too?”
Ray waited until her heartbeat regulated, then nodded. “Are you ready, Eli?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Ray searched his eyes. “It won’t be easy, you know. The heat and the humidity is stifling. It’s not too late for you to change your mind. You can go back with Buddy—”
“Do you try to piss me off, or does it just come naturally for you?”
Chuckling, Buddy said, “Oh, for Ray, it’s a natural talent.” He handed each of them a fat canteen, suggesting to Eli, “Sip your water often, but don’t forget you’ll probably be in overnight. Mataya is still too antiquated to trust their plumbing. If you do run out, there are purification tablets, but they taste like shit.”
Eli acknowledged Buddy’s warning as he watched Ray load herself down. She stuck a dull black, full-sized Beretta similar to the one Eli had already claimed into a vest pocket. The knife, now contained in a leather sheath, got tucked into her boot with her pants leg pulled down to conceal it. Next, an Uzi SMG got slung over her shoulder and every pocket of her vest was stuffed with ammunition. She held several clips and two boxes of hollow-point bullets. She tossed another to Eli.
“Exactly how many people are you planning to shoot?”
At his dry question, she glanced up. “We’re not shooting anyone if I can help it. And if we look prepared, it’s less likely anyone will challenge us.”
She made quite a picture standing there, loaded down with weapons, her expression hard and implacable. Eli was prompted to ask, “Do you really expect to be able to walk any distance with that much weight added to your body?”
Buddy laughed. “Ray wears a tool belt heavier than that anytime she’s not here in Central American playing Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle.”
Eli gave him a blank look.
“She’s a carpenter,” Buddy explained. “Does everything from small repairs to home construction. You should see her place. It’s a beauty now that she’s completely renovated it from the floors up—”
“Buddy.”
He finally clammed up, but too late. Eli stared at Ray, but the image wouldn’t quite gel.
“It’s respectable work,” Ray snapped in reply. “I get to pick the jobs I want, have flexible hours, and can take off when I need to.” She added under her breath, “And I like using my hands.”
Eli decided to withhold judgement on that until he convinced her to use her hands on him. “I didn’t—”
“Forget it. We don’t have time for it right now.”
Eli wanted to say more, but Ray’s narrow-eyed expression stopped him. “Fine. Give me some of that stuff to carry.”
“I’m okay.” She turned to Buddy. “What time do you have?”
They made certain their watches were accurate, and when Eli suddenly removed his, handing it to Buddy for safekeeping, Ray was speechless. Eli winked at her.
“I thought you never took the damned thing off.”
Eli shrugged. “I can be reasonable.”
Ray made an obnoxiously rude sound. “Sure you can. Try to remember that while we’re here, okay?”
Buddy sat back and watched the squabble unfold. It amused him because he’d never seen Ray bicker with anyone. She gave orders and they were obeyed, period.
Yet with Eli, she acted more like . . . a woman. His eyes widened with that realization. Eli had said it, and now he saw it was true. Ray was being more womanly with him. Oh, not your average woman. That’d kill Ray. But she had definitely lost some of her edge.
He gave Eli another, more thorough glance. He’d already picked up on Eli’s interest, of course. The man wasn’t any damn good at hiding his thoughts. But he hadn’t figured on Ray feeling the same. Plenty of men had wanted her over the years, but she found fault with all of them, to the point that she sent a few crying home to their mamas. When she tried, Ray could be damned intimidating.
She was picking at Eli, too, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He returned her taunts, teased her, and protectively hovered over her. Well, well, well.
In provoking tones, Eli said, “Give me some of your baggage to carry.”
Ray drew up in offense. “This isn’t worth arguing over, Eli.”
“I agree.” He crossed his arms over his chest, prepared to wait her out. “Hand something over.”
Buddy bit back a grin—and waited to see what Ray would do.
Making her exasperation plain, she jerked the strap of her canteen over her head, along with the binoculars and two weighty packs of ammo. She threw them at Eli, but to Eli’s credit, he caught it all handily.
That only seemed to annoy Ray more. “Don’t complain to me later when you start to wear down.”
Eli gave her a tight smile. “Yes, dear.”
It wasn’t in Buddy’s nature to keep quiet. Beyond that, Ray needed someone to tease her, to shake up her grave, often lethal life on occasion. Up till now, he’d been the only one to fit the bill. Well, Matt did sometimes, but mostly he gave his sister the respect and unquestioning loyalty she deserved.
Now here was Eli, twitting her endlessly, ogling her like a sailor on shore leave, and handing out orders that actually got obeyed. Fascinating. “You know, Ray, I’ve never seen you give over to anyone before. I wish I had my camera handy.”
Ray lurched around to face him. “Don’t start with me, Buddy.”
Her tone was so bad-tempered, Buddy pretended to back up in fear, only to jerk forward again and grab Ray for a bear hug.
Just to see how she’d react, he said, “Don’t distract yourself over any fools, honey.”
Eli ignored him, but Ray immediately came to his defense. “He’s not as bad as I first thought. He just might do okay.”
Eli rolled his eyes. “Such high praise. Don’t make me blush.”
Buddy choked on his laugh. Eli was both entertaining and daring. “I hope you’re right, honey, ’cause I have a feeling old Eli here is going to be busier watching out for you than tending his own backside.”
Ray grunted as she tightened the straps of her gear. “That’s ridiculous.”
Buddy nodded. “Yeah, I know it. And you know it.” He nodded at Eli. “But I don’t think he knows it.”
Eli reached out and took Ray’s arm. “Let’s go. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
And damn if Ray didn’t let him lead her right off the plane.
Jeremy paced around the yard, trying to get a better view of the current activity. Two guards, one of them so ugly and hairy he reminded Jeremy of the tarantula, were arm wrestling. The others gathered around, cheering them on, shouting and laughing. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought they were taking bets.
The hairy guy won. He raised arms as thick as tree stumps into the air to celebrate his victory. Jeremy could have sworn he even had hair on the insides of his elbows.
They called for another challenger, who also lost. Jeremy was bored out of his wits and this was the first real entertainment he’d had. It wasn’t much, certainly not what he was used to, but it beat listening to the jungle.
After the forth guy lost, Jeremy got caught up in the excitement. When they asked for another challenger, he swaggered forward. Hell, he’d arm-wrestled Eli in fun plenty of times, and though he always lost, he knew he wasn’t a slouch. “I’ll try it.”
Everyone grew quiet. One guy snickered, then another, and soon they were all guffawing and pointing. Rapid Spanish phrases of insult swirled around him, but he caught the equivalent of “puny,” “pale,” and “scared of bugs.”
Damn it, he was tired of their disrespect. He planted his feet and shouted, “You’re nothing but a bunch of dirty farmers.”
The hairy one smiled, showing big white teeth surrounded by a dark beard. He crept forward, the look in his black eyes evil—but when he got close, he pinched his nose and made a face. “You are the dirty one,” the ape said. “Maybe we should throw you in the stream, whether you want to go or not. Sí?”
In the stream? With the leeches? Just the thought of those slimy, clinging little maggots made his skin crawl. Jeremy turned and ran back to his hut—and the sounds of raucous laughter lasted for a good five minutes.
It was quiet and hot, the air so thick with moisture you could drown on a deep breath. It seemed every two steps brought her a new scratch or scrape. Ray ignored the small wounds. Eli did not.
After one particularly thorny bush drew a streak of blood on her forearm, Eli caught her shoulder and drew her to a halt. “I’ll lead.”
Squinting against the glare of the sun, Ray faced him. “And how will you do that when you don’t know where the hell you’re going?”
“You can direct me.” He lifted her arm to examine it with a frown.
Ray pulled away. “No.”
He pulled her right back. While he dabbed at her scratch, cleaning it with water from the canteen and a bandana, he said, “It makes sense for me to be in front, Ray. My arms are at least covered, and I’m taller.”
His touch was so gentle, it muddled her more than the heat. He finished and she moved a few steps away. “What does being taller have to do with anything?”
“Don’t argue with me.” The heat made him cranky, she decided, given his tone. “Just stay behind my back.”
He stepped around her, not giving Ray the chance to protest further. She sighed in annoyance, but what the hell? If he wanted to take all the abuse from sharp twigs and itchy plants, why should she quibble?
Minutes later, she had to admit they could travel faster with Eli clearing the path. He was so big, he just stomped down stuff that she would have had to move.
The sun was high overhead, scorching in intensity, when Ray called a halt beneath a large shady tree to the side of the trail. They’d been walking over an hour and a half. “I have to eat.”
Eli gave a weak laugh and stretched his back. “I should have known food would be the perfect motive for stopping.”
“Don’t make fun. I need to keep up my energy level. You do, too, as far as that goes. Look how much you’re sweating.”
“I don’t need to look, thank you very much.” He peeled off the canteen and binoculars, then shrugged out of his vest. “I don’t suppose there’s a stream around here anywhere?”
“There is, but I wouldn’t suggest you wander around alone.” Ray, too, removed some of her load, but left her vest on. “After we eat, I’ll show you where it is so you can relieve yourself and freshen up.”
He winced. “I hadn’t even thought about that.” Now that he had thought of it, he asked, “Where will we be spending the night?”
“Wondering about the facilities, are you? Well, I can promise you this: there won’t be any showers or flushing johns. You’ll get to see firsthand what type of accommodations your brother’s had. If we’re lucky, we’ll use a temporary shack used to store blocks of chicle.”
“Chicle?”
“They take it from the sap of sapodilla trees and form it into these odd, loaf-shaped blocks. It’s used to manufacture chewing gum. Chicileros gather it during the wet season. If I’m remembering right, the shack should be between the village and the camp where they’re keeping your brother. But I don’t even know if it’s still there. If not, we’ll bed down in a cave.”
“You mean like with bats and wild animals?”
She’d expected him to be appalled, but instead Eli looked anxious. Ray shook her head. She wondered if she’d ever understand him. “This whole region is underlaid with limestone rock. It rains every damn day, washing away the land and leaving behind a network of caves and dolines.” At his blank look, she explained, “Deep depressions.”
“Sounds treacherous.”
“Yeah. The landscape is called karst. Because of that, there’s not much surface water, but we should be able to find waterfalls for bathing and plenty of caves to duck into if necessary. The cave may have a few vampire bats, but if we keep a fire going, we’ll be safe enough. Besides, bats rarely feed on humans.”
“Rarely, huh?”
Ray grinned. “It’s been known to happen. But there are a lot of wild animals around, some worse than bats.”
“Such as?”
She gave an elaborate shrug. “Oh, iguanas and nasty little spider monkeys. There’re caiman in the river and jaguars everywhere.” She used the back of her hand to wipe her brow. “You do realize this is home to the largest jaguar population, right?”
Eli surveyed the area. “I haven’t seen any wild animals. I think you’re just pulling my leg.”
Ray hunted through her pack until she found a nutrition bar. She peeled back the wrapper and took a large bite before going to Eli. Chewing the tasteless, dry snack, she took his arm and led him to stand beneath a tall, mostly barren tree. Its branches spread out wide overhead but had little foliage.
“See that third biggest branch? The one that’s mostly bare?”
Eli squinted upward, his hand shielding his eyes against the white sun. “Yeah, so?”
“See what’s curled around that branch?”
Suddenly Eli’s eyes widened and he took a hasty step back. “Son of a bitch.”
For a big man, he moved pretty damn quick, prompting Ray to laughter. “What’s the matter, Eli? You afraid of snakes?”
“A boa constrictor is not your everyday snake, Ray.” He brushed her bangs off her forehead and said with something akin to amusement, “Only you would choose to have lunch with a monster like that looming overhead.”
She was covered in sweat, scratched and dirty, and still he touched her with a gentleness she’d never experienced before. Ray moved back to her pack and sat on a large twisted root. She needed the physical distance from Eli to keep herself in check. “Contrary to all the Tarzan movies, boas don’t feast on people and it isn’t poisonous. As long as you ignore it, it’ll ignore you.”
He stared up at the snake. “I wasn’t planning to invite it to lunch.” Glancing back at Ray, he smiled. “You’re unbelievable.”
He said it like a compliment, filling Ray with soft emotions out of place in the humid jungle. It was kind of nice that even when she was herself, Eli wasn’t put off.
“Here.” Ray tossed another nutrition bar at him.
Eli eyed it with distaste. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry. You can keep it.” And he tossed it right back.
“Now, Eli,” Ray scolded, “don’t be a baby. It’s not that bad. Besides, you eat caviar and escargot, right?”
“Not on your life.” He, too, found a chunk of wood to sit on, stretching out his long legs and leaning back on a tree. “I’m more a beef or pork man. Steaks, chops, roasts . . .”
Here she’d pictured Eli dining on fine cuisine, not hearty meat and potatoes. He liked the kind of stuff she cooked—whoa. She was not the type to cook her way into a man’s heart. “I insist you eat. If you get weak on me, you’ll only be a bother.”
Eli clamped his lips shut.
“Going to be difficult, I see.” Challenged, Ray crawled the short distance toward Eli. Anticipation swelled inside her. “You’re going to eat this, you know.”
He smiled, but his lips remained firmly closed. He even shook his head. Ray saw the awareness in his golden predator’s eyes. He knew she’d attack—and he wanted her to. But she wouldn’t make it easy. She wouldn’t give him any warning.
Sitting back on her haunches, Ray frowned at him, pretending discouragement. Eli started to relax—and that was all the advantage she needed. She launched herself onto him, knocking him flat onto the mossy ground. Eli tried to twist away, but she anticipated that move and countered it by throwing one leg over his hips and hooking his opposite arm. He turned his head, thinking she meant to shove the snack bar down his throat. Instead, Ray pinned him to the ground.
He quit fighting her.
Both of them were panting hard. Sitting on Eli’s abdomen, she felt his every fast breath. She had her knees pressed into the hollows of his shoulders and caught two fingers from each of his hands in one of her own. Her hold was tight, but not damaging. The position had her leaning over his face with her breasts on a level with his mouth.
Eli’s expression told her he had no complaints over her methods.
Damn. She knew how to hold a man immobile, but not with him plainly enjoying it.
Eli eyed her breasts as if they were dinner instead of the partially crumbled snack bar. His eyes had darkened, grown intent in that sexual, masculine way that indicated interest. By small degrees, he’d worn her down with his attention, his compliments, his acceptance. And now, the way he watched her made all those feelings ignite. She wanted to feel his mouth on her breast, tugging on her nipple. She wanted to feel the wet heat and velvet stroke of his tongue.
The images were so vivid, the sensation so real, she gasped.
“Ray.” He growled her name with rough need and started to slide his hands free. Belatedly she remembered her purpose and attempted to stuff the food into his mouth.
Eli turned his face away, snickering, his lips again sealed. Ray considered the problem, then used her free hand to tickle him.
Taken by surprise, Eli burst out laughing and she smashed a considerable amount of the snack against his teeth. “There. Now eat it.”
Sputtering, spitting granola and nuts to the side, Eli said, “Tickling? Tickling, Ray? What kind of commando tactic is that?”
“An effective one, apparently.” Still shaken from her intimate thoughts, Ray started to sidle off him and Eli bent, snared both her hands, and turned her beneath him. Shock rippled through her. He’d caught her completely off guard. Again.
Eli settled himself by stretching her arms high over her head and locking her wrists in one of his hands. She was strong, but when it came to muscle, Eli had her beat. She still could have gotten loose, but not without seriously injuring him. And . . . did she even want loose?
His eyes hot with triumph, he looked at her mouth. “You’ve just made me sweatier,” he accused.
Ray strained against him, but that only heightened her sense of helplessness. Strangely, it excited her. A sweet tingling filled her belly and her nipples drew tight, making her breasts ache.
Eli bent down and she felt his gentle breath fan her throat. He inhaled slowly. “You smell good, Ray, all warm and damp.”
She barely caught her groan of desire. “I should be planning, not playing.” She squeezed her eyes shut, then forced them open again. “I think you’re a bad influence on me, Eli Connors.”
He stared at her, keeping her gaze captive while carefully shifting his weight until he’d nudged her thighs apart. All her logical considerations evaporated. With the hard ground beneath her, his weight should have been uncomfortable, but instead it seemed her body welcomed him, her curves fitting his angles with ease.
He had an erection.
She could feel the hard length pressed to the wide open junction of her thighs. She knew she was growing damp, softening. She liked how it felt, how he felt. A small moan escaped. Their scents mingled, hot and muggy.
Eli’s free hand came up to cup her cheek. “There’s nothing wrong with laughing occasionally, honey.”
He made her want to. He made the idea of playing on the mossy jungle floor, covered in sweat, with a boa overhead, seem like a great idea. Insane.
His hand trailed downward, over the side of her throat, cupping her shoulder, fingers spreading out and moving down again until his palm grazed the side of her breast.
She hated the damn vest that kept her from getting the full impact of his touch. Yet, she was responsible for him and his brother until they landed back in the States. She had to keep her priorities straight. Playing touchy-feely now was not on the agenda.
“Maybe laughing is okay.” She swallowed and forced the words out. “But we’re on a timetable. We need to make it to the camp before nightfall. And we still need to visit Sarita.”
As if the softness drew him, he gently stroked her bottom lip with his fingertip. “Two minutes won’t hurt, will it? I like hearing you laugh, Ray—almost as much as I like feeling you under me.”
Oh God, if he kept saying things like that . . . “We’re supposed to be rescuing your brother.”
“And we will,” he promised. His gaze followed the movement of his finger tracing over her mouth. He leaned closer and his voice grew husky. “I need to kiss you, Ray.”
God help her, she wanted him to.
“Don’t slug me, okay?”
He had great faith in her abilities if he thought she could break free and offer up a fight when her every muscle felt like mush. Almost from the moment she first spotted him in that dark, dreary bar, she had wanted this. For the first time in her adult life, the need of the woman took precedence over the responsibility of the mercenary.
They could spare a few minutes. After all, it wasn’t every day that a man wanted her like this, and it was even less often that she wanted him back.