“That’s what I’ve been telling you,” she said quickly.
“So I’ll go by myself.”
“You? No way,” she said flatly.
“I’m more experienced and I—”
“I said no, Jed. He’s my brother and my problem.”
His lips tightened. “We’ll see.”
Good God, he was strong willed.
As strong willed as Arnold had been.
The thought came out of nowhere, sending a bolt of panic through her. She had been able to survive Arnold’s domination because he had been unable to touch her emotions, but her love for Jed gave him tremendous power over her.
“Don’t look like that,” Jed said roughly, his gaze on her face. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll get him out.”
They would get Steven out of his prison, but she might be edging closer to another one for herself. But why was she worrying? she thought impatiently. Jed did not love her and had made no mention of any feelings but desire and friendship. He had no place in his life for a permanent relationship. A bewildering mixture of pain and relief washed over her.
No, she wouldn’t think of the future without Jed. She would enjoy these precious moments while she had them and try to make them complete in every way.
Nine
Jed came out of the hut and threw a pile of debris on the ground beside the door. His sweat-darkened pearl-gray shirt clung to his torso, his charcoal-gray cord pants were smudged with the same dust that darkened his silver hair to pewter. He was a study in gray and reminded Ysabel of a gleaming blade fashioned of the toughest steel. She felt a melting tenderness as she looked at him.
He straightened as he caught sight of her. “Where have you been?”
Her lashes lowered to veil her eyes as she strolled toward him. “No tarantulas?”
“Nary a one. I was almost disappointed. I was ready to do battle.” His gaze focused on the shining braid nestled against her breast. “Why is your hair damp?”
“You refused to let me help so while you were braving nonexistent tarantulas, I was doing some reconnollering. There’s a pond about a half mile from here.”
“So you went for a swim?” He frowned. “You shouldn’t have gone alone. Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“It was perfectly safe. The pond’s surrounded by shrubbery and I grew up in the jungle, remember?” She turned and started down the path. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“To the pond. You look as hot as I felt before my swim.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “Coming?”
She tried to keep her expression bland, but he must have detected something in it for his own expression changed, became arrested.
“You bet I am,” he muttered as he strode after her.
Ten minutes later they arrived at the small pool. She pushed through the overhanging shrubbery and dropped down on the mossy bank. She noticed her hands were shaking and quickly folded them on her lap. “Be prepared for a shock. The water’s cold after this hot sun.”
“You’re not going in again?”
“I’ll wait here.”
He caught the slight huskiness in her voice, and his eyes narrowed on her face. “Wait for what?”
She looked down at her clasped hands. “I’ll just wait.”
“What’s this all about, Ysabel?”
She hadn’t expected to feel this nervous and shy. It took an effort to answer casually, “It’s all about heat. You’re hot and you’re going to take a swim.”
She could feel his gaze on her face, then heard, the rustle of clothing as he began to undress.
A moment later she heard the splash of water and raised her eyes to see Jed in the pond. The sunlight played on the shifting muscles of his tight buttocks, highlighted the corded tendons of his upper thighs.
Heat rippled through her and she found her nails biting into her palms.
He was chest-deep in water before he turned to face her. “You’re right, it’s cold as—” His muscles tensed. “Ysabel?”
She finished unbuttoning her shirt and slipped it off, then pulled off her boots and socks.
“May I ask what you’re doing?” he asked thickly, staring at her naked breasts.
“Undressing.” She wriggled out of her trousers, threw them aside, and began to unbraid her hair. “I want to get some sun.” She ran her fingers through her loosened hair before lying down on the mossy bank.
“That’s not all you’re going to get.”
His gaze on her body was generating more heat than the blazing sun. She could feel the blood running hot beneath her skin, scorching her cheeks and ripening the tips of her breasts. “I suspected as much.” She had to pause to steady her voice. “Feel free to ignore me, if you wish. I don’t want to force—”
“Ignore you?” He was moving toward the bank. “Are you crazy? You don’t ignore a full-course meal after almost starving to death.” He stepped on the bank and stood over her. His wet skin gleamed bronze in the sunlight and his arousal was stark, shocking. Drops of water fell from his body onto her sun-warmed flesh. They did not cool her. “Why now?”
She might have known he wouldn’t accept without questioning. She had to quickly do something to distract him. “What difference does it make?”
“I need to know—” He broke off as she reached out and touched his calf. The muscles hardened, bunched beneath her palm.
Her hand moved along his calf, kneading, caressing.
A shudder went through him and he closed his eyes. The next moment his lids flicked open. “It does make a difference.” He fell to his knees beside her. “But I don’t give a damn. Not now.”
He parted her thighs and moved between them. He slid with excruciating slowness into the depths of her womanhood. He was cool, heavy, hard in her warmth, and the sensation was unbearably erotic.
“Lord, it’s good.” His voice was shaking. “Tight. It’s like nothing I’ve—” He reached under her, gathering her buttocks in his palms. “Hold on.” He brought her high and forward as he began to plunge and drive.
A storm of emotion, sensation spiraling, whirling, giving, taking. She felt held, possessed, totally, dangerously dominated, but the pleasure …
Her hands reached out, blindly grasping his shoulders; her head thrashed back and forth on the moss. The tempo increased, the tension growing.
“Jed …”
“I know,” he said hoarsely. “It’s ripping me apart. I need to …” His words trailed off as he began bucking, rotating, taking more.
“Yes.” She wanted to scream, but the word came out in a whimper. “Yes, that’s what—” She arched with a low cry.
Release.
A climax as violent, demanding, and wild as the striving that had gone on before.
Jed stiffened above her, the tendons visible in his throat as he clenched his teeth and threw back his head. “Ysabel!”
Her name sounded guttural, rasping, without the musical intonation she had become accustomed to hearing from him, but it filled her with primitive satisfaction. He collapsed on top of her, and her arms closed fiercely around him. Hers.
He did not move for a few moments, his weight endearingly heavy on her body. Then he stirred and she reluctantly loosened her clasp and let him go. His chest was still heaving as he lifted his head and looked warily down at her. “Now, what the hell was that all about?”
Not hers. He could never be entirely hers. She quickly smothered the ripple of pain the thought brought. How stupid. She had known this joy would be fleeting when she had begun. “It’s very simple. I wanted this to happen.”
“And you made damn sure it would.” He swung off her and sat back on his heels. “Seduction.”
“I’m glad it was recognizable.” She made a face. “I wasn’t sure I did it right.”
“Oh, you did it right. You made me so hot, I was turning that cold pond into a two-hundred-degree geyser.” He stiffened. “Was it that damn bargain again? Some kind of pay off?”
&nbs
p; “No, why do you have to take everything apart?”
“It’s the journalist in me. I don’t buy this sudden irresistible desire for my body. There has to be a reason.”
He wasn’t going to let it go, and if she told him the entire truth, it would spoil these hours. She couldn’t let that happen. “I suppose I’m a little afraid about tomorrow.” That was certainly true. “Marino’s haunted me all of my life, taken everything from me at every turn. I wanted to forget there was a possibility he might do it again.”
His expression softened. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” His hand reached out and cupped her cheek with gossamer tenderness. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll always take care of you.”
Always. The bonding word rang bittersweet between them. “I didn’t ask you to take care of me.” She turned her head and pressed her lips on his palm. “I can do that myself.”
“That’s right. My role was to provide distraction.” His eyes were suddenly twinkling. “I hope I proved satisfactory?”
She smiled lovingly. “Oh yes, quite satisfactory.”
“I can do better.”
“You can?” Her eyes widened as she glanced at his lower body. Arousal. “Now?”
“I’ve been known to rise to the occasion.” His hand cupped her breast. “Let me show you.”
Ysabel snuggled down into the sleeping bag. “I’m settled. You can turn out the lantern now.”
“Not yet.” He drew her closer into his arms. His embrace held none of the possessive sexuality that had been there earlier, only strength and protectiveness. “I want to talk. Something’s been on my mind.” He added ruefully, “Lord knows, it’s a wonder I’m able to think at all. This hasn’t exactly been a cerebral day.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to know what he’s like.”
“Who?”
“Your brother.”
“Clever, loving, full of mischief.” She looked gravely up at him. “Even if we had no ties, he would still be worth saving, Jed.”
“Ramon’s right.” His hand gently stroked back her hair. “You can’t be sure he’s the same boy you knew seven years ago. He was only ten years old, and those years with Marino—”
“He hasn’t changed,” she interrupted. “If you could read his letters, you’d realize he wouldn’t let Marino influence him.”
“Then why did Marino visit him every month?”
“I told you Steven was clever. He realized he would gain more freedom if he and Marino had at least a tolerable relationship.”
“Are you saying that kid manipulated a heavy hitter like Marino for his own ends?”
“Steven is … well, you’ll see when you meet him.”
“Just don’t get your—I don’t want you to be disappointed, dammit.”
The words were spoken gruffly, but she was now able to see beneath the roughness to the underlying concern and felt a rush of love so exquisitely intense, it came near to pain. She instinctively drew closer to him. “Don’t worry, it’s going to be all right.” She changed the subject. “I want you to know I’ve taken care of everything. I’ve kept my promise.”
“What promise?”
“ ‘The Winter Bride.’ That’s what I was doing in the kitchen with Ronnie after dinner last night. I signed over Winter Island and the painting to you and had Ronnie witness my signature.”
“To hell with the Bride,” he said roughly. “I’m getting sick of the lady.”
“You don’t mean that. She’s the reason you came here.”
“Is it? I’m not sure of anything anymore.”
“Well, I thought I should finalize the arrangements.”
“You sound like a soldier making his last will and testament before going into battle. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
She wished she could be as certain as he sounded. Her euphoria was fading as the memory of the past returned. “I had to keep my promise. I told you I’d give you Winter Island.”
“And I told you I didn’t want the damn island. Our deal was for the painting.”
“I think the island must mean more to you than you admit. It was your home. Didn’t you love it as a child?”
He was silent for a long time. “I suppose I loved it. When I was a boy, I saw it through my mother’s eyes and she loved every stone of the castle.” He paused. “Later, I saw it only through his eyes.”
“And he poisoned it for you. Neither of us have been lucky in our fathers, have we?” Her arms tightened protectively around him. “How sad that anyone has the power to take away your home.”
“You sound like you’re about to dissolve into tears. For Lord’s sake, you never even had a home.”
“But don’t you see? It’s much worse to lose something you’ve had than never to have had it at all.” She laughed tremulously. “Oh dear, does that sound muddled?”
“Yes,” he said huskily. “And sweet and caring.”
She raised her head to look at him. She couldn’t see his expression, only his light eyes glittering in the dimness. “I don’t believe you’ve ever said anything like that to me before.”
“No?” His lips gently brushed her temple. “It’s the kind of thing one says … to a friend.”
Friend. The sweetness and warmth she had felt the previous night at his words were now mixed with wistfulness. “Is it?”
“Yes.” He pressed her head back into the curve of his shoulder. “Go to sleep. We’re both going to need it.”
Yes, she must sleep, but not for long. She must be sure to wake before Jed in the morning. She closed her eyes and cuddled closer into his embrace. Their time together was almost over and she didn’t want to let him go. “I’ll sleep soon … but this is nice, isn’t it?”
She felt his lips again on her temple and his voice was a soft thunder in the darkness. “Yes, love, this is very nice, indeed.”
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
She whirled away from the door to see Jed sitting up in his sleeping bag. She should have known no matter how careful she had been, she wouldn’t be lucky enough not to have woken him. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.” She crossed back to his sleeping bag and fell to her knees beside him.
“What are you doing creeping around? What time is it?”
“We still have plenty of time before Señor Damirez gets here. I couldn’t sleep and decided to wait outside for him.”
Some of the suspicion left his tone. “Why don’t you give in and let me go to the castillo alone? I can handle it.”
“I know you can. I just—” She suddenly slid her arms around his neck.
He stiffened. “What’s this all about?”
“I’m just being affectionate.”
“It’s a hell of a time for it.” In spite of his words, his arms closed around her. “Ramon will—”
“Shhh. I want to tell you something and it helps if I’m close to you.”
“What?”
“I love you.”
He went still. “Ysabel, what—”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you, to be honest with you,” she whispered, her fingers moving caressingly, searchingly, skillfully along his neck. “That’s what—”
He slumped sideways, unconscious, and she caught him, lowering him back to a reclining position in the sleeping bag.
“—friends are for,” she finished. She kissed him gently on the forehead, then rose to her feet and glided silently toward the door.
Five minutes later she flagged down Ramon’s battered Ford on the road approaching the shack.
Ramon threw open the door to the passenger seat and peered out at her. “Where’s Jed?”
“I’m going to have the helicopter stop and pick Jed up after we get Steven. He decided to stay here.”
“Jed?” His tone was skeptical.
“Okay, I decided,” she amended as she jumped into the car. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” she said fiercely. “I can get Steven out of the castillo without Jed’s help. I’m not going to let him run any more risk.”
“And what if I decide you need him?”
“The decision isn’t yours to make. I set up the plan and you wouldn’t be here if you and Perez didn’t think freeing Steven was a worthwhile goal.” She leaned back in the seat. “May we leave now?”
He scowled. “I don’t like— Madre de Dios, we don’t have time to argue.” He put the car in gear. “I have a message for you from Perez.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” she said wearily. “I know we’re not welcome on San Miguel. He made it clear a long time ago that we were tainted as far as the rebels were concerned.”
“It’s difficult to even look at a cobra’s offspring without flinching away from them. Taking them to your bosom is impossible.”
“Help Steven get away and we won’t trouble you again.”
He gave her a speculative glance. “I’d be curious to know how you kept Jed from coming along.”
She didn’t reply.
“He’ll come after us, you know. I’ve watched him operate before and he’s one tenacious man.”
He had voiced her greatest fear. Her teeth sank into her lower lip. “I pray you’re wrong.”
He shrugged as he turned the car and started back the way he had come. “Prayers seem to have little value when dealing with our General Marino.”
“Cripes, will you wake up!”
Jed opened his eyes to see Ronnie’s concerned face above him. The concern immediately changed to relief as he regained consciousness. “You scared me. What the devil did Ysabel do to you?”
Jed flinched as he gingerly touched his neck. “Where is she?”
Ronnie helped him to a sitting position. “I assume she’s at the castillo. Ramon got uneasy when you didn’t show up and radioed the helicopter to drop down here before going on to the glade. Did she knock you on the head?”
He shook his head. “A very skilled pressure on the carotid artery and I went out like a light.”
Ronnie gave a low whistle. “Talented lady.”
“I can’t say I wasn’t warned. She told me she’d learned how to take care of herself. I’ll believe her from now on.” He struggled to his knees. “Let’s get out of here.”