Proposition: Marriage

Not all of them were after the woman, either.

He straightened and looked down at his victim, who wasn’t really a man at all, he saw. Not yet, anyway. Sixteen or seventeen, at a guess. Scarcely old enough to grow a beard. Had soldiers always been so painfully young? Or was he getting old?

Of course, he was himself capable of looking both young and innocent, though he couldn’t remember being the former, and wasn’t sure he’d ever been the latter. It was a useful skill, but he doubted he could manage it if he were the one unconscious.

He made his silent way back to where he’d left the woman. She was peering around the trunk of the tree, looking in the wrong direction. Her gauzy sundress had originally been long and loose and white; it was still long, dragging about her ankles, but now it was wet and dirty and nearly transparent He had a marvelous view of her rounded rump and white bikini panties beneath the clinging fabric.

He smiled and gave in to a rare impulse. “Boo,” he said conversationally.

She jumped half a mile.

He had his impulses under control and his smile tucked back out of sight by the time she spun around. She was really kind of cute, even half-drowned as she was right now; small and cute and round all over, like a kitten. Her face was round and innocent Her body was nicely rounded, too, if not so innocent looking, with plenty of curves and softness in just the places where a man liked to find curves and softness. Even her big brown eyes were round at the moment

Then they narrowed. “You scared me on purpose. I take it the other soldier is, uh—unconscious?”

He shrugged dismissively. Let her wonder what he’d done. It might make her jump more quickly when he wanted her to jump. “There’s no one close enough to hear us at the moment.” They needed to put some distance between them and Ruiz’s men while they could. He turned away. “Come on.”

“Where?”

He headed for his mango tree.

“Dang it,” she said. The rubbery squish of wet tennis shoes hurried along behind him. “Where are we going?”

“To get my gear, first.” He reached the tree, crouched, and jumped, catching the lowest branch. He heaved himself up.

“Then what happens?” She tilted her head back, watching him.

“We go to a village I know about on the old Camino Real—that’s the royal highway.”

“I know what it means. What I want to know is—”

“That’s right, you speak Spanish, don’t you? I hope we can reach the village before dark, but I’m not sure of the route. Between Ruiz’s troops and the new lake, my choices have become limited.” He grabbed his backpack from the crotch of the tree. “Watch out.” He tossed it down.

She jumped back just in time.

He swung down to land beside her. The sight of her from the front was just as appealing as it had been from behind. A little gold locket lay in the valley formed by full, pretty breasts. Her lacy white bra kept him from seeing as much of her nipples as he would have liked, but he could see their shadows beneath the two layers of wet cloth.

It was probably just as well she had on the bra, he decided. The low hum of arousal he felt now was pleasant More would be distracting.

Either she liked letting him look, or she was too upset to realize how transparent her dress was. “But the old Camino Real is in the high country to the east,” she said earnestly. “Shouldn’t we head south, back where we came from? Or west? There’s a decent-size town to the west—Narista, I think it’s called. I’m sure they’d have a garrison of the national police there.”

He raised his brows. Apparently she’d done some homework on San Tomás. “There’s a man in the village where we’re headed who can be trusted to get you back to the capital.” Which was where she should have stayed. The local government made great efforts to keep the beaches safe for tourists from the cruise ships. “Going south is out. Ruiz will have his troops watching the road.” He shouldered his backpack.

She frowned. “Who’s Ruiz?”

“The man who sent soldiers to kidnap you. Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute.” She laid her hand on his arm. It was a small hand, surprisingly warm, with rounded fingernails that had been neatly manicured before she soaked them in a lake while hiding from guerrillas. Now the pretty pink polish was chipped. “Who are you? I mean, I saw you on the bus, but we weren’t introduced.”

“John,” he said. It was as good a name as any, and the man he was taking her to thought of him as “John.”

“John. I am very glad to meet you.” She smiled, and her fingers tightened in a friendly squeeze. “I’m Jane.”

Heat, quick and compelling, dazzled his system for one crazy moment.

“Thank you for—”

“Come on.” He pulled away from her, looking for a game trail to take them deeper into the forest.

She scrambled after him, making every bit as much noise as he’d expected she would. “What about west? Why aren’t we going west instead of heading into the hills?”

“Go west if you want to. I’m going east.” The strength of his reaction to her disturbed him. He was familiar with the effects of danger—the heightened senses, the rush of adrenaline, the occasional swift slide from sensory stimulation into arousal. But he’d never reacted this fast, this hard, before. She’d only squeezed his arm, for heaven’s sake. One simple squeeze, and his body had gone on full alert.

He didn’t just want to kiss the woman now. He wanted to lay her down on the spongy floor of the forest, push up her dress, pull down her panties and push inside her. He wanted to nde her until they both screamed.

She followed without speaking. He’d almost hoped she’d turn around and head west—where, as she’d said, a town with a large garrison of the national police waited to welcome her back to what passed for civilization. Of course, Ruiz’s men would almost certainly pick her up before she’d gone a mile.

They traveled in silence with him in the lead, moving slowly but steadily upward. The trails he took twisted and branched. He used the compass from his backpack to keep them heading in the right general direction, and by late afternoon they were deep in the rain forest and several hundred feet higher. The light here was shadowy and green, filtered by the leafy canopy overhead. Vague scurryings in the brush spoke of tiny lives being lived all around them, lives that had nothing to do with them. The man who called himself John was comforted by the indifference of his surroundings. Bit by bit, as they pressed farther into a world that cared not at all for their exalted status as humans, he relaxed back into his usual detachment

It was just as well this was his last job. He’d known it was time to get out. Ever since Jack’s death he had known, but his reactions today were so far out of line he had to wonder if he should have agreed to take this job, even as a favor. He owed Patrick a great deal, but messing up this job wouldn’t repay him.

He heard a muffled squeak and turned. She was brushing frantically at something on her arm, a spider or some other small, multi-legged creature. “Did it bite you?” Concern hit him with a quick, unexpected punch. Few of the creepie-crawlies on the island were dangerous, but—

“No,” she said. “Its wiggly little legs got on me.” She looked as if she thought she’d been poisoned.

“You saved the other one,” he pointed out. “In the lake. The beetle.”

“It was going to drown.” She rubbed her arm as if she hoped to wipe the insect germs off. “I couldn’t just let it drown after... Well, the bug thought my arm was safe, and by holding still, I was sort of deceiving it. When it fell into the water, I felt responsible.”

He looked at her, disbelieving. She’d felt responsible for a beetle? “Come on. I see a stump up ahead where you can sit. We need to get dry socks on.”

“Why?” She limped after him. “Our shoes will still be wet.”

“Jungle rot.” He stopped by the stump to unzip his backpack. “One of the first rules in climate and terrain like this is to keep your feet dry.” He handed her a pair of socks.

She shuddered and sat down.

He changed his own socks without sitting, balancing first on one leg, then the other, checking each foot for any small cuts or blisters. Open wounds in the tropics could be dangerous. When he had both shoes back on he looked at her and frowned. She was taking too long. She’d only done one foot. Her other foot was propped on her knee, her dress gathered up to her knees to droop in concealing folds between her parted legs. She was pulling the wet sock off slowly.

The sock had a wide, lacy border. It also had a red stain. “You’re bleeding.”

She eased the sock the rest of the way off. “Brilliant observation. Wet shoes and socks can rub blisters, you know.”

He tightened his lips. “Leaving an open, untreated wound on the foot in a tropical zone is just begging for infection, fungus—” He shook his head, disgusted, as he unzipped the backpack. “What about your other foot?”

“It’s fine.”

He thought about the fact that she’d just kept going, without complaint, when her blister must have hurt like hell. “Take your shoe off.” He got out the ointment and gauze. “I want to check both feet.”

She had an odd expression on her face. “It’s like my mother’s purse.”

“What?”

“Your backpack. It’s like my mother’s purse. She carries a tote the size of Manhattan, and it’s got everything in it. Having you got a sewing kit in there?” she asked, interested.

As a matter of fact, he did. Among other things. He knelt in front of her and grabbed her foot.

“Hey!”

“Hold still.” She had small feet, with pearly pink toenails. He couldn’t keep from smiling when he saw those toenails. What was the point of painting them when she wasn’t wearing sandals? He looked at the blister on her heel that had burst and bled into her sock. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurting?”

“Why? We couldn’t have stopped any earlier, anyway, could we?”

“I need to know your limitations to plan properly.” There was a topical anaesthetic in the ointment, and he would pad the area with gauze. That, and the dry socks, should make her more comfortable, but he wouldn’t be able to keep her from hurting entirely. He frowned. Absently, he stroked his thumb along the bottom of her foot. It flexed in a quick, involuntary movement. “Are you ticklish?”

“N-no.” Her eyes were dark when they met his. “I mean, yes.”

He saw the heat in her eyes, heard the uncertain longing in her voice. His hand tightened on her foot as his body tightened elsewhere. Apparently he wasn’t the only one coming down with jungle fever.

His gaze drifted away from her foot. Her dress was still damp. It molded nicely to the firm swells of her breasts, but he couldn’t see her nipples anymore. Not quite. If he were to lean forward, though, and take one in his mouth...

No, he told himself. Not now. The time and the place were wrong. But it was harder than it should have been to look away, take the cap off the ointment, and tend to the part of her body that needed it most. And when he’d finished treating her blister, he stroked the sole of her foot again—one long, seemingly casual stroke of his thumb—and watched her foot quiver. No, he thought again, angry with her for responding so quickly and easily. He wouldn’t take her. It wasn’t safe; not here and now.

But maybe it would be. Later.

Jane caught glimpses of the sun whenever the forest canopy thinned. It was on its way down now, though they still had some daylight left. The man who’d rescued her kept moving tirelessly while she watched, and followed.

Observing him was altogether too pleasant. He was lithe and muscular and graceful, and Jane’s body couldn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t at all what she wanted, no matter how firmly she spoke to it. She didn’t understand it. Her dress was filthy and wrinkled; her feet hurt with every step; she was tired and lost, and mystified by her body’s reactions. After twenty-nine years of reasonable behavior, it seemed determined to embarrass her with outrageous demands.

She felt as if she’d started the day in Kansas and ended up in Oz. Only instead of ruby slippers, all she had to get her home were her filthy tennis shoes, and instead of a friendly Scarecrow or Tin Man, her companion was a cold-eyed liar who made her body burn.

So his name was John, was it?

After noticing the way he’d stared at her breasts, she’d kept her distance from him, not asking questions, though she was nearly bursting with them. Except her foolish body wasn’t listening to her sensible brain.

Maybe, she thought as they started up yet another a hill, this sudden attack of lust was part of the price she had to pay for her foolishness. A solitary, impromptu vacation had seemed like such a small adventure, though. Most of the time, Jane felt mildly foolish about her other name—the one her father had given her—but she’d wanted just once to see if she could live up to it. A woman whose middle name was Desirée ought to be able to handle all sorts of risks.

Which proved how little she deserved such an exotic name, she thought glumly. She would much rather have been helping Frances Ann get her garden ready the way she’d planned to do before Ed had waved that cruise ticket under her nose. Instead, she was on the run with a man who might be a spy. Or a criminal.

At least her inconvenient lust took her mind off the way her feet hurt. “How much farther do you suppose this village is?”

“Hard to say, when we haven’t been traveling in a straight line.”

No, they hadn’t, had they? He’d gone out of his way to avoid that, and she wondered why. Jane added that to the mental list she was keeping of questions to ask at a better time, when she wasn’t out of breath and her reluctant rescuer seemed a little friendlier. But what if things didn’t get better? she asked herself suddenly, pausing to catch her breath. What if things stayed messed up and scary, and the man in front of her stayed silent and scary?

Damn. Jane bit her lip. He was heading downhill, annoyingly tireless. She skidded after him—and spoke up. “So why aren’t we traveling in a straight line? Why didn’t we take that little dirt road we passed a while back?”

“It was going in the wrong direction.”

That sounded good, and yet... Jane consulted her mental list as she made her way unsteadily downhill after him.

His pants were dry now. They should have been too baggy to be sexy, but watching him move did funny things to her breathing. He was as lithe as a dancer, but it was a deadly sort of grace—one that spoke of both survival and danger.

Moves like an athlete or a martial-arts expert, she added to her mental list.

That list kept growing. He had known about General Ruiz. He’d done something violent and serious to the two soldiers when he rescued her. He didn’t like roads, or even well-traveled footpaths. He knew about this village that was, apparently, the only place he considered safe; and that, in itself, didn’t make sense.

“Why is this village the only safe spot for us to go?” she asked. “Why didn’t we go west?”

He didn’t bother to look back. “Generalissimo Ruiz has his camp set up a few miles west of the village where our bus stopped. I doubt that it needed repairs, by the way. The driver had probably been bribed to deliver the norteamericanos to the village. Ruiz has done this before, grabbing any foreigners who wander near what he considers his territory. He’s after ransom.”

“But I don’t have any money!”

He shrugged. “If he couldn’t get money from your family, he’d try to get it from his government, which can’t afford to be embarrassed by his little tricks. The cruise ships will stop docking here if they start losing tourists to Ruiz’s plans for redistributing the wealth.”

They’d reached the bottom of the gully, where a trickle of water pretended to be a stream. He headed south along the would-be streambed.

Jane scrambled after him. He had to be either a spy or a criminal, didn’t he? Who else would know the kinds of things he did? She shuddered at the possibility that she might be at the mercy of someone who sold drugs or guns—a man with no morals and no conscience.

But would a man like that have saved her? She couldn’t believe it.

Of course, this whole situation veered between the incredible and the unbelievable. Here we are, she thought, John and Jane, tramping through the jungle, pursued by rebel guerrillas.... She frowned. “What did you say your name was?”

“John.”

“Now that’s original. John Doe, maybe?”

He turned around. The gleam in his eyes might have been amusement. Or a warning. “I should remember that naïveté isn’t the same as stupidity. Let’s make it Smith.”

Her heart beat faster. “What a coincidence. My name’s Smith, too.”

His mouth thinned. “Sure, it is. Look, you don’t need to know who I am. Just do what I tell you, and don’t ask questions.”

Shutting up sounded like a good idea, except now that she’d gotten started, she couldn’t seem to stop. “I don’t see what difference it makes. You’re just going to lie about the answers anyway.”

“The less you think you know, the better. There are people who wouldn’t let you leave the country if they suspected you knew me.” He paused. “Pay attention, Jane. This is what really happened. You were frightened by the gunfire and ran. You got lost, but kept going because you didn’t know what else to do. You don’t know how you wound up near a village where a nice man found you, and offered to escort you to the capital. You never saw me after the bus stopped for repairs.”

She bit her lip. “Are you a spy?”

For a second his face went blank. When he smiled, it looked as graceful and intentional as everything else he did. “Sure. I’m a spy, Jane. Just like James Bond and all the other good guys.”

She was pretty certain he was nothing like James Bond, maybe nothing like any of the good guys. But he had rescued her. Surely that meant he had a conscience.

“So worried,” he murmured, his gaze sliding down from her face. “If you’re frightened of me, why do you stay with me?”

He was looking at her again. At her breasts. And his eyes weren’t cold now, not at all. As for her traitorous body... She resisted the urge to cross her arms in front of her and hide its reaction.

He came toward her. “Jane—”

She took one quick step back so she wouldn’t throw herself up against him—and tripped, landing hard on her bottom.

Now his smile was genuine—and amused, damn him. “I was just going to ask what your real last name is.”

“Smith,” she muttered, and stood with far less grace than he used to just stand there and breathe. She rubbed her sore bottom.

“I’m glad you have a sense of humor, Jane, but I need your real name.”

“Well, John Smith, we don’t always get what we want, do we? But in this case you did. My real name is Smith. Jane Smith. From Atherton, Kansas.”

“Your parents actually named you Jane Smith?” He grinned.

Oh, Lord, when he grinned like that he became yet another person—this one, lively and compelling. “It’s my curse,” she said weakly. It wasn’t fair that all his personas were so blasted sexy. “I always have to show ID. People don’t believe anyone is really named Jane Smith.”

He held out his hand. “In any case, I’m glad to meet you, Jane Smith of Atherton, Kansas.”

She hesitated only a second before accepting his outstretched hand. They shook. “And I’m delighted to meet you, John Smith of... wherever.”

“Never-Never Land, do you think? Or maybe Oz.”

Startled by how he’d echoed her earlier thoughts, she laughed.

“Ah, Jane,” he said, and closed his other hand over hers. The light in his eyes wasn’t amusement now. “You’re not in Kansas anymore, are you?”

It was the oddest feeling, having her hand trapped between both of his that way. Odd, and...stimulating. Her pulse thrummed in her throat. She swallowed. “No. This definitely isn’t Kansas.”

He stood there without speaking. His fingers played with hers, stroking one, then another, but she had the impression he wasn’t paying attention to what his hands did. She was, though. His casual claiming of her hand sent tingles zipping through her system like the air-drawn streamers trailed by a Fourth of July sparkler. But he seemed entirely focused on her face.

On her.

It was the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced. Her lips parted and her breathing grew shallow, because he wanted her. It wasn’t fair. Men seldom noticed her. Certainly she’d never expected this frightening man, this cold-eyed liar of a man, to notice her. Her fantasies should have stayed safe, private....

He smiled a quiet, knowing smile, as if he’d seen right inside her head to where those fantasies were lodged; as if he knew exactly what they were—and intended to do something about them. Then he blinked. His eyes lost their focus, and he went still, like a cat just before it jumps on a mouse. His head lifted.

“What?” she whispered, looking around in alarm. “What is it?”

He dropped her hand and held his finger to his mouth as he had hours ago, signaling her to silence. They stood motionless, and she strained her ears for a long moment before she heard what he had heard—a voice.

No, several voices. Distant still, but coming this way along the streambed.

Three

There was nothing lover-like about the way he grabbed her hand this time. He dragged her back up the side of the gully with him, but he was confusingly arbitrary about how he moved, zigzagging all over the place. When he snatched her back from a bare patch of ground, she realized he was staying on the grassy patches so they wouldn’t leave tracks.

That did nothing to quiet the frantic alarm signals her heart was pounding out.

They reached a thicket of tall grasses and weeds shadowed by the trees behind them. The voices were nearer—much nearer. He tugged her down with him, so that they lay flat on their stomachs. She felt giddy, her breath coming fast and shallow. He scooted forward, so she did, too, and she saw why he’d chosen this spot Here, the shadows of the trees fell over them, dense and concealing. They could peer through the cover offered by the weeds, but no one below would be able to see them—not as long as they were still.

Jane knew she could hold still. She’d proved that much in the lake. This should be easier. She had dry ground beneath her, and his warm body beside her. Unfortunately, his body was every bit as distracting as the monster bug had been—but in a different way.

She stared down at the little trickle of a stream, her muscles tight with fear and the need for stillness. Two men came into view. They wore uniforms, familiar uniforms that made Jane go limp with relief. These were federales, members of the semimilitary national police. The cops, she thought, giddy with regained safety. The good guys. She started to turn to John, to tell him they were safe, but her head never finished the motion.

His hand clamped over her mouth. Again. She jolted, then glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

He brought his mouth next to her ear, as he had before. “Shh. Look before you leap, Jane. An isolated squad of soldiers may not be a safe escort for a woman alone,” he breathed. Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth.

Below them, three more of the national police moved into view. She frowned, confused, and watched. The men in the little gully weren’t a reassuring sight. They were dirty and unshaven and they slouched along, weapons at the ready, joking with each other or snarling complaints. They didn’t act very military. One of them said something that made her think they were looking for something.

Or someone.

No one would have mounted a search for her—not this quickly. She glanced at the man beside her. They lay so close together on the ground that she could smell him. The faint, welcoming note of human warmth was almost lost in the earthy odor of the humus covering the forest floor beneath them. Silently she mouthed, “Who are they looking for?”