In the Arms of a Hero

by Beverly Barton

  Please, God, don’t let anything else go wrong, she prayed.

  Eight

  Splashing water, gleeful giggles and occasional sighs of delight echoed from the secluded lagoon, a formation from the backwaters of the Rio Gurabo. Quinn had discovered the hidden site while scouting the area when they’d arrived half an hour earlier. The nearest village was a good four miles upstream and from what he could tell no one had been through this particular tract of land recently. The place was as secure as any on Santo Bonisto could be in the midst of war, so he was sure they could wash and rest here in relative safety.

  A stand of giant bamboo that canopied a small section of the banks swayed slightly in the humid afternoon breeze. Several orange trees, no doubt planted by farmers in this area years ago, mingled with the shrubs and grass. One lone breadfruit tree towered above the shorter greenery. At least they wouldn’t go hungry, Quinn thought.

  From his position on a rise above the lagoon, Quinn looked out over the Rio Gurabo, trying his best to keep his mind off the fact that Victoria was cavorting naked only a few yards away. She had asked if it would be safe for her to remove her clothes before diving into the lagoon. When he’d answered in the affirmative, she’d made him promise to keep his back to her while standing guard. For his sake as much as hers, he’d tried to keep that promise. But the desire for one quick glimpse of her shapely, long-legged body grew stronger with each passing moment. Sooner or later, he was going to take a forbidden look and he damn well knew it. The more she splashed and frolicked, the more aroused he became.

  He’d be down there with her right now, if she wasn’t a client. Yeah, sure, chided the voice of reason. Time for total honesty, Quinn conceded. The truth? He wasn’t sharing a bath with Victoria because she was a virgin. He was afraid that if he had sex with her, she would think there was more to it. She’d start making plans for the future. A girl who had saved herself for the right man would expect a lot from him—things such as marriage and kids. Apprehension shuttered through Quinn. A sure warning. Look, but don’t touch.

  Telling himself that one quick glance wouldn’t hurt either of them, he reversed positions so that he faced the lagoon. His gaze traveled over the surface of the water, slowly but surely seeking and finding the lone occupant. She bounced up and down, her body almost waist-deep, exposing most of her torso to his view. Waterdrops glistened on her face, shoulders and breasts as the sunlight struck them. Quinn breathed deeply as his eyes feasted on her high, firm peaks, their rosy nipples tight and pointed.

  When his sex hardened painfully, he cursed himself for a fool. Stop torturing yourself! Forcing himself to look away, he stomped down the rise, careful not to glance directly at the lagoon again. She’d been in there long enough, he grumbled to himself. He’d tell her to get out now and let him clean up. They didn’t need to waste too much time before heading downstream to the first village. He just hoped they could find an unguarded boat. Without a boat, it would take three times as long to reach Gurabo.

  “Hurry up, princess,” Quinn called to her. “We can’t stay here all day.”

  “I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said. “I never knew how glorious a bath could be.”

  After retrieving some oranges from the small grove of trees, Quinn stuffed a few into his backpack and laid four on the ground for them to eat while they were here. Keep busy until she’s out of the water and dressed, instructed the voice. Think about the trip downriver. Concentrate on the job of getting Victoria back to Texas.

  “It’s all yours,” she told him.

  Quinn snapped around, prepared to tell her it was about time, but one look at her and he couldn’t say a word. Apparently she had washed her clothes and put them back on still wet. The thin, cotton pants and shirt she wore, almost transparent in their damp state, clung to her body, accentuating every luscious curve.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked as she combed her fingers through her moist hair. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Like what?” He could barely get the words past the lump in his throat.

  “I don’t know, all oddlike, as if I’d sprouted horns or something.”

  “Nothing like that. I was just thinking how beautiful you are.”

  “Me?” A blush crept up her neck and covered her face, highlighting her cheeks. Despite the fact she was an identical twin to her beautiful sister Vanessa, Victoria had never considered herself beautiful. Where Vanessa possessed a fragile, china-doll beauty, the same features and traits that belonged to Victoria translated into a fresh, wholesome cuteness.

  “Yeah, you,” he said.

  He tried not to devour her with his gaze, but heaven help him, he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she walked toward him. Stronger men than he would be tempted to ravage that deliciously sweet body. As she bent to pick up her boots and damp socks, his heart skipped a beat and his hands itched to reach out and grab her.

  When she came up to him, he handed her the M-16. “Your turn to keep watch while I clean up.”

  She slung the rifle across her shoulder. “You’re going to love it.”

  He began stripping immediately, tossing his shirt on the grassy bank. Victoria averted her gaze just as he reached down to remove his boots. In a couple of minutes, he’d be naked and she didn’t think she could look at him without wanting him. And it wasn’t that she’d never seen a naked man before—she had. Just not one who looked like Quinn McCoy. And certainly not one she wanted to become her first lover.

  Marching away from the sound of water splashing as he entered the lagoon, Victoria tried to guide her thoughts away from how he must look totally naked. Think about how lucky you are to be alive. Think about how good you feel after your bath. Think about…fantasize about being in Quinn’s arms, about lying beneath him and having him enter your body. The image became so real in her mind that she could almost feel the powerful thrust of his sex as he claimed her.

  Victoria stood fifteen feet from the lagoon, her eyes closed, her body quivering. In that one moment out of time, she realized that somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with her rescuer. She didn’t know how it had happened, she just knew that Quinn was her knight in shining armor, the man she had been waiting for all her life.

  The realization that she was in love with a mercenary, a man who was a stranger to her, someone whose background and life-style were as different from hers as light from dark, should frighten her. But it didn’t. She might have known Quinn for only a few days, but in her heart she felt as if she’d known him for a lifetime. And in her soul, she sensed that she had known him forever.

  Victoria found a grassy spot to sit and wait for Quinn. The minutes dragged by and with each passing second her willpower eroded bit by bit. If she were more experienced, she would seduce Quinn, but unfortunately she knew absolutely nothing about the art of seduction. Maybe a direct approach would work for her. She could just tell him that she loved him and wanted him. Sure thing, and have him laugh in her face? Guys like Quinn didn’t make love, they had sex. So maybe she should offer to have sex with him. Won’t work, she reminded herself. He’s not into virgins, remember?

  Well, while she figured out some way to entice Quinn, she might as well enjoy the view. Who knows, she thought, it might inspire her. Smothering a silly giggle, she scooted around until she faced the lagoon.

  Quinn emerged from the pool, water dripping from his magnificent body—his magnificent naked body! Victoria swallowed hard. Every inch was sheer perfection. From his broad shoulders, down his big arms and muscular chest to his narrow waist and hips and his lean, hairy legs. But the part of his anatomy that fascinated her the most was semi-erect and quite impressive.

  What would it feel like to have all that wonderful masculine power possess her? She knew one thing for certain—she wanted Quinn to make love to her more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.

  Unashamed, she watched lustfully as he pulled on his damp pants and sat on the bank to slip into his socks and b
oots. When he rose from the ground, he tossed his damp shirt over his shoulder and headed up the rise. She met him halfway, her heart racing wildly.

  Quinn gazed into Victoria’s eyes and knew that she had watched him in the lagoon. She had the look of an aroused woman. Don’t give in to your baser instincts, reason warned him. You’ve got nothing to give this woman beyond a brief affair and she’s going to want more. She’ll want all of you, for the rest of your life. She’s a rich man’s daughter and you’re nothing more than a hired gun, a bodyguard paid for his services. She’s a lady and you’re a bum. You’re a jaded mercenary and she’s a virgin.

  “Victoria?” Don’t touch her!

  “I’ve been waiting for you.” All my life! she wanted to say.

  “I’m here now.” Tell her that it isn’t going to happen, now or ever. You’re not the man for her and you know it.

  “I’m glad.” Please make love to me.

  She smiled and that smile was his undoing. He grabbed her. She cried a gasping sigh. Was she really ready for this? Was she prepared to mate with a man capable of breaking her in two with his bare hands? She knew the kind of life he’d led, understood his deadly expertise had taken him into situations she could only imagine. He was hard, rough, brutal and often crude. Would such a man as that be a gentle first lover?

  “You need it bad, don’t you, honey?”

  “Please, Quinn. Please.” She wasn’t sure whether she was begging him to make love to her or begging him to save her from her own wanton desires.

  His mouth consumed hers with savage intensity as he captured her body in his powerful arms. She trembled, every nerve within her screaming. She gave herself over completely to him when he swept her up into his arms and carried her down the rise and over to a secluded coppice embowered with young palm trees. After standing her on her feet, he unbuttoned her shirt and then spread it apart to reveal her breasts.

  “Tell me what to do.” She lifted her hands pleadingly.

  “Let me do it all this time. Just enjoy and learn.” Edged with desire, his deep voice dropped an octave to a sandpaper-rough baritone.

  She nodded. Her lips parted on a sigh when he flicked his fingertips across her nipples.

  “You have beautiful breasts.” He lifted both, weighing them in the palms of his hands, while his thumbs raked over the peaks.

  She wriggled as tremors shot from her breasts to her feminine core. “Oh, Quinn.” Tossing back her head, she exposed her neck to his marauding lips.

  While his mouth tasted and tempted, he tugged her pants off, leaving her in nothing but a pair of thin cotton panties. He eased her down to the soft grass, spreading her out before him. Lifting her hands, he laid them on his chest. He hovered over her, bracing himself on one elbow as he guided her trembling hands.

  “You wanted to touch me, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  He released her hands, allowing her to chart her own course. She caressed him, shyly, hesitantly at first and then, emboldened by his tortured groans, she explored more fully. When she reached the waistband of his pants, she stilled her movements. He clasped her hand and laid it over his arousal.

  “Feel how much I want you.”

  “You must know that I want you, too. So much.”

  Lowering his head, he kissed her belly, then nudged her panties lower and lower until they rested below her hips. He rose above her, slipped his arm under her and turned her on her side. She allowed him to mold and shape her as if she were an inanimate doll.

  As he dipped his hand into her panties, she writhed against the sensation. “I’m going to take care of you, honey. Just let it happen.”

  He slipped her panties down and off, then tossed them aside. He kissed the fiery red curls at the apex of her thighs. She lifted her hips, seeking pleasure. While he caressed her naked buttock with one hand, he cupped the back of her head in the other and brought her mouth to his for a slow, seductive kiss that went on and on and on.

  During that never-ending kiss, he glided his hand between her legs and inserted a couple of fingers inside her moist folds. He fondled her tenderly, bringing her along gradually, until she rode his hand, seeking fulfillment. When he increased the strokes, he deepened the kiss, his tongue and fingers working in unison to increase her pleasure.

  Dripping with passion, she swelled around his hand. He withdrew his mouth from her lips and sought her breast. The moment he sucked on one nipple, he pressed harder and faster with his fingertips. In an explosion of pure sensation, Victoria shattered into a thousand shards of pleasure.

  She cried out as tremors racked her body. Lifting her arms, she reached for Quinn, trying to bring him inside her. But he resisted her urging. When she gazed up at him, her eyes filled with gratitude and puzzlement, he hastily unzipped his pants and guided her hand inside to his straining sex.

  “Quinn?”

  “It’s better for you this way, honey.”

  He tutored her willing hand, showing her how to stroke him, where to apply pressure and just how much. As she gave him an erotic massage, he whispered explicit words and phrases into her ear, telling her all the things he wanted to do to her. Then when he reached the limit, he instructed her on the speed of her caresses. She obeyed his every command until he moaned deep in his throat and jetted his release.

  When the aftershocks of his climax tapered off, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. She curled up against him, her head resting on his chest.

  “Why didn’t you—”

  He pressed his index finger across her lips. “We both needed release, but this way, you still have your virginity intact.”

  “But I wanted you to be the first.” She kissed his damp chest.

  Threading his fingers through her hair, he cradled the back of her head in his hand. “You want the man you’ll spend the rest of your life with to be the first. And I’m not that man, princess.”

  “Oh.” She curled closer, wanting this moment to last, knowing that if Quinn had his way, what they had just shared would be all they’d ever have together.

  He slapped her on the behind. “I wish we could stay here longer, but we’d better head out soon, if we intend to make it to Gurabo before nightfall.”

  “You’re right, as always.” If today was all she would ever have of him, she regretted that it had to end so soon. But there was much more at stake here than her heart. If they didn’t make it to Gurabo, they could both lose their lives. “I’ll be ready to leave in a few minutes.”

  They didn’t find a boat in the first village, which was half a mile inland, so they traveled downstream, hoping for better luck in the second village. As thieves in the night, they crept up on the outskirts and watched the residents as they went about their daily chores. Apparently the war hadn’t touched them here on the banks of the Rio Gurabo.

  Quinn led Victoria past the village and back toward the river, which, only a few yards away, made a sharp turn in its journey to the ocean. She almost cried out when she saw first the fishing nets and then the row of three small wooden boats. Quinn held up a hand to silence her, then quickly inspected the area.

  “There’s no one around,” he said. “If we hurry, we might get away before anybody shows up.”

  Scurrying as if chased by devils, they worked together. Quinn handed his rifle to Victoria, tossed the backpack into the first boat, then eased the boat off the bank and into the river. Victoria waded in, carrying the M-16. Once the boat had cleared the shoreline, Victoria laid the rifle inside and crawled aboard. Quinn guided the tiny craft farther out into the Rio Gurabo, then climbed in beside Victoria.

  “So far, so good,” he said.

  He winked at her. She winked back at him.

  He lifted the oars, dipped them into the water and steered the boat downstream. “Help me keep a lookout for any movement along the banks. If necessary, I’ll expect you to take over rowing. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. You’re a better marksman than I am and fami
liar with the M-16, so if there’s any shooting to do, you’ll be the one to do it.”

  “Smart girl.”

  “I’m a fast learner.”

  He grinned at the innuendo, his body acknowledging the truth to her statement. Virgin or no virgin, he’d wager every dime her daddy was paying him that she would be the hottest thing he’d ever bedded.

  But he’d never know, Quinn reminded himself. He was going to return her to Ryan Fortune, still the same sweet innocent she’d always been.

  He had to reconcile himself to the fact that what he’d had of her today was all he’d ever get. She had been his for the taking and he’d done the noble thing—for the first time in his life.

  “Have you ever been in love?” Victoria asked.

  Coming from out of the blue, her question startled him. He glared across the boat at her, but didn’t respond.

  “Well, have you?” she asked.

  “Not really,” he replied. “I’ve had the hots for more than one woman, even got a little possessive a couple of times. But to answer your question, no, I’ve never been in love and I don’t ever intend to be.”

  “How do you feel about me?”

  “How do I… I like you. I think you’re beautiful and smart and have a big, generous heart.”

  “Is that it?”

  “What more do you want?” He continued rowing, but admittedly the swift current carried them downstream with little effort on his part but to steer.

  “Then I’m just another woman to you?”

  Her eyes saddened when she looked at him and he knew what she wanted him to say—something he couldn’t tell her. “Look, honey, I don’t want to hurt you—”

  “Tell me the truth.”

  The truth? Exactly what was the truth about his feelings for her? He did like her. He admired her greatly. And he wanted her to the point of distraction. She was special to him, in a way no one had ever been, but he could hardly admit it to her.

  “The truth is that all women are pretty much the same to me.”