The moment she finished her meal, Hawk shoved aside the empty containers and metal cups. Instinctively, Rorie scooted away from him.
"I'm not sleeping in my wet clothes, so if you don't want to see me naked, you'd better turn around," he said.
She turned quickly, facing the opposite direction. Her heart beat wildly as images of Gabriel's magnificent naked body flashed through her mind. Shivering from head to toe, she clasped her hands in her lap and prayed for the strength to resist temptation.
She tried not to listen to the noises he made while he undressed. The thump of one boot and then another as they hit the floor. The swirl of air when he stripped off his shirt. The metallic swish when he unzipped his pants.
Hawk knelt behind her. Rorie scooted to the edge of the sleeping bag. He touched her hair. She jumped. Soothing her, he stroked his hand across her shoulder. She didn't move, barely breathed while he unbraided her hair. Keeping her back to him, she sat stiffly when he spread out the long, damp strands.
"I love your hair," he said, his voice deep and dark and incredibly soft. "Even in this dim light it shimmers like pure gold."
She swallowed hard. Cupping her shoulders with his open palms, he closed his hands over her wet sleeves in a tight grasp. She tensed momentarily, but when he lowered his head and nuzzled her neck, she gasped and let her body lean backward into his. Nuzzling aside her hair, he kissed her neck.
"You know how much I want you, don't you?" he whispered in her ear.
He eased his hands down and then back up her arms. She sighed. His fingertips trailed across her collarbone. His palms covered her straining breasts. Tossing back her head, she melted against him and knew that now there would be no resisting temptation, no turning back from the inevitability of what lay ahead for them.
With fingers that had suddenly lost their dexterity, Hawk fumbled with the buttons on her wet shirt. She lay back against him, neither helping nor hindering his efforts. He stripped the shirt from her body, then unhooked her bra and tossed both shirt and bra toward the foot of the sleeping bag.
Encompassing her breasts, he squeezed gently, then lifted them and raked their peaks with his thumbs. Rorie moaned from the painful pleasure as he flicked her nipples into tight pink nubs. He placed a row of slow, damp kisses across one shoulder and then the other, all the while tormenting her breasts with his hands.
"I've never wanted anyone or anything in my whole life the way I want you." He slipped one hand down between her thighs and clutched her intimately. She moaned as tremors rippled through her. "I won't take your virginity. You've saved that for the man you'll love someday. But we can give each other the same pleasure we shared last night."
"I want you, too." Her voice quivered ever so slightly.
"Ah, Rorie, honey." What was it about her that drove him insane? What did this sweet, stubborn little do-gooder have that made her so irresistible?
He turned her to face him, grasped each side of her waist and drew her up on her knees. He hoped the light would last long enough for him to see her while he made love to her. He wanted to watch her fall apart.
He lifted her to her feet, unzipped and removed her slacks, along with her panties, then kicked them aside.
A sudden weakness claimed her limbs. Her knees buckled. Hawk wrapped her hair around his hand and drew her closer. Inserting his foot between her ankles, he gently kicked her legs apart. She gasped at the instant sensation of being exposed. Lowering his head, he kissed her. A slow, languid kiss. Nibbles on her lower lip. Licks circling her whole mouth. Tentative jabs into the warm interior.
Circling his waist with her arms, she inched her fingers up his naked back. He walked her backward on top of the sleeping bag until her buttocks encountered the wall. He pressed his hard body against her, allowing her to feel the heaviness of his throbbing arousal. She didn't flinch when he lifted his head and looked deeply into her eyes as he eased his fingers up her thigh, parting her farther. He slipped inside her, testing her. Instinctively, she closed her thighs around his intruding hand.
She twisted and turned, inflaming her own desire as well as his. He probed and retreated, then probed again. He raked his thumb across her core. Pressing her head back against the wall, she groaned as he played the intimate game. Color washed up her neck and over her face.
Hawk petted her with knowledgeable strokes while he lowered his mouth to her breast. He ached with need.
"Please, oh, please…" she whimpered.
"Let it happen, honey. Just let go."
Hot, wild sensation consumed her. Pressing, pressing, pressing. With one final stroke, he broke the tightly coiled spring inside her, unraveling the pleasure. Her body jerked repeatedly as fulfillment claimed her.
While the aftershocks of release still tingled along her nerve endings, Hawk drew her hand down to circle his erection. She held him, caressing him tenderly.
She kissed the center of his chest, then slid her tongue up to his throat. "You said you wouldn't take my virginity—"
"And I won't." No matter how desperately I want to make you mine completely.
"What if I want to give it to you? What if—"
"Don't do this to me. Don't—"
Releasing her intimate hold on him, she stood on tiptoe and wrapped herself around him. "I love you, Gabriel. I realize you probably don't want my love, but you have it. And because I love you, I want you to be my first lover." My only lover. Now and forever.
"You shouldn't love me. I'm no good, honey. I'm no good for you." All the while he tried to reject her, his arousal pulsed against her belly.
"It doesn't matter," she said, her voice echoing in the shadowy twilight, as the heavy rain created a cocoon around them inside the ancient temple. "Don't you understand? I'm good for you, Gabriel, and that's what's important."
"God, forgive me." He was no saint. He was only a man. He didn't possess the strength to reject her precious gift.
Lifting her in his arms, he carried her away from the wall and lowered her to the sleeping bag, then gently straddled her hips.
Take it easy. Go slow. Don't hurt her. He probed her with his fingers, parting her, petting her, preparing her. Then he lowered himself over her, easing slowly into her. She tensed. He murmured soothing, almost-incoherent words to her.
Lifting her head, she captured his mouth. When he thrust his tongue inside, she lifted her hips, bringing him deeper inside her. Unable to resist her invitation, he drove into her. Slipping his hands beneath her hips he lifted her, sealing them together. He filled her completely, making their bodies one.
Hawk held Rorie, unmoving, waiting for the pain from his invasion to ease. She gasped as the pain sliced through her, but she swallowed her cries. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and trickled into her hair.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." He mouthed the words against her cheek.
She rubbed his buttocks, then pressed down on his spine, urging him to continue. "There's more to making love, isn't there? I want it all," she said.
He worked her back and forth, thrusting and retreating, plunging, pleasuring, giving her all of him and taking back everything from her. He couldn't make it last, couldn't take the time to bring her to a fulfillment again. When he felt the tingling warnings of his imminent release, he rammed his tongue into her mouth.
Rorie urged him to the edge with every breath she took, acting purely on instinct. Wanting to give him pleasure, she lost herself in the pursuit of his release.
He groaned into her mouth. He froze for an instant, then hammered into her with quick, sharp, frantic jabs.
She felt his release, warm and moist inside her. And she listened, with happiness, to his triumphant, deep-throated growl of completion.
Hawk eased his body alongside hers, then lifted the sleeping bag over them and zippered them inside the padded warmth. She cuddled in his arms.
He kissed her. "Rest now, honey."
Rorie fell asleep almost instantly, sated and secure. Hawk held h
er close. She was his now—in every way a woman could belong to a man. His feelings of possessiveness about Rorie surprised him. But he could no more control those feelings than he could stop the sun from rising tomorrow.
He claimed her again during the long night, taking her with wild abandon in the darkness. They shared the pleasure the second time—Rorie shattering into ecstasy as he exploded inside her.
At first light of dawn, she awoke when Hawk drew her on top of him and urged her to ride him. She was sore, her body aching from the two previous lovings and the aftereffects of their wreck. But her desire for him made her more than willing to give and find pleasure once again.
Afterward, they slept for a brief time, then washed and dressed quickly. Rorie braided her hair, while Hawk prepared their breakfast. They shared another of Murdock's meals, then packed up and left the ancient temple.
Halting before they entered the forest again, Rorie took one last look at the ruins. She would never forget the night she'd shared with Gabriel, within the sheltering arms of a building once held sacred by a people who long ago had vanished from the earth.
Hawk pulled Rorie close and kissed her. "No regrets?" he asked.
"None," she told him.
* * *
The sun was high in the sky when Hawk told her they would soon have to leave the road again and return to the forest. The road would have led them straight to Mayari. Only by making their way through the jungle could they reach Vieques, find Tito Alverez and send word to Murdock.
They stopped for a midmorning rest and to relieve themselves. While hidden within the green walls of the forest, Hawk heard voices and booted footsteps. The men were on the road, less than thirty feet away. Rorie! Did she hear the soldiers?
Hawk crept through the underbrush, looking for Rorie. He found her crouched behind a tree. He slipped his arm around her and drew her up on her feet. He motioned for her to keep quiet. She nodded.
Hawk peered around the tree and through the thicket. Six men with beards and scraggly black hair had stopped on the side of the road—armed soldiers wearing fatigues. When one of them glanced into the forest, Hawk got a good look at his face and recognized him. He couldn't remember the man's name, but knew he was one of Santos's gorillas.
Hawk could make out bits and pieces of their conversation. Unimportant jabber. The soldiers would be on their way soon, and he and Rorie could head in the opposite direction.
Rorie tugged on Hawk's sleeve. He shrugged off her hand. She tugged again, more insistent the second time. When he glanced at her, she pointed down at the ground directly in front of them. A giant anaconda slithered through the underbrush.
Several minutes later, while Hawk's attention was diverted by trying to silently reassure Rorie that the huge snake wouldn't hurt her, he heard the rustle of tree limbs. Shoving Rorie behind him, he drew the 9 mm from his holster. Then he saw a flash of something move through the thicket.
One of the soldiers, who had apparently sought privacy off the road, was running through the forest, calling out to his comrades.
"Damn!" Hawk grabbed Rorie's arm.
"He saw us, didn't he?" she asked.
"They're going to come after us," he said. "And I don't think we can outrun them, but we can try to outsmart them. If that fails, then we'll have to take cover and fight."
"Do you mean we're going to have to shoot at them?"
"That's exactly what I mean." He looked her square in the eye. "Can you do that, Rorie? Can you shoot to kill?"
* * *
Chapter 14
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In less than five minutes, Hawk realized that they were surrounded by the renegades. He pulled Rorie into the thicket, behind a huge, moss-covered rock. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. All Hawk could figure out was that there had been more than one group of Santos's soldiers—the ones on the road and another searching the forest. But searching for what? For Rorie and him?
If he were alone, he might have a chance of eliminating enough of the enemy to facilitate his escape. But with Rorie's safety to worry about, his hands were tied. A gun battle with two dozen men could end only one way—in his and Rorie's deaths.
But the alternative didn't appeal to Hawk in the least. The thought of being handed over to Santos galled him. There was a fifty-fifty chance that Santos wouldn't kill them. He didn't like the odds, but they were better than the ones they faced here in the jungle with twenty-four guns pointed in their direction.
"Señorita Dean?" one of the soldiers called out from several yards away, only the heavy forest vegetation blocking him from their view. "I am Paz Santos, the brother of Emilio Santos," the man said in Spanish. "Emilio has sent me to find you and escort you and Hawk to Mayari."
Clutching Hawk's arm, Rorie looked into his eyes, questioning him silently. Hawk shook his head in a negative response.
"Señorita, we know you came to San Miguel seeking your nephew," Paz Santos said. "Rosa, the woman who stole little Francisco from the Blessed Virgin Mission is one of my brother's loyal followers. She brought the boy straight to Mayari. Your nephew is now under Emilio Santos's protection."
Rorie bit down on her bottom lip in an effort not to scream. Dear Lord, her worst nightmare had become a reality. Emilio Santos had Frankie. She looked at Hawk, hoping he would tell her that what the man had said wasn't true.
"It makes sense," Hawk whispered. "Paz knows too much to be lying. Somehow we figured it wrong. This Rosa wasn't planning on selling Frankie to the highest bidder. She was taking him straight to Santos."
"What are we going to do?"
"We have two choices," he told her. "We can fight and die or we can give ourselves up and hope Santos doesn't kill us."
"I don't like either choice."
"Señorita, if you wish to save your nephew, you and Hawk must come with us," Paz Santos said. "Emilio would like for you to be his guests. He will tell you how King Julio's grandson can bring about an end to the war."
"If we accept your invitation—" placing his hand over Rorie's mouth, Hawk called out from their hiding place "—I'd like your word that Señorita Dean will come to no harm while we're under Emilio's 'protection'."
Paz Santos's deep laughter rumbled through the eerie hush of the forest. "Only you, Hawk, would make demands, as if you were in charge, when you are surrounded by my men."
"I can kill you where you stand, Paz, and you know it." Removing his hand from Rorie's mouth, Hawk gave her a warning look, then rose from behind the rock and aimed his rifle. "And after you're dead, I can take out several of your men before they kill me."
"Let us not speak of killing each other, my old comrade," Paz said. "Come with me to Mayari and I give you my word that Señorita Dean will be safe."
Tugging on Hawk's pant leg, Rorie glared up at him. "That man is a renegade, a killer, Peter's murderer. How can you possibly trust him?"
"Paz Santos is all that you say he is, but he is a man of his word, unlike his brother."
"You didn't tell me that you knew Emilio Santos personally. Why did his brother call you his old comrade?" Rorie asked.
Hawk grabbed Rorie's arm and pulled her to her feet to stand at his side. "I met the Santos brothers while I was on my last government assignment. Paz is his brother's right-hand man, but unlike Emilio, if Paz gives his word, he keeps it."
"We're going to surrender, aren't we?" Rorie slid her pistol into the shoulder holster.
"Tell your men to hold their fire," Hawk said. "Señorita Dean and I have decided to accept Emilio's invitation."
"A wise decision," Paz said. "Put your hands over your heads and come out where I can see you."
Hawk draped the rifle strap over his shoulder, grabbed Rorie's arm and led her forward, toward their captor. With her heart hammering loud and fast, she glued herself to Hawk's side as they revealed themselves to the enemy. Within a minute, they were surrounded by armed men, a few little more than boys. Half-a-dozen pairs of black eyes glowered at them.
; A short, slender man in his late twenties emerged from the thicket. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to take your weapons." Paz smiled, his teeth bright white against his dark bronze skin. "Just a precaution. I know what a marksman you are, Hawk."
"Take off your holster and give it to him." Hawk pointed to the soldier at Rorie's side. She did as Hawk commanded. Hawk allowed the soldier on his left to take his holster and rifle.
"Come. We have trucks and jeeps waiting for us several miles from here," Paz said. "We should be in Mayari in a few hours." Paz placed his arm around Hawk's shoulder. "Emilio is eager to see you again, and to meet Señorita Dean."
Paz Santos looked appreciatively at Rorie, leisurely inspecting the way her shirt molded her full breasts.
Hawk flung Paz's arm from his shoulder. "I expect you to keep your promise that Señorita Dean will be safe."
"I keep my promises." Paz nodded his head to Rorie. "You are a beautiful woman. I meant no offense in looking at you. None of my men will touch you. I have given Hawk my word to keep you safe."
Rorie swallowed hard. She stared at Paz Santos, not knowing how to respond to his comments.
"Doesn't she speak Spanish?" Paz asked Hawk.
Rorie looked Paz straight in the eye and spoke to him in Spanish. "I understood what you said. Hawk might trust your word, but I do not. I could never trust anyone who was a member of the renegade army that murdered my brother and sister-in-law."
The smile on Paz's face vanished. He returned Rorie's hard stare, then glanced at Hawk. The two men exchanged an unspoken question and response. Hawk knew that Paz would not betray him, but he also knew that he could not count on Emilio to be as discreet. It was only a matter of time now before Rorie learned the truth—the whole truth. And when she did, she would hate him.
He did not want to go to his death knowing that Rorie hated him.
"You tell Emilio that she is your woman." Paz spoke to Hawk in English.
"She is my woman," Hawk replied.
Paz nodded. "I thought as much."
Turning abruptly, Paz ordered his men to escort Hawk and Rorie to the road. When they began their march down the mountain, two dozen soldiers surrounded them.
GABRIEL HAWK'S LADY Page 20
