To Save His Child

by Margaret Watson

  Before Lexie could answer, Angelita was gone. As soon as the door closed behind her, Caine emerged from the shadows of the other room as silently as a ghost.

  “How long will it take you to pack?” Caine looked everywhere but at her and Ana. “I want to leave as soon as possible.”

  “You obviously heard what Angelita and I said. Did you forget that I want to stay until my next shipment of vaccine comes in?” Lexie stood, cradling Ana in her arms, and went over to the stove to stir the pot simmering there.

  “I heard.”

  Caine’s voice was grim, and involuntarily she looked over at him. Tension radiated from him, and for a moment she almost didn’t recognize him. He was poised for action.

  “Dammit, Lexie, use your head. Your friend told you to get out. How much more warning do you need?”

  He was a warrior, she suddenly realized. She had never seen this side of him before. He stood in the middle of her house, all his instincts on alert, fully prepared to do battle.

  The wooden spoon she was using to stir the stew clattered against the edge of the pot. “Stop it, Caine,” she cried. “Stop trying to scare me. Angelita didn’t say that there was someone in the village who had turned me in. She just warned me that it was a possibility. I’ve already told you I’ll go with you. I just won’t go right now.”

  He stared at her for a long moment, then finally moved to stand by the window. “The equation has changed in the last couple of hours.” As he spoke to her he kept his gaze fixed on the street outside. Watching him, Lexie realized that his eyes never stopped moving. His gaze swept back and forth through the quiet, resting town, cataloging everything he saw.

  “Who owns the inn at the other end of the village?” he asked abruptly, still watching out the window.

  “Maria Tiotempe,” she answered, picking up the wooden spoon and stirring the stew again. “Didn’t you meet her?”

  “She was there when I checked in, but I didn’t see her this afternoon.”

  His voice was grim, and she put the spoon down again and joined him at the window. Nothing moved in the shimmering heat of early evening. It wouldn’t be long before Santa Ysabel rose and stretched from its afternoon siesta, but right now the streets were silent and deserted.

  And a little bit spooky, she thought as she stepped away from Caine. Even though she wouldn’t admit it to him, his intensity was beginning to scare her. She’d looked out this window at this same early-evening scene a hundred times before. Never before had it bothered her. Now, though, Caine’s tension and alert watchfulness were infecting her.

  “Maria is a very busy woman. She was probably checking on her garden, or visiting one of her daughters,” she answered firmly. “Don’t imagine trouble everywhere.”

  “I wasn’t imagining the man standing in her kitchen when I went back there this afternoon.” Caine’s quiet voice was filled with coldness and danger. “I didn’t imagine the way he studied me, either. As if he was memorizing my face for future reference.”

  Lexie laid Ana gently in her child seat, then positioned it next to the table so she could watch her. Serving two bowls of stew, she sat down and waited for Caine to join her. He kept staring out the window.

  Finally she said, “Even in this heat, food does get cold and I’d like to eat. Please, come sit down, Caine.”

  At that he looked over at her. “I didn’t realize I’d been invited.”

  She ignored her burning cheeks. “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to engrave an invitation. I assumed you’d know I wouldn’t eat in front of you. Please, join me.”

  Surprisingly, a fleeting smile passed over his face as he turned away from the window. “A lot of things have changed about you, Lexie, but I see you still have your sharp tongue. Thank you.”

  He sat down and they ate in silence for a few minutes. Lexie was excruciatingly aware of him sitting just inches away from her, his knees almost brushing hers. The air in the room, already heavy with heat and humidity, became as suffocating as a thick woolen blanket. His nearness swirled around her, more intoxicating than any wine.

  “Tell me about the man who lives with the woman at the inn.” His abrupt words broke the spell that had entangled her.

  “Maria?” She frowned, trying to banish the images that had been flitting through her head. “She lives alone.”

  “Then who was the man in her house earlier?”

  “I have no idea, unless it was one of her sons-in-law.”

  “This man was in his fifties. Short, thin, salt-and-pepper hair.”

  Lexie shook her head slowly. “None of Maria’s relatives look like that.” She looked at Caine, her fear suddenly an almostpalpable thing. “What did you say earlier about the way he was looking at you?”

  “I said it was enough to make all the warning bells go off.” His voice was blunt. “Believe me, I have enough experience to pay attention to things like that. I made it look as if I’d settled into the room, then I ducked out the window. I’ve been hiding in your other room all afternoon, half expecting El Cuchillo himself to show up at your door. There’s something wrong here, and I want to leave tonight. Right now, if possible.”

  “Half the people here are waiting for their children to be vaccinated.” Her whispered words were as much to convince herself as Caine.

  “Well, someone in the other half has another agenda. Trust me on this.” He leaned over the table toward her, and she found herself wishing passionately that he would move closer. She had to force herself to back up. She had fought the attraction between them for the short month they’d known each other, almost a year earlier. Now she found, to her dismay, that their separation had only made it grow stronger.

  “I can’t just disappear in the middle of the night. There are things I need to take with me, and things I need to give to other people.”

  “My God, Lexie, you give the word stubborn a new meaning.” He ran his fingers through his long dark blond hair and leaned back in his chair. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that he was no longer close enough to reach out and touch.

  “All right.” The front legs of his chair came crashing down to the floor. “I’m willing to compromise with you, if only so you’ll realize I know what I’m talking about. Something is going to happen tonight. I can feel it. So you and I and the kid are going to make ourselves scarce. If nothing has happened when we show up in the morning, you win. But if someone has been here looking for you, we pack up and leave on the spot.”

  She was trapped and she knew it. She could find no argument to fight his suggestion. In fact, although she would die before telling him, she was glad he was here with her and relieved by the action he proposed.

  Glancing out into the darkened streets, she realized that the afternoon siesta was over. People going from one house to another were shadows moving through the town. Yesterday they had all belonged to friends, people she knew and trusted. Today, she wondered who among them might have betrayed her and sold her to El Cuchillo.

  “All right. I suppose that’s a reasonable suggestion.” She glanced down at Ana, wide-awake and staring back at her. “But where will we go?”

  “Into the jungle. No one will be able to find us there in the dark, even if they were inclined to look.”

  “The jungle?” She stared at him. “No one goes into the jungle at night. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I know.” He smiled grimly. “That’s what I’m counting on to keep you safe.”

  “There are things in the jungle far more dangerous than El Cuchillo.” She stood abruptly, afraid he would see her fear.

  “Nothing I can’t handle. Trust me, Lexie. This is what I do.” His smile was devoid of humor. “You never cared for my job before, but right now, what I do for a living can save your little fanny.”

  She looked down at Ana, still wide-awake in her basket. She could face anything for her child. And if going into the jungle at night was what it would take, she could do that, too.

  “All right.”
She spoke too quickly, but she didn’t care. She needed to say it before she had time to change her mind. “Let me clean up the dishes and get a few things for Ana.”

  “Leave the house looking like you’d just gone to bed. Take only what’s absolutely necessary for you and the kid. I’ll take care of everything else.”

  Lexie moved through the tiny house, washing up the dinner dishes and doing what she normally did as she prepared for bed. Finally she gathered clean diapers and some extra clothes and blankets for Ana and stuffed them into a bag. Switching off all the lights, she picked up her daughter and held her close, then turned to stand in front of Caine in the darkened main room.

  “I’m ready.”

  She barely saw him nod in the shadows. “We’ll go the same way I came in. That way, whoever’s watching the house won’t see us leave.”

  He took the bag from her hand, then slid his palm against hers and led her into the back room. His hand was hard and warm, swallowing her smaller one, and her skin tingled from the electricity of his touch. She knew she should pull away, but suddenly she couldn’t bear to let go of him. She’d dreamed of his touch for eleven long months, woken from sleep with the taste and feel of him imprinted on her body.

  She knew he’d taken her hand only to guide her safely through the dark room, but for a moment she let her fantasies have free rein. It was a small enough thing, and it would have to last for a long time.

  Lost in her thoughts, she bumped up against him when he stopped abruptly. Letting go of her hand, he pulled her to the side, away from the window. He didn’t need to gesture to her to be quiet. Watching him stare out the window, his body tense and coiled, was enough to paralyze her.

  Chapter 3

  “We’ll have to wait.” Caine’s voice was no more than a breath caressing her neck. “There’s someone watching the back of your house, too.”

  Without thinking she leaned toward the window. “Where?”

  He curled his hand around her shoulder and held her away from the window. “Don’t. You can’t see him, anyway.” His heat seeped through the thin cotton of her blouse and made her skin tingle. As he drew back, she thought his hand lingered on her neck for an instant longer than necessary.

  It didn’t mean a thing, she told herself, cuddling Ana a little closer. Neither of them had ever denied the physical attraction that had flamed between them from the moment they’d met, although she had certainly tried. Lust was a basic human urge, and like all other urges, it could be controlled. For all that Caine had wanted her, she was certain it had never gone deeper than that. And she wasn’t about to succumb to her urges again.

  Caine stared into the gathering darkness, holding himself perfectly still. His body throbbed with awareness of the woman standing next to him—an awareness only intensified by the still, heavy air surrounding them and the danger swirling outside. The feel of her skin still burned on his fingertips, and no matter which way he turned, he could smell her faint scent.

  Trying to will his body into submission, he deliberately faced away from her and stared into the gloom until he pinpointed where the watcher was concealed. This was no time to be replaying futile fantasies involving Lexie, he told himself harshly. If he wanted to get her out of here in one piece, he’d better concentrate on the matter at hand.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered behind him.

  He didn’t turn around. “I know where the guy is. Now all we have to do is wait. Sooner or later he’ll get bored and make a mistake. That’s when we’ll move.”

  He could almost feel her shiver behind him. “Why are you so sure he’ll make a mistake?”

  “Because he’s already made one. I know where he is.”

  A tiny, restless grunt came from the darkness behind him— a noise he didn’t think came from Lexie. Then he heard the whisper of cloth against wood that told him she’d sat down.

  “I have to feed her. I’m sorry.” The soft words seemed to wrap their tendrils around him.

  There was another rustling, then a satisfied murmur. He knew what he would see if he turned around. In the darkened room, Lexie’s breast would be only a darker shadow, and just the back of the baby’s head would be visible. Tightening his grip on the windowsill, he tried to ignore what was going on behind him.

  “Are you almost done?” he asked finally. The tiny sounds that came from the two of them were getting on his nerves.

  “She’s almost asleep.”

  “Good. We’re just about ready to go.”

  He heard her stirring behind him, heard the sound of cloth being pulled together. He wondered what it was, but he didn’t dare move away. Whoever was watching them was getting restless. He’d shifted a few times in his hiding place, moving into Caine’s line of sight. It wouldn’t be long before he and Lexie had their opportunity.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  Her voice trembled over the word, and he looked back at her sharply. She met his gaze and lifted her chin, one hand resting on the bundle strapped across her shoulder. “What do we do now?” she asked, defying him to mention the fear in her voice.

  He turned back to look out the window, unwilling to think about what it had taken her to ask him that. He didn’t want to admire anything about Lexie.

  Thinking about Lexie, he almost missed the shadow that flitted from its hiding place and disappeared toward the front of her house. Cursing himself for allowing her to distract him, he said, “It’s time to move. We need to get through this window, as fast as possible.”

  She came up beside him and laid her palms on the windowsill. Just before she boosted herself up onto it, he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

  “Not quite yet.”

  Easing himself away from the wall next to the window, he leaned out and looked around. As far as he could tell, there was no one waiting for them. It wouldn’t be long, though, before the watcher was back. They had to go now.

  “I’ll lift you up,” he whispered to Lexie. “Once you’re out, I’ll hand you the bags. Okay?”

  She nodded, one hand curling around the lump in front of her. She’d slung some kind of scarf over one shoulder, he realized, and the baby lay inside it. When he put his hands around her waist, he could feel the warmth of the child through the fabric of the scarf.

  He swung her onto the windowsill more quickly than necessary, and let his hands drop away almost immediately. Silently she twisted around and slid to the ground on the other side of the window. In another few seconds he’d handed her the bags and dropped lightly down beside her.

  Taking her hand, he pulled her toward the darkness between two houses across the street. As they melted into the shadows, he heard someone coming down the street toward them. He didn’t have to urge her to hurry. Her hand trembled in his, and beneath his fingers he could feel her pulse leap in her wrist.

  As soon as they were behind one of the houses, he stopped. Pressing into the cool mud brick, he waited as the footsteps came closer and closer. When they were even with the house, he risked one quick look.

  “What?” she whispered into his ear as he jerked back. “Who was it?”

  Slowly he turned to look at her. “It was the man who was at the inn this afternoon.”

  Even in the darkness he could see her turn pale, but she tried to cover it up. “That doesn’t prove anything. Since he’s obviously visiting here, too, he’s probably on his way to a friend’s house.”

  “I don’t hear him anymore.”

  She licked her lips. “There are a lot of houses he could have stopped at.” Although her words were nonchalant, her tone of voice wasn’t. He could hear the fear shiver through.

  “I don’t want to stand here all night and debate about it. Let’s get going.”

  She nodded once, jerkily, and pushed away from the wall. When he took her hand, it was cold and damp. Fury crashed over him like a wave. He wanted to reach out and fasten his hands around the neck of the person who was making her afraid. The Lexie he had kno
wn hadn’t been afraid of anything.

  As he tightened his grip on her hand, he felt an answering pressure so brief he wondered if he’d imagined it. He glanced over at her sharply, but she wasn’t looking at him. She examined each street they crossed, each dark alley they passed. She might be afraid, he thought with reluctant admiration, but she wasn’t falling apart on him.

  They reached the edge of the village quickly. Pulling her into the shadow of a lone building, he stood and waited for what seemed like a long time. When he was sure there were no footsteps behind them, he took her hand again and led her toward the blackness of the forest in front of them.

  They hadn’t gone more than ten or fifteen feet into the jungle when the darkness seemed to swallow them completely. Even the lights from the village were no longer visible. He slowed down, but continued to move steadily forward. He had picked out this route this afternoon, and had mentally marked all the obstacles in their way. Still, he used his free hand to make sure there were no vines in front of them to snap in their faces.

  Lexie held tightly to his other hand. She made no sound, but the desperation of her grip told him all he needed to know.

  “It’s only a little farther,” he murmured, turning back to look at her shadowy outline in the inky darkness. In answer, she tightened her fingers around his.

  In another ten minutes he stopped and pulled a flashlight out of his backpack. They had gone far enough into the forest that there was no chance the light could be seen from the village. Turning on the thin beam, he played it over the trees to try to get his bearings.

  The vines and flowers that trailed down from the tall trees looked ghostly and surreal in the weak light. Night creatures chirped and clicked in the darkness, adding to the eerie sensation. Inhospitable during the day, the jungle at night was downright forbidding. As he played the light in a circle around them, it glanced off Lexie’s face.

  Her eyes were huge and black in her pale face. When he gently loosened his hand from hers, she immediately stepped closer to him. Clutching the bundle that was the baby tightly to her chest, she was so near she almost brushed up against him.