Ana was walking away from her Apache with her copilot, Vickey Maybrey, when she spotted Jake coming out to meet her. Instantly, her heart rate accelerated. She clung to his warm, welcoming blue gaze. There was a cockeyed smile on his face. Something was going on. She could see it in his eyes as he approached her. Ana halted and introduced her copilot to Jake. They shook hands and Vickey politely excused herself.
“How did the mission go?” Jake asked, standing with his hands in his pockets, because if he didn’t, he’d be reaching out for Ana.
She shrugged tiredly and fell into step with him as they walked back into the cave facility. “Same old stuff. We locate them, we face them down, they turn around and go back into Peru.”
“No shots were fired?”
“No. They’re in civilian helicopters. All we do is intercept and detour at that point.” Ana looked up at him. Jake seemed very relaxed compared to their first meeting. She wondered what the smile on his face was about.
“And Kamovs? Did you see any?”
Raising her brows, Ana whispered fervently, “No, thank goodness.”
“What do you have to do now?”
“Go into HQ, to my office, and fill out two flight reports. And then I’m still on duty for another twelve hours. After that—”
“Captain Stevenson is pulling you off the mission roster, Ana.” He held her widening eyes. “She’s giving us some time away from the base. How’d you like to fly into Agua Caliente and stay at Gringo Bill’s Hostel with me as soon as you’re done with those reports?” His heart pounded strongly in his chest as he saw her eyes grow warm and tender.
“Ohh…how wonderful of Maya…” Ana reached out and briefly touched his arm in reaction. “That’s wonderful, Jake! What a great surprise!”
“You’ll go with me then?” There was hope and terror in his voice. He saw her expression soften, heard her voice become husky with feeling.
“Of course I will.” Ana reached out and ran her fingers lightly down the chalina he wore around his neck. “Come on up. You can sit quietly in my office while I get the paperwork out of the way, and then I’ll run over to my room and change into civvies. We can take one of the golf carts through the tunnel to the mining side and hitch a ride to Agua Caliente from there.”
Her eyes were sparkling with joy. Jake found himself walking on air as they climbed the two flights of stairs to her office. Trying to contain the hope that burned in his chest, Jake found himself starved for Ana’s every look and gesture. Whether she was lifting her slender fingers to push away a dark strand of hair from her cheek, or to smooth locks in disarray from wearing her helmet, each movement filled him with love and hunger for her.
In her office, which was spare and tiny, Jake saw the massive amounts of paperwork heaped like leaning towers of Pisa in wire baskets on either side of her desk. A number of other piles were also begging for attention, but she ignored them as she set her helmet on a cabinet and hurried to sit behind her military-issue, green metal desk.
Sitting down in turn, Jake looked at the cream-colored walls. The window behind her had white venetian blinds across it. Dull light shone through from the cave entrance in the distance. The only living things on her desk were several orchid spikes loaded with white blossoms with purple lips. They shouted of beauty and life.
As he watched Ana quickly work on the mission reports, her head down, pen in hand, a powerful love for her moved through Jake. She was so responsible, for someone so young. Brave and courageous, too. Knowing what he knew of her, he could see she was an extraordinary woman. Jake could hear the murmur of women’s voices outside in the hall. All the doors in the building were open. Clerks worked intently at their jobs. Sometimes Jake heard softened laughter. He’d been in enough HQs to know that this one was a happy one. But then, they had one helluva commanding officer: Maya Stevenson.
“There…” Ana murmured finally, standing up. She flashed him an eager smile. “Done! Let me run this down the hall to the clerk’s office. I also want to poke my head into Maya’s office and thank her. I need to find out if I’ve got twenty-four hours leave or what.”
“Okay,” Jake said, standing. “I’ll wait here.” Ana gave him a tender smile and rushed out of her office. Jake felt his patience thinning. How badly he wanted to simply have time to sit and talk to Ana. And even though Captain Stevenson had told him up front that she was giving Ana time alone with him because she was hoping that he’d come to work for her, Jake felt he knew better. Maya Stevenson might be a hard-nosed, practical C.O., but he also heard the softness in her voice when she’d talked about Ana, her depression and how she’d changed since meeting him. More than anything, Jake knew, Maya wanted Ana happy. She was the type of C.O. who knew that if her people were happy, they were more productive at their jobs—and they stayed alive, too.
Ana rushed back in, breathless. Her eyes were shining with happiness. She gripped his hand. “Maya is giving us forty-eight hours, Jake! I’m in shock! Isn’t that wonderful?” She leaned forward and impulsively pressed her lips to his.
Jake groaned. Caught off guard, he started to lift his arms and haul Ana into them, but just as quickly, the kiss was over and she was hurrying to the cabinet to pick up her helmet.
“I’ll be right back! I’ve got to change into tourista clothes so I don’t raise any suspicions over there in Agua Caliente.” Giving him a careless smile, Ana reached out and touched his lips with her fingertips. “I love you, Jake Travers. Don’t you move!”
Chapter Twelve
Ana quietly closed the door of their room at the hostel. Margarieta Kaiser, who owned the establishment, had a devoted love of orchids from the Machu Picchu Reserve, which surrounded the small town of Agua Caliente. As she placed her overnight bag on the cedar chest at the foot of the brass bed, Ana gazed appreciatively at the wallpaper, which had small, pale lavender orchids with yellow lips throughout it. Turning, she saw that Jake was also admiring the large, beautifully appointed room.
“See why I like to come here when I can get a day off?” she asked him wryly, coming up to him as he stood looking out the sheer white lace panel. The large rectangular window overlooked Agua Caliente’s one-and two-story pastel-colored homes. Directly in front of them was the orchid-covered side of mighty Machu Picchu mountain.
Slipping her arms around his waist, Ana leaned her head against his strong back. Feeling his hands slide around her arms and cover hers, she sighed.
Jake took her full weight and absorbed Ana’s warmth and nearness. She had dressed in khaki pants, hiking boots and a dark red T-shirt. To passersby, they looked like touristas, that was all. “Yeah, this place is nice.”
“Quiet, too,” Ana said. She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. Jake nodded and turned around and faced her. Just being able to look up and drown in his narrowed blue gaze was her undoing. Reaching up, Ana framed his face with her hands. Feeling the prickle of his dark beard upon her sensitive fingertips, she parted her lips and leaned upward. The softness of the chalina pressed against her upper body as she did so.
“I love you, Jake Travers.” She brushed the hard line of his mouth with her lips. Not disappointed, she felt him smile beneath her kiss. His returning pressure upon her mouth sent scalding heat tunneling through her.
“I not only love you,” Jake rasped, placing small kisses across her brow, nose and cheek, “but I want to do something about it.” Easing away, he took the chalina from around his neck and settled it back around Ana’s shoulders. He saw her smile grow deep with understanding. Eyes sparkling, she ran her fingers down the alpaca folds of the scarf.
“I accept,” Ana told him, her voice choked with emotion. She held his dark, narrowed gaze. Lifting the ends of the scarf toward him, she whispered, “And I don’t know how it will happen, but I want to spend my life with you, Jake. The last three months have been a great teacher to me.”
Leading Ana over to the large bed, which was covered with a quilt embroidered with jungle flowers, Jake sat down next to her
. “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” he agreed quietly. Leaning down, he brought her leg up so that it rested across his thighs. As he unlaced first one boot, and then the other, he said, “I had to come back to see you, Ana. I had to know what was in your heart.” He shared a brief smile with her as he set her boots next to the bed. Leaning down, he unlaced his own boots and nudged them off his feet. Turning, he settled his full length across the bed, his back resting against the decorative brass headboard. Opening his hand, he offered it to Ana.
Slipping between his thighs, Ana lay against him with her back against his chest and torso, her head resting in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. As Jake’s arms came around her, his large hands splayed out across her abdomen, Ana placed her hands atop his.
“When you left,” she told him softly, “my heart broke. I knew at the time you couldn’t make any promises. Tal was the center of your life, not me.”
Leaning down, Jake pressed a kiss to her temple, her dark hair tickling his chin. “You were, but Tal needed me more at the time.” With a heavy sigh, he said, “Things really deteriorated when I got Tal home, Ana. She came apart at the seams, emotionally speaking. And on top of that, she had that bad leg that needed to heal up, too.”
Her hands tightened over his as she heard the pain and suffering in Jake’s tone. “It must have been very hard on both of you.”
“It still is,” he told her sadly. “Tal hasn’t worked through it all. I think she’s premature about coming back down here to face her ghosts from the past. She’s so damn bullheaded and such a risk taker.”
Shifting her head, Ana gazed up at him. “And you aren’t a risk taker, too?” Her mouth curved upward.
Seeing the warmth burning in her eyes, Jake shrugged. “I guess I am. The pot calling the kettle black, maybe?”
Ana’s smile widened. “Maybe.” She settled back against him, the smile lingering on her mouth. “You have no idea how glad I am that you tried to write to me. When I didn’t hear from you…well, I thought it was over between us….”
Jake heard the unsureness and pain in Ana’s voice. “I wrote those letters to follow the tradition of your people, Ana. Like your father wrote his letters to your mother. I don’t have a doll to give you though,” and he smiled apologetically. “Instead, I thought I’d show up in person and plead my case with you. I guess the Peruvian post office just didn’t know what to do with the address I gave them on the letters. I’m sorry I couldn’t reach you, Ana. I really am. If the truth be known, I could sure have used a phone call or two from you. There were times in the last three months that I could have used your counsel—your knowing about women’s things—to help me understand where Tal was at….”
Nodding, Ana pressed a small kiss to the column of his strong, thick neck. “You came back. That’s all that matters. And I don’t need the doll. You’re right—your coming back is even better to me.”
“And I brought your chalina.”
“Yes…yes, you did.” Closing her eyes, Ana whispered, “Jake, how I feel about you I’ve never felt about any man before. In the three months since you’ve left I’ve come to realize a lot of things. There’s all kinds of love in the world, and the one I share with you is so beautiful…so rich with possibility that it scares me. I went home to my parents’ the second month after you left Peru, and I sat down with them. I cried and told them all about you—and me. My mother, bless her, came over and put her arm around me after I told them everything. She told me that the way I felt about you was the way she felt about my father.” Opening her eyes, Ana snagged Jake’s gaze once more. “And they’ve been married for a very long time. They’re the best of friends. They enjoy one another so much. It’s wonderful to be around them. They’re so inspiring to me.”
“That’s like my parents,” Jake told her as he ran his fingers slowly up and down her arm. “They’ve been married for twenty-eight years. They’ve become dinosaurs together by today’s standards, where a marriage is seen as a disposable thing you can just walk away from when the going gets tough.” His mouth curved downward. His hand stilled on Ana’s arm. “I’m not into disposable marriages, Ana. I know from seeing how my parents have struggled, worked, talked and made compromises with each other’s needs, what marriage is really all about.”
“We both want the same thing,” Ana agreed softly. Easing away from him, she turned, her legs tucked beneath her, framed by his large thighs. Reaching out, Ana slid her hands into his and held his stormy gaze. “You know how dangerous my work is, Jake. And you know I’m committed to Maya, to her vision and to helping her rid Peru of the drug dealers. Every day I see our wonderful campesinos, entire villages, raided by drug lords and their soldiers. I want to see it stop. And I want to be a part of that process.” Worriedly, Ana searched his darkening eyes. “Jake, can you deal with me flying every third day and maybe dying out there in the sky over this jungle someday? I need to know that you’ll support me, my vision, for my people.”
Sliding his hand over hers, Jake rasped, “I will. I don’t like it, Ana, but I accept it. I now know what a woman who’s left behind when her husband goes to war feels like. The tables are turned here between us. I can’t turn the love I feel for you off, and I don’t want to, just because you’ve got a dangerous job. I know you love flying. I’d never take that away from you.”
“And what about you?” Ana asked quietly. “If we begin to live together, which signals a marriage among my people, what will you do?”
Taking her hand, Jake gently kissed the back of it. Her flesh was warm and slightly scented with the fragrance of what he guessed might be an orchid. Jake liked the idea that even though Ana lived and survived in a man’s world, she was feminine enough to wear a fragrance. “Your captain just offered me a job,” he told her wryly. “To take over supply and requisitioning for the base.” He allowed a bit of a smile. “And to head up her agricultural efforts at the base. She knows I’m a farmer.”
Surprised, Ana stared at him. She saw his mouth curve upward. His eyes danced with merriment. “Really? You mean, Maya would give you the job as our supply officer?”
“Yes. I think,” Jake murmured as he trailed his fingers through her long, unbound hair, “that your C.O. knows we’re in love. She’s a pretty astute leader and very perceptive about people, in my opinion. She doesn’t want to lose you, one of her pilots, so she was looking for a way to include me in the base ops. What do you think? She’s offered us a place to stay over on the mining side of the mountain. She mentioned a little house at the bottom with some nice, fertile land just begging to be planted. My office will be located over there. All we’ll have to do is live with your three-day flight schedule, and I think that will work.”
Ana leaned forward, her eyes awash with tears of joy. She whispered, “I think it’s wonderful.” Placing a kiss on his cheek, she asked, “And will you be happy doing those jobs?”
Jake turned his head, his lips grazing hers. He felt Ana’s breasts, small and firm, brush his chest as she moved into his arms. “I like a job that helps others. And getting to till the land and be a farmer again…yes, I’ll be happy, Ana.” His mouth closed over hers and he felt her settle into the curve of his arm as she leaned against the headboard next to him. Her mouth was soft, yielding and coaxing. Lost in her heat, the fragrant scent of orchids, Jake felt her hands moving down to divest him of his shirt. He willingly helped her.
Taking each article of clothing off one another fanned the powerful longing between them. As Ana lay down on her side again, her arms open to him, her eyes filled with desire and love, Jake knew that his life was in her hands. Her boldness, her earthy desire to come together with him upon the richly embroidered quilt decorated with flowers of the jungle that surrounded them, was in keeping with her primal essence.
Jake closed the gap between them, their naked bodies sliding beautifully together. Wrapping his leg around her more slender one, pulling her hard against him, he knew without a doubt he held heaven in his arms. Her silky ha
ir brushed provocatively across his shoulder and down his chest as she pressed her mouth wantonly to his. Her moan galvanized him. Her hands ranging with delicious knowing across his flat, hard abdomen made him growl. He felt more animal than human as she hungrily kissed him, her moist, warm breath caressing his face.
In one movement, Jake turned onto his back and brought Ana on top of him. He watched through half-closed eyes as her thick black hair tumbled in wild abandon about her proud shoulders. As she settled across his hips, he saw her smile—the smile of a jungle cat, a feline who knew and embraced her power as a woman. Guiding her, his hands against her wide, feminine hips, he felt her sensual heat caress him. He gritted his teeth as she opened her thighs even more, her hands pressed to his chest, her fingers digging convulsively into his tightening flesh. As she eased down upon him, surrounding him in liquid heat like a tight-fitting glove, Jake felt the violent, burning knot explode within him. She moaned again, a soft, coaxing sound as she moved rhythmically against him. Like the mighty Urubamba River, which roared lustily outside their room, she was at once wild and untamed. Ana was all heat and molten lava, scalding him, burning him and freeing him with her womanly touch.
Time disintegrated for Jake. As he closed his eyes and felt Ana embracing him, nurturing him and loving him, he absorbed her every rhythmic movement into his heart. Somewhere in his spinning senses, he felt Ana tense against him. Her voice was filled with joy as she called out his name. Her fingers dug deeply into his chest. Watching the flush of pink sweep across her cheeks, her lips part and her head tilt back as she arched deeply against him, Jake felt euphoria deluge him. Gripping her hips, he guided her, thrusting deeply, again and again, into her soft, welcoming confines to prolong her pleasure. And then, without warning, the last of his massive control disintegrated and he groaned.
Man with a Mission Page 18
