by Dana Marton
Her body felt like a live wire. What he did to her seemed unreal, impossible. But she felt tension build deep inside her once again, and when he finally poured his hot seed into her, his body shuddering, a deep groan torn from his chest, she sank into yet another wave of pleasure.
He didn’t pull out, but instead lifted her and moved back, sat on the floor with her still on his lap, leaning his back against a giant potted palm, resting his forehead against hers.
Then after a while, when their breathing evened, he looked up and smiled.
“What?”
“You have orchid blossoms in your hair.”
“I’ve gone native.” She smiled back at him.
He nodded. “You certainly have.”
Then his expression grew more serious. “Audrey, this is not why I came back….” He fell silent as if looking for the right words.
“I’m glad just the same that we got around to it.” She grinned.
“You know, when I got you away from Omar’s camp, I thought I was rescuing you, but I think at the end, you ended up rescuing me.”
Her heart flipped over from the way he was looking at her. “We rescued each other.”
He brushed his lips against hers, then pulled back. “You take away my reason. I tried to fight it. I’m not a hundred percent convinced this is the right thing for you. But I love you like mad, there’s no help for it. It’s like malaria. Once it gets into the blood, there’s no getting it out.” He glanced away, then back at her again. “I need to ask you a question.”
She nodded.
“Who is Josh to you?” His face was as serious as she’d ever seen it.
“My ex-husband,” she responded, unsure what that had to do with anything.
He put his hand over her heart. “Who is he here?”
It took less than a second to come up with a response. “Nobody.”
He hugged her so fiercely, she could scarcely breathe.
“You’ve been worrying about that?” He had to be kidding.
“I’m a man with no family, no job, no home—very little to recommend me, really. But I’m a hard worker and I’m scared of little. I would work like hell to make a good life for us if you agreed to share yours with me. I know there are a hundred men out there who’d be better for you, could offer you more, but nobody on this earth could love you more than I. Can you give me a chance?”
She blinked the tears back from her eyes. “Yes,” she said, and threw her arms around him. “If you can give us a chance. I have a daughter. We come as a package deal.”
His reply came slowly. “It’s almost too good to believe. I would love nothing more. I never pictured—but I might never again be the man I once was.” He pulled back and searched her eyes. “My father, after the war he was different. He could never find his way back. I don’t know if I can.”
She smoothed the furrow from his forehead. “I fell in love with the man you are now.”
His beautiful blue eyes sparkled with emotion. “Can you say that again?”
“I love you, Brian Welkins.”
He held her tight, and she felt him harden inside her.
She grinned. Was he for real? “Making up for time lost, are we?”
“I’m all uncivilized. See what you’ll have to put up with?”
“I like uncivilized,” she said and rotated her hips. “I think I developed a taste for the wild and untamed.”
He grinned, sudden relief flooding his face, followed by a look of mischief, and pushed in deeper. “Prepare for jungle heat.”
Epilogue
He couldn’t wait to get there and hold that little baby in his hands. Brian picked up the suitcases. Wow. What had she packed, iron ore? Then he heard a faint clinking—jars of baby food.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
He smiled at Audrey and Mei. “More than sure.”
“You’re not going to feel outnumbered? Some men would say three women in one house are too many.”
“They don’t know my girls.” He winked at her. “You can never have too much love. I can’t wait to see our new baby.”
“I’m crazy about you,” Audrey said.
As always, the simple declaration took his breath away. To have her, Mei and another baby soon was such an unexpected and humbling blessing.
“You have the adoption papers?”
“Right here.” He patted his left inner pocket.
“It will be perfect, you know, them being so close in age.” Audrey grabbed the diaper bag.
“They’ll be like you and Nicky.” He grinned. “We’ll have to give them some little brothers to keep them on their toes.” He was looking forward to having a large family.
“We have to stop by Nicky’s. I forgot to drop off the key so she can come and water the orchids.” She grabbed the dropping pacifier with the reflexes of a seasoned soldier, and pushed it back between Mei’s rosy lips before the baby even missed it. “Business is taken care of?”
God, he loved them. He nodded. “Some old buddies of mine are going to take over while we’re gone.”
The business he’d built in the past year was thriving, offering survival-type team-building retreats to major corporations. He enjoyed his small company, founded with the $500,000 reward from the Malaysian government that had been the bounty on Omar’s head. They had Hamid in custody, too. And since Brian had been instrumental in the guerilla leader’s capture, he was going to get yet another reward. But even without it, his business brought in more than enough.
The work made him feel useful, providing him with enough that was familiar so that he felt comfortable stretching and trying new angles. He’d been a soldier once, then a prisoner, reduced to the level of a wild animal. But neither of those things defined him now.
Mei spit the pacifier half-across the room and reached her chubby little hands toward him. “Da-da,” she said.
And he smiled, because that’s exactly what he was. Father to the sweetest little girl, husband to the most exceptional woman. The past didn’t matter. He was what he made of himself with his new family.
“Let’s go then.” Audrey took a last glance at the house. “We better not miss the plane.”
“It’s kind of fitting that we’ll celebrate our first wedding anniversary in KL.”
“Very.” She gave him a quick kiss, then winked. “Hope we’ll get a chance to sneak into the jungle.”
“Count on it, wife.” He recaptured her lips and deepened the kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2860-3
CAMOUFLAGE HEART
Copyright © 2005 by Marta Dana
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