Cherry Adair - T-flac 03 (11 page)

The son of a bitch intended to force her hand into that surging water.

She didn't move, didn't breathe, wasn't capable of a coherent thought for long, long seconds. Blood pounded in her ears.

The man was crazy.
Crazy
.

The oscillation of the water settled, no longer even faintly pink as, lunch over, the silver bodies looped gracefully in search of dessert. A hard shudder raced down Delanie's spine as Montero forced her down, closer to the water, dragging at her wrist in a death grip.

Gritting her teeth, she got a firm toehold on the moss-slimed rocks, resisting the downward pull by locking her knees. She'd throw Montero in before she put a pinkie into that liquid diet.

She presumed the guards, the rest of Montero's merry men, and Kyle were still there. It never occurred to her to yell for help; she was too busy resisting and worrying how far the lunatic would go.

Off-balance in his grip, she teetered on the edge of the rocks. One boot-shod foot slipped. Her heart slammed up into her throat as she managed to steady herself, and the muscles in her neck pulled taut with the strain of resisting. Montero smiled at her struggle to find purchase.

Sadistic bastard.

She turned her head. Just enough to see what he was going to do next. For a split second she read determination in those glossy black eyes. She spread her feet, centered her weight and kept eye contact, every muscle quivering in anticipation.

"If I go in, I'll take you with me." It was a grim whisper, as she tightly gripped the front of his shirt with her free hand. He was observing something, or someone, over her head, and she braced herself.

Something flickered darkly in his eyes and then with a laugh he abruptly released her, patting her cheek as if she were a fractious child. "A joke, my dove. Just a small joke."

He yanked her hand from the front of his shirt, then turned back to his associates, smile in place, leaving her stunned and shaken on the edge of the water.

Son of a… Spinning on her boot heel she got as far away from Montero and the pond as she could.

When she was a safe distance away, she looked up. And caught Kyle's eye. He was still leaning casually against the tree trunk, but she just knew he was the one responsible for Ramon letting her go. For a moment they stayed that way, looking at one another.

"Not one's normal pets, but entertaining nevertheless." Unruffled, Ramon gestured for a soldier to offer
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the plastic bag to his associates. "Help yourselves, gentlemen." His open smile stayed in place even as he tugged at his eyebrow.

Delanie searched for a wet wipe in the black hole of her purse. The second she found the pack she pulled one free and attempted to rub the greasy mess off her hand. Her skin felt clammy, and she couldn't help the shudder that wracked her body. If he did this to her, with absolutely no provocation, what had he done to Lauren?

Oh God—

"Need to sit down?" a quiet voice asked beside her. Kyle. Faster than a speeding bullet. He took hold of her upper arm in a large steady hand.

She swallowed hard. "It was only ground meat. The same kind I use to make meat loaf."
Which I'll
never eat again as long as I live. So help me God
.

"Didn't bother you, huh?"

She shrugged, keeping her bloody, yucky hand away from her clothes.

He kept a straight face, but his eyes had those damn crinkles beside them as he scanned her features for God only knows what. "Scared of snakes?"

Yes
. "No."

"How about spiders?"

Them, too
. She glared at him. "No."

"How about rats? Toads? Deadly poisonous wild Bora-Bora butterflies?"

"There's no such thing," she said, feeling a foolish smile tug at her mouth.

"That's better," he said softly, "You were starting to go an interesting shade of ash-gray." He gave a quick glance over at the other men tossing hamburger patties into the water, then released her arm to join them.

She had a funny feeling he'd been holding her up.

The moment they returned to the house the men convened a meeting. As much as she'd have liked to hide out in the bedroom, Delanie wasted no time changing into the most circumspect swimsuit she'd brought with her. The lime-green maillot covered her decently and she went out to the pool.

Heading straight for the denser shade of the vine-covered pergola, where a large table had been set for lunch, she dropped her canvas bag beside a chair.

The way Montero smiled while doing something heinous was unnerving. She had a feeling that if it hadn't been for Kyle's presence at the pond, Montero would have forced her hand into the water as some perverse form of entertainment to amuse his associates.

She leaned back against the padded cushions and propped her bare feet on another chair, staring across
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the Olympic-size swimming pool. Lined by natural rock, it disconcertingly mirrored the pond in the jungle. Only much, much bigger. Her skin crawled as though ants swarmed over her. Montero's casual cruelty made her blood run cold and froze her to the marrow. Just like last night when he'd gripped her face and held the nail file under her eye, this morning he'd delivered his sick "discipline" with an angelic smile.

God. She'd actually believed she could steal Lauren from under his nose and emerge unscathed. She shuddered in the heat, feeling nauseated.

Was Lauren alive?

If Montero hadn't thought twice about terrorizing her, God only knows what he could've done to—

Don't go there.
Don't
.

Lauren was alive. Her heart told her so. And damn them all, she was going to find her sister and get her home.

Wherever she was.

Somehow.

Desperate for a distraction, she watched as servants brought out a cold lunch and several frosted pitchers.

With hands that still shook, she set the small radio she'd found in Kyle's room down on the table. After pouring herself a glass of fruit juice, she stuck the little earpiece in her ear and turned on the radio, fiddling with the tiny dial. Finding nothing more than annoying static, Delanie flicked the off button, yanked out the earpiece, and stuffed everything into the cavernous bag beside her.

She shivered despite the hundred-degree heat and bit into the sweet, juicy pulp of a pale-pink melon, willing her mind to go blank.

A giant blue-and-gold macaw glided down to land on the table a few feet away. It picked up an orange slice and proceeded to nibble at the juicy center. That pretty much summed up how she felt about Kyle.

He was nibbling at her center, knowing just where the soft tender parts of her were hidden.

On the other side of the house she could hear the faint, but unmistakable sounds of soldiers drilling, as they did twice every day, and from an open window, the sibilant tones of men's voices.

Blocking out the sheet of bright white light the pool had become, and the sight of the parrot, now beak-deep in a plum, she closed her eyes behind her sunglasses.

"
Qué pasa
, Delanie?"

Delanie glanced up, and almost groaned out loud.

«^»

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Isabella Montero wasn't exactly the distraction she'd been looking for when she'd come out to the pool.

Delanie sighed; she'd been too wired to nap anyway. The macaw gave an annoyed squawk before flying off. She wished she could do the same.

"Fine thanks," she answered belatedly, feeling awkward with Ramon's mother for reasons she couldn't fathom. Dressed elegantly in a saffron linen sheath, hose and high heels, gold jewelry and hair immaculate, the older woman made
her feel
like a bimbo.

Delanie started to remove her legs from the chair she was using as a footrest. Isabella stopped her with a wave of her hand.

Ramon's mother wore a heavy, spicy fragrance and a hard gleam in her onyx eyes as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

"You look very—refreshed after your little walk." The pause was filled as Isabella's gaze scanned her from the crooked ponytail on top of her head to her red toenails.

Delanie withdrew her legs from the chair and set her feet firmly side by side on the brick beneath her own chair. "It was… interesting, all right. You should have joined us."
Since I have a sneaky suspicion it
was your stupid idea in the first place
.

"I was expecting an important package." Isabella shifted, folding her long-fingered hands gracefully on her lap. Sunlight glinted off the chunk of gold around her neck. "Ramon tells me he gave you to his good friend, Dr. Wright. He is well pleased with both of you, yes?"

Delanie shrugged.

"The good doctor, he is excellent in bed?" Isabella asked with a lascivious smile.

Delanie almost choked on the notion of Isabella in bed with Kyle. "Yeah, actually, he is a good lover."

Was
a good lover.

"Inventive?" Isabella leaned back against the cushions of her chair and gave her a considering once-over.

"Passionate? Creative?"

"That's an extremely personal question." Holy Hannah in heaven, what was this about?

Isabella pouted. "You Americans have an aversion to discussing something natural and enjoyable. We are both women. It should not be awkward to discuss such a subject with one another."

Gross. "We're strangers," Delanie pointed out. "Where I come from, people only discuss their sex lives with very close friends. And I tend to, well, you know? Have more
men
friends than girlfriends."

"Then we must become
very
close friends." Isabella's red lips parted in a smile. "We are the only two women here. What could be more natural than growing closer and sharing confidences?"

Oh, ugh
! Delanie thought with misgiving. Suddenly it dawned on her what the other woman had just revealed.

"There aren't any other women in the compound?" she asked casually, picking up her glass and taking a
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sip of tart juice while her tummy churned. God. If Ramon had "given" her to Kyle, who had he given Lauren to? And when? And where
was
she, damn it!

"Only men attend my son when he returns to his mountain, my dear. Their women remain home."

Isabella reached out to pat Delanie's knee. Unlike her eyes, her hands were ice cold.

"I am just his
madre
. So you see," she shrugged and spread her hands, rings flashing, "I am in desperate need of a friend in this all-male bastion." Isabella gave a tinkling laugh as she rose, coming to stand beside Delanie. "You and I will become
very
good friends I think,
mi bonita
."

Taking Delanie's chin firmly in her cupped hand, Isabella tilted her face up. She stood disturbingly close, her fragrance making Delanie's eyes itch. Black eyes moved over Delanie in an assessing way that brought hot color to her cheeks.

With a gentle squeeze, which reminded Delanie disconcertingly of Ramon doing exactly the same thing to her last night, she let go to pat Delanie's cheek with just the tips of her fingers.

Delanie shivered, despite the heat that rose in a shimmering mirage off the brick patio. She watched Isabella saunter back into the house. Like everyone else on Montero's mountain,
Mom
gave Delanie the heebie-jeebies.

Filled with a restless energy as though she was going to jump out of her skin at any moment, she shifted her sweaty back against the dark blue canvas cushion.

She couldn't even
start
to look for Lauren again until dusk, when she went out for her evening run. There were only a few more buildings unchecked within the compound.

Delanie touched the activated necklace. She had to get the damn thing off somehow. Possibly she could pretend she was willing to go with Kyle tomorrow. The necklace would have to be removed… Then what? Make a break for it? With umpteen soldiers after her? Into the jungle?

She'd always been resourceful. Despite the lack of choices, she'd find a way. She had to. In the meantime her insides roiled against the inactivity and frustration.

She didn't want to analyze the bone-deep fear seeping ever deeper into her marrow.
That
would incapacitate her. When she and Lauren got home she'd indulge in a nice nervous breakdown; now she needed to hold herself together and believe she and Lauren would get out of here safely.

Both
of them.

But it was hours before dusk, and hotter than the hobs of hell.

At the far end of the swimming pool, fluorescent pink orchids and trailing vines with tiny bright green leaves grew profusely in the crevices of a "natural" rock wall. A twenty-foot waterfall showered a crystalline rainbow into the water below. A pillar-supported lattice roof, covered with the same plant, shaded the deep end of the pool.

Cold. Wet. Exercise
. Easy decision.

Jumping up, she raced across the scalding hot bricks, pausing just long enough to toss her sunglasses on the rocky ledge by the waterfall. She dove into the clear, lukewarm water.

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She swam five hard laps before doing a lazy crawl to the shaded end. There she let her feet drift so she could rest and catch her breath. A glance at the table she'd vacated showed the men had come outside and were seated for lunch. Isabella had joined them. Kyle was nowhere in sight.

Delanie figured she could happily stay here in the water until they were done and gone. She closed her eyes and floated lazily on her back until a splash alerted her to another presence. Flicking water out of her eyes, she kicked off, only to find she was caught between the falls and Kyle as he broke the surface of the water in front of her.

"Doesn't chlorine turn blond hair green?" he teased, eyeing the scraggly lopsided ponytail on top of her head.