His Wicked Kiss (2 page)

“Well, boys,” she said with a jaunty smile, trying with a touch of humor to lighten some of the tension they all were feeling about the sudden change in their situation. “When are we finally going to leave?”

Alas, her jest fell flat. The pair exchanged a guarded glance. Belatedly, Connor stood in the presence of a lady, knowing how she loved these small gestures of civility.

Connor O’Keefe was a tanned, blond, towering Australian, over six feet tall and twice as broad as the tribal warriors of the Delta. He was a strong man of few words and a specialist in zoology; his sensitivity to the forest animals was endearing to
Eden
, but more and more frequently of late, his unbroken stares made her uneasy.

“Everything all right?” he asked, resting his hands on his waist with a concerned frown. “Why did you fire?”

“A fer-de-lance got into the house. Sorry, Con, It was either your snaky friend or me.”

“Good God, are you all right?” her father exclaimed, whipping off his spectacles and starting forward in his chair.

“I’m fine, Father,” she assured him. “I wondered if Connor would take the vile thing away. Most of it’s still stuck in the rafters,” she said with a wince.

The Australian nodded firmly, then glanced at her father. “I’ll be right back, sir.”

“Yes, er, give us a moment, my boy. I should like to have a word with my daughter.”

“Of course.” Connor paused to give
Eden
’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You’re sure you’re all right?” he murmured.

She nodded and folded her arms across her middle, forcing a smile as she struggled to ignore the subtle possessiveness in his touch. Somehow, she could not bring herself to mention her uncomfortable feeling around him to Papa, who loved Connor like the son he’d never had.

Besides, it would not do to make a fuss when she knew perfectly well that they depended on Connor for their survival. He caught their food, he built their shelters, he warded off hostile Indians and the occasional stray jaguar alike.

But sometimes, when she looked into his eyes, as now, she got the feeling that, in Connor’s mind, he owned her.

Satisfied that she was safe, he nodded once and then prowled off into the darkness to do her bidding. Her gaze trailed after him warily.

“Sit down, dear,” her father ordered, gesturing toward his assistant’s empty field chair. She noted absently that his salt-and-pepper beard was in need of a trim. “We have much to discuss.”

“Indeed.” Taking the seat across from him, she launched cheerfully into her assumed role in coordinating their withdrawal from the jungle. She was her father’s nominal housekeeper, after all, in charge of the smooth running of their camp. “I figure with the servants’ help, it will take about a week to pack everything up properly. We’ll have to make special provisions to ensure that your botanical samples will stay fully preserved in the sea air, but if we can figure out some way to get across the straits to
Trinidad
, we shouldn’t have too long a wait before some British ship appears that can take us home—”

“
Eden
,” he interrupted gently, but with a tone of finality. “We’re staying.”

She stared at him for a long moment, then shut her eyes tightly and shuddered. “Oh, Father, no.”

“Now, Edie, I realize this may come as a bit of a shock, but we’re making such great strides—sweeting, you like it here! I know you do. Look at the adventures we’ve had! Rising up into the trees to explore the endless canopy! Finding birds and animals completely unknown to science!” He took her hand soothingly. “There, there, dear, don’t look at me that way,” he protested when she opened her eyes again with a crushed expression. “Think of the medicines we will bring back one day, the lives we’ll save! We can’t quit now. We simply can’t.”

She struggled to find her voice. “I thought we lost our funding. Lord Pembrooke—”

“Is a scoundrel!” he averred. “But no matter. That young cad will not impede our progress. True, we shall have to conserve on paper and other supplies, but we’ve learned perfectly well from the Indians how to live off the land. And, after all, we are British, by God! We must and shall press on.”

“Press… on.”

“Oh, yes, my dear! For, you see—” He leaned nearer, all middle-aged, boyish excitement. “I have a plan.”

Oh, no
. “A plan?”

He nodded eagerly. “We’re going deeper, Edie. Into the interior.”

Her eyes widened. “You don’t mean… ?”

“Yes,” he whispered, barely able to contain his glee. “Into the Amazon!”

Her jaw dropped.

He mistook her horror for awe. “Think of it, daughter! Our grandest adventure yet—an even more complex habitat than these
Orinoco
jungles! The Delta has been our mother and our tutor, preparing us, it is true. Ah, but the Amazon, that is our destiny!” He squeezed her hand, trying to pass on his excitement, but she yanked her fingers out of his light hold and shot to her feet.

“You’re
mad
!”

“Oh, Edie—”

“I knew it! It’s finally happened, just as I always feared! Too much time in the wilderness has finally addled your wits, Papa! Good God, I’m probably next!” She clapped her hand to her forehead, but he merely laughed. “I’m not jesting—and I am
not
going there! Well, somebody has to put their foot down! Be sensible! There are headhunters there, cannibals, not peaceful natives like the Waroa—and God knows what all else!”

“Nonsense, Connor will protect us. I need you by my side in this, Edie. You know I cannot do without you. As long as we’re together, you will be perfectly safe. By Jove, once we’ve conquered the Amazon, we’ll return to
England
, I’ll give lectures on our journeys. I’ll write another book! A new narrative to rival von Humboldt’s. We’ll never need to rely on another rich patron again.”

She threw up her hands, exasperated beyond words.

He knitted his gray eyebrows together. “What?”

She had promised Mama on her deathbed that she would take care of him, but how was she to do it when the man had no care for his life?

“Father,” she said sternly, folding her arms across her chest, “you are fifty-five years old. Your hero von Humboldt was in his prime when he made that trip, and it nearly killed
him
.” This point earned her nothing but a snort and low mutter of offended male vanity, so she tried another tack and sat down again, staring earnestly at him. “Have you forgotten that outside these jungles,
Venezuela
is at war?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” he grumbled, scowling at the reminder. “I’m not quite senile yet. What of it?”

“To reach the Amazon, we’d have to cross the plains. The
llanos
are the main battlefields between the forces of the Spanish Crown and the rebel colonists.”

“So? We still have time. There’s a lull in the hostilities now. The rebels up at Angostura have firm control of the interior, while the Spanish keep to their ships on the coast. What’s the problem?”

“The problem?” She nearly laughed, barely knowing where to start. “To begin with, each side thinks you’re a spy for the other! The Spanish suspect you’re in league with the revolutionaries, and the colonists think that you’re working for
Spain
.”

“If they really thought that, I would have been expelled from the country by now. Dash it, Edie, as I told those blasted bureaucrats from
Caracas
, science is neutral! I am here for the good of all mankind.”

“Ugh!” She buried her face in her hands for a second, which muffled her retort: “You’re here because you’re hiding from the world.”

“What did you say?” he asked sharply.

With a sigh, she checked her vexation and lowered her hands to her lap. “Nothing, Father.”

“I daresay. You had better mind your tongue, my girl,” he advised, settling back onto his rough wooden stool and giving his waistcoat a dignified tug. “I grant you a long leash, it’s true, but I am still your father.”

“Yes, sir,” she answered, head down. “But…”

“But what, child?”

She held him in a searching stare for a moment. “You promised me last year that we’d be going back to
England
.”

This was, it seemed, precisely what he did not want to hear.

He immediately scowled and looked away, busying himself with his botanical finds. “
England
,
England
, why are you always on about that wretched place? You really think the world out there is all so wonderful? How would you know? I’ve kept you sheltered from it here. If you remembered it better, you’d t
hank
me. It’s not all fine carriages and fancy balls, my girl. That world out there has a dark side, too.” He sent her a glance from over the rim of his spectacles. “Disease, crime, filth, poverty, corruption. There’s none of that here.”

“There’s no one to talk to!” she cried with a sudden threat of tears leaping into her eyes.

With a compassionate wince, Papa plopped down onto his stool again. “Nonsense, there’s me! I am exceedingly good company—and there’s Connor, too. Well, he doesn’t say much, I’ll give you that, but when he does, it is worth listening to. There, there, my pretty child,” he said, patting her hand with a worried look. “I assure you, we are far more intelligent conversation than you will ever find in the drawing rooms of
London
.”

“Just once, I’d like to know what normal people talk about,” she said barely audibly.

“Normal? ‘Tis but another word for mediocrity!” he scoffed. “Oh, Edie, for heaven’s sake, those
London
chits you so admire are the silliest, most trivial creatures on God’s earth, not a thought in their heads beyond ribbons and bonnets and shoes. Why the devil should you want to be like them, anyway?”

She stifled a groan.
Here comes the lecture
.

“Look at the advantages you enjoy here! You dress how you want, say what you want, do as you please. You have no idea how those Society girls are forever dogged by chaperones whose sole purpose in life is to regulate their every movement. You’d go mad if you had to endure it for a day. Look at the freedoms I’ve given you—the education, for heaven’s sake!”

Freedom
?
she wondered.
Then why do I feel like a prisoner
?

“I trained you up more like a son than a daughter,” he went on, traveling well-worn paths. She nearly had it by heart. “By Jove, do you think your fine
London
ladies can recite every known genus in the
Aracaceae
family? Make a bush tea to cure yellow fever? Set a broken bone? I think not,” he declared proudly. “You, my dearest Eden, are utterly unique!”

“I don’t want to be unique, Papa,” she said wearily. “I just want to be a part of the world again. I want to belong.”

“You do belong, darling. With me!”

She looked away, suddenly feeling trapped. He understood perfectly well; he just pretended not to. “Have I not been a dutiful daughter? Have I not stuck by your side through thick and thin, and looked after you, and aided in your work, and done everything you asked of me?”

“Yes,” he admitted uncomfortably.

“Papa, they say in
England
that a lady is a spinster by the age of twenty-five. I know you have no head for such things, but just last month, I turned twenty-three.” He started to scoff, but she lowered her head. “Please, don’t laugh at me for once. It’s not just the ballrooms and fancy carriages that interest me. I admit, I like those things—what girl would not?—but that’s only a small part of it, and I should hope that you know me better than that by now.”

“Well, what then, Edie, my dearest?” he asked kindly. “What is eating at you so?”

She looked into his eyes, feeling so hesitantly vulnerable. “Can’t you understand? I… I want to find someone, Papa.”

“Who?” he cried impatiently.

“I don’t know yet who! Someone—someone to love.”

He sat back and looked at her in pure astonishment. “So, that’s what all of this is about!”

She lowered her head again, her cheeks aflame. Having admitted her heart’s loneliness, she now rather wished the earth would open up and swallow her.

Papa slapped his thighs with both hands in sudden enthusiasm. “Well, I daresay the perfect solution has been right under our noses all along!”

When she looked at him hopefully, he jerked a not-so-subtle nod in the direction Connor had gone.

Eden
turned scarlet. “Oh, Papa, please don’t start with that again!” she whispered fiercely.

“Well, why not? If all this fuss boils down to your
hank
ering for a husband, you needn’t look far. If it’s time for you to take a man, have Connor.”

“Father!” she cried, scandalized.

“The man worships you, if you haven’t noticed.” A smile of mingled pride and amusement tugged at his lips, as if she were still a four-year-old learning the Greek alphabet. “He has my blessing and then we could all remain together just as we are, continuing on with our work. It is the most convenient situation. Well, why not, what’s wrong with him?”