He leaned forward to press his lips against her breast, his tongue teasing her nipple. "I did notice, yes. I've got

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clothes in a waterproof bag so we can get out of the river and be dry."

"Isn't it daylight? Someone might see us."

"Most people along the river aren't going to care whether we have clothes on or not." He drew her breast into the warmth of his mouth, his hands moving over her body with possession, with desire. He pressed a kiss against her throat, her chin, the corner of her mouth. "Let's get you home. I have a bathtub." He turned off the lamp, plunging the cave into darkness.

"No, you don't. I looked for a bathtub." She found his hand. "You're trying to bribe me and it isn't going to work."

"You didn't look in the right places. I have a tub I fill with hot water when I want to soak an injury. Most of the time I use the cold shower, but I've got a tub."

The water swirled around her ankles, rose to her calf. "My brother did things, bad things, Rio." There in the blackness, underground where no one could overhear them, she confessed. "I can't go to the police because they'd arrest him. I'd never do that to him. I love nun. So I had no choice but to leave."

He recognized the enormity of her confidence in him. He slipped his arm around her waist "What kinds of bad things, Rachael?"

She shook her head, the silken curls brushing against his bare skin. "Don't ask me anything more about him. If it wasn't for him, I would have been dead a long time ago. I owe him so much. You have no idea what we went through. I'm not going to betray him. I can't." She took a breath. "I'm not lying about the elders, Rio. I don't have any elders that I know of, alive or dead, to issue a death sentence for an imaginary indiscretion. I would tell you if there were."

"I believe you, sestrilla." He touched her to let her know they had to go under the water and swim through the narrow tube. He went first, trying to figure out what she could have done to make her brother want her dead. Especially when she obviously loved him. He heard it in her 210.

voice. The smoldering anger of his kind, always so dangerous and unpredictable, swirled in his belly as he swam. It didn't make sense that the man didn't love her back. Who wouldn't love Rachael?

They broke the surface together, just under the falls, hoping the water would screen them from sight should anyone be close by. Rio went back under to secure the heavy mesh over the tube. Rachael waited, staring at the opposite bank through the pouring water of the falls, subconsciously counting to herself until Rio emerged beside her. She put her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his. "I should never have told you."

"You can tell me anything. I told you about my mother."

She kissed his throat, trailed little kisses up his jaw. "And I still think your elders stink. They didn't recognize how courageous you were in going to them and admitting what you'd done."

"It wasn't courage. It was what she taught me. I chose to do something and I had to take the consequences. It was her rule and one I respected." The joy burst thrpugh him like a rainbow of colors. Rachael had a way of making him feel worthwhile. Feel like someone special and amazing. He tied the rope around her waist and waded out into the fast-moving current. "We have to swim to sh.o.r.e. The current will take us a bit downstream but we have to angle for the other side of the river."

She nodded to show him she understood. This time when she put her foot down in the water, she could rest her weight briefly on it. It was a good sign that she was finally healing. She had taken a close look at it in the cave and there would definitely be scarring, but at least she had the leg.

They were swept downriver even as they swam strongly toward sh.o.r.e. Rio reeled her in close to him and fought his way to the sh.o.r.e, dragging her along. He managed to catch a low-hanging branch and easily pulled himself up onto it, lifting her out of the water with his incredible strength.

Rachael clung to the tree branch, her feet still dangling

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in the water. The bark was rough on her bare skin and for some reason she was suddenly self-conscious of her nakedness. She looked around and saw only monkeys staring at her.

"If I get a leech on me, even one, I'm going to be upset," she promised. "And make those monkeys stop staring. They're making me feel naked,"

"You are naked." He laughed as he pulled her completely from the water, holding her close to his body, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s mashed against his chest. "And you're ruining the romantic ambience."

Her eyebrow nearly reached her hairline. "Romantic ambience? What are you going on about?"

"I hardly think leeches should enter into a romantic walk through the forest, especially when your body is incredible s.e.xy and bare at the moment." He cradled her in his arms and leapt to the ground, landing softly.

She circled bis neck with her arms and looked up into the trees. It seemed as if a thousand eyes were staring at them. "Rio. The monkeys really are,staring."

On the riverbank they were much more exposed. She had spent the last two weeks in a small house in the forest, beneath*a heavy canopy. Her only relief had been an underground cavern. The rain began, a soft steady drizzle that washed the river water from thek skin as he carried her through the bogs and swamp to the edge of the forest. The wind touched their faces, flitted playfully through the leaves in the trees. All the while the gibbons, macaques, an orangutan and various species of birds watched them.

"I'm not making it up. They're staring."

"They should be staring. I'm about to show them how good certain things in life are." There, was wicked amus.e.m.e.nt in his voice. And something else-a note that rasped over her skin and sent heat spiraling through her body.

"I don't think so, you pervert. We are not putting on a show for those voyeurs."

Just his voice could melt her body. The look in his eyes was her undoing. His eyes 212.

burned with desire, hunger, even as she could see the teasing challenge in his expression.

"Next you're going to be telling me some strange story about how you go into heat and need a female."

He shifted her, sliding her legs around his waist so that her wet channel was positioned over the head of his p.e.n.i.s. "Not any female, Rachael, you."

She tightened her hold around his neck, lifted her body so he could suckle her breast. Just that easy she was hot and wet and needful. He did things with his tongue, stroking and dancing and teasing until she couldn't stand it and she began to slowly settle over his thick erection.

"Oh, yeah, that's what I want," he said, his breath hissing out of his lungs.

"Arch back and ride me, nice and slow, take your time."

She leaned back, turning her face to the sky, to the warm rain and slowly slid her body up and down his. The rain fell on her face, droplets trickled between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, down her stomach to sizzle in the heat of their joining. She smiled up at their audience, wishing them all the pleasure in the world. Wishing them the joy and freedom of a sensual relationship.

"You're so beautiful," he gasped the words, shocked at how the light fell across her face, revealing the intensity of her pleasure. It heightened her natural beauty. She was so uninhibited with him. So uncaring that he could see how much she wanted him, how much she enjoyed his body.

She laughed softly. "I'm only beautiful because you make me feel that way."

Lightning sizzled in her veins. Fire raced over her skin. She controlled the pace, deliberately moving slow, taking him deep, gripping tight with her muscles.

Rachael had no idea how Rio managed to make the world a place of sunlight and paradise when she'd lived in the shadows for so long. The rain fell softly, enhancing brilliant color in every direction, scattering rainbow prisms across the sky. Or maybe it was behind her eyes. It didn't

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matter. There was only Rio in her world and he was all that mattered.

She felt his body gathering power and strength, she felt her own tightening in antic.i.p.ation. Then they were spinning out of control on a dizzying ride, clinging to one another for safety. The leaves overhead whirled in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. Patterns of light and dark flecked the ground. It was necessary to share breathing as they kissed, hands moving over sensitized skin in a kind of worship.

Rachael laid her head on his shoulder, holding him close to her. Their hearts beat out a wild, frantic tattoo even as the rain continued to fall softly. "I love it here, Rio," she murmured, her lips against his throat. "I love everything about this place."

"You came home," he answered, slowly lowering her feet to the forest floor.

The pack was stashed high up in the tree in case of flooding. Rio went up the trunk quickly and tossed her clothes, shoes and a towel. Rachael found herself laughing. "This is a crazy way to live. Have you ever had the monkeys steal your pack?"

"Not yet. They are very respectful of my things." He glanced upward at the animals as the gibbons moved through the trees foraging for food before he dropped down beside her, Rachael dressed quickly in the shelter of a large tree. "It's so much quieter."

"The birds are busy looking for food. Fruit, nectar, insects, they don't have much time to call back and forth, although you'll hear them occasionally. During midday, there's often a bit of a lull in the chatter." He b.u.t.toned his jeans and reached over to straighten the tails of her shirt. "You always look so cute in my clothes."

Her eyebrow shot up. "I've never been called cute. Elegant, but not cute."

"That's right. You're a rich lady. You wear designer clothes."

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"How did you know they were designer clothes, jungle boy?"

He grinned at her. "I get around. You'd be surprised where this jungle boy has been." He leered deliberately.

Rachael laughed, then sobered, her gaze drifting over bis face. "Nothing about you would surprise me, Rio."

Just like that she managed to put a lump in his throat. "Come here and let me carry you." He held out his hand.

"I'd like to try to walk, even for a short distance. It feels so good to be managing a bit on my own." Her fingers found his and clung.

Rio brought her hand to the warmth of his mouth, pressed a kiss into her palm.

"Just a short distance. You haven't been able to bear any weight on the leg and I don't want you to overdue it. Tama's potion will only help so much."

"I know." Her ankle and calf were throbbing, but she was never going to admit that to him, not if she wanted to walk on her own. He had a stubborn jaw, and his eyes could go from shimmering fire to ice cold in a heartbeat. Rio was a man who could get bossy very quickly given the right circ.u.mstances. She smiled to herself and took the first step, tugging at his hand. "I can't wait for a hot bath, come on."

He frowned but he went with her, keeping a watchful eye on how she walked. "Out here, Rachael, you always have to be alert to your surroundings. The birds are going to sound a warning and you have to notice, you have to hear the different notes. They'll call to you, and depending on what frightens them, you can pick up what's intruding into our neighborhood."

"I've caught it a couple of times." She tried not to limp. Walking on her own seemed a miracle to her. She looked around at the trees laden with fruit.

Everywhere she looked color exploded. The ma.s.sive tree trunks came in all colors and were covered by life-forms. Lichen, fungi, fern and