Midnight rainbow

In the aftermath, like that after a storm of unbelievable violence, they lay in exhausted silence, each reluctant to speak for fear it would shatter the fragile peace. His massive shoulders crushed her, making it difficult for her to breathe, but she would gladly have spent the rest of her life lying there. Her fingers slowly stroked the sweat-darkened gold of his hair, threading through the heavy, live silk. Their bodies were reluctant to leave each other, too. He hadn’t withdrawn from her; instead, after easing his weight down onto her, he’d nestled closer and now seemed to be lightly dozing.

Perhaps it had happened too quickly between them, but she couldn’t regret it. She was fiercely happy that she’d given herself to him. She’d never been in love before, never wanted to explore the physical mysteries of a man and a woman. She’d even convinced herself that she just wasn’t a physical person, and had decided to enjoy her solitary life. Now her entire concept of herself had been changed, and it was as if she’d discovered a treasure within herself. After the kidnapping she had withdrawn from people, except for the trusted precious few who she had loved before: her parents, Chris, a couple of other friends. And even though she had married Chris, she had remained essentially alone, emotionally withdrawn. Perhaps that was why their marriage had failed, because she hadn’t been willing to let him come close enough to be a real husband. Oh, they had been physically intimate, but she had been unresponsive, and eventually he had stopped bothering her. That was exactly what it had been for her: a bother. Chris had deserved better. He was her best friend, but only a friend, not a lover. He was much better off with the warm, responsive, adoring woman he’d married after their divorce.

She was too honest with herself to even pretend that any blame for their failed marriage belonged to Chris. It had been entirely her fault, and she knew it. She’d thought it was a lack in herself. Now she realized that she did have the warm, passionate instincts of a woman in love–because she was in love for the first time. She hadn’t been able to respond to Chris, simply because she hadn’t loved him as a woman should love the man she marries.

She was twenty-nine. She wasn’t going to pretend to a shyness she didn’t feel for the sake of appearance. She loved the man who lay in her arms, and she was going to enjoy to the fullest whatever time she had with him. She hoped to have a lifetime; but if fate weren’t that kind, she would not let timidity cheat her out of one minute of the time they did have. Her life had been almost snuffed out twenty years ago, before it had really begun. She knew that life and time were too precious to waste.

Perhaps it didn’t mean to Grant what it did to her, to be able to hold and love like this. She knew intuitively that his life had been much harder than hers, that he’d seen things that had changed him, that had stolen the laughter from his eyes. His experiences had hardened him, had left him extraordinarily cautious. But even if he were only taking the shallowest form of comfort from her, that of sexual release, she loved him enough to give him whatever he needed from her, without question. Jane loved as she did everything else, completely and courageously.

He stirred, lifting his weight onto his forearms and staring down at her. His golden eyes were shadowed, but there was something in them that made her heart beat faster, for he was looking at her the way a man looks at the woman who belongs to him. "I’ve got to be too heavy for you."

"Yes, but I don’t care." Jane tightened her arms about his neck and tried to pull him back down, but his strength was so much greater than hers that she couldn’t budge him.

He gave her a swift, hard kiss. "It’s stopped raining. We have to go."

"Why can’t we stay the night here? Aren’t we safe?"

He didn’t answer, just gently disengaged their bodies and sat up, reaching for his clothes, and that was answer enough. She sighed, but sat up to reach for her own clothes. The sigh became a wince as she became aware of the various aches she’d acquired by making love on the ground.

She could have sworn that he wasn’t looking at her, but his awareness of his surroundings was awesome. His head jerked around, and a slight frown pulled his dark brows together. "Did I hurt you?" he asked abruptly.

"No, I’m all right." He didn’t look convinced by her reassurance. When they descended the steep slope to the floor of the gorge, he kept himself positioned directly in front of her. He carried her down the last twenty feet, hoisting her over his shoulder despite her startled, then indignant, protests.

It was a waste of time for her to protest, though; he simply ignored her. When he put her down silently and started walking, she had no choice but to follow.

Twice that afternoon they heard a helicopter, and both times he pulled her into the thickest cover, waiting until the sound had completely faded away before emerging. The grim line of his mouth told her that he didn’t consider it just a coincidence. They were being hunted, and only the dense cover of the forest kept them from being caught. Jane’s nerves twisted at the thought of leaving that cover; She wasn’t afraid for just herself now, but for Grant, too. He put himself in jeopardy just by being with her. Turego wanted her alive, but Grant was of no use to him at all.

If it came to a choice between Grant’s life and giving Turego what he wanted, Jane knew that she would give in. She’d have to take her chances with Turego, though it would be impossible now to catch him off guard the way she had the first time. He knew now that she wasn’t a rich man’s flirtatious, charming plaything. She’d made a fool of him, and he wouldn’t forget.

Grant stepped over a large fallen tree and turned back to catch her around the waist and lift her over it with that effortless strength of his. Pausing, he pushed her tangled hair back from her face, his touch surprisingly gentle. She knew how lethal those hands could be. "You’re too quiet," he muttered. "It makes me think you’re up to something, and that makes me nervous."