“I can’t ever go back, Rio,” Rachael said firmly. “I don’t want to go back. There’s nothing but death ther e for me. I was never happy in that world. I’d like to try here, where I feel alive, where I feel close to my mother again. It was her stories that made me come to this place. When she spoke of the rain forest, she made me feel as if I were in it, sensing its sounds and smells and beauty. I felt as if I’d walked in it, long before I ever came here.”

“This isn’t a lark for some rich woman’s fantasy,” he said, abruptly standing. With the same casual immodesty he pulled on a pair of jeans. “There aren’t stores here, Rachael. There are cobras and wild animals that will hunt and eat you.”

“Someone managed to put a cobra in my locked room before we traveled on the river,” she said. It was hard not to stare at him, not to see the play of his muscles beneath his skin. She could see the scars cover ing his body. Many of them were obviously from large cats. But there were scars from knives and bullets and other weapons she couldn’t hope to identify.

His head snapped around, his hands stilled on the buttons of his jeans. “Are you certain the thing didn’t get into your room on its own, Rachael?”

She shook her head. “No, the room was locked up tight. I made sure of it. I really prepared for this trip, Rio. I knew about the snakes and other unpleasant and poisonous crawly things. I took precautions.”

Rio reached for her. “Let me help you to the bathroom.”

“I think I can make it on my own,” Rachael said.

He paid no attention to her protest, simply reached down and scooped her into his arms, striding into the tiny closet-sized room used for privacy. It was a primitive method, but at least Rachael had privacy.

He left her alone while he went about heating water for coffee.

Rachael leaned against the wall, holding on to keep from falling on her face. She was surprised how weak she was. The infection left her shaky. She wasn’t certain she could hop her way across the floor back to the bed, let alone make it outside to the verandah as she had planned. She needed a respite from Rio’s untamed masculine allure. She had no way to combat his magnetic sorcery when she was so close to him. She couldn’t stop staring at him, the fluid way he walked, the way his roped muscles rippled so obviously, the temptation of his mouth, the brilliance of his vivid gaze, so often hot with hunger and need when it rested on her.

She sighed as she drew aside the curtain and found him waiting. She should have known he would be right there when she needed him. No matter what he was doing he always heard everything, saw ever ything, was aware of everything.

When he leaned down to lift her into his arms, his face brushed against her mop of unruly curls. She felt the warmth of his breath, the heat of his skin, the faintest touch of his lips skimming her temple.

Rachael closed her eyes against the rush of desire. “You can’t do that, Rio. I’m not that strong.”

“I can’t help myself, Rachael.” He cradled her against his bare chest, rubbing his chin on the top of her head. “When I’m this close to you, my body and my heart tell me you’re mine. I think my brain just shuts down.”

She cir cled his neck with her arms, thinking her brain might be shutting down too. “I guess that’s a good enough excuse. I’m willing to use it if you are.” She lifted her mouth to his, the aggressor this time, biting down on his lower lip, tugging until he opened his mouth to her. Her tongue tangled with his, danced and teased, stroked and caressed. A perfect match.

The world dropped away until there was only the silken heat of his mouth, the strength of his arms, the feel of his bare chest pressed against her. She buried her hands in his hair, held the back of his head tightly to prevent him from pulling away. They fed off each other, kiss after kiss, so hungry for one another they couldn’t stop.

Franz yowled. Just once, but it was enough. Rio stiffened, lifted his head, listening to the sounds of the forest. He swore softly and pressed his forehead against hers, breathing deeply to regain control.

Rachael’s fingers twisted deeper into his hair. “What is it? What do you hear?” She didn’t care about her breathing. She didn’t want to stop kissing him, not now, not ever. Her body was already in meltdown and she wanted relief.

“Listen. Do you hear them talking? The birds? The monkeys? Even the insects are warning us.”

Rachael tried to still her pounding heart, tried to control her wild breathing to listen. It took a few minutes to separate the sounds. Strangely, she could hear individual notes, could tell there was a whisper of information. “What does it mean?”

“Someone is headed our way.”

“The leopard?” Her mouth went dry. Rio was serious. She listened again, much more closely this time.

To her astonishment, she could hear the difference in the notes the birds sang, in the way the insects carr ied on—more hurried in their melodies. And the monkeys shrieked to one another. It took her a moment or two to realize the monkeys were also shrieking to Rio. “They’re deliberately warning you.”

He set her in the overstuffed chair away from the door. “I do them favors, they do me favors. It’s not a leopard, someone human. Someone they’re familiar with, they’ve seen before.” His hands lingered on her shoulders, the nape of her neck, massaging the tension out of her rather absently.

Rachael pulled the edges of the shirt she was wearing together, noticing for the first time that the buttons were completely undone. She was becoming as bad as Rio at being immodest. She allowed her head to fall back against the chair, arching her back like a lazy cat, shifting a little to ease the steady pressure building in the core of her body. Exposed in the early morning air, her skin itched. She looked down and thought, for just one second, something ran beneath the surface, raising her skin slightly, just enough to be noticeable. Then it was gone, leaving her wondering if she were so in need of a man that she was having hallucinations.