River of Desire: A Romantic Action Adventure/Thriller (22 page)

In turn, he pressed her fingers with his. “Of course,
mein kinder
. Call if need me.”

Kruger left her alone to wipe Dylan down, but the moment after she sponged up the sweat, moisture beaded his skin again. It seemed like a futile battle against his fever and the humidity, but touching him reassured her, made her feel useful.

She took a seat by Dylan’s side, reading by a solitary light from an English language book Kruger had loaned her. When she interrupted her reading to tend to Dylan, she found she couldn’t remember any of what she just read, not even the title. Since it seemed useless to focus on anything other than him, she rested her head against the chair back and kept an eye on him. Against her will, her heavy lids began to droop.

The sound of Dylan’s moans startled her awake. He thrust his head violently from side to side, eyes wide and fixed on the far wall, sweat drenching him. She sprung to her feet, blood rushing to her head, making her momentarily dizzy. She had knocked over a glass on the side table, but she scrambled over it to Dylan’s side.

Dylan had both hands at his throat and gasped for air. Terrified he might be asphyxiating, she made an attempt to give him artificial respiration, but he pushed her away. She ran to the door and threw it open, yelling, “Doctor! Help! Come quickly!”

Kruger stumbled from his bedroom and down the hall, wrapping a robe around himself. “
Wass ist los
?”

“
Dylan’s in trouble. Please hurry”

Kruger went directly to the cot and took Dylan’s pulse and temperature. When he turned back toward her, he wore a reassuring smile.

“Ah, fever breaking. A good sign. Here,” he took her hand and moved it to Dylan’s head. “Feel.”

Dylan’s forehead was clammy and damp, cooler than it had been all day. Surprised, she removed her hand then checked his head a second time. Reassured Kruger was right, she grabbed Kruger’s arm and twirled him around, but stopped when he started to cough. Instead, she hugged him. “I can’t thank you enough.”

Kruger cleared his throat and looked away, but his eyes were bright. “I should to give another antibiotic shot.” He limped toward the door, but faltered before reaching it.

Even while she rejoiced, Kruger worried her. He seemed to be deteriorating before her eyes. “Are you all right?” Leah called after him, worried she had done him harm.

“As vell as you could be expected,” he said, using the door jam as leverage to make his way out of the room.

Concern about Kruger aside, Leah could hardly repress the excitement that surged through her with the renewed hope. Her prayers had been answered.

Dylan mumbled. She bent over and pressed an ear close to his mouth. “What?” she inquired, listening intently.

All she could make out was a muffled, “Leah, Leah,” said over and over again. And that’s all she needed to hear.

Chapter Seventeen

At Leah’s urging, Dylan gathered all his strength to shift his weight, drape his legs over the side of the bed and inclined himself upright. He couldn’t believe how drained such a minor move made him. Damn, he must have just about cashed it in to be in this bad shape.

Leah’s arms guided him and her nearness, the warm scent of nutmeg and cinnamon, the silken brush of skin, gave him the motivation to push himself beyond his endurance. He levered himself to a half-stand.

“
Whoa. Let me help you.” She wrapped her arms around him, lifted him forward, her breast conforming to the arch of his underarm.

“
Physical therapy isn’t so bad after all,” he murmured into her hair, attempting an embrace.

“
Be serious,” she said, laughing. “It’s important to stand and strengthen your legs. Time for monkey business later.”

“
Promise?”

“
With all my heart.” She brushed his chin with her lips. “Now back to work. Wrap your arms around my shoulders. We’re going for a walk.”

“
That sounds like one hell of an order.” He did as she said, his legs unstable beneath him.

She patiently inched forward. “One step at a time.”

“Is this an AA meeting or physical therapy?” He placed one foot in front of the other, wobbly as a toddler. “Laid up a short time and I have to learn to walk all over again.”

She pressed him further with a hand in the small of his back. “It’s like riding a bike. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”

He stumbled over his own feet and almost fell on his face, embarrassed to be so clumsy in front of Leah. “Easy for you to say.”

She propelled him toward the bed, but when she released him onto the mattress, he grasped her arm and toppled her on top of him.

“What...?”

He clasped her to him. “You promised.”

She lifted her head. “Wait a minute. You’re too frail to walk, yet you have the strength to make love?”

He grinned at her. “Well, maybe too weak to make love, but never to love you-”

He silenced her with a kiss. Her lips tasted sweet as nectar, nourishing the ravenous hunger in him. Breathless, he had to end the kiss too soon.

Kissing her had sapped all his strength. He gently rolled her onto her back and snuggled into her side. He could barely raise his arm to wrap it around her. When she turned onto her side, he settled for draping his arm over her. “What about this boyfriend of yours? What would he think of us?”

She wrinkled her nose. “What boyfriend?”

“
The guy you called to when you were delirious on the raft. Someone named Robert.” Although she lay in profile to him, he couldn’t help noticing a crease between her brows.

“
Robert? Did I really call for
Robert
?” She lay silent for a moment. “Robert’s a good friend who was always there to bail me out when we were kids. Guess it’s normal I would call for him when delirious.”

“
Is that all there was between you?”

She turned her head away from him. “There was something more…”

Here it comes
. He set his jaw.

“
Robert proposed to me before I left Los Angeles, but I couldn’t make up my mind. I didn’t completely understand my reluctance, until now.”

“
What’s different now?”

She blushed. “I found someone I wouldn’t be reluctant about.”

Relief and happiness vied for his attention.

“
I love Robert, but not in the way...” she hesitated, nibbled her lip, “...the way I love you.”

He summoned his strength and pulled her to him, held her close.

Too soon she drew back. “I answered your question, now you have to answer mine. Why did you choose the life you have? Why the expatriate-adventurer bit?”

He shifted away from her. What to reveal? What to conceal? Time had come to share more of himself with her. “I told you about being stationed in Mogadishu?”

She nodded.

“
There’s more to that story. I wasn’t the only one in my hometown to join the Army. I convinced my best friend from high school to join with me because his mother could no more afford to send him to college than my parents could afford to send me. Jason wouldn’t have joined if I hadn’t put pressure on him. We ended up Army Rangers and were stationed together in Somalia…”

Now for the hard part.
His shoulders tensed. “During the assault on forces in Mogadishu, we were assigned to protect a helicopter crew that crash landed. You probably read about it in the paper.”

“
Blackhawk Down
.”

“
Exactly. Then you remember we were clearly outnumbered. Heavily armed rebel soldiers surrounded our unit. We were trapped under fire for hours. Jason tried single-handedly to ward off three rebels, but he was no match for them. I was next to him when he went down, a shot in the leg. I went to help him, but before I could reach him, I heard the gunfire and his skull exploded. A tiny splinter of it is still wedged in here.” He pointed to the scar on his arm she’d inquired about earlier. “I’m responsible for his death, and I’ll carry a piece of that guilt, like I carry a piece of his skull inside me forever.”

She gripped his shoulder and turned him toward her. “How can you believe that you’re responsible? You can’t take the blame for what happened to him.”

“Jason wasn’t up to the physical challenge of being in the Rangers. I covered up for his mistakes during training, took care of him. Had he been busted out of the unit before he got himself killed, he wouldn’t have been there.” Dylan lowered his forehead into his hand.

“
Sometimes at night, in the dark, I still hear the whirl of the helicopter blades, smell the sickening odor of burning flesh, see the bright bursts of gunfire all around me. Jason’s there, firing wildly. He turns toward me in slow motion, a pleading look in his eyes. His mouth opens in a silent scream right before the resounding rapid fire of a machine gun fills the air. I reach for him just as the round hits him and his head explodes into pieces like a cubist painting, spraying blood and brains onto me. I wake up screaming, sweating.”

He pushed aside the hand that tried to comfort him. “I was sent home soon after that. Jason’s mother never blamed me for what happened, but I blamed myself. I tried to restart my life, went to UT Austin and majored in mechanical engineering. Slowly the repetitive nightmares faded. And then I met Katie.”

“Who’s Katie?”

He heard the jealousy in her voice and held her close to comfort her. “A fellow student in my American History class. Katie was every red-blooded American male’s dream. Long blond hair, blue eyes, and a pedigree. Her family was drowning in Texas oil money. The fact that I was the one who snagged Katie, not one of her many other admirers, made me feel important. Helped me to heal…”

“And?”

“
As they say, I fell head over heels, asked her to marry me. Everything seemed to be going my way, until the nightmares returned with a vengence. I couldn’t sleep, became moody. Katie pulled away, said I wasn’t there for her. I tried to explain, but she wasn’t interested.”

Leah reached over and, with hands on his cheeks, gently turned his head toward her. Her eyes brimmed with love and compassion. He had never had anyone look at him that way and it made him uncomfortable. He had the urge to look away, but couldn’t.

“I was still full of guilt and grief over Jason’s death. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it.” He laid his hand over hers. “Katie gave me back the ring a few weeks before graduation. Later I learned she had started seeing a friend of mine before she dumped me. I was the last to know. I can’t tell you how devastated I was. Her betrayal seemed to confirm what a failure I was.”

“
You’re not a failure. Never to me.” Leah enfolded him in her arms.

“
Yeah, sure. Well, I felt like one. I took a job with a local developer, but I was miserable. I had to be somewhere else, do something different. I finally decided to use the skills I knew best growing up in the woods and as a Ranger to raise enough money to send Jason’s younger brother to college. There was a job opening with a tour company in Iquitos, but I quickly found I could make more money working on my own. With that money. Jerry won’t be forced to join the service to get an education.”

She tilted her head so she could look him in the eyes. “Is that why money is so important to you?”

“I send a chunk of what I earn to Jason’s mom every month. That’s the least I can do. Jerry will graduate UT next spring.”

Leah held him tighter. “And to think I believed you to be so money grubbing. I’m glad I was wrong.”

“Just doing what I should.”

“
I respect you for it. As a matter of fact, I’ve come to admire you more and more. But you have to forgive yourself. It’s not fair to you to hold onto this guilt.”

“
Why?” he asked. “Sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps me going.”

“
But you’ll never be at peace until you find a way to forgive yourself.” She ran her long nails down the length of his arm. A tingle followed her fingers, rekindling the fire in his loins.

“
If I only had the strength, I’d make love to you again and again.”

“
Rest,” she whispered into his neck. “We’ll take more physical exercise later.”

Holding her close, he closed his eyes, letting go of all distance, all resistance. Now he knew the real meaning of heaven.

A knock on the door sent them both into action. He released Leah and, much to his consternation, she quickly sprung from the bed, straightening her clothes.

“
Come in,” she called.

The door swung open and Kruger stood in the doorway. “I need to speak vith you.” Urgency tinged his words.

“Right now?” Leah asked.

“
Jawohl!”

“
Dylan needs me. What’s the rush?”

“
Bitte
.” Kruger waved his hand. “
Ja
. Most important.”

He sounded serious. “What is it?”

“Kimo tells me squadron of Peruvian Army comes to arrest
Herr
Hart.”

Dylan tensed. “Why would they want me?”

“Somebody reported dead soldier in boat vith vounded vhite man. They believe you killed soldier. Of their own they take care.”

Anger flared in Dylan. “I can’t believe this. I was trying to save his life.”

“You vere last person near him.” Kruger leaned heavily against the door jamb. “Militia on vay. I vant you should hide. If they find you, I cannot for vhat they do be responsible.
Nicht
?”

“
We have to do something, but Dylan’s too weak to hide out in the jungle.” Leah said. “Do you have any kind of a getaway?”

Kruger pinched the folds of skin under his chin and mumbled, more to himself than in answer to her, “
Nein
. I am lion vithout teeth. Suitable precautions I have not made.”

Dylan caught Leah’s eye. Panic constricted her pupils. He had to allay her fears. “There must be a place I can hide.”

Leah turned to Kruger. “We’re not just going to be sitting ducks! Think of something-wait, we can hide him in plain sight! My mother told me a story years ago. A Jewish child was sown into a sofa cushion by her mother to keep her safe from the pogrom.” 

“
But I’m too large to be sown into a cushion,” Dylan said.

Kruger pushed away from the dresser. “The blanket chest vith false bottom I brought back from Europe to hide valuables so they vould not to be confiscated by customs. Ingenious contraption. The chest is long. In it you should fix.”

“Where is it?” Leah asked.

“
In shed. Of its condition I have no idea, but Kimo vill fetch it into parlor.”

While that sounded like a good plan, Dylan didn’t want to do anything that might place Leah in jeopardy. “How about my heading upriver toward Ecuador. If I start now, I might be able to outdistance them.”

Leah vehemently shook her head. “No way. You’re in no condition to travel right now. They’d pick you off in no time. You’re going to stay here and hide.”

“
Are you sure?” He searched her eyes for the answer. “What if I’m caught? You’ll be in deep trouble for sheltering me.”

“
Let me worry about that.”

Kruger waddled toward the door. “I vill make Kimo orders. Ve need blankets for fill chest. Meet me in parlor.”

As soon as Kruger had gone, Dylan grasped Leah’s arms. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing? They could shoot you on sight if they discover me.”

Leah leveled her gaze on him. “I’m aware of what might happen, but I want to do this. I’d do anything to protect you.” She laid a kiss on his cheek. “I love you.”

Even in the midst of the crisis, overwhelming affection for her swelled inside him. He never knew anyone so soft could be so strong. He drew her closer. “I love you, too,” he whispered into her hair.