River of Desire: A Romantic Action Adventure/Thriller (24 page)

With her helping hands, he awkwardly rose up and out of the casket-like enclosure. His legs would not straighten and his arm lay limp at his side, but he was ecstatic. “Hallelujah!”

She helped him limp over to the sofa where it took a long time to lower himself to sitting. “At least they’re gone for now. We have to leave as soon as you’re stronger. They might return.”

“I know.” He smiled reassuringly at her, noting that she looked like an angel in the afternoon light, her flaxen hair dappled by sunlight that filtered through woven blinds. He wished his arm was capable of pulling her closer.

She slumped next to him on the couch. When he tried to raise his arm and failed, she reached over and rubbed it. A warm tingle followed her fingers. The sweat glistening on her skin reaffirmed the toll that hiding him must have taken on her. It demonstrated to him how much she cared.

He ran a hand over his forehead and only then realized he, too, was soaked in sweat. “As soon as these damn legs work, I need to wash up.”

A weak nod was the only response he received. 

Chapter Eighteen

Dylan brushed away wisps of hair clinging to the sides of Leah’s face. Her skin, illuminated by the room’s oil lamp, seemed to shimmer from within. She radiated a serene sense of herself, more at peace than he had ever seen her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

For too long he had fought the urge to trust anyone. Yet here he was, loving this woman more than he had ever imagined possible. A woman he hadn’t let down. The weeks they had spent together were his trial by fire. He had earned the right to love her.

He kissed her deeply, stroked her skin. “I’m ready to make good on that promise.”

The look in her eyes gave him all the encouragement he needed. He clasped her to him, soft lips surrendering beneath his ardent kisses. He couldn’t believe how good she felt, how wonderful she tasted. He had waited so long to be this close to her, now that he held her, he couldn’t have waited a moment longer. 

Slowly he nibbled his way down her neck, followed by soft moans, while his fingers rummaged open shirt buttons. With his lips, he sought the soft skin in the curve of her neck and teased her with his tongue. The fire that had kindled when he first kissed her, flared at the rose scented softness of her skin. This was everything he imagined it would be...and more. Beads of moisture had sprung up on her flesh and he licked them away. She groaned again, driving him to a frenzied level of passion he had never known. He lifted his head to take a breath and her eyes opened wide. The desire he saw in them galvanized his longing. He bent down to remove her shirt and bra, then lowered his lips to her nipples. She grasped him firmly to her as if she wanted to meld into him. Not anymore than he wanted to become a part of her. Out of his mind with pent up desire, he made a dizzying descent with his kisses over her breasts and belly, to the soft sweet mound between her legs. She groaned her pleasure as he touched and tasted her, arching her back so he could take her in. He could hear her heavy breathing, which propelled him on. A ripple shivering its way up her spine. When she cried out, he rose and entered her, aware of the touch of his skin against hers.

When he rubbed against her, her passion surged with gasps and moans that spurred him onward. He felt the force of his desire for her building within, but he held off long enough to hear her cries of surrender before he breathlessly shuddered his own satisfaction. 

He lay back. Her head rested against his chest, her fingernails combed his arm.

After a few minutes, she glanced up and said, “I want to know more about what happened in Brazil. You’ve only told me part of the story.”

It would take strength to tell that story, strength just beginning to return. “You know about my warm reception. The red carpet treatment and all.”

She grinned. “And the great accommodations.”

He pushed up on one elbow, looking down upon her. “Von Schotten was the one experimenting on the locals
. He’s the one behind the damn epidemic.”

Leah looked thoughtful. “Wow, I can’t believe how relieved I am it’s not Kruger. I’ve come to care about him, Dylan, much more than I ever thought I would.”

“I know.” He caressed her face with fingertips. “From what I gathered, Von Schotten blended a concoction of the Ebola virus with the Hantavirus.”

She covered her mouth with a hand. “Jesus, how horrible! That combination would be incredibly lethal. If that’s what he’s using on the locals, there’s nothing we can do to save them—or the rest of the world.”

He sat upright, rolled his stiff shoulders, rubbed his sore legs and grimaced. His shoulder throbbed. “Except he also developed a vaccine for the virus.” He stretched his legs over the side of the bed. “Only one catch. The two renegade soldiers kind enough to escort me downriver were working with Von Schotten, selling the Ebola-Hanta formula to a terrorist network. God only knows if the terrorists also have the antidote.”

She pondered this for a moment. “I have to get this information back to the United States as soon as possible. I’m sure they’ll want to do an investigation into this. We must head back tomorrow.”

He pulled himself up to stand. Would he ever straighten without support? Ever walk again without limping? “No
problema
.”

“
As long as you’re strong enough to travel.”

He willed his legs to stop twitching. “I’ll be ready to leave first thing.”

* * *

Leah slipped quietly into the study and took a seat across from Kruger, who slumped over an open book, a half-empty bottle of Schnapps at his side. Wagner’s
Twilight of the Gods
played quietly in the background. She waited until he raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks hollow. Dark shadows circled his eyes.

“
Are you all right?” she asked, concerned.

“
You see old man, Leah.” His head lolled forward as though he was having trouble holding it upright. “Tell me of reason you are awake at late hour.”

“
I wanted to thank you for your help today.” A warm fuzzy feeling filled her chest. “You put your life, your work, everything on the line to protect Dylan. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

A faint smile lifted the corners of Kruger’s mouth. “Dylan is fine young man, but he vas not who I protected today.”

“What do you mean?”

Closing the book, he stared directly at her. “I knew vhat to you vould happen if Dylan had been arrested. I could not allow it.”

Tears blurred her sight. “You risked your life for me?”

He cleared his throat. “You are my flesh and blood,
hein
?”

Overcome with love, she stumbled to her feet and threw her arms around his scrawny neck. This worn out old man had gradually metamorphosed into the grandfather she had always wanted. “I don’t know how to thank you
Grandfather
.” The word suddenly sounded right. “I owe you so-”

He shook his head. “You owe me nothing. I did vhat vas right. But I ask favor of you.” He gave her a squeeze. “Is better?” When she nodded, he gestured toward the chair. “Sit, please.”

After a final hug, she tucked herself into the chair, sitting much like a little girl, knees and ankles touching, hands folded together in her lap. “Anything you want—”

A wave of his hand stopped her in mid-sentence. “Do not too quick be. I vant you first to hear my proposal.” He eyed the bottle of Schnapps. “Drink?”

“No, thank you.” She waited while he splashed a dollop into a shot glass and took a sip.

He gave her a pained look. “I have little time left.”

She swallowed hard but waited in silence.

“
I vant you should stay here with me in my final days.”

The request stunned her. He had been willing to sacrifice his well-being and all that he worked for to help her, shouldn’t she do the same for him? She would if she didn’t have a crisis to avert. “I can’t. I have to go back to report a potential disaster to people who can do something about it.”

“Send your young man. He vill return for you.”

She wanted so to please him, but at what price? He needed her now, but so did the world. “The world is on the brink of a terrible viral epidemic. As much as I want to be here for you, I have a deadline to meet or more people may die from the Hemorraghic Fever.” She ached with regret. “I wish I could send Dylan and stay with you, but I have to take care of this myself. My editor would not take the story from another source. I must do this.” 

“Do not so hasty be in your decision.”

“
I have no other choice. Lives are at risk. Would you want me to be so uncaring of other men’s children and grandchildren? You, a doctor who has lived to save lives? Would you expect me to behave any differently?”

Kruger slowly lowered his head into a quivering hand. “
Nein
. You should go and do vhat you can.”

“
A short time could make a world of difference in this epidemic. I will leave right away—tomorrow—return as soon as I can and remain with you as long as you need me.” She reached out toward him.

He raised his head and looked at her through tears. “I am in advanced stage of prostate cancer. Two months more I have to live.” He placed his hands together as if in prayer. “I vant you should return immediately to me after you complete assignment.”

“Come with me!”

“
Out of question.” Kruger took another shot of Schnapps and stared stone-faced at the far wall. “I cannot travel in present condition.”

Of course not. She had asked on impulse. “I understand.”

“Before you go, I must to ask one more thing. Tell me of your mother.”

She thought for a long, hard minute, thinking how hard it was to sum up her mother’s life in a few sentences. “She was an incredible woman. Loving and loyal and fun to be with. I can’t say enough about her. I lost my world when she died.” Leah reached into a pocket and pulled out a billfold. From it she withdrew a picture and handed it to her grandfather.

“She is most comely.” He smiled sadly. “Much like you.”

“
People would always say I looked like her.”

He reached across the desk and handed her back the picture. “It should hurt me I could not know her, but instead I have you. You are
mein kinder
and
mein herz
, my heart.”

She placed a hand over her heavy heart. “I want you to know, no matter how far I go, in my heart I will always be here with you.”

With a raised hand, he silenced her. “Vhatever happens, you are vonderful granddaughter to love and to admire until day I die.”

She staggered to her feet and over to his chair, again enclosing him in her arms. He felt so bony, she was afraid to squeeze too hard, or she might crush him. He placed an arm around her and pulled her closer. She nestled against him. Now that she had finally found him, she was unwilling to let go. She would return no matter what happened.

She would be back in time to say goodbye.

* * *

Leah closed the door behind her, slipped from her slacks and shirt and quietly slid into bed beside Dylan. The touch of his skin, which usually acted as a calming balm, did little to console her grief. A lump swelling in her throat quickly melted into tears.

Dylan gently turned her to him and bundled her into his arms. Unable to contain her pain, she bled it out in convulsing sobs. He held her until the spasms slowed. 

With his fingers caressing her, her dark spell gradually lifted. Exhausted, she rested her head against him. In such a short time, he had become the light that could lead her out of her darkest moments.

“
What happened?”

How could she explain that her tears came from pain mingled with joy? That she had finally found the grandfather she had sought for so long—only to have to leave him? “I told Kruger we’d be leaving tomorrow. He didn’t take it too well.”

Dylan pressed her closer.

“
I never thought I’d say this, but I hate to leave Kruger...” Sadness silenced her for a second. She wiped an errant tear from her cheek. “I came here hoping to find a grandfather I could admire and love. What I found was that broken down old man out there with his terrible past. And now I’m torn about leaving him.”

Tenderly, Dylan ran a finger along the line of her cheekbone.

“I came looking for answers and all I found were questions, yet I feel better about what I’m doing and who I am than I’ve ever felt before. Explain that.”

“
Maybe it wasn’t answers you needed all along.  Maybe what you needed was to question yourself, to push yourself beyond your limits.” Dylan tilted her chin up so her eyes met his. “By finding what you expected, you may never have learned anything new about you.”

“
But what have I learned?” The question was rhetorical. He sat staring at her while she considered. “I’ve learned that I’m not alone, that I have a family.”

He started to speak, but she hushed him with a finger to his lips.

“I’ve learned how to forgive....and, most importantly, how to trust. For years now, I’ve carried around a suitcase...make that a steamer trunk...full of hurt and resentment. Not only did my father abandon me, but so did my grandfather, and every other man I had ever known.”

She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I didn’t realize how much those bottled up feelings were coming between me and everyone else. I needed no one. Trusted no one.”

“Even yourself?”

“
Primarily myself. How can you trust anyone else if you can’t trust yourself. So, I put up walls and acted as if I was okay alone. And that worked. No one came too near. I even had myself fooled.”

She stared at the ground, shaking her head. “If you act like you don’t need others, no one is going to open their heart to you. It’s self-prepetuating, you create what you least desire. You create what you believe. But it was only fear that kept me imprisoned. Fear of getting close to someone and having them abandon me, too. When you returned against all odds with the vaccine, for the first time ever I began to believe not everyone would leave me. You had the chance to escape, but you made the choice to return. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Because of you, I’ve learned to trust...to forgive,” she reached out and took his hand in hers, “and to love.”