'Are you going to dump it in my lap?'
'I'm not sure yet.'
'Then I think I'll pass until you get over your little…' he broke off abruptly as Rio frantically signaled him to silence.
Rachael turned to glare at her brother. 'I know you weren't going to accuse me of being moody-or temperamental. You deserve an entire pot of coffee in your lap. You should have talked to me. I'm a grown woman, not a child to be protected. I know exactly what Armando's capable of and I knew you had no choice but to try to get rid of him if either of us was going to have a chance at a normal life.' She swung around to include Rio in her displeasure. 'If you ever get a thick-headed notion to go all silent and macho on me, please just get over it fast. I'm likely to smack you with another stick if you do.'
Elijah's eyebrow shot up. 'She smacked you with a stick?'
'Gave me a scar,' Rio said proudly and swept back his black hair to reveal the jagged white line. 'Right on the temple too. She nearly took my head off.'
'She knows what she's doing,' Elijah confirmed, 'And she hits like a man, but she can't cook very well.'
'I'm a good cook,' Rachael said, outraged. 'I'm a very good cook. I can't help it if you don't like anything other than rice and beans. And no spices.'
'There's such a thing as too much spice,' Elijah said.
Rio grinned wickedly at Rachael. 'Oh, I don't know, Elijah, you might be missing out. Live a little.'
Rachael groaned and rinsed the dishes, but she was smiling again. The man had a sinful mouth and he had a way of putting fantasies in her head at the most inopportune times.
Rio leaned back in his chair. 'The elder had a good idea. If you went to the village and asked for asylum, they'd have to give it to you. You'd be placed under the protection of our lair. It just gives us more people to count on our side.'
'What exactly do you do aside from piss off the local bandits?' Elijah asked.
Rio's grin widened. 'You've been talking to Tomas and his men, haven't you? Basically that's exactly what I do. That's my job.'
'You do that to everyone without much effort,' Rachael pointed out.
Franz leapt down from the mantel and scooted under Rio's feet, peering out at Elijah curiously. Rio stretched his legs further to accommodate the small leopard. 'I lay up on a knoll, or in a tree, or wherever I can find and guard my team as they go in to bring out kidnap victims, or pay ransom. I do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Once they're out, I lay a false trail and lead the bandits away from the team and into the forest.'
'I've heard the bandits have bolt-holes.'
'There are mazes of tunnels in the cane fields, just about every field. You don't want to drop into one of them and try to pursue, not if you value your life. We've had to go in a couple of times when the bandits used the tunnels to hide their prisoners. We blew up the tunnels in order to discourage them from using them for that purpose. It's too dangerous to us, although we'll go in if we have to.'
'So we don't want Armando to fall in with the bandits and get the idea of using the tunnels.'
'If your uncle finds out she's playing house in the forest with some local yokel, don't you think he'd come with guns blazing? Especially if the information was given out to you, instead of him, for the million-dollar reward. We have to locate Armando's mole and let him overhear Rachael's been found. He'll immediately contact your uncle and Armando will come very quickly to get here before you.'
'He'll send his killer after her.'
Rio shrugged. 'Of course he will. He'll want to confirm her presence and he'll want me out of the way. They'll expect an easy kill.'
'He'll hunt you, Rio. Leopards make frightening enemies. They never turn aside and they're as cunning as hell. I ought to know.'
Rio grinned at Elijah, but it was a particularly lethal smirk. 'I'm very aware of what a leopard can do.'
Rachael curled up in Rio's lap. Fitting herself to his body seemed perfectly natural. The night had taken on a surreal feel, a dreamlike quality. She couldn't believe Elijah was sprawled in a chair only feet away from Rio, looking relaxed and at home. How had she ever doubted him? His eyes didn't look ice-cold and merciless, although she knew they could. Right now he looked like her big brother, just lying around the house talking. She had forgotten that image of him. Elijah at rest. Elijah relaxed. Elijah with a faint smile on his face.
She buried her face against Rio's chest, confident he wouldn't say a word when he felt her hot tears against his skin. He would understand the enormity of the gift she'd been given this one night. Rio wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her close to him, protectively, just as she knew he would. He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin, one hand tunneling in her thick mass of hair, just holding her close.
'This is my territory, Elijah. My realm. Those who enter it are subject to the laws of my people and my laws. Man or beast, it matters little. Armando may be a big deal in South America and in Florida, but he's no one here.'
Elijah nodded his head. 'I've been slowly cashing out our assets and putting the money where Armando can't touch it. He doesn't know, of course. But I'm hoping to get Rachael and me free of our estate and go back to my homeland. Unfortunately, there are problems.'
'You could come here, Elijah,' Rachael offered. Her voice was muffled against Rio's chest and he couldn't see her face. 'The elders would accept you, Delgrotto already said as much. No one knows you here. You could have a new start.'
'I don't even know how anymore, Rachael.' Elijah looked at his sister through long lashes. His eyes were flat and cold. 'If I can't talk to you, my own sister, how do you think I could ever learn to live with others again? Thank you for the offer, but if we manage to remove the threat of Armando, the last thing I intend to do is taint your life.'
Rachael stirred as if to protest, but Rio's arm tightened in warning. 'Let's just take one thing at a time. Armando is first. Let's find his mole and put out the word.'
'He'll know I'm here.'
'All to the good. He'll want to kill Rachael right under your nose. You've already established a research camp as your cover so you look as though you're trying to appear legitimate to him while you search for her. Just search in the wrong areas so he'll be convinced you're combing the region for Rachael.'
'So I'm the dope miles away when he tries to hit Rachael. I don't think so. If that man sets foot in this country, I'm not leaving Rachael's side.'
Rachael sighed heavily. 'Do you see where I get words like 'imbecile' and 'idiot' in my vocabulary? Elijah, just this once, please, for me, listen to what Rio has to say.'
'What do you know of this man, Rachael? You're betting your life on him.'
'I know that. And if you're insisting on staying, maybe you should listen to him as well, because it could save both of our lives, and that ought to tell you all you need to know. I left home rather than put you in a position of having to…' She trailed off. Only Rio knew she jammed her fist in her mouth to choke back the words before they could be said.
Elijah sat up straight. 'I never wanted you dead. Never, Rachael. It was always the two of us. Hell, without you, what did I have to fight for? Why would I bother? I would have disappeared into the jungle and he would never have tracked me. But I didn't think you could.'
'Because I couldn't shift?' She turned her head to look at her brother. 'I didn't even know we were capable of shifting. How did you know?'
'It just happened. When I was young, a little boy. Mom told me not to say anything. We always spoke of it in whispers.'
Rio brought up his hand to the nape of Rachael's neck in a slow massage. 'Of course. She was still trying to hide it from her new husband. He didn't know until later. And then the elders of your mother's lair found out an outsider knew. It had to have happened that way.'
'Something went wrong. Mom and Dad were very nervous until we reached Florida. They were nervous for a couple of years. Mom wouldn't allow me to shift and said I wasn't to tell anyone.' Elijah sighed. 'They were trying to protect us from our own kind. They should have been looking toward Armando.'
'He knew, though.' Rio said. 'He used to take you places and let you run.'
'If I had just told Mom right away-but I didn't. Just once, if I had said something to her, they might still be
