Midnight Rainbow Read online

  When he hung up, he turned to find Jane surveying him with pursed lips. “How did we get here without being checked for passports?”

  “A few people turned their heads, that’s all. They knew we were coming through. I’ll report our passports as being lost, and get duplicates from the American Embassy. No big deal.”

  “How did you manage to set all that up so quickly? I know this wasn’t the original plan.”

  “No, but we had some inside help.” Sabin had been as good as his word, Grant reflected. All the old contacts had been there, and they had all been notified to give him whatever he needed.

  “Your…former business associates?” Jane hazarded a guess.

  “The less you know, the better. You pick up on this too damned quickly. Like hot-wiring that truck. Had you ever done it before?”

  “No, but I watched you do it the first time,” she explained, her eyes full of innocence.

  He grunted. “Don’t waste your time giving me that wide-eyed look.”

  A tap on the door and a singsong voice announced that room service had arrived in record time. Grant checked through the fish-eye viewer, then unbolted the door and let the young boy in. The aroma of hot coffee filled the room, and Jane’s mouth started watering. She hovered over the boy as he set the food out on the table.

  “Look at this,” she crooned. “Fresh oranges and melon. Toast. Apricot Danish. Eggs. Butter. Real coffee!”

  “You’re drooling,” Grant teased, giving the boy a generous tip, but he was just as ravenous, and between them they destroyed the array of food. Every crumb was gone and the pot of coffee was empty before they looked at each other and smiled.

  “I feel almost human again,” Jane sighed. “Now for a hot shower!”

  She began unlacing her boots, pulling them off and sighing in relief as she wiggled her toes. Glancing at him, she saw that he was watching her with that lopsided smile that she loved so much. Her heart kicked into time-and-a-half rhythm. “Aren’t you going to shower with me?” she asked innocently, sauntering into the bathroom.

  She was already under the deliciously warm spray of water, her head tilted up so it hit her directly in the face, when the shower door slid open and he joined her. She turned, wiping the moisture from her eyes, a smile ready on her lips, but the smile faded when she saw the mottled bruises on his ribcage and abdomen. “Oh, Grant,” she whispered, reaching out to run her fingers lightly over the dark, ugly splotches. “I’m so sorry.”

  He gave her a quizzical look. He was sore and stiff, but nothing was broken and the bruises would fade. He’d suffered much worse than this, many times. Of course, if Turego had been able to carry the beating as far as he’d wanted, Grant knew that he probably would have died of internal injuries. But it hadn’t happened, so he didn’t worry about it. He caught her chin, turning her face up to him. “We’re both covered with bruises, honey, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m okay.” He covered her mouth with his, tasting her sweetness with his tongue, easing her against him.

  Their wet, naked bodies created a marvelous friction against each other, heating them, tightening the coil of desire. The rather boring process of soaping and rinsing became a lingering series of strokes, her hands slipping over the muscles and intriguing hardness of his body, his finding the soft curves and slopes of hers, the enticing depths. He lifted her off her feet and bent her back over his arm, kissing her breasts and sucking at her nipples until they were hard and reddened, tasting the freshness of newly soaped skin and the sweetness of her flesh that no soap could ever disguise. Jane writhed against him, her legs twining with his, and heat fogged his mind as he thrust himself against the juncture of her thighs.

  She wanted him, wanted him, wanted him. Her body ached and burned. The bed was suddenly too far away. Her legs parted, lifting to wrap around his waist, and with a hoarse cry he pinned her to the wall. She shuddered as he drove into her, going as deep as he could with a single, powerful thrust, as if any distance at all between them was far too much. Digging his fingers into her hair, he pulled her head back and kissed her, his mouth wild and rough, the kiss deep, his tongue twining with hers, the water beating down on them. The power of his thrusts made her consciousness dim, but she clung to him, whimpering, begging him not to stop. He couldn’t have stopped, couldn’t even have slowed, his body demanding release inside her. The red mists that clouded his mind blocked out everything but the hot ecstasy of the way her body sheathed him, so softly, so tightly.

  She cried out again and again as the almost unbearable waves of pleasure crashed over her. She clung tightly to his shoulders, trembling and shivering, the velvet clasp of her body driving him to the edge. He poured himself into her, heaving against her, feeling that he was dying a little, and yet so intensely alive that he almost screamed from the conflict.

  They barely made it to the bed. Drying off had taken all their energy, and Jane was so weak she could barely walk. Grant was shaking in every muscle of his big body. They tumbled onto the bed, not caring that their wet hair soaked the pillows.

  Grant reached out for her. “Crawl up here,” he rumbled, hauling her on top of him. Blissfully, her eyes closing, she made herself comfortable on the hard expanse of his chest. He adjusted her legs, parting them, and her lashes fluttered open as he eased into her. A purr of pleasure escaped her lips, but she was so sleepy, so tired… “Now we can sleep,” he said, his lips moving on her hair.

  * * *

  THE ROOM WAS HOT when they awoke, the Mexican sun broiling through the closed curtains. Their skin was stuck together with perspiration and made a wet, sucking noise as Grant lifted her off him. He got up and turned the air-conditioning on full blast, and stood for a moment with the cold air hitting his naked body. Then he came back to the bed and turned her onto her back.

  They scarcely left the bed that day. They made love, napped and woke to make love again. She couldn’t get enough of him, nor he, it seemed, of her. There was no sense of urgency now to their lovemaking, only a deep reluctance to be parted from each other. He taught her the unlimited reaches of her own sensuality, tasting her all over, making love to her with his mouth until she was shivering and shuddering with pleasure, mindless, helpless. She told him that she loved him. She couldn’t keep the words unsaid, not now, when she’d already told him anyway and soon the world would intrude on them again.

  Night came, and finally they left the room. Walking hand in hand in the warm Mexican night, they sought out some shops that were open late. Jane bought a pink sundress that made her tanned skin look like honey, a pair of sandals and new underwear. Grant wasn’t much on shopping, so she blithely picked out jeans, loafers and a white polo shirt for him. “You might as well change,” she instructed, pushing him toward the dressing room. “We’re going out to eat tonight.”

  There wasn’t any talking her out of it, either. It wasn’t until he was seated across from her in a dimly lit restaurant with a bottle of wine between them that he realized this was the first time in years that he’d been with a woman in a strictly social setting. They had nothing to do but eat and talk, sip the wine, and think about what they were going to do when they got back to the hotel. Even after he’d retired, he’d kept to himself on the farm, sometimes going for weeks without seeing another human being. When the need for supplies had forced him to go into town, he’d gone straight there and back, a lot of times without speaking to anyone. He hadn’t been able to stand anyone else around him. But now he was relaxed, not even thinking about the strangers surrounding him, accepting their presence but not noticing them, because his mind and his senses were on Jane.

  She was radiant, incandescent with energy. Her dark eyes shone; her tanned skin glowed; her laughter sparkled. Her breasts thrust against the bodice of the sundress, her nipples puckered by the coolness of the restaurant, and desire began to stir inside him again. They didn’t have much more time together; soon they would be back in the States, and his job would be finished. It was too soon, far too soon. He had