Heart of Fire Read online

  “I know what I said. I also know that it isn’t my fault if you seldom think of anything except sex. That time I told you that I’ve never had sex on a balcony with a stranger, which is perfectly true, because I’ve never had sex on a balcony with anyone. Now will you hush and let me go to sleep?”

  “No,” he said. “I’m going to strangle you.”

  “Temper, temper,” she chided, smiling in the darkness.

  Ben wasn’t smiling, he was positively fuming. She’d done it on purpose, tormented him all that time with nothing but lies, knowing that he was so jealous he could barely stand it. No doubt about it, men were at a severe disadvantage when it came to dealing with the so-called gentler sex. Women held all the aces. Of course, most women weren’t as diabolical as Jillian Sherwood. She knew just which buttons to push with him.

  He reached over and shook her hammock. “Okay, no slick answers this time, just the plain truth. Are you romantically, sexually, or otherwise involved with anyone back in the States?”

  “The absolute, plain truth?” she asked.

  “Yeah. The truth.” He braced himself.

  “It’s been at least six months since I’ve even dated anyone.”

  “Good God, why?” He sounded shocked to the soles of his feet.

  “Because I’d rather be alone than have to be polite when I’m really bored out of my skull. And I’ve never been much interested in sex.”

  “Bullshit.” The word burst out of him. “You can’t keep your hands off of me.”

  “It must be your elegant way of putting things,” she said sarcastically. “Good night. I’m going to sleep.”

  He set his hammock to swaying gently, his good humor restored. She was obviously crazy about him.

  They left the moloca the next morning, accompanied by Datta Dasa and four more tribesmen, and reached the river three hours later. The tribesmen led them unerringly to where they had left the boats. Ben wasn’t very surprised to find that one of the boats was gone; he wouldn’t have been surprised if both of them had been missing. The only thing that worried him was the possibility that somehow Kates and Dutra had gotten ahead of them and taken the boat to wait in ambush around some bend. It would make more sense to wait here at the boats; perhaps they were somewhere watching, but reluctant to do anything with the Yanomami there. If even one tribesman escaped an ambush, Kates and Dutra would be in trouble, for they couldn’t hope to match the Indians in their jungle skills or knowledge.

  The hidden rafts and cache of supplies hadn’t been disturbed, though, so Ben felt better about their safety. If Kates had indeed taken the first boat, he would certainly have taken the supplies as well.

  They loaded part of the supplies and one of the rafts. Kates and Dutra might get the rest of the supplies, but on the other hand Pepe and the other men might be the ones to use them. There was no way to tell. At last they said their good-byes, and Ben started the engine, slowly reversing the boat out of the cove and into the river channel. Jillian waved until the boat passed out of sight of the Yanomami.

  Dutra pressed deep into the shelter of buttressed roots that rose several feet higher than his head, scarcely even daring to breathe for fear the Indians would hear him. If he hadn’t lost his pistol, he thought viciously, things would have been different. But the pistol had disappeared when a mud slide caught him two days before, sweeping him into a ravine. As it was he had to cower in the bushes to keep those scrawny little bastards from knowing he was there. They were no match for him in strength, but those poison arrows gave them the advantage now that he was unarmed.

  He had pushed himself to the limits, trying to get to the boats first, and he’d made it. But since he was unarmed, there was no point in waiting to ambush Lewis, and he had no way of getting another gun this far upriver. Instead he had taken the other boat and hidden it farther upstream, then waited for Lewis and the woman to show themselves. He had started to load some supplies, but realized in time that would be a dead giveaway, and would make Lewis even more wary.

  Now all he had to do was follow them downriver, hanging back and waiting until he could find a weapon. Once they reached the more traveled waters, he would be able to jump some river trader and steal a gun. By then Lewis should be feeling nice and safe, and he wouldn’t be paying attention. A couple of quick bullets, and the diamond would be his.

  Dutra forced himself to wait an hour, giving the Yanomami plenty of time to leave the area and making certain he wouldn’t accidentally come upon the other boat before he was ready. An hour’s time would be easy to make up when he needed to.

  Despite having lost the pistol, Dutra was satisfied with the way things were turning out. Since Kates had told him that Lewis had found the diamond, Dutra hadn’t been able to think about anything else. If he had that diamond he would be able to wear fancy clothes and lots of gold jewelry, the way the people on television did. He would buy a big American car to drive around Manaus, and people would be afraid of him. He would never again have to hide upriver when the police were looking for him; he would simply pay a bribe, and they would leave him alone.

  He dreamed about the diamond. He hadn’t seen it, but he lovingly dwelt on the image in his mind. It would look like a piece of ice, shaped like those diamonds in a fancy lady’s ring, only a lot bigger. It would blind him to look at it in the sun, it would glitter so. He had never wanted anything as much as he wanted the diamond. Lewis didn’t deserve to have it. He would kill Lewis, and enjoy doing it.

  The first thing Jillian did was sling a hammock in the shade of the flat roof and gratefully ease into it.

  Ben looked around at her, feeling a sense of relief now that they were alone once more. He was glad they had met up with the Yanomami, but at the same time he felt as if his privacy had been invaded. He liked knowing that he and Jillian were alone.

  “The captain expects more effort from his crew than that,” he said.

  “The crew will make an effort tomorrow,” she said, closing her eyes.

  “What’s wrong with today? You had plenty of sleep last night.”

  “I’m always really tired and don’t feel good on the first day of my period,” she explained, keeping her eyes closed.

  The silence was thick. Then Ben said, “I’m learning. You didn’t actually say you were having your period. You simply made a statement that you get tired and don’t feel good on the first day of your period. You’re still punishing me, aren’t you?”

  “I’m having my period,” she said flatly. “And I don’t know any way I could have arranged that to coincide with your many transgressions.”

  Ben looked at her again, this time noting the circles under her eyes. She wasn’t kidding. He felt a moment’s dismay, then concern. “Do you have anything to take? What can I do to make you feel better?”

  She did open her eyes then, and smiled at him. A real smile, not the angelic smile that made him shudder. “I’m okay. I don’t feel sick, just tired. If you really need me, wake me up. And I promise I’ll be better tomorrow.”

  He couldn’t leave the wheel, not in this section of the river, or he would have taken her in his arms and cuddled her, held her while she slept. He always had this strange compulsion to baby her, and that was ridiculous, because she was one of the most capable, stalwart people he’d ever met, man or woman.

  He said, “How long does this usually last?”

  “What, my period, or your strange delusion that everything I do is planned specifically to keep you from making love as often as you seem to think you should? My period will last four or five days. I’ve seen no break in your delusion at all.”

  He grinned. Ah, he loved it when she talked sweet to him. “I don’t know where you got the idea that having a period prevents making love.”

  “From the fact that I don’t feel like it, don’t want to, and won’t let you.”

  “I guess that about covers the issue.”

  She chuckled at the rueful note in his voice and snuggled more comfortably into the