“Think of it as songs of the forest. I’ve always loved the way the insects and birds sound against the leaves in the wind. It’s all music if you love it, Rachael.”

“I suppose it is. Why can’t people just leave us alone, Rio? Yes, I ran away. Does it really matter so much why I ran? Who I ran away from? What difference does it make all the way out here, in the middle of a forest?”

Rio tried not to hear the wistful note in her voice. More, tried not to react to it. “It’s perfectly reasonable of me to want and need to know why someone would want to kill you. Do you have a husband you ran away from? Someone rich and powerful enough to track you even here? Why wouldn’t he just let you go?” He felt her beside him, fitting into the lines of his body. Heard her breathing softly. Her skin was hot, but soft and inviting. Even more than the physical temptation was her courage and sense of humor. She was occupying his thoughts, invading his blood. Rio reached over her to pull her broken wrist across her lap, positioning it for maximum comfort. “I guess that was a silly question. I might not have let you go myself.”

Rachael lifted her head to look at him. A faint smile curved her mouth. “Rio, that was a nice thing to say to me. Thank you.”

He looked harassed instead of grateful for her appreciation. “You have to tell me why, Rachael. If someone is going to come looking, I have to be prepared.”

“There is no way to prepare. As soon as I’m able, I’ll keep going. There has to be a place where they can’t find me. I’m hoping they believe I’m dead.”

“If Kim is alive, he’ll know you survived. He’s one of the best trackers around. And he’ll go looking for you because you were in his care. The government is going to be up in arms, having a church group bringing medical supplies taken by bandits. They’ll be looking for the entire group. The countries need the aid and the last thing they want is for it to get out that it’s dangerous to travel along the rivers or near the forest, two major tourist draws. And if you have someone else, an outside source, pushing the government to go after the bandits, they’ll search the river thoroughly.”

“People drown all the time and their bodies are never found. Is Kim Pang a friend of yours? If he comes looking could you persuade him to say I drowned?”

“Kim won’t lie. If he’s still alive, and as soon as possible I’m going to find out, I’ll ask him to disappear so he can’t be questioned. He has a certain reputation, well deserved. He shouldn’t lose it over this.”

Rachael turned her face away from him. “I liked him. I liked him more than I liked the others. I don’t think those bandits were there to kidnap us for ransom. I think they were paid a great deal of money to find me.”

Rio shook his head. “I can’t see anyone hating you so much.”

“I didn’t say he hated me.”

He felt the blow in his gut, the dark spread of jealousy, the dangerous traits of his animal side. He wasn’t going to let passion rule him, it was far too risky. He had a life now, one he enjoyed. One he could live with. Rachael was not going to ruin it for him.

The wind shifted, touching their faces with droplets of water. Rio immediately leaned over her, protecting her from the rain until the wind settled again. “Bandits are common in these parts. All up and down the river. Not just here but nearly all the countries where the forest and river make it easier to disappear. Indochina, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, all of them. This isn’t a unique situation, or even unexpected. Didn’t they warn you there was danger?” He kept his voice low, even. Nothing would betr ay the smoldering anger stirring in his belly. She didn’t belong to him. And she was never going to belong to him.

“The odds seemed in our favor.”

“I see it all the time. You should have stayed home, Rachael. You should have gone to the police.”

“Not everyone has options, Rio. I did the best I could in the circumstances. I won’t stay here, just long enough to heal my leg.”

“Do you think it’s going to happen overnight?”

His voice was low, almost sensual it was so velvet soft, but she had to blink back tears. She brought danger with her whether he wanted to believe it or not. She wanted to think she could walk away, keep him safe, but she knew he was right. She didn’t want the reality of her life anymore. If she were desperate enough to dare the raging river, surely he could see she needed a space of time where she could pretend she was safe.

The forest called to her, a dark sanctuary capable of hiding all kinds of secrets. Why not her? The foliage and creeper vines hid his entire home, cradled high in the branches of a tree. There had to be a way to disappear in the rain forest. “Rio, I know you’re here because you’re hiding from the world.

Can’t you teach me how to live here? There has to be a place for me.”

“I was born here. The forest is my home and it always will be. I can’t breathe in the city. I have no desire to live and work there. I don’t want television or movies. I go in, get my books and I’m a happy man. A woman like you can’t live here.”

“Like me?” She turned the full power of her dark eyes on him. “A woman like me? What kind of woman am I, Rio? I’d like to hear your analysis because you use that term a lot. A woman like me.”

Rio turned his head, amusement and even admiration welling up out of nowhere. There was a bite to her voice, a distinctly feminine challenge. She was sitting on his front porch wrapped in his shirt, her bare thigh pressed against his leg, an infection ravaging her body and the jungle creeping close, and she could still manage to act perfectly at home and even annoyed with him.