Wishing them the joy and freedom of a sensual relationship.

“You’re so beautiful,” he gasped the words, shocked at how the light fell across her face, revealing the intensity of her pleasure. It heightened her natural beauty. She was so uninhibited with him. So uncar ing that he could see how much she wanted him, how much she enjoyed his body.

She laughed softly. “I’m only beautiful because you make me feel that way.” Lightning sizzled in her veins. Fire raced over her skin. She controlled the pace, deliberately moving slow, taking him deep, gripping tight with her muscles.

Rachael had no idea how Rio managed to make the world a place of sunlight and paradise when she’d lived in the shadows for so long. The rain fell softly, enhancing brilliant color in every direction, scattering rainbow prisms across the sky. Or maybe it was behind her eyes. It didn’t matter. There was only Rio in her world and he was all that mattered.

She felt his body gathering power and strength, she felt her own tightening in anticipation. Then they were spinning out of control on a dizzying ride, clinging to one another for safety. The leaves overhead whirled in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. Patterns of light and dark flecked the ground. It was necessary to share breathing as they kissed, hands moving over sensitized skin in a kind of worship.

Rachael laid her head on his shoulder, holding him close to her. Their hearts beat out a wild, frantic tattoo even as the rain continued to fall softly. “I love it here, Rio,” she murmured, her lips against his throat. “I love ever ything about this place.”

“You came home,” he answered, slowly lowering her feet to the forest floor.

The pack was stashed high up in the tree in case of flooding. Rio went up the trunk quickly and tossed her clothes, shoes and a towel. Rachael found herself laughing. “This is a crazy way to live. Have you ever had the monkeys steal your pack?”

“Not yet. They are very respectful of my things.” He glanced upward at the animals as the gibbons moved through the trees foraging for food before he dropped down beside her.

Rachael dressed quickly in the shelter of a large tree. “It’s so much quieter.”

“The birds are busy looking for food. Fruit, nectar, insects, they don’t have much time to call back and forth, although you’ll hear them occasionally. During midday, there’s often a bit of a lull in the chatter.”

He buttoned his jeans and reached over to straighten the tails of her shirt. “You always look so cute in my clothes.”

Her eyebrow shot up. “I’ve never been called cute. Elegant, but not cute.”

“That’s right. You’re a rich lady. You wear designer clothes.”

“How did you know they were designer clothes, jungle boy?”

He grinned at her. “I get around. You’d be surprised where this jungle boy has been.” He leered deliberately.

Rachael laughed, then sobered, her gaze drifting over his face. “Nothing about you would surprise me, Rio.”

Just like that she managed to put a lump in his throat. “Come here and let me carry you.” He held out his hand.

“I’d like to try to walk, even for a short distance. It feels so good to be managing a bit on my own.”

Her fingers found his and clung.

Rio brought her hand to the warmth of his mouth, pressed a kiss into her palm. “Just a short distance.

You haven’t been able to bear any weight on the leg and I don’t want you to overdo it. Tama’s potion will only help so much.”

“I know.” Her ankle and calf were throbbing, but she was never going to admit that to him, not if she wanted to walk on her own. He had a stubborn jaw, and his eyes could go from shimmering fire to ice cold in a heartbeat. Rio was a man who could get bossy very quickly given the right circumstances. She smiled to herself and took the first step, tugging at his hand. “I can’t wait for a hot bath, come on.”

He frowned but he went with her, keeping a watchful eye on how she walked. “Out here, Rachael, you always have to be alert to your surroundings. The birds are going to sound a warning and you have to notice, you have to hear the different notes. They’ll call to you, and depending on what frightens them, you can pick up what’s intruding into our neighborhood.”

“I’ve caught it a couple of times.” She tried not to limp. Walking on her own seemed a miracle to her.

She looked around at the trees laden with fruit. Ever ywhere she looked color exploded. The massive tree trunks came in all colors and were covered by life-forms. Lichen, fungi, fern and orchids grew on the trunks. Creeper vines hung down everywhere. At first there was quite a bit of light, the shorter trees along the river allowing the sun to blaze down, but as they went deeper into the interior, the taller trees sheltered them with denser canopy.

“Look at these tracks, Rachael.” Rio crouched down to study the myriad of tracks near a shallow pool.

He touched a larger paw print with four distinct toes. “This is clouded leopard. Probably Franz watching our backtrail. They started following me when I went to work, even when I crossed borders, so it was safer to train them. I couldn’t stop the silly things from following me everywhere.”

“Are you worried about Fritz?”

“No, he’s had wounds before. He knows how to hole up in the forest. He’ll come back when it’s safe. I didn’t want him at the house alone. If the spotted leopard found him, it would have killed him just out of sheer meanness. Look at this one.” He pointed to a very small track much like the clouded leopard track. “This is a leopard cat. They’re about the size of a domestic cat, usually reddish or yellowish coats with black rosettes. This was a busy place this morning.”