She hadn’t known what to expect, what the rainforest would be like, but it was more humid than she’d ever imagined it could be. And it was loud. Screamingly loud. With about a dozen different animal and bird calls at any time. She’d looked up numerous times to see a glorious flash of colour as some bird she couldn’t name flew past, and had once caught sight of monkeys high in the canopy, loping lazily from branch to branch.
It was an onslaught on her senses, and Serena longed to stop for a minute to try and assimilate it all, but she didn’t dare say a word to Luca, who hadn’t stopped since he strode into the jungle, expecting her to follow him. He’d sent only the most cursory of glances back—presumably to make sure she hadn’t been dragged into the dense greenery by one of mythical beasts that were running rampant in her imagination.
Every time the undergrowth rustled near her she sped up a little. Consequently, when Luca stopped suddenly and turned, Serena almost ran into him and skidded to a halt only just in time.
She noticed belatedly that they were on the edge of a clearing. It was almost a relief to get out of the oppressive atmosphere of the forest and suck in some breaths. She put her hands on her hips and hoped she didn’t look as if she was about to burst a blood vessel.
Luca extracted something from a pocket in his trousers. It looked like a slightly old-fashioned mobile phone, a little larger than the current models.
‘This is a satellite phone. I can call the chopper and it’ll be here in fifteen minutes. This is your last chance to walk away.’
On the one hand Serena longed for nothing more than to see the horizon fill up with a cityscape again. And to feel the blast of clean, cool water on her skin. She was boiling. Sweating. And her muscles were burning. But, perversely, she’d never felt more energised, in spite of the debilitating heat. And, apart from anything else, she had a fierce desire to show no weakness to this man. He was the only thing that stood between her and independence.
‘I’m not going anywhere, Luca.’
A glimpse of something distinctly like surprise crossed his face, and a dart of pleasure made Serena stand tall. Even that small indication that she was proving to be not as easy a pushover as he’d clearly expected was enough to keep her rooted to the spot.
He looked down then, his attention taken by something, and then back up at her. A very wicked hint of a smile was playing about his mouth as he said, with a pointed look towards her feet, ‘Are you absolutely sure?’
Serena looked down and her whole body froze with fear and terror when she saw a small black scorpion crawling over the toe of her boot with its tail curled high over its arachnid body.
Without any previous experience of anything so potentially dangerous, Serena fought down the fear and took her walking pole and gently nudged the scorpion off her shoe. It scuttled off into the undergrowth. Feeling slightly light-headed at what she’d just done, she looked back at Luca.
‘Like I said, I’m not going anywhere.’
Luca couldn’t stem a flash of respect. Not many others would have reacted to seeing a scorpion like that with such equanimity. Men included. And any woman he knew would have used it as an excuse to hurl herself into his arms, squeaking with terror.
But Serena was staring him down. Blue eyes massive. Something in his chest clenched for a moment, making him short of breath. In spite of being sweaty and dishevelled, she was still stunningly beautiful. Helen of Troy beautiful. He could appreciate in that moment how men could be driven to war or driven mad because of the beauty of one woman.
But not him.
Not when he knew first-hand just how strong her sense of self-preservation was. Strong enough to let another take the fall for her own misdeeds.
‘Fine,’ he declared reluctantly. ‘Then let’s keep going.’
He turned his back on the provocative view of a flushed-faced Serena and strode back into the jungle.
Serena sucked in a few last deep breaths, relishing the cleared space for the last time, and then followed Luca, unable to stem the surge of triumph that he was letting her stay. And as she followed him she tried not to wince at the way her boots were pinching at her ankles and toes, pushing all thoughts of pain out of her head. Here, she couldn’t afford to be weak. Luca would seize on it like a predator wearing its quarry down to exhaustion.
* * *
Serena felt as if she was floating above her body slightly. Pain was affecting so many parts of her that it had all coalesced into one throbbing beat of agony. Her backpack, which had been light that morning, now felt as if someone had been adding wet sand to it while she walked.
They’d stopped only briefly and silently for a few minutes while Luca had doled out a protein bar and some figs he’d pulled from a near
by tree—which had incidentally tasted delicious. And then they’d kept going.
Her feet were mercifully numb after going through the pain barrier some time ago. Her throat was parched, no matter how much water she sipped, and her legs were like jelly. But Luca’s pace was remorseless. And Serena was loath to call out with so much as a whisper.
And then he stopped, suddenly, and looked around him, holding up a compass. He glanced back at her and said, ‘Through here—stick close to me.’
She followed where he led for a couple of minutes, and then cannoned into his backpack and gave a little yelp of surprise when he stopped again abruptly. He turned and steadied her with his big hands. Serena hadn’t even realised she was swaying until he did that.
‘This is the camp.’
Serena blinked. Luca took his hands away and she didn’t like how aware she was of that lack of touch.
Afraid he might see something she didn’t want him to, she stepped back.