Man of Passion

Rafe saw her fall, but he was too far away to catch her or break her tumble to the floor. The crowds parted quickly when people realized what had happened, so it was easy to sweep into the widening circle, slide his fingers around her arms and lift her back to her feet. She felt firm, yet soft beneath his hands. As he leaned over, he could smell the lingering scent of an exotic perfume. Perhaps a hint of jasmine. She was so close, so helpless in that moment.

“Oh…” Ari moaned as she looked up to see Rafe leaning over her, felt his strong hands grip her arms. She felt so embarrassed!

“Allow me, Señorita Worthington….” All of his anger and trepidation ebbed away. She was helpless and sweet, Rafe realized. Not a teenager, either. A young woman. That was good.

His voice was deep, dark honey melting right through to her wildly pounding heart. Ari felt his hands slip around her upper arms to first steady her, and then lift her as if she weighed nothing at all. Humiliated by her fall, she tried not to look at the people moving slowly around them. A number murmured to her in Portuguese and reached out and gently patted her shoulder or arm, as if to help her. Their kindness rattled Ari. She expected people to ignore her and move around her, irritated and giving her disdainful glances.

When Ari lifted her chin and looked up, up into the warm brown eyes of the man who had rescued her, she felt her knees going weak again. Instinctively, she grabbed at his forearms and felt the muscles there tighten. As she gripped him for support, heat rolled up her neck and into her face. Now she was blushing.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured apologetically. “I—I’m such a klutz! I’m always stumbling and falling. What a mess I’ve made—again….”

Rafe gave her a tight smile. “Señorita, I’m Rafe Antonio. Please, don’t be apologizing. As you can see, no one takes offense at what has happened. You mustn’t, either….” The look in her eyes was like that of a wounded animal, or a child who had done something terribly wrong. Why? Rafe wondered. Her lovely oval face was flushed a deep pink color. Her mouth… He quickly tore his attention from that mouth, which reminded him of a beautiful rose opening in the morning sunlight. She was incredibly beautiful in her own way, even if she was a spoiled, rich norteamericana brat. He liked her broad forehead, her slightly angled blond eyebrows and those flawless blue topaz eyes. Her nose was small, her nostrils flared with chagrin. Though her chin was weak, it completed the oval perfection of her face. As she tried to get her balance, her thick, blond hair moved like ripples on the surface of the Amazon River he loved so much.

Ari couldn’t stand Rafe’s intense inspection and she tore her gaze from his. Once she was upright, she took a step away from him. He released one arm, but carefully monitored his firm hold on the other.

“I’m okay…really, I am….” Then she realized her lapse in manners. “I’m so sorry. I’m Arianna Worthington, Mr. Antonio….” She thrust out her hand. “Oh, and I speak some Spanish, if that’s easier for you.”

Rafe took her proffered hand in his, leaned down and placed a kiss upon the back of it. “Rafe Antonio at your service, Señorita Worthington. And thank you, but I prefer to use my English, as I don’t often get to speak it.”

Ari was thrilled. His hand was huge compared to hers and yet he held her fingers carefully, as if she were delicate porcelain that might shatter with too much pressure applied to it. As his strong mouth grazed her flesh, a series of wild shocks leaped up her arm. Her heart pounded violently in response. No one had ever kissed her hand before! She had to remember she was in a foreign country and that customs were different here. As Rafe raised his head, his brown eyes were hard and merciless looking. Was he unhappy with her? Most likely, Ari thought, her heart failing with pain. So was her father. She could do nothing to please him, either. Was Rafe like her father? The thought made her stomach knot.

“Oh…well, thank you, Señor Antonio….” She quickly pulled her hand away, her flesh tingling deliciously where his mouth had brushed it. Completely off balance due to his impeccable manners, his confidence and power as a man in charge, she felt like a blithering dolt in comparison.

“Call me Rafe,” he murmured in response, picking up her luggage and handing her the purse. He didn’t want to like her. She was artless. Or was it a ploy, like the one Justine, his ex-fiancée, had used on him? She’d been a careful manipulator of his heart and head, and had pretended a helplessness and innocence similar to what Arianna Worthington was now displaying. Was it an act? Was it real? Justine had played him like a harp, so much so that he had agreed to leave his jungle home, move to Manaus and continue his career as a paper pusher instead. One night Justine’s mask had fallen off and he’d seen the real woman beneath—nothing like the one he’d fallen in love with. Rafe was wary of women since that experience. He knew they could play games, could be coy, manipulative and yes, pretend to be a bird with a broken wing. He gave Arianna a hard look. Was she a Justine in disguise? The thought was distasteful to him. He couldn’t think of spending up to six months with such a woman.

Ari moved forward with Rafe leading the way. The crowd seemed to part miraculously for this man who stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Despite how he was dressed, Ari saw other people looking up at Rafe, admiring him, respecting his space. It was an unspoken thing and yet it was palpable and thrilling to her. What was it about him? His chin lifted at a proud angle, and his shoulders were so broad they took her breath away. The way he walked was wonderful to Ari. She wished she could have that same proud, aristocratic carriage.

“You can call me Ari,” she said a little breathlessly as she hurried to catch up to him.

Rafe instantly reduced his stride. He realized that Ari was shorter and therefore had to take more steps to keep up with him. He looked down at her and found her face ablaze with a pink hue. She looked ill at ease. Twice she stumbled over her own feet and twice he reached out and gently took her arm to steady her.

“Thanks,” Ari whispered, feeling shame. “I’m such a klutz….”

“There are a lot of people packed into a very small area,” he told her as they eased away from the main part of the crowd and into the terminal itself. Outside the tall, vertical windows, he could see the humid white clouds above the city.

“I think I need a new pair of feet,” she replied with an embarrassed laugh.

“Perhaps a new pair of shoes?” Rafe saw her avoid his eyes. Worse, he saw how she walked now that she was free of the confines of the crowd: her shoulders were slumped forward and her gaze flitted everywhere but to him. Her lack of eye contact worried him. She was acting like a beaten animal. Why? He had many questions. It bothered him how she was reacting to him, a man. Had her father beaten her? Rafe hoped not. As he watched her out of the corner of his eye he realized she was like a frightened child in a new place, her gaze darting here and there, her hands pressed to her heart as she hurried along, her body language telling him how terribly vulnerable she felt.

Halting near the doors of the terminal, Rafe put down the luggage and turned to her. Ari had been so busy looking around that she nearly ran into him. He put his hand out to steady her. What he wanted to do was simply pull her into the safety of his arms and hold her for just a moment. She looked like a scared little rabbit in a den of wolves. Rafe instantly rejected the protective feelings she conjured up. He was shocked by his reaction. This young woman was dissolving his normally iron-clad control over himself when it came to beautiful women.

“Sorry,” Ari gushed as she jerked to a halt. Why hadn’t she been watching where she was going? She felt so scattered, so out of control. Maybe her father had been right: going to a foreign country wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Overwhelmed, Ari absorbed the feeling of Rafe’s hand on her upper arm. She felt bereft when he removed it.

“Let me tell you what we’ll be doing, and perhaps that will make you feel a little more at ease,” he murmured in a low tone. Her eyes widened considerably and Rafe saw the darkness in them—fear of the unknown, or a fear of him, perhaps. Unsure of her reactions, he purposely kept his voice low and his body language safe so that she wouldn’t mistake any gesture as something threatening to her. He had hoped his attire would turn her off and she’d refuse to go anywhere with him, but such was not the case, he realized. She was sticking close to him, the world so overwhelming to her right now there was no way she was going to climb back on board a plane and leave.

“I’ll get us a taxi outside the doors, here. And then we’ll go to the wharf where my houseboat is tied up. Once we get on board, I’ll take us downstream on the Amazon River, about three hours, and we’ll pull into a side channel and that’s where we’ll stay. The channel leads to a Juma Indian village about a mile inland. That’s where you’ll be staying, Ari, and looking for your orchids to draw.” His cool facade thawed a little. “I’ve never had an artist or a writer visit. I talked to Chief Aroka, the leader of the Juma village, and he’s promised that he’ll have some of his people who know the area help you search for orchids. They’re looking forward to meeting you.”

Grimacing, Ari held up her hands. It was almost too much for her to look into Rafe’s eyes, but she had to. “Oh, dear…I don’t know who told you I was an artist and writer, but I’m not! I’ve never gone to art school or taken journalism. I’m just trying to help my mother, who died, fulfill her dream of coming to the Amazon, to draw orchids and put them into book form. I’m sure I won’t draw well enough for that to happen, but I want to try….”

In that instant, Rafe wanted to reach out, slide his fingers across the soft, smooth slope of her fiery cheeks and kiss her. The urge was powerful. Unbidden. Surprising. He had one hell of a time not staring at her mouth. Again it reminded him of a rose with fresh morning dew across it. He was sure she would taste sweet, soft and beguilingly beautiful. And then he remembered Justine had pulled a similar trick on him, playing innocent to get him to protect her, when in actuality she needed no protection whatsoever.

Shrugging, he said, “Who says you must have a degree in art or journalism to draw or write? Most of the people I know who have these talents have never experienced academia.”

Heartened, Ari felt the warmth of his interest. The thawing look in his eyes was like sunlight shining on the frozen depths within her. His glinting gaze had such perception and she felt beautiful under it. For the first time in her life, Ari wanted to hold someone’s gaze—his. He didn’t make her feel as if he were stealing her soul, or some part of herself. No, his gaze was healing. It made her feel good about herself in a way she’d never felt before. So much was happening so quickly. It was too much for her to analyze right now.

“I just want to try,” she told him in a husky voice riddled with tears. “For my mom. I don’t know how much you know about me….”

“Very little,” Rafe said, sorry that he didn’t know more. A lot more. Was this an act? He wasn’t sure if he were judging her because of his jaded past. Rafe found himself wanting to believe her, but he ruthlessly pushed that thought away.

Her hands fluttered about like bird wings as she continued. “Well…you’ll get used to me. I’m just here to try and give Mom’s dream reality. She was a wonderful artist. Her paintings were bought around the world by orchid fanciers and hobbyists.” Looking down at her long fingers, Ari said, “I don’t have one-tenth the talent she did….”

Rafe reached over and laid his hand lightly on her shoulder for a brief moment. He hadn’t meant to touch her, but giving her solace felt like the right thing to do. “Where I come from, we say that when you paint or write with passion, from your heart, that’s all that is necessary.” He met and held her wide, tear-filled gaze.

He was irresistible! Choking back her tears, she whispered, “I like where you come from.”

“Good.” Still he held her unsure eyes. A part of him didn’t want her to be coming back to camp with him. Yet her seemingly artless innocence was powerful medicine to his wounded heart. He was a loner, Rafe reminded himself bluntly. Someone who had forsaken family dreams and expectations to blaze his own trail. No woman wanted him and the jungle he loved. There never would be such a woman as far as he was concerned. Justine had hated the jungle, the insects and the reptiles. She’d screeched over each little gnat that flew near her head. Shrugging away thoughts of Justine, he asked, “Are you ready to go, señorita?”

Ari nodded and gripped her purse. “Yes. Scared but ready, Rafe.” His name rolled effortlessly off her tongue. She saw his mouth draw into a one-cornered smile. Again that sense of sunlight pierced through her and she felt unaccountably euphoric, as if lifted out of the morass of her own lingering anxiety and humiliation at stumbling to her hands and knees earlier. Rafe made her feel good. He was the first man to make her feel that. It was a wonderful, unexpected feeling, one that she absorbed like a thirsty sponge.

“Courage is taking a step at a time through your fear,” he told her. Opening the door for her, he said, “Come, we must get a cab.”

Ari was taken with his manners. He opened the cab door for her, too, and insisted she get in while he took care of the luggage. She felt overwhelmed by Rafe—his power, his charisma and good looks. When he slid into the seat next to her, he looked at her curiously, as if he were still trying to figure out what species of insect she was. His black brows had been drawn downward since he’d met her. With displeasure? Ari thought so and felt badly. She didn’t want Rafe to feel like he was babysitting her. Perhaps she could show her mettle and tenacity at the camp and not be so much of a hindrance to him.

“Welcome to Manaus, Ari. It is a city that grew up from the rubber tree plantations earlier in this century. When the norteamericano companies created synthetic rubber, the boomtown here died. It has since resurrected itself mining gems, gold and other precious metals, plus a little tourism.”

He barely fit into the dark green cab, but his large, masculine presence felt wonderful to her. Their arms and elbows touched in the cramped space, but Ari didn’t mind. When he spoke in Portuguese to the driver, she smiled a little.

“How many languages do you know? You speak fluent English, Spanish and Portuguese, from what I can tell so far.”

Rafe folded his large hands between his opened thighs as the cabby took off at high speed from the terminal. “I was raised in a family where knowing many languages was expected,” he told her, meeting and holding her gaze. Now, instead of darkness in the depths of her eyes, he saw something else. Happiness? Perhaps a sense of safety now that she was away from the madding crowds of foreigners? He knew that being in a strange country made most people feel a little more vulnerable.

“Morgan Trayhern, your boss, sent me your résumé. It’s impressive. I’m so thrilled you’ve got a Ph.D. in biology. And from Stanford. That is really something.”

He nodded. “My knowledge of biology will help you a great deal in your quest for your orchids, Ari.” As he said her name he realized how much he liked it. He liked saying it, and he was glad she wasn’t a stickler for protocol, that she hadn’t asked him to address her more formally, as they did in South America. She had surprised him in that regard. She wasn’t some arrogant, rich brat with snobbish manners. Instead, she was simply herself. Or was she? Rafe knew time would yield that final answer.

“It must have been difficult to leave your family to come to the U.S. for your education,” she said.

“Yes, I had to argue with my father to allow me to come to the States. I’m not sorry I did. I got an excellent education at Stanford.”

Rafe was so easy to talk to, yet as Ari watched him, she realized that despite his relaxed state, he was keenly alert. She noticed that he watched everything in a casual, yet attentive sort of way. She felt an edginess within him, too. What was that all about? Was he disappointed with her? With the fact that she was such a klutz and a loser? That she was a woman he’d have to babysit? Determined to find out over time, Ari tried instead to focus on the joy bubbling in her heart as the cab sped rapidly onto a massive freeway. The tall buildings of Manaus were in the distance, the airport behind them. Ahead, she caught glimpses of a dark, tea-brown river. Was that the Amazon? Her pulse quickened. She was really here. She was on her mother’s journey, the one they’d planned in such detail the last year she’d lived. Clasping her hands, Ari closed her eyes and took a deep breath, a wobbly smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Rafe felt Ari retreating within herself when she clasped her hands, sighed and closed her eyes. The flush in her cheeks had subsided and he noticed the porcelainlike quality to her skin. Blue veins were faintly visible beneath her eyes. She wore absolutely no makeup. It would be hopeless where they were going, anyway, with the rains and humidity. It made him feel good that she was so natural. Women who had to paint their faces into a mask were not their true selves, and Rafe admired Ari for her unspoken stand on the issue. Justine had insisted upon wearing makeup when she’d visited his camp. It had run and spotted, yet she was miserable without it. Why? Rafe would never understand why a woman couldn’t be happy with her natural state, just as nature was with her bounty.

He saw that Ari wore simple gold hoops through her dainty earlobes. Around her neck was a fine gold chain holding an oval amethyst, to complement the skirt and sweater she wore. Everything about Ari spoke of delicacy.

Was she a hothouse flower? he mused. More than likely. Women with degrees from Georgetown University, who lived in Washington, D.C., were not equipped for jungle living. Would she be able to bear a life of hardship, without many amenities? Rafe doubted it. Justine had cried every morning because there wasn’t electricity for her hair dryer. Would Ari see the jungle as her friend or her enemy? Probably an enemy, as his ex-fiancée had. Justine had been afraid to walk to the village with him, for fear of a snake biting her or some big bug whizzing by her head. Morgan had said Ari would be with him three to six months, depending upon how her sketches for the book came along. Rafe hoped it was a much shorter duration. Yet Ari intrigued him. So shy, yet with that childlike look of joy and anticipation written across her features. She was twenty-five, but she reminded him of a gawky fourteen-year-old who was just finding out who she was, just tapping into her femininity. He had no idea where his feelings and instincts about her came from; he’d lived so long on his instincts out in the jungle that he no longer tried to explain his sense of intuition about people. And he was rarely wrong about such perceptions because, over the years, his life had depended upon it. The one time he’d been wrong had been with Justine but she’d been a master of artful disguise and manipulation.

As the cab screeched to a halt some twenty minutes later, Ari looked out the window in anticipation. There was a huge river, at least a mile wide, spread out before her. Wobbly, poorly kept wooden docks jutted out from the raised, red dirt bank like dark dominos in the water. At one a huge white houseboat with black tires hanging off the sides was docked. That must be Rafe’s. Before he could leave the cab and come around and open her door, she was out and walking quickly toward the riverbank. Hands clasped to her breasts, she looked around, absorbing all she saw.