She writhed under him much like she had during long sweaty siesta hours spent making love in her flat. Not the smartest memory to have at the moment.
Her knee jacked up—
Hell. She was determined to neuter him. He twisted to block her and slammed her wrist against the ground once, twice, whispering, "Sara, damn it all, Sara, it's me. Lucas."
She didn't stop struggling. Her eyes glazed over with bloodlust, her nostrils flared. Too battle-focused to hear? Or could she have amnesia? Unlikely and tragic, but God, that would be a balm for his ego that was stinging worse than the gash in his arm.
"Sara. Sarafina, baby," he whispered in her ear as he'd done often in the past with a completely different intent. "It's me. It's okay. Do you hear me? I'm here."
She stilled under him long enough that he dared pull back to look down at her. Her eyes went wide with shock.
With recognition.
"Lucas?" she gasped. "Dios mio? It can't be you." She slumped back, her longer hair splayed over the verdant forest floor like on a mossy bed. "How? Why?"
So much for an ego-soothing case of amnesia. "I'm here for you, of course."
He took in the different feel of her, a more angular body, hollows in her cheeks, smudges beneath her eyes barely visible under her naturally bronzed complexion, but up close, he couldn't miss them. Or her dark pool eyes, so deep a man could fall in.
Unmistakably his Sara.
The reality flooded his mind with near-numbing force. Pain exploded through his head. Not shock. Real pain. What the—?
By instinct, he started to reach for his gun. A tiny she-demon stood over him with a branch clasped in her fists, ready to beam him a second time.
"Get off my mama!"' she screeched in a jumble of Spanish and English.
The little girl who'd come through the stone wall with Sara whacked him again, on his injured arm this time, no quarter. Damn it! Fire flamed up to his shoulder, the jungle ceiling swimming in front of his eyes.
Sara crab-walked backward from under the tangle of their legs. "Lucia, chica, stop. Lucas will not hurt us. He's going to walk with us."
Lucia?
Lucas.
Sara's words blurred in his brain. She tucked the child under her arm and stared back at him with stunned wide eyes. A kid. Hers. And his? The name certainly indicated as much, but the child only looked to be three at the most.
Realization roared through him when he was too damn shell-shocked to shut down emotions. Had she been raped?
Red rage fogged his vision. Kneeling, he planted a hand on the soft jungle floor and hung his head, dragging in breaths for control.
She raised a trembling hand to his jaw, skimming up to trace along his cheekbone into his hairline. "Are you all right? She didn't hurt you, did she? Oh my, you are alive. Tomas, as well?"
He nodded while sorting through a few too many shocks at once. Hot blood trailed down his arm to squelch in his fisting hand.
She'd thought he was dead, too? A little convenient for his jaded peace of mind. But showing his hand could send her running. Either way, the CIA wanted her brought in.
Except, God help him, she still knocked him on his ass. He was so freaking grateful to see her alive he could barely breathe.
"I prayed that Tio Ramon had lied to me, but I feared that... Never mind. As long as you're here and my brother survived." She swept a hand over her face and shook away the dazed expression.
Dazed?
He was the one who had reason to be stunned stupid, not her. He needed to get out of here but he wanted more than anything to haul her close, hard and inhale the scent of the woman who'd tormented his dreams for five long years.
What the hell was he supposed to say now? He should have been ready for this meeting, even as much as he'd tried to deny the possibility to forestall debilitating disappointment.
"Your arm." Her eyes went wide. "I am so sorry. Let me—"