Escape Out of Darkness (Maggie Bennett 1)

“Speaking of turkeys, Maggie May,” he said in a dangerous voice, “you must be crazy if you think I’m going to go camping with pumas.”

“Don’t worry, Mack, I’ll protect you,” she said with a laugh. “Besides, Chicaste isn’t that far. If we get a good start, we may reach the rebel camp sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“Somehow that prospect doesn’t reassure me,” he said dourly.

Maggie shrugged. It didn’t reassure her either, but they had no choice. If they were going to get out of this mess alive, they would have to find Van Zandt. Staying in Tegucigalpa, caught between the ACSO and the RAO, they were nothing more than sitting ducks.

“How about L.A. in a week? I’ll let you live out your fantasies with my mother.”

“I’ve already lived out almost every fantasy I’ve ever had with you, Maggie May. Compared to you, your mother loses her appeal.”

“For God’s sake don’t tell her that,” she said on a note of laughter.

“I wouldn’t think of it. You’re the only one I want to talk to anyway. Everything set for tonight?”

Maggie looked at the knapsack, now full of clean, dry clothes, two guns, flashlight, the maps, and the papers. “I guess so.”

“Then let’s go to bed.”

She turned to look at him. It was a prosaic enough request, it wasn’t the first time she’d done it, so why did her pulse immediately begin to race, why did her stomach leap and her breasts tingle?

“I think that you’re having a demoralizing effect on me,” she said in a measured tone of voice.

“Well, I hope so. Take off your clothes and come over here, lady. Unless you’re into another wrestling match.” He started to get up, and she backed away swiftly.

“No, thank you. I’m still sore from the first one.”

“I don’t think it’s the wrestling match that you’re sore from. And at least I didn’t give you a black eye. Come to bed, Maggie,” he said in a softer voice, and there was no way she could put up any more arguments.

Mack’s body was smooth and supple beneath her hands and mouth, and he was content to lie there letting her explore him with a curiosity and wonder that was outrageously sensual. When he could take no more he pushed her back onto the mattress and returned the favor, taking her to the point of almost painful delight, so that her hands were clutching fistfuls of sheet, and her toes were digging into the mattress, and her body was flushed and damp and trembling.

When he’d finished with her she was beyond rational thought. She lay beside him, curled up in his arms, as her heart slowed its breakneck speed and her breathing returned to normal. His hands were gentle on her, soothing her, calming her, and his lips teased her ear. He whispered something, and

she couldn’t hear him. Or couldn’t believe him. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, have told her he loved her.

She made no response, just lay there in the circle of his arms.

An hour later they were stealing away in the dark moonless night. For some reason, Maggie wasn’t afraid of the dark.

fifteen

“That reminds me,” Mack said. “I take exception to something you told Castanasta.” They were driving their brand-new Jeep Cherokee down Highway 4 toward Danli, and the newly paved, blessedly wide road might almost have convinced them they were back in civilization instead of heading into a jaguar- and puma-infested jungle.

“What?” She took another sip from her lukewarm coffee, coffee that Mack had saved from their dinner tray. They’d been driving for hours, night was giving way to sunrise, and Maggie still wasn’t awake.

Mack, on the other hand, seemed completely alert and relaxed, slouched down behind the driver’s seat of the Cherokee, one arm resting on the open window as his fingers tapped out a song on the steering wheel. “When you told Castanasta you had to see Van Zandt on a small matter. I rate my life just a bit higher than that.”

“Don’t give me grief, Mack,” she said wearily. “Maybe I should have left you with the RAO. After all, Castanasta did say he wanted to help us.”

“You certainly are grumpy for someone with little cause,” he replied in a bright tone of voice.

“And you certainly are disgustingly cheerful for someone with little cause,” she fired back.

“What do you mean, little cause? The road is paved, the sun is rising, no one’s trying to shoot at us for the moment, we’ve got food, warm bottled Coke, guns to keep off ravaging wildlife, and I’ve been extremely well laid. What more could one ask?”

“Mack!” Her voice held a definite warning.

He laughed. “I knew that would get a rise out of you. Come on, Maggie May, lighten up. We’ve got a few hours of peace before the next battle—we may as well enjoy it.”