River of Eden Read Free Page B

the other, and a muddy magnifying glass hanging from a cord around her neck, but Will had heard enough about her to know she had a botanically brilliant mind. She'd collected plants for some of the most famous herbariums and research institutes in the world. He had noticed a small scar near her right temple and wondered if she'd gotten it in the incident. Apparently, there had been bloodshed all around.
    The thought made him distinctly uncomfortable. In another environment, and a lifetime ago, he'd been as liberated as the next man, but upriver in deep jungle no woman was safe on her own. Someone as nubile as Annie Parrish was pure jaguar bait, with every man in the forest being the jaguar—himself included. The laws that governed civilized behavior started unraveling pretty quickly in the heat and humidity of equatorial Amazonas. About the only protection a woman could have was a gun, and everyone had said Dr. Parrish had used a pretty damn big one.
    He grinned. It was a little hard to imagine. Wearing baggy cargo shorts with every pocket stuffed like a kid's and a green shirt two sizes too big, she'd looked more like an underfed teenager than an Amazon. But she had known when to stop asking questions and get out of Pancha's, and she hadn't been frightened by Juanio and Luiz. She'd been curious, but not unnerved.
    “Senhor,”
Juanio called from back in the bar.
“Vem aqui, por favor.”
    Will gave a quick glance over his shoulder and saw what he'd been waiting for—a rolling mountain of a man and a package coming through the back door, Fat Eddie and his contraband, Will's ticket to hell. He hadn't wanted Annie Parrish in the cantina when the deal got struck, and it looked as if he'd gotten her out in the nick of time. He certainly hadn't wanted to let go of her until she was out of Pancha's. Juanio and Luiz weren't quite as benign as he'd made out. He'd figured for a few minutes' worth of conversation, keeping her close to him was enough to keep her safe.
    He returned his attention to the street and waited until she reached the corner. Only after she was out of sightdid he turn and walk back into the bar and realize that he was still smiling. Taking Annie Parrish to Santa Maria on his boat, the
Sucuri
, wasn't going to be a problem. A paying passenger going upriver was always welcome. Wanting to take her farther than just up the river, however, might be a problem, and nothing could have surprised him more.
    He didn't remember sopping-wet ragamuffins as being his particular type, but he couldn't deny that Dr. Parrish had held his interest. Fortunately, he'd heard enough about her to be cautious. As he recalled, it had been her lover that she'd shot.

CHAPTER 2
     
    T HREE DAYS, ANNIE TOLD HERSELF . It's only three days to Santa Maria. What could happen in three days?
    Not much, she assured herself.
    Or apocalypse.
    “Get a grip,” she muttered, cinching up a set of plant press frames in her hut on the RBC grounds. Three days on the Rio Negro wasn't going to get them anywhere near gold-mining territory. Logic alone told her nothing was going to happen with Travers's
garimpeiros
on the way to Santa Maria.
    Unless Juanio and Luiz were going with them.
    She stopped in mid-cinch, thinking she couldn't possibly have gotten herself into that much trouble in one short afternoon.
    “Nah,” she decided, shaking her head and finishing up the frames. Whatever kind of “entertainment” Travers had going with the
garimpeiros
, he and the miners weren't boat-ride friendly.
    She set the first press aside and started on the next. Most of the cargo for the trip upriver was already stacked outside her hut, one of the thatched-roof buildings Gabriela euphemistically described as a guest house. Annie just had a couple of things left to finish. When Travers pulled up at the dock, she wanted to be ready to load everything on the boat. She'd wasted enough time in Manaus.
    She knew it was a miracle the Brazilians had even let her back into