The Lioness Read Free

felt the impact. Like a hard
electric jolt, straight to the heart.
    She
started to mouth the words back to him in the chorus and swayed with the music.
She was smiling, really smiling for the first time since leaving him in Banda
Aceh, six weeks earlier. She felt the tears stream down her face.  She knew she
was a goner. He had her, there were to be no survivors tonight, not that she
cared.
    Ty
stopped playing and held the last note, watching her face and seeing the tears
but mixed with her sweet, sweet Rose smile. She was his dream come true and he
had found her. It had taken some doing. She had been traveling around but when
he had heard about the book and the exhibit he knew she’d be here. Also, he
knew she loved Cambodia and she had been working straight since Banda Aceh so
she needed a rest.
    “Hello
Rose, I’ve missed you.”
    “Oh,
Ty, I’ve missed you too.” She reached and touched his arm and he reached up to
brush the tears that were coming down unashamed. He turned to his name being
said . The women that had come up with him were making a beeline for them and
the few that stood around the piano.
    “Oh
there you are. You are very bad, to leave us like that. We want to go out and
dance and have a good time.” Ty looked at Rose, “Sorry they kinda attached
themselves to me when I was coming in. I didn’t invite them, really. I was
here, looking for you.”
    Rose
looked into his eyes and knew deep down he was saying the truth. “I believe
you, it’s not you. Though I must say I thought maybe you had decided to go for
the gusto tonight after being in Iraq all this time.”
    He
let out a laugh and stood. “Come on Rose, the only one I want to be with
tonight is you, and only you.” She walked over to him and people parted. He
pulled her up real tight, regardless of the others who stood there.
    Looking
down into her eyes he saw the woman he had been wanting with such passion and
force that it ate away at him for weeks. He couldn’t get a decent night’s
sleep, couldn’t concentrate on his work. It had become a nightmare in Iraq. He
had become sloppy with his work and not quick on his feet when he was with the
soldiers. He knew if he didn’t take care of the problem, get it settled, he
could end up getting himself killed. He needed to know what she felt, if she
felt anything. So he had started looking for her and finally found out about
this exhibit in Phnom Penh.
    Pulling
her close, he saw her lips tremble and knew he had to get her out and away from
the crowd. She was going to need quiet and apparently she was feeling the same
way as him. “Come on baby, let’s go. I’ve got my Land Cruiser out front. We’ll
go get a bite to eat and then find a quiet spot.”
    As
they moved towards the door his former escorts came up. “We want to go, this
place too quiet.”
    Ty
looked down at Rose and then at the girls. “Sorry girls, you attached yourself
to the wrong man tonight, go find someone else, I’m taken.”
    They
snorted and said something rude in Khmer and walked off after turning and
flipping their beautifully, long, straight hair.
    “Well
I guess they won’t be part of your fan club.”
    “Honey,
I don’t have one and if I did, you would be the only one I’d want in it.” He
took her hand as they walked down the stairs and into the gathering dusk. The
breeze coming off the river met them. They stood there watching the final rays
of sun as it went down. He had wrapped his arm around her waist. Pulling her
close, he felt a peace having her next to him again. It had been too long and
he needed her. Looking down, he saw her eyes looking up at him. He felt her
sigh and knew even from the little time they had together that she was feeling
the same. They had clicked so quickly. Something came together in those first
few days that had turned into months. They had become friends, close friends,
enjoying each other’s company to the extent that when they went out to work on
a story they seemed to