The Price of Pleasure Read Free

the jungle, the air grew cloudy with mist. The leaves that slapped at his chest were slick.
    A waterfall of mythic size roared into view, the driving water deafening on the black rocks below. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied her white clothing amid the green.
    Amid the green, across the rushing river.
    â€œVictoria,” he bellowed. Amazingly, she slowed. “I’m here to rescue you.”
    She turned and marched into a clearing. Putting her hands to her mouth, she yelled back at him. The words were incomprehensible over the water. “Bloody hell!” She’d have had no better luck hearing him.
    Seeing no way around it, he ran to the bank and dove in, swimming furiously across the sweeping currents. Choking water, scarcely able to breathe, he hauled his big frame onto the opposite shore and staggered forward. He spotted her ahead, but as he returned to an agonizing run, he knew there was no way to catch her, no way to gain. Then he saw it, a chance.
    She was following the path—he could cut through the brush separating them and intercept her. He veered left, hurtling a lazy palm, gaining already.
    Then, strangely, he saw his feet—above his head. Right before he felt the first punch of earth as he plummeted down a ravine.
    Even as he dropped, helpless to stop himself, he knew she’d led him here on purpose. When he caught her…He tumbled one last time and landed on his back so hard, the impact knocked the air from his lungs.
    Before he could focus his eyes, she stood over him, prodding his hip with a stick, sunlight through the canopy haloing her hair. She tilted her head. “Why were you trying to catch me?”
    He fought for breath, fought to speak, but only managed wheezing sounds. He could see her blond brows knit and her lips part to demand “Why?” once more, but she heard his men crashing toward them. She looked back at him, running her eyes over him, thoroughly, slowly, until she leaned in closer to taunt, “Next time you try to run me down, Sailor, I’ll drop you off a cliff.”
    She turned to stride away. He lunged over onto his front and sucked in a roar of air, breathing in the moisture from the plants enmeshing him. Coughing violently, he reached out a hand, wanting to stop her.
    But she didn’t look back. An iguana scuttled in her path, hissed at her, and deepened its stripes aggressively. She hissed back and disappeared into a black-green wall of brush.
    Â 
    Though she was loath to show it, Tori Dearbourne’s heart hurt from fear as she plunged, arms raised above her, through foliage so thick it was like wading through water. She could hear the band of sailors, hear them hooting and laughing, slashing through the undergrowth behind her. She shuddered. Just like the last batch to land here.
    No, at least they’d acted like friends, even saviors, before their heinous attack. Now, this towering giant, with his fierce eyes, hadn’t even waited for the boat to reach shore before he charged like a lion after her, then pawed and ripped at her clothing.
    Her fear beckoned worry as well. She just couldn’t afford fear, and Lord knew she should be immune to it by now. Fate had tossed her about so much that that part of her simply should have withered away.
    At least she hadn’t appeared as terrified as she was; no, she’d just coldly made sure that if he attempted to cut her off, he’d take a spill for his troubles. She’d yelled a warning. For the tenth time, she told herself he’d chosen his own path.
    All she’d planned for this morning was to check a trap in the shallows. A simple, routine chore. She’d been intent on reaching the waterline and rushing back to the canopy, avoiding the burning sun as one would run in from the rain, and hadn’t exactly expected company after so many years….
    A rebounding branch slapped at her thigh, startling her with its force, the pain cutting through her