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“Old lady at home makes that salve,” he told her. “Bastards caught me last year, just about tore my eyeballs out before I escaped. When I went home on leave, she made the salve and made me promise to keep it with me. ”
“Kentucky,” she whispered as the helicopter swept overhead.
“Lake Cumberland. ” He gently touched the scratches on her face with the salve.
She was a slender woman. Dirt caked her hair and smeared her face, but he bet she was a beauty before Nassar and his men got hold of her.
“You’re New England. ” He nodded at her accent. “Damn pretty area. Damned pretty girls. ”
Her smile was tired. “There’s one less now. ”
He sincerely doubted that. “Did they rape you?”
He was surprised at the fury that threatened to drown his common sense. Of course they raped her. They were known for it.
She shook her head and grimaced mockingly. “They didn’t. ”
“Who did?” He smeared the salve over her swollen lips as he caught the emphasis.
“Nassar has some interesting toys. ” She grimaced. “But he was tired of using them. His little buddies were going to do the deed when he left. Thanks for the timing by the way. ”
Natches sat back on his haunches and listened carefully for noise outside. There were no caves in this area. The next hill over had several. The area he had chosen was no more than a flat, uninteresting gorge. Nothing but some scrappy foliage and dead brush. The perfect place for a hole. They would check the area, but they would be more eager to hit the caves a mile away.
“Faisal, your goat herder friend,” he explained softly. “He saw Nassar bring you in. He’s also got a handy-dandy military shortwave and an American Army sergeant for a buddy who taught him a little bit of code. That code caught me on my way back. I side-tracked to rescue you. All the guys at home are gonna be slapping my back for this one. I might even get a street named after me. ”
Her smile was slower. Dazed. She was slipping away from him and he couldn’t allow that. “Faisal’s a good kid,” she whispered, her head nodding to the side.
“Wake up there, girl. ”
“Chaya. My name is Chaya. ” Her voice was soft, sweet. He liked her voice.
Damned pretty name for a damned pretty woman. He touched her cheek again.
“Talk to me, Chay. Tell me where you’re hurt. I need to fix as much as I can just in case we have to run. ”
“Feet. Bruised ribs, possible concussion. No internal bleeding, no broken bones. ”
She was drifting away from him.
Natches leaned in and touched her lips with his. Her head jerked back as she gasped. But her hands reached out for him, her fingers—slender, fragile fingers—clenching his wrists, tightening, as though she were afraid to let go of him, before she did just that. Slowly. Hesitantly.
“There, awake now?” He moved to her feet, pulling one into his lap as he dragged the medical kit closer.
“Why did you do that?” She sounded shocked, but awake, aware.
“My kisses are potent,” he bragged shamelessly, desperate to keep her grounded and aware. “They wake all the girls up. ”
He used a penlight to check her feet carefully, always listening, always tracking the sound of the helicopter overhead and the vehicles now moving through the ravines.
He peeked over the edge of the hole but couldn’t see anything moving near enough to be deemed a threat.
He smoothed the salve over her feet, then pulled his shirt and T-shirt off. He tore the T-shirt into strips, padded her feet, then wrapped them with stretch gauze.
“All the girls like your kisses, do they?” She still sounded awake.
“They beg for my kisses. ” It was nothing less than the truth, but as he stared at this woman, so strong, so determined, he wondered at the women he had known before. Would any of them have found the strength to make it this far? And he knew they wouldn’t have. But this one, this one would never join in the Mackay games as the others had.
“Conceited. ” Her smile was tired, and worry lashed at him.
