AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I thought you were my fiancé.’ she said dully, unaware of the way his eyes hardened in the darkness, narrowing on the soft thrust of her breasts half exposed by her restless movements.
‘Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve no intention of standing in for him,’ he mocked her, withdrawing his arm and leaving her suddenly bereft. ‘You were restless during the night. You cried out in your sleep, but it wasn’t for Malcolm.’
What was he implying? That she had cried out another man’s name—another lover? How could that be?
‘I must be going soft,’ he added jeeringly, ‘and I bet I’m not the only man who’s heard you call “Daddy!” in that lonely hurt little voice. Pity you haven’t got a razor in that bag of yours.’ He had completely changed the subject before she had time to respond to his earlier taunt, the clever change of topic leaving her fuming but unable to defend herself.
He glanced swiftly at the heavy, masculine watch strapped to a hair-roughened wrist. ‘Seven. I wonder if they intend to feed us this morning. Oh, they won’t let us starve,’ he assured her as the flare from the lamp he had just lit illuminated her face. ‘There wouldn’t be any point. They’ve obviously gone to some trouble equipping this place. I wonder how often they need to get supplies. They can’t store much up here—not when everything has to be carried up manually. We’ll have to try to catch them off guard, that way we can observe their routine. No, don’t put that on,’ he commanded, removing the sweat-shirt from Tamara’s fingers as she was on the point of reaching for it.
Again her face betrayed her, and he laughed shortly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to rape you—it isn’t my scene.’
She heard sounds outside the door and the sound of the bolts being drawn back, but the agonised glance she cast Zach was ignored, so that the man entering with the tray had a clear view of her breasts covered only by the flimsy cups of her bra, the naked lust in his eyes making her blood run cold with horror, her eyes pleading mutely with Zach for protection as she remembered th
e warning the guerrilla leader had given them when he first announced that Tamara was to remain captive.
To her astonishment Zach didn’t repulse her, although it was several days before she realised why. The bulk of his body came between her and the guerrilla, shielding her from the hot, burning desire she had seen in his eyes, his arms so protective as they closed round her that this time she didn’t protest when his lips came down on hers in a briefly provocative kiss. However, she hadn’t been prepared for the hard warmth of brown fingers cupping her breast, nor for the throbbing response of her flesh as her nipples hardened in answering awareness, her whole body trembling with the onset of an emotion she refused to comprehend.
‘Good,’ Zach exclaimed with very evident satisfaction as the door closed behind their gaoler. ‘That, I think, will reinforce their belief that we’re lovers, and remind our friend of all that he’s missing.’
‘What do you mean?’ Tamara could still remember the fear that had filled her when the guerrilla looked at her; not because of any physical attributes she might have possessed which attracted him, but because it had been the look of a predatory male animal for the means of slaking his lust and she had recognised as much on a deeply instinctive fear.
Mercifully, or so she thought later, he didn’t tell her—then.
The day passed as others were to pass; some of it spent in the close confines of their cave and the rest in the main cavern with their gaolers, who gambled for small change, smoked and drank while listening to the radio they had brought with them, presumably for some mention of their kidnap.
When they had been imprisoned for three days Tamara began to lose hope that they would ever be free. Zach had made no further mention of escaping and she had come to the conclusion that he had thought better of it after considering the odds against them.
She ought to have known better.
On the fourth night of their incarceration, just as she was about to crawl into her sleeping bag, Zach said abruptly, ‘Don’t go to sleep yet. I want to talk to you.’
CHAPTER FOUR
HUNCHING her arms round her raised knees, Tamara stared at him. The beginnings of a beard shadowed his jaw. He had managed to persuade one of the guerrillas to furnish him with a razor, although he was never allowed to remove it from their presence, but by dusk each day the dark re-growth stubbled his skin, tonight as always prickling Tamara with the awareness of the intimacies she shared with him.
‘Tomorrow some of the men are going down to the main town to collect fresh supplies—I overheard them talking. The patois they use is very similar to French Creole and I was able to understand most of what they were saying. Only two men will be left behind to guard us. Tomorrow we have to escape, Tamara,’ he told her with heavy emphasis on the word ‘have’. ‘It may well be our only chance.’
‘But how can we?’ she protested. ‘There may only be two men, but they’ll both be armed. We don’t even know our way out of the caves!’
‘I know the way,’ Zach assured her tersely, ‘and as for the guards. … You do want to escape, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Very well then, listen. Tomorrow when the guard brings our breakfast I want you to distract him long enough for me to get his gun.’
‘Distract?’ Her forehead creased in a bewildered frown.
‘Oh, come on, or do you want me to spell it out for you? You’re not some unknowing little virgin, Tamara. There’s only one sure-fire way of successfully distracting him long enough for me to take him by surprise. You don’t have to let him touch you, if that’s what you’re worried about,’ he added harshly. ‘The way he’s been looking at you for the last four days, just a simple come-on from those huge grey eyes should be enough to do the trick. Especially if it’s accompanied by a little bit of sexual enticement.’
‘No! You can’t expect me to do something like that!’ Distaste mingled with fear, leaving an unpleasant taste in her mouth and a heart thudding with shock.
‘It’s the only way,’ Zach told her curtly. ‘And if we have to stay here much longer I can’t see him keeping his hands off you in any case. You heard what their leader said. It’s been weeks since they’ve been anywhere near a woman, and you can’t have missed the way he’s been looking at you.’
‘You said none of them would touch me,’ Tamara reminded him thickly.
‘I’d forgotten what sort of effect abstinence can have on men like them,’ came the dry retort. ‘Living the way they do strips away the veneer of civilisation.’
‘I can’t do it!’
