Unzipping his cargo pants, Gage freed himself, kissed her deeply as he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her arms slid around his neck. He carried her across the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, adjusting her so she straddled him, a knee on each side, spreading her open for his touch.
Abby’s head fell back as he began to stroke her, knowing what she liked and exactly the way she liked it. She was ready for him, as she always was, her body hot and slick as he positioned his hard length and slid himself inside.
Abby moaned, and her hold tightened around his neck.
“Easy . . .” Refusing to be rushed, he gripped her hips to hold her in place and began to move, slowly at first, then driving deep, taking what he wanted, giving her what she wanted too.
Abby clung to him, her long, fiery hair shifting across her back, her body moving in perfect rhythm with his.
He wanted to tell her how good she felt, how she matched him better than any woman he had ever known. He might have, if it weren’t for the power it would give her, a power he couldn’t afford to concede.
“Hold on, baby,” he said, slamming into her faster, deeper, harder. “Stay with me.” The breeze from the ceiling fan washed over him, but it did nothing to cool his blood.
Abby arched her back, taking even more of him, and he felt her tighten around him. Fierce pleasure washed through him, hot and intense, drawing every muscle taut. His release came hard and fast, matching hers as they reached the peak together.
Long seconds passed, yet his heart still hammered wildly. Abby pressed her lips against his sweat-slick skin right over his heart, and something shifted inside him, expanded into an emotion he had never felt before. Something he couldn’t afford to feel.
Something he refused to allow.
What was it about this woman that touched him in a way no other woman had? Whatever it was, he couldn’t permit his feelings to grow any deeper. There was no place for a woman in the life he led. He had learned that lesson before.
Whatever his feelings, he needed to end them now, before it was too late.
Unwrapping her arms from around his neck, he lifted her away and settled her naked on the bed. He went into the bathroom to clean up, came out and pulled on a fresh T-shirt, then headed for the door.
“You’re going out?” Abby asked. “Where are you going?” She looked beautiful, with the faint sheen of moisture on her skin, her shiny hair a tangle around her shoulders. He wanted to turn back, go over to the bed, and take her again.
“I need some air,” he said. “Why don’t you nap for a while? I won’t be gone long.” And he wouldn’t go far. He didn’t trust the men in the cantina.
Worse yet, now he knew he couldn’t trust himself. Not when it came to his feelings for Abby. He needed to put things back the way they were before, keep the physical part of their relationship, but separate everything else.
It wouldn’t be easy, but Gage was determined.
With a last glance at Abby, he stepped out into the heat and closed the door.
The heavy metal click felt like a lock closing off his heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PITCH DARKNESS CLOAKED THE DENSE FOREST AS THE HUMMER drove along the narrow, overgrown lane leading to the ruins of the old hacienda, once the Peralta plantation. Twin yellow circles shining from the headlights were all that illuminated their way.
As before, Mateo and Edge rode in the vehicle in front of them. They’d been in the area to get a feel for what they would be facing, though not to the ruins themselves. Secrets had a way of getting out.
Abby turned on her cell phone and pulled up the satellite map she had downloaded before they’d left Denver. Until now, they hadn’t used their phones since the incident in Mexico City. They didn’t want to be tracked. There was no service this far out of Alux’ob. Even there, communication was spotty. But the map was already downloaded to the phone.
“We’re almost there,” Abby said, following the lines on the screen. The vehicle ahead made a turn to the right, and Gage followed. A few seconds later, a stone arch appeared in front of them, overgrown with vines and weeds. As they passed beneath the arch, she could see the road ahead curving off toward their destination.
An animal darted out in the road, panicked, turned, and scuttled away.
“Anteater,” Gage said. “Big one.” It was about five feet long, with a pointed snout and yellowish-white and black fur. “They’re nocturnal,” he added.
Abby’s heart was still racing from the near miss and seeing such an incredible animal in the wild. “So I just learned.”
“They’re actually very shy.”
“With the size of those claws, I’d rather not run into one in the forest.”
In the colored lights on the dash, she caught Gage’s smile.
They drove another quarter mile and came to a long slab of stone topped by arched columns, all that was left of the front entrance to what had once been a grand hacienda.
Ahead of them, Mateo slowed, then continued along the road, circling around the house to the back. Off to one side, outbuildings were now piles of stone covered by vines and bushes that had grown up through the cracks.
They reached what had been the rear entrance, and both vehicles pulled to a stop. They left the headlights on so they could see what remained of the hacienda. From what Abby could tell, there was nothing but stone walls two to four feet high, part of the foundation.
They climbed out of the vehicles, and Abby unrolled the drawing Gage had made from satellite views of the grounds, combined with the information King had left in the safe deposit box.
Edge walked up, and so did Mateo. “Not much left,” Edge said, his gaze tracking the shapes outlined by the headlights.
Abby spread the drawing open on the hood of the car, and Gage clicked on his long-handled flashlight to study it. His gaze went back to the remnants of the house. “Mostly, it’s just the original foundation, the perimeter stones King described.”
The old plantations were built in a similar design, much like the Hacienda San José, with a long, gallery-style front entrance, a rambling single-story residence, and gardens in the rear. According to the brochure Abby had read, there were fifteen bedrooms and suites in the Hacienda San José, probably at least an equal number here.
“How big do you think it was?” Abby asked.
“I’d say twelve to fifteen thousand square feet on the main level.”
“Plus the rooms below the house,” Abby said. “The wine cellar, food-storage chambers, and probably some servants’ quarters.”
“A lot of these old plantations had their own jail cells under the house,” Gage said. “The plantations were located far away from any town, and each estate was its own small village. According to King, in a room under the ruins is where we’ll find the gold.”
Edge studied the drawing. “I didn’t think you were planning to use heavy equipment to dig the place up.”
“I’m not,” Gage said. “King’s already found the gold—or at least that’s the premise we’re working on. So there’s an entrance somewhere we can get to without having to dig very deep.”
Abby shined her own smaller flashlight around. “The property is so overgrown, it’s going to be hard to find our way into the lower level, even with King’s instructions.”