Marching Orders. Delores Fossen

hacienda had obviously been abandoned for months. Rafe fought his way through the litter of bashed furniture and debris to get to the stairs. He stopped at the landing and glanced down at the glass-strewn foyer. No sign of gunmen, but someone had shot out the windows and ripped off the double doors. The muggy breeze stirred what was left of a pair of ghostly white curtains. Just curtains.

      Maybe.

      Just outside the doorway, he saw a shadow of motion that had him holding his tongue.

      Silently repositioning his weapon, Rafe waited. A second. Then two. Before he saw the man step into the foyer. A rebel fighter with an angry-looking machete and a semiautomatic. And he had his attention focused on the door that led to the cellar. Maybe the guy had actually seen Anna run in there. It didn’t matter. There was no way Rafe would let him get to her.

      No way.

      The man looked up. A split-second glance as he tried to take aim. It was the last glance or aim he’d ever attempt. Rafe took him out with two shots to the head. The rebel fell into a heap on the floor.

      “I just lost an admirer,” Rafe reported to Rico.

      Rafe barreled down the wide spiraling steps and made his way to the arch-shaped door beneath. “It’s me—Rafe,” he called out. “Open up, Anna!”

      Almost immediately he heard her footsteps on the cellar stairs. With each one, his heart was right in his throat. There was a shuffle of movement before she opened the scarred door a fraction.

      Rafe came face-to-face with a handgun.

      Anna peered out at him, her gaze combing the foyer. Relief raced through him. And a whole host of other emotions that he didn’t want to take the time to analyze.

      “You came,” she whispered, her voice shattering. She lowered her weapon. “I can’t believe you came.”

      He pushed her back into the cellar and kicked the door shut, barricading it with the two-by-four and equipment bag already on the stairs. “Of course, I came. I’m an Air Force Combat Rescue Officer, darling. A highly trained CRO. Saving beautiful photographers is what I do best.”

      She made a soft sound of frightened laughter, slipped her firearm into her pocket and caught on to him.

      Rafe was about to tell her how ticked off he was that she hadn’t evacuated with the other journalists, but Anna stopped him. She latched her arms around him, and her mouth came to his. One kiss, and he forgot all about chewing her out.

      Hell, he forgot how to breathe.

      All Rafe knew was that he’d never, never wanted a kiss as much as he wanted that one.

      Anna broke the mouth-to-mouth contact but held on tight. Rafe pushed the damp strands of honey-colored hair from her face and looked down at her. Her dark eyes shimmered with tears. Outside, the sounds of the fight began to fade, a clear indication that the Alpha Team was closing in.

      “Anna’s alive and well?” Rico asked into Rafe’s earpiece.

      Before he could answer, Rafe had to clear away the lump that’d settled in his throat. “Affirmative. Are we secure yet?”

      “Only the area immediately surrounding the hacienda. Colonel Shaw’s arranging transport for Anna, but you’re looking at two hours, maybe three. I’ll give you a rendezvous point and time when I have it. Hold your positions until further orders.”

      “Copy.” Rafe clicked off the audio portion of his communicator. Two hours, maybe three. He could have waited weeks now that he knew Anna was all right.

      “How did you find out I was here?” she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder.

      “The Alpha Team’s doing some jungle maneuvers so I’ve been keeping track of you since you arrived in Bogotá on assignment three days ago.”

      Anna gave him a considering look. “And with all the jungles in South America, you just happened to choose the remote village of Monte de Leon for those maneuvers?”

      Rafe decided it was best to avoid answering that truthfully. “In a way.”

      A troubled sigh left her mouth, but she didn’t ask for an explanation. Which was a good thing. He couldn’t tell her about the classified mission that involved the Alpha Team, or the fact that he’d made sure he was close by in case something went wrong.

      Rafe led her down the narrow steps and into the heart of the cellar. It was clammy, and the only light came from a bread-loaf size ventilation window at the back. He moved them as far away from that as he could, and with her snuggled in his arms, he sank onto a crumpled blanket in the corner.

      “Soon we’ll both be on our way back to Texas. Promise. Everything will be all right,” he assured her.

      Rafe leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. It might have been just a brief kiss if she hadn’t made a sound of relief, and pleasure. A throaty, feminine sound that sent a trickle of fire through his blood.

      So, he kissed her, really kissed her, and deepened it when she responded.

      Their bodies moved together, completing the intimate embrace. She wound her arms around him. Rafe did the same. Until they were plastered against each other.

      Not good.

      She latched on to his shoulders when he started to move away. “Is there any chance those rebels can get into this place?”

      “Don’t worry. We’re safe.”

      Something he couldn’t quite distinguish went through her eyes, and before he could figure out what, her mouth came to his again. Rafe felt the difference in her kiss. Not fear. Not this. This was all fire and need.

      “Anna,” he warned when she lay back onto the blanket. If he wanted to keep things in check, this probably shouldn’t continue.

      But it did.

      Anna caught on to the front of his uniform and pulled him down with her. The logical part of his brain yelled that this would be hellish torture, but the rest of him didn’t seem to care. While still holding on to his weapon, he buried his other hand in her hair and took her mouth as if it were his for the taking.

      Rafe kissed her chin. Her neck. And the tender flesh that he found in the vee opening of her shirt. Anna arched against him, whispering his name.

      When her leg brushed against the front of his pants, she stiffened slightly, obviously noticing that he was a dozen steps past basic foreplay. She didn’t pull away, though. Not that he gave her much of a chance. Rafe knew this couldn’t go where his body wanted it to go, but he wasn’t ready to stop just yet.

      While he kept up the assault on her neck, he opened the buttons on her shirt. One at a time. Slowly. As he bared her skin, he dropped kisses along the way until he reached her bra. It wasn’t much of a barrier, a little swatch of pale-colored lace. He eased it down and took a moment to admire the view.

      Thankfully, there was just enough light that he could see her. She was beautiful. And he didn’t mean just her breasts and her body. Rafe stared down at her face and wondered what the hell he’d ever done to deserve her.

      He lowered his head and brushed his tongue against one of her tightened nipples. She clamped on to her bottom lip, but not before she moaned with pleasure. He hadn’t especially needed that kind of encouragement, but it sped up his plans a little. He drew her nipple into his mouth.

      Anna’s grip tightened around him. She arched her back and forced him closer. Rafe feasted. First one breast and then the other.

      She stirred restlessly. Seeking. She pressed her lower body to his and had him seeing double when she moved against him in the most intimate kind of way that a woman could move against a man.

      “I’ve been in this building for what seemed like an eternity,” she whispered. “Thinking about you. About us. About how fragile life is. I want to be with you, Rafe, and I don’t want to wait any longer.”