“No, you stay there.” Aurelio got up. “I will go and find the doctor.”
Ridge groaned and he was just about to tell Aurelio not to bother but the man had already disappeared into the brush. He could just imagine what Lani would say when she came back and found him like this. Clumsy, that’s what she would call him, and careless. And if he answered her like he wanted to, then that would be the start to yet another argument.
By the time Aurelio came back with Lani, Ridge was back inside the tent, lying on top of the sleeping bag. His ankle hurt so much he had to grit his teeth to keep from groaning out loud.
He was in the middle of a suppressed moan when the flap of the tent was flung open and she tumbled in. “What happened?” she asked, looking more concerned than he’d expected. “Are you hurt bad?”
Ridge drew in a slow breath. “Aurelio told you what happened?”
"He said you slipped and fell.”
He grimaced. That sounded more embarrassing than how it had actually happened. "I stepped on some loose rocks and they shifted. Made me twist my ankle.”
“Oh.” She didn’t sound too impressed by his version of the story.
“Anyway,” he said, eager to cover his embarrassment, “you know what that means.”
“No. What?”
“It means I couldn’t go on that eight mile trek with you even if I wanted to. And if I’m not going, you’re not going.”
That got him a glare from Lani. “You didn’t want to go on the hike, anyway.” Then she knelt down on top of the sleeping bag beside him. “You’re right about not being in any condition to go but I’m sorry. That’s not going to stop me.”
“What are you saying? You’re planning on leaving me in this condition and going into the jungle all by yourself?”
“I won’t be by myself,” she reminded him. “Aurelio will be with me.”
“I already told you,” Ridge said through gritted teeth, “you’re not going anywhere.” He didn’t know which was more annoying now, the throbbing ache in his ankle or Lani and her stupid insistence.
“You can’t stop me,” she said, her look defiant.
“Oh, can’t I?” Before she could move his hands shot out and he grasped her by the upper arms, dragging her down on top of him. “I’ll keep you here all day and all night if I have to.”
“Hey, let go.” She was squirming on top of him now, doing more harm than good. She might not even know it but with her little body wriggling on top of him she was wakening the beast inside his pants. He was getting hard, real fast.
“Stop squirming, will you?”
“I won’t,” she said, panting as she tried to pull her arms free. “Not until you let me go.”
“You’re going to have a long wait.”
Those words seemed to incense Lani because she began to squirm anew, for at least a full minute, and then she slumped down, exhausted.
As she lay on top of him Ridge chuckled deep in his throat. Sometimes it paid to be a man with enough muscles to keep a woman in her place.
He’d just begun to get comfortable with her nestled against his chest when Lani made a move he could not have anticipated. Sneaky as a snake, she slipped her hand up under his armpit and began to tickle until he was chuckling then laughing out loud, his grip on her loosening just enough that she was finally able to wrest her arms from his grasp.
Immediately, she popped up and jumped away from him and although he tried to grab her again it was too late. “I’m sorry,” she said again as she backed away from him and out of the tent. "I’m going. I’ll leave you with water and all the supplies you’ll need. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Lani, don’t play games with me. I said you’re not going.” Ridge’s words fell on deaf ears or rather, absent ones, because by the time he got the words out Lani was gone.
Ten minutes later she was back with bottles of water, boxes of crackers, a couple of oranges and apples and some plums. “You can snack on these until we get back,” she said. “I’ll ask Aurelio to snare some game on the way back so we can fix you some dinner tonight.”
“So you’re going,” he said, still not believing it. “You’re leaving me here in my injured state?”
“Oh, you’re a big boy,” she said, giving him a wave of dismissal. “You’ll be all right. And besides, we’ll be back long before nightfall. I promise.”
Ridge gave her a sour look. “And what am I supposed to do all day?”
“I’ve got a romance novel in my backpack. It’s pretty good. One of those billionaire romance thingies.”
Ridge gave her a scathing look. “I’m supposed to entertain myself with a friggin’ romance novel for the entire day?”
“I told you, this one’s pretty good. Now I really have to get going so I can be back in good time. I’ll see you later.”
He didn’t get another word out. In a flash she was gone, leaving Ridge on his back with her sorry pile of food to one side of him and her romance novel bearing backpack to the other. Well, so much for being the man who called the shots.
After she’d gone he lay there for a good hour but then he got sick of it. There was just so much of lying still, listening to the birds in the trees, that a man could take. With a groan he rolled over onto his side, careful not to bump his injured ankle, and then he got to his knees. He crept over to the tent opening and peered out. Nobody. Nothing but the breakfast fire that was now just a pile of dead ashes and in the background, trees and bushes all around their clearing. It was so still out there he actually felt lonely. He just hoped the fact that the place was so quiet, no stray jaguar would come wandering in.
At the thought Ridge crept backwards, back into the tent, and made sure to pull his Bowie knife from under his pillow and slide it into the waistband of his trousers. If a jaguar was going to attack he wanted to at least have a fighting chance.
But then that thought led to another. Lani was out there in the jungle with only an old man to protect her. Godammit. Why did that woman have to be so stubborn? If he could have walked he would have been there by her side. She knew that. Why couldn’t she have let well enough alone and just stayed at camp with him?
Two more hours passed and all Ridge could do was keep glancing at his watch. Had they reached their destination by now? Were they on their way back? His chest tightening with each thought of Lani out there in the woods, Ridge crawled to the tent flap and peered out again, knowing full well that they wouldn’t be back yet, but just hoping for a miracle.