From This Day Forward (19 page)

"I'm sorry for the trouble," he said, throwing a leg over the side of the boat. "We'll bother you no further."

When Jason was settled back in the canoe, he explained the situation to his companions, who thought it all quite funny. They pushed away from the mail boat and headed back up the Rio Branco the way they'd come, back to th
e
fazenda
.

Damn her, Jason thought, irrationally angry that she hadn't done as he'd said and gotten on the boat. The small part of him that wasn't angry feared for her safety.

Why hadn't she gotten on that boat yesterday? Why hadn't he seen her, or Ines for that matter, since? What if something had happened to her?

Grabbing a paddle, Jason caught the rhythm of the others and rowed with all his might, hoping that she was alive and safe—so he could wring her neck!

The door banged loudly against the inner wall as Jason pushed it open and stepped into Caroline's sitting room. Nothing seemed amiss or out of place there, except for a bouquet of neglected orchids that drooped over the sides of their vase.

He crossed the room and attacked the door to her bedroom with the same fervor he'd used in entering the sitting room. Her bags stood in a pile just inside the door, packed and ready to go. The bed was made, the shutters and windows closed tightly.

Jason slammed the door closed and marched out onto the balcony where Socrates and his friends stood talking and laughing animatedly, obviously enjoying Jason's distress immensely.

"What do you do now?" Socrates asked.

Jason brushed past him and his men without a word.

"Ines!" he called as he crossed the courtyard to the kitchen. "Ines!"

Ines gasped and turned to face him as he stormed into the small room, her eyes wide with surprise and fear.
"Patrao,
where have you been? I am worrying-"

Jason didn't check his pace but moved toward her like a raging beast out of control. Ines shrunk away from the anger in his eyes, but there was no place to go. He was on her in seconds, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Please,
patrao
, I don't know what you mean!"

"Don't lie to me, Ines," he ground out. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. I want to know where Caroline is and I want to know now!"

Ines gazed past Jason at the curious natives who stood in the doorway. Her eyes widened as she recognized them as
Yanomami
,
the most feared people of the Amazon. She'd known about Master Jason's friendship with them, but he rarely allowed them to come to the house.

"Ines, tell me!"

"Patrao,
you are hurting me!"

Horror streaked through him and he released her immediately, stepping back from her, gazing in dismay at his hands. What was happening to him? He was walking a thin line, losing control more and more often.

"I'm sorry, Ines," he muttered, running his hands through his hair, struggling to still the intense anger that clung to him like a heavy morning mist. Was it Caroline's audacity that drove him toward unconstrained fury or was it only his father's legacy coming to the fore? Either way, he had to maintain the iron restraint he'd always practiced.

"There is a slave village," Ines was saying.

"Runaways?" Anger began to boil inside him once again, but this time he managed to defeat it. "Of all the reckless, irresponsible.... Where?"

Ines shook her head negatively, glancing past Jason at the savages who stood at the door of her kitchen, then back at Jason. "I will take you to her."

Chapter Ten

Jason squinted through
the
warm,
steady rain as he used his machete to hack through the tangled verdure. He should have put her on the boat personally. At least if he'd done so, he'd know where to find her now.

A hand grabbed his arm from behind, and he turned in time to see Ines trip over the twisted branches of a fallen tree. Reacting quickly, he grabbed her by the arm, setting her back on her feet.

"How much farther?" He shouted over the roar of the storm. The urgency to see Caroline, to make sure she was all right, nearly drove him to madness. And Ines's assurances had done nothing to curb his anxiety.

"Not far!" Ines replied, slicking her wet hair off of her face.

He turned back to the trail before him, chopping through the lush jungle vegetation with a vengeance, spurred by a growing anger. Ines should have tried
to stop her, and failing that, she should have come to him immediately. As for Caroline, he was beginning to realize that her daring knew no bounds. The fact that she had had the temerity to defy him was bad enough, but on top of that, she'd gone and hidden herself away in the jungle.

What he wanted to know more than anything was why. Did she have any idea what could happen to her if the slavers found them?

He shuddered at the thought and redoubled his efforts, pushing himself and those with him unmercifully.

Ines had been damned uncooperative about the whole situation. "Ask
Senhora
,"
she'd said. "I will show you where, but you must promise not to be angry."

"I'm already angry!" he'd bellowed.

Angry? What an insufficient word to describe what he was feeling. Right now, he'd like to choke her, as soon as he was satisfied that she was all right.

The rain gave way to blue sky as the jungle opened into a slight clearing. Crude huts stood in a circle around a grassy square filled with the excited squeals of Indian children chasing a
javali
, a pig
-
like animal with long, stiff hair, in a circle.

Slaves.

The plantations were probably in Minas Gerais or Mato Grosso hundreds of miles to the south. The runaways had come here to the Amazon jungle in hopes of eluding their masters.

Most of the structures in the tiny village were thatched huts, but two more permanent buildings stood at opposite ends of the square. Obviously this settlement had been here for some time.

"How could you have let her come here?" Jason asked, his tone accusing as his gaze burned into Ines's guilty eyes. With the exception of murder, there was no greater crime in Brazil than aiding runaway slaves. Man or woman, the penalty was imprisonment and loss of property. He'd risked it by leaving food and supplies where they could find them, but he'd never visited their village, and he didn't like being here now.

"How could I have stopped her?" Ines asked meaningfully.

Yes, how indeed? Once Caroline made up her mind to do something, she was like a force of nature.

Slowly men and women began emerging from the huts, eyeing him and the
Yanomami
mistrustfully. Most of them seemed to relax when they saw Ines step forward, but one man remained
suspicious
.

He walked toward Jason, his manner arrogant, his movements wary. Nearly as tall as Jason, he presented a threatening demeanor with his muscular frame and uncompromising glare.

"My name is Jason Sinclair," Jason said in Portuguese. "I believe my wife is here."

The black man gazed at Ines, who nodded almost imperceptibly. When his eyes returned to Jason, they had lost most of their fire. He appeared suddenly weary, almost vulnerable. "I am Pocedo. Follow me."

They walked toward the thatched building at the far end of the village. Jason became aware of things he hadn't noticed before—the lack of activity in the village, the sound of coughing and moaning. He could smell the sickness, and his stomach churned to think of Caroline here so close to death and disease.

There was no door, only an animal skin covering the opening. The large black man pushed it aside and allowed Jason to enter first. What met his gaze chilled him to the bone. Hammocks had been strung throughout the cavernous room, hammocks filled with suffering humanity, some so still they might have been dead.

She stood beside a hammock, whispering soothingly to its inhabitant. Her soft voice pierced his heart and set the blood pounding through his veins. Part of him wanted to shake her, to berate her for disobeying him. Another part of him wanted to rush to her, to take her in his arms and tell her how empty he'd felt inside when he'd thought he'd lost her.

Sensing their presence, she turned to stare at them with wide-eyed surprise, the signs of fatigue showing plainly on her face.

"Jason! What are you doing here? Who are these... these..."

Fear and fury and a wild joy coursed through him, causing his body to shudder with the effort to control the bombardment of emotions, to keep them from showing in his eyes lest she realize the depth of his concern, and use it against him.

This fragile woman presented a greater danger to him than any raging torrent or pestilence. The jungle could destroy his body, while Caroline and only Caroline could destroy his soul if he gave her the power to do so. It terrified him as nothing else in his life ever had.

So intent was he on his wife, Jason had forgotten the
Yanomami
were with him until Caroline averted her gaze from the naked men who had crowded into the building. Their bodies, like his, were painted with red and black dots and geometric designs.

What a shock they must present to her. He didn't know how many Indians Caroline had encountered on her trip to th
e
fazenda
,
but he knew she would not have had any contact with the
Yanomami
.
They were far too cautious for that. They stayed deep in the jungle, far from the white man. The sight of half a dozen naked, painted savages should have terrified her, but he read no fear in her expression, only embarrassment and surprise.

"Natives," he said,
"
Yanomami
.
And they've come with me to find my runaway wife."

He stepped closer, and Caroline's face registered further shock when she got a good look at him. He'd also forgotten the red dots that covered his own face and body. He knew they stood out much more strikingly against his white skin.

An uncertain laugh escaped her lips and she stifled it immediately. "I'm sorry. It's just that... What happened?"

"What are you doing here?" He cut straight to the matter at hand.

"Whoever they are, they shouldn't be here," Caroline warned, indicating the short, brown Indians with a nod of her head.

"Why? What's wrong with these people?" Jason asked with an instinctive dread.

"Measles."

The word sent a tremor through his body. Diseases had decimated some of the largest tribes in the Amazon. Because of their isolation, the
Yanomami
had been spared so far, but neither had they been exposed to European diseases enough to develop any measure of resistance.

Wheeling around, he spoke to Socrates in his native language. "These people have a disease that could be deadly to your people. Get your men out of here immediately and return to the
yano.
Thank you for your help."

Socrates nodded, smiling, "She is very plain, Man from Somewhere Else. If you decide to send her away again, remember I have many sisters."

Jason smiled at his friend's offer and his inaccurate assessment of Caroline. Beauty was indeed in the eye of the beholder. Right now, Jason didn't think he'd ever seen anything as lovely as his wife.