Island Heat (A Sexy Time Travel Romance With a Twist) (21 page)

He dragged me across the grounds near the cave, and despite my protests, through the woods. I fought, kicking and screaming the entire time, but it didn’t do much good – Bgha ignored any and all hits from my fists and the other cavemen that surrounded us made sure that I kept moving, no matter how much I lagged behind. When I fell down completely in an effort to thwart him, he struck me in the temple, so hard that stars flew and the world weaved crazily around me.

Blinded with pain, dazed and confused, I didn’t notice when we stopped at first. Rough hands grabbed my wrists and tied cords to them, so tight the tips of my fingers began to tingle. My second hand was jerked outward and lashed as well, and it was then that I realized what they were doing.

We were back in the clearing, my wrists lashed to each one of the posts that we’d seen, and I was trapped. I jerked at my wrists again, ignoring the vibration of pain that it shot through my arm, but it was no use. They were lashed tight, and I couldn’t get away.

Bgha slid around me, his hands touching my legs. “
Cgo na meh
,” he said slyly, looking up at me and putting his hand on my leg.

The message was clear. If I wanted to behave, I could go home with him. I sent him a clear message of my own, kicking at him and yelling an obscenity.

Bgha barked something else at me, then turned to his followers. “
Cho sayn
,” he bellowed. “
Cho sayn
!”

They repeated his words, and as I watched, they brought a feast of half-eaten dead animals from around the cave and laid them at my feet.

“Ew, gross!” I kicked at the corpses, scattering them as far away as I could, but they neatly stacked them out of my reach, repeating “Cho sayn” over and over again.

Bgha continued to smirk at me, watching the ceremony.

My skin began to crawl as they ignored me, busily intent on laying the half-eaten carcasses in a perfect circle around me. What was this, some kind of ceremony? Was it enough to frighten me, and then they’d move me to the pit soon enough? I glanced over at it, on the far end of the clearing, and tightened my lips. Well, if the others had endured it for a month, I could certainly endure it for a day or so, until Salvador got here.

Just thinking about him brought tears to my eyes. No doubt he was frantic with worry over my well-being. Either that, or he was furious at me. I bit my lip at that. I hoped he wasn’t going to stay away an extra day or two just to teach me a lesson.

Thump thump thump thump.

I froze, my heart clenching high in my throat. I glanced around at the trees at the far end of the clearing, but I didn’t see anything. Still, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was never a coincidence.

The cavemen erupted into shrieks of glee, scattering to the wind like errant children. Bgha looked over at me one last, smug time, and then ran as well, his spear clutched in hand.

“Hey!” I called after him. “Let me go! The T-Rex is coming!”

But he didn’t look back. Instead, he melted into the underbrush, leaving me alone with nothing but a bunch of dead animals.

Thump thump thump thump.

I froze in place, hoping that if I didn’t move, he’d never notice I was there and would continue on his merry little way. I shut my eyes and prayed fervently that he wasn’t going to appear behind me, because then I’d never see it coming.

Thump thump.

Then came the roar of angered, primal outrage, so close my teeth chattered. My eyes flew open, and I saw the T-Rex, standing across the clearing, tail swishing like an angry cat.

He was coming for me.

I screamed, then. It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, or something that would get me results, but all I could think about was getting away, and I screamed and screamed and jerked at my bonds.

They held tight. Of course they would. Life was not fair – never fair – and it was about to be over. Frightened tears rolled down my face, and my screams died to a choked sob as the tyrannosaur slowly turned my way, sniffing the air.

Maybe it’d be fast. Maybe he’d eat me whole, and Salvador would never see the half-eaten body parts sure to be left behind. Maybe he wouldn’t cry for me. Maybe Susie would take my place, and he’d be happy with her like he was with me. A fierce stab of jealousy shot through me at the thought. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

“Diana!
Belleza
! Don’t move!”

Oh, that sweet,
glorious
voice. My eyes flew open and I scanned the clearing. “Salvador?”

“Don’t move,” he called again, and as I watched, his lean, tanned body stepped out in front of the tyrannosaur, sword in one hand and spear in the other.

If I thought I’d been afraid before, my heart stopped cold in my chest at the sight.

He was so small up against the large tyrannosaur – he barely cleared the stunted front paws. The jaws were massive, though, and they snapped at him as he approached.

“Salvador, no,” I cried, jerking at my bonds and writhing desperately. I didn’t want him to risk his life for me.

It didn’t matter what I said. He stepped in front of the creature and held out his sword, like a knight readying for battle.

The creature leaned in and bellowed at him, gaping jaws showing the dagger-like teeth, and I cringed.

Salvador didn’t flinch, though. Instead, he threw the spear at that gaping mouth.

It hit the mark, and the creature’s jaws snapped shut on the spear. The end splintered off, but the rest of it was firmly lodged in his cheek, and as I watched, the T-Rex shook his head back and forth, trying to dislodge the painful sting. He roared again, tiny fore-claws batting at his mouth, and shook his head.

So engrossed in watching this, I didn’t notice that Salvador had ran to my side until his hands touched mine, and he began to saw at my bonds.

“Salvador,” I said, sobbing his name. “What are you doing here?”

“Rescuing my bride,” he said tersely, glancing over at the dinosaur as it lashed its head from side to side. “She has trouble staying put.”

The first of my hands was free, and I jerked it clean, flexing my fingers. My next one was free instants later, and I nearly collapsed onto Salvador. I felt this insane urge to kiss him and hug him and make love to him right there, but the grim look on his face stopped me, as did the angry roar of the tyrannosaur to the side.

We both turned. The tyrannosaur had shaken the spear free, and was now lurching forward again. “Quick,” Salvador said, jerking me with him.

We ran to the far side of the pit. The tyrannosaur moved toward it, and then started to move to the side. We moved in the opposite direction, careful to keep the pit between us. As it circled, we circled in time with it.

“What do we do?” I said to him, keeping close.

“We wait,” Salvador said, sword at the ready.

I didn’t know what we were waiting for, only that I had to keep pace with Salvador or else we’d be T-Rex kibble. So when he pulled me forward, I followed.

We circled like this for quite some time, and when I was beginning to tire and grew dizzy, the tyrannosaur lunged. I fell backward with a tiny yelp, just as Salvador’s sword slashed down. The whole world seemed to fall and tumble at the same time, and the next thing I knew, Salvador had scooped me up off the ground and was running out of the clearing.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked over his jostling shoulder. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was half-stuck in the ground, one of his legs trapped in the pit as he bellowed and bellowed over and over again. He thrashed his body, unable to get up or roll forward to free himself. I saw the long, shiny blade of Salvador’s sword jutting from the creature’s side. “Your sword,” I murmured, clutching my lovely conquistador tighter to me.

“He can keep it,” Salvador replied, his arms tightening around me as he ran. “Do you promise to never leave the camp without me again?”

I buried my face in his neck. “How about if I promise never to try and rescue anyone without your help?”

“I agree.” He paused, readjusting me against his side, then slung me over his shoulder. “I’m sorry I did not believe you.”

“I don’t care about that,” I said. “It doesn’t matter. I love you, Salvador.”

“I love you too, Diana. Never leave me again.” His fingers tightened on my legs so painfully that I winced, an indication that he felt much more strongly than his calm, easy words suggested.

“I won’t. I promise. We’re in this together from now on.”

“I see white,” Mr. Wingarde said. “I think it’s a boat.”

It was early in the morning, a good week or two after we’d returned from rescuing the others. Mr. Wingarde and Susie were well on the way to recovery, though they were both too thin and tended to scare easily. Susie had taken to Eustace’s attentions like a starving woman takes to bread, and I rarely saw the two of them separated. They were, even now, huddled at the far side of the cave, cleaning the food for the noon meal today and whispering to each other. As I watched, Eustace reached out and fingered a lock of Susie’s golden hair, and she giggled.

“It’s a ship, I tell you,” Mr. Wingarde said, sounding annoyed. “Doesn’t anyone in this love-infested cave pay attention to me?”

“I’m sure it looks like a boat,” Olivia said cheerfully from near the fire, but didn’t bother to get up from her sewing. She was busy making Eustace and Susie a thicker blanket for their small cave, the scraps from my old skirt readily pieced into the existing fabric.

Susie looked up from where she was peeling fruit over one of the helmet-bowls, her attention momentarily drawn from Eustace’s ministrations. “What do you mean, a ship?”

Mr. Wingarde rolled back the palm canopy and pointed off in the distance. “I mean what I said,” he said irritably. “I see white. I think it’s a sail. It’s got to be a ship or a boat of some sort. Perhaps it’s a rescue party.”

Eustace looked at Susie with a look akin to dread, and got to his feet, heading over to Mr. Wingarde’s side. I followed close behind, wiping my hands - I’d been curing hides for our bed, and that was messy work – and heading over to see.

The shoreline was little more than a blue and yellow ribbon from our vantage-point in the cave, and I idly scanned the forest below instead, looking for a familiar tawny head, waiting to see the flashing smile of my conquistador as he headed in with the day’s food. Maybe he had one of the fat island lizards, I thought, my mouth watering at the thought. The meat was so pale and tender.

When Mr. Wingarde pointed again, though, my attention was drawn away from the trees, and I put a hand to my eyes to shield them. Sure enough, on the horizon there was the faintest glimpse of a triangle of white, and then it vanished again. “It is a ship,” I said, excitement leaking into my voice. “Oh my god! A ship!” I looked over at Susie and Olivia in happiness. “We can leave!”

But while Susie’s eyes shone with happiness, I noticed a singular sort of dread in Olivia’s eyes. She smiled at me, briefly, and then went back to her sewing. “I imagine we’ll need to check it out when Salvador returns,” she said, shooting Eustace a meaningful look.

He said nothing, merely returning to Susie’s side.

I wondered at the oddly pensive air in the cave. This should be a time of happiness, not worry – we were about to be
rescued
.

The heavy mood in the cave lingered, even when Salvador returned. He dropped his kill off at the fire and immediately moved to me, sweeping me up in a long, thorough kiss that I was happy to give him.

“I’ve missed you,
belleza
,” he said against my lips. “Did you miss me?”

“Always,” I said, sliding my hands around his neck and leaning against him. I grinned like a lovesick fool. “Did Eustace tell you the news?”

“There’s a ship on the shore,” Eustace said flatly.

Salvador had something akin to the same reaction. He stiffened against me, then looked down at my face with a heartbreakingly tender look. “Then we must go and check things out, eh,
belleza
? Perhaps there will be more survivors.”

“Or perhaps they’re here to rescue us, fools,” Mr. Wingarde said with a sneer.

Eustace glowered at him, and Olivia shot him a concerned look. Mr. Wingarde was the one unhappy dark spot in our otherwise cozy little cave. Susie and I tried to help around the ‘house’ and offered to do chores, but all Mr. Wingarde did was sit around and complain, and it bothered all of us.

“Come, let us go and examine it for ourselves.” Salvador detangled my arms from around his neck, and he gestured at Olivia. “Pack the water-skins and let us bring some dried food for a long journey.” He looked over at Mr. Wingarde. “Just in case.”

We gathered our things and headed out from the little cave, all of us. It was a half a day’s walk to the portion of beach that we’d seen the ship at, and, while normally our jaunts were filled with chatting and laughter, today’s walk was quiet and pensive. Only Mr. Wingarde seemed in high spirits as he led the way towards the beach, a mere step behind Salvador.

I’d been pushed back to somewhere in the middle of the train, next to Olivia, and she stopped repeatedly to give me a wan, tremulous smile.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her once, but she didn’t respond, only shook her head.

As we approached the shore, it soon became very obvious that it was, in fact, a sailboat. Mr. Wingarde let out a whoop of joy and dashed for the beach, and I found myself running after him as well.

It was a small craft, no more than twelve feet long, with the name of ‘C-Spryte’ peeling off the back of it. It had beached itself on the shore by some miracle of the tide, but didn’t seem to be any worse for the wear other than that.

The small craft was entirely deserted.

Curious, our small group crawled all over the boat, looking for people, or clues as to where they might have gone. The only thing we were able to notice was that the sail itself was completely soaked with sea-water and the controls were water-damaged.

“It is always like this,” Salvador admitted to me. “Sometimes we find a ship, but never anyone else. It’s like it’s been swallowed by the ocean and spit out for us to find.”