Morgan's Mercenaries: Heart of Stone (16 page)

“Hey,” he soothed as he leaned forward and once more grazed the crown of her head, “don’t even buy into that stuff right now.” Maya barely opened her eyes, and he saw tears glimmering in the depths of them. His heart contracted. Sliding off the stool, Dane leaned over the rail. Framing her face with his hands, he said quietly, “Listen to me for once, will you? We’ve got two D models sitting out there. They’re more than a match for the Kamovs. Just as soon as we can get your pilots retrained in them, you’re going to have
four
aircraft that can combat anything Faro’s got to throw against us out there. Okay?”

All her fears rose to the surface. Maya fought the heat of the tears in her eyes. When Dane gently framed her face, a sob worked its way up her slender throat. Mouth moving, she fought not to cry. How incredibly gentle he was with her. How sensitive to her needs right now. As his hands left her face, her tears drifted down her cheeks. He was smiling down at her, his eyes
burning with a tenderness she’d never seen before. Reaching out, Dane carefully removed the trail of tears with his thumbs. His touch was so fleeting, and Maya found herself starved for more of whatever he was feeding her right now. Maybe it was her present medical condition that made her excruciatingly vulnerable to him. She wasn’t sure.

“I shouldn’t be crying…I can’t let my people see me cry….” And she compressed her lips.

Dane settled back on the chair and gripped her hand within his. “Listen, you run a squadron, Maya, and I’m sure you’ve shed a lot of tears in private for your people already. I know you have.” He gave her a tender look while squeezing her hand. “Behind closed doors, where no one can see you cry.” Her fingers closed shyly about his. Dane’s heart soared with euphoria. His gut feeling that she needed to be touched, to be held, had been correct, after all. For once he was doing something right by Maya—something good, not combative or argumentative. She was not erecting those walls against him, either. If anything, moment by moment, Maya was becoming wonderfully human with him. It was such an incredible gift that Dane was afraid he’d somehow blow it and ruin the tender, healing warmth that swirled invisibly between them.

Sniffing, Maya closed her eyes. “Your hand feels good, Dane. I’m feeling a little wimpy right now….”

He sat there realizing how much bravery it took for Maya to admit that to him. She’d never given him an inch before, not ever. Patting her hand gently, he rasped unsteadily, “A brush with death always makes us see the world a little more clearly. We begin to value what’s really important—and what isn’t.”

Drowning beneath his warm blue gaze, Maya felt a
new strength flowing from him into her. “You’re right,” she whispered. She understood on a deeper level that he was healing her with his heart. The look in Dane’s eyes was one she had never anticipated. It was the look of a man who cared for his woman. She wasn’t any stranger to a look like that. How could he even
like
her? None of this made any sense to her. Not at all.

“You saved my life, Dane. I want to thank you—”

“Shhh,” he whispered. “I think, right now, Maya, you need to sleep. You’ve got dark rings under your eyes and they’re getting darker by the minute.”

Her mouth quirked as she stared up at him. He had that slight, boyish smile now, his head cocked, his eyes a stormy blue as he gazed down at her. How handsome Dane was. How strong. How caring. The nurturing feeling coming from him was undeniable.

“Like you don’t?” she managed to retort in a croak.

His grin widened. “We have the time,” he told her huskily. Releasing her hand, he eased off the stool. Pulling the covers up a little, to tuck her in, he held Maya’s green gaze as it followed his every move. “I didn’t lose three pints of blood,” he told her lightly. “You did. I’m going to let you sleep. The next time you wake up, that AB blood ought to be here from Lima.”

Nodding, Maya whispered, “You’re right….”

“If you want me to come back to visit you and make a pest out of myself, let Angel or Dr. Cornell know, okay?”

She saw the hesitancy in Dane’s eyes and heard it in his voice as he stood there, one hand on the railing. “You saved my life. I think I owe you something.”

Dane shook his head and sobered. “Maya, you owe
me
nothing.
You hear me? After what I did to you…to all the women pilots at Fort Rucker…if I can atone just a little by giving you some of my blood, that doesn’t justify me thinking you want me around you. It doesn’t make up for all the pain I caused you, not by a long shot. I don’t expect anything from you.” He grimaced. “I’m just trying to help instead of hurting you, this time around….”

She felt his pain within her heart. Tiredness was making her feel very sleepy. How badly Maya wanted to lift her hand and place it over his, but she was too weak to even do that. “Listen,” she murmured, exhausted, “we need to talk…later…when we’re both feeling better. Okay?”

Nodding, Dane said, “You let me know when, sweetheart. I’ll be hanging around like a bad cold.” He froze momentarily when he realized the endearment had slipped out of his mouth. Instantly, his gaze settled on Maya. He thought she’d be outraged.

Sweetheart.
The word rolled off his tongue like honey. Maya absorbed the warmth behind it. She lapped it up like the starving jaguar that she was. Before she could answer, she heard him walking away. As the door opened and closed, she fell into a deep, healing sleep. Her last thoughts were that when her sister arrived, she would ask Inca to not only heal her, but to heal Dane as well. He deserved it.

Dane jerked awake. He’d been sleeping on one of the gurneys in the dispensary. What time was it? Looking down at his watch, he realized he had slept at least six hours. Hearing voices, he sat up and rubbed his face. When he realized they were coming from the hospital section, he slid off the gurney. Was Maya okay?

Dizziness struck him. Dr. Cornell had warned him that he wasn’t going to feel very lively for a while. The blood had arrived from Lima much earlier, and he’d gotten a transfusion of two pints of AB blood and was now medically stable. Maya had been given another pint, so that she was now back at the level she should be.

It was 0300. Rubbing his face, exhaustion eating at him, Dane stumbled drowsily toward the doors. Pushing them open, he saw Dr. Cornell standing with another woman. Halting, Dane stared openmouthed for a moment.

The woman, who was dressed in jungle fatigues, black boots and a sleeveless green T-shirt, turned toward him as he entered. Her willow-green eyes assessed him. He felt as if someone had just scorched him with a flamethrower. Standing there, Dane realized with a jolt that this was Inca, Maya’s fraternal twin. Their looks were remarkably similar, and yet he saw the dissimilarity, too. Inca was as tall as Maya, but she was small boned, like a slender bird.

“Come in,” Elizabeth invited in a warm voice. “We were just going to come and get you, Major York.”

Maya, who was sitting up in bed, leaned forward between the two women. She held out her right hand toward him. “Dane. Come over. Meet my sister, Inca. Inca, this is Dane York, the guy who saved my life.”

Feeling as though he were breaking in on a party that he’d not been invited to formally, Dane moved hesitantly. “Inca, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand in her direction as he approached her. Those willow-green eyes scanned him. Once more, Dane felt heat rock through him. Who was this woman? She was a healer, whatever that meant.

Inca slid her roughened hand into his. “You have saved my sister’s life. I am grateful.” She gripped his hand solidly.

Surprised at her strength, Dane gazed past Inca to Maya. She looked surprisingly well. There was color back in her face. And her eyes glowed with life again. Even more, he realized she was sitting up on her own in the bed. No longer was she weak as a newborn kitten, as he’d seen her hours earlier.

Releasing Inca’s hand, he stood there marveling at Maya’s change in condition. “That extra blood really worked,” he said to Dr. Cornell, impressed.

Maya grinned wickedly at him. “The blood transfusion helped,” she told him in a conspiratorial tone, “but look at what Inca just did for me. She healed me.” Holding up her left arm, no longer swathed in bandages, Maya pointed to a slight pink scar where the Plexiglas had cut into her arm.

Inca stepped aside and allowed the army officer to move to Maya’s bedside to get a closer look at her arm.

“Look,” Maya urged him, and raised her arm so that Dane could observe where the wound had once been. “Isn’t that something? Inca is so good at what she does.”

Disbelievingly, Dane stared at the slight scar. Reaching out, he gently ran his fingers across her arm where the injury had once been. “Impossible,” he breathed. “I saw this less than twelve hours ago. That wound was deep….”

Inca’s husky laughter filled the room. “You were right, my sister. He does not want to believe that the power of touch can heal another.”

Maya lowered her arm and smiled patiently at Dane.
He looked confused. And tired. Her heart went out to him. “If you want, Inca will perform a healing on you, too.”

Elizabeth stepped aside and brought the stool up for Dane to sit on. “If you do, Major, you’d better sit down before you fall down.” She smiled over at Inca, who stood near the end of Maya’s bed. “Inca’s well known for her healing abilities, and people who have experienced it say that it’s like lightning striking them. Do you want to sit?”

Dane hesitated.

Maya saw it. “Let him think about it, Elizabeth.”

Studying Inca, Dane said, “I don’t know that I believe in such a thing.”

Inca’s lips stretched knowingly. “I have no desire to push myself upon you, Major. I heal only when asked to do so. If you do not want a healing, you do not have to have one.”

Again, Dane stared at Maya’s newly healed arm. It was impossible that it should look like that. Yet she was clearly more alert, her eyes sparkling once more, and she had that slight, careless smile on her full lips that he had hungered to see.

“Don’t be bullheaded about this, Dane,” Maya said. “Come, sit down. Just let my sister put her hands on you. I promise you’ll feel a lot better than you look right now.”

Her cajoling made him sit tentatively on the stool. “I guess it can’t hurt anything,” he muttered uneasily.

Elizabeth chuckled. “Major, you’re in South America now, where magic meets reality every single day of the year. I’m a Harvard-trained physician and I can assure you, when I came down here three years ago I hadn’t a clue as to what really goes on around here.
This place—” she looked around, giving him a slight smile “—is an incredible place of mystery, magic and real life all rolled into one. You can’t take your
norte americano
ideas and force them to work down here.” She turned to Inca and regarded her warmly. “Inca is a jaguar priestess. She has been trained to heal. To help. Her works in the villages of Brazil are legendary. They call her the jaguar goddess over there, and with good reason.” Elizabeth’s forest-green eyes sparkled. “I’ve seen Inca in action before, so I’m not surprised at what she’s done for Maya or her wound. If you really want to understand South America, Major, I would suggest you release your rigid ideas and just go with the flow here.”

“Okay…I’m convinced….” Dane gave Maya a wry look. “I’ll do this because I trust you.”

Trust.
Maya’s heart fluttered as he spoke that word to her. She nodded and met his serious look with sincerity. “Trust is earned…and I entrusted myself to you and you didn’t let me down. You saved my life. Let Inca work on you. I promise you will feel better afterward.”

Nodding, Dane took a deep breath and settled himself on the stool. Looking up at Inca, who had a very serious expression on her face, he said, “Okay, Inca, I’m ready. Fire away.”

Inca’s mouth barely hitched into a smile. She moved forward and stood behind him, her hands coming to rest on his broad shoulders.

“Very well, Major. You have asked. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and release it. They will do the rest….”

Dane expected nothing. Yet, the moment he released that breath from within him, he felt Inca’s hands be
come like hot brands against his skin. He felt the startling heat flow out of her hands, and within seconds he felt as if he were being consumed in searing flames. Sweat popped out on his forehead. He took in another jerky breath. A deep one. An explosion of colors popped like Fourth of July fireworks behind his eyelids. In seconds, he felt heat. And then, moments later, a cooling breeze moved down through the top of his head and swept all the way down to his feet. The rainbow colors ceased. What he saw next startled him even more: the face of a yellow jaguar with black spots staring back at him. And then the vision was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

“There,” Inca said, satisfaction in her voice as she lifted her hands away from him. “It is done. The Mother Goddess has healed you.”

Dane slowly opened his eyes. He felt a new sense of vibrancy, of energy, throbbing through him, like a fountain pulsing with renewed life. He saw Inca move to the other side of the bed and place her hand over Maya’s. The sisterly love between them was undeniable. They were both grinning like there was a joke between them, but he didn’t know what the punch line was.

Elizabeth came up and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. “How do you feel, Major?”

Dane sat there for a moment, unsure. Inca laughed huskily. He heard Maya laugh with her. Blinking several times, he looked up at the doctor. “Fine…great…like I just got an incredible kick of energy into me….”

Maya heard the awe in his tone and saw it in his eyes. She squeezed Inca’s long, roughened hand. “Thank you…and thank them, too….”

Nodding, Inca said, “I think it is time both of you go to sleep. You each need your rest. Come dawn tomorrow, you will feel good once more.”

Maya smiled up at her sister. “Can you stay a little while? I know you have a lot going on in Brazil right now.”

“I will stay a day,” she said. “But then I must go. My husband misses me. And I miss him.”