Leopard 02 - Wild Rain

fruit draping heavily on the tree. Antlerlike fungi and cups of brilliant color covered the trunks. Large mushrooms grew around the bases and made fields of large caps inside the buttress roots.
    “The humidity in Florida isn’t as intense, but it can be oppressive to some people. It doesn’t rain nearly as much either.”
    “Did he go into the swamp, Rachael?” He kept his tone low, gentle even. Rachael wasn’t a woman to be pushed. She trusted him with her life, but she didn’t trust him with her brother’s life. He couldn’t push her too hard. She’d walk away first.
    “My brother is a long way away from here, Rio. I don’t want any part of him here, not even his spirit.
    Don’t bring him into this place.”
    Temper rode him hard and he was silent as he walked quickly through the patches of light and dark, heading deeper into the forest. It took him a few minutes to work it out. “You don’t want him in our place. My place. You don’t want him anywhere near me.”
    “He doesn’t belong here, Rio. Not at all, not with us.” Rachael looked down at the splint on her wrist.

    She probably didn’t belong with Rio either. She’d been lucky enough to meet him, but she didn’t want him in danger.
    “Sometimes, sestrilla I feel like I’m trying to hold water in my hand. You flow right through my fingers.”
    Rachael looked at him with her dark, liquid eyes. Sad eyes. “I can’t give you what it is you want.”
    “Before my father died, Rachael, he asked my mother to promise him that she’d take me and leave the village. He wanted her to find another man so she wouldn’t have to raise me alone. A man or woman who lost their mate would never choose another husband or wife from our people. My father talked to my mother more than once but she didn’t want to live with another man. She stayed near the village.”
    “Why wouldn’t the others want to take care of her and you too? If there aren’t very many of you, surely they would want to make certain you were well taken care of?” She sounded outraged all over again. “I don’t think I like your elders very much.”
    “The elders would want to care for widows and children, but there would be problems. Most leave if they want to find a companion to spend their life with. We can live and love outside of the rain forest, and many do. It’s possible your father asked your mother to take you and your brother and find another man to fill his shoes.”
    “How did your father die?”
    “He went in with a team to pull a diplomat from a rebel force. He was shot. It happens.”
    Rachael rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It must have been so difficult for your mother to know that you chose to carry on your father’s work.”
    “She didn’t like it. My mother didn’t do what my father wanted her to do. She stayed in the rain forest on the edge of the village. It caused some problems occasionally. She was a beautiful woman and it was easy enough to fall in love with her. Do you look like your mother?”
    She smiled and relaxed in his arms, sinking into him without being aware of it. “I do look somewhat like her pictures. We have the same eyes, and my face is shaped like hers. And I have her smile. She wasn’t as tall or as heavy.”
    Rio stopped right there under a tall tree with silvery bark and hundreds of orchids cascading down the trunk. “Heavy? You have curves, Rachael. I’m very fond of your curves.” He bent his head to her throat, his breath whispering fire against her skin. “Don’t say anything bad about yourself or I might be forced to prove you wrong.”
    Rachael laughed happily. He made her feel bright and alive when she had been so close to gloom. “I don’t think that’s much of a threat, Rio. And thank you for bringing up my mother. It’s been a while since I had such a mental picture of her. When you asked me about her, I began to think of all the little details and I can see her again so clearly. She had thick hair. Very curly.” She touched her hair. “I always kept my hair long because she wore hers that way. When I wanted to disappear, I cut my hair to my shoulders because I thought having it reach to my rear end was too conspicuous. I cried myself to sleep every night for a week.”

    “Wear your hair any way you want to wear it, Rachael. They’ve already found you here.” He began walking again, picking up the pace, wanting to get back to the house and get her settled again. She was