Read Online Commando by Lindsay McKenna - Free Book Online Page A

They watched him with solemn brown eyes, and she smiled. She loved the Tucanos, who had welcomed her as one of their own. Once they’d found out that she was an “Indian,” too, she’d been adopted by the chief of the village—a great honor.

    “Do you like children?” Shah raised her hand to her mouth. Now where had that come from?

    Jake frowned, hesitated and drew the next orchid, a purple one, out of the canoe. “Yeah, I like the little rug rats.”

    “Rug rats?” Alarm entered her voice.

    “That’s an old Marine Corps term for kids. It’s an affectionate term, not a bad one,” he assured her as he put the water into the plastic bag that would keep the root system from drying out.

    Shah saw his partial smile slip, and when he looked up at her she detected darkness in his gray eyes. There was an incredible sadness that settled around him, and it was overwhelming to her. She was highly intuitive, and had always had an ability to sense a person’s real feelings. Her heart went out to him. “Kids mean a lot to you, don’t they?” she pressed softly.

    With a sigh, Jake gathered up the orchid. As he turned and met Shah’s serious gaze, something old and hurting broke loose in his heart. “Well, I…” It was those golden eyes swimming with unshed tears that shook him. Why should she show such compassion for him? She was unaware of his past, of his family’s tragic death. He stood there stupidly staring down at her, absorbing her understanding like a plant starved for water. The seconds eddied and halted around them, and Jake felt ensnared within the unspoken emotional web that surrounded him like an embrace.

    Shaken by her unexpected understanding, he dipped his head and frowned. “Where do you want this orchid? Next to the others?” he demanded gruffly.

    Shah swallowed convulsively. What had just happened? It felt as if they both had been suddenly surrounded by heightened and unexpected emotions. But the mesmerizing feeling had evaporated when Jake became gruff. Blinking, Shah stammered, “In—in my hut, with the rest…”

    It hurt to feel, to think. Jake felt himself rebuilding old walls to defend his grieving heart. Adding to the hurt, the Indian children followed him like happy, playful puppies as he retrieved the rest of the orchids for Shah. He was grateful that she seemed aware that children were a sensitive topic for him. His mouth dry, tears burning the back of his eyes, he placed the last orchid on the floor of the hut.

    Shah was outside, crouched over a small cooking fire, her tripod and kettle suspended above the coals. Giving him a quick glance, she went back to stirring the contents with a stick. Her heart beat faster as he approached. Suddenly shaky for no reason, Shah refused to look up at him.

    “Are you psychic or something?” he demanded.

    A small smile touched Shah’s mouth, and she forced herself to look up at him. What she saw tore at her heart. There was such raw anguish in Randolph’s eyes that she nearly cried out for him, for the pain he carried like a living thing within him. The Indian children had gathered around them. One small girl tucked herself beneath Shah’s arm and leaned her small head against her shoulder.

    “I’m intuitive,” she admitted, and hugged the little girl fiercely, letting her know that she loved her.

    Jake considered Shah with a renewed intensity. The little Indian girl looked as if she belonged to Shah. Both of them had shining black hair, brown eyes and golden skin. The child, no more than six years old, put her fingers in her mouth and smiled shyly up at him. It hurt to breathe in that moment, because the girl’s expression resembled that of his eldest daughter, Katie, bringing back a flood of wonderful memories—and torment.

    Without a word, Jake spun around and stalked away.

    Nonplussed, Shah watched him leave. She had seen the questions in his eyes about her intuition. But she had also seen the devastation and bleakness in