Return to Tomorrow by Marisa Carroll Read Free Book Online

enough to persuade the general to our way of thinking?”
    â€œIt’s going to have to be.” Brett shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I doubt if I can persuade our backers to come up with any more.”
    Billy chuckled but the sound held no mirth. “A million dollars in gold. This is going to be one hell of a coup if we bring it off. We’ll be real, live, goddamn heroes.” He slapped his palm against the stone. It rang like a pistol shot, startling a few red and green parrots from their roost in the trees alongside the temple wall.
    Brett watched the birds wheel off into the deeper cover at the edge of the clearing. His voice was grim. “If we live long enough to be around for the end.”
    Â 
    T HE SUN WAS UP but still couldn’t be seen above the tops of the hills surrounding the temple. Rachel wished she had a sweater to block out the early morning chill. A parrot flew across the path ahead of them. Harrison Bartley jumped in alarm and stumbled over a tree root. He swore long and loudly, not bothering to apologize to Rachel or anyone else for his bad temper. The three young monks the Acharya had designated to help themfree the stuck Land Rover paid no attention to his words, walking sedately ahead along the steep trail. Neither did Rachel, for she had too many other things on her mind.
    Or to be accurate, she had only one other thing on her mind. Brett Jackson. She wondered if Harrison Bartley had any idea they’d spent the night in the notorious gunrunner’s stronghold? Perhaps he did but there was nothing he could do about it until he returned to Bangkok. He was an ambitious man. Locating Tiger Jackson’s base of operations would be a real feather in his cap. Unfortunately for Bartley, he didn’t have the skills to lead the authorities back to this place. It never occurred to the pompous young man that she might be able to do so. She said nothing to enlighten him. However much she deplored Brett Jackson’s occupation, she was disinclined to see him caged and cowed.
    There was a great deal more to the man than met the eye. She had no doubt he was as dangerous as Simon’s contacts had led him to believe. But he also must have retained at least some of the qualities that had made him Micah’s friend. Her mind told her he was ruthless and beyond the pale. Her heart told her he was also loyal, responsible and caring. She had realized that when he talked with such reverence of the past and the holiness of the temple lost once more in the encircling jungle.
    He fascinated her. She was honest enough to admit that. The feeling was strong enough to overcome her usual reluctance even to be alone with a man. The first faint stirrings of interest had escalated during the remainder of the long, sleepless night. For a time she’d stared upward at the darkness, trying to put a name tothe restlessness she felt inside. When she had, it surprised her even more, banishing any thought of sleep.
    The fluttering ache deep within her body and her brain wasn’t only curiosity about a man who was intelligent, compelling and completely sure of himself. It was something primitive and feminine and long missing from her life.
    It was desire.

CHAPTER THREE
    A N OLD-FASHIONED, ELECTRIC fan on Dr. Reynard’s desk stirred the warm, muggy air in slow, eddying swirls. Rachel plucked at the thin, white cotton of her shirt, pulling it away from her body, telling herself she should be grateful to be working in an area of the camp that had electricity at all, instead of wishing for air conditioning.
    Dr. Reynard went on talking. He was young, dedicated and idealistic. The seventeen pregnant Hlông women, sitting on the floor, listened politely as Rachel translated his lecture on hygiene. None of them spoke English. They had never heard of prenatal multiple vitamin tablets or the benefits of a regimen of light aerobic exercises in strengthening the muscles used in