Wild Orchids by Karen Robards Read Free Book Online

then, this morning it would have been equally impossible to imagine herself being kidnapped by a terrifyingly real, terrifyingly serious version of the Frito Bandido. And it had happened. If he were to initiate a sexual overture, what should she do? Would he hurt her if she resisted him? Just because she thought he was sexy—detestable word, she had been around sixteen-year-old girls too long— did not mean that she would willingly have sex with him. Far from it! First of all, he scared her senseless. And second, where she came from, there were only two types of females: ladies and all others. And ladies did not, definitely did not, have sex with men they had known for less than a day, regardless of how physically attractive said men might be. And a lady would certainly never voluntarily have sex with a violent and possibly crazed criminal who had abducted her at gunpoint. And Lora had always been, indisputable a lady.
    The sticking point was what he would do when she rejected him. He might take her rejection philosophically or, as seemed far more likely from what she already knew of him, he might not. And that's where the spectre of forcible rape came in. Because he could force her, she knew. No matter how hard she might fight, he could easily overpower her. Her self-defense course had not turned her into a female Bruce Lee, after all. She had gotten lucky, before, but she could not count on it happening again. Against a six-foot-four or thereabouts hunk of honed muscle and bone that looked like it should be playing fullback for the Dallas Cowboys, she didn't stand a chance.
    While she was sitting there ruminating, casting the man beside her the occasional worried glance, Lora gradually became aware of an ever-more-pressing concern: she had to go to the bathroom. At first she ignored her bladder's signals, but as the minutes and miles passed she became increasingly uncomfortable. Hunger and sleepiness she could, and would, hold at bay for some hours longer. But she had to go to the bathroom! The problem was, she was afraid to tell him so, afraid that mention of such an unmentionable subject might give him ideas, in case he didn't have them already. Besides, she was afraid to stop, period. While she was driving the car, she felt relatively safe. Once she was not, who knew what he might take it into his head to do to her?
    She squirmed as discreetly as possible on the uncomfortable vinyl seat, tightening her muscles and trying to think of something else. He was staring out at the road ahead of them, which was deserted now. Except for the faint light of their own headlights, they were surrounded by darkness. Uneven expanses of fields rolled away from the highway on both sides, products of the slash and burn method of reclaiming farmland from the jungle. Even the blacktop highway itself stretching away into an infinity of unseen miles contributed to the overall impression of impenetrable night. Except for the occasional lowing of a cow or cry of a night animal, they could have been alone in the world.
    "What the hell are you wiggling about?" After about fifteen minutes of what she had thought were her imperceptible movements, his voice barked at her over the faint hum of the engine.
    "Nothing," she answered defensively, refusing to look at him although she knew he was glaring at her. Quite apart from fearing what he might do to her if he started thinking along those lines, she found that she simply could not tell a strange man of the problem that afflicted her. It would be too embarrassing.
    "Then for God's sake, sit still." He sounded more irritable than threatening, but Lora didn't want to push her luck. She concentrated on ignoring her difficulty, and almost succeeded. Until the first fat drop of rain plopped down on the windshield, to be followed by another and another in a rapidly quickening assault.
    "Oh, no." The mere sound of water flowing threatened to be her undoing. She clamped her thighs even tighter.
    "What are you