Wild Rain by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online Page A

face. Her eyes were large, too old for the rest of her. There was something sad in the dark depths that tugged at his heart. Her lashes were incredibly long, spiky from her tears. He actually felt as if he were falling forward into the depths of them, a corny and totally ridiculous notion he was impatient with. His heart began to pound in his chest. Anticipating—what, he didn’t know. He deliberately wiped the cloth over her eyes, a gentle stroke to save himself from falling under her spell.
    “Are you always this sarcastic, or should I put it down to you being in considerable pain?”
    Rachael tried to laugh but it came out a gasping sob. “I swear it feels like my leg is on fire.”
    “It’s swelling. I’m going to give you a little more painkiller and splint that wrist for you.” Rio’s fingers trailed in her hair, a thick mass of silk. There was a strange color surrounding her body, like a shadow that wouldn’t go away. No matter how many times he blinked, or swept his hand over his eyes to clear his vision, the strange surrounding color remained.
    “I think you need to take care of yourself,” Rachael said, her gaze drifting over his face. He had the physical sensation of fingers touching him lightly in a caress. She didn’t seem to notice the effect she had on him, and he was grateful.
    “You look tired. I honestly can’t even feel my wrist at the moment, although I think a painkiller is a good idea. Maybe a huge dose of painkiller.” Rachael tried to smile at him, tried to make it a joke. If he didn’t find something to stop the pain she was going to ask him to knock her out. He had a big enough fist.
    She was shaking beneath the blanket, a sure sign of fever. He had packed the wound with antibiotics earlier, but it obviously wasn’t going to be enough. Rio shook pills into his hand and helped her lift her head to swallow them. She pressed her teeth together, but a small sound, much like that of a wounded animal, escaped. “I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but you have to get these down.” If she had come there to kill him, he was making a hell of a fool of himself, but it didn’t matter to him. He had to remove the desperation from her eyes. She looked so helpless it twisted his gut into hard little knots. He gave her another small dose of morphine along with the antibiotics and waited until her eyes clouded over before splinting her wrist. Her skin was hot, but he didn’t dare leave his own wounds much longer or they both would be in trouble.
     
    Rachael felt herself drifting away. The pain was there; she didn’t want to squirm around and provoke it, but she could handle the intensity floating above it. Rio moved away from her with his curious animal grace. He intrigued her. Everything about him intrigued her. She couldn’t keep from staring at him, although she tried to think of other things. The wind. The rain. Leopards leaping at her throat. Her lashes drifted down. She listened to the rain and shivered. Before she had been burning up; now she felt inexplicably cold. The sound of the rain driving down on the rooftop added to her discomfort. She couldn’t hear him moving around the house. It wasn’t that the storm drowned out the sounds, he was simply that quiet. Like a great jungle cat.

Chapter Three
    RACHAEL forced her eyes open to keep him in sight. She felt dreamy, disconnected with reality. Rio stood several feet from her, close to the stove. Casually hooking his thumbs in his wet jeans, he eased them from his hips, slowly exposing his firm buttocks and his long, muscular back to her. She tried not to gawk as he washed up, using hot water from the stove. He was thorough about it, his muscles flexing as he worked. He reminded her of the statues she’d seen in Greece, the defined muscles and well-proportioned ultra-masculine body. It occurred to her that he was completely at home without clothes. He seemed to have forgotten she was in the room, displaying no modesty whatsoever.
    He lit