Page 27 of Close Pursuit

She snorted.Nothinggrew up here. She was surprised to spot what looked like an organized network of caves all over the steep slope ahead, though. How could so many people support themselves off the dirt and dust of this valley? No stream of any kind flowed through the area. In the past two weeks, she’d learned just how critical water supplies were to native peoples.

As the first gray of pre-dawn peeked over the mountains, Alex scrambled up the steep hill while she rested a bit. He came back soon and led her to a cave blessedly not far up the slope. Overlapping slabs of stone mostly obscured the entrance. They slipped past the rocks into the dark, and Alex audibly sighed in relief. Had he been that worried?

In the green light of a cyalume stick, she looked around the cave. The floor was dry and reasonably clean. A few animal droppings and scattered bones proclaimed the presence of some small predator. Off to one side was a stone ledge about hip high covered with a framework of woven boughs and dried grass that looked like a crude bed. Near the entrance, the stone walls were blackened as if fires had been lit there.

A stack of firewood was piled in a corner, and Alex moved to it quickly. In a matter of minutes, he’d built a fire that she moved close to. Out of the steady wind, the silence in here was palpable. And it got on her nerves fast.

“Where’d a city slicker like you learn to lay a fire like that?” she asked to break the quiet.

Alex didn’t deign to answer and merely shrugged as he pushed a series of smooth, melon-sized rocks close into the edge of the fire. The dry wood crackled loudly and burned fast, but it heated up the small chamber surprisingly well.

A thin layer of smoke accumulated near the ceiling, seeping sluggishly toward the rear of the cave. Must be a tunnel or vent back there. The back walls, which retreated into shadows, were pocked with round holes at even intervals, big enough for her thumb to stick in. Maybe those were the vents.

Surprisingly little light seeped in as day came outside, but that also meant very little cold seeped in, either. Before long, the cave was actually reasonably cozy, enough that she shed her coat and made a nest out of it for Dawn.

Alex unwrapped the infant and, at long last, trimmed the umbilical cord and wiped the last birth blood off of her. He frowned down at her, and Katie moved to his side rapidly. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Take a look at her. Notice anything odd?”

She stared down at the pink, chubby baby, who had adorable blonde peach fuzz hair. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Two eyes. Two ears. Limbs of equal lengths. No visible deformities… Whoa. Wait. What?

“Blonde hair?” she said questioningly. Every baby they’d birthed so far had had black hair.Allthe locals she’d met were dark-haired.

“Exactly.” He stared at her significantly.

“How did that happen?”

“The mom was an unmarried girl. Good looking, right?” Alex asked tersely.

“Yes, she was stunning.”

“What was her coloring?”

“She was olive-skinned and dark-haired like all the locals.”

Alex murmured, “Too much pigment in Dawn’s skin for her to be albino. Only way for her to have blonde hair, then, is for her father to be Caucasian.”

She blurted, “Where did a local girl meet a Caucasian?” To her knowledge, she and Alex were the only Caucasians for dozens or hundreds of miles around.

Alex snorted. “Soldiers. Spies. Civilian contractors. Drug dealers.”

“And aid workers like us,” she added, appalled.

“We’re the only aid organization that dares venture into this area,” he retorted.

She grimaced. “That’s what the local women have been saying to me. Okay, so strike aid workers from the list of possible fathers.”

They stared down at the baby, who was settling down to sleep in her warm nest.

Alex announced without warning, “Strip off your clothes. All of them.”

“Ibegyour pardon?”

He was already shrugging out of his coat and pulling the black turtleneck over his head. Lord, that man had acres of gorgeous muscle.

He reached for his belt buckle and she squawked. “What are you doing?”

He looked up and his gaze went from concentration on something worrisome to smoking hot in the blink of an eye. “Worried about delivering on the bet you lost?” he purred.

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