She laughed nervously. "You’re kidding, right? I mean, there’s another road we can take, right?" She laughed at what she thought was the trick he was playing on her. "I know….This is just to get even with me for all those remarks I made about Barney Fife outsmarting you last night and taking our horses. Right?"

Jax walked back slowly and took her forearms in his hands. "Brenda, the southern route would take us much longer, and there’s no need to go that way now that the horses are gone." He gestured towards the ridge that still gave her willies just looking at it. "Now I know you don’t like heights, but you’re going to be just fine." He shifted his backpack to the side and then reached down to take her hand, clasping it around his belt in the back. "Just hold onto me and don’t look down and we’ll be across it in no time, OK?"

Brenda followed mutely as Jax started walking again, pulling her along with him. Her eyes remained glued to the sharp drop-off. "I don’t like this, Jax."

As they climbed up to the narrow footpath, Brenda made soft squealing noises in her throat. "I know, duchess, you don’t like it." Jax didn’t look at her, his concentration focused on the rocks he was using for handholds.

"I don’t like this......I *really* don’t like this." Brenda’s voice grew higher and higher in pitch. As they got up to the level of the ridge’s footpath, they had to hug the side of the mountain, placing their feet carefully on a ledge that was about seven inches wide. "Jax -- can’t we just take the escalator instead?" Some loose rock crumbled beneath’s Jax’s foot, but Brenda was the one who screamed. "Sh*t! This is as bad as that glass elevator scene in "The Towering Inferno!""

Jax chuckled a little as he reached behind him to pat Brenda’s hand. She was still firmly clasping his belt as they moved side-by-side, although he felt the nervous perspiration dripping from her palm. "No, duchess! This isn’t as bad as the elevator scene!" He paused for a moment, placing his foot carefully, testing the ledge first to make sure it would hold their weight. "I’ll bet there’s *lots* of things you hate more than this puny little ledge!"

Brenda was breathing hard but her voice was lowering a few octaves. "Well, maybe ......yeah, wait a minute.......I think I hated that awful beige linen sport jacket of yours with the big patch pockets even more than this!"

"You did?" Jax sounded hurt but his giggle betrayed him. "And I thought you always loved my fashion savvy!" He felt Brenda’s hand on his belt relax a little. "But I know something you hated even more than that!"

Some loose rock fell away to the ravine below between Jax and Brenda and she screamed and hugged the wall of the mountain. "WHAT??!!"

Jax threw his right arm around her back, holding her against the side of the mountain until the rock slide stopped. He was panting from the effort of moving them across the ledge and keeping her from panicking. "Just try to stay calm, Brenda," he crooned. "Here – try this. Imagine that we’re not here -- we’re back in Malibu, and it’s warm and sunny, and we’re lying on the beach at sunrise...."

".....and we’re watching it together," Brenda panted, her face twisted with fear. Jax inched a few paces closer to the end of the ledge. ".....it’s just a little farther...."

"That’s right, duchess. Just a little farther. Just think about that sunrise, and the warm beach, and how we’re drinking my kiwi surprise specials......"

Brenda’s screech almost caused an avalanche of rock. "THAT’S what I hate almost as much as this ledge, Jax!"

"You hated my milkshake concoctions *that* much?" Jax pretended hurt but inwardly was pleased that in about eight more steps, they would be home free.

"You’re a great guy, Jax, but your kiwi surprise sucks the big one!" Brenda actually broke into a little laugh. "I think I hated kiwi almost as much as I hated...."

She never finished her sentence as the ledge beneath her left foot crumbled away. "JAAAXXXX!!!"

Brenda’s grip on Jax’s belt almost caused him to fall off the ledge himself. He grabbed for some moss that covered some of the stones and managed to find a strong vine to anchor them from falling. "BRENDA!!! Are you OK?"

"SH*T!!!!" Brenda’s choice of exclamations echoed off the rocky walls of the ravine.

"BRENDA! What happened? Are you OK?"

She finally nodded but when Jax looked at her face, it was the color of parchment paper. "It’s my right knee, Jax -- I think I twisted it when I felt my left foot slip."

Jax knew that although Brenda had many faults, having a low tolerance for pain wasn’t one of them. She was barely managing to keep her balance on the overhang, holding onto some moss and tottering on her left foot. "Can you make it to the end of the ledge? It’s only a few more steps."

They both still hugged the side of the mountain. "I’m afraid, Jax. If I put my weight on my right leg, I think it might buckle and I’d fall off the ledge."

Jax thought for a moment and then turned to her, speaking quietly and calmly. "All right -- I’ve got a plan. I’ll go to the other side, drop my backpack, and then come back so that you can climb up on my back. I’ll carry you the rest of the way."

Brenda’s voice was almost a whisper. "I have to stay here -- alone? And let go of you?"

"It’ll only take me 30 seconds tops, sweetie. I *promise* I’ll come back for you." Jax tried to stroke a finger down the side of her cheek but had to grab at the moss again as his balance wavered.

"Just hurry up, OK?" Brenda spoke through grit teeth, balancing on her left foot. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let go of Jax’s belt to grab the moss and rocks with both hands. Brenda prayed with all her might as Jax inched his way to the edge of the ledge and hopped onto solid ground. He slipped the straps of his backpack off, flinging it as quickly as he could into some grass, and then rubbed his hands together, drying the perspiration.

"All right, duchess, I’m coming back for you now." Jax rubbed his hands on his pants one more time and then sprang up onto the ledge with purpose. He reached her in no time and when Brenda felt his hands circle her shoulders, she sighed in relief. "OK, I’ve got you, and I’m not going to let you go." Brenda nodded briskly. "Now, if you can lift that left leg and wrap it around my waist, I can shift your weight and carry you piggyback style to the edge. Think you can do it?"

Brenda grimaced. "I’ll have to. There’s no way I can put any weight on this right foot."

Jax nodded. "Then grab onto my neck and shoulders first. When you feel comfortable, hitch your left leg up around me. I’ll hold you."

"But Jax, that’s a lot of weight – what if I make you lose your balance?" She glanced over her shoulder at the ravine below. "You should just go back and let me try to make it on my own." She closed her eyes and grit her teeth. "I’ll only end up getting you killed along with me."

"If I was worried about you getting me killed, I wouldn’t have volunteered to come to this godforsaken armpit of a country in the first place, Brenda!" Her eyes widened but he didn’t allow her time to question him. "Now for once in your life, just do what I tell you and don’t argue, alright?"

She nodded quickly. Brenda took a deep breath and then let go of the moss to switch her handholds to Jax’s shoulders. When she could grasp her right wrist with her left hand to lock them, Jax heard her softly murmured prayer. After one more shaky breath, Brenda grunted in pain and fear and heaved her weight onto his back.

Jax managed to keep his balance. Actually, the sensual feel of her breasts pressing against his back provided more danger than the possibility of falling. He inched his way back across the remaining portion of ledge and within 30 seconds, he could jump to the level grass on the other side.

His feet were no sooner on safe ground than he swung Brenda around and lowered her gently to a reclining position. But when he tried to get her to relax so he could check her knee, she just clasped her hands more tightly around his neck, her head buried against him. "It’s OK now, duchess," he finally crooned. "You’re safe and I’ve got you. We’re on the other side."

Brenda pulled away from him to look around with tear-filled eyes. "Ohhh, Jax," she wailed, and when he realized that all of the stress of the past few days was catching up to her, he let her sob against his chest for a few minutes. He stroked her hair gently, inhaling and closing his eyes as guilt filled him. Maybe if he hadn’t been so bloody anxious to go on that mission and he had taken her in his arms that last night, she wouldn’t have felt pressured to have the abortion.

Brenda felt his body tense beneath her fingers despite his efforts to remain calm. {He’s thinking of what a failure I am. He’s remembering that I can’t do anything – climb across a high ledge, recognize a jerk like Rashid when I see one, have a baby…..} She finally pulled away from him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I’m better now, Jax." She sat back and propped her weight on her flat hands behind her. "I’ll be able to go on if I just rest here a minute."

Jax shook his head firmly. "No way. Not yet. Take off your pants, Brenda."

The color drained from her face quickly. "What did you just say?"

Jax pointed to her pants. "I said, take off your pants. I need to check your knee to make sure it’s not dislocated."

"You pervert! We both just almost got ourselves killed and all you can think of is sneaking a peek at my undies?!"

Jax grit his teeth and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Brenda, the knee is already swollen. I can’t possibly push the pants leg up over it from the ankle. Now if we don’t get something cold on it soon, we’re going to be stuck here for a LONG time. Now drop your d*mn drawers!!"

Her eyes locked with his, but when Brenda glanced down at her right knee, she could see that he was right. The only way he could check it -- and probably the least painful -- was by having her take her pants down from the waist. She struggled to her feet and as he held her at the waist for balance, she slipped the pants down. When they were down around her ankles, Jax gently eased her back down to a reclining position. He also desperately tried not to look at the scrap of pink lace that barely covered places he remembered in his dreams.

Jax gently pushed and manipulated Brenda’s knee while she gave little yelps of pain. After examining it for a few minutes, he sat back on his haunches. "Well, I don’t think the knee is broken or dislocated -- just a really bad sprain."

"So that’s good -- so we’ll be able to keep moving, right?" Brenda eyed him hopefully as he went to his backpack and took out an old T-shirt.

"Don’t go anywhere -- I think there’s a stream just beyond those trees. If I can find some cold water, we can try to take down some of the swelling." Brenda nodded glumly and Jax pointed a finger at her. "And for God’s sake, don’t try to get up!!"

Brenda was about to make a sharp reply but Jax was already gone. She leaned back on her elbows and true to his word, Jax was back within a few minutes. He wrapped the soaked T-shirt around her knee and despite her anger at him, she had to admit it did numb the pain a little. After he finished applying his makeshift ice-bag, Jax returned to the backpack and started digging deep inside.

He came back to her again with a small tin in his hands and a canteen. When he nodded towards her hand, she held it out and he placed two white tablets in her palm. "Tylenol -- it might help a little but go easy. I don’t have a lot more of these." He handed her the canteen and she was swallowing the pills gratefully when he reached into his back pocket. As she handed him back the canteen, he gave her an awkward smile and held out a crumpled package. "And I think you always liked these best when you wanted comfort food."

Brenda gave a squeal of happiness. "JAX! Chocolate Nutter Butters!" Then tears came to her eyes and she tried vainly to hold them back. "You remembered."

The two of them had lived together long enough to endure attacks of the flu and Brenda’s monthly bout of cramps. Jax always joked that all Brenda needed in her medicine cabinet to get her through any medical emergency was chocolate Nutter Butter cookies. He blushed and stared down at the ground. "Well, that time you sprained your wrist when I tried to teach you how to surf, I swore you devoured a dozen of those things whole!"

As Brenda slowly savored the cookies, she raised her eyes to meet his. "You’re too good to me, you know." Jax shifted uncomfortably with her praise and then suddenly rose to his feet. Brenda froze. "Are you going somewhere again?"

Jax nodded. "When I went to the stream, I thought I heard some noise coming from somewhere beyond the next hill. I’m going to go investigate what it is."

"And leave me here -- alone? Like this?"

Jax snorted and went back to the backpack. When he returned, he dropped a paperback novel into Brenda’s hands. "Here. Read this. I should only be gone for an hour at most. Maybe it’ll get your mind off the pain."

"But Jax....."

He squatted down. "Nobody’s going to come this way without me seeing him, Brenda. I wouldn’t leave you here like this if I wasn’t sure you would be safe while I was gone." Jax rose again. "Do you believe me?"

Brenda grimaced. "Yes. I’m just.....I guess I’m still scared from what happened before."

Jax was already walking away when he looked back at her and pointed to the book. "It’s a murder mystery. Go ahead and give it a try. I promise I’ll be back before you miss me."

Brenda watched him disappear into the bushes and sighed. She missed him already.

^*^*^*^

Brenda was so deeply engrossed in the novel that she didn’t hear Jax come up behind her. When she heard a twig snap, she started to scream but he put his hand over her mouth. "Bloody h*ll, duchess!"

She turned around so quickly that she didn’t even notice the pain in her knee. "JAX! You’re back!"

He gave her a bright smile. "And I’m not alone!" He held up one finger and then got up and ran towards the bushes. When he emerged a few minutes later, he was leading their horses. "Look what I found on the other side of that hill."

"Our horses!" Brenda squinted. "They are, aren’t they?"

Jax nodded. "Yep. In the flesh, so to speak." He saw the question in her eyes as he stroked his horse’s mane. "Those noises I heard beyond the hill turned out to be a rebel camp. Our horse thief didn’t have to go far to find us."

Brenda paled. "Rebels? But then why did that guy just take our horses? Why didn’t he kill us?"

Jax shrugged. "Don’t know. Don’t really care." He went to get the backpacks and started securing them to the saddles. "Maybe his boss just decided he needed the horses more than he did the thrill of killing us."

Brenda narrowed one eye. "Then how did you get them back?"

Jax tightened the strap on the backpack. "I gave him something he wanted more than horses -- money."

"You saw the rebel leader?!!"

Jax came back to Brenda and crouched down. He carefully started to unwrap the "cold pack" around her knee. "Brenda, you’ve got to understand that these rebels aren’t some organized national movement. They’re independents, and they’re only really concerned about freedom for *their* little corner of Drakar. They don’t give a d*mn about the rest of the country." He inhaled sharply when he saw her knee and shook his head. "This doesn’t look good. You really probably shouldn’t be travelling today."

"Well, we don’t have that luxury," Brenda replied, gritting her teeth. She extended her hands to Jax and he pulled her to a standing position on her left foot. "How far did you say the Lontakian border is?"

Jax continued to hold her hands but looked over his shoulder. "About another 25 miles that way. On the horses and without any other disasters, we should get there by about nightfall tomorrow."

"Then get me over to that horse and let’s get out of here." Jax nodded and put his arm under her as Brenda hopped towards her horse. When she got to the horse’s side, she patted his mane happily and then nodded when Jax cupped his hands to give her a boost. She gave a little squeal of pain but was soon seated in her saddle. Jax adjusted her right foot to the stirrup and looked up at her.

"Sure you can make it?"

Brenda grimaced but then nodded. "You promised me that Big Mac once we hit Lontak and I’m holding you to it." She watched as he gathered up his backpack and the t-shirt. "Don’t forget your book -- I haven’t finished it yet and can’t figure out who killed the niece."

Jax stuffed the book inside his backpack and after securing it to his horse, he mounted. They made their way slowly through the grassy terrain until they were back on the main road. After riding in silence for about an hour, Brenda couldn’t stand it anymore. "Jax? Are you angry with me?"

"About your sprained knee? Why would I be angry? It was an accident. Accidents happen." Jax didn’t turn around and Brenda stared at his back as she rode behind him.

"Not about that. You said that nobody ordered you to come here and get me out. You volunteered. Aren’t you angry that I was such a dope to fall for Rashid and his line of bull? And now you would have to go through all of this just to get me out?"

She saw his shoulders shrug slightly. "What difference would it make if I was?"

Brenda kicked her left foot into her horse’s side angrily so that the horse pulled up even with Jax’s. She grabbed for his arm and managed to snag his shirt in the process. "Because for once I want you to let everything out, d*mnit! Why don’t you just yell, or scream? And not just bottle it all up inside?"

Jax jerked his arm away from her with a glare. "Because even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything, would it? We’d still be stuck here together in the middle of nowhere, and you’d still be a stubborn, childish, pain in the @ss!" Brenda’s eyes widened, but before she could say anything more, Jax pulled her horse by the reins. "We should stop for a while and have something to eat." He nodded towards her knee. "Maybe we can put a cold compress on that again and get some of the swelling down."

Jax helped her down from the horse and carried her to a spot where some fallen logs provided cover. Brenda rested her back against one of the logs and while Jax took the horses for water, she pulled the murder mystery from his backpack and continued to read. When he returned, he got out some beef jerky and dried fruit, sharing with her in silence.

Brenda had to admit Jax was right about one thing – the book *did* take her mind off their troubles. In fact, she continued to read the whole time she was gnawing at the jerky and trying to swallow it. She was so engrossed in the plot that when she turned the page and folded down a corner, she wasn’t prepared for Jax’s yelp. "Don’t DO that!!"

The book flew up out of her hands and she looked around in a panic. "Do what?"

"Fold down the corners like that – it weakens the paper and makes it tear later. I *hate* it when people do that to my books!!"

"Well, Hallelujah and Praise Somebody!" Brenda replied sarcastically as she set the book aside. "For once in his life, the perfect Jasper Jacks admits that something makes him angry!"

Jax rose with a huff and threw the remnants of his beef jerky back into the backpack. "I never said that I was perfect, duchess! And I certainly never said that things didn’t bother me!"

"So you were angry!! Jax came over and crouched down to unwrap the wet, cold rag he had wrapped around Brenda’s knee. She tried to lean forward and look into his eyes, but he just pushed her back to a reclining position with one hand. "Which made you angrier, Jax -- the fact that I left you without a word, or the fact that you realized I was right and you never should have left on that d*mn mission?"

are you still mad that I had one foot out the door?

He muttered something under his breath but then when he prodded her knee gently, she yelped in pain. "This knee is in bad shape, Brenda. It needs professional medical attention." He threw the rag aside and then extended both hands to help her to her feet, deliberately ignoring her last comment.

Brenda let him help her up but then stubbornly froze in place. "You didn’t answer me, Jax." Jax sighed and bent down to grab the waistband of her pants and pull them up for her. When she had refastened them, Brenda crossed her arms across her chest and he grimaced.

"And I don’t intend to, Brenda." Before she could say another word, he swooped her into his arms and carried her to her horse. He lifted her into the saddle, once again settling her right foot into the stirrup carefully. He was walking back to clean up any trace of their presence when she heard him speak quietly. "You should know by now that there’s no use in beating a dead horse."

"Maybe the horse isn’t dead, Jax!" She tightened her grip on the reins as her horse danced nervously, but then smiled and leaned down to gently pat its neck. "I wasn’t talking about you, sweetie," she crooned. She looked up at Jax cautiously. "Maybe if we had just talked about the way we felt about things.......afterwards......"

Jax put the paperback novel into his backpack and was swinging into his own saddle when he exploded. "What is it you want me to say, Brenda?" He urged his horse closer to hers so that she could see the hint of tears in his eyes. "Do you want to know how it tore me apart when I came back to find the house empty? Or how it tore my guts out looking at those empty closets and dresser drawers?" Brenda felt tears coming to her own eyes as Jax pulled back hard on the reins and turned his horse back towards the road. "Maybe you want me to tell you how I couldn’t eat, or couldn’t sleep for days. How I had to turn off the television every time a d*mn Hallmark commercial came on for months afterwards."

Brenda chewed on her lower lip hesitantly, and then she urged her own horse forward to follow his. {You are some piece of work, Brenda. You always were mad that he wouldn’t open up, and now that he did, you haven’t the faintest clue what to say.} When the silence felt like it was going to choke her, Brenda finally murmured, "You didn’t forget the book back there, did you?"

"No." The answer was a clipped monosyllable.

"Good." Brenda tried to relax a little as her knee started to throb again. "I’ve only got about 12 pages to go and I still don’t know who the murderer is."

After about 2 minutes of silence, Jax spoke, not bothering to turn back to face her. "The pool guy did it."

"No!" Brenda’s voice wavered between anger and disbelief.

"Yep. With a handle from one of those fishnet things he used to clean the pool." Jax heard Brenda’s snort and his shoulders slumped. {Now why did you have to go and do that, Jax? You’re a grade A jerk, you know that?}

are you still mad that I threw in the towel?

They rode in silence for another 15 minutes before Jax spoke again. "I came to see you, Brenda." Brenda’s head shot up in confusion at his words. "After you left me, I mean."

She kicked her horse gently in the side with her left foot so that it could pull up even with Jax’s. "What do you mean? When did you come to see me?"

Jax pulled back on his own reins. "When you were in Virginia, at your father’s summer house." He looked down at the ground and spoke quietly. "I had this stupid notion that maybe if we saw each other one more time, we could work out whatever had gone wrong between us." Then he looked up at something in the distance, pulling back on his reins again. "Your father told me you were too busy to see me -- I guess you and Prince Fathead were playing tennis or something."

Brenda grabbed for the reins of Jax’s horse, causing him to look into her wide eyes. "Daddy never told me, Jax. If I had known you were there, I *never* would have refused to see you..."

The silence was thick between them. Jax took a breath to say something but before he could utter a word, the quiet was broken by screams. Brenda looked around to see a large group of men dressed in Drakarian peasant garb running at them.

Jax whirled around and slapped her horse on the behind. "Get the bloody h*ll out of here, Duchess!" He tried to put a barrier between Brenda and the oncoming attackers but to his dismay, another group of them descended from the hill behind Brenda.

She didn’t remember screaming. Jax was hopelessly outnumbered and pulled from his horse. The men started beating him with their fists and kicking him, but Jax fought like a caged animal. When Brenda felt hands reaching up from behind to pull her off her own horse, the sound finally escaped her lips. "JAX!!!!!!!!!"

But the ambush had been too well planned and executed for Brenda or Jax to do anything about it. Brenda sobbed as the men pulled her in the opposite direction from where Jax was still suffering a brutal beating. She kept screaming his name until they stuffed something into her mouth and pulled her hands behind her to bind them. She had the satisfaction of knowing that she had clawed a few of them before she was rendered totally helpless.

Brenda was thrown into the back of some sort of vehicle -- a jeep, maybe. As she fell facefirst into the well, she bumped her knee again. Before she blacked out from the intense pain, Brenda made two resolutions.

If she ever got out of Drakar alive, she would make sure to tell Jax how sorry she was, and that she still loved him. And she would skin her father alive.

To be continued.......

Music Credit: "Are You Still Mad," music and lyrics by Alanis Morissette, from the CD, "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie"

Author’s Note: It has taken me a long time to get this chapter out, and in order to avoid that problem again, I’ve decided to take some liberties with the original novel. In the book, after the hero and heroine cross the ridge and she sprains her knee, they continue to wander. They argue. They wander. They argue. They have sex. They argue. They wander. Obviously, it adds to the length of the story, but I find it difficult to write and would think the readers would find it boring. Therefore, I’m skipping over all the wandering and fighting. It will make the story shorter, but now that the action has heated up again, I think it will be easier to write. I sincerely apologize if any readers object to my deviating from the original plot.