Rated: PG for possibly strong language and situation

Brenda tried not to look shocked or prudish. "Take my clothes off?

Jax nodded nonchalantly, not a hint of a smile on his face. "Um-hmm. Take your clothes off."

"ALL my clothes?" Brenda prayed that in the darkness, Jax wouldn’t be able to see the pallor she knew was creeping up her face.

"Yeah." His blonde hair tumbled down onto his forehead as Jax nodded vigorously. Brenda remained frozen in place. "You got a problem with that?"

"You know d*mn well I’ve got a problem with that, Jax!" Brenda shrieked, stomping her foot for emphasis, her hands on her hips. "What kind of macho stunt are you trying to pull?"

Jax walked slowly over to where Brenda was standing. The closer he got to her, his bare chest gleaming in the moonlight, his musky, male scent beginning to tease at her senses, the more of her bravado that left. "It’s not a macho stunt, duchess," he said deliberately. "It’s a *survival* stunt. We don’t have anything to put between the sleeping bag and the ground. If you sleep in those clothes, the dampness in the soil is going to seep through the sleeping bag and make your clothes damp."

Jax began to rub briskly at his bare arms. "If you spend the night in this chill in damp clothes, you’ll have pneumonia by morning. So," he paused, putting his own hands on his hips, "unless you have a secret stash of penicillin and a sick fascination with being deathly ill, I strongly recommend you GET NAKED!! NOW!!!"

Brenda stared him down, refusing to give him the satisfaction of looking like he had won. "I knew about the damp ground and the wet clothes and the pneumonia and all that," she spat, gesturing towards the sleeping bag. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t asking me to take my clothes off for the wrong reason, that’s all!"

"Right…" Jax’s eyes didn’t budge from hers. {Yeah, and I’ve got some mountain property in Mississippi to sell you.}

"Right." {D*mn. He knows I’m lying.} Brenda broke his gaze finally and looked around. "Well, Mr. Knight-In-Shining-Armor, is it alright with you if I go to the bathroom before I take my clothes off and get in the sleeping bag?"

"Be my guest," Jax returned sarcastically, sweeping his arm towards the bushes. Brenda spun around and stomped off towards the brush while Jax turned back towards the sleeping bags.

When Brenda returned a few minutes later, Jax had already gotten inside the bag and was on his right side, facing away from her. When she accidentally stepped on a twig, he spun to face her, a lethal-looking handgun aimed at her forehead. "Geez, Jax! Make up your mind! Either rescue me or shoot me!"

"Sorry," Jax muttered. "Old reflexes die hard." As Brenda began to take off her parka, Jax didn’t roll back to his right side but propped his left elbow against the ground and rested his head on his hand.

Brenda had already shed her jacket and was pulling at the drawstring of the sweat pants when she felt his gaze. Her eyes looked up warily. "I don’t suppose you’d be a gentleman and look the other way, would you?"

Jax shook his head at her stubbornness. "I guess if we ever want to get any sleep tonight….." He gave a big sigh and then turned back to his right side slowly.

Brenda worked quickly, pulling off the sweat pants and T-shirt and leaving them in a small pile next to the sleeping bag. She decided that her thin panties wouldn’t absorb enough dampness from the ground to be life-threatening, so she left them on and crawled reluctantly into the sleeping bag next to Jax.

As soon as he felt her body next to his, Jax turned back to his left side. Brenda flipped to her left side also so that he spooned her. When Jax felt her silk-clad bottom so close to his own maleness, he had to begin reciting WSB regulations to himself to try to control his racing libido.

Brenda barely stifled her own gasp when she felt Jax’s nude body so close to her own. When he shifted slightly, she could feel his strong hips pressing against hers. He put his right arm over her protectively and to help cocoon them as one. Brenda shivered, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the cold on the ground or the heat of his arm against her bare breasts.

Jax felt her shudder. "You OK?"

Brenda swallowed hard. "Yeah…..it’s just so hard." Jax lifted his head and Brenda realized what she had said. "The ground, I mean. It’s very uncomfortable."

Jax settled back on his side with a sigh. "Well, if it’s any consolation to you, we’ll be in a small shack with a roof over our heads by tomorrow night. Now try to get some rest, Brenda."

The hoot of an owl broke the silence right before Brenda did. "Jax? I didn’t get to brush my teeth."

"Send me your dental bills when we get back to the States, OK? Now go to sleep."

More silence. "Jax?"

"Now what?" He barely answered her, sounding like he had already fallen asleep.

"Are there wild animals around here that might attack us in our sleep?" Her voice trembled a little. "Maybe one of us should stay awake and stand guard."

Jax sighed loudly. "Well, since you seem to be the one who’s awake, why don’t you take the first shift? You just give a holler if you see any marauding bands of killer bunny rabbits, OK?"

Brenda was almost tempted to elbow Jax in the ribs, but she wanted to avoid as much bodily contact with him as possible so she let the barb pass. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.

"Jax?"

"GO TO SLEEP, BRENDA! We’re safe!" Jax pulled her more tightly against him and desperately tried to control his breathing. Eventually, Brenda’s weariness from her ordeal and the after-effects of the drugged tea kicked in and she drifted into slumber.

*^*^*^*

Brenda woke several hours later to find herself resting on Jax’s chest. He had rolled to his back and her legs were tangled with his as her left arm curled around his waist possessively. When she came to full consciousness and realized her awkward position, she prayed that he was still asleep.

He wasn’t. When Brenda shifted her left knee to try to pull her leg from between his, she felt his state of preparedness – for anything.

Brenda opened her eyes slowly and looked up at his face. His eyes were open too, glittering at her in the darkness. When she moved her left hand to rest on the center of his chest, Jax took a deep breath. The feel of her delicate fingers so close to his nipple was going to be hard to ignore.

Their eyes still locked, Brenda inched her way up his body until they were nearly nose to nose. Their lips moved closer and closer, drawn by mutual want. They could settle the hurtful words and actions beyond understanding later. Right now, all each one of them wanted was…..

The flapping of an owl’s wings startled them back into reality. Jax’s entire body tensed and he jerked away from Brenda just slightly. As she slid back down to the crook of his arm, Jax relaxed as much as he could under the circumstances. Brenda rested her head on Jax’s chest, and he brought his right hand up to stroke her hair lightly. "Go back to sleep, duchess. It was just an owl."

Brenda looked back up at Jax, their eyes both shining with unfulfilled passion. "Jax…." she began, but he put his finger to her lips.

"It wouldn’t have solved anything, Brenda. It would just confuse me even more, and I need to keep a level head to get us both out of this alive."

Tears came to Brenda’s eyes, but she tried to keep her face in the shadows so that he wouldn’t see them. "You’re right," she whispered. "It would have been a mistake."

She settled her head back on his chest, but neither one of them went back to sleep for a long time.

*^*^*^*

"Wake up, duchess. We need to get moving." Brenda opened her eyes reluctantly to Jax’s smiling face.

"You always were a morning person," Brenda mumbled. "I *hate* morning people." She scratched her scalp and then started to stretch, but then she remembered she had slept in the nude and she pulled her arms back to cross them across her chest.

For his part, Jax had risen from his crouched position next to the sleeping bag and was re-packing their backpacks. He had his back to her, so Brenda quickly grabbed her clothes and slid deeper in the sleeping bag to pull them on. As she was emerging from the bag, Jax turned back to her. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?" he asked, tossing her a small bag.

"Some," Brenda frowned, turning the bag over in her hand. "What’s this?"

"Breakfast," Jax answered curtly. "It’s dried fruit." Before Brenda could object, Jax grabbed the reins of both horses. "I’m going to take the horses down to the stream for some water while you eat. Make it fast so we can get on the way again." He squinted up at the sky through the trees. "It looks like we’re in for some heavy rain by tonight."

Brenda nodded slowly and sank to the hollow log, tearing open her packet with her teeth. She glanced up at the sky and knew Jax was right. The only clouds in the sky were gray and heavy with moisture. Just as she finished chewing the last of the freeze-dried fruit, Jax came back and looped the reins around a tree limb. "I don’t suppose you found a Dunkin’ Donuts somewhere along the way and brought me back a chocolate Long John?" she smiled grimly.

Jax shook his head and stared at his feet, smiling. "You still eat that artery-clogging junk in the morning?"

Brenda rose and stretched. "Jelly donuts -- the breakfast of champions," she joked, but then she saw Jax’s serious face return. "I know. I’m finished. I just need to put my parka back on."

Two hours later, Brenda was wishing she had taken longer to eat breakfast. The horses were picking their way along a barely-marked mountain trail, dangerously close to a steep drop-off that made Brenda’s head swim.

"Jax," she finally managed to squeak out, "are you *sure* this is the best way to get to the border? Isn’t there some nice *flat* road that would be faster?"

Brenda watched Jax’s head and shoulders shake with laughter ahead of her. "I know, duchess. You don’t like heights and you’re afraid of horses." He stopped his own horse and shifted in the saddle to turn around and look at her. "But it’s not much further and we’ll be at the top. There’s some heavily forested area and that cabin I promised you."

Brenda nodded and the plodded on. They were about 150 feet from the top when a sharp "ping" sounded near Brenda’s horse’s hoof. "Jax! What was that?"

Jax never answered her as he took advantage of her horse’s burst of speed in fear. As her horse shot up to come even with his, he grabbed the reins and jabbed his heels into the sides of his own horse. They took off at break-neck speed for the top of the crest.

As they reached the top, Jax kept hold of the reins of Brenda’s horse and led them both into a nearby grove of trees. "Get off and get behind those rocks, quick!" Jax shouted. Brenda was too scared to do anything else but obey, and just as she ducked behind the rocks, another "ping" ricocheted off a nearby rock.

Brenda was shaking all over when Jax crouched next to her, pushing her head down and covering her body with his chest. "Jax, are they shooting at us??!!"

"They’re not inviting us to a scented candle party, duchess!" Jax replied through gritted teeth. He pulled himself to more of an upright position behind the rocks and before Brenda could blink an eye, he had pulled a lethal-looking handgun from a harness that wrapped around his waist. Holding the gun in one hand, he began to fumble in the front pocket of his jeans. When another "ping" sounded on a rock about 10 feet from them, Brenda screamed and Jax pushed her head down further.

"Brenda," Jax whispered, "reach in my pocket and see if you can find some extra shells for my gun."

As Jax held the butt of the gun with both hands to steady his aim, Brenda’s eyes opened wide. "Jasper Jacks," she growled, "if it turns out later than you’re having a temporary memory lapse and those shells are in your parka pocket, those guys out there won’t have to shoot you cause I’ll kill you myself!"

Jax didn’t look at her but just grimaced, and then squeezed the trigger of the weapon carefully. The loud report made Brenda scream and cover her ears. When the smoke cleared, Brenda tried to raise her head a little. "Did you hit anything?"

Jax peered over the rock. "Wasn’t really trying to. I just wanted them to know they weren’t the only ones on the playground with toys." He glanced down at her. "What about those extra shells?"

Brenda made a grim face, but then put her hand in his right front jeans pocket gingerly. She tried to think of anything else to distract her, but it wasn’t doing much good. When her hand accidentally brushed against Jax’s lower stomach, he flinched and gave her a dirty look. Before he could say anything, Brenda managed to close her hand around the shells and pulled them out of his pocket.

"Thanks." Jax was about to say something else to Brenda when another shot ricocheted off a boulder about 25 feet from them. He pushed her head down. "D*mn! Whoever they are, they’re bloody *awful* shots!"

Jax quickly loaded the extra shells in his weapon and fired several shots at some boulders and in the air. "What do you mean -- whoever they are?" Brenda asked, barely raising her head. "Don’t you think they’re Rashid’s men?"

"They’re not the Prince’s army, duchess," Jax replied, not taking his eyes from the scene before him. "They wouldn’t be trying to kill us, or me at least. Rashid would want that pleasure for himself, I guarantee."

"So then they’re rebels?"

Jax tipped his head to the side. "Could be. Or they could be just plain old, run-of-the-mill bandits."

"Gee, you’re just a barrel of good news," Brenda said wryly. "Which do you think it is?"

Jax looked around him. "I don’t really care much. But whoever it is, I think they must have decided we weren’t worth the trouble." Jax put his hand on Brenda’s shoulder. "You stay down until I tell you, and then run like h*ll for your horse and get on."

Brenda nodded, and at Jax’s signal, she scrambled to her feet and ran for her horse. She had barely gotten there when she heard the sound of Jax’s footsteps right behind her. "Try to stay down low, close to your horse, and follow my lead!" Jax growled as Brenda mounted her horse in record time.

Jax vaulted onto his own horse and jabbed his heels into its ribs, jump-starting it to go crashing into the trees. Brenda tried to bend down and keep her body close to the horse’s withers as she anxiously kept an eye on the tail of Jax’s horse in front of her.

They rode pell-mell for about 20 minutes until she saw the gait of Jax’s horse slowing. As her own horse drew even with his, Jax put his hand on her back. "I think you can come up for air now, Brenda. We probably lost ‘em."

Brenda rose from her crouched position. "Geez, I’m glad they didn’t try to follow us. My back is killing me."

"Obviously you’d make a rotten jockey," Jax grinned. He pulled back on his own horse’s reins. "Come on. Let’s find some water and grass for these guys and have some lunch." She gently applied her heels to her own horse, and the two ambled through the thick trees until they found a small stream.

Brenda slid from the saddle gratefully and massaged her posterior. "If we ever make it out of here alive and get to Lontak, I don’t think I’ll ever want to ride a horse again as long as I live." Jax just reached inside his backpack and pulled out a small bag, which he tossed to her. "What’s this?" Brenda asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the freeze-dried rations.

"Beef jerky, I think," Jax replied. He sat down on a rock and tore into his own bag. "I promise you that as soon as we get across the border, I’ll take you to the first McDonald’s I see and order you a Big Mac Value Meal."

Brenda’s smile lit up the gray, overcast afternoon. "Super-sized? With a large chocolate shake?"

Jax grinned lewdly. "I always did tell you, duchess…..stick with me if you want the biggest and the best."

Brenda blushed as she tore another piece of jerky with her teeth and chewed it thoughtfully. "Did you mean what you said back there – that Rashid’s men will have orders to take us back so Rashid can kill us himself?"

"I said he’d want to kill *me*, not you, Brenda," Jax replied in a monotone. "I violated his male ego and vanity by stealing his newest bride right out from under his nose." Jax stared down at the ground. "I’m sure he spends his nights dreaming of ways to mangle my manhood before he lets me die." He looked back up again at Brenda. "Now you, on the other hand – I would guess he wants you very much alive so he can finish what I interrupted the other night."

Brenda shuddered and wadded her plastic bag between her hands. "Jax," she said quietly, "I didn’t quite tell you everything before." She looked up and caught his crystal blue eyes with hers. "I told Rashid that I didn’t want to marry him. I went to him yesterday afternoon and told him I wanted to go home and that the wedding was off." Brenda threw her hands up in the air and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "God, was that just yesterday afternoon? It feels like it’s been a lifetime since yesterday afternoon."

Jax didn’t say anything, but rose from his rock perch and came over to take Brenda’s hands in his, pulling her to a standing position. He looked deeply into her eyes, and traced the track of her tear with his finger softly. Just as his finger started to trace her lips, a bird screeched and they both startled. Jax looked up at the darkening sky. "We’d better get going. The cabin is still a ways from here, and we definitely want to be under cover when those clouds open up and the rains start."

Brenda nodded quickly, rubbing her hands on the sides of her legs. "Right." She turned to her horse. "OK, horse. Time for more fun and games." Jax followed Brenda back to the horse and surprised her when he cupped his hands to help her mount the horse. Once she was astride, Jax patted her gently on the fanny, and then went back to jump aboard his own horse, grabbing the reins as he did.

As the horses slowly picked their way to higher elevations, Brenda tried not to think about how warm Jax’s body had felt beneath her fingers. As she glanced at his relaxed stance astride the horse, she couldn’t stop thinking about why he would have patted her like that just minutes earlier.

They rode in silence for about two more hours, and then Jax suddenly reined in his horse. "There it is, up ahead." He glanced up at the sky. "And none too soon, from the way those clouds look."

Brenda peered around Jax to see a run-down cabin with a thatched roof. The door hung half-open on broken hinges, and the windows appeared to be covered with something no more secure than tar paper. But to Brenda, it looked like the Presidential Suite in the Ritz Carlton.

She urged her horse slowly forward following Jax, but was distracted when a rumble of thunder off in the distance startled her. "Was that more bombing?"

Jax pulled back on his reins and jumped down from the horse. "Not this time, duchess. Just plain old garden variety thunder." He came back to her horse. "Let me help you down so that I can take these guys and get them watered and fed before the skies open up."

Brenda nodded and swung her left leg over the horse’s neck. But the horse decided it had had enough adventures for the day, and he moved slightly just as Brenda began to slide into Jax’s waiting arms.

"Jax!" Brenda yelped as she felt the horse moving out from under her. But Jax already had his hands up and caught her to his chest, wrapping his arms just under her derriere as she grabbed his neck for dear life.

"I’ve got you, Brenda!" Jax muttered. "I won’t let you fall." Brenda opened her eyes to find Jax staring back into hers, his eyes ablaze with something she hadn’t seen in over two years.

Jax slowly slid her body down his, gently letting her feet touch the ground. But his eyes never wavered from hers. When she was on the ground and supporting her own weight again, he took one hand from her waist and cupped her face, rubbing his thumb back and forth across her cheek. "Are you OK?"

Brenda tried to fight the tears that threatened to come. "No, Jax. I’m not OK. Only you can make me OK again." He took a long, deep breath at her words, and used the hand that still cupped her face to draw it to his. He hesitated for only a split second before his lips touched hers gently.

Brenda almost didn’t believe that he kissed her. She had closed her eyes in anticipation as she saw his face coming closer to hers, but the first time he touched her lips, it was almost like the gentle caress of the wind on a spring day. But then, before she had time to open her eyes to see if he truly did, his lips descended again to take hers in a ferocious embrace.

When Brenda wound her hands up around his neck and threaded them into his hair, her soft moan was Jax’s undoing. He lowered his hand from her face to pull her even closer to him. He broke the kiss, and began rubbing his lips sensuously across hers, lightly flicking his tongue over her lower lip. When she whimpered again at the loss of his lips, Jax seized the opportunity to initiate another mind-blowing kiss and send his tongue in search of hers.

Brenda’s fingers tunneled deeply into Jax’s hair as she felt herself being sucked into a vortex where only the two of them existed. As Jax positioned her so that she could feel how much the kiss was affecting him, she moved her hands down to his shoulders, pulling herself up to wrap her legs around his waist. She was gratified to hear his own moan when she rubbed her feminine softness against him.

They were both breathing hard when they finally had to break apart or pass out from lack of oxygen. As they stared into each others’ eyes, Brenda felt a few drops of rain. She thought back to a time two years earlier -- even the rain hadn’t dampened their passion back then. But this was hardly the place or the time to re-kindle old feelings.

Brenda unwrapped her legs and set her feet on the ground as Jax’s breathing slowed. "I should probably slap your handsome face for doing that," Brenda gasped softly.

Jax’s face hardened in a split second as he pulled away from her. "That would be a first, duchess," he said bitterly. "You’ve never done what you should have in the past." He slowly took a few steps towards the horses, finally looking back at her with anguish in his eyes. "If you had done what you should have and left Drakar a week ago, we wouldn’t be stuck here right now." Jax turned back to take the horses’ reins, clucking to them gently. But before he walked out of her earshot, he muttered, "Don’t you remember? I warned you in the beginning not to get involved with me. But you didn’t listen. You never do what you should."

Brenda watched him removing the saddles and gear from the horses. After she was sure that he couldn’t hear her, she whispered to his back, "No, Jax – what I should have never done was leave you at the end."

To be continued.....