She smiled at him without really looking at him. “Keep telling yourself that, Kim, and sooner or later you’ll be disappointed. People who love you will betray you for less. Money buys everything from food, medicine and education to freedom and power. People kill each other for fifty dollars. Even less than that. Anyone in this room might want that money, and who could blame them? I’m a stranger to all of you.”

Rio sat up, adjusting her pillows into a more comfortable position. “No one in this room will betray you, Rachael. Drake and I have prices on our heads. If we tried to betray you to any of the bandits, they would kill us on sight. Kim and Tama have no need of money.”

Rachael’s dark eyes met Rio’s gaze in challenge. “I’d be willing to bet you wouldn’t have to deal with any of the bandits. If you give me up to a government official, you’d most likely get your reward.”

Rio wasn’t going to continue to argue with her. And he wasn’t going to admit, even to himself, that her suspicion bothered him. He met her eyes steadily. “I’m sure you’re right, Rachael, but for all you know I’m wanted by the government too. You said yourself I was running away from something or I wouldn’t be here.”

Rachael couldn’t pull her gaze away from Rio’s stare. He was always direct and focused. Always intense. She felt as if she were falling into the depths of his brilliant green eyes. He was sheer black magic, a product of voodoo and love potions. She was a grown woman with a price on her head. She didn’t have flights of fancy and she didn’t fall head over heels just because a man had a killer body.

Rio unexpectedly leaned very close to her, his lips against her ear. “You’re doing it again. You can’t look at me like that. It’s going to get you into trouble someday.”

Drake cleared his throat. “Why in the world would someone put up a million dollars to get you back?”

Rachael continued to look at Rio. She saw only Rio. His weathered face, the lines etched there from too many missions, too many decisions he didn’t want to make. Eyes that held so much focused intensity. Eyes that could be as cold as ice or burning with such heat she caught fire. Eyes that were a vivid green instead of the yellow-green she’d seen so often.

“Well, that is the question, isn’t it?” Rachael murmured. “What have I done? What did I steal? Because no one would put up that kind of money without a just cause.”

“You forgot the most important question. What do you know?” Rio amended.