the presence of mind to cover himself. She should have been mortified at the sight of a naked man, but she had absolutely ogled him.
He came to his feet with a brutal curse, flinging the whiskey bottle down onto the patio to splinter into a thousand shards of glass.
The breath tore through his chest with such force that he couldn't move for several moments, and then he began to pace, back and forth across the patio like some caged beast in a carnival.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of shutters at the window on the second floor. She had obviously heard the crashing of the bottle against the brick patio, and now she stood at the window, her body only the whisper of a shadow through the glass. But it was enough to set his blood afire.
She stood there watching him. He knew it, though he couldn't see her eyes. Damn her boldness! Why didn't she turn away and go back to bed and leave him in peace? Why did she stand there like a statue, looking at him, examining him, trying to break through his defenses?
Cursing savagely, he turned away, furious that she had forced him to be the one to break the tableau. A blinding rage shuddered through him as he stalked toward the stairs and bounded up them. When he emerged onto the balcony, Caroline no longer stood at the window. Allowing himself a triumphant smile, he grasped the doorknob and rattled it viciously, more to frighten her than to break into her rooms.
Not so bold after all, he mused, only slightly ashamed of his victory. What did she think? That he'd flown up the stairs to throttle her or ravish her?
Did she think a door would keep him out should he choose to do so?
#####
After a while, the terrible noise abated and Caroline released the sigh that had been wedged in her throat. She waited, listening, her back against the closed bedroom door. Though her eyes remained dry, sob after wretched sob racked her body. She trembled so violently she feared she might be ill.
Soon she heard his booted footfalls retreat from the outer door, and her body sagged with relief.
What had she done? She'd married a madman! And now she was trapped here in the remotest Amazon.
Trapped. Defenseless.
The jungle may seem cruel, he'd written, but there is no senseless violence in the jungle, except that wrought by man. Man is truly a beast to be feared above all others.
Shivering, she went to stand at the open bedroom window, gazing down at the night-shrouded jungle, wondering if Jason himself were a beast to be feared above all others.
####
Caroline paced back and forth just inside the stable, waiting impatiently for Jason to arrive. After awakening to the crashing sound on the patio below her window and taking part in a silent battle of wills with Jason—a battle she had lost miserably—she hadn't been able to get back to sleep.
That moment of fear had kept her awake all night. He'd wanted her to fear him, she realized in the early hours of the morning as she tried to sort out all that had happened since she arrived.
Was he displeased with her, or would he have treated any woman with the same contempt and anger? She didn't know how to approach him, how to reach the man inside, but in those dawning hours, she'd decided he was worth the effort, even if he did sometimes frighten her with his rages.
So she had dressed just before dawn and come to the stable, determined that he wouldn't slip out without her today. Whatever it was that made him so angry, that made him lash out at her, she would make him face it. There was only one way to do that, and that was to confront him and not let him intimidate her. As appealing as the idea of remaining safely locked away in her room might be, she had to face him and carve out a place in his life or she might as well pack her bags and leave now.
She didn't have long to wait. Jason strode into the stable dressed much as he had been that first day—tan breeches tucked inside knee-high boots, ivory shirt stretched across the broad muscles of his shoulders.
At sight of his master, the large bay stallion that had been standing sedately while the young groom, Julio, saddled it, began to whinny and toss its head in recognition.
Jason regarded