Whatever his feelings, he needed to end them now, before it was too late.
Unwrapping her arms from around his neck, he lifted her away and settled her naked on the bed. He went into the bathroom to clean up, came out and pulled on a fresh T-shirt, then headed for the door.
“You’re going out?” Abby asked. “Where are you going?” She looked beautiful, with the faint sheen of moisture on her skin, her shiny hair a tangle around her shoulders. He wanted to turn back, go over to the bed, and take her again.
“I need some air,” he said. “Why don’t you nap for a while? I won’t be gone long.” And he wouldn’t go far. He didn’t trust the men in the cantina.
Worse yet, now he knew he couldn’t trust himself. Not when it came to his feelings for Abby. He needed to put things back the way they were before, keep the physical part of their relationship, but separate everything else.
It wouldn’t be easy, but Gage was determined.
With a last glance at Abby, he stepped out into the heat and closed the door.
The heavy metal click felt like a lock closing off his heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PITCH DARKNESS CLOAKED THE DENSE FOREST AS THEHUMMERdrove along the narrow, overgrown lane leading to the ruins of the old hacienda, once the Peralta plantation. Twin yellow circles shining from the headlights were all that illuminated their way.
As before, Mateo and Edge rode in the vehicle in front of them. They’d been in the area to get a feel for what they would be facing, though not to the ruins themselves. Secrets had a way of getting out.
Abby turned on her cell phone and pulled up the satellite map she had downloaded before they’d left Denver. Until now, they hadn’t used their phones since the incident in Mexico City. They didn’t want to be tracked. There was no service this far out of Alux’ob. Even there, communication was spotty. But the map was already downloaded to the phone.
“We’re almost there,” Abby said, following the lines on the screen. The vehicle ahead made a turn to the right, and Gage followed. A few seconds later, a stone arch appeared in front of them, overgrown with vines and weeds. As they passed beneath the arch, she could see the road ahead curving off toward their destination.
An animal darted out in the road, panicked, turned, and scuttled away.
“Anteater,” Gage said. “Big one.” It was about five feet long, with a pointed snout and yellowish-white and black fur. “They’re nocturnal,” he added.
Abby’s heart was still racing from the near miss and seeing such an incredible animal in the wild. “So I just learned.”
“They’re actually very shy.”
“With the size of those claws, I’d rather not run into one in the forest.”
In the colored lights on the dash, she caught Gage’s smile.
They drove another quarter mile and came to a long slab of stone topped by arched columns, all that was left of the front entrance to what had once been a grand hacienda.
Ahead of them, Mateo slowed, then continued along the road, circling around the house to the back. Off to one side, outbuildings were now piles of stone covered by vines and bushes that had grown up through the cracks.
They reached what had been the rear entrance, and both vehicles pulled to a stop. They left the headlights on so they could see what remained of the hacienda. From what Abby could tell, there was nothing but stone walls two to four feet high, part of the foundation.
They climbed out of the vehicles, and Abby unrolled the drawing Gage had made from satellite views of the grounds, combined with the information King had left in the safe deposit box.
Edge walked up, and so did Mateo. “Not much left,” Edge said, his gaze tracking the shapes outlined by the headlights.
Abby spread the drawing open on the hood of the car, and Gage clicked on his long-handled flashlight to study it. His gaze went back to the remnants of the house. “Mostly, it’s just the original foundation, the perimeter stones King described.”
The old plantations were built in a similar design, much like the Hacienda San José, with a long, gallery-style front entrance, a rambling single-story residence, and gardens in the rear. According to the brochure Abby had read, there were fifteen bedrooms and suites in the Hacienda San José, probably at least an equal number here.
“How big do you think it was?” Abby asked.
“I’d say twelve to fifteen thousand square feet on the main level.”
“Plus the rooms below the house,” Abby said. “The wine cellar, food-storage chambers, and probably some servants’ quarters.”
“A lot of these old plantations had their own jail cells under the house,” Gage said. “The plantations were located far away from any town, and each estate was its own small village. According to King, in a room under the ruins is where we’ll find the gold.”
