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Grace Carlyle always hoped she&039;d die fro sex with her husband Well, she wasn&039;tto die

And not from intense pleasure

Froer? Possibly

From her own stupidity? Absolutely

She was lost and alone in the freaking Areen vines and towering trees, beads of sweat trickled down her chest and back Sht seeped fro hazy visibility Barely adequate, but appreciated The sether, forrance of sweet and sour She wrinkled her nose

"All I wanted was a little excitement," she muttered "Instead I end up broke, lost, and trapped in this bug-infested sauna"

To complete her descent into hell, she expected the sky to open and pour out a deluge of rain at anyabout her current circuht actually help her lose a few pounds froood here Except, perhaps, in her obituary

New Yorker found dead in A, she swatted a h she&039;d applied several layers of ucuru oil to prevent such bites Where the hell was Alex? She should have run into her brother by now Or, at the very least, stuenous tribe

If only she hadn&039;t taken an extended leave of absence froh the air, relaxed and listening to the hypnotic huine

"I&039;d be in an air-conditioned G-IV," she said, slashing her hand like avanilla Coke" Another slash "I&039;d be listening to my co-workers discuss stiletto heels, expensive dates and as I were anywhere else

She stopped abruptly and closed her eyes I just want to be happy Is that too much to ask ?

Obviously

So often lately she battled a sense of discontent, a desire to experience so much more Herher "You&039;re going to get yourself in trouble," she&039;d admonished But had Grace listened? NooooInstead she&039;d followed her aunt Sophie&039;s lovely bit of wisdom Aunt Sophie, for God&039;s sake! The woman ore leopard print spandex and cavorted withthings, Gracie honey," Sophie had said, "but that&039;s not really living So from your life and if you don&039;t find it, you&039;ll end up a shriveled old prune like yourfrom Grace&039;s life She knew that, and in an effort to find that , Internet dating and singles bars When those failed, she decided to give night school a try Not to y classes had done her any good The best stylists in the world couldn&039;t tame her wild red curls After that, she&039;d tried race-car driving and step class She&039;d even gotten her belly button pierced Nothing helped

What would it take to le, that&039;s for sure," she gru back into motion "Someone please tell me," she said to the heavens, "why satisfaction always dances so quickly out ofthe world had always been her dreaht attendant for a private charter had seemed like the perfect job for her She hadn&039;t realized she would beco fro the state/country/hellhole she found herself in Sure, she&039;d scaled mountains, surfed the ocean waves and jumped from a plane, but the joy of those adventures never re else she&039;d tried, they always left her feeling more unsatisfied than before

That&039;s why she had coer Her brother was an eical colider constructed by Daedalus of Athens-a discovery that rocked the scientific and hts delving deep into the world&039;sjob, he didn&039;t have to worry about beco a shriveled old prune Not likethe sweat froo, Alex had shipped her a package containing his journal and a gorgeous necklace with two dangling, intertwined dragon heads No note of ex-planation acco for a portal that led into the lost city of Atlantis she&039;d decided to join hie on his cell phone with details of her flight

With a sigh, she fingered the dragon chain hanging at her neck When Alex failed to pick her up at the airport, she should have returned ho, suddenly uide and tried to find hiuide &039;"Of course, senhorinaAnything at all, senhorina"&039;

"Bastard," she muttered

Today, two miserable days into her trek, her kind, considerate, I-only-want-to-help-you guide had stolen her backpack and abandoned her here Now she had no food, no water, no tent She did, however, have a weapon A weapon she had used to shoot that bastard in the ass as he ran away The ly patted the revolver resting in the waist of her dirty canvas pants

Her s, however, as the ainst her In all her wildest dreams, her need for fulfillhter and-

So hard slammed into her head and jostled her forward She yelped, her heart pounding in her chest as she rubbed her now throbbing te for the source of her pain

Oh, thank you, thank you , she mentally cried when she spied the rosy-colored fruit Mouth watering, she studied the delicious-looking juice seeping from the smashed remains Was it poisonous? And did she care if it was? She licked her lips No, she didn&039;t care Death by poison was preferable to walking away from this unexpected treasure

Just as she reached down to scoop up what she could, another ht

Spinning, she sent her narrowed gaze through the trees About ten yards away and fifteen feet up she discovered a s a piece of fruit in each hand Her jaw dropped open in disbelief Was he s back both of his arms and launched each piece at her She was too stunned to ainst her pants, stinging her thighs with their i, proud of himself, the h the air

She knehat he was thinking: ha, ha, there&039;s nothing you can do about itThis was too much Robbed, abandoned, then assaulted by a pri, at her wits end, she picked up the fruit, clai bites, paused, claimed two et in the ear He lost his s I can do about it, huh? Well, take that, you rotten fuzz ball"

Her victory was short-lived In the next instant, fruit sailed at her fro she was outnurabbed what fruit she could, ducked behind a tree, ju what direction she traveled Ran until she was certain her lungs would collapse from exertion

When she finally slowed her pace, she sucked in a breath, then bit into her bounty Sucked in another breath, then bit into the fruit again, continually alternating between the two As the sweet juices ran down her throat, she ht

Until another hour passed By then her body forgot that she&039;d had any nourish her feet to drag Her bones were liquefying, and her , each step creating a mantra in her brain Find Alex Find Alex Find Alex He was out here so for that silly portal, perhaps blithely unaware of her presence

Unfortunately the deeper she roale the more lost and alone she became The trees and liana thickened, as did the darkness At least the scent of rot evaporated, leaving only a luscious trace of wild heliconias and dewy orchids If she didn&039;t find shelter soon, she would collapse wherever she found herself, helpless against nature Though her vaccinations were up-to-date, she hated snakes and insects ue

Several yards, a tapir and two capybaras later, she had s were so heavy they felt like steel clubs Not knohat else to do, she sank to the ground As she lay there, she heard the gentle song of the insects and the-Her eardrums perked The peaceful trickle of water? She blinked, listening more intently Yes, she realized with excitelorious swoosh of water

Get up , she co every bit of strength she possessed, she pushed to her hands and knees and crawled into a thick tangle of vegetation Forest life pulsed vibrantly around her, reen leaves parted and the ground becaed by an underground spring The clear, turquoise water s with the force of her need, she cupped her hands together, scooped up the cool, heavenly liquid and drank deeply Her parched lips welcoan to burn, hotter and hotter, like she ing molten lava Except, the sensation came from the outside of her body, not the inside

The heat becaaze locked on to the twin dragon heads dangling from the silver chain around her neck Both sets of ruby eyes were glowing a bright, eerie red

She tried to jerk the thing over her head but was suddenly propelled forward by an invisible force Arly thick wall of flora She abruptly stilled as the rew is She had entered soainst the rocky floor A cool, welco breeze kissed her face as relief nearly buckled her knees The tranquil a heart and labored breathing