Man of Passion by Lindsay McKenna Page A

with your father just like I do." She rested her elbows on the journal and planted her chin in her cupped hands. "We're lucky to have the moms we did—or do."
    "My mother's a pearl," Rafe said. "My father doesn't deserve her, but for whatever reasons, she hasn't walked out and left him."
    " Mmm , I understand. Maybe our fathers should get together?"
    "From the sounds of it, World War III would start." Rafe snorted and then gave her a wry smile. He looked down at his watch. "Well, in another hour we'll be at the village…and your new home." How would she react? Rafe was curious.
    Heartened, Ari smiled and sat up straight. "I can hardly wait to see it! I would read books to my mother about the Amazon Basin , about all the trees, plants and beautiful, undiscovered orchids that grew there."
    "Does what you read stack up against the real thing?" he asked, as he gestured to the triple canopy jungle to the right of them.
    "Yes. A thousand times over!" Ari clapped her hands. "Even from here I can see what I think are red and pink bromeliads peeking out here and there. Sometimes I wonder if it's my overactive imagination, or just tricks of shadows and light as the sun runs and hides behind the clouds."
    "You're seeing right," Rafe replied, congratulating her. "You've got a keen eye. A trained one, as a matter of fact." He pointed to a twisted and gnarled rubber tree that grew near the edge of the jungle. "See that? The tree with the grayish looking bark?"
    "Yes. A rubber tree, right?"
    He grinned. "Right. Look up toward the top of it, on that one branch that looks like an arm bent backward. See those long, spiky leaves shooting out from the joint area?"
    Excitedly, Ari followed his direction. "Yes, I see it."
    "That's a bromeliad. A red one, if I don't miss my guess. The red bromeliads have very dark green, pointed or lacinated leaves that look like a porcupine with her spines up."
    Thrilled, Ari looked intently as the houseboat floated past the tree. "Wow…I see it! I wish we could stop and I could go climb the tree…." And then she laughed. "Of course, I'm scared to death of heights! I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I know a lot of orchids grow in the branches of trees."
    Rafe chuckled. "The Juma will help you gather the ones you want. Besides, a lot of orchids are found on tree trunks or on rotting logs that have fallen to the earth. I don't think you'll want for orchids."
    Ari couldn't sit still, she was so excited. Pushing her fingers through her hair to tame it into some semblance of smoothness, she confided in a low, hushed voice, " Rafe , I'm just afraid I'm in a beautiful dream. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up and it will be gone."

Chapter Five

    It was early evening when Rafe moved the houseboat snugly in the calm, muddy channel. Rays of sunlight shot like spokes on a wheel through the gathering cauliflower-shaped clouds on the western horizon.
    "These channels are known as igarapes , " Rafe told Ari as he placed the plank from the houseboat to the earthen bank of the channel which was about forty-feet wide. "You'll see banana trees everywhere, palms, embauba trees, mangos and lots of coffee bushes." He grinned and leaped to the shore, then stepped halfway up the well-worn, partially painted plank. Holding out his hand to Ari, he said, "Welcome to my humble abode—the Amazon jungle, señorita . "
    Ari didn't know where to look first. As she turned to Rafe , she couldn't help but smile. He seemed so proud and confident. She stared at the hand he held out to her; it was large with long, artistic fingers, the nails blunt cut, and calluses across his palm. This was a man who worked in nature. Indeed, she thought as she leaned forward, placed her foot on the plank and slid her slender fingers into his, he seemed more and more like the Green Man of European myths and legends. The Green Man was nature personified. Someone who was in complete harmony with all around him.
    "Thank you, Señor Antonio," she said in