How did I get stuck with Marguerite while Roxton gets to lounge around all day with Challenger, Summerlee, and Veronica, Malone thought as he stared at the stiff, straight back swaying ahead of him. But at least it's not a total waste . . . she did promise to let me interview her.
The idea of getting to pry into Marguerite's secret world stirred his reporter's instinct. In his daily struggle to stay alive, he had forgotten what it was like to anticipate uncovering a long buried story and trying to make sense of something that, at first glance, appeared beyond reason. "Beyond reason" was definitely a title that fit Marguerite perfectly.
Malone was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not realize she had stopped in front of him until he plowed into her back.
"Ugh! Malone, could you please stop daydreaming about Veronica and pay attention to where you're going!" Marguerite said as she pushed him away none to gently.
"I wasn't thinking about Veronica," he grumbled as he straightened himself up defensively.
"Sure you weren't . . ."she muttered, looking around at their surroundings. "I think the cave was over that way."
Malone glanced in the direction she indicated and a small knot formed in his stomach. She would think nothing of going through the raptors' spring breeding grounds! He looked at her face to see her eyes already glittering with the possibility of discovering the mother lode she was convinced was hidden within the walls of the cave. "You can't be serious."
Her smile fell a moment before turning hard and she said, "I'm dead serious, Malone."
"Funny you should choose that expression since dead is exactly what we'll be if we hang around here too much longer."
"Oh come on Ned, where's your sense of adventure? Besides, you promised." Marguerite turned and gave him what she hoped was her most persuasive smile.
He sighed. Much as he tried not to, he had to admire her determination. She was not the quiet and unassuming type of woman he was used to and he almost enjoyed being around her. Almost.
"You better have a damn good story for me, Marguerite."
A funny look passed over her face. "You have no idea, Malone."
"Well, let's get this over with . . . the sooner we get out of here the better." At his words Marguerite eagerly made her way to the cave on the other side of the clearing. He was amazed to hear her whistling happily and saw a spring in her step that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier. This woman is unbelievable . . . you'd think she was going to meet her lover not a damp cave in the middle of the raptors' love nest!
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Five hours later, Malone was ready to strangle Marguerite. "If we don't head out now, we won't make it to the treehouse before dark!"
"We can camp here for the night. That way I can get an early start in the morning," she said as she smiled greedily at her already full bag.
"Marguerite, you hate to camp—"
"It doesn't bother me, it's just for one night."
"In the middle of Raptorville???" he said exacerbated.
"Raptorville? Really, Malone, where do you come up with these things?" she said laughing. He blushed at having let his personal, rather childish, name for the raptor breeding grounds slip out.
"Marguerite, I'm sorry but even if you don't value our hides, I do. Besides, Roxton would kill me if I didn't bring you back safe and sound," he said, trying to cover his own embarrassment by throwing attention on the not-so-secret infatuation his two friends had for each other. As much as they tried to hide it, no one was fooled. Especially when Roxton pulls me aside every time I go out with Marguerite and gives me a talk about the importance of keeping my eyes open and never letting my guard down.
"Roxton is not my keeper. If he cared so much about me being safe, he should have hauled his lazy butt out of the treehouse and come with us," she said without much heat. Malone couldn't tell if sparkle in her eyes was due to the thought of Roxton's "lazy butt" or the idea of finding more gold. Probably a combination of the two, he thought with a laugh.
"You really should listen to your young friend Marguerite," a deep voice called from further down in the cave. "But then, listening to reason never was a well-developed skill of yours."
As soon as they heard the voice, both explorers pulled out their weapons and Marguerite clutched her bag of gold tightly to her chest.
"I'm much more interested in finding out who this Roxton character is, Marguerite. Hasn't he learned you can take care of yourself, and only yourself?" a feminine voice called out jokingly.
Two figures started making their way towards the explorers and Malone watched carefully for the first sign of violence from the newcomers. Marguerite's face contorted into a look of dismay and disbelief as the faces of the visitors became visible.
"Why, Marguerite dear, you don't look at all happy to see us! We came all this way to find you and bring you home, the least you could do is say hello," the man said with a feigned look of disappointment.
Marguerite recovered quickly and pulled on a mask of polite interest. "Hello Douglas, how did you find me?"
"Not quite the reaction I hoped for but it'll do," he said pulling her in to kiss both her cheeks and ignoring her question. Malone noticed how she couldn't keep from stiffening in his friendly embrace and his hand tightened on his weapon.
"What about me Marguerite? You can't let Douglas have all the fun," the undeniably gorgeous young woman said as she kissed Marguerite in the same fashion as the man had.
"Hannah, so nice to see you again. How's Francois doing?" By the way the young woman drew back, Malone could tell Marguerite had said something that was deliberately upsetting.
"You know how he's doing," Hannah said in soft voice with a deadly look in her eye, remembering the Frenchman she had killed for spurning her affections. "Who's your little friend? I don't remember you liking your 'friends' so young," she said with malicious intent.
Malone did not like being referred to as Marguerite's "little friend", especially by someone as beautiful as Hannah. Marguerite sighed and said just loud enough for the other woman to hear, "I'm tired of these games Hannah, you know who he is." Then loud enough for the others to hear, "Hannah, Douglas, allow me to introduce Ned Malone, reporter extraordinaire."
"So nice to meet you young man," Douglas said as Hannah moved along side Malone and slipped her arm through his. Grabbing his bicep she exclaimed, "My, my . . . you're a lot stronger than you look Mr. Malone."
In a move so smooth he barely had time to realize it, Marguerite had dislodged Hannah's arm and replaced it with her own. "Well it's been so nice seeing you two, we were just heading home. You should consider sleeping outside tonight, it really is beautiful this time of year and this cave is so unpleasant."
"Marguerite!" Malone looked at her in shock. He could tell she didn't like the strangers but he couldn't stand by and let her practically feed them to the increasingly aggressive raptors!
Hannah burst into tears and threw herself at Douglas. "Oh what are we going to do Douglas? We're all alone and we have no where to sleep and those awful creatures outside are so terrifying."
"There there, dear. It'll be all right. We'll manage somehow, we always do."
"How true! Goodbye." Marguerite said as she tried to steer Malone towards the mouth of the cave. She should have known he would have to play gentleman. After all this time you'd think he'd learn not to be such a sucker for a pretty face and crocodile tears, she thought with muttered curse.
"Miss Hannah, you and your husband are more than welcome to accompany us to our home and be our guests for as long as you like," Malone said as he broke away from Marguerite's hold. Marguerite barely kept herself from jumping up and down and pulling out her hair in frustration at his helpfulness. If only you knew why they are here, she thought, if only you knew why I was here!
"Mr. Malone, we wouldn't dream of imposing in your home," Douglas said, still trying to comfort Hannah. He sighed and said, "I'm sure we'll think of something. We were lucky to find this cave before those beasts ate us alive. You see, we're unarmed and Hannah is so tired from our journey . . . I'm sorry, I do go on so, you were leaving and I'm keeping you with my rambling."
"It's okay, we'll be on our way now," Marguerite said, making one more attempt to get Malone out of the cave. Malone shot her a sharp look and said, "Really it would be no problem to have you stay with us. It's not much but it's better then this cave."
Hannah was making her way over to Malone and smiled up at him through shimmering tears, "Are you sure it's no trouble?"
Marguerite rolled her eyes as she saw Malone take one look at her curly red hair and bright green eyes and fall completely under Hannah's spell. "No, no trouble at all," she said sarcastically. "We wouldn't dream of leaving such innocent people unprotected in this savage place."
Despite her angry tone, Marguerite's mind was quickly working on ways of getting rid of their unwelcome guests. Unfortunately, Malone had to play knight in shining armor. Otherwise, she would have left them in the cave and never given them a second thought. If I kept trying to leave them in the cave it will only make Malone ask questions and that could get extremely dangerous, she thought as she discarded the idea of making camp here and getting rid of them overnight.