Free Caught Between by Rima Jean Page A

will dig up some grub?" Luke offered.
    Marya snapped her neck to look at him. He shrugged. "Since neither you nor I really care where we end up sleeping." His lips twitched, his eyes glinted.
    Marya's heart skipped a beat. He was reeling her in. Why? Is it the thrill of the chase? What about Ash? What about Liz? In the back of her mind a warning bell was ringing, but she knew she would ignore it. Right now, she was flying high.
    The took off into modern Petra, which was little more than a tourist stop built around the archaeological park. Backpackers walked about, speaking German, French, Spanish. She watched as a well-dressed couple climbed out of a cab and headed to the five-star hotel overlooking the town.
    "Is it weird that I don't envy them?" Marya asked Luke, indicating the couple with a nod.
    "Nah," Luke answered. "You're an adventurer. You don't mind roughing it a bit."
    They bought shawarmas, or meat wraps, from a local vendor along with cans of Vimto, a popular Middle Eastern soft drink. With their arms full, they made their way back to the hostel the volunteers had planned on trying first. Amy greeted them out front, frowning. "We got the last few rooms," she told them. "Apparently all the hostels are full."
    "Can't we just all cram into one room?" Marya asked. "We'll pay extra."
    Amy shook her head. "No more than two people of the same sex to a room, that's the rule," she said.
    "Imposed morality," Luke said with a smile. Obviously, he was used to dealing with this. "Come on, Marya. I'll take care of it."
    They headed for the front desk, where a woman in a head co vering was drinking coffee. In smooth, flawless Arabic, Luke said, "My wife and I would like a room, please."
    The woman looked skeptically from Luke to Marya. "We have no rooms left, I'm sorry. But for two dinars each, you can sleep on the roof."
    Luke considered. "If you include toilet paper, it's a deal."
    As they climbed up onto the roof, Marya said softly, "I knew you spoke Arabic. Jesus, you speak it better than I do."
    Luke didn't look at her. "It's a little known fact, one I don't pu blicize."
    "Why not?"
    "I have my reasons." He dropped his backpack and pointed to the darkened horizon. "Look, Marya. Take it in."
    The jagged, barren mountains were black against the purple sky, enveloping Petra in their midst. Marya remembered that sharp, desert sky, with stars so vivid they took her breath away. There were only a handful of tourists on the roof, backpackers from Denmark. Luke and Marya sat together on the cool cement and ate their shawarmas, drank their sweet soda.
    "Amy and the others don't know where we are," Marya said.
    "So what?" Luke crumpled up the foil of his sandwich and leaned back on his elbows. "We're not required to stay with them, are we?"
    Marya drew her knees up to her chest and looked out over Petra. She didn't respond.
    "Are you scared of me, Marya?"
    She shot him a look. "No, of course not." But she was, a little. She had no idea what to make of him. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her shins. "It's getting cold out here."
    Luke reached for his backpack. "The desert at night. It can get down to sixty degrees Fahrenheit."
    "Oh, man," Marya laughed. "I'm going to freeze."
    Slowly, he unrolled a sleeping bag that he'd strapped to his backpack.  "Luckily, I brought this."
    "That doesn't help me much," Marya said. "And I'm not letting you give it to me, either."
    He unzipped it, kicked off his shoes, pulled off his hat, and slid into it. "I wasn't going to give it to you," he said, looking at her in a way that made her insides quake. "I was going to suggest we share it."
    "You're kidding." With anyone else, she would have laughed. But the way Luke was looked at her... He'd set this all up. He's been here a million times before. He knew the hostels would be crowded, that we'd end up on the roof, that I wouldn't have a sleeping bag . "You did this on purpose. Why?" she asked.
    "Come on, Helwe," he said softly, his eyes hooded.