Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

and swearing.
    For one terrible moment, when he called her mother “Mommy” and made his gross suggestion,
     Riley thought she might hurl herself at him and really push him overboard. But then,
     with her mother’s little snicker, her anger was gone, her unfortunate sense of humor
     kicking in. She burst out laughing. “Seriously? Are you really so arrogant you don’t
     know I’d rather lick the sweat off a monkey? You are just so gross.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the pearly cloud of insects growing
     closer, widening as they moved in formation over the water. Her stomach gave a little
     flip of fear. She forced air through her lungs. She wasn’t one to scare easily, not
     even when she’d been a child.
    Weston leered at her. “I can see when a woman wants me, and baby, you can’t take your
     eyes off of me. Look at your clothes! You’re showing off for me.” He flicked his tongue
     at her again, looking for all the world like a snake.
    “Leave her the hell alone, Weston,” Jubal Sanders snapped, impatience edging his voice.
     “Don’t you ever get tired of the sound of your voice?”
    One of the two men researching plants, Jubal didn’t appear to be a man who spent a
     lot of time in a lab. He looked extremely fit and there was no doubt that he was a
     man used to a rugged, outdoor life. He carried himself with absolute confidence and
     moved like a man who could handle himself.
    His traveling companion, Gary Jansen, looked more the part of the lab rat, shorter
     and slender, although very well muscled from what Riley had observed. He was very
     strong. He wore black-rimmed reading glasses, but he seemed every bit as adept outdoors
     as Jubal. The two kept strictly to themselves at the beginning of the journey, but
     somewhere around the fourth day, Jubal became a little protective of the women, staying
     close whenever the engineers were around. He said little, but he didn’t miss anything.
    Although some other woman might be flattered by his protectiveness, Riley wasn’t about
     to trust a man who supposedly lived his life in a lab, but moved with the fluid grace
     of a fighter. Both he and Gary clearly carried weapons. They were up to something,
     and whatever it was, Riley and her mother had enough trouble of their own without
     needing to get involved in anyone else’s.
    “Don’t be a hero,” Weston snapped at Jubal, “it won’t get you the girl.” He winked
     at Riley. “She’s lookin’ for a real man.”
    Riley felt another small surge of anger wash over her and she whipped around to glare
     at Weston, but her mother laid a gentle, restraining hand on her wrist and put her
     head close to whisper. “Don’t bother, honey. He’s feeling like a fish out of water
     out here.”
    Riley took a breath. At this late date, she wasn’t going to resort to violence over
     sexual harassment no matter how much of an ass the man was. She could ignore Don Weston
     until they went their separate ways.
    “I thought he was supposed to be so experienced,” Riley answered her mother, her voice
     equally as soft. “They claim to be mining engineers who’ve traveled to the Andes countless
     times, but I’m betting they flew over the peaks and called that going into the rain
     forest. They probably don’t have anything at all to do with mining.”
    Her mother gave a quick nod of agreement, warmth lighting her eyes all the same. “If
     they think this is bad, wait until we get into the jungle. They’ll be falling out
     of their hammocks and forgetting to check each morning for venomous bugs crawling
     into their boots.”
    Riley couldn’t help but smile at the thought. The three engineers were supposedly
     from a private company seeking prospective mines in the mineral-rich Andes. She couldn’t
     see that any of them were very well versed in the ways of the rain forest, and they
     sure didn’t give much respect to their guides. All three complained, but Weston was
     the worst and most offensive with his constant sexual innuendoes. He spent a great
     deal of time snapping at the guides and porters as if they were servants when he wasn’t
     complaining or leering at her and her mother.
    “I raised you away from here, Riley. The men in some countries have a different philosophy
     toward women. We aren’t considered their equal. Clearly he’s been raised to believe
     women are objects, and because we’ve come out here alone, unescorted by a dozen family