by Cynthia Eden
Blair’s gaze swung to him. “What?”
“It’s what Rutherford would do.” He shrugged. “He gets shot. His wife faints—nice touch, by the way. Totally bought it.”
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Edward was close and I thought a graceful slide would allow my hair to cover my face.” She bit her lower lip. “He knows, though, Linc. I could feel it.”
Another problem. They had a lot of problems.
“Then I think it’s time I went to introduce myself to Edward Sharpe.” Cole’s voice held grim determination. “And see if I can rattle the bastard’s cage.”
“If anyone is rattling that jerk, it gets to be me,” Linc fired back.
Cole gave a hard, negative shake of his head. “For tonight, you need to stay inside. If you’re wandering around the island, that will look suspicious.”
“He’s right.” Blair knew they needed to lay low, for the moment. “Or if we go out, then we at least need to be low-key.”
Linc’s lips turned into a pout. “I’m always low-key.”
Nope. He was the total opposite of that.
“Natasha will be paying you a visit soon.” Cole glanced at his watch. “She told me that she was going to report the shooting to her boss and then come to you.” Cole headed for the door, but he turned back and pointed at them. “Try to avoid getting shot again tonight, all right? I’d appreciate that.”
“It’s not on our to-do list,” Linc retorted instantly.
“What is?” Cole murmured. Then he shook his head. “Nope. Don’t answer that. I am way better off not knowing.” He shut the door after he exited.
There was something about the way he’d said those final words…Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Stay here, Linc.”
“What? I—”
She marched out after Cole. “Stop!”
He turned.
She hurried down the wooden steps.
The surf battered into the shore.
Cole stared at her a moment, then exhaled slowly. “You need to be inside with him.”
“Because I’m not safe out here? You think the shooter will take aim again?”
“I think you need to be inside with him because when you’re close, you calm Linc down.” He stepped closer to her. “When you touch him, he can draw a deeper breath. When you stand by his side, the tension drains from his shoulders.”
She gave a quick, uncomfortable laugh. “Thanks for the body language analysis, but—”
“You don’t see it, do you?”
She licked her lips. “See what?”
“He was on edge in there, about to shatter, because he was afraid for you.”
“Linc doesn’t shatter. You don’t need to worry about him.” Her spine snapped straight.
With the moon shining down on them—almost a full moon, just a sliver needed to complete the circle—she could easily see the slow stretch of his smile. “And there it is.”
“There what is?”
“When you think he’s threatened, you immediately step up to defend him.”
“That’s what a partner does.”
“Is that all he is to you, Blair? Just your partner?”
She heard the soft pad of footsteps behind her.
“You’re not even tensing,” Cole noted as his gaze dipped over her shoulder. His voice was low now. For her ears only. But his previous question had been far, far too loud.
Is that all he is to you, Blair? Just your partner?
“You know someone’s behind you, but you didn’t tense at all. Is because you can feel that it’s Linc and not someone else? Because I swear, it’s like the air changes sometimes when you two get close.”
“You’re being an idiot.” Her voice was crisp and deliberately loud enough to carry to both him and Linc. “I’m not tensing because there’s a honeymoon bungalow behind me and Linc was inside it. That means that of course, he’s the one behind me. I’m also not tensing because you didn’t tense when you saw the person approaching. FYI, you’re not the only one trained to read body language.”
He inclined his head. “Fair enough.”
Linc now stood at her side. His shoulder—the uninjured arm—brushed against her.
Her bare toes curled into the sand.
Cole backed up a step. “You didn’t answer my question. Only partners?”
“Absolutely,” Blair replied. “That’s the only thing we are.”
Cole laughed. “Really thought you’d be a better liar than that.”
She was a world class liar, and he could kiss her—
The sound of an engine whirred faintly. A golf cart.
“Natasha.” Cole tensed. He pointed at Linc. “Your game face ready?”
“It’s always ready. Watch and learn, buddy. Watch and learn.”
Natasha came hurrying around the corner. She’d ditched her high heels—a good thing—so she didn’t stagger in the sand. When she saw them all standing there, she jerked to a stop.
“I expect to be off this island by dawn!” Linc blasted as he jabbed his index finger into Cole’s chest, going on as if Natasha had caught them mid-argument. “Yes, I get that’s above your pay grade, but it had better happen and—” He glanced over his shoulder, as if just realizing Natasha had arrived. “You.” He immediately stalked toward her.
Blair grabbed his arm. “Darling, you need to relax.”
“I am relaxed,” he snarled back as he glared at Natasha. “I was shot. Shot. Do you have any idea how much that shit hurts?”
Natasha scrambled toward him. “Sir, the doctor said it was a graze, that you did not even need stitches—”
Linc gasped. “Are you making light of my pain?”
Blair pressed her lips together.
“I want off this island. My honeymoon ended the instant some asshole fired a shot at me.” Linc’s voice seemed to echo. “I can’t stay here knowing some insane asshole is running around, shooting guests with a gun!”
Natasha’s hands fluttered helplessly in the air. “Security is patrolling. We will find—”
“I want to leave,” he interrupted curtly. “Get me a boat or a seaplane. Get me the hell out of here by dawn.”
Natasha hesitated. “I’m afraid there’s a storm scheduled to roll in around dawn. It won’t be safe for the seaplane to fly and if the waves are as rough as forecasters have predicted—”
He took another step toward her. “Are you telling me that I am trapped on this island with some trigger-happy fool?”
Natasha cleared her throat. “We will find him. I’ve increased the security. No one will be hurt.”
Blair couldn’t help but wonder if Natasha had given that same promise to Helen Vorten’s husband.
“Your stay will be comped,” Natasha added soothingly. “I can even assign you a personal guard, if you would like.” She waved toward Cole. “Do you want Cole to shadow your movements on the island?”
Blair knew that wasn’t a good idea. If Cole was with them, then he wouldn’t be able to investigate the other people in paradise.
Huh. Paradise. Yeah, right.
“I-I really don’t think we need a personal guard.” Blair pressed against Linc’s shoulder. The one on his non-injured side. “I don’t want someone watching us all the time,” she murmured, but in a murmur loud enough to carry. “I want to be alone with you. It is our honeymoon.”
His head turned toward her.
“Please, sweetheart,” she added huskily. “I want to just be with you. When the bad weather passes, we can leave. Until then, let’s stay in our bungalow.” She rose onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I promise, I’ll keep you entertained.”
He nodded, jerkily. “Anything for you, baby.”
Her head turned, and, under the light of the moon, she could have sworn that she saw the briefest flash of satisfaction on Natasha’s face.
“I’ll bring you our finest champagne,” Natasha promised.
“Sure, bring me a case of that shit,” Linc growled. He
cuddled Blair close. “Did you see me get shot? That was some straight-up kick-ass shit, wasn’t it? The way I didn’t stumble. Or fall. I was brave as hell.”
“You always are,” she simpered back.
His hand squeezed her side.
They slipped back into the bungalow.
***
“You know the shooter is still on the island.” Cole had waited until Linc and Blair disappeared before he spoke.
Without a word, Natasha whirled away. Stormed back for her golf cart.
He followed her. “Natasha!”
She climbed into the front seat. Her hands tightened on the wheel. “Your job is to find the shooter.”
“I get that, but I can’t help but feel like I am…” He looked around. “Literally stumbling in the dark here.”
“You’re supposed to be some super fighter.”
He stiffened. “Uh, lady, I’m an ex-soldier who was—”
“You’re ex-Delta Force, according to your resume. Carthright called me personally and said you were the best. I normally vet all hires myself, but since Carthright was the one vouching for you, I decided to take a chance and hire you because I wanted extra security.” She cranked the cart. “So far, I’m not impressed.”
“So sorry to disappoint.” He reached over and turned off the golf cart. His hand brushed over the fuzzy dice that hung from her key chain. “But I think you’ve been holding back on me.” Time to push her. “Carthright gave me the rec, and he also warned me about what went down on this island.”
He heard the click of her swallow. “I don’t—”
“Don’t play dumb. It’s not a look that works for you.”
Her chin notched up.
“You know you’ve got someone bad on this island. Hell, what I don’t get is why didn’t you replace all your staff after the first woman was taken? You had to know one of them was guilty and—”
“The kidnapper doesn’t have to be a staff member. The culprit could have been another guest. It could have been someone who accessed the island by boat.”
“So did you investigate the staff? Did you look for other boats?”
“I investigated everyone. I thought we must have been dealing with an attacker who gained access to the island under the cover of darkness. I thought we were safe.”
And when the kidnapper struck a second time? Did you still feel safe then? Instead of saying that, Cole told her, “I don’t think that Linc Rutherford is feeling too safe right now.”
“Get your hand out of my way.”
He blinked. Looked down. Slowly removed his hand.
“Your job is to protect the guests on this island. Your job is to help me make all of our guests safe. Go search with the other security personnel—”
Wasn’t that like…everyone? Everyone was playing double-duty, so he had to wonder… “Just how dangerous are you, Natasha?”
Her face hardened. “You don’t want to find out.”
Actually, he did.
“Check the island. Find the shooter. Maybe the shooter is the kidnapper. We can tie all of this up and move forward.”
I highly doubt that.
“Now step back or I will run over your foot.”
He stepped back.
She whizzed away in her golf cart.
Cole watched her go with an assessing gaze. Like that lady didn’t scream suspicious. Natasha was definitely at the top of his suspect list, but there was someone else that he wanted to check out, too. Someone else who seemed to have a good reason for wanting to take a shot at Blair.
Someone from her past.
So he headed for his prey. Edward Sharpe had not been in the main building with him when Blair had been shot. Cole had seen the guy slip out a side door. But Edward had appeared again moments before Blair fainted.
And wasn’t that shit just too convenient?
He stuck to the shadows as he made his way to Edward’s bungalow, but when he finally arrived…
There were two golf carts sitting on the shell-covered drive.
And one of those golf carts was very familiar. After all, it had almost run over his foot. Natasha’s fuzzy dice hung beneath the edge of the steering wheel.
Well, how about that?
Maybe she was checking on one of her guests. Providing stellar service.
He crept toward the bungalow. The lights were on inside, and when he peeked through a window…
Natasha had her arms locked around Edward’s neck, and she was kissing him with a wild passion.
Huh. Definitely stellar service.
Chapter Eight
“What were you saying to Cole, before I followed you outside?”
“These sheer curtains provide zero protection. Anyone could peep in here.” She leaned toward the window. “There’s a shade up here. Bet there’s a shade on all the windows. I’m pulling them down.”
He helped her. Got them covered. And then he waited.
Blair frowned at him. “What?”
“You told me to stay inside.”
“Um…yes.” She turned to fiddle with one more shade. Unnecessarily.
“So you could talk to Cole.”
“Uh, huh.”
She didn’t offer him more. Just that. Sometimes, it was like pulling teeth with the woman. Maybe he should’ve been a dentist. “You wanted to talk to him without me there.”
She stopped messing with the shade. Faced him. Crossed her arms over her chest. “All of this is true, yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he said something in here that I didn’t understand, all right? I wanted to ask him about it without dragging you into it any deeper.”
Dragging him in? “There’s no dragging. I’m involved in whatever the hell is happening. If you’re there, so am I.” He stalked closer to her. “Don’t try to shut me out again. We’re together. One of us doesn’t stay behind.”
“I don’t calm you down.”
What? “At the moment, you’re making my blood pressure rise.”
She bit her lip.
Which, of course, immediately drew his gaze to her mouth.
Shit.
“You don’t get calm when I’m near,” Blair added in a husky voice that slid right over his skin like a caress.
“I get fucking turned on when you’re near.”
Snap. Her gaze snapped right up to catch his.
“That was out loud.”
She nodded. “It was.”
“Screw it.” He wasn’t watching his mouth. Mostly because he’d been too busy watching hers. “You turn me on. No big surprise there. You pretty much breathe and I get a hard-on.”
Her eyes widened.
He should stop before he made an even bigger ass out of himself. He whirled away.
She touched his arm. He felt that touch resonate through his whole body.
Linc drew in a deep breath. “You should not do that.”
“Oh, God, you just pulled in a deep breath.”
What? He spun right back toward her. “What are you talking about?”
“Your breath. Cole was right. When I touch you, you—”
“When you touch me, I feel it in every cell of my body. Right then, it was like I just got super charged.” He looked pointedly down at her hand. “So maybe, let’s hold off on the touching at this exact moment. There’s no one here to see but me and you, and we don’t have to keep up the cover.”
She didn’t remove her hand. “No, we don’t.”
He shook his head. Hard. Kept staring at her hand. He couldn’t look in her eyes right then. Sure couldn’t let his gaze focus on her delectable mouth. “You don’t want to play with me now.”
“What makes you think I’m playing?”
He pulled in another breath. “Adrenaline is pouring through my body. I keep thinking about how close that bullet was to you, and my control is splintering.” He stepped away from her.
Her hand fell to her side.
He pointed to the bed. “We should get some rest.
”
She looked toward the bed. “Is that what we’ll do if we crawl in bed together? Get rest?”
Probably not, no. He’d lay there. He’d pull in her sweet scent, and he’d think about all the ways he wanted to taste her. “I’m sleeping on the floor tonight. I’ll be up long before the damn butler appears.”
She bit her lip. She needed to stop doing that shit.
“Why don’t you go shower?” Linc pushed. Great. Another image in his head.
She didn’t move. “Shouldn’t we recap the day?”
Their recap. Their tradition. “There’s no ice cream here for you.”
A ghost of a smile lifted her lips. “You always bring my favorite to me.”
He took another step back from her. He needed space. She had no clue how hard it was for him to keep his hands off her. Since they wanted to touch her so much, Linc fisted his hands at his sides.
Blair’s pale blue eyes seemed to stare straight into his soul. “I’m so sorry you were shot—”
“Grazed,” he corrected. “Barely a graze.”
“But we did get the chance to see the doctor’s office.”
Wait—was she bright-spotting their shooting? He could only shake his head. Typical B.
“And all that medicine that I saw in the doctor’s cabinet made me remember that, in the file Eric gave us, there was a notation saying Keli Patrick couldn’t recall anything about her abduction. She couldn’t remember who took her. What happened. When her husband found her, she was stumbling along the beach.”
“She’d been drugged.” That was what he’d thought when he’d first read the notes.
“Doesn’t it make sense that the person who drugged Keli might be a nurse? Or a doctor? Someone with easy access to say, oh, a cabinet full of drugs that happen to be on the island?” The floor creaked beneath her feet. “I’d like to get a look inside that medicine cabinet.”
So would he. “Security is patrolling this island like mad tonight. We won’t be able to sneak in.” He tried to unclench his muscles. Didn’t work. “We’ll get Cole to try to investigate tomorrow. He’ll have more opportunities than we will.” He swallowed. Swore he could taste her. The kisses they'd had so far were making him crave her. “Are you going to take a shower?”
“Why?” Suspicion darkened her eyes a bit, before she asked, “Do you just want me naked?”