Carly told Lee what had happened that night in Miami. “So, for the longest time, I thought I imagined the whole thing, especially when there was nobody reported missing. Now there is.”
He lifted a brow. “There is?”
“Yes. That’s why Heather was calling. It’s going to be broadcast on tonight’s news. The body of a federal agent was discovered by construction workers on a piece of vacant property. I believe he’s the one I heard being shot that night.”
She closed her eyes. “I’ll never forget him pleading for his life. And I’ll never forget the sound of the man’s voice that ended it. He was cold, uncaring and ruthless. I knew if I ever heard it again, I would recognize it.”
Her hand began trembling. “I heard it today, Lee. He was one of the men you met with. The one you called Nash.”
Lee didn’t say anything for a minute, and then he eased up off the bed and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He punched in a few numbers and then said, “Agent Gause. This is Lee Madaris. I need you to come to my suite immediately.”
He clicked off his cell phone and slid it back into his pocket. “That was the federal agent in charge of the sting operation. When he arrives I want you to tell him everything that you just told me.” He sat back down on the bed and took her hand into his. “Why didn’t you tell me about what you thought you heard that night, Carly?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about the sting operation?”
He paused. “Besides giving the agents my word that I wouldn’t tell anyone, I wanted to protect you.”
She nodded. “As far as me not telling you, I wasn’t sure what I heard. Like I said, when there was no body I thought maybe I had dreamed the entire thing. And to be honest, Lee, I’m not sure if I ever would have told you. After Heather called, I panicked, knowing it was the mob and I had called the tip line. I’m not sure how safe and secure that line is. And I knew how easy it was for Shundra to find me, so it would be a piece of cake for anyone else.”
She paused again. “I decided to tell you that I wanted to go to Dubai, and I was going to use that trip to hide out for a while. I didn’t want you to know the truth. You married me knowing about all my other garbage and I didn’t want to add any more to it.”
He released her hand and reached up to caress her cheek. “Not garbage, Carly, but challenges. All of us have them, and it would not have mattered to me. I’m your husband like you’re my wife. For better or for worse.” Lee stopped and then said, “For passion and for love.”
She lifted a brow. “Love?”
He nodded. “Yes. Love. I know it wasn’t part of our plan or what we agreed on, but I’ve fallen in love with you. The moment I figured out you were in that cabinet, and it hit me what could have happened had you been discovered in there, I realized what I felt for you was more than just passion. The thought of losing you twisted my heart and chilled every bone in my body. Only love could put that much fear into a person. Into me, Carly.”
When he saw tears glistening in her eyes, he said softly, “I didn’t tell you I loved you to make you cry. If it’s because you feel bad for not loving me back, that’s okay. I’m going to love you anyway with the hope and belief that one day you will love me back.”
She swiped at her tears. “That’s not why I’m crying.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m crying because I love you too, and I didn’t think you would ever love me back.”
Lee pulled her into his arms and gently rubbed her back. “Baby, I love you back and then some. So much.”
Carly shivered at the degree of love she heard in Lee’s voice. And she loved him just as much. From the first, he had let her know he wanted her and he hadn’t backed down. He had broken her defenses and made her fall in love with him. And the thought that he loved her too was overwhelming.
“Carly?”
She lifted her head from his chest and looked at him, actually feeling the love. And when he lowered his mouth toward hers, she met him for a long, hard kiss that had her melting. No telling how long the kiss would have lasted if there hadn’t been a knock on the door.
Lee slowly pulled his mouth from hers. “I guess I better let Agent Gause in.”
Carly smiled. “Yes, I guess you better. Give me a second to freshen up and I’ll be out.”
“Okay.”
She drew in a deep breath as she watched Lee leave the room. Now that they had revealed their feelings for each other, she should be filled with joy, but that emotion was overshadowed by anxiety. She didn’t want to be involved in anything that had to do with the mob, and she wished Lee wasn’t involved either.
But they were both involved and she could only hope the ordeal ended quickly.
* * *
Agent Gause removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t that he’d found Carly’s story strange because he thought it was false. He knew everything she’d said to be true. Her facts matched up with the ones his agency had already gathered, and now Agent Harrison’s body had turned up.
What he found strange was the coincidence that, through no effort of their own, hers and Lee Madaris’s lives had connected. What were the odds that a woman who could be a key witness to the murder of an FBI agent was now married to the man the agency was using in a sting operation to bring down the murderers of said agent?
He didn’t want to think about what would happen if the mob found out about her. They wouldn’t think it was a coincidence, but see it as a setup, deception of the worst kind, and they wouldn’t hesitate to take out both Lee and Carly. He had to make sure that didn’t happen.
“So what do you think, Agent Gause?”
He wasn’t sure Lee Madaris wanted to hear what he thought. But the man had been willing to put his life on the line by participating in the sting operation, so he owed him the truth.
“I agree that we need to keep your wife safe. So far, we have no reason to believe a connection has been made between the two of you, and that’s a good thing. If we play our cards right we’ll bring the person who murdered Agent Harrison to justice, as well as bring down the entire East Coast Connection.”
“Does that mean they don’t know about me?” Carly asked nervously. She was sitting beside Lee on the sofa.
“The agency knew about the tip you called in but tried to take every precaution that you could never be identified. We even deleted the call. But someone at the police department was able to get a copy of the recording. Although the call couldn’t be traced, your voice could be identified, and we believe that it was.”
“How?”
“The mob figured, from what you said on the recording, that you heard rather than saw anything, which meant you were either passing by that alley at the time or you were in a building close by. We have reason to believe that one of Driskell’s men approached a waitress at the restaurant where you used to work, pretended to be a detective, played the recording to her and you were identified.”
“The waitress reported this?” Lee asked.
Gause shook his head. “No. The next day she disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes. And we can only assume she was killed so she wouldn’t talk.”
“Who was she?” Carly asked.
“A young woman named Rebecca Toomey. Her boyfriend reported her missing.”
Carly gasped. She remembered Rebecca. She was friendly and loved the beach. She worked part-time while attending the University of Miami.
“And you suspect foul play in Ms. Toomey’s disappearance?” Lee asked.
“Yes. She told someone she was helping a police detective solve a case. That might have been what she assumed, but we know that wasn’t true.”
“And you think she identified Carly’s voice?” Lee asked, his tone filled with profound anger.
“Yes, that’s what we understand. However, we can only assume they haven’t made a connection yet between you two. At least they hadn’t when Driskell met with you earlier today
. Otherwise, you would be dead, Mr. Madaris.
“One thing about this particular group—they don’t like being played. They don’t appreciate traitors. That’s why Agent Harrison met his fate. He was identified as a traitor.” Gause felt there was no need to tell them that the agency believed the person who had fingered Agent Harrison was one of their own agents whom they suspected of feeding the mob information. The fact that they had a mole turned his stomach.
Lee stood. “There’s no way I’m going to wait around to see if they figure out the connection. I’m putting Carly on a plane tonight for Texas.”
Carly stood as well. “I won’t get on that plane unless you come with me, Lee. You’re in as much danger as I am.”
“Carly...”
“Lee...”
Gause could clearly see the two were at a stalemate. He thought it best to intervene. “At the moment, I don’t think separating you two is the best thing. If Driskell doesn’t know that the woman you married is the same woman who might be a witness to the crime his men committed, that will be for the best.”
Lee glared at the man. “Best for who? Your sting operation? Do you think I care about that if my wife’s life is in danger?”
“No, I honestly don’t,” Gause said truthfully.
He knew he had to contact Alex Maxwell and apprise him of the situation. As long as they still had a mole within the agency, he refused to play it any other way than safe.
* * *
“You’re sure you don’t want me to handle it?” Grassley asked, leaning back in the driver’s seat of the car. He could tell Nash was pissed. He had heard the news report about Harrison’s body right before Nash called asking to meet him here. They needed to strategize the best way to handle this turn of events.
“No, I’m going to handle it myself. But what bothers me is how the body was discovered,” Nash said, rolling down the car window to release the smoke from his cigarette. He hadn’t smoked in two years, but tonight he had started back up again.
“I heard the news report,” Grassley said. “The body was found by two construction workers preparing for work on that land.”
Nash shook his head angrily. “That can’t be true because someone would have to dig hard to discover it, but that land is owned by me.”
“You?” Grassley said.
“Yes. It belonged to someone I once knew who left it to me. Therefore, if construction workers found anything that meant they were planted. I didn’t give permission for anything to be built on that property.”
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Grassley’s stomach. “Planted?”
“Yes. Someone knew the body was there, and no one was supposed to know but you and me.”
It was then that Grassley saw the bulge in Nash’s jacket. He knew it was a gun pointing right at him. “Wait a minute, Nash. Surely you don’t think that I talked.”
Anger clouded Nash’s face, shone in his eyes. “What else is there for me to think?”
Fear raced up Grassley’s spine. “We must have been followed that night. That had to be it, because I didn’t talk.”
“We weren’t followed, but if we were, you should have known. I depend on you for backup and you let me down.”
A shot rang out. Then a second. Grassley slumped forward against the steering wheel, his eyes open as if in shock.
“You talked,” Nash said, looking at the man he’d once trusted. “You had to have talked. And before it’s all over, I’m going to find out who you told.”
Nash got out of the car. He had been smart to have Grassley meet him in this isolated location. Putting his gun away, Nash went to the trunk and removed a rag soaked in kerosene. Using his cigarette lighter, he lit the rag and tossed it through the open window of the car containing Grassley’s body.
He then went to the rental car he’d hidden in this location. By the time he had pulled off, the other car was up in flames.
* * *
Alex Maxwell glanced up as three men entered his office. He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“We’re glad to be back,” Sir Drake said, dropping down in a nearby chair. “It was one bitch of an operation but we got through it.”
As if there was any doubt that they would, Alex thought. “Well, you got back just in the nick of time.”
“Why? What’s happening? Is something going on with that situation with Lee?” Ashton Sinclair asked.
Concern was reflected in his features. Half black and half Cherokee Indian, Ashton’s heritage included fierce tribal medicine men with mystical powers, as well as a great-great-grandfather who’d been a Cherokee shaman. It was rumored that Ashton had the gift of visions. Since Alex had seen Ashton’s visions at work on more than one occasion, he knew firsthand that it wasn’t a rumor but the real thing.
“Yes, something is going on,” Alex replied. He then told them about the call he had received earlier that day from Agent Gause.
“Lee’s married?” Trevor asked in a shocked voice.
“I didn’t hear it from Lee, so I can only assume the agent is going by what Lee told him. Lee claims he married in Vegas a couple of weeks ago but wanted to keep it a secret until he went home for the holidays. I spoke with Jake. Although I advised him it would be best if he didn’t go to Vegas, he is getting his jet ready to fly me there. Thanks to the recording between Lee and Driskell today, the agent feels they are close to cracking the case.”
Trevor Grant nodded. “Count me in on that flight. I’m going with you.”
“So am I,” Ashton said.
Sir Drake smiled. “What the hell, I haven’t been to Vegas in a while. I might as well go too.” And then he added, “And I might as well tell Tori and bring her along.”
Alex chuckled, remembering the last time Sir Drake’s wife felt she’d been left out. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Chapter 21
Something brought Carly awake. She pulled up in bed and saw that the spot beside her was empty. Lee stood naked, his back to her, as he looked out the window. He liked sleeping in the nude, and whenever she slept with him, she had a tendency to sleep that way as well.
The bright lights from the Strip flashed into the room, illuminating his body. She couldn’t help but appreciate his manly physique. A feeling of deep love and pride washed over her. She loved him so much, and the thought that he loved her back, that he wanted her, made her love him even more.
He must have heard her sigh. He turned around and asked, “Why are you awake?”
“Why are you?” she countered.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
She nodded in understanding. “I couldn’t at first either, but you took care of that.” And he had done so in the most profound way. After giving her triple orgasms, she couldn’t do anything else but fall asleep from exhaustion.
After Agent Gause left, they had talked, and when he couldn’t convince her to go to his uncle in Texas for safekeeping, he had ended up making nonstop love to her instead.
He smiled. “I did take care of it, didn’t I?”
“Let’s not get cocky,” she said, getting out of bed to join him at the window. He wrapped her in his arms in an exuberant hug and held her tight. She loved the feel of it.
“I can just imagine what they’re thinking in the kitchen.”
“What they’re thinking in the kitchen is the least of my worries. I really wish you’d let me send you—”
“No. I’m staying here unless you come with me.”
He released her. “I can’t do that. I have work to do here.”
It hit Carly then that he’d been away for a week for their honeymoon and he probably did have a lot of work to do. He still had a job to do here at the hotel, but while she was here and the sting operation was going on, he would not let her out of his sight. That wouldn’t be good, if he put all his concentration on her. She’d already been planning to give her resignation to Chef Blanchard before their trip to Texas. She’d just do that sooner than
she’d thought.
“Okay, I’ll go to your uncle in Texas.”
He looked down at her. “Why did you change your mind?”
She shrugged. “Like you said, you have work to do. As long as I’m here I’ll be a distraction. You’ll worry whenever I’m out of your sight.”
He let out a sigh of relief as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “I’ll call Uncle Jake in the morning and make the arrangements.”
* * *
Driving through the night, Nash punched in a phone number and waited for the other party to answer. “Why are you calling me? I told you to lose my number. Now that Harrison’s body has been found—”
“I want information, Ackerman,” he said, interrupting the federal agent.
“I can’t tell you anything. I told you that the last time. Gause knows there’s a mole in the operation and he’s suspicious of everyone.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.” Stan Ackerman, an agent with the FBI, had been Nash’s link to inside information for more than four years. The two had met in college, and although Nash had known Ackerman was working for the law, he’d also known his college friend liked to gamble. When it came to money, it was hard for Ackerman to turn down any offer.
Ackerman had been paid well by the mob and his Swiss account had a tidy sum sitting in it. He was the one who’d told Nash that Harrison was an undercover agent. And because the bureau had figured out that the information had come from within, Ackerman had told Nash not to call him again.
“I’m hanging up on you, Nash. The shit is about to hit the fan. You and your boys have too many loose ends. You’ve gotten sloppy.”
“You talking about that woman who thought she heard something? I’m in Vegas and will be taking care of her before I leave,” Nash said.
“If you’re smart, you’ll leave Vegas and go out of the country. Change your name and start spending all that money you’ve got stashed away,” Ackerman said. “The bureau is onto you and your group, and I don’t want to be connected in any way. That woman you’re thinking about getting rid of has a husband. Can you guess who he is?”
“Who?”
A Madaris Bride for Christmas Page 23