At eight o’clock on Friday night, Violette was just a little nervous. The Golden Dolphin had docked in Bridgetown, Barbados, Gustavia, St. Barthelemy, and San Juan, Puerto Rico where the passengers had enjoyed brief sojourns ashore. The ship’s security team had not let up on their vigilance, and there had been no further incidents. Violette was looking forward to their return to Miami the next day. She and Nik had made love during the afternoon, and that had helped alleviate some of the stress of the danger hanging over her head. It was definitely taking a toll on both her and Nik. He had been a welcome support to her, and she adored him, but she was getting tired of having him constantly over her shoulder. That just wasn’t who she was. She needed her space, and she suspected he did as well. They had never been so much in each other’s pockets before.
While Violette had not suffered from stage fright since very early in her career, she had not played publicly since the accident. She picked a broad selection of varied Irish folk music for her promised performance. Since these were pieces she had been playing since she was a child, she knew she would have no problem with the music itself. She just hoped her wrist would hold up to the strain of a continuous performance as some of the Irish jigs were very strenuous. She would hate to have to interrupt any of the pieces to rest her wrist.
While the ship’s chef had planned a sumptuous buffet dinner on deck, she and Nik had eaten in their suite. She wanted to make an entrance. She did love the drama, and while she didn’t have a stage or dramatic lighting, she planned to make the most of her performance. She had dressed with care in a sleek, high necked, long-sleeved black lace gown with a pair of diamond drop earrings that had been a gift from Nik. She had scooped her wavy red hair up out of the way and had secured it in a loose bun on top of her head. Nik, carrying Colleen in her carbon fiber case, escorted her from their cabin to the main deck.
Violette entered the main lounge through the double doors. Although she planned to mostly perform standing, a tapestry chair without arms had been placed in the center of the room. She looked around the room and noted that all of the passengers and most of the crew were gathered and waiting for her. A little frisson of excitement scampered up her spine. Nik opened the case and handed Colleen and her bow to her. She went to the center of the room and bowed to the assembled crowd. She took her position, tucking Colleen firmly under her chin, and opened with the strains of “O Danny Boy,” a sentimental favorite that was well known to everyone. She followed that with a lively traditional jig called the “Irish Washerwoman.” Nik, Jamie, and several of the other men broke into an impromptu and rather comical Irish Jig, and the audience roared with laughter. When they had finished their jig, she continued with a neo-Celtic piece called “Fantasia” to change the pace, and then “The Blossom of the Raspberry” and “Black Rosebud.” The voice of the violin was sweet and airy at times and strong and vibrant at others. Colleen’s range was exquisite, and Violette was more than satisfied that her wrist was holding up to the strain. The applause was thunderous in the enclosed space.
“I’d like to take a minute to introduce you to my partner, Colleen. She was born under the hands of my great-grandfather in Dublin, narrowly escaped her demise aboard the Titanic over one hundred years ago when he decided at the last minute to postpone his journey to New York to deliver her. She’s been in our family ever since.”
She did a riff up and down the neck demonstrating all of the classic violin techniques. She had carefully tuned Colleen that afternoon in the suite, and the voice of the priceless violin was exquisite. Having given her wrist a brief rest, she recommenced with “The Wedding Jig,” “The Irish Lullaby,” “Morning Dew,” “McArthur’s Road,” and “Lavender’s Blue.” When she tried to end the performance, the crowd begged for an encore, so she finished with “O Danny Boy” again.
Violette and Nik mingled with the crowd, accepting their congratulations and praise. It felt good to be doing what she did again. Music was the very fabric of her being, and having had to put it aside while her wrist healed had been hard on her. It felt very good to be performing again, even in a limited capacity.
* * * *
After a glass of champagne, Nik took her arm and they started back to their suite. “Babe, that was extraordinary. I’ve never heard you play better.”
“Thanks. It felt really good. I was a little concerned.”
“I know you were. How about an early night?” He knew she was tired, and he was anxious to just hold her. She had been excited and stressed over the intimate performance in front of their friends rather than the large, anonymous audiences at Lincoln Center. He would have thought that would be easier, but apparently it wasn’t. He had been extremely proud of her. Violette’s amazing talent and master’s technique never failed to stun him. She was a truly world-class violinist approaching the apex of her career with a world of options in front of her. He wanted to be part of it, and he wanted to keep her safe so she could do what she did so well.
When they came down the stairs to the fourth deck and turned toward their suite, Nik felt a crashing blow to the back of his head, and the last thing he saw was a blinding light flash behind his eyes. He dropped Colleen’s case as he fell to the floor. Violette, not immediately realizing what had happened as Nik fell to the deck, belatedly turned and tried to run back up the stairs for help. A strong arm reached around her neck and pressed a rag soaked in chloroform over her nose and mouth.
* * * *
Manuel Montenegro couldn’t believe his luck. He hadn’t expected the bitch’s big boyfriend to go down without a fight. He must have had an extremely lucky hit to drop him like a rock. He quickly pulled Nik out of sight under the stairway. He picked Violette up and started down the stairs toward the lowest deck where the tender garages were located. If he could get her off the ship and aboard one of the tenders, he could drop her overboard when they were out of sight of the ship and head toward the Florida Keys or possibly Cuba if he was running short of fuel. There were a multitude of good places to go ashore where no one would see him. If, that is, no one noticed she was gone for a while.
* * * *
Sam, one of the ABs on the security team, was monitoring the GPS system on the bridge. He had been sorry to miss the concert on deck, but someone had to keep watch. The screen didn’t look right to him. Nik Rossiter was stationary on the fourth deck. He didn’t appear to be moving. Violette O’Reilly was heading down the central staircase…in the company of the security guy from Rio, Manuel. That definitely didn’t look right. He immediately picked up his walkie, signaled a 911 to Greg Dempsey and the team, and alerted Alex Dragados who had the bridge. He was now glad that the captain and Greg Dempsey had had the foresight to have the Rio guys wear the blue rubber bracelets but not to clue them in on the GPS monitoring system imbedded in the bracelets. That was “need to know” information, and it appeared that at least one of them hadn’t needed to know.
* * * *
Baylee Baxter had gone down to the galley on the first deck to pick up a pot of coffee and dessert for the Devereaus who had retired early after the performance in the lounge. As she turned the corner, she caught a glimpse of something in the highly polished side of the silver coffee pot on her cart. It was distorted by the curve of the side of the pot, but something wasn’t right. Her thief’s instincts were on high alert.
She moved back into a recessed doorway and took a cautious look. It appeared that an unconscious Violette was being carried down the stairs by…someone not Nik Rossiter. It looked like one of those guys from Rio. Shit! What should she do? She reached into her pocket for her cell phone to call the bridge, but there wasn’t time. They were almost down to the level where she was hiding. Without thinking it out further as the Rio guy rounded the bend in the staircase on his way down, she picked up the coffee pot and clocked him a good one in the face with the heavy pot full of hot coffee. He dropped Violette and turned to face Baylee, who had assumed a judo stance. She let loose with a flying kick to his head just as the s
ecurity team boiled up the stairs from the engine room and engineering deck, and several of them came thundering down the stairs from the main deck.
The team pushed her out of the way and had him down and cuffed before she could say a word. She immediately went to Violette, who was crumpled on the floor of the passageway at the foot of the stairs. She carefully checked her for any visible signs of injury. Finding none, she wet a napkin in the ice water on her cart and began to sponge Violette’s face and neck. There really wasn’t anything more she could do at the moment. The security team had the Rio guy under control. Violette’s eyes started to flutter open as she began to come around.
“Where is Nik? Is he all right? I saw him fall…”
* * * *
Nik Rossiter was struggling to come back to consciousness. He knew he had to wake up. Violette was in danger. As he was sitting up, one of the security team came back up the stairs and to a quick stop beside him.
“What happened?”
“Take it easy, man. Everything is okay. We’ve got him. It was Manuel, one of the guys from Rio. I don’t know where the other one is right now. Sam will have him on the GPS.”
“Is Violette okay?”
“She was knocked out, but the steward, Baylee, is with her. When we got there, Baylee had just delivered a pot of hot coffee to the side of his face with a round house kick to his head to follow it up. For a little thing, she did good.” Nik grinned. Baylee was fairly tall for a woman, but to this moose she was a “little thing.”
“Let me get up. I have to get down to Violette.” He felt the back of his head and found some broken skin and a little blood. Not too much. His head was pounding though. He needed to see Violette for himself. He picked up Colleen and headed down the staircase.
* * * *
Captain Cortelis was standing over Manuel Montenegro. He had a satisfied look on his face. He had had his doubts about these guys from the beginning.
“Where the hell is your partner, Juan Cortez?” When he got no answer from the tightly bound man, he turned to Greg and said, “Another good use of the brig cabin. Lock him up and find his partner. I don’t want the other one loose on board.”
“On it.” He pulled his walkie from his pocket and contacted Sam on the bridge. “Where is the other security guy from Rio?”
“It looks like he’s headed down the stairs your way right now.”
Greg turned to face the stairway as Juan Cortez descended the final steps with his Interpol shield and credentials held out in front of him. “Interpol. Lt. Cortez. I’ll take custody of the prisoner if you don’t mind.”
“Well, I do mind. Let me see your credentials, and then I want a full explanation of what the fuck you and your partner are doing on my ship under false pretenses.” Con was furious. He should have been informed that one of the Blackweiler security men was with Interpol.
“He’s not my partner. I’ve been keeping an eye on him since we boarded the ship.”
“Obviously not a very good eye. He managed to knock out Nik Rossiter and grab Violette O’Reilly while heading down to the tender garages. I’m not too impressed so far.”
“He did manage to give me the slip up on deck. When I realized that O’Reilly and Rossiter had left the lounge, I followed them, but obviously I was too late.”
Con looked at Montenegro. He was in sorry condition with a black eye coming up and hot coffee still dripping from his clothes. He looked over at Baylee, who was still tending to Violette. “Good work, Baylee, and the rest of you guys as well. Lock this bastard up and post an armed guard. You can take custody of him when we dock in Miami, Lt. Cortez. Until then, he’s our responsibility.”
* * * *
As soon as Violette and Nik went through the door of their suite, Violette fell into his arms and began to sob. She was shaking with reaction to the fear that had coursed through her system when she had seen Nik unconscious on the floor and to the struggle with her attacker before she was knocked out.
“Oh baby, I was so fucking scared,” he said as he put Colleen down on the sofa and pulled her into the bathroom to look her over under the strong lighting. “I thought they had gotten you for sure.” He checked her limbs and especially her wrist. When he was satisfied that nothing was broken or sprained, he wet a washcloth and washed her face. When he was done, she took a clean cloth with a shaking hand, wet it, and began to clean the blood off the back of his head.
“Poor Nikki. Injured in battle.”
“Ha. More like I went down like a sack of cement. He must have hit me just right. I went out like a light. It was a damn lucky shot. I was just coming around when one of the crewmen found me.”
Finally she was satisfied that all the damage that could be wiped away had been, and it didn’t look like Nik need stitches. He picked her up into his arms and headed for the sofa in the living room. He collapsed on the sofa and pulled a light throw over her trembling body. He rocked her for what seemed like an hour as he murmured nonsense in her ear until she finally started to calm down.
She snuggled into his broad chest and buried her face in his neck. “You know what I need, Nik.”
“Oh, baby, you need a spanking, don’t you?” She could see he looked dubious. He loved to smack her butt, but he was the consummate protector, and he wouldn’t think this was the right time.
“Nikki, I really do.” Nothing settled her nerves like the feel of his big hand on her bottom. She didn’t understand it. Maybe it was crazy. She really didn’t know, but she knew what she needed and wanted.
With a hesitant look on his face, Nik pulled her over his lap and quickly pushed her gown up to her waist. He delivered several good smacks to her upturned bottom, but she knew his heart wasn’t in it. Then he pulled her back into his arms to cuddle her against his chest. The anxiety and fear rushed out of her system in a gush as he rocked her in his arms. The warmth on her bottom seemed to seep down to her core and become the warmth and safety of love—and finally the heat of passion.
Violette turned in his arms and kissed his neck and chin, the only precious real estate she could reach. She stretched up and covered his firm, sculpted lips with her soft ones and began to play and tease. “How’s your head, baby? Are you up to a little fun?”
“I am, but are you? That chloroform is probably going to give you a headache.”
“Nothing makes me feel as good as your cock in my pussy. I need you, Nikki.”
* * * *
Nik knew what she wanted, but he wasn’t entirely sure it was what she needed. As she continued to taunt and tease his mouth and squirm over his lap, he knew he was destined to lose this argument. When Violette wanted love that was what she was going to get.
He gently pulled the black lace gown up over her head, unclipped her strapless bra, and pulled her matching thong down her long legs. He pushed her back against the sofa and came down over her. She was hot, aching, and ready, but he wanted to go slow and easy. They had both been through a lot. This lovemaking was to be an affirmation of life—their life together. She began to slowly unbutton his shirt and push it off his shoulders. Then she reached down and unzipped his trousers. He quickly shoved them off. When they were both naked, he said, “Slow down, baby. I want to take it nice and easy. I don’t want to rush this. I want to make sure I don’t hurt you.”
“You could never hurt me, Nik. You’re the one person besides my family that I can always count on, no matter what. You have never let me down—as much as I rant and rave and complain about you being overprotective. Make love to me.”
Nik reach down and slowly kissed his way from her lips to her neck, along her jaw, and down her chest until he latched on to one rosy nipple. He sucked, and flicked, and played until he had her writhing under him. Then, not to play favorites, he tugged on the other nipple until it, too, was standing at attention. She rubbed the slick folds of her pussy against his steel-hard cock, trying to urge him on. He knew what she wanted, but he was going to make her wait. It was getting difficult for him to h
old back, but she wasn’t going to push him faster than he wanted to go. They weren’t in a scene, but he was still the Master whether he verbalized it or not. He slipped his hand down her body and between her legs. He unerringly found her pulsing, eager clit as his fingers moved with exquisite care over her pouting crease. He could feel her pulse quickening. Her heart was beating hard under his lips. He pushed a long finger inside her, and she rose up to meet him.
He deepened his voice and said “Be still. I’m in charge here.” He knew the Dom voice would only ramp up her desire. He continued his wet caress as she started to moan. Her tight heat was enticing as she gripped him with her inner muscles. He knew he couldn’t wait much longer to take possession of her sweet pussy. “Open for me, baby.” She spread her legs wide and wrapped them around his waist as he plunged into heaven. She reached up and kissed him hard. Her tongue and lips were magic as she looked into his fathomless eyes, imprisoning him with her hot gaze, urging him to take her as her arousal soared higher.
Nik began to stroke her hot pussy as he fought to retain control. He wasn’t going to rush no matter how his body clambered for completion. She bucked against him as she met each of his thrusts eagerly. Finally he felt her inner muscles convulse as he pumped into her slick heat, he exploded in a violent climax, and his thrusting hips brought her over the edge into an explosive orgasm. As they slowly drifted back to earth, they laid there exhausted. Their bodies were still engaged, and they were almost asleep on the sofa, exhausted and mentally and physically drained.
“I love you, baby. Thank God we’re both okay. That was a close one.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Violette's Vibrato [Golden Dolphin 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 14