Her Reluctant Hero: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set

by MJ Fredrick

  Smoller spread his hands in front of him. “We both know you won’t walk away.”

  Adrian didn’t move, wanted to deny, unable to. Behind him, Mallory made a small sound he couldn’t identify.

  Smoller rose. “As I thought. Mallory, I’d like you to accompany me to my boat.”

  She tensed behind him. Adrian felt taut enough to snap in two. “She’ll stay here with me.”

  “So the two of you can plot together? I don’t think so.” He extended a hand to Mallory. “I think you’ll like my boat. This one’s nice, but mine is much more comfortable.”

  She stepped up beside Adrian and pressed against him. “I want to stay with Adrian.”

  One of Smoller’s dark eyebrows arched. “Given what you told me in the past, I would like to say I’m happy for you. In fact, maybe I am. You always were his weakness. That could come in handy.”

  The hairs on the back of Adrian’s neck lifted. He understood the threat in the other man’s tone. He realized another man had crossed the barge and stood at the edge, alert, ready to board this boat. Because Adrian loved Mallory more than anything, she was in danger. And he was a prisoner.

  “Make sure Dr. Reeves is secure here,” Smoller told the man behind him, curving his hand around Mallory’s arm. He tugged her to his side with enough force that she stumbled. “Sleep well, Adrian. We’re diving at first light.”

  Panicked at watching Mallory leave in the company of his enemy, Adrian twisted out of the grip of the man who held him. When the man lunged, Adrian gave him a Glasgow kiss, felt the crunch of cartilage against his forehead as he rammed the hardest part of his head against the man’s nose. But before he could turn back for Mallory, Smoller had freed the knife from its groove in the table and lifted it to Mallory’s cheek.

  “I don’t need her to be pretty to dive for me,” he said in a maddeningly calm voice.

  Adrian stilled long enough for Smoller’s bodyguards to haul him back, but his gaze never left Mallory.

  “If you hurt her,” Adrian threatened, his voice a growl, “you’ll never be hurting enough.”

  “A passionate man is your husband,” Valentine murmured in Mallory’s ear, his tone amused, as she watched Adrian stagger under a blow to the kidney before the two men half-walked, half-dragged him into the stateroom belowdeck. Valentine set the knife down and released Mallory. “It may be a mistake keeping him here.”

  When he released her, her entire body quivered as if shaking off the remnants of his touch. She tossed her wet hair back to hide her reaction, but she still felt the ice of the steel against her skin. “Perhaps, if you offer him some kind of credit, he’ll work for you without you needing to use force.”

  Valentine considered her a moment. “I don’t think you know your husband very well.”

  She gripped the back of her chair to disguise the trembling of her hands. “We were friends once, Valentine. You were there for me at a very difficult time in my life. Why can’t we return to that?”

  “Because you’ve sided with my enemy. I worked so hard to turn you against him three years ago. Why do you suppose I went to all that trouble?”

  Bile rose as she remembered the comments he’d made about Adrian in the same friendly tone, eroding her trust in her husband, eroding her marriage. She’d been so stupid. How could she have not seen it? She’d let her own selfishness support his remarks. In doing so, she’d destroyed her marriage. Three years lost. Now they might be out of time.

  “I think it’s time for you to see my yacht.” He eased closer. “Would you like a roommate?”

  She snapped away from him. “Only Adrian.”

  He eased her toward the stern and up onto the barge. Mallory considered struggling but realized she couldn’t win.

  “Look,” she reasoned. Adrian would hate her for the words she was about to say. “Take over the site, get what you need and leave us alone. Let us go.”

  Valentine shook his head. “I can’t allow that.”

  “Why not? Did you kill Dr. Vigil?”

  He stepped closer. “Do you think I’m capable?”

  “I think you’re greedy enough to do whatever you need to do.”

  He stroked a finger down her cheek, unerringly following the line where the knife had rested. “You’d be right.” He moved away, drawing her toward his boat, away from Adrian.

  Valentine’s boat was huge and gleaming. Mallory feared despite her protests that he would insist she stay in his cabin. He’d never made a move on her before, but what better way to hurt Adrian? With a smirk, he led her belowdeck and opened a door. Linda sat shivering on a bed. She looked up with tear-filled eyes when Mallory entered.

  “Sleep well,” Valentine murmured and closed the door.

  Mallory lunged for the shut door and turned the lock for added security.

  Not that the flimsy lock would be much deterrent to someone determined to get in.

  Mallory was more glad than she expected to have Linda’s company, even if the girl was a lump on the bed and wouldn’t be much help if someone did decide to come in. Partly jealous because she wanted to collapse on the bed too and partly dizzy as her mind whirled ahead with thoughts of how to get out of their situation, Mallory pushed her hair back from her face and crouched in front of Linda.

  “Where have you been? What happened at the camp?”

  Okay, too many questions overwhelmed the girl. Tears streaked her cheeks.

  The last of Mallory’s patience snapped. She gripped Linda’s hands. “I need to know what’s going on here so we can find a way to get out of it.”

  Linda pulled a hand free and swiped at her eyes, not meeting Mallory’s gaze. God, how bad had it been?

  She decided to start easy. “How long have you been with him?”

  “I don’t know. Four nights?”

  “So he came the day we left? The day Adrian got bitten?”

  Linda nodded, her attention on her hands. “We’d taken the boat out and it…I don’t know. It shuddered and everything went bright and then black. The next thing I knew, I was floating in the water, and a boat was alongside, and someone was pulling me out of the water.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. “I didn’t even see Toney or Jacob until today. They kept telling me they were okay, but I didn’t know for sure.”

  “Where have you been the past four days? Not diving the site. It hasn’t been touched.”

  “We were waiting for you to show up. That man, that Smoller man, wanted to catch you by surprise.”

  “He did,” Mallory grumbled. “And Dr. Vigil? What happened to him?”

  “I don’t know.” The girl’s voice was shrill. “I didn’t know anything about it until a few minutes ago. I can’t believe it.” Linda dropped to the edge of the bed, slumped, her hands dangling over her knees. “Why is this happening to us, Mallory? Why?”

  But Mallory didn’t have the energy to explain it. She just wanted to think of a way to get out of it.

  The first thing Adrian did when he emerged from belowdeck the next morning was to look toward Smoller’s boat, hoping for sight of Mallory. He’d barely slept all night, worried about her, knowing Smoller could go to her if he chose and Adrian had no way to protect her. He’d gone through dozens of escape scenarios, some of them admittedly ridiculous, but all requiring that his crew have a way to communicate, and he’d been kept from his brother and Jacob.

  He didn’t see Mallory, but his crew and Smoller’s men were on the barge, suited up to dive. Even Linda, who hated to dive, wore a wetsuit. Adrian’s crew was carefully positioned so that no one could speak to one another. He still wasn’t sure how many men Smoller surrounded himself with. Until he knew, he couldn’t come up with a workable plan.

  Mallory walked out onto the deck of Smoller’s boat in her wetsuit, looking healthy enough, though her movements were cautious as she took in her surroundings.

  He hoped she remembered the hand signals they’d learned before they married, a system that had come in handy on dive
s when they couldn’t talk. He tried one now, as discreetly as possible.

  He didn’t know a sign for Did he touch you? so he motioned, Are you okay?

  Mallory nodded once, almost imperceptibly.

  Be patient.

  A smile quirked the corner of her mouth as Smoller stepped to the edge of the barge. Yeah, she’d signaled for him to be patient often enough.

  “We’ll be diving in shifts today to maximize our time, now that we have extra divers.” Smoller’s voice carried across the barge to both boats. “I want the box. The other artifacts aren’t important. I want to be out of here before anyone comes snooping around.”

  Like the Belize Defence Force. Adrian had alerted them nearly two days ago, so where were they? He’d warned them of the possibility of pirates and thought they’d at least patrol the area. He’d yet to see a cruiser. Had Smoller paid them off?

  “Two of my men will go with each group.” Smoller turned to Adrian as he said this, and Adrian jerked his attention from Mallory and nodded. “Adrian, your group will go first. Your wife will be with me.”

  Adrian wasn’t willing to see what Smoller would do to Mallory if Adrian disobeyed, so he slid into the water and signaled to his two guards that he was ready to descend. With one last look at Mallory, he dove. When they reached the site, one of Smoller’s men thrust a wire basket at Adrian and motioned to the site. Fill it and send it up.

  Years of careful excavating were ingrained in him. He couldn’t make himself dump the artifacts, ivory and bronze and gold, into the baskets the way Jacob, Linda and the guards did. He lifted a cylindrical seal, rubbed his thumb over the end, tried to see the design but couldn’t make it out. It had probably belonged to the captain of the ship. If Adrian could only study it, get it to Mallory so she could interpret the symbols—

  His dive alarm went off. Out of habit, he swam for the guideline, tucking the seal into the utility belt at his waist, only to be grabbed by the shoulder. He turned to look at one of his keepers, who pointed to the site and the basket. Okay, so he hadn’t made much progress, but staying down here could kill him. If he got the bends, Smoller wouldn’t send him to the naval base for decompression. He’d let him die a slow painful death.

  He pointed to his watch, then up. The other diver shook his head and gestured to the site. Adrian glared at the man a moment, disbelieving, and swam around him.

  This time the man closed a hand around his arm. Adrian turned, looked to see Jacob and Linda swimming for the line. He jerked his arm, but the man wouldn’t release him. Frustrated, he slammed his fist into the man’s mask. Damn, the blow hurt his knuckles, and took too much effort through the water to do damage, but it startled the man into letting go. Adrian headed up the line, only to be stopped short by a hand on his ankle above his fin. Son of a—

  Before the man could dislodge him, he swung his other foot around to push it into the man’s face. Again, too much resistance in the water to do much damage. This time the other man didn’t let go. Instead, he stripped Adrian’s flipper off. Damn it.

  Adrian twined his arm around the guideline and tried to pull himself up, to no avail.

  He unwrapped his arm and unhooked his weight belt. It floated down toward the man as Adrian shot up and out of the other man’s grip. Now, however, he was moving too fast to decompress. The only thing that could slow him down was the guideline, which floated just out of his reach.

  His alarm beeped like crazy at the quick ascent. He felt aches in his body as he reached for the rope again. And again. His fingers brushed it. Almost.

  Jacob and Linda climbed onto the barge, dripping and shivering. Mallory looked past them to the water, holding her breath as she waited for Adrian.

  “He’s been down too long!” Mallory shouted across to Valentine’s boat, where Smoller’s men stood looking over the side.

  “He’s probably decompressing,” Smoller said, nonchalant.

  Not this long. Adrian dived strictly by the tables, always underestimating his bottom time, overestimating his decompression time. He’d been down on the outside range of that time. She wasn’t waiting any longer. She strode to the pilothouse, picked up a set of tanks, checked the gauges before buckling them on over her clothes. She found a pair of flippers, strapped them on her feet.

  “You can’t go in without a suit,” Smoller protested.

  She spat into a facemask, rubbed the spittle over the rubber seal and slipped it over her head. “Watch me.”

  She dove in, trying not to gasp as the cold water hit her skin and closed over her head. She swam along the guideline.

  Adrian had one arm twined around the rope, his eyes on his watch. He looked up when she paddled toward him. Surprise lit his eyes behind his mask. She tapped her wrist. He nodded, then dragged his finger up and down, questioning her missing scuba suit before miming a shiver. She acknowledged his question by wrapping her arms around herself, then grabbed his wrist to look at his watch. She was chilled to the bone and shaking with relief at finding him at the proper depth, though he’d had about ten minutes more bottom time than he should have.

  He wrapped his legs around her, drawing her close, but his body heat didn’t permeate his suit, much less her body. He folded his arms around her. Slowly the water between them warmed.

  Suddenly, the line twisted, disorienting her. Her first instinct was to cling to it, but it could wrap around her, tying her up. She and Adrian released at the same time, swimming in opposite directions. Out of nowhere, another diver swam up to wrap his arms around Adrian like a linebacker. Stunned, she watched as the bigger man pinned Adrian’s arms to his sides, not allowing him to maneuver.

  She skimmed her hand down her hip, encountering her clothes. She hadn’t taken the time to get a dive knife, and Smoller wouldn’t have allowed her to if she had. Adrian didn’t wear one, she saw. She was only armed with her wits.

  Grabbing the line in both hands, she attempted to wrap it around the attacker’s head, but his tanks prevented her from getting close enough to him. She slapped at his head, to get him to release Adrian, luring him after her instead. The man merely swatted her away, as if she was an annoying gnat.

  Rage darkened her vision as she floated back a few feet. He wanted to hurt Adrian, and she had to stop him. She swam forward again, through the churning water, and reached between his body and Adrian’s. Locating the release on his weight belt, she pulled.

  His sudden buoyancy surprised him, and he shot up through the water, away from them. Except when he released Adrian, Adrian started to ascend too. Mallory grabbed his ankle, dragging him toward the rope. He closed his hand around it, anchoring himself before swimming upward, toward the underside of the barge. They reached the air pocket where the pontoons lifted the frame of the barge above the water.

  “What was that about?” she asked breathlessly. Seawater slapped at their faces. They wouldn’t be able to stay long, but they needed a chance to talk.

  “He thought I should have been working faster.” Adrian’s tone was too damn calm for her peace of mind. She grabbed his chin to turn his face toward her.

  “Adrian, he was trying to hurt you.”

  Adrian pulled off his mask. “He was pretty pissed.”

  His calm aggravated her nerves further. Did he not realize the danger they were in? “We have to get out of here. I don’t think Smoller’s sane, Adrian. When he talks about the box, his eyes get wild.”

  “I know.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Have you been able to speak to anyone?”

  “Only Linda, and she’s a mess. We need to get her out of here.”

  “You need to contact Toney, since you’re on the boat with him. I’m working on a plan.” He kept his voice pitched low, so no one above could hear them. “It’ll require a great deal of swimming. Do you think you’re up to it?”

  She couldn’t tamp down her impatience. “I don’t see I have a choice.”

  “I’ll leave you messages under here to let you know how the plan is progressing.”
He motioned to the beam he was holding onto.

  “And you want me to do nothing?”

  “It’s the only way to protect you.” When she took a deep breath to protest, he talked over her. “I know you can take care of yourself, but Smoller is not a man to tempt. Trust me.”

  He pushed her away so he could look in her eyes, then kissed her hard as he moved toward the edge of the barge. “I’ll go first.”

  Adrian surfaced to find himself peering up at several black circles, pointed at him. The barrels of automatic weapons. Talk about feeling out of control. Hands reached in the water and pulled him out before he could warn Mallory. He didn’t think Smoller would kill them—he needed them—but looking down a gun barrel was damned unnerving. He turned to watch Mallory surface. Before he could note more than the fact her skin was downright blue, her eyes terrified behind her mask, he was dragged onto the barge. He rolled toward the edge to reach for her. He fell onto his back, helpless, when Smoller grabbed her, pulled her against his chest, and pressed a gun to her head. Adrian’s heart jumped in panic. Smoller had lost his mind and he didn’t care who suffered. Well, if Adrian suffered, all the better, and Adrian couldn’t imagine a worse pain than watching the woman he loved hurt.

  “It’s come to my attention, Adrian, that you don’t intend to do what you’re told.” He gestured to the deck behind Adrian. He glanced over to see the man he’d fought with doubled over in pain as his comrades surrounded him. “He ascended too fast. I’m suspecting the bends, but perhaps that is something you planned.”

  “Better him than me,” Adrian said, his gaze on Mallory. He wouldn’t take his eyes off her again, as if he could will her to stay safe.

  “Actually, yes. You’re more valuable to me than he is. However, I can’t allow you to defy me like that. There has to be a price to pay.” He wrapped his hand tighter around Mallory’s ponytail. Adrian saw the skin at her hairline stretch, her eyes widening. He ground his teeth as he saw the barrel press into the soft skin at her temple, when she squeezed her eyes shut as she waited.