Harlequin Blaze June 2015 Box Set: Midnight ThunderFevered NightsCome On OverTriple Time

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  Neil saving her life had made their private getaway seem even more like a fairy tale. It was too easy to cast Neil as her very own prince, rescuing her from danger. That was fine given their circumstances, but regrettably these circumstances wouldn’t last forever. Getting out this afternoon had offered a much-needed dose of reality.

  Taking her hand, Neil led her down a well-lit path through the trees to a road with traffic and shops with neon signs. Piper felt as though she’d stepped through a portal. This was the real world, all right.

  A few blocks away was a row of restaurants, and Neil headed for a small Italian place. They were seated in a dark, quiet booth in a corner and left alone with menus and a basket of garlic bread.

  Piper scooted in close and he tucked her under his arm and caressed her shoulder as they ordered. She slid her hand over his thigh, inching up just enough to torture him. They sipped wine, shared the pasta dish and couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

  She didn’t mean to keep comparing him to other men, but this felt so different from anything she’d experienced.

  Francois had been merely expedient. For both of them. Dating Brad had been one publicity-filled outing after another. And it had worked. For him. A few months after he broke it off with her he’d signed on to do a blockbuster film. Hard to imagine she’d thought she loved him for about half a second.

  Brad was just a boy compared to Neil. Neil was strength and gentleness. He was patient, but no pushover. He was kind. And...good.

  But this feeling she had for him. It couldn’t last. Love didn’t seem to be an emotion anyone could sustain. Or at least, she couldn’t. Was she really saying she was in love with Neil? There was that Prince Charming fantasy kicking in again.

  When they got back to the bungalow, they headed straight for the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind them. Neil stood on his side of the bed, yanked the comforter off and threw back the sheet. Naked, she met him in the middle of the mattress, knee to knee, chest to chest. She ran her fingers through his hair and framed his face, opening her mouth over his, kissing his kind lips, pouring everything she couldn’t say in words into her kisses. “Make love to me, Neil.”

  With a groan he laid her down and positioned himself above her. He rolled on protection, nudged her legs apart and thrust. As rushed as they’d been to get back to the bungalow, Neil took his time pleasuring her. He angled his hips as he moved, slowly building the pressure, bringing her to the edge before starting all over again. His weight on his elbows and knees, he placed soft kisses at her temples and jawline as he increased their tempo.

  She loved watching his jaw tighten when he came, and his chest expand and fall as he rolled onto his back, breathing hard. And she loved that she could curl up next to him and watch him fall asleep without either of them saying a word. Sometimes no words were needed.

  Sometimes, there were words that could never be said.

  10

  NEIL WOKE IN the middle of the night again. This time Piper’s cheek rested on his chest. When she twitched, he brushed her long hair away from her face. Maybe her nightmares were about the water, although that didn’t explain the dark dreams last night. So perhaps they were about her loved ones in India. What had happened to them?

  He could tell that was the case when she awoke, but she didn’t say anything. Did she need to, though?

  “You want to talk about it?”

  The ocean rumbled. Moonlight spilled in from the French doors. Piper remained silent.

  He drew in a deep breath. Felt her cling to him. Maybe he needed to try a different tack. “I sometimes have this nightmare where I’m on the roof of a building, covering the troops on the ground as they enter the city,” he said quietly. “And in my nightmare, I can see this ambush about to happen, but I can’t pick off the enemy fast enough. And the troops get slaughtered.”

  “Did that happen?”

  “No. Not exactly. But losing even one soldier is unacceptable. I feel as if I should’ve been able to save them.”

  She shivered and he gathered her against him again, rubbing her arm. Then more silence.

  Well, it’d been worth a try—

  “Ms. H would’ve told you guilt was a waste of time.”

  “You mentioned Ms. H yesterday.”

  Neil might not have noticed her subtle hesitation if she hadn’t been snuggled against him. “Ms. Hanson. She was my legal guardian until I turned eighteen. And my agent.”

  Yep. A definite edge to her voice. “Seems as if there might have been a conflict of interest there.”

  Her shoulder lifted. “She discovered me in India. Brought me to the UK.”

  He already knew he wasn’t going to like Ms. H. He turned to face Piper. “Tell me.” He caught the flinch in her eyes.

  “There’s nothing to tell. I’m grateful to her. She’s given me a life I never could’ve imagined.”

  There was just a bit too much nonchalance in her tone. Neil raised a brow. “So Ms. H is a saint and everything’s peachy. Great.” He gave her bottom a playful smack through the sheet. “Guess we can go back to sleep now.” He turned his back to her. Punched the pillow. Closed his eyes.

  Nothing but quiet stillness behind him. He might’ve miscalculated that strategy. She didn’t owe him anything. But when he started to shift toward her, a soft hand landed on his shoulder, and he pulled her into his arms. “You don’t have to talk about it.”

  She leaned into his chest. “I—” Her voice broke. “I have a brother,” she whispered. Her body was stiff, her breath held.

  Neil tightened his grip. He’d witnessed interrogations before. Both of prisoners and assets. First order of business: get the names of all the players involved. “What’s your brother’s name?”

  “Nandan.”

  “Is Nandan older or younger?”

  “He was ten the last time I saw him.”

  The last time she saw him? “Tell me about him.”

  She brought a hand up to wipe her wet cheeks, and then snuggled into his embrace. “Did I mention to you that I grew up in Delhi?”

  “No. But go on.”

  She cleared her throat. But then she was silent for a long time.

  “I’ve never—” She let out a frustrated growl. “Even Ragi doesn’t know this about me.”

  Neil waited. It had to be her decision.

  “Our mother was a...sex worker. It’s common for daughters to also...but my mother didn’t want that for me. I took care of my brother while she was out, but once he was old enough to go to school, I got to go, too. Then, when I was twelve, my mother—” Piper swallowed. “She got sick. And never got better.”

  “Your father wasn’t around?”

  “I never knew my father. But my mother used to tell me I had his eyes.” She turned her face away. “He was a client, I think.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “After Mata died, Nandan stayed in school and I...begged for a while until I found a job at a food stall in the market. But we were so hungry. All-the-time hungry. And sleeping in the streets. So when Ms. Hanson bought food from me one day and said she wanted to take me to London, I was so happy.

  “But she wouldn’t let me bring Nandan with us. And he didn’t want me to leave him. Ms. H found a family to take him in, and she promised to send money to them every month. I told him I would write to him and he could write to me, but he was inconsolable. He screamed and cried and—” Piper’s voice broke again. She was trembling. “He begged me not to leave him.”

  The obvious pain in her tore at Neil’s heart. His chest was wet with her tears.

  “I wrote to him every week. And the first year I received three letters from him. All pleading with me to come get him, to let him live with me. But Ms. H said he was better off with a family. We would be gone all the time and he would be alone.”


  She wiped under her eyes again and sniffed. “The second year the letters stopped. But by then I was traveling to New York a lot and Ms. H said he was fine. I couldn’t—couldn’t do anything without her permission.” Her voice grated with seething anger.

  “But when I turned eighteen, she could no longer control me. And I had my own money. I bought a flat and flew to India, planning to bring Nandan back to London to live with me. After three years, I couldn’t wait to see him.” He heard her sobs, tried holding her closer. “He was gone.” She choked on the last word. “The family said he ran away. But—” She pushed away to look at him. “Why didn’t they write to tell me? Why didn’t they call the police? They did nothing because Ms. H had been sending them money all those years. Oh, Neil.” A sob racked her. “I don’t know where he is. I’ve been looking for five years. He thinks I abandoned him.”

  Neil barely understood the rest of her words but he got the gist of what she was saying. She was afraid her brother was dead or he would’ve contacted her by now. He caught the words private investigators and reward, but he let the storm run its course, just holding her until she took a deep breath and let it out on a shivering sigh.

  To think Piper had been living with this anguish all these years. The chance that the boy was alive was slim. But Neil couldn’t tell her that. He felt touched that she’d confided in him. And he wanted to be there for her, reassure her. More than that. She needed someone in her corner. Her need brought emotions to the surface that he hadn’t acknowledged since Lyndsey’s betrayal. He needed to be needed.

  While Piper slipped into the bathroom to splash water on her face, Neil strategized. She’d had private investigators looking for five years? At best the firm was incompetent, at worst they were just taking her money. There was one other alternative: the boy was dead. And like the family who purportedly took care of him, the investigators didn’t want to stop the money flow.

  When Piper appeared in the bathroom doorway, he held out his arms to her and she slipped back into bed beside him. Maybe he’d get the name of the private investigators. And he could ask a buddy of his in the company if there was anything he could do. But no sense in getting her hopes up until he talked to the guy.

  * * *

  PIPER PRESSED HER fingers to her lips and blew Neil a kiss from the hotel’s employee entrance. From behind the wheel of the rental, he nodded, the heat in his eyes promising he’d return her kiss in person later that night.

  As he drove off, she slipped up to her room in a daze of wonder.

  They’d slept late.

  After revealing her story to Neil, she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep. It had felt so right to talk to him about her brother. Neil hadn’t judged her, or tried to reassure her with lies like the private detectives had.

  This morning, too, he didn’t seem to want to leave any more than she did. She’d delayed packing, and they’d sat out in the Adirondack chairs on the beach just holding hands and watching the surf until the last possible moment before they had to leave.

  By the time he’d secured a rental car it was almost dark.

  On the ride home, they drove over a long concrete bridge spanning the distance from Key Largo to the mainland. As they began crossing, Piper became aware that something weird was happening. All the cars ahead of them were pulling over and parking on the shoulder. People exited their cars and stood staring out to sea.

  Piper had clutched his arm, worried. “What is it? What’s going on?”

  Neil grinned and covered her hand. “You’re about to witness a spectacular phenomenon.” He pulled over between two cars, shut off the engine and opened his door. “Come on.” She climbed out and followed him. “There’s no more beautiful sunset in the world than the one from the Key Largo Bridge.” He placed her in front of him, leaned back against the car and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  And he’d been right.

  Piper watched with him as the sun painted the sky with the most amazing colors that she’d ever seen. Orange and gold, fuchsia and violet and mauve. Emerald and peach all shining from a giant ball of blazing yellow. Clouds lined in silver touched the horizon and a silhouette of a sailing ship gave the scene a perspective of just how small they all were. How expansive was their universe. A silent awe fell over Piper and the entire group of spectators. It was a moment for reflection, for sharing with someone special. For sharing with Neil. And in the sharing of such a moment, a bond formed that she felt would never be broken.

  A profound feeling of reverence overcame her. She was filled with wonder and a sense of timelessness and...true love for the man behind her.

  Her lover. Her love.

  He’d saved her life.

  He’d changed her life.

  The past two days had been unlike anything she’d ever experienced. The playfulness. The passion. The sense that, for the first time in her life, she had someone who would be there for her. Someone who knew the real her, and...loved her? He hadn’t said the words and neither had she. But she was going to tell him tonight.

  Just being apart from him for a few hours made her chest ache with longing. To touch him, taste him, even smell him. She could still catch a whiff of his cologne on her now and she inhaled it with a secret smile. She squeezed her eyes closed. Soon!

  He was going to check out of his hotel and meet her back here for dinner. Tomorrow he wanted to help her hire a bodyguard before she left for Sweden. No time to go to London now. He’d said he wanted to take her to the airport. But what would happen after that? Would she ever see him again?

  She was out on the balcony, still drifting in fantasies of a future with Neil when a knock sounded at her door. It was probably Ragi, but Piper still checked the peephole just as Neil had made her promise.

  There was no one there.

  But on the floor outside the door was another large manila envelope. Her name was written on it in the same hand as the other two. Piper’s elation vanished and her insides cramped. How had this nutcase found her?

  Slowly, she bent to pick it up. She should just throw it away. Or give it to the police. Who cared what it said?

  But as if some invisible force compelled her, she opened it and slid out the note. More cut out letters. Piper read,

  If YoU StAy WiTh the seal

  yOu wIlL RuIN hiS cAReEr

  DO yOu rEAlLY WaNT that?

  He May saY he doesn’t mInD

  buT hE wIlL hATe YOu fOR iT

  Piper let the letter float to the carpet. The sandwich they’d grabbed at a drive-through on the way back from the Keys twisted in her stomach. Shaking uncontrollably, she snatched the note up and tore it into pieces.

  Who was this sicko? Could all this publicity linking Neil with her really ruin his career? If it did, he would hate her. Being a SEAL meant everything to him. It was who he was.

  What had she been thinking? They couldn’t have a future together. He lived in the States and was gone on missions all the time. She was always traveling for photo shoots, being hounded by reporters. And he couldn’t even talk about his missions. He’d never be able to deal with the constant media scrutiny.

  She’d been dreaming to think they could make this work.

  * * *

  PIPER’S FLIGHT WAS scheduled for departure in forty minutes.

  But Neil wasn’t ready to turn her loose.

  He scanned the crowds of busy travelers. Several people were staring at Piper. A couple of them had phones out, snapping pictures, filming. This terminal was too public for a last goodbye.

  “Give us a minute?” Neil asked Piper’s new bodyguard.

  The hulk nodded and turned his back, glaring at the people who had their phones aimed at Piper until they slunk away.

  Yeah, he’d do.

  Piper spoke into Ragi’s ear and the assistant headed down the co
ncourse.

  Neil took Piper’s elbow and pulled her around the corner behind an eight-foot-tall electronic map of the terminal. This was it. His palms were damp, his mouth dry. He didn’t want it to be. But it was the only logical decision. Still, he couldn’t make himself say the words. He just stared into her cool green eyes.

  “So you like Jim?” he asked as he leaned around the map to catch a glance at the bodyguard.

  She shrugged. “You chose him. I trust you.”

  Neil nodded. “And you’ll do as he advises while you’re in Sweden? No going off on your own?”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I said I would.” She folded her arms and refused to look at him.

  She’d been acting funny ever since he’d returned to her hotel last night. Not that there’d been a lot of conversation. But still, she’d been...withdrawn.

  Although not in bed.

  Maybe she’d felt the same sense of urgency that had driven him. She’d been ready the minute he walked through her door. Wearing a hot pink bra and panties set that had his pulse skyrocketing. As he’d kissed her, made love to her, held her after, he had kept thinking this was their last time. He’d never see her again.

  Never sleep with her beside him all night. Never see that naughty smile directed only at him. Never hear her say his name.

  Afterward, she’d been quiet. Distracted. Maybe she didn’t want their relationship to end, either.

  But how would something like the two of them even work? He had to get back to Virginia. And her world was an ocean away. Literally and figuratively. He’d been an unlikely fling for her from the beginning.

  He took her hand. It was so cold. He rubbed it between his. “Take care of yourself.” He winced. Might as well tell her to drive safely, or maybe have a nice life.

  She placed her palm on his cheek. “It’s been brilliant fun these past few days, Neil.” Lifting up onto her toes, she gave him a quick peck on the lips.