A Silverhill Christmas

by Carol Ericson

  “How’d you know that?” She tipped down her glasses to study him.

  “It’s a common CIA method.” He shrugged. Did Tori really believe she’d have time to snoop around and get something on Alexi? She’d be too busy reuniting with her son…and that’s how it should be.

  “The tree in that little park by the shaved ice place should work. There are plenty of bushes around there, and I could probably hide something in one of them.”

  “Tori, you need to stop. I already told you, I don’t want you nosing around Alexi’s business. It’s dangerous and he’s dangerous. You’re not his favorite person as it is.”

  “You underestimate me, cowboy.”

  Rio didn’t underestimate her one bit, least of all the power she wielded over him. He clenched his jaw as his gaze raked over her luscious curves. Her body held only a fraction of the pull he felt like a tidal wave. Her fierce loyalty and determination transformed her into an unstoppable force that swept along everything in its path.

  The Hawaiian sun, the rum and his proximity to this woman had him hot and bothered. He needed several cold showers and a refocus on his work.

  “I’m going to take a swim in the ocean.” He folded his paper and laid it on his chaise lounge. “If the waitress ever returns, order me a club soda, lots of ice.”

  He scooped up the fragrant orchid the waitress dropped and tucked it behind Tori’s ear, his fingers trailing down her neck. Cool down. Ocean. Now.

  She grinned as if reading his thoughts. “You go take that dip, and I’ll search this book for more tips.”

  TORI WATCHED RIO STRIDE across the pool deck to the sandy beach, his muscled back flaring into a set of broad shoulders, his long black hair swinging with each confident step. Hers weren’t the only eyes that followed his progress. Several women peered over their magazines, sucking on their straws as they watched him jog out to the beach.

  Sighing, she dropped her book. Just her luck to run into a man like Rio when she had so many other priorities on her plate. She didn’t have time to rescue her son and lust after a man at the same time.

  She bit her lip. Who are you kidding, Tori? The danger of her predicament only heightened her attraction to Rio. She’d always preferred her men with a dash of excitement thrown in to fan the flames.

  She reached for her glass and a shadow fell across her upper body. Shading her eyes, she twisted around and choked. The man from last night and another bodybuilder type, incongruous in shorts and flip-flops, hovered over her chaise lounge.

  The hairy one peeled his lips back into a semblance of a smile. “It’s time to leave now, Princess Victoria.”

  Her gaze darted toward the beach where Rio had just disappeared and back to the man’s face. “What are you doing here? I’m supposed to drive over tomorrow.”

  “Change of plans. Prince Alexi wants you at the compound now.” He scooped her cover-up out of her bag and tossed it onto her stomach. “Let’s go.”

  She licked her lips. Better to leave before Rio came back. Although Igor looked stupid, even he might put two and two together and wonder why she was sitting poolside with the man who had come to her rescue last night.

  “All right. Don’t get pushy.” She pulled her cover-up over her body, stuffed her feet into her sandals and grabbed her bag.

  As she turned toward the path that led to the elevators, the man grabbed her arm. “You’re coming with us now.”

  “My room’s that way.” She pointed toward the spa.

  “You’re not going to your room. Prince Alexi ordered us to take you directly to the compound. He’ll send someone for your things later.”

  She narrowed her eyes and jerked from his grasp. Why had she trusted Alexi? He always used the element of surprise to keep her off kilter. “And if I refuse to go with you today?”

  He lifted his big shoulders. “You don’t see Prince Maksim.”

  Butterflies took flight in her belly, and she pivoted toward the lobby feeling like a prisoner between Alexi’s two henchmen. She glanced over her shoulder at the beach.

  Would she ever see Rio again?

  Chapter Seven

  On his way to the beach, Rio took a detour by the towel kiosk and picked up a beach towel. He dashed across the hot sand and waded into the water. The lukewarm temperature didn’t have the same bracing effect as the chilly Pacific off the coast of California, but it would do in a pinch.

  He dove under the small rolling waves and flipped onto his back. He had to get Alexi. Tori deserved a chance with her son. Once the CIA arrested her ex, they’d have to move fast to recover Max.

  Although Rio had assured Tori that the CIA could stop Alexi from sending Max back to Glazkova after his arrest, he didn’t have as much confidence in that scenario as he pretended.

  After he swam about a hundred yards back and forth in the calm ocean, Rio headed for shore. Maybe if they could find an out-of-the-way place and make sure they weren’t followed, he and Tori could have dinner tonight before she got sucked into Alexi’s sphere.

  Then what, McClintock? Get carried away again with the ex-wife of your current prey?

  He snatched up his towel from the sand and shook out his hair. He cranked on the shower that perched at the edge of the sand, separating the beach from the hotel. Sluicing the cool water across his skin, he rinsed the salt water from his body.

  He slung the towel over one shoulder and strode up the path back to the pool area. A furrow formed between his eyebrows as he dropped his towel on the back of Tori’s chaise lounge, vacant save for the purple orchid on the center of her towel. His gaze zigzagged back and forth across the pool and bar.

  “Looking for your friend?”

  His head jerked toward the waitress, balancing another tray on the inside of her forearm. “Yeah. Did she head for the water?”

  “No.” She placed a club soda on the glass table next to his seat. “They left.”

  Rio’s heart picked up speed. “They?”

  “She and the two big guys who escorted her out of the hotel.”

  AT THE CURB, TORI TRIED to shake off the man gripping her upper arm. “Back off.”

  “Don’t make a scene, or you’ll never see Prince Maksim again.”

  The man’s low growl sent a spiral of fear to her belly. She took a deep breath. “Why can’t I go back to my room and pack a bag? This is ridiculous. I’m wearing a bikini, flip-flops and a flimsy cover-up.”

  The man shrugged. “Prince Alexi will send someone to pick up your things.”

  “What is he afraid of? Does he think I’ll pack a gun and take Max by force?”

  Her captor barked out a laugh. “Prince Alexi doesn’t fear you, but he doesn’t want you calling the shots. He decides when and how you’ll come to the compound, not you.”

  Tori snorted. “Control freak.”

  The other man, the one with no neck and apparently no voice, opened the back door of the limo waiting at the curb. Before he pushed her inside, she twisted her head around for a last desperate glimpse of Rio. Would he figure out what had happened to her? She had her cell phone with her, and although she didn’t have his number, she could reach him at the hotel now that he’d taken up residence there.

  The men slammed the door on her, and she immediately tried the handle. Locked. She scrambled across the leather seat and grabbed the other handle. That proved fruitless. They’d locked her into the back of the limo.

  Screaming in frustration she kicked out at the tinted security glass that separated her from the thugs who had kidnapped her. The big car lurched away from the curb, and she fell across the seat. She pulled herself upright and snapped on her seat belt.

  Actually she’d lucked out that Rio had been at the beach when the two nightmares in aloha shirts appeared at the pool. One of the thugs who’d grabbed her was Igor from the night before. He would’ve recognized Rio, and then she’d have had a lot of explaining to do.

  While Tori dug into her beach bag with one hand, scrambling for her cell phone, she
cupped the other hand against the security glass and tried to peer into the front seat. A voice blared from the speaker to her left, and she jumped.

  “Do you need something, Princess Victoria?”

  So much for calling the hotel. If the matching goons had orders to watch her, they’d never allow her to make a call, or at least they’d be listening in on her conversation. But she had to try. She held up her cell phone. “Can I make a call?”

  The glass where her hand was still resting slid down and the man in the passenger seat leaned his head into the back of the car, smiling. “Of course you can make a call. You’re not a prisoner.”

  “He speaks. I’m not a prisoner, huh?” She tried the unyielding doors. “You could’ve fooled me.”

  She sucked in her lower lip and rubbed her thumb across the smooth surface of her phone. If only she knew Rio’s room number, at least she could leave a message with some kind of gibberish or some code. But she didn’t, and she couldn’t very well ask the front desk for his number with Alexi’s men listening and taking notes.

  The driver mumbled something and the man in the passenger seat snatched the phone from Tori’s hand. “Hey, I thought you just said I wasn’t a prisoner.”

  He shrugged as he pocketed her phone. “Change of plans.”

  “Plans sure change a lot around here.” She jerked away as the glass slid back into place. Smart move, Tori. She should’ve just kept the phone a secret. Now she had no opportunity to use it.

  Slumping back against the seat, she curled her legs beneath her. She’d think of some way to get information out to Rio, and then she’d ask for payment.

  Rescue Max.

  About an hour later, the limo began cruising uphill, craggy cliffs dropping off to the ocean below. She knew this part of the ocean well—she’d jumped into it only yesterday.

  She’d been confident she’d encounter Ryder McClintock in Maui and he’d rush to her rescue and save Max. Instead of Ryder’s sunny disposition and blond good looks, she’d run smack up against Rio’s brooding intensity and dark handsomeness. And she couldn’t convince him to rush into anything.

  Not even bed.

  The car continued curving upward where abundant vegetation now stingily afforded glimpses of the shining blue jewel of the Pacific. Alexi had ensconced himself in a private location…and a secure one. There would be no approaching this place by land.

  Large gates swung open and the limo passed through, brushing close to a man toting a machine gun across his body. Tori gasped and clutched the edge of the seat. She remembered Rio’s warning. Alexi had amped up his operations since she had left him.

  Her stomach churned as the big, black car took her closer and closer to her son. Would Max remember her? Had Alexi poisoned him so thoroughly he’d reject her on sight?

  The car door swung open and Tori wiped her palms on the cotton material of her cover-up before unsnapping her seatbelt. She hitched her bag over her shoulder and glared at the man holding the door open for her. “I want my phone back.”

  The man affixed his gaze on a point just beyond her shoulder, his eyes dull beneath heavy lids. He knew his place as one of Alexi’s robots. Alexi paid the people in his employ well, but he also controlled them through fear and intimidation—just like his family members, including his wife.

  The house before her gleamed with white marble, a perfect shell curving along the cliffs of the coastline. Her glimpses of the palatial estate from the water and Rio’s perch didn’t prepare her for its magnificence.

  She stumbled on the drive, and one of the several thugs littering the driveway grabbed her arm. When she tried to shake him off, he smiled. “I’m Ivan. I’ll be your…companion during your stay with Prince Alexi.”

  More like jailer. Gritting her teeth, Tori jerked her arm out of his grasp. “I don’t need a companion.”

  Ivan touched her shoulder. “Come this way. Prince Alexi will explain the rules of your visit.”

  As she climbed the steps to the massive double doors pressed with gold leaf, the other men on the driveway cast curious glances her way. She recognized a few from her years in Glazkova and others must be new recruits. Their relatives back home would be so proud of their sons working for the royal family of Glazkova, even though every one of them knew the Zherkovs held their power through corruption and criminal activities.

  Which was more than she had known when she got involved with Alexi. Her family had always warned her to be more circumspect, to use better judgment, to look before she leaped into the abyss. But she’d never listened. Her brother, Jared, refused to help her now. He blamed her flightiness for their parents’ deaths.

  The double doors swung open, and Tori’s flip-flops slapped against the marble tile that covered the foyer. Her companion edged in front of her and said, “Follow me.”

  Trailing after his broad back, she studied the layout of the entryway—a curving staircase to the left, a short hallway that led to a set of double doors, a step-down great room with a patio and a green lawn that rolled out toward the ocean.

  The huge Christmas tree in the corner of the great room gave her hope. If Alexi planned to stay here through Christmas, she’d have a few weeks to formulate a plan.

  Ivan stopped in front of another set of double doors to the right and knocked.

  Alexi called out, “Enter.”

  When she’d met Alexi, his manners had charmed and overwhelmed her. Now his pretentiousness irritated the hell out of her. Who said enter these days?

  They walked into the room and Tori’s feet sank into thick carpet. No view of the Pacific from here. Heavy drapes concealed the long windows, and dark bookshelves lined three walls with a maroon-and-gold tapestry hanging behind the desk where Alexi sprawled in a leather chair. Another man sat at attention across the desk, his startling white hair almost glowing in the dim room.

  Alexi steepled his fingers, a slow smile spreading across his face as his gaze tracked over her body. “I see my men followed my orders well.”

  Tori swung her bag across her chest and folded her arms over it. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t go back to my room, shower and pack. Why didn’t you just call and let me know you were sending Igor and another henchman to pick me up?”

  Alexi laughed. “His name’s not Igor. That was Ilya and Anton was riding shotgun, and I see you’ve met Ivan.”

  “I’m sure Ivan is a load of laughs, but I don’t need a jailer.”

  “Vlad.” Alexi nodded to the man perched on the edge of his chair. “Wait for me outside the library.”

  As Vlad clicked the door behind him, Alexi sat forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on the desk. “I’ve assigned Ivan to you for your protection and the protection of my son.”

  “I don’t need protection. I need my clothes.”

  Alexi narrowed his dark eyes to slits. “I took you by surprise because I didn’t want you to prepare for anything.”

  Tori’s pulse quickened and she felt light-headed. Did Alexi suspect her of plotting to take Max? She’d been counting on his opinion of her as a dumb female to implement her plan.

  “Well, you’re right.” She tossed her hair and pouted. “I didn’t get to prepare by taking a shower or getting my nails done or doing any shopping.”

  “You’ll have plenty of time to get all that done here. Give me your hotel key. I’ll have someone pick up your things.” He extended his hand, palm up.

  Tori’s brow furrowed as she dug through her beach bag for her key card. She hoped Alexi’s gofer didn’t run across Rio skulking around her hotel room.

  She pulled the card from her bag and approached the mahogany desk. She dropped the key card on the surface of the desk, avoiding Alexi’s hand. “Oops.”

  He peeled the card from the desk blotter and slid it into the pocket of his black slacks. “I instructed Ivan to bring you to me first so we can review the house rules. Anton confiscated your cell phone and it will remain with me for the duration of your stay. I’m conducting importa
nt, private business in this house and I don’t need people wandering around the complex with private cell phones. Your phone will be returned to you when you leave.”

  Tori swallowed. Now she couldn’t call Rio. She’d have to rely on some secret way to pass him information, but with no way to contact him, how could she let him know? Would he remember their conversation about the tree in the park? They’d never agreed on that arrangement, but at least they’d discussed it.

  Alexi stood up and placed his palms on the desktop, hunching over slightly. “Your room is next to Maksim’s room, and you may visit with him as much as you like. If you wish to take him on outings, you must be accompanied by both his nanny, Irina, and Ivan.”

  “Hope you can keep up with us, Ivan.” She backed up and out of the range of Alexi’s musky cologne and nudged the big man in the ribs. Ivan’s eyebrows shot up to his bald pate.

  “You’ll have to excuse my ex-wife, Ivan.” Alexi straightened up and slicked back the sides of his black hair. “She’s rather…irreverent and flighty.”

  That’s right, Alexi. You just keep believing that. “I don’t get all the cloak-and-dagger stuff. I realize I wouldn’t get one mile if I snatched Max.”

  “I’m glad you acknowledge my power, Victoria. However, you’ve never been immune to realizing a truth and then acting against that truth. I don’t trust you.”

  “And I don’t trust you.”

  He shrugged. “That doesn’t concern me. To continue with the house rules, I’ll be hosting several social events and you’re welcome to attend if you like. I’ll also be throwing a big Christmas party before I return to Glazkova, but you aren’t on the guest list for that one.”

  He probably planned to banish her from the house be fore then. She rolled her eyes. “Like I want to mingle with you and your lowlife guests at Christmas. Can’t think of anything less likely to put me in the Christmas spirit.”

  “Do you understand the rules, Victoria?” His smooth voice held an undercurrent of malice, causing a ripple of fear along her spine. The last time she broke Prince Alexi’s rules, she lost her son. This time she planned to break every rule in his black book, but the outcome would be different.