by Lily LaVae
She shook her head. “No, I want you now.”
He trailed his hand slowly down her stomach. She arched to meet him and he changed direction, tormenting her, making a soft circle with the tip of his finger on the velvety flesh of her inner thigh, then back up, almost to her apex, over the top and down her other thigh.
“Clint, stop torturing me. I’ll call your name now, if that’s what it’ll take.”
She was so beautiful, laying there for him to view. Her hands held above her head allowed him to see her softly curved perfect breasts atop a narrow waist, rounded hips that held an area he couldn’t wait to explore a little better. He slid one finger inside her. She was so wet, so ready for him, and his own need throbbed. He closed his eyes and enjoyed pleasuring her for a while, but giving it to her made his own need more insistent than he was used to.
“Not enough,” she panted.
He answered her call and slid two fingers into her depths, flicking the hard nubbin of her pleasure with each thrust of his hand.
“I want what I’ve never had before.” She bucked under him.
He stopped. So, if she’d had that before, at least one man had touched her. His ardor cooled a little, reminding him that he had no business trusting the woman who’d lied to him from the start. He bent over and kissed her again, gentle, without passion, to see if she would still respond to him. She stilled, and he released her hands.
“What’s wrong?” Her wide brown eyes were dilated to almost black. Her voice, thick with pleasure and mixed with her accent, was an intoxicating combination.
He slid his fingers back inside her again and she raised her hips to give him more of herself, like she knew what she was doing.
“I’m sorry, Margaret. I can’t go through with this. Every time I try to convince myself to ignore something you’ve said, you show me everything on your application was a lie. There is no way you’re a virgin. You didn’t come from Wyoming. Your name isn’t even Margaret, you said that within a half hour of meeting me.” He moved over to the other seat across from her and watched as she pulled her bra back where it belonged and looked for her panties. “You’re aren’t even going to deny it?”
She glanced up at him as she slid them over her feet. “You told me not to lie.”
7
For all that Rhetta had wanted to see Wyoming, it wasn’t half what she’d hoped, clouded with equal measures of desire and fear. Clint wasn’t going to marry her because she’d lied. Part of her wanted to be angry about that, but she couldn’t. She hated lying, hiding, scheming.
“What do you do, what are you good at, what are your passions?” Clint quietly asked from his shadowed spot on the other side of the back seat. It felt like he was a mile away, but she’d felt the prickle of his stare since he’d moved over there.
“I’m an artist, but I’m also a financial planner. I have a business degree. Why?” She couldn’t see how it mattered what her background was, she’d given all that up when she’d left.
“We’ve been so busy dancing around the fact that you were lying about your past, that we never even bothered to warm up.” He cracked his knuckles, sending an unwanted shudder up her spine.
“What’s to know? You already told me you don’t like to be lied to, you prefer cars to horses, and you don’t dance sober. See, I was listening.” She reached down and opened the little fridge next to her seat, surprised that there was no alcohol in it. She’d refused a whiskey the day before, but it would feel good right about now. She’d have to settle for a soda.
“Yes, you were listening to the shortest bio I’ve ever given. But you didn’t know that I’m military.”
Her heart spasmed and then raced. Military was the one type she’d wanted to avoid. He cocked his head. “That information bothers you. Why?”
She held her breath and counted to ten, nice and slow. How could she get out of this? What could she tell him that was honest and yet not give away everything? “I had a brother in the military… He wasn’t kind.” There. She’d kept her promise to tell him the truth, yet really hadn’t told him anything.
“Was he part of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation?” Clint’s face didn’t change, he was just making conversation, but it was all she could do not to spout, Never!
“I don’t know exactly, I wasn’t privy to all he did.” True enough, though she knew he was never, and would never, submit to Russia.
“Ah. Well, I was an Officer in the Navy. Intelligence.”
That explained his build, he certainly made time to stay…healthy. “And why did you leave?” Since he didn’t wear a uniform, and frankly, she doubted servicemen would have as much money as he seemed to have, he couldn’t still be in the service.
“I didn’t. Not completely. My company, Sage Enterprises, builds destroyers and other things we don’t need to talk about for the Navy.”
She wrapped her arms around her roiling stomach. He was everything she was terrified of, yet everything she wanted in one delicious hard package. From where she sat, she could see some parts were still harder than others.
“Are you a spy or something? Is that why you won’t talk to me? You can trust me. Dammit, I’ve got to be able to trust you. This won’t work until you do, and I refuse to walk down that aisle with a woman I don’t trust.”
A spy? She could almost laugh. Her brother hadn’t told her anything, preferring that she just live in constant fear. If Clint didn’t marry her, she always would. If she were returned, she’d have to start over at the Diamond Agency, and have to find a way to somehow pay the fine. There was also a rumor that went around the apartment that women who were returned…went to the undesirables. The agency would assume she’d lied and they would do a manual check of her background. Then they would find out she wasn’t a citizen, and have her deported, or just ship her off to some loser who they couldn’t find a match for.
“I’m not a spy. I’m trying to escape a life that you don’t want to know about. I just want to be free. Is that too much to ask?” She felt her exterior slipping away. The hard façade she’d built up to keep everyone from knowing just how much the betrayal of her brother had hurt, the constant fear of retaliation.
“You want the truth? Fine.” She slid to her knees on the floor between them and turned her back to him. She slid her dress up over her head once again. Unlike last time, when she’d made certain he never saw her scars, she displayed them for him to see in the soft blue light of the LEDs. Burn marks, branded with a cigar, all over her back to make her pay for trying to get help.
She heard his intake of breath and felt him land heavily on the floor behind her. His fingertips gently glided from one to another. “My God. What happened?”
“I promised you I wouldn’t lie to you, but the promise of secrecy I made that day came first…and at a greater cost.” She slipped her dress back down over her head and he helped her as it slid down her waist and over the curve of her rear.
Without warning, he drew her onto his lap and folded her in his strong arms. “You’ve suffered some terrible abuse. I’m so sorry. I know it can be hard to open up when you’ve been hurt in the past.” He held her tight, like he was worried she’d fall apart on him. That had already happened months before.
“There are things I can never tell you, Clint. I’m sorry. It’s for your own safety, and mine. I need to get married and take your name.” It wouldn’t hurt to tell him her real name, he’d never be able to pronounce it, or even remember it, but if it helped him believe her, she’d give him that. “My real name is Marharyta Havryliuk, and Rhetta actually sounds much closer to my real name, than Margaret.”
He gently brushed her hair through his fingers and tenderly cupped her cheek. “I told you I would never hit a woman, and I wouldn’t. I would never do that to you.”
She rested her palm against his heart and its steady rhythm comforted and soothed her. She believed him. He might be military, but he was no brute. “I believe you.”
“I don’t know wh
at to do. I know you need to be married to become a citizen and escape whatever it is you’re running from, but with connections to Russia…and military ones at that…” He sighed as he massaged the back of her neck and she nestled closer to him. His strong arms made her more comfortable than she’d felt in months, and certainly more relaxed than she ever thought she could be with a military man.
“Once I apply for my visa and gain citizenship, you don’t have to worry. There is no dual citizenship.” She almost said with Ukraine, but stopped herself.
“You would do that? You’d renounce your citizenship? There isn’t anyone back there who you’d ever want to see again?”
She was so tired of worrying whether he was looking for information or just curious about her. “No, no one who’s worth dying over.” Her words made him tighten his grip on her.
“Are you being serious, or melodramatic. I can’t see your eyes to tell.” He waited until she leaned back and could look him in the eyes.
“I’m serious. If I go back, he’ll kill me.”
The car screeched to a stop and he grabbed her, wrapping her in a protective hug as they were flung out of the seat and to the floor, the buzzing of a helicopter overhead filled her ears just before her scream.
8
The windows were tinted so Clint could see out, but whoever was outside, couldn’t see in. There were two cars, one blocking them from the front, another had pulled in behind. They wore military fatigues, but not American. A chopper overhead acted as their eyes in the sky.
“Rhetta?” He shook her. He thought he’d protected her from hitting her head, but she’d screamed and then hadn’t moved since. “Rhetta?” He lifted her off the floor. She wasn’t bleeding and as soon as he held her, she fought him, screaming in Russian.
“Rhetta, it’s me!” He wrapped her tightly, close to his chest with her arms crossed in front of her, to subdue her but not hurt her.
Someone knocked on the window and she screamed again. His driver got out and held up his hands, slowly making his way back, then opened the door. “I’m sorry, sir. They threatened me…”
He nodded to Patton and left Rhetta in the car as he climbed from the back, hands up. “What’s this all about?” If he could manage to just protect Rhetta, he might be able to get them out of this.
A younger man came forward. “Mr. Sage, I think I will ask the questions, if you don’t mind.”
He did mind, especially since the man knew his name, but he had no clue who he was. The only indication was the man had the same Russian accent as Rhetta, and that worried him. If this was her brother, why would the brute that burned her chase her all the way to the U.S.? How would he even get into the country? “Fine, ask.”
“How is it that you know my sister well enough to wed her? I’m disappointed that I didn’t get an invitation.”
Rhetta climbed from the back seat and he held back a curse. He’d wanted her to stay securely in the car. He’d had it armor plated, for his own safety. Expensive as hell to drive, but safer.
“Stephan, go home. I’m not your concern anymore.”
“Кохана.”
She flew into a rage, stomping toward him. “You pig. Don’t you dare ever call me that.”
The man in green fatigues and black bulletproof vest strode forward and raised his arm to backhand her.
Clint’s training kicked in even without thinking and he yanked her behind his body. “Care to try that now?”
Stephan’s arm slid to his side, but he didn’t back down. “My sister is here illegally. I’m here to take her home, where she belongs. Courtesy of our government.”
He couldn’t glance over his shoulder to see Rhetta, but he could feel her presence behind him, gripping his jacket tightly.
“She isn’t here illegally, she’s on a travel visa and headed to her wedding right now, where she’ll begin the process of becoming a citizen. You can’t take her.”
“Rhetta?” She slid her hands under his coat and took hold of his shirt behind him. “Is he the one that did that to you?” She didn’t say a word, she didn’t have to. He felt her hands shake. “Get back in the car.”
“Clint… No. You can’t win. He killed our parents.” She clung tighter to his back.
“Get in the car.” He wasn’t used to having to give an order twice. She slipped from him and slid back behind the open door, Patton closing it behind her as he stood guard.
“There. Now, what is this really about?” He wasn’t armed and bravado would have to do. “You don’t give a damn about your sister, but there’s a reason you’re here and I will find out what it is. I have more connections than you can imagine and if anything happens to me, the government will find you and spread your pieces throughout the world so small no one will ever find you.”
He laughed. “You think I care? You’ll be dead. That’s what matters.”
“Why are you here? You won’t be taking Rhetta anywhere.”
“I’ll take Marharyta anywhere I please. She is a sister, and collateral. She’s already promised to a colleague.”
The thought of any other man laying eyes on her sent bile up the back of Clint’s throat, especially when he thought about what she’d endured already. It would never happen. He needed to think quickly, how to get them out of this and moving again.
“You’re too late. We couldn’t wait. This ceremony is only for show. We were so happy that Rhetta and I were married last night.” There was no way her brother could check on that information. It wouldn’t even be registered yet, but it might be enough to enrage the man into a mistake.
Stephan came at him and Clint caught his shoulders, twisting to deflect him.
“You dirty bastard, you had no right to my sister. You’ll pay for this!”
The helicopter swung low over them and the other men took off running back to their vehicles. A jet from the Warren Air Force Base flew low over them, leaving a trail in its wake and a thunderous noise.
“Best get a move on. I doubt our government will be happy to know you’re here…harassing citizens.”
He backed up, fury coiling in his tight face. “This isn’t over.” He climbed into the front car and they sped away, leaving Clint on the empty road.
Now, what to do about Rhetta. Not that there was really a question. He couldn’t blame her for being frightened enough to lie. The hand of fate had brought her to possibly the one man perfectly suited to deal with her problem. It would just take a little work. At least he was used to that. He made his way back to the car, sweaty from the exertion and the Wyoming heat. Rhetta shoved the door open and rushed out at him, flinging herself into his arms.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear a thing in there.” She searched his face, her deep brown eyes glistening in the sun.
“I wish I could say it was me, but it was luck. One of the jets from the Air Force base flew by. I don’t know how your brother managed to get into the U.S. and I don’t know how he got hold of the military equipment, but I do know of a way to stop him.”
“Really? It’s that easy? He was the whole reason I left my home. It was so horrible and you can just take care of it, make him go away? Like that?” She snapped her fingers and her arms dropped to her sides as she turned away, exasperated.
Something was wrong. While he hadn’t expected her to shower him with affection, this wasn’t what he’d anticipated, either. “What? What did I do? Aren’t you happy you won’t have to worry about him anymore?”
Her shoulders slanted down, accentuated by the white dress that framed them. “Don’t you see? I thought I’d taken care of it. I’ve done everything I knew to do, including sign my body over to a stranger, to get away from him. Yet, you can do it without thought. Not even a problem. My whole life was worthless in comparison to your power.” She slowly walked back to the car and climbed in.
His gut was hollow, achy. She didn’t need or want him anymore and his plan to take home a bride was slipping through his fingers. He should be used to it. Finan
cial plans were one thing he’d always managed to answer the right way, find out the exact information, hedge the right bet. Love was the opposite. Women didn’t follow trends the way the market did. The one thing that had made their union possible was also the one thing that made her feel like she’d suffered for nothing.
He climbed into the car and chose the seat across from her again to give her space. Patton came around and closed the door. The A/C was chilling after being out in the sun and he took a moment to stare at her as he let himself relax. Rhetta was silent and he didn’t want to draw her out. Didn’t want to hear the words from her pretty mouth. It was hard to believe, but he’d been satisfied with the choice the agency had made, much as it bothered him to admit it. He wanted to marry her.
Clint picked up his phone from his seat and dialed one of his old Navy buddies, a guy who had connections in every branch.
“Neil. Glad I was able to reach you. My car just got buzzed by a helicopter in restricted airspace. He and his group are hostile.”
“Where are you?”
“I’ll email you.”
The phone clicked. Neil was a busy man and phones were never secure. Clint used his cell to get his location and sent it to Neil along with all the other information he had, knowing Rhetta’s brother wouldn’t cause any more trouble. He would be back where he belonged within forty-eight hours. Clint slid the phone into his jacket pocket and let his gaze fall on Rhetta. She drew him. She was hotter than the desert and needed him. Those two things alone could be the start to one hell of a marriage. At least it wouldn’t be boring.
“Do I need to have my driver turn around?” He hated asking, wanted to just leave her be and take her to their wedding, follow through with it, and hope she would eventually be happy. But, he wasn’t that lucky in love. She’d hate him before the month was up.