‘Sounds great to me.’ David sketched her a wave then headed briskly towards the coffee-lounge with the others hard on his heels—all except Flynn, that was.
Natalie shot him an exasperated look as she started towards the desk. ‘Aren’t you going along with them?’
He smiled broadly. ‘If I were a sensitive sort of person then I would start to think you were trying to get rid of me, sweet.’
‘You can save the endearments!’ she snapped back. ‘The audience has gone. And if you would like the truth then yes, I can’t think of anything I would like more than being rid of you!’
‘But unfortunately that isn’t an option right now. Not with Damian winging his way here probably at this very moment. You will just have to make the best of a bad lot, I guess. I must say, though, Natalie, I do wonder if you are always this sweet-natured? Does Marcus ever find himself on the receiving end, or is it just me who brings out this side of your nature?’
Natalie glared at him, hands resting on her slim hips. ‘Do I really need to answer that?’ She gave a mocking little shrug. ‘Still, you only have yourself to blame. If you hadn’t responded to my cry for help that night then you and I would never have met.’
‘Think so?’ He moved closer, staring intently into her angry eyes. ‘I think our meeting was pre-ordained, Natalie. Even if you hadn’t made that call we would have met some time.’
‘I don’t see why.’ She fought the urge to move away, all too conscious of his closeness, the intensity of that sea-green gaze which seemed to see right inside her mind.
‘Surely you’ve met other business associates of Marcus’s? I imagine it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed.’
She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or furious when she heard his reply! His eyes had seemed to hold a different message just now, another, far more disturbing reason for why they should have met... She closed her mind to that thought, suddenly conscious of how dangerous this shift in the conversation might prove to be. She didn’t want to confess that she’d met nobody from that side of Marcus’s life because it would say so much about their relationship—far too much, in fact! ‘Maybe.’
‘I bet if we delved into it you and I would know quite a few of the same people.’ Flynn ran a hand through his hair, casually brushing the heavy wave back from his forehead. ‘I know Marcus has been caught up in something complicated recently. It has links with a case going to court in Italy soon. Perhaps he’s mentioned it or the people involved?’
‘No. I don’t recall anything about it.’ She frowned. ‘But what I can’t understand is how your two paths cross. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious link between law and insurance.’
‘Oh, you’d be surprised, Natalie. Marcus and I have done business together on many occasions.’ There seemed to be an edge to his voice which Natalie couldn’t understand. However, before she could question him, the clerk appeared, smiling broadly as he greeted Flynn. He hurried away when Flynn enquired if there had been any messages for him, coming back almost immediately with a folded slip of paper which he handed over the counter with a small bow.
Flynn made no attempt to read it as he glanced at Natalie. ‘I’ll see you later, then, in the coffee-lounge.’
He was gone before she could think of anything to say, leaving her aching with curiosity to know what was in the message until she told herself sternly that it was none of her business.
After gaining permission from the manager to start the photo session, Natalie headed up to the suite, mentally going over what they would be trying to achieve. The campaign was to be split into three sections and run over succeeding months in all the glossy magazines. First would come the desert photograph showing Zara dreaming of the mystery man in white, then one taken in the hotel’s grounds when there would be just a tantalising glimpse of the man in the background. It was only in the final one to be shot today in the hotel itself that he would be seen, and only then that the name Egypt would be revealed.
Natalie was gambling on the fact that the public would be so intrigued by that stage they would remember the advert and the product far better than one which merely blazed its name across each page.
Now, eager to get started, she unlocked the door, then screamed as a figure came hurtling towards her. It all happened so fast as the man rushed across the room and pushed her aside to race out of the door. Natalie reeled against the wall, her heart pounding with fright so that it took several minutes before she felt able to pick up the phone to call down to the desk.
‘Natalie, David said to... What’s wrong?’
Flynn suddenly appeared, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he took in her white face, the shaking hands clutching the receiver. In two long strides he was across the room, his hands firm and wonderfully reassuring as they fastened around her shoulders and eased her down on to the couch and he told her in a tone which brooked no argument, ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘There was a man...here...in the room when I opened the door. He...’ She took a gulping breath, feeling Flynn’s hands tightening.
‘Did he hurt you? Natalie!’ He shook her lightly, his eyes burning with anger as they focused on her pale face, yet she knew instinctively that it wasn’t aimed at her.
‘No. He just pushed me to one side as he ran out. It gave me a shock but I’m not hurt, really.’
Flynn let her go abruptly, his face set into grim lines which made a shiver run down her spine. Gone was the smooth, urbane charm now, to be replaced by something quite unfamiliar yet which she sensed was still an integral part of him.
‘Well, that’s something at least,’ he said grimly. He crossed the sitting-room, flinging doors open to check the other rooms, then came back and leant against the sideboard as he watched Natalie closely.
‘Did you recognise him? Can you describe him?’ She shook her head, her hands clasped to stop them from shaking. The intruder had frightened her yet she felt equally disturbed at witnessing Flynn’s reaction. ‘It all happened so fast that I never got chance to see him properly. He was just a blur.’ She swept her hair back from her face then glanced at the phone which was half off its rest. ‘I was about to phone the desk and get them to call the police when you arrived. I’d better do it now.’
‘No.’ Flynn stepped forward and took the receiver from her to set it back in place. ‘It doesn’t look as though anything has been taken. You probably disturbed him before he could find anything worth stealing. There isn’t any point in calling the police.’
‘But we can’t just let him get away! All right, so perhaps nothing has been taken, although I haven’t checked yet, but surely the fact that he was in here is enough!’
Flynn shrugged, folding his arms across his chest as he resumed his position against the sideboard. He looked almost indolent if one didn’t look too closely, but Natalie’s senses had been heightened by the incident and she could almost feel the tension emanating from him even though she couldn’t fully understand it.
‘Why don’t you want me to contact the police, Flynn?’ she asked quietly, studying him.
He shrugged. ‘It isn’t a question of what I want, Natalie, but what makes sense. Obviously it’s up to you but I should warn you that involving the police will mean no end of delays. By the time you make a statement and all the paperwork is completed you could end up spending the next couple of days down at the station.’
‘A couple of days?’ She couldn’t conceal her horror. ‘You have to be joking?’ She stared at him in disbelief but he shook his head with a regretful smile.
‘I wish I were. But I know how things work in this country. This morning was the perfect example. We had all the permits signed but...’ He paused eloquently. ‘The police are very thorough but they work at their own speed and nothing can hurry them. As I said, it’s up to you, but can you afford to get tied up at the police station for that long?’
Natalie bit her lip as she looked round the room. Nothing did appear to have been stolen and the last thing s
he wanted was more delays. She turned back to Flynn with a resigned shrug. ‘I suppose you’re right. I can’t afford to lose all that time. Assuming nothing is missing then I’ll take your advice and let it lie.’
‘It’s the wisest thing to do, Natalie. Why don’t you go and check your room to set your mind at rest? But I doubt if you’ll find anything missing.’
Natalie nodded. She got up and headed to her room then paused to glance back, the question she’d been about to ask Flynn about whether or not they should tell the others dying on her lips. He was standing in the middle of the room, staring down at the message slip he’d collected earlier, an expression on his face which filled her with sudden fear.
She turned away without uttering a word, closing the door behind her, unable to explain why she felt so scared. Flynn had looked so different just then, hard and tough and ruthless, a world away from the man she knew, and once again all the uncertainties surfaced.
Was he what he claimed to be or was he hiding some sort of a secret? Suddenly the need to find out once and for all what he was up to was overwhelming, although the reasons behind it weren’t so clear. She had a deep feeling that there was some link to Marcus and naturally she wanted to know what it was in case it posed a threat to him. Yet at the back of her mind was another reason, one she didn’t want to examine too closely. After all, why should she care what Flynn was involved in? And why should she pray that it wasn’t anything too dreadful? Flynn O’Rourke meant nothing to her...did he?
CHAPTER SIX
‘A TOAST...to a successful afternoon after a frustrating morning.’ Flynn raised his glass, smiling around the group gathered in the bar. He took a drink of the wine then set his glass down and settled back in the chair, listening quietly as the conversation flowed around him.
Natalie sipped her own drink and studied him surreptitiously. Oh, he’d been just as entertaining over dinner but she’d sensed a certain watchful tension about him, an echo of what she’d witnessed earlier. Time after time his aqua eyes had swept the dining-room as though he was searching for someone, but who? All she knew was that the mask of charm he wore so well had never seemed so false as it did to her tonight.
‘You’re very quiet tonight, Natalie. What are you thinking about?’
She jumped guiltily when he spoke so that a few drops of wine spilled over the rim of her glass. Setting it down, she licked the droplets off her fingers then felt heat suffuse her when she looked up and found Flynn watching her, his eyes locked to the pink tip of her tongue. He raised his head, a flame burning in his eyes which sent fire scorching through her veins. Seconds seemed to melt into minutes under the heat of his gaze then Janette leant across the table to speak to them and broke the spell.
‘So, how about you two? Do you fancy it or not?’
Natalie shuddered, letting out the breath she hadn’t even known she was holding as she turned to the other woman with a forced smile. ‘Sorry, what was that?’
Janette laughed good-naturedly. ‘Mmm, you two did seem to be in a world of your own! Gary was just saying that there’s a nightclub in the hotel grounds and we were debating whether or not to go.’
Natalie shrugged. ‘As long as you remember that it’s a five a.m. start in the morning.’
There was a general groan and a lot of grumbling but they were all professionals. Natalie had worked with all of them before and knew they all understood that the job came first. When it was finally decided that they would visit the club just for an hour or so, she opted to go along, preferring to stay with the group rather than be on her own to brood.
It had been so odd, what had happened just now, that strange feeling that time had stood still. She couldn’t recall anything like it ever happening before and didn’t want it to do so again because it scared her, made her feel as though things were slipping out of her control.
She stood up to follow the others but got no further than a couple of steps before Flynn stopped her, his fingers cool against her heated flesh through the sleeve of her red linen dress. ‘I’ll be along shortly. I need to make a phone call. Just make sure that you stay close to the others and don’t wander off on your own.’
‘I’m touched by your concern but I’m sure there’s no need to worry about me.’ Natalie arched a brow, feigning amusement to hide her sudden nervousness at his touch, the disturbing sensations it aroused. How many times had Marcus touched her this way, a light, friendly gesture meant to attract her attention? Yet she couldn’t recall ever feeling this instant awareness, these frissons of reaction rippling along every nerve! Yet it shocked her that she should even make the comparison. Marcus was the man she loved, so why did she feel the sudden need to shout that aloud and keep on shouting it? To convince Flynn that her interest lay elsewhere or to remind herself of something she shouldn’t need reminding of? What role did Flynn have in her life apart from the obvious one he was playing while he was here? What role did she want him to have? was an equally disturbing question.
He returned her gaze quietly, no mockery in his eyes as they held hers. ‘We can’t always anticipate everything that happens in our lives, Natalie. No matter how hard we try.’
There was a note in his deep voice which made her heart beat heavily in sudden fear, as though with that brief statement Flynn had stepped across the barrier she’d tried so hard to erect between them. For a long tense moment Natalie returned his gaze, all her uncertainties glittering in the darkened depths of her eyes, then turned away without a word and almost ran after the others. Yet when she reached the glass doors which led out to the gardens she couldn’t help herself looking back, wanting to prove to herself that she had imagined what had flowed between them, that sudden feeling that they were standing on the verge of something earth-shattering.
Her eyes followed Flynn as he made his way across the lobby towards the door and she frowned. He had definitely said that he had to make a telephone call, so what was he doing going outside instead of returning to the suite or even using the telephone at the reception desk?
Drawn by a sudden need to find out, she followed him. It was dark outside and Flynn had several yards’ start on her. Natalie hurried down the drive, keeping to the shadows to lessen the risk of him spotting her if he looked back. Reaching a side-path which led to a part of the gardens she’d never explored before, he turned down it, his long legs eating up the ground as he quickened his pace. He seemed to be in a hurry—there was an urgency about his movements which intensified her curiosity. No way was Flynn out for a gentle evening stroll, so what was he up to? Did it have anything to do with the growing feeling she’d had that there was something going on? Would following Flynn now uncover some answers, and would they be ones she’d want to know? To discover that Flynn was mixed up in something unsavoury was an oddly painful thought.
Natalie slowed to an uncertain halt, staring after him as he disappeared into the shadows, feeling sick at the idea of what she might uncover, until her resolve hardened. Far better to find out than keep on wondering...
She never saw the man who stepped from the shadow of the trees which lined the path, had no warning as a hand clamped across her nose and mouth, the strong-smelling cloth it held stealing her breath at once. She struggled frantically, clawing at the cloth, but it was impossible to drag it away from her face. She slid into unconsciousness with a name on her lips which she’d had no chance to utter aloud.
Consciousness returned, bringing with it the name which had followed her down. ‘Flynn!’
Natalie lay still, listening to the rasping echo of her voice, but there was no reply, no sound at all. Her head felt heavy, her mouth dry and sour with the lingering effects of the drug. She took a deep breath then forced herself to sit up and look around, but what she saw wasn’t reassuring. Apart from the iron-framed bed she was lying on and a battered chest holding an oil-lamp beneath a boarded-up window, the room was bare. Where was she? And who had brought her here?
Swinging her legs off the bed, Natalie struggled to the
door and tried the handle, but it was locked, as she’d known deep down it would be. Now there was no reason to cling to the hope that it had been some sort of awful mistake. Someone had drugged her deliberately then brought her here and locked her in!
Panic rose swiftly, finding a release as she pounded against the thick wood. ‘Let me out! Let...me...out!’
When the door was suddenly opened Natalie backed away, her eyes filled with fear as she watched the man come into the room. There was something vaguely familiar about him but she couldn’t work out what with the drug still lingering in her head.
‘I see you are awake at last, signorina. Good. But shouting like that will achieve little, believe me. There is no one here to hear you apart from me.’
Natalie backed away from him as she tried to draw the elusive memory to the forefront of her mind, but it refused to come. ‘Why have you brought me here?’ she demanded hoarsely. ‘Who are you?’
He smiled coldly. ‘Who I am does not matter, Signorina Walters. As for why you are here...’ He gave a very Latin shrug. ‘The details do not matter also. It is enough to say that if your friend, Signor O’Rourke, is prepared to be sensible then your stay will be short and, hopefully, not too unpleasant.’
‘Flynn? This has something to do with him?’ Natalie ran a hand over her throbbing temples, unable to hide her shock. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘We are not unreasonable people, signorina. We are prepared to...how do you say?...to make the fair trade. You in exchange for what we want. We shall all have to hope that Signor O’Rourke is eager to have you safely back with him, eh?’
He locked the door behind him as he left. Natalie went and sank down on the bed, feeling sick as all her previous suspicions were proved to be well-founded. This was all linked to Flynn! But what could he possibly have that was so valuable that these people were prepared to drug and abduct her to get it?
She went back over everything she knew, but it was so little and none of it equated with Flynn’s claim to work in insurance or his links to Marcus...She gasped, struck by a sudden dreadful thought. What if those links were of a criminal nature and Flynn was someone Marcus had defended...for committing some sort of crime? Dear God!
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