by M. L. Rhodes
"Dial pound one.” She did, while he reached into the backseat as smoothly as he could without giving away what he was doing, and uncovered a box on the floor.
"When my partner Tom answers, tell him we're an hour out from the cabin, trapped at the north end of the canyon. There are four cars, ten men, and Galista herself is present."
"Got it."
In spite of her shaking hands, once again he marveled at how well she could cope if the situation required it.
"Necessities and accidents. How convenient,” he called to Galista. He needed to keep her talking. Stall long enough for help to arrive. “But then again, you always were one to manipulate to get your way."
He heard Beth talking quietly. His hand closed around what he sought in the box.
"Come out of your vehicle and let's be civilized about this. I just want to talk. To reminisce about old times."
"Do you think I give a shit about old times?” Miguel snarled. “You were forgotten to me long ago. Don't flatter yourself. But I am curious ... you say your death was a necessity. Why would that be?"
"You were so angry. I loved you, Miguelito, but you couldn't see that. You hunted my father, and he and I both knew you'd come after me, too. My father arranged for me to be ‘murdered’ so I could live in peace."
Miguel snorted. “And it had nothing to do with hiding you away so you could carry on the family business."
"Help's less than five minutes away,” Elizabeth said, drawing his attention back to her. She still held the phone to her ear.
He nodded. Five minutes to stall.
"Get out of the car. You can bring the woman with you. I'd like to meet face to face this silly little girl who's given me such trouble. Is she your new lover? Another rich man's daughter—just your style. You seem to be hopelessly drawn to women who are out of your league."
"Silly little girl?” Elizabeth growled. “All right, now I'm pissed,"
Miguel looked at her in surprise. She wasn't kidding. Where her eyes had swirled with fear before, now they shimmered with a crystal blue flame.
"Her white skin must make you feel like you've stepped up in the world,” Galista continued. “But does she please you the way I used to, Miguelito? Does she know how you like your cock stroked? Does she squirm beneath you, all warm and wet? Does she realize how turned on you get when a woman screams?"
"Bitch!” Elizabeth tossed the phone aside and started to scramble up into the seat.
Miguel pressed her back down. “She's playing you. Trying to hurt you. It's what she does."
"She's not hurting me. She's making me damned mad! How dare she presume to tell me anything about what you like! How dare she presume to even mention her past with you after what she did to you! You're mine now, damn it!” Her eyebrows rose, then scrunched together, and she bit her lip and looked away as if she'd suddenly realized how her words had sounded, realized what she'd said.
But Miguel's entire existence filled with sunlight, and he smiled in spite of their dangerous situation. He tipped her chin up so she was looking at him again. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened, then closed.
The tender moment was lost when Galista's man growled, “Twenty seconds, Delgado. Or we open fire.” And this time Galista didn't motion him to back off.
Damn. Fuck! Gritting his teeth, Miguel knew the time for talking was up. He didn't even consider Galista's men wouldn't do exactly what they said.
He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but so be it. He pulled two oblong objects out of the box in the back seat.
"Are those...?"
"Yep."
"Miguel...” Her voice shook. “I don't like this."
"Neither do I. But we're surrounded by them and they're done talking. It's time to play their game. But we're going to do my way.
"Diez.... nueve ... ocho ... siete ... seis ... ” the goon counted.
"Okay, okay!” Miguel called. He lowered his rifle to his lap, picked up one of the grenades, and, holding the handle tight, pulled the pin. He raised his hands as if in surrender. But at the same time he released the handle, made a mental count to two, and, with a swift movement, tossed the grenade out the window, aiming for the closest SUV and group of Galista's security team.
"Stay down!” he rasped, and threw his arms and upper body over the console, trying to give Elizabeth some extra protection.
The explosion rocked the Explorer, and a piece of flying debris hit the windshield, shattering it.
Yelling and gunfire commenced, with shots pinging the doors and hood of the Explorer.
Miguel pulled the pin on the second grenade, released the handle, and counted to two again before he threw it, this time through the open back window, aiming at the vehicles behind them. It was a damned dangerous game to hang on to the grenade after the handle had been released, but he wanted them to go off quickly when they hit. He was afraid the usual four or five second delay between releasing the handle and the fuse igniting the bomb would give Galista's men time to toss the damned things back at them.
Another blast rattled the Explorer, lifting it up on two wheels for a moment, then dropping it back with a jarring thunk.
He gave Elizabeth a quick once over. She had a small cut at her hairline that was bleeding. “You okay?"
At her nod, he said, “Stay down, baby.” Then he sat up, pointed the assault rifle through the broken windshield and let off a round of fire.
A suctioned pop, followed by a whine, sent a cold stab of fear through him. Grenade launcher.
"Move!” he ordered Elizabeth. “Out the door, now!"
She tore open her door and dove, and he waited to make sure she was out before he followed suit through his own.
He barely had time to cover his head with his arms when the Explorer exploded in a ball of fire behind him.
* * * *
Elizabeth's ears rang and her body ... felt like nothing. Like it wasn't even there. But before panic consumed her, pins and needles began shooting through her fingers and toes, spreading upward and inward.
Move! Damn it, move!
She had to find Miguel.
Lifting her head up off the dirt, her first glance around showed nothing but a thick fog of gray smoke. When she dragged in a breath, it stung her lungs.
Coughing, she pulled herself up to her hands and knees, then to her feet.
Her hearing was beginning to return, but everything sounded muffled, as if she had a bad cold. She thought she heard the beat of a helicopter, the sound of shouting, more gunfire, but it came from ahead and behind her and didn't seem to be directed at her.
She made her way around orange-fingered flames crackling in the pile of rubble that used to be Miguel's Explorer.
Oh, God, please let him have gotten out okay. Let him still be alive. Please, please, please. Hot tears stung her eyes, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand as she staggered forward.
Through the gray haze she finally made out a figure lying on the ground face down.
No. No! He can't be dead.
But then, as a gust of wind churned through the canyon, some of the smoke wafted away, and she realized he wasn't alone. Galista ... Rosa, stood over him, a gun pointed at him. Her back was to Elizabeth.
Then Elizabeth heard a voice. Just the faint sound of it, thanks to her muzzy hearing. But she recognized it. Miguel's. Relief coursed through her, making her dizzy. She watched as he started to roll over, but the bitch skewered her high heel into his back, forcing him to return to his stomach.
When she watched Miguel move his hands behind his head in submission, no doubt at the bitch's order, something inside Elizabeth snapped.
Spying a piece of metal car debris a few feet away, she scooped it up. As she stalked toward the woman's slender form, her hearing seemed to return with odd, heightened clarity. She could hear the pop and crackle of flames, men's shouts, and the sound of the bad guys being subdued by the rescue team. Could hear her ow
n breathing, and her pulse thudding in her veins.
"I loved you, Miguelito,” Galista was saying in a screechy voice. “Do you know how I felt when I realized it was you? There are many Miguel Delgados in the world, and I would never have expected to find mine in the heart of Mexico, trying to get into my organization. But when my men discovered the camera, I knew it was you. I knew you'd discovered who I really was and that you'd come back to finish what you'd started. All you had to do was love me, but you couldn't. You're mine, Miguelito. You always have been. But now I have to kill you because you can't see this."
Elizabeth broke into a run, spurred on by raw fury and adrenaline.
"Silly little girl my ass,” she muttered as the piece of metal connected with Galista's head.
Galista dropped her gun, and in the split second before she collapsed to the ground, she turned and gazed at Elizabeth, an expression of dumbfounded shock on her delicate face before she slumped at Miguel's feet.
Miguel pulled himself up, looked in disgust at the woman on the ground, then turned his velvet brown gaze on her.
Elizabeth stared at him. Her hands shook. Come to think about it, she realized everything on her shook. The piece of metal slipped from her hand, and she swayed on her feet. But Miguel locked his arms around her to hold her up.
"I ... I didn't kill her, did I?"
"No. Just knocked her out.” One of his big hands cupped her cheek, and he turned her face up so he could look at her. His thumb brushed lightly over her jaw, sending a flood of warmth through her. Then, his eyes twinkling, he smiled ... the toe-curling, bone-melting smile she loved. “Did you learn that move in one of your action adventure novels?"
"No,” she whispered, suddenly feeling squeezed-out, drained. But a slow half-smile escaped her. “I made that one up myself."
His other hand moved up to join the first, cradling her face between them. His eyes darkened with emotion. “Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Their lips met in a tender kiss.
"Miguel. And Elizabeth, I presume?"
They pulled apart, and Elizabeth turned around to look into the most striking eyes she'd ever seen. They were a burnished gold. Like a tiger's eyes. And they belonged, she realized, to a tall blond man dressed in blue jeans and a denim shirt. He had a face like the boy next door, and a movie star smile.
"Tom,” Miguel said, as the two shook hands. “Damned nice of you to show up."
While he spoke, two other men moved in, snapped cuffs on Galista, then carried away her limp form.
The man smiled and shrugged. “Looked like you had things in hand on your own ... a bit on the messy side, though. Not real big on the subtle today, were you?"
Miguel grimaced at him. “Charming.” He turned to Elizabeth. “He's always this charming. Elizabeth Sandringham, Tom Eberson."
"Hi,” she managed, still a bit in awe of seeing these two men standing side by side, so vastly different in appearance, yet both model-gorgeous, and both exuding that lean, barely restrained dangerous quality that Elizabeth loved so much in Miguel.
"It's a pleasure.” He gave her hand a warm squeeze. “It's nice to have a face to put with the voice on the phone."
"What will happen to her?” Elizabeth asked, watching the two men carry Galista toward the waiting vehicles and a helicopter she now saw sitting in the middle of the highway where the canyon widened out.
"She'll be detained, questioned,” Tom answered.
"But not with a chance she might—"
"She's not going anywhere,” Miguel said. He looked at Tom. “I know who she really is. Trust me, armed with that information, we'll be able to dig up enough dirt on her to keep her locked away for the rest of her life."
"Excellent."
The two men exchanged a few more words, then ended with Miguel's promise to meet Tom the following day for a debriefing. “But for now,” Tom said, “you look like hell, my friend. And you don't smell much better. You need a shower."
Miguel looked at Elizabeth and rolled his eyes. She grinned. She suspected she desperately needed one, too.
"We'll finish the clean up here. Go get some R and R.” Those golden eyes shone with a mischievous glint, and Elizabeth felt heat creep up her cheeks, certain he knew exactly what kind of R and R she and Miguel might partake of.
When he'd gone, Miguel tugged her into his embrace, and picked up the kiss where they'd left off. Except this time there was a smoldering heat to it that sent tingles rippling straight to her core.
When they at last came up for air, his look turned serious. “This morning you said you didn't want to leave. But now you've had another taste of what my life is like. If you...” His voice grew hoarse. “If you can't deal with this, if you can't ... I'll understand."
A buttery warmth filled Elizabeth. She had no illusions life with Miguel would always be easy. In spite of his revelation he was part owner of a retail store, she knew he'd never be the safe, clean-cut, conservative man parents everywhere wanted for their daughters. And she didn't give a damn. He was smart, strong, gentle, protective, and hot as sin. Life would never be boring. And she knew in her heart he'd always be there for her.
She brushed a palm against his dirt-streaked cheek, savoring the feel of vibrant, sweaty male, and smiled. “I am so completely in love with you. Where else would I ever want to be?"
The slow smile that stole over his face turned her heart upside down, made her breasts ache, and dampened her panties in anticipation of carnal delights yet to come.
"I don't have a Harley to sweep you away on. Will a helicopter do?"
Elizabeth laughed from sheer joy, and it felt extraordinary.
But not as extraordinary as the hard flesh of the man she loved when he picked her up with a growl and draped her over his shoulder.
"Have you ever done it on a helicopter, baby?"
Oh, Lord. No, life would definitely never be boring again!
M. L. Rhodes
Award-winning author M. L. Rhodes has been writing for a living for nearly twelve years. Along with the erotic romance fiction she currently pens for Amber Quill Press, she's also published everything from poetry, to magazine articles, to short stories, to traditional romance, to steamy romantic suspense novels (all under other names). In her fiction works, her characterization and emotional storytelling have received high critical acclaim from such places as Romantic Times Magazine and Word Weaving, and have garnered her numerous awards in the writing industry.
Intelligent, empowered heroines and strong-but-tender heroes are her favorites. There's nothing more exciting than putting two spirited people on the page together and watching them navigate the pitfalls and the emotional and sensual delights of falling in love. That is, after all, what romance is all about!
If you'd like to keep up with what's going on in M. L.'s world and find out about her new and upcoming releases, surf on over to her website at www.mlrhodeswriting.com. She also loves hearing from readers. You can reach her at [email protected].
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Don't miss Night Shadows, Book II: Jonesing by M. L. Rhodes, available soon from Amber Quill Press, LLC
The year is 2067. Life on Earth is a mess thanks to global warming and the oil wars that devastated the environment, government, and the economy. But some things never change. Like the existence of bad guys, and the cops who hunt them down.
Police detective Rachel Jones and her new vampire lover, River, have an unusual romance. The whole vampire thing doesn't exactly make for an average life. There's the blood-sucking, the super strength, the sunlight aversion, and the way River can read her mind ... even when she doesn't really want him to. The sex, however, is beyond amazing, and although she'd never have believed it, Rachel also finds herself turning to River more and more as a friend and colleague. But when he becomes demanding, wanting her with him during his every waking moment, craving her like an addict with a drug, Rachel does the one thing River's asked her not to—she delves into his past. She discov
ers there's more to his history than he's ever let on. And old truths could come back and bite them both...
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