by Lora Leigh
Each shafting entrance tore a cry from her lips and sent pleasure tearing through her as she fought to thrust back at him, her thighs tightening on him, her hands clenching on his shoulders as she let the exquisite sensation rule her.
The deep penetrating strokes stretched and burned, stroked naked nerve endings to a precipice of sensation so intense she was gasping for breath, begging, pleading.
When the explosion came, it hurled her through ecstasy. She felt as though she were a creature of pure sensation. A mass of sensual impulses that exploded over and over again, leaving her limp, breathless, and completely sated in his arms.
CHAPTER 11
LILLY PUT THE FINAL touches to her makeup and applied the last sapphire-studded pin to her hair when Travis walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed in his black tuxedo. The dark blond and light brown strands of hair that grew long at the nape had been tied back. The short growth of beard and mustache was still present, neatly trimmed and giving his face a dark, rakish look.
He was too damned handsome, and too damned dangerous. There was no mistaking the fact that Travis Caine was a man that others would be careful not to cross.
What did he have planned tonight? she wondered. She didn’t believe in coincidence, and the presence of her so-called former employers at the party, as well as Travis, was a fairly good indication that something was up.
Or someone was trying to learn something. That suspicion was firmly implanted in her head now, and it refused to leave. She couldn’t help but believe that Santos Bahre and Rhiannon McConnelly were hanging around for the simple reason that she was some kind of threat to them.
Rhiannon McConnelly had assured her that she and Santos Bahre weren’t there to drag her back into whatever life she had lived for the past six years. There was a part of Lilly that actually believed that. So what else could they be after?
How far could she trust them? She had a feeling that trusting them was the last thing she should do.
So where did that leave her with Travis?
“Are we arriving on time, or fashionably late?” he asked as he came up behind her at the mirror and adjusted the bow tie at his neck.
For a moment, a spurt of fear washed through her, a premonition that she was going to lose him. She could almost see him walking away from her, refusing to look back, leaving her cold and alone. She had to prepare herself for that. Nothing lasts forever; she had learned that lesson already. In the blink of an eye, or the shot of an assassin’s bullet, it could all be wiped away.
“You’re not answering me, Lilly,” he pointed out, his voice gentle. “Are you feeling well?”
“I’m supposed to be greeting guests with Mother.” She breathed in deeply as she fought to pull herself back from the mist of knowledge and memories she could feel awaiting her. “It’s a welcome-home party as well.”
A celebration, her mother had called it. A time to celebrate with their friends the fact that Lilly had returned, that she wasn’t dead.
The explanation given to friends and family had been a simple one. That she had run away, that she had hidden as she tried to come to terms with what had happened that night with her father’s death.
The crash had been declared an accident. Lilly’s father had been behind the wheel, and several eyewitnesses had sworn they had seen them driving from the estate together.
It wasn’t possible. She didn’t know who had been driving the car that night, but it hadn’t been her father. He had already been dead. She knew that. It wasn’t something she sensed or suspected, it was one of those things she knew without the memories to back her up and substantiated by Travis. According to him, this was what she had told him as well.
When Lilly had had no answers for where she had been or what she had been doing for six years, her mother had gone looking for those answers. She had found far more than she had wanted to find.
It was as though her mother had assumed no one else would bother to hunt for the identity her daughter had used those six years and conduct an investigation into it. And what did she think the journalists, who had been like rabid dogs after her release from the hospital, were doing? Twiddling their thumbs?
“You’re worrying again,” Travis stated softly as he laid his hands on her shoulders and stared at her in the mirror.
“Perhaps I have things to worry about,” she retorted as she moved away from him and smoothed her hands down the hips of the sapphire ballgown she wore.
She checked her appearance one last time, adjusted the string of sapphires at her neck, checked the tips of her sapphire blue heels for any smudges, then turned back to him.
“Why are Santos Bahre and his sidekick showing up tonight?” she asked point-blank, knowing he would at least have an idea why.
“Curiosity perhaps.” He shrugged. “They could be hoping a part of you will want to return to your old life, or that any memories that resurface will give them some sort of business edge.”
Her brows lifted. “I can’t imagine how their business interests would coincide with my family’s.”
“You’d be surprised.” His lips quirked in amusement. “Santos and Rhiannon are extremely astute business people. They have many more interests than that of business managers.”
“Business managers?” Her lips tightened. “That’s a hell of a title to give them, Travis. It’s my understanding they’re no more than high-priced pimps.”
He surprised her.
Gripping her arms, he swung her around and glared down at her furiously. “I’m growing tired of hearing you call yourself a whore, Lilly. You were never a whore.”
“What else do you call a high-priced call girl?” she snapped back.
“The title that damned investigator used was far from the truth,” he growled as he swung away from her then and paced to the end of the bed.
As he turned back, his eyes seemed to flame with anger.
“You were paid for a service rendered, and that service was not necessarily sex. You were trained for combat, for covert operations, and as a companion in dangerous situations. You were not paid for sex. If you had sex with the men you worked with, then it was your choice, not your job.”
Lilly glared back at him. “Tell me, Travis, once the press gets hold of that story, how do you think it will be viewed? And they will get hold of it.”
He shook his head to that. “That investigator wrote his report based on accounts given by less than reliable sources,” he growled. “Santos and Rhiannon operate a legitimate business. Their ‘escorts’ are advertised as those of a personal security nature. Do you truly believe they would risk either their reputations or their clients with anything less? They may get a hint of the troublemaking inclinations you seemed to have, or the less than savory individuals you may have worked with. But there is not a client that requested the services of Escorts Etc. that will ever claim you or the other girls to have been a whore.”
Lilly’s chin lifted, her lips tightening. “That is not the impression that was given while I was working,” she bit out. “Don’t deny it, Travis.”
“Impressions and truth are two different things,” he growled. “Escorts Etc. have reliable, reputable clients that will swear differently should anyone dare to accuse you of being anything less than a glorified bodyguard. Outside that, yes, you were known to deal with less than reputable individuals. Yes, the investigator may have spoken to one or more of them. But trust me, should the press actually manage to get one of them to talk, they will never dare to say you were less than a beautiful, companionable bodyguard. That cover will hold, Lilly, I swear it to you.”
“Cover! You make me sound like some sort of fucking agent,” she snapped back. “For both sides? Don’t tell me fairy tales, Travis, because I’ve read the report Desmond has on you as well. You’re a ‘facilitator.’ A man that works both sides for any country. You’re no more a patriot than I was, evidently.”
“I’m a businessman.” His jaw tightened furiously.
“You’
re a liar!”
Lilly was shocked at the words that fell from her lips, the knowledge that suddenly stormed through her brain, bringing an explosion of pain to her temples.
She nearly doubled over for the brief seconds that the agony radiated through her skull, but at least this time, the knowledge remained.
He was lying. He was so much more than a businessman, and a hell of a lot more than a man that worked both sides. But what was he? That answer remained as elusive as ever.
“Lilly!” She felt him jump toward her as she stumbled, the reverberating pain lancing through her head like acid through her veins.
Pinpoints of rich colorful starbursts exploded before her eyes, nearly stealing her consciousness as the light from it intensified the pain to an agonizing level.
“Shhh, it’s okay. I have you, baby. I’m right here.” The words echoed through her head, as memories threatened, for the briefest second, to explode through her head.
“I have you, Lilly,” he whispered again, supporting her body, holding her upright as she fought against the brutal pressure in her brain.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped as his arms went around her, holding her against him as the pain slowly receded. “I didn’t mean that.”
His hand cupped the back of her head as he held it against his shoulder.
“I don’t lie to you,” he said gently, his lips against her ear. “I have no reason to lie to you, Lilly.”
And that, too, was the truth. How could he lie and yet be telling the truth? The conflicting instincts inside her were driving her mad.
“I want to make sense of what’s going on inside my head,” she whispered, a breath of sound that she knew only he could hear. “I want to make sense of who I am, and what I know and don’t know. And why, Travis, why do I trust no one but you?”
Why was her voice so low? It was a breath of sound covered by the rasp of tears she refused to shed as Travis held her close against him.
She could feel the tremors racing through her now, almost like shock, trembling through her body and rasping her voice as she fought to make sense of who she was. What she was.
“It’s shock, baby.” He kissed her forehead gently before swinging her up in his arms and sitting with her on the bed, holding her close. “It’s just shock. You could have died today. It’s finally catching up with you, that’s all.” There was an edge of warning in his voice, the same warning she often saw in his eyes.
Her room wasn’t secure. That thought raced through her mind once again as the pain eased entirely away. There was no way, at this moment, to ensure that no one was listening.
“Just shock,” she repeated as she stared over his shoulder into the dimming sunlight that glowed through the balcony doors, knowing it was more than just the shock.
She eased away from him, staring up at him intently. The pain had left slowly, but in its place was a certainty that if she didn’t figure out who was trying to kill her, quickly, then it would be too late. And perhaps it would be too late for both of them.
Travis held her tight, fighting his own demons, fighting the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. When he had been inducted into the Elite Ops, he had been warned that his loyalty was to the team, and no one else. He no longer had a family, a country, or a lover. His entire loyalty was to the team and to nothing and no one else.
He’d had no problem with that then. He hadn’t wanted to divide himself, to risk his heart, or the lives of those he loved, again.
Standing there now, holding onto Lilly, he knew that that loyalty had changed, shifted focus. Hell, it had done so six years ago and he hadn’t even realized it. The team was taking a backseat to the woman, and he knew it.
Staring into her eyes as she looked up at him, Travis had to fight himself, to keep from telling her the truth. At that moment there was nothing more important than giving her the answers she needed with such desperation.
Lilly breathed in deep and hard to regain control of herself. The emotion and the needs ripping through her, the fear that battled with confusion.
I’m checking the garage later, Lilly mouthed. Someone had tried to kill her. Her cycle had been parked in the underground garage, unattended. Perhaps something had been left behind.
He shook his head firmly. He wasn’t arguing vocally with her. That was telling.
They had worked together often, he had said. She was trained for covert maneuvers, personal protection and guerrilla tactics. She sensed that. They were partners in more than the bedroom games they had been playing. It was time she put some of that knowledge, those instincts to use and figured out what the hell was going on. She might not have her memories, but she still had her instincts and the bits of knowledge that were coming to her in bits and pieces, every day. She knew just enough to make her dangerous now. Just enough to possibly get her killed.
But she wouldn’t go alone.
Lilly smiled at the thought.
Travis saw the smile. As John had stated earlier that day, this was pure Night Hawk. This was not Lady Victoria Lillian Harrington. This was the agent. The woman that could be more dangerous than most men could ever hope to be.
That gleam of stubbornness filled her eyes, and though he’d been expecting it, it still managed to surprise him.
She was morphing right in front of his eyes from the lady she was believed to be, to the dangerous covert agent she had been. The separate parts of Lilly weren’t merging together cohesively, or better yet for the Ops, the agent persona hadn’t died entirely.
No, he mouthed back at her. It’s being taken care of.
She jerked her arm from his grip, a frown tightening her brow as her lips thinned again. She wasn’t the least bit happy that someone else might be taking care of anything.
“I know how to take care of my own business,” she warned him in a low whisper, the light English accent slipping away from her to reveal the cool, accentless tone of the agent Lilly Belle.
Even now, knowing who and what she was, he found it damned hard to see Lilly as an agent right now. Hell, he’d seen her in action more than once, and it was still hard to believe it all the way to his soul.
“This has gone beyond your business.” He gripped her arm, keeping his voice to a mere breath of a sound. “Back off, Lilly, and let me take care of this.”
“I don’t need you to take care of this for me,” she assured him. “I’ll take care of this on my own.”
She was going to make him crazy. If she remembered who she was, what she had been, he might not have been nearly so worried. But she didn’t remember, and God only knew how many of the instincts buried inside her memories were still hidden.
She was adept now, she had proved that in the garage today. But he couldn’t be certain, clear to his soul, that she had retained enough of her past identity to be able to protect herself effectively.
“I have guests to greet,” she reminded him as she flashed him a hard look from gem-cold green eyes. “And a party to attend. We need to leave now, if you don’t mind.”
Damn her. Travis had to grit his teeth to keep from snapping out something he knew would cause a confrontation. Lilly didn’t deal well with what she called “smart-ass male remarks.” Not that he did well with the feminine kind either. Strangely enough, though, when her sweet mouth got smart, his dick just got hard.
It was hard now. As he followed her from the bedroom, along the open hall and down the elaborate, curved staircase, his cock was throbbing with an increased hunger that he was damned if he knew what to do with. Especially at the moment.
“Mr. Caine.” Desmond Harrington stepped from the open doorway of the ballroom, his gaze cautious as the doorbell rang and Lilly took her place at her mother’s side.
“Lord Harrington. Lady Harrington.” Travis paused at the bottom of the steps and observed Lilly’s mother watching her with a glimmer of silent condemnation.
Lady Harrington wasn’t happy to see him.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Ca
ine?” Lord Harrington sighed as the first guests began to filter into the large foyer.
Lord Desmond Harrington’s expression was heavy, resigned. The deep furrows in his forehead, surprisingly, went along with his rough face. He was a man that had survived by his own wits and business sense, unlike his half brother who had been born into society and a fortune that stretched back to Cromwell’s time.
“I don’t know, Lord Harrington, why aren’t you surprised?” he asked the other man as he kept his eyes on Lilly.
Lilly seemed too off balance. Travis could sense the fine line she was riding, the sharp edge of nerves and conflict that were tearing at her.
“You’re sneering at my title,” the other man growled, though there was no true heat in his voice. “It’s offensive.”
Travis grunted at the accusation. “Perhaps you don’t understand an American’s version of respect.”
He was actually more English than Harrington was. He was a Dermont, born into a long line of Dermonts, and had inherited a fortune that stretched back even further than Cromwell’s time. His grandsires had married proud English heiresses and built that fortune until the present Lord Dermont could sit back and rest on the fine pillows his ancestors had created for him.
“American, huh?” Harrington’s tone was singularly disbelieving. “Why do I have a feeling there’s much more to you than meets the eye, or the investigator’s report?”
Travis turned back to him, his brow lifting. “Went that far, did you?” He was a bit amused by the fact.
“You’re not exactly on the right side of the law,” Harrington muttered. “You’re a danger to her now. You were a danger to her before.”
No, Travis hadn’t been a danger to her. They had saved each other’s lives more than once. His Lilly was a hell of a lot more woman than Desmond Harrington could ever guess.
Travis turned to Lilly’s uncle and stared back at him with a hard gaze for long seconds before saying, “You won’t convince her to let me go, Harrington. Don’t even try it.”