by Lora Leigh
“I’m Lord Xavier Travis Dermont,” he whispered. “I’ve danced with you and once watched your eyes fill with dreams, and in that second knew I had taken the wrong woman to wife. I knew, Lilly, because that was the moment I first fell in love with you.”
A gasp passed her lips a second before his covered them. Filled with life, trust, and truth, the feel of his kiss shot straight to her soul, clenched her heart, and tore away the control that held back her tears.
Her hands speared into his hair to hold him closer to her. Her lips parted, her tongue stroking against his as it sipped from her, tasted her.
For the first time, they were meeting as equals. As two people who trusted, perhaps two people who loved, she thought as his arms pulled her closer and lifted her against him.
He shielded her with his body as he had always shielded her with his protectiveness. A sense of something falling into place inside her moved through her as she heard herself cry out, felt the crumbling of the wall that had surrounded her heart.
“You’re mine, damn you,” Travis said as he lifted her and placed her ass on the counter behind her. “You were always mine.”
She had truly always been his, because she remembered that dance. It had been her eighteenth birthday, when her hopes and dreams had been so strong. She remembered dancing with Lord Dermont and feeling the magic that had surrounded them. The same magic that surrounded them now, that fueled their kiss as his lips covered hers once more, magic that fueled each touch as he quickly removed the remainder of their clothes with desperate, eager hands.
It was as though the walls that had come down between them had released something far more than just the truth. It had released emotions held in check too long. A hunger they had been unaware had been banked.
As he shed his jeans, Lilly’s hands were there. She gripped the thick shaft as she slid from the counter to her knees, staring up at him, allowing her tongue to flick out and lick the heavily engorged crest.
“Fuck. Lilly.” The sound of his voice fueled this particular hunger. It began to rage through her, to boil in her veins and cause her mouth to water for the taste of him.
Staring up at him she painted the heavy crest with her tongue, flickering over it, licking beneath it, teasing him with the touch of her lips as his hands buried in her hair.
“How bloody damned beautiful you are,” he whispered, the proper aristocratic English accent slipping past his lips. For her. He was giving her all of himself. In this moment, she held parts of Travis that no other woman ever had and probably never would.
The agent as well as the aristocrat. The man that had, for a few years, helped shape a nation publicly as well as covertly. The one that now only had the option of working behind the scenes.
Except in her arms. No part of him was dead now.
As her lips parted and sank over the engorged crown of his cock, Lilly knew that in this moment, she had all of him.
“Sweet, pretty Belle,” he growled as the hardened flesh seemed to thicken more, to tighten until it seemed as hard as iron. Like silk covering steel, thick enough that her lips stretched around it, hard enough that they felt almost bruised as he began to thrust in shallow strokes past them.
Her hands gripped his thighs, feeling the response of his body as she sucked, licked. The muscles tightened, flexed. A heavy groan passed his lips as she rubbed her tongue against the ultrasensitive spot beneath the head.
His fingers tightened in her hair as she moved one hand from his thigh to his balls. There, her fingers played wickedly, stroking the roughened sac, cupping it, flexing around it.
Oh God, it was so good. The feel of his cock filling her mouth, thrusting past her lips and heating her tongue, was incredible. She felt every response to the pleasure she gave him. There was no guesswork. It was there against her lips and tongue, just as the moans were filling the room, his as well as hers.
Travis stared down at her, watching as she sucked his cock into her mouth and laved it with her tongue. It was the most incredible pleasure he had ever known. Nothing could be so good as this, as watching her take him with such intimacy, such hunger that flushed her face and hummed in her throat with desperate moans. The vibrations of her sounds of arousal echoed on the stiff flesh of his dick and sent spiraling fingers of sensation to attack his balls.
It was like being immersed in pleasure. His entire body vibrated with it and he clenched his abdomen desperately with the effort to hold back his release.
Eyes closed, face flushed, her expression showed such sensual pleasure that Travis could barely hold on to his own control as he watched her.
Her silken lips, the wet heat of her mouth, the flickering of her satiny tongue combined to shred what little control he had left after committing himself fully to her.
He was hers. As surely as she belonged to him, he belonged to her now.
Groaning at the need to hold back just a little longer, he clenched his teeth against the ecstasy pounding through his body and realized that he was slowly losing his grip on the tightly held trigger of release.
“God yes,” he moaned. “Sweet Lilly. Your mouth is so damned good.”
Too good. He was going to come. Damned if he could hold it back much longer. It was ripping through him, tightening through his muscles, building until he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it back much longer. He couldn’t hold it back much longer.
His balls tightened further, the length of his cock throbbed, pounded with the need for release.
“Lilly. I can’t hold back,” he groaned as his hands tightened in her hair to pull her back. “I’m going to come, baby.”
She moaned against the head, a soft vibration of hunger that had his cock spurting in warning release.
A cry sounded in her throat at the slight release, her suckling became harder, her tongue licking, probing, drawing in as much of the taste as possible as he lost that final thread of restraint.
Rapture washed through him. Ecstasy on a scale of complete soul-destroying pleasure tore through him as he felt the fierce, hot jets of come racing from the tip of his cock, spurting into her mouth. His body drew so tight he wondered if it would break. His head jerked back, both hands clenching in her hair as hard shudders racked his body and fed the deep pulses of seed from his balls.
And still, he wanted more of her.
Still hard, his cock so sensitive he knew he’d spill again soon, Travis pulled from her, jerked her to her feet, and lifted her to the counter once again.
“Wrap your legs around me.” He lifted her legs to his hips as he gripped the shaft of his dick and found the luscious, slick entrance to her pussy.
It was like fucking into silk and syrup. Tight muscles gripped the head of his cock as he pressed inside her, and the silken feel of her flesh wrapped around him like an intimate fist and sucked him inside, inch by inch.
Lilly’s back arched. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter, her legs locked around his hips, and she swore she was flying in a world of sensation so intense that even the brush of air in the room was a caress against her flesh.
Travis’s erection burrowed inside her, stretching the sensitive walls of her pussy and sending her into a maelstrom of such intense sensation that it was all she could do not to scream.
In two hard thrusts he was buried to the hilt inside her, his hips pressed hard against her as the sound of their breathing became a ragged symphony of pleasure around them.
He didn’t stop, he didn’t pause. Once he had filled her he began moving with deep, hard strokes, shafting inside her as tender flesh and sensitive nerve endings began humming in pleasure.
The intensity of sensation began building. Electric fingers of ecstasy sizzled over her flesh, tightened her muscles and sensitized her clit until she was no more than a creature of sensuality. She could feel the ecstasy rising, brewing inside her. It built, burning through her, rushing into every cell until the conflagration hit her womb and exploded inward in a release so powerful, so deep, she kne
w she would feel the imprint of it for the rest of her life.
She felt Travis joining her. His cock throbbed in release inside her as he shuddered against her, his lips at her neck, his teeth rasping her flesh.
Her name was a growl, a curse, just as his was a pleading cry falling from her lips.
They were tied to each other. They were bound.
For the moment, they were one entity tied by pleasure, by hunger. By something Lilly feared could get them both killed.
CHAPTER 14
“WE FOUND A CONTACT.” Nik strode into the makeshift communications room Jordan had set up in the small house they had rented for the operation.
The samples of fluid he and Lilly had found where the motorcycle had been parked were lying on the table where Jordan sat awaiting Nik’s expertise in testing it while Travis went over the reports that had come in from the other agents.
“Who?” Travis questioned him, his voice sharp as Jordan turned from the computer screen as well.
“David Fallsworth.” Nik strode to one of the other computers and began typing in commands. “London. He works in the warehouse district where Lilly was shot.” The file on the contact was pulled up. Picture, a rap sheet as long as Travis’s arm, and a documented history of information he had supplied to the Elite Ops in exchange for immunity from prosecution in several cases.
Travis moved and stared at the screen. “What does he have?”
“What he has is a possible description of our killer.” Nik straightened with a cold smile. “But he’s skittish on this one. He won’t discuss this online or on the phone. He’s willing to talk to a go-between, though. We promised we’d send one he could trust.” He grinned back at Travis.
“How do we know he actually has something?” Travis asked.
“There were two men, the day before Lilly was shot. They were asking around about Lilly Belle, flashing her picture. They heard she had contacts in the area and were looking for those contacts as well as Lilly herself. According to good ole David, he can point you in the direction of a few people these guys talked to. But even more important, the contact names they were given?” He shot a look between Jordan and Travis. “They were both found floating in the Thames days after she was shot. We weren’t notified of the deaths because the contacts weren’t ones Lilly had listed.”
Travis had taught her that. She had her official contacts, then she had those that only she dealt with. The fact that someone had found contacts that only Lilly dealt with hinted at the fact that someone had been damned thorough and efficient enough that neither the Elite Ops, nor Lilly, had been tipped off.
“Do we have anyone watching him?” Travis asked as he mentally began preparing a checklist for the flight out.
“We have a contact watching him until you arrive.” Nik nodded.
“I’ll have the plane prepped and ready to fly you out.” Jordan turned back to the computer and began typing. “Nik, you’ll be flying out with him and providing backup. We’ll have everything ready for you to test the fluid samples when you get back.”
“What about Lilly?” Travis turned back to him, concern unfolding inside him. “Whoever’s trying to kill her isn’t going to stop, Jordan. If they realize I’m out of town, or unavailable, they could strike again.”
“We have Wild Card on site,” Jordan reminded him. “He’ll stay in close proximity. I’ll have Maverick move in and cover the outside of the house in case of problems until you return.”
Wild Card, aka Noah, and Maverick, aka Micah, would ensure that Lilly was protected, Travis knew. They had their own women, they understood the fears riding Travis’s back where Lilly’s protection was concerned.
It was the best he was going to get and Travis knew it. He’d discuss Lilly’s protection with Wild Card and Maverick himself.
“The jet is prepping as we speak,” Jordan announced. “You fly out in an hour.”
Travis’s jaw tightened. There would be no chance to talk to Lilly, and calling her wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t be certain the calls were secure.
“Fallsworth will be waiting at the Wharf Tavern, two blocks from the warehouse district at noon tomorrow,” Nik told them. “He’s usually pretty reliable. Let’s hope he is this time as well.”
“Find Lilly’s killer and we have a damned good chance of finding her father’s killer, as well as the person or persons who’s been targeting the savings, pensions and trust funds of the rich and famous,” Jordan grunted. “And we hopefully shut down a major contributor to a nasty little terrorist organization at the same time.”
But he was leaving Lilly without so much as a warning. That didn’t set well at all with Travis, but at the moment, his choices were limited.
“Let’s roll.” Nik nudged his arm as he passed by him. “Faster we get there, faster we get back.”
He wouldn’t have a chance to warn her he had to leave, but he could leave additional protection. He wasn’t comfortable leaving her alone. Her memories were returning slowly, and only in pieces. There was too much she was still fighting, too many memories that were still evading her, leaving her vulnerable.
“We have her covered, Black Jack,” Nik said, his voice low. “Let’s find the bad guys, then you can figure out the rest of it.”
Travis gave a brief nod before turning and leaving the room. Stepping from the house, he pulled the phone from its holster at his waist and quickly keyed in the speed dial.
“What’s up, gorgeous?” Raisa, code name Raven, picked up the other end.
One of the remaining three Elite Two agents, she and the others were on standby in Hagerstown, waiting in case Lilly needed them. They were there unofficially; neither Elite Command nor their commanders were aware they had ditched their fact-finding missions and headed there to help Lilly.
They were a unit. They were family. Sisters, they called each other. They were Lilly’s sisters.
“You and the others have night watch. Be careful, though, because Wild Card and Maverick are on watch as well,” he ordered her. “I have to fly to London to meet a contact. Keep your eyes open and make sure she stays safe.”
A slight harrumph came over the line. “You think we’re not doing that anyway, hotshot? You taught us to be family, Travis. That hasn’t changed just because she doesn’t remember us.”
Travis’s lips quirked into a smile as the door behind him opened and Nik stepped out.
“Take care,” he told Raisa softly. “I’ll call when I land.”
Disconnecting the line, he shoved the phone back into the holster, disconnected the leather carrier, and handed it to Nik as he accepted the mission sat phone the other man tossed to him.
Any calls into the cell would be directed to the satellite phone. The satellite phone was more secure and reception more dependable.
“Let’s roll, Black Jack,” Nik sighed. “I’ll contact Fallsworth that you’re on your way in and see if we can’t get this over and done with as soon as we land. Hopefully, we can fly back and get the arrest warrant processed for our killer as a nice little present for Night Hawk.”
Travis had a feeling it wouldn’t be nearly that easy. It was a nice thought, though.
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he strode quickly to the Hummer and moved into the driver’s seat as Nik opened the passenger-side door and slid in.
Leaving like this wasn’t setting well with Travis. Something felt damned wrong about it.
The dull throb of a headache in her temples was becoming irritating. Lilly walked slowly down the curved staircase of the house that her mother and uncle, well, her stepfather now, she guessed, had taken for the summer, and headed for the kitchen.
Coffee might have a chance of easing it. She had developed a taste for the rich brew in South America during training exercises.
Pain seared her temples as the memory slowly filtered through her mind. It wasn’t a flashback, it was something that was just there when it hadn’t been before, and with it was heavy pressure and sharp pain at
the sides of her head.
This could become a definite distraction, she thought as she extracted a cup from the cabinet and moved for the filled, heated coffee pot at the end of the counter.
Things had changed, not just with her, she thought as she filled the cup and moved to the heavy walnut table that sat in front of the bay window in the breakfast nook of the kitchen.
Things had changed with her family as well. Six years didn’t seem that long, unless one was dropped into the situation rather than easing through it as they lived daily life within it.
Her family had changed. Her uncle was now her stepfather. Her brother had disowned her, and without the steadying influence of her father, her mother was more neurotic than ever before.
Lilly almost grinned at the thought.
Her father had commented many times that perhaps her mother needed a vacation in the south of France. The wording in reference to her mother’s friends who checked themselves into the clinic, or forced their children in for whatever transgressions they had committed.
Her mother didn’t deal well when she perceived a threat to her social standing or the appearance of perfection that she strove to project where her life and her family was concerned.
Lilly could just imagine the nightmares Angelica Harrington had when it came to that investigator’s report being released to the public or the paparazzi.
And then to have Lilly herself projecting the very appearance of the wild, unconventional life she had lived those six years? No doubt her mother had been trying to convince Desmond that the south of France was the best place for Lilly right now.
Desmond and her father both had had a strong dislike for the Ridgemore facility, thank God. Unlike some families who sent their children for a stay there over the smallest of reasons, Lord Harrington and his brother had expressed their disapproval of it often. Several times they had stood by other fathers who had been forced to fight their wives over the tradition of using the facility as a form of punishment.
How many times had her mother threatened to send her there? Lilly knew there had been more times than she wanted to remember. As much as she was certain she had missed her family and her life here, wouldn’t there have also been a sense of relief at having to no longer live by the rigid guidelines her mother had set for the family?