by Penny Jordan
She looked thinner, paler—and what the hell was she doing standing in the strong sunlight without the protection of a hat when any fool could see that she had the kind of delicate skin that would burn?
How on earth had she got wind of what was going on? The editor of the magazine she worked for got his stories by trawling in the gutter for them.
Luke's mouth compressed. The gutter, maybe, but then Roy Jarvis did specialise in 'revealing' the failings and vices of those in power, as well as breaking some extraordinarily sensitive news stories. Someone was supplying him with his information, and Luke knew that if he had been in charge of finding out who it was the leak would have been stopped a long time ago.
Luke refused to believe that anyone could have got through his own rigorous security, but he was not the only person who knew what was happening. Somehow Roy Jarvis had been given a tip-off about the upcoming meeting, and he had obviously sent Suzy Roberts to find out what she could and confirm the story so that he could publish it. After all, a reporter like Suzy had the extra assistance of her sexuality to help her get her story—and she would have no qualms about using it!
Lucas had seen it happen over and over again in the theatre of war, and of course he had already discovered for himself that there were no lengths Suzy Roberts was not prepared to go!
Silently Luke slipped out of the villa grounds, moving quickly and stealthily towards his quarry.
* * *
Oblivious to the danger, Suzy pushed her hair back off her face. The villa really was a gem. She paused to admire it again before lifting the camera to take another shot.
Luke, who had circled up behind her, waited until she had raised the camera before making his move.
As Suzy focused the camera he reached for it…
Someone was trying to steal the camera!
Instinctively Suzy turned round, and then froze in shocked disbelief whilst Luke took it from her.
'What are you doing?' she demanded as soon as she could speak.
Lucas Soames—here! She could feel the colour leaving her face and then surging back into it. Her heart was thudding in panic, and she felt as though she was trembling from head to foot. Emotions she had assured herself she had totally destroyed were taking a frightening hold on her, threatening to swamp her.
Frantically she tried to ignore them, to focus instead on what she should be feeling. These emotions had no right to exist. Lucas Soames meant nothing to her, and one of the reasons she was here on holiday was to make sure she was fully recovered from whatever it was she had experienced six months ago.
Willing her physical reaction to him to subside, Suzy demanded sharply, 'Give me back my camera!'
Her eyes widened as she watched Lucas delete the pictures she had just taken.
'No!' she protested, trying to snatch back the camera, to stop him ruining her photographs.
Luke reacted immediately, fending her off with one deceptively easy movement that kept her at arm's length from him, his fingers locked around her wrist as he finished what he was doing.
Despairingly Suzy closed her eyes, trying to blot out the physical reality of him in an effort to protect herself. But almost immediately she realised her mistake. Deprived of sight, she felt all her sensory receptors focusing instead on the feel of Lucas Soames's hand around her wrist—the texture of his flesh, the powerful strength of his grip, the coolness of his skin against the heat of her own. Weakening thrills of sensation were running up her arm, and she could feel the frantic jump of her pulse.
Panic and desperation speared through her. 'What are you doing?' she demanded, the sound of her voice raw and frantic in her ears as she recognised her fear and the reason for it.
What was it about this man that made her feel like this?
Luke studied her silently, assessing her behaviour and her reactions. She looked convincingly both distraught and distressed, and he mentally applauded her acting talent whilst cynically wondering how many victims she had honed it on.
Ignoring her anxious question, he asked one of his own. 'Why were you photographing the villa?'
His response caught Suzy off guard.
There was something about the coldly intense way he was watching her that unnerved her, and Suzy felt a shudder of apprehension run through her body. Stubbornly she fought against giving in to it—and to him!
'Why shouldn't I?' she shot back. Antagonism towards him was a far safer emotion than that dangerous and overwhelming surge of longing she had experienced the last time she had seen him. Don't think about it, she warned herself frantically. Don't remember. Don't feel…
Seeing him then had been like having the clouds part to reveal a miraculous space of blue sky and a dizzying vision of heaven. But things were different now, she reassured herself fiercely. She was different now!
Taking a deep breath, Suzy gave a deliberately nonchalant shrug before saying, 'That's what people on holiday do—take photographs.'
Her body language was flawless, Luke acknowledged grudgingly. Not by so much as the flicker of one of those ridiculously long eyelashes of hers was she revealing the fact that she was lying. He could feel his temper starting to rise. Immediately he checked it, alarmed that somehow she had managed to pierce the shield of his professionalism.
'On holiday?' He gave Suzy a comprehensive and cynical look. 'Oh, come on—you can come up with something better than that, surely?'
Just looking at her now—anger sparking her eyes to brilliant gold, flushing her cheeks with heat—anyone other than him would have believed immediately that she was a woman righteously defending herself from an unwarranted attack. But he knew she had to be lying, given who she was, and sure enough, as he continued to watch her, she was unable to continue to return his gaze.
What was Lucas Soames trying to say? Suzy wondered frantically. Had he guessed how he had affected her? Did he think she was nursing some kind of desire for him and that she had followed him here?
Her face began to burn again. If he did then she was going to make sure…
'Nice camera.' Luke interrupted her thoughts, adding assessingly, 'Expensive too.' Still nervously on edge, Suzy told him stiffly, 'It isn't mine…it belongs to a friend.'
Luke could see the discomfort and the guilt in her eyes—but, to his own irritated disbelief, the knowledge that he was right to be suspicious of her made him feel more angry than satisfied. Determined to stamp on such feelings and destroy them, he responded coldly, 'A friend? So, Roy Jarvis is a friend now, is he, as well as your employer?'
Her employer!
Suzy shook her head.
'I don't work for the magazine any more,' she told him quickly. 'I…I left.' Even saying the words was enough to bring back the unpleasant memories, and she had to swallow against the bile of her distress.
'Oh, come on. You don't really expect me to fall for that, do you?' Luke demanded unpleasantly.
'It's true,' Suzy insisted fiercely. 'I no longer work for the magazine. You can check if you don't believe me!'
Her eyes were more green than gold now, Luke recognised. Reflecting her passionate nature? He frowned, irritated with himself for allowing his attention to be distracted from the professional to the personal.
'Oh, I have no doubt that officially you might have left, but it isn't unheard of for your boss, your friend, to use underhand methods to get what he wants. He has sent you here to work undercover—which is, as we both know, why you are up here photographing the villa and spying!'
Now cynicism had joined the cold disdain icing his voice, and Suzy decided that she had had enough. Not allowing him to finish, she interrupted him hotly.
'That's ridiculous! Why on earth would he send me to do that? It's the resort that is full of the glitterati, not this villa, and as for my agreeing to spy on anyone—I have my own moral code!' She gave him a bitingly scornful look, but her glare might have been directed at an invisible shield for all the effect it had on its intended victim.
'Very affec
ting.' Luke stopped her. 'But you are wasting your breath and my time with this unconvincing show of innocence. I know exactly what you are, remember? I've witnessed your professional reporting methods—and your moral code—at first hand,' he reminded her grimly.
A telltale crimson tide of guilt and misery flooded Suzy's face. Illogically she felt not just humiliated by his words but emotionally hurt as well.
How could he say something like that to her? Hadn't he been able to tell that she had kissed him because of her own overwhelming need to do so and not for any other reason?
Unable to stop herself, Suzy discovered that she was reliving the feelings she had had then. Anguish filled her. Did he really think she was the kind of woman who would do such a thing for any other reason than because she simply had not been able to stop herself?
The very thought of what he had implied disgusted and nauseated her, and she burst out defensively, 'That wasn't—I didn't—I did it because—'
Abruptly Luke stopped her again. 'You did it because you thought it would be an excellent way of providing a firescreen for your companion—yes, I know that!' he told her grimly. 'Unfortunately for you it wasn't very effective.' He paused, and then added curtly, 'And neither was the kiss!'
What the hell was he thinking of? Luke asked himself savagely as his comment fell into the silence between them and he was forced to remember the kiss they had shared. A woman as experienced as this one must have felt his body's arousal, and gloated over his response to her. Any minute now she would be reminding him of it and challenging him to deny it. And there was no way Luke wanted to be dragged into that dangerous and unreliable ground.
Yes, he had responded to her. He could not deny that! Yes, he had for a split second in time experienced the most extraordinary physical longing for her, and the most extraordinary emotions. But that had been a momentary weakness, quickly controlled, and of no lasting or real importance whatsoever!
'What did Jarvis tell you to do—apart from take photographs?' he demanded sharply, steering his questions back in the right direction.
Still grappling with her own feelings, Suzy told him angrily, 'He didn't tell me to do anything!'
Her anger must somehow have heightened her senses, she decided, because suddenly she was aware of the musky male scent of Lucas Soames's body. She could see the sunlight glinting on the fine dark hair of his muscular forearms. Her heart somersaulted and then attempted a cartwheel, crashing into her chest wall as it did so. She willed herself to drag her gaze away from his body, but somehow it was impossible to do so. The white tee shirt he was wearing, although not tight-fitting, still revealed an impressive breadth of shoulder and chest. Something dangerous was happening to her, and she seemed powerless to stop it.
Suzy began to panic.
The back of her head was burning from the heat of the sun. It was making her feel slightly sick and dizzy—or was it the intensity of the navy blue gaze, the shock of her own emotions that was responsible for her malaise?
She couldn't give in to such feelings, Suzy warned herself frantically. She must not give in to them! She must think of something else! She must get away from here—get away from here and from Lucas Soames, and the sooner the better. If she didn't leave, if she was forced to stay, she was terrified that she might be trapped into saying something that would betray how she felt about him. How she had felt about him, she corrected herself. Taking a deep breath, she searched for the right words.
'I'm sorry if you feel you can't believe me,' she began politely. 'But I assure you that I am telling you the truth. I do not work for the magazine any more and no one from it is responsible for my being here! Like I just told you, I am here on holiday!'
She was picking her words too carefully for them to be genuine, Luke decided.
'On holiday? Alone?' he challenged her softly. One dark eyebrow rose tellingly, and Suzy was hotly conscious of his merciless and unkind gaze sweeping her face and then her body.
'I needed time on my own…to…to think…'
She had to get away from him!
'Time on your own? A woman like you?'
The razor-edge contempt in his voice made her face burn, but before she could say anything he continued silkily, 'So, if you aren't, as you claim, working for Roy Jarvis any more, then who are you working for?'
His question caught Suzy off guard, and she had to wrench her thoughts away from the pain his insult had caused her in order to answer it.
'I'm not working for anyone at the moment. I haven't got another job yet…at least…' She paused, her eyes darkening as his question reactivated her own anxiety about her future. After the contempt he had already shown her there was no way she was going to tell him that in order to make ends meet she had taken a job in a local supermarket.
Suddenly she had had enough.
'Why are you questioning me like this?' she demanded wearily. 'Just because you're here, guarding some government bigwig, that doesn't give you the right to…to treat me as some kind of…of criminal. What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?' she demanded nervously, fear trickling through her veins as she sensed that somehow something had changed, that the anger she had sensed in him before had been replaced by a steely determination.
'How do you know who is staying at the villa?' Luke questioned quietly.
For a moment Suzy was too bemused to answer him. Was it that that was responsible for the intimidating change in him?
'I heard someone talking about it,' she told him honestly. 'I thought he was supposed to be here on holiday, but of course now that I've seen you, and those men who were leaving, I realise…'
Her voice trailed away, when she saw his expression, and Luke prompted her softly.
'Yes? What is it exactly that you now realise? Something you know your boss Jarvis would be very interested in? Something that you just can't wait to report to him?'
Suzy stared at him aghast.
'No! No—nothing like that. He isn't my boss anymore,' she denied. 'I've already told you that.'
Something about the way he was watching her made her feel very afraid.
'So I was right.'
Suzy could feel her heart bumping heavily against her ribs as the deceptively soft words penetrated her awareness.
'You realise, of course, what this means?'
Suzy stared at him uncomprehendingly. He had lost her completely now, she acknowledged, and she fought to drag her unwilling mind away from her worry about the physical effect Lucas Soames was having on her emotions to what he was saying to her.
'What what means?' she asked.
Lucas's mouth thinned. He had no time for games, no matter how much Suzy Roberts might enjoy her play-acting. One minute the ingénue, another the femme fatale. A tiny muscle twitched in his jaw as he tensed his body against memories he didn't want to have. Memories of the feel of Suzy's body against his own, the taste of her mouth, the scent of her skin…
Savagely he turned away from her. This—she—was a complication he just did not need. It was bad enough that Jarvis had sent anyone here at all—but that it should be her!
Angrily, he examined the facts—and his options! Yes, they both knew why Suzy was here, but just how much did she know? How much information did she actually have?
He had destroyed the photographs she had taken of the African President's private guards, but he could not eradicate that information from her memory. And he certainly could not allow her to pass it on to anyone else—and most especially not to Roy Jarvis, to publish in his wretched magazine!
There was only one thing he could do now, little as he relished the prospect!
Luke had had his fill of reporters, both male and female! He had seen at first hand the damage, the devastation their single-minded determination could cause. He had seen fighting men's lives risked and innocent civilians' lives lost for the sake of a 'hot' story. And he had seen…His mouth twisted, his expression hardening even further.
He'd seen children under school age
, half starved, fighting for water and food…whilst excited reporters tried to film their pitiable situation. And worse! Much, much worse! He moved, and the scar low on his belly pulled against the wound it covered.
He had learned over the years to mistrust the media at large.
And Ms Suzy Roberts was not going to be an exception to his rule that all media personnel were to be treated as guilty and kept under strict surveillance!
Luke's gaze narrowed.