One finger slid easily into her well-lubricated pussy, then another, curving so the tips found that hot spot just beneath her clit. When he pressed upward in cadence with the sucking pull of his mouth, her body exploded, a climax racing over her like a tidal wave, consuming her. She dug her heels into the mattress and arched herself up to him, wanting more. No. It was too much.
Lane never missed a beat, his mouth pulling on her clit as his fingers dragged against her hot spot. When the tremors eased and she lay back panting, he slowly withdrew his fingers from her cunt, carrying her cream with them and using it to lubricate the tight ring of her anus.
“Oh god!” She jumped at his touch.
“Ssh,” he soothed. “Easy. We’re just getting started here.”
He scooped more liquid from her still-quivering cunt and massaged it into that tense muscle before slowly easing the tip of one finger inside her. Isabella pushed herself up to him, little cries of pleasure spilling from her mouth. When he had his finger fully inside, he went back to work on her clit with his mouth, tugging and nipping and sucking.
Incredibly the coil of need inside her began to unspool like a hot, silken thread. When he moved his other hand to slide two fingers into her pussy again every nerve in her body fired, every muscle clenched.
She sank into a cloud of erotic heat where the only thing she felt was his fingers plunging in and out of both her needy tunnels and his clever mouth tormenting her clit. On and on it went, the flame building and building and then being eased back down until she couldn’t focus on anything except that tight coil of need ready to spring again.
“Oh please,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”
His low chuckle vibrated against her sensitive cunt and intensified the hunger racing through her. In the next instant he thrust his fingers hard into both channels and bit lightly on her clit and again she erupted, consumed by yet another orgasm. Her body convulsed, every muscle clamping down as Lane worked to draw out her response until she fell back a limp, sweaty mass.
He rose to his feet, a sensuous smile curving his lips, and began to strip off his clothes.
“Now,” he said. “Now we get down to business.”
“Business?” she could hardly get a word out. “What was that you were just doing?”
“Getting you ready, bellissima.”
He tossed his clothes aside and stood there for a moment looking at her body, his eyes lit with carnal need, his cock thick and swollen and standing rigidly away from his body. Even as spent as she was, Isabella drank in the sight of him and unbelievably felt the stirrings of heat yet again low in her belly.
Lane rearranged her on the bed and moved between her thighs, expertly rolling on a condom with one hand.
“I want to be inside you now,” he ground out. “Tasting that sweet pussy, feeling it, feeling the heat of that luscious ass. God, Bella. I could hardly keep from coming right then.”
He spread her thighs and positioned the head of his cock at her opening, let out a slow breath and eased himself inside her. She couldn’t help the sigh of pleasure that whispered from her as she felt the fullness of him stretching her vaginal walls.
“Hold out your breasts for me,” he growled. “Rub your nipples.”
At that point she would have done anything he asked her to. She lifted her breasts and captured her nipples, squeezing them as her gaze locked with his.
And then he moved, slowly at first then harder and faster. Sweat slicked his body as he fought for control, tried to pace himself but she could see the ridge of every muscle stand out with the effort.
“I can’t hold on to it,” he gritted. “Come with me, Bella. Come now.”
As if she could control her response, either, as primed as she was. He drove into her hard, once, twice, three times and they exploded together. The walls of her pussy clamped around his pulsing cock, feeling the hot spurts of his release filling the latex sheath. Isabella wrapped her legs around him to pull him in as tight as she could while her body continued to shudder with his.
At last he fell forward then rolled to the side, taking her with him. She wasn’t sure if it was her heart or his she felt pounding so loudly, his breath or hers that split the air so harshly as lungs dragged in oxygen.
Bella had no idea how much time had passed before Lane finally eased himself from her body and pulled her up with him. He kissed her, an expression of such deep affection it brought tears to her eyes. How had she been so lucky as to meet this man and connect with him like this?
He slid from the bed and lifted her to him.
“Shower time,” he told her. “Then room service and sleep. Tomorrow we have a very big day.”
“I pray it will be a successful one,” she told him.
“It will be. Just keep the faith.”
Chapter Seven
“Fourteen hours and ten minutes left to find these kidnappers before they hit their targets,” Bella fretted as she and Lane walked down the hall of the George V hotel in Paris the next afternoon.
They stopped and Lane knocked on the hotel room door of Nicki and Adam Molloy. He squeezed Bella’s waist for reassurance.
“No worries, cara mia. We are ahead of these guys in so many ways.”
The door swung open to the wide, grinning face of Adam Molloy.
“Come in, come in!” he beckoned, stepping aside to let them both into his and his wife’s suite in the five-star hotel. “We’ve got a good bottle of champagne awaiting you and a few amuse-bouche. You both look like you could use a good drink right about now.”
“Just what Bella and I need right now, Molloy, is to be amused.” Lane stuck out his hand to shake Adam’s. The two men had cemented a relationship over the past few months built from mutual appreciation of the other’s intelligence and efficiency. “Great to see you two. Meet Isabella, Adam. Hey, Nicki.” Lane strode forward to briefly embrace his boss, one of the two female partners in Nemesis. “Glad you are here.”
The tall, elegant, ebony-haired beauty shook back her waist-length, straight hair and looked him over. “You look ragged. Not much sleep, I gather, with all the work, eh?”
“Sleep I can do later,” he replied. After all this is over with and I figure out how to keep Bella intrigued and hot to have me permanently. That last thought jolted him and he rummaged in his brain for something to conceal it from the others. “Here’s the newest member of our team.” He stepped away to let Bella meet Nicole Welles Molloy.
While the two women began a conversation, Lane ran a hand through his hair and moved toward Adam who was uncorking a bottle of Dom Pérignon. “Did you have a chance to read my notes on this Octo group?”
“I did. Also got the supporting docs from Maddie and Dan. Interesting.”
“What’s even more interesting are the forensics reports from the Finanza in Rome on the scene of Franzoni’s kidnapping.”
Adam handed him a flute of the champagne. “Have a drink of this. It’ll change your mood.”
Want to bet? Lane took the glass and let the silk bubbles burst in his mouth. Nice, but not as good as Bella. He tried to smile. “You’re right. Great stuff here. Question is, after I tell you what I’ve got, and you fill me in on what you and Nicki have done here in Paris, will your champagne help any one of our moods?”
“Let me give the women their glasses and we’ll all decide if we’ll feel better any time soon.”
The four of them seated themselves on the plush damask sofas of the sitting room. And as they talked, it became clear that the champagne was infinitely brighter than anyone’s news.
“The finance ministers of the G8, minus Arturo Franzoni, are to arrive here…” Nicki glanced at her watch, “in the next hour or so. They’re not happy, to say the least.”
“Under the threat of bombs or kidnapping,” Adam continued, “they will come through with whatever is needed. Interpol, Europol, CIA and extra security from each of their countries are on tap.”
“The hotel,” Lane ventured, “must be crawling w
ith undercover agents as well.”
“Then add a contingent of Paris gendarmes!” Adam waved a hand. “You can’t go to the ice machine without bumping into one trying to look like he’s an average guy.”
Bella put her champagne on the coffee table, and Lane noticed she had taken only one sip. Her eyes bore dark circles from the lack of sleep and he felt a sharp pang of guilt. If she wasn’t worrying about her friend Arturo, she and he were locked in some fierce embrace, satisfying every carnal instinct known to god or man. Hoping the incredible sex would ease the tension that gripped them nearly every moment. “Let me tell you about the forensics report from the scene of the kidnapping.”
Nicki nodded. “Do, please.”
Lane offered, “Sorry we couldn’t send it to your phones. The first transmission was garbled and they only resent it five minutes ago.”
Bella dug into her tote and pulled out her phone. In a few clicks, she had opened the file to refresh her memory as she told Nicki and Adam about Arturo’s assailants. “The purse was the same color, make and style as the others left in the galleries. Looks like the same dye lot number, too. So all purses were purchased at the same time by the same vendor. As of two hours ago, the Finanza has asked L.L. Bean to search their records for the purchase of three or more of these items by one customer.”
Adam snorted. “Criminals always trip up on the fine points.”
Bella agreed. “Inside the purse left outside Arturo’s home was a fog bomb. No plastique.”
“Because this bomb was never meant to blow up, but to cover whatever action they planned,” Lane continued, “Octo is not really interested in mass murder.”
“Kidnapping,” Nicki pointed out, “is not exactly a nonviolent act.”
“No,” Bella said, “but this time we have a residue on the purse which tells us the purse was recently in Lake Garda.”
“Crazy.” Nicki sat back, stunned but rueful. “What person planning a crime would be so careless?”
“An amateur criminal,” Lane offered. “Careless to drop it and then careless to use it anyway.”
A phone rang.
Nicki turned to Adam. “Yours?”
He raised a finger as he rose to get it from their bedroom. “Lake Garda? You’re sure?”
Bella looked at the pdf file on her phone, frowning. “The Finanza forensics specialists are very good and they say…sì, here it is. ‘The calcium levels in the residue and the presence of certain microbes lead us to conclude this purse was submerged in the waters of an Italian lake from the Alpine regions. Specifically, Lake Garda.’”
“Hold that thought,” Adam told them all as he left them for the bedroom and his ringing cell phone.
“I’ll wait,” Bella said to the others, “until Adam returns before I continue with this.”
“While Adam is talking,” Nicole said, “let me bring you up to speed on our work. We’ve gotten a list of all the finance ministers’ room numbers. The suites for them, the rooms for their staffs. French law enforcement has given us their contact numbers, but they’re not happy to work with us.”
Bella winced. “I understand. Independents on the job do not make them feel very competent.”
“Exactly,” Nicki smiled as she fished her own phone from her trouser pocket. “The heat of the competition gives them hives. Let me send you the contact numbers now so you have them all, just in case.”
“Good idea,” Lane said as he and Bella watched Nicole transfer the info and saw it come up on his screen, then heard it ring in on Bella’s.
“News,” Adam announced as he stood in the doorway of the sitting area, looking like he just swallowed a canary.
“What?” Nicki urged him.
“Let me say this fast. Digest it all on our way down in the elevator. Okay?”
“Sure,” Lane agreed, and got to his feet. “Hit us.”
“Raul Toro, who just finished a case for us in the south of France, just texted me. He’s in the lobby himself, sent by Maddie since his other case wrapped up, and the head of the French police just tipped him off. And hold on to your hats, the heads of Kopf are arriving in the lobby as we speak.”
“Kopf?” Bella jumped to her feet. “In the same hotel as the finance ministers!”
Lane was right beside her. “They’ve got to be nuts to come here.”
Adam snorted. “They are not known for being reticent. Who knows the real reason they’ve come? Could be anything.” Adam shrugged as the four of them picked up their keys and pocketed their phones. “They’re afraid. They’re stupid. They’re cocky. They want to thumb their noses at Octo. Hell. Who knows. But hold on. There’s something else I need to tell you.”
Lane paused with the two women at the door to the hall. “Yeah, what?”
“I’ve researched Henri Liebermann.”
Lane racked his brain for the meaning of the name. “The guy who thinks the three owners of Kopf own French art stolen from Jewish Parisians by the Nazis?”
“The same. He’s also in town this week, speaking at a forum on recovery of French art from the Third Reich. My contacts in Jerusalem tell me that Liebermann lists on the Israeli Register of Illegally Seized Property, among other items, a painting by Van Gogh that two months ago a dealer in Paris tried to buy from one of the three owners of Kopf.”
“This is our first indication that any of the rumors that Kopf owners held stolen property is accurate,” Bella said.
“Exactly,” Adam nodded. “Too bad the dealer cannot verify it.”
Lane didn’t like the question he had to ask. “Why can’t he?”
Adam stared at Lane. “He’s dead. Sudden heart attack. Soon after word got out into the art world.”
“No coincidence?” Lane speculated.
“Very little,” Adam answered. “Unfortunately we have no solid evidence to persuade the family to exhume the body and test for drugs.”
Lane mulled that over. “Which one of the Kopf group did the dealer attempt to buy from?”
“The German.”
“Wilhelm Gottfried?” Bella asked, her eyes wide and bright with expectation. “Wonderful. I’ve always thought he was a snake in the grass.”
“You’ve had dealings with him before?” Nicki asked her.
“I met him briefly four years ago. I was with a team from the Finanza and we investigated a bomb threat at his home.” Her voice trailed off and she looked at Adam, realizing the idea that had suddenly occurred to her had also popped into his brain. They both grinned.
Lane slapped a hand to his thigh. “Okay, Nicki and I give up. Tell us the secret!”
“Shall I?” Bella asked Adam with a conspiratorial wink.
“Be my guest.”
She looked at the others. “Wilhelm Gottfried owns a glorious, fabulous two-hundred-year-old villa.” Her eyes twinkled. “On Lake Garda.”
Lane shook his head. “And?”
Nicki looked from Lane to her newest employee then to her husband. “I don’t get the connection.”
Adam grinned. “Henri Liebermann owns a villa on Lake Garda, too. I happen to know that over the past few years he’s attended some social events at Gottfried’s. I think Gottfried invited him to flaunt the art and Liebermann went to see for himself.”
“Does that connect at all with the bomb threat?”
“I’m wondering now if it did. When I remembered that connection I recalled where I first saw that purse bomb and it was at Gottfried’s.”
Everyone stared at her. “The same bomb? The same purse?”
“Different kind of bomb but the same purse.”
Nicki exchanged a look with Adam. “Then this has been going on for a very long time.”
“The attempts to reclaim the art, maybe,” Lane said. “Somehow Octo has narrowed their list down to the heads of Kopf as the primary owners of the art they’re seeking. But obviously they’ve been ineffective in previous attempts and finally decided to take drastic measures.” He opened the door for the four of them. “Le
t’s get downstairs and see what’s what with the G8 ministers and the heads of Kopf. Maybe even Liebermann will show up. We get everyone here in one place and we can force the issue.”
Bella looped her arm around Lane’s waist and hugged him as they headed for the elevator. “I love it, as you Americans say, when a plan comes together. Let’s hope this is what’s happening.”
“Yeah?” He teased her, pleased that he was able to bring a light to her tired eyes. “Luck has a lot to do with this one.”
“I’m not going to deny how important luck was here,” she whispered as the elevator doors whooshed open. “But I’ll take all that comes my way. Especially when it comes to us.” She whispered those last few words so the others could not hear.
Lane could not take his eyes from her as they rode down to the lobby. Their affair was only days old, and yet the intensity of his desire for her was raw. A savage need to take her bed every other hour consumed him and just to look at her was becoming torture. She was so brilliant, so sensual, so utterly fascinating, he could take her away for a year and his cock would still be up and happy every time he caught sight of her. To distract himself, Lane took out his cell phone as the elevator arrived at the lobby floor.
They exited and walked straight ahead.
“I have to check with the concierge about our dinner reservations.” Nicole turned, her expression tight as she nodded toward one corner of the lobby.
“And I need to send a fax,” Adam lied as he tipped his head in the direction of the guests’ office.
This way with Nicki and Adam positioned as they were, the four of them had a comprehensive view of the front doors and the lobby.
“Come on, I see Raul,” Lane said to Bella and took her arm to lead her to his Nemesis colleague.
He noted his friend, usually so dapper in suit and tie, today looked a little the worse for wear with his latest gig here, tracking whoever came in and out of this lobby. But as always, he doggedly pursued his assignment. They didn’t call him The Bull for nothing. Making the introductions, Lane played the scene as if they were all old pals just happening upon each other. Bella, a good actress, went along with everything, taking her lead from Lane.
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