by Anne, Melody
The poor kid didn’t have a chance, not with her as a mother and a crazy man as a father.
“You obviously need to be taught how to respect your king.” He looked around her modest home in disgust.
“You are not my king! I had an affair with you, Ian, which was obviously a very bad idea. It doesn’t mean I’m willing to bow down to you, and it certainly doesn’t mean I want you to remain a part of my life,” she said, more than a bit offended by the way he seemed to be looking down his nose at her.
She might not be royalty — not that she thought he was — but she came from a very respectable family. That she had chosen to make it on her own didn’t render her any less of a person. In fact, it made her stronger. She was quite proud of her home, the one he was sneering at as if it were a peasant’s hovel.
“Because I have known your brother through business, I will give you some leeway. Had I known who you were that day on the beach, I never would have commenced with an affair with you. It’s too late to have regrets now, though. We will obviously wed immediately. I think it’s important to get back to my country right away so we can prevent the media from swooping in before you are my wife.”
Rachel looked at him as though he had three heads sprouting. Her belief that he was crazy was beginning to lessen as horror took its place. The man could be telling her the truth. He just might be a king. Sheesh. That didn’t mean she was his subject, or that she would bend to his rules in the slightest, but it meant a whole heck of a lot of complications for her child. Maybe she had indeed screwed up royally.
“Look, Ian, or whoever the hell you are, I have had a really long day — a long week for that matter. I can’t take any more at the moment. We’re going to have to continue this conversation at a later time. Don’t worry, though. The baby isn’t due for seven months, so there’s plenty of time to talk later. I would appreciate it if you would just leave my home.”
Rachel was proud of herself for staying calm, speaking like a sane adult, and not slapping him again. How had she been so attracted to this jerk two months earlier? He radiated command as if it were a part of his skin, and she couldn’t stand men who thought they were lord and ruler of everything around them.
“I don’t think you understand, Rachel. This matter isn’t up for discussion. We will wed. My child won’t be born away from my country.”
The calmness of his voice frightened her far more than his words did.
“I won’t marry you because of a child, Ian. You have got to be joking. It’s time you leave before I call the authorities,” she warned him as she moved toward the door.
The confident smile that appeared on his face made her stomach drop to her knees. What had she gotten herself into?
“You are still quite the wildcat, Rachel. I haven’t been able to get you from my mind these last two months. It won’t be such a hardship for me to have you as my wife.” He leaned toward her and lifted his hand to her face.
Rachel raised her arm to slap him again, but he quickly grabbed it. When she lifted the other arm, he grabbed that too, then carefully pushed her against the wall. Pressing his body against hers, she felt his arousal pressing against her stomach as his head descended.
“Mmm, yes, being married to you won’t be a bad thing at all,” he said as he kissed the corner of her mouth.
“Get away from me,” she cried, wishing the words were more forceful. As angry as she was, as confused, and frightened, she still felt a pulse of desire in her core at his nearness. The man had done things with her body that she’d never imagined could be done.
“For now, amore mio,” he said, his lips taking hers for just a moment.
Ian released her and then walked through the door.
“I am not your love,” she said, snapping out of the trance that he’d just put her in from a simple connection of their lips.
Just before she managed to shut the door in his face, happy to have the last word, he turned back around.
“My guard will keep an eye out for you until I return.”
She knew he was telling her there was no need to run away — that he would simply follow her. Well, he could just stick it, she thought, slamming the door with extra emphasis.
Leaning against the cool wood, Rachel wondered what she was going to do next. The one thing she knew for sure was that it was time to go home. Making a phone call to her brother, she asked him send the jet for her.
She needed her family right now — it was time to face the music.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Lia
“No. Please — stop!”
It was a rare day off from their work on the island and Lia felt pure contentment as she walked down the street of the market, hand in hand with Shane.
That was, until she turned to see a young boy taking off down the street with a woman’s purse. It all happened so quickly, and the crowds around them turned to watch, but no one stepped forward to help.
“Stay here,” Shane yelled to her as he began chasing after the boy.
Like hell she would.
After her initial shock, she bolted after him, but she lost the trail as he was swallowed up in the crowd. She slowed to a walk and looked around, searching for any signs of him or the boy. She had no idea where the two of them could have disappeared to.
She was getting ready to pass an alley when she noticed two figures standing tensely just inside the shadows. She looked again and saw that one of them had a knife.
And the other one was Shane.
He was in a face-off with the boy, and the situation seemed to be escalating.
Without thinking for a minute of her own safety, Lia ran into the alley, joining the two of them. Neither looked in her direction; their gazes were locked together. People were walking by the alley, but no one even glanced in the direction of the two apparent adversaries.
Were such crimes such a common thing that no one was going to help? Or was it that they were too afraid? This was something that Lia wasn’t used to, and she didn’t know what to do at this point.
“You don’t want to do this. Just put the knife down. Let’s have a chat,” Shane said in fluent Italian, his voice low and firm, but not unfriendly.
“You’re just another rich guy. You don’t give a crap about me!” the kid yelled. He couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven years old. His face was hardened, but there was still an innocent light about his eyes, even while he glared daggers at Shane.
“I know a lot, kid. I used to be just like you, stealing tourists’ items to get by, sneaking food whenever and wherever I could, including from garbage cans. I’ve been there, but I got out. Let me help you. This world hasn’t hardened you too much yet. You can turn this around.”
The kid looked at Shane with distrust, but was unable to hide the flicker of hope in his eyes. He wanted a better life — Lia could see it. She wanted to step in and give him a hug, his dirty clothes, face, and all, but she knew better than to spook a wild animal, and that was how he was acting at this moment — like an animal with everything to lose.
“What could you know? Your clothes alone could feed all of us kids for a month,” he snapped, lowering the knife slightly, but still making sure Shane could see it and that he wasn’t afraid to use it.
“Have you stabbed someone before, kid? Seriously plunged a knife into real human flesh? It’s not as easy as it looks. The flesh resists being stabbed, then makes a sickening sound as the blade goes in, quite possibly piercing a person’s organs. Have you seen the light go out of someone’s eyes? It’s not a pretty sight to behold, especially if you know that you’re the one guilty of taking a life. It’s not easy to live with that knowledge.”
“How would you know?” the boy screamed, his eyes filling with tears that he refused to let fall as he looked wildly at Shane.
Lia looked again toward the street, at the crowds only twenty yards away. At the screaming a couple of heads turned to look in, but the people didn’t even slow down; they kept on walking, quickly deciding n
ot to get involved. How could they be so oblivious and so callous? Why wouldn’t anyone stop to help Shane?
Shane spoke simply to the boy. “Because I have taken a life.”
Lia gasped at his words, making his shoulders tense, but he still focused on the kid, didn’t turn in her direction. What was he talking about? He couldn’t have taken a life. She’d known him half her life. He wasn’t a killer.
The boy turned toward her, panic taking over when he perceived himself as being boxed in.
“Lia, this child is frightened. Can you please just back out from the alley and let us talk?”
He was so calm, so focused on the kid. Lia felt as if she didn’t even know this man standing before her. Yes, she’d known he was good with kids, that he helped get them off the streets, but this look in his eyes, this focus was something new to her. He’d seen some things in his life.
Questions were overwhelming her, but she didn’t know where to begin.
“Who is she? Were you planning on attacking me?” the boy shouted.
“She’s just my friend. We were walking together when I saw you take the purse from that woman. Lia followed us here. No one was planning on attacking you,” Shane told him, not moving forward or taking steps back, but making a firm stand, showing the kid he wasn’t afraid, but that he wouldn’t threaten him, either.
“Why should I believe anything you’re saying? You’re just another rich guy trying to lie. Maybe you’re another one of the sick guys who have wives at home but like to find street kids to fulfill your twisted fantasies,” he snarled.
“I know you have no reason to trust me, kid. I get that, but I’ve helped others, and all I want to do is get you to return that purse you stole, and then help you to get off the streets. If the cops get you, they won’t try to help. They’ll just throw you in the system, where things can get a whole lot worse,” Shane warned.
“How do I know you aren’t one of those undercover pigs?”
“If I were a cop, I’d have to tell you, wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know anything about the law,” the boy said, looking at Shane as if he were an idiot.
“Well, I can’t outright lie to you, kid. I’m not a cop. I guarantee that. I just saw you making a mistake. I watched you take that woman’s purse. Let’s just give it back to her and then have some lunch.”
“Why should I? She can afford to lose a little bit. I can’t,” he cried.
“How do you know that? Maybe she has a little boy of her own who needs to be fed. Yes, it’s easy to steal from people when you don’t know who they are, but you never really know what you’re taking. What if her last few coins are in that purse and you just robbed her of it? What if she can’t feed her kids now? Do you want to be responsible for another kid who could be even younger than you going hungry? It doesn’t feel good. We both know that.”
The boy looked at him, obviously fascinated with what he was saying, but he was still so frightened.
“Lia, you need to leave us be,” Shane said quietly as he waited for the kid’s next move.
“But, Shane —”
“Please, Lia? I can’t concentrate with you standing there. I’ll meet you back at the hotel.”
Lia could feel the stress emanating from him. She knew she was causing more harm than good at this point. She needed to back away. Besides, maybe it was time to get an officer. It didn’t seem that’s what Shane wanted, but she was very concerned with the knife the kid was holding. He might be young, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to wield a weapon with deadly force.
“OK,” she finally answered and began to back away. That’s when everything went wrong.
“Get down!” Shane shouted, but it was just a moment too late.
Lia heard a noise like a buzzing sound only seconds before she felt extreme pain in her torso and then her body locked up and she was writhing on the ground. Her last thought before blacking out was to hope that Shane wouldn’t do something foolish and get himself killed.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ari
“The rest of the college is long gone, all students snoring peacefully in their beds, or more likely half drunk by now, and we’ve missed our dinner reservation. Do you think we can leave this library sometime in the near future?”
“You can leave any time you want, Rafe,” Ari said in response to his snarky comment before grabbing the last book she’d been searching for.
“I want to leave with you. I just never imagined finding a certain book would take half a century,” he grumbled.
“Well, aren’t you being pleasant tonight?” she asked as she walked over to the desk and checked out her book.
“I had great plans for us,” he said as he escorted her from the building.
“Well, they have to wait a few more minutes. I promised Professor Owens that I would water his plants. He won’t be back until Monday.”
“Where’s his office?”
“In the Elson building, sixth floor.”
Rafe was silent as they made their way across the college campus Ari was attending for her PhD. When they reached the older section, he looked around at the lack of lighting.
“Were you planning on coming here alone?” he asked grimly.
“It’s fine, Rafe,” she said with exasperation. “I’ve been going here for years.”
“You told me a few months ago that you didn’t like being out late because you were worried about your safety,” he reminded her.
“I was just trying to avoid you then, as I should be doing now,” she grumbled as they entered one of the oldest buildings on campus. She loved the architecture of the hundred-year-old building, with its faded red brick and large turrets. The building reminded her of a medieval castle, and she had princess fantasies of leaning from one of the windows on the top floor and calling down to her Prince Charming.
That wasn’t Rafe.
As they stepped into the elevator, Rafe looked at the old doors with trepidation. “I think the stairs may be a wiser option here,” he said as the doors closed.
“Oh, quit worrying. I’ve used this elevator a million times.”
The elevator groaned in complaint as it ascended to the sixth floor and she promptly watered the plants before turning to find Professor Owens’s stash of sweets.
“One advantage of watering his plants is that I always get good candy,” she said with a smile as she snagged a few little bags and then a couple of sodas for the two of them.
Rafe reluctantly took his can before following her back out of the room and to the elevator.
They walked in and pushed the button for the ground floor. Too late, a loud screeching of metal alerted them that something was wrong, and the elevator tilted slightly to the side, causing them to lose their balance.
“What the hell?” Rafe shouted as he tugged her against him and grabbed the support bar on the wall.
Ari held on tight to Rafe, not too alarmed yet, but certainly eager to get out of the old contraption as it made its rickety decent.
After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds, the awful jerking motion stopped, but so did the elevator. There was no sound, no movement, nothing. Ari waited for the doors to open, but it didn’t happen.
Rafe reached for the “open door” button and pressed it several times.
Nothing.
Then he began pushing floor buttons.
Nothing.
Next, he pulled the emergency stop, which confused Ari, as they were already stopped, but if it got them out, she could hardly complain.
Again, nothing.
“There’s not an emergency phone in this thing?” Rafe asked Ari, as if she would know what was supposed to be in the danged elevator.
“Obviously, if you don’t see one, then that would be a big no,” she replied.
Taking out his cell phone, Rafe cursed. “It’s like we’re in the middle of nowhere. I have no service on my phone. Check yours,” he said, but he obviously didn’t hold
out hope that it would be any different for her.
“No. Not even a glimmer of service,” she said.
Ari swore that if he made one little comment about being right, if he noted just once that they should have used the stairs, then she was going to beat him with her soda can. She glared at him as if daring him to do just that.
“OK, we need to assess the situation. There has to be a guard who patrols the floors. Even a cleaning crew. We need to just get the doors open and call out when we hear someone,” he said as he moved toward the steel doors.
Ari nodded and watched him take off his jacket. She certainly shouldn’t feel heat in her stomach as he rolled up his sleeves and then gripped the doors and began prying them apart, but she was mesmerized as his back muscles flexed, making her want to run her fingers over the solid man in front of her.
Though she’d continually tried to resist Rafe, she’d just given up. Since they’d begun having sex again, she couldn’t seem to get enough.
All through her class this evening, he’d sent her looks that had her body burning and her stomach quivering. She would think that having sex with the man for weeks on end would satisfy her cravings, but it had served only to awaken them in a whole new way.
She was hungry for him, and being trapped wasn’t helping her overheated body one iota.
“Dammit!”
Ari jumped as his voice echoed through the small box. She noticed he’d managed to get the doors open about six inches, but no matter how much he worked at them, they weren’t going any farther.
“They always make it look so easy in the movies,” she said, making Rafe turn around with a look of exasperation at that comment.
“It’s a safety feature. I was just hoping this contraption was so old that it wouldn’t have it,” he muttered as he gave up. “We’re between floors, too. There’s nothing more we can do at this point but wait.”
He was resigned, but his frustration had seemed to fade.
“Want some candy?” she offered, pulling a couple of bags of chocolate from her purse.
For a moment she didn’t think Rafe was going to ease up, which would be disappointing, since they were going to be there for an indefinite amount of time, and it would be even worse if he intended to be a bear.