“All right, Miss Drama Coach,” Alex grumbled. “If you’ll kindly do your best to pretend you don’t mind my touch, I’ll do my best to pretend that I don’t want to touch you every second that we’re together.”
With that, he stomped off to the shower, not bothering to even turn on the hot water at all.
* * *
Stephanie was flustered in the wake of his admission. It wasn’t as if she had never encountered a man’s touch before. There had been plenty of sweaty hand-holding in her youth, and she’d kissed her fair share of toads, too, because she didn’t want to hurt their feelings or cause a scene at the time. But none of those men had been as dashing as Alexander Kent. She certainly hadn’t responded to any of them with the kind of mind-boggling intensity a simple touch from Alexander evoked from her. If she flinched at his touch, it was not because she found him unappealing, as he seemed to believe. Quite the opposite. She drew away because his touch branded her with a mark of desire unlike anything she had ever felt before.
The knowledge that he really did find her attractive was headier than all the champagne she had consumed on her wedding day. And far more intoxicating than the cheap stuff they had been served at the Vegas chapel where their mock ceremony had been performed.
They had been in town less than twenty-four hours before discovering that there was no listing in the phone book for the name of the private agency that Natalie had given them, so it was fortunate that the unlisted number she also provided was still in operation. The person who answered the phone when Alex placed his first call sounded professional and polite.
“You came highly recommended by a friend,” Alex purred into the receiver. “My wife and I are only going to be in the area for a short time and we were hoping to set up an appointment as soon as possible.”
Stephanie held her breath as he paused. When he spoke again, it was to assure the person on the other end of the line that “money was no object” and to reiterate that “time truly was of the essence.”
A moment later Alex scribbled down an address and a time on the hotel stationery.
“Good. The day after tomorrow then. I appreciate you expediting this. It means a great deal to my wife—and to me.”
Stephanie hadn’t said a single word herself, and yet she was shaking when Alex hung up the phone. This time when he reached out to calm her, she didn’t draw away. Instead, she sought his reassurance by squeezing his hand hard. Her lovely fantasy was about to take a grave detour.
“What do you say we swing by this address and scope the place out?” Alex asked.
Stephanie answered the question with a nod of her head. Seeing as it was the reason they were here in the first place, there could be no turning back now. While Alex was in the shower, she had put on a but-tery-soft pair of rose-colored silk slacks and a silk blouse of champagne pink that accentuated her dark hair and eyes. As the weather was a temperate seventy degrees, she took nothing more with her on the way out the door than her purse and a light cardigan.
“And so the wild roller-coaster ride begins,” she said with a brave smile as she pulled the door shut behind them.
She hadn’t meant for Alex to take that statement literally, but he distinctly remembered her saying that she wanted to ride the coaster that looked out over the city from the top of one of its tallest buildings. After driving by the illicit adoption agency, they parked down the street a little way and studied the clientele drawn to its services. To Stephanie’s surprise, the establishment was not in some seedy part of town. The nondescript one-storey building was as boring as the sand-colored brick it was made of. The upscale-looking couples who approached its front door did so less with the look of criminal intent and more with desperation etched upon their faces. The whole sordid business made her feel like crying.
Feeling her empathy seep into his own pores, Alex turned their rented Mercedes away from the staid brick building and toward what he claimed was sure to be the ride of her life. Stephanie didn’t bother to mention she’d been on that particular ride since the day he had exploded into her life like a tornado alighting on the set of the school play. This whole whirlwind adventure seemed like a dream, and keeping her feet on the ground was becoming more and more impossible with each passing minute. There was little use in telling Alexander that she hadn’t meant for him to take her cursory comment about riding a roller coaster seriously.
She would have to watch what she said more carefully in the future. To her surprise, Alexander Kent was turning out to be an excellent listener, never forgetting even the slightest request she made.
No wonder women were drawn to him like bees around a honey pot.
An invisible fist closed around her heart and squeezed hard. She would do well to remember that she was but one of many in a long line of Alexander Kent’s adoring fans. And if she wasn’t careful, she would end up being just another one of his conquests.
“In case our marks check us out while we’re in town, we need to keep up the facade,” was his standard response to Stephanie’s repeated protests that he needn’t go to any extra trouble on her account.
Ten minutes later she was clinging to him for dear life. Stephanie had loved roller coasters since she was a kid. As an adult, it was the one time she could forget all her inhibitions and quite literally scream with abandon. It is impossible to maintain one’s dignity on a roller coaster, and that was the allure of it for someone like Stephanie, who spent so much of her life upholding the image of a proper role model. She suspected her students would have been surprised to see her flying out over the edge of a building, twisting in great curlicues and risking life and limb for a couple of minutes of pure fun. The fact that she was hugging someone as gorgeous as Alexander the whole time didn’t take anything away from the experience either.
He looked slightly green when the ride lurched to a halt.
“Let’s go again,” she begged.
Alex acquiesced with a moan. He loved the way Stephanie looked all disheveled and wild-eyed when their coaster car came to a stop again and they struggled to get their footing on terra firma. He couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so much. Years of dangerous missions fell from his shoulders. For a brief moment he felt like a kid again.
And he had Stephanie to thank for it. A real honeymoon on a cruise around the world couldn’t be any more fun than their raucous frolicking in Tinsel Town. By the time they got back to their room to change into formal wear for the dinner show Stephanie had finally settled upon, he was ravenous. The concierge had their tickets ready as they came in from the tranquil Vegas weather looking windblown and red-cheeked from their wild ride with destiny.
For the evening festivities, Stephanie chose an off-the-shoulder midlength satin gown that matched the color of her hair. A lace shawl with delicate golden threading woven into the black lacing added an antique-chic look that was thoroughly modern. A vintage necklace, bracelet and set of earrings of bold red and amber stones showed her fair skin to its advantage. She wore her hair loosely pinned up, reminding Alex of a perfectly serene profile carved into a cameo. A strappy pair of black-velvet high heels provided him with a view of the shapeliest pair of legs he had ever seen. He supposed she normally went to great lengths to hide such gams to keep all the young boys’ eyes upon their books and not upon the librarian’s lovely legs.
He was practically drooling when she modeled the dress for him. “You’ve made it way too easy,” he told her.
Stephanie’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.
Alex explained with a smile. “For me to live up to my end of our bargain. Looking the way you do tonight, it’s not going to be any challenge at all to have eyes only for you.”
Stephanie blushed in the way he had so come to look forward to.
“I was only joking about that,” she assured him with a wave of her hand. “Not only do I realize that you are not dead and thereby not immune to pretty women, we’re not really married either. It was a stupid bet, and I release you
from any obligation you ever felt you might have had toward it.”
He was dressed in a dark pinstripe suit with a maroon silk shirt and a solid tie of a deeper shade of red. Not a strand of his short dark hair was out of place. As always he exuded an air of unquestionable style. In a word, he was the most handsome man Stephanie had ever seen. She felt like a princess in his commanding presence.
That look of appreciation he gave her was worth all the pain that devilish pair of heels was about to inflict upon her feet over the course of the evening. Indeed, Cinderella’s glass slippers couldn’t have been any more uncomfortable. Stephanie sighed over her own foolishness. Knowing full well that, like that fairy-tale archetype, her own fantasy was destined to come crashing to an end soon enough, she vowed to make the most of it while it lasted.
Eight
For the remainder of the evening Alex had eyes for no one but his lovely companion. The stars on the stage had nothing on those in Stephanie’s eyes as she took in the musical extravaganza. They had the best seats in the house, neither too far back to see well nor so close that they had to crane their necks.
Stephanie basked in the candlelight dinner preceding the musical production. After great hemming and hawing, she had finally settled upon the Will Rogers Follies. It had everything: great writing, wonderful sets, incredible dancing, an amazing rope-trick act done with fluorescent lighting, and lots and lots of beautiful women. And with the way Alexander watched her, she felt like one of those women sparkling like a jewel beneath the stage lights. For once in her life she truly felt sophisticated and sexy.
She had as many layers as the flaky phyllo dough used to make the honeyed baklava served as dessert. And she was just as sweet. Alex knew no other woman who would have been as good-natured about finding herself immersed in a mission fraught with danger. In close contact with the Cattleman’s Club, he had heard the horrifying news that Dr. Birkenfeld had somehow managed to escape and was on the loose once more. Seeing no need to worry his partner, he decided to keep that news to himself.
It wasn’t as if they were all alone on this mission. Before he’d ended the phone call, his good friend Darin ibn Shakir had assured him that he too would be hot on Birkenfeld’s trail. As one of the top trackers in the country, the ex-military man wouldn’t rest until his quarry was caught. The only concern Alex had was the sheikh’s propensity for working alone.
“There’s too much at stake here to indulge your lone-wolf philosophy,” he’d told Darin. “I’m bringing the FBI in on this.”
Darin hadn’t been happy. He wasn’t a man used to having his decisions questioned.
“We will speak on the matter again soon. It will take me some time to get my sources in order. Then the game of cat and mouse can begin in earnest,” Darin had promised him.
Despite a sense of foreboding, Alex felt reassured. The noose was already tightening around the “good” doctor’s neck.
Gazing at Stephanie, Alex was engulfed in a wave of protectiveness that washed over him and spat him out upon a lonely beach. The thought of anything bad happening to this woman was more than he could bear. He took a sip of his drink and considered the work that was to come.
Stephanie was too engrossed in the production to give any thought to the dark underbelly of the beast they were about to encounter. The only monsters inhibiting her gentle world were pimply-faced adolescents who failed to put their books back in proper order on the shelf or neglected to learn their lines and deliver them with proper ardor. He watched her face as she absorbed all the dazzle of this top-notch show. He hoped she wasn’t comparing her efforts with students to the professionals onstage. After all, her young cast back in Royal comprised neophytes, and her own performance in the days to come would have far greater-reaching consequences than of any of the paid players onstage.
During one romantic number, she relaxed into the hollow of his arm of her own volition. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she sighed contentedly. Alex drew her close and breathed in the scent of hair as fragrant as perfumed rainwater. It was no longer necessary to pretend that he was enamored with her. For the first time in his life, Alexander Kent was smitten, and it was the most frightening thing that ever happened to him.
Stephanie was tired of fighting her feelings. The attraction she felt for Alex ever since the day he’d sauntered into that high-school gym and puckered up for charity had not lessened a whit in the short time they had been together. She had tried to find him shallow and callous. He was neither.
Maybe he was just pretending to be blind to all the gorgeous women surrounding them, in an effort to make good on the wager he had lost. Maybe he was doing it in the interest of advancing their cover. Maybe he was actually coming to care for her. Whatever the reason, it made Stephanie feel cherished as a woman for the first time in her life.
She had spent a lifetime protecting her chastity as if it were a treasure valued above all others. Now she knew that even if Alex simply discarded her upon a pile of broken hearts, Stephanie had made up her mind to have him. She was tired of being such a good girl all the time. Tired of living life from the sidelines. Tired of protecting a virtue that left her feeling dried up and undesirable.
The ring on her finger might be a fake. It could just be a prop in their elaborate deception. But it gave her the courage to do what she had to do. If she didn’t at least try, she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life. After just a few short days spent in Alexander’s company, Stephanie was no longer willing to live in fear.
What greater gift could she give a man who had everything than the gift of herself?
And so it was that she curled up in his arms in the midst of watching a wonderful production touting the value of common sense and the need to follow one’s heart. She leaned in, and over the pounding of her own heartbeat, whispered something so seductive in his ear that Alex almost spilled his drink.
“What did you just say?” he asked as if afraid to trust his own ears.
“You heard me,” she said, taking his earlobe into her mouth and sucking on it gently. “I just might be convinced to model some of that lingerie you got me after all.”
His sharp intake of breath made Stephanie’s heart glad. At least he hadn’t laughed at her proposition or rejected it outright. He pulled her against him so that it was impossible for her to ignore his state of arousal.
The searching look he gave her when the lights came on left no doubt in her mind that he was as committed to the idea of consummating their make-believe marriage as she was. The ride home from the show was short and tense. As they crossed the hotel lobby, Stephanie reached for Alex’s hand. The way he looked at her would have convinced his harshest critic that he was a man in love.
Stephanie leaned against him in the elevator, and he silently cursed the other passengers who followed them inside. Alex couldn’t remember ever being so all consumed with the thought of making love. Thinking her a virgin and committed to putting their mission above all else, he had worked at being a perfect gentleman in her presence. That Stephanie herself initiated his racing pulse with such an erotic offer had him breathing hard as he inserted the key to their room and opened the door to an exciting new world of possibilities.
He turned on a single soft light in the corner of the room. Taking her shawl from her and dropping it upon the floor, he ran his hands the length of her exposed shoulders. A delicious shiver trailed his path. Gently he set her on the edge of the bed and bent down upon the floor before her. Stephanie’s eyes were wide and glistening with anticipation. Sensing her fear, Alex set about putting her at ease. Holding a shapely ankle in his hand, he slipped first one shoe and then the other from her feet.
Then he began the most sensuous massage Stephanie had ever imagined. His hands were magic. Rubbing the sole of her foot and teasing her toes with expert seduction, he smiled.
“This is just my way of checking to see if you have cold feet.”
It would be nigh onto impossible to get his libido under
control, but if the lady said she was having second thoughts, he was determined to exercise the utmost restraint by marching straight into the bathroom where he would simply lock himself in a cold shower for the rest of the night.
Stephanie was unable to find her voice to assure him that nothing about her was cold. Including her feet and her resolve. Afraid to tell him that he was bedding a thirty-one-year-old virgin, she simply nodded her head and decided to let nature take its course.
She wasn’t particularly disappointed that she never got the chance to model a single item of the sexy lingerie. Alex discarded all of the aplomb one would expect of a world-renowned playboy as quickly as he did all of her clothes. Oh, he was gentle; that much is true. He was also so undeniably eager to unwrap the present she made of herself that it settled in her mind once and for all the question of whether he really found her attractive.
“Let me look at you,” he said, hoping those words would free her breasts from arms that remained demurely crossed in front of them.
Still positioned on the edge of the bed, Stephanie took a deep breath and did as she was told. She arched her neck as gracefully as a swan, reached up to take the pins from her hair and shook it loose. Glorious waves cascaded over her shoulders and down her back in a dark, tempting waterfall.
Aching to explore the shadows created against her fair skin, Alex heard himself moan.
The sound put an enlightened smile upon Stephanie’s lips, and she reached out to divest him of his clothes. Eagerly he assisted. A moment later his shirt and tie and pants lay in a heap at the foot of the bed. Alexander stepped out of them, a naked warrior. Rather than cowering in fear at the sight of him pausing to don protection, Stephanie silently thanked him for thinking beyond the moment and opened her arms to him.
The Millionaires’ Club: Ryan, Alex & Darin Page 20