Undercover Vows

by Judi Lind

  As more and more people crowded into the room, their chairs were jostled closer and closer together until Keely found herself sitting thigh to thigh with Noah. She tried to concentrate on the fiery Mexican dancers who were doing a very seductive flamenco, but her concentration kept drifting to the warm pressure against her thigh.

  The temperature in the room started to rise as the excitement level of the dancers reached a fevered pitch. The woman’s red satin skirt flashed as she was wooed by the male dancer. Then their roles switched and she became the pursuer, her dark eyes half-closed and enticing.

  Noah’s hand closed over hers. She glanced at him; his full attention was on the flamenco dancers, but his thumb rubbed its own sensuous path on her skin.

  On stage, the tempo increased. Faster and even faster until they whirled in a breathtaking display of color and pure sexuality. Keely swiped a hand across her forehead. It was so hot in the room. Her pulse was pounding, almost in time with the chattering footfalls of the dancers.

  Then Noah’s fingers moved over her own and her breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, Keely understood. The only rising heat in the room was being produced by her own body. Assisted, of course, by Noah Bannister’s unconscious gesture.

  She breathed in relief when the provocative dance ended in a blaze of blue lights and flashing feet.

  Then a marimba combo took the stage and encouraged the audience to try their own dancing skills on the postage-stamp dance floor. When the leader asked for requests, Keely was mortified by Willie Hebert jumping to his feet and announcing the Bannisters were celebrating their wedding and “How about a real slow dance for the lovers?”

  The band was only too happy to comply. Since there seemed to be no alternative, Keely and Noah rose to their feet to a smattering of applause. A blinding spotlight followed them onto the deserted dance floor.

  As the combo broke into a hauntingly sensuous version of “Besame Mucho,” Noah hauled her into a close embrace. The past ten years faded into oblivion as she snuggled into arms that had once held her through a hundred dances. The slightly off-key singer crooned about needing many kisses from his lover and Keely could suddenly identify with that need.

  It had been so long since she’d given herself to the music—and to the man holding her. He pulled her tighter, until she could feel his hot breath on her neck, the brush of his lips caressing the tender area behind her ear. She felt like a candle left in the hot sunlight—she was melting fast.

  As the music changed tempo, she barely noticed, so transported was she into another time, a softer, gentler place.

  A world that held only the two of them. A time she wanted to last forever.

  The dreamy mood was interrupted when Willie Hebert cut in. Holding her stiffly at arm’s length, he said, “You two dance like you’ve been together for years instead of a few weeks.”

  “Mmm.” She smiled noncommittally. “How about you and Florence, do you go dancing a lot?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, she’s not much of a party animal, I’m afraid. So how did you say you and Noah happened to miss the boat—ship, I mean?”

  Recalling the Heberts own excuse for becoming stranded south of the border, she said, “Florence and I seem to have a lot in common. I was shopping, too.”

  “Is that a fact?” But there was a sudden, subtle shift in his tone. The buffoonish tourist had disappeared, replaced by a far more thoughtful inquisitor.

  Keely was greatly relieved when the dance ended and Noah reclaimed her.

  As if the party mood had deflated, no one returned to the dance floor. They sat at the tiny table a while longer, indulging in desultory conversation, but clearly something had happened to alter the chemistry between the two couples.

  Finally, Flo yawned. “I don’t know about you kids, but I’ve had about enough fun for one evening. What say, hubby, ready for bed?”

  Willie drained his beer and hoisted himself out of his chair. Giving Noah an exaggerated wink, he snickered, “Hey, when you’ve been married as long as we have and the little woman still can’t wait to get you in the sack, must be doing something right, huh?”

  Noah smiled weakly and lifted his hand in a farewell gesture. As they made their way out of the patio bar back into the main lobby, he turned to Keely and grinned. “Whew! A little bit of Willie-boy goes a long way, doesn’t it?”

  She smiled ruefully. “Besides being a bit of a chauvinist piglet, there’s something rather disconcerting about him. I mean, he plays the backwoods buffoon so well I keep expecting him to show up in baggy overalls and chewing on a piece of hay!”

  “I know what you mean.” Noah nodded thoughtfully and stared into the lobby, where the Heberts could still be seen in front of the elevators. “It feels like an act. As if Willie’s acting out the stereotype of a Midwestern rube.”

  “Do you think he’s involved in this?”

  He shrugged and rose to his feet. “Let’s say he sure bears watching. Enough about Willie Hebert. How about a moonlit stroll on the beach?”

  “Sounds heavenly,” she murmured. In fact, walking on a moon-drenched beach with Noah was the best idea she’d heard in a very long time.

  Noah dropped a handful of pesos on the bright plaid tablecloth and draped his arm around Keely’s waist, leading her to a side door that led directly outside. The stiff breeze coming off the ocean had picked up in intensity. Without the sun’s warming rays, the air was brisk to the point of chilling.

  On their way to the beachfront, they looped along the wooden sidewalk beneath their bedroom window. Keely paused as a gust of wind whipped around the corner. Although Noah’s body served like a protective windbreak and blocked most of the breeze, Keely drew a sharp breath at the sudden coolness on her flushed skin. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “You’re cold!” Noah exclaimed, drawing her closer. “Maybe we should just go back inside.”

  “Oh no!” she protested, a bit too enthusiastically. “I’ll be fine, really. A good brisk walk will warm me right up.” She hated to admit, even to herself, how much she was looking forward to a little quality time with Noah, without pretense or a scripted agenda to follow. Maybe they could even recover some of the good times they’d shared long ago.

  Noah stopped and looked back at the hotel. “I wasn’t exactly thinking of a speed walk, you know. I had something more…leisurely in mind. Why don’t I run upstairs and grab your shawl?”

  “Oh, no, that’s too much trouble. I’ll be fine.”

  But he’d already released her waist and was trotting toward the side entrance. “Won’t take a couple of minutes. Enjoy the moonlight until I get back.”

  While she waited Keely leaned against the sturdy trunk of a towering palm tree. Beneath her thin cotton blouse she could still feel the warm imprint of Noah’s hand against her waist. Earlier she’d been disturbed by the way her body had betrayed her during the flamenco performance, when she’d been too aware of Noah’s presence for comfort.

  Even now, with Noah out of reach and out of sight, she couldn’t rid her mind of him. Each moment he was away from her seemed endless, she acknowledged, glancing up toward their second-floor window. The understanding of how much she had come to count on his presence was startling. And terribly disconcerting. For ten years Keely had trained herself to rely on no man, to keep her own counsel and let no one slip beneath her defensive shell. Yet, somehow, Noah had managed to do just that. Again.

  Now, for instance, he’d only run up two flights of stairs to retrieve her shawl, but to her overwrought senses it seemed he’d been gone entirely too long. She glanced up at their window, expecting to see the light flash on; instead, what she saw was both confusing and unnerving.

  Initially Keely mistook the pinpoint of brightness for a flickering shadow cast by the moonlight. But as she watched its stealthy pattern sweep the expanse of their hotel room, she quickly realized someone was covertly searching with the aid of a flashlight It wasn’t Noah; he hadn’t enough time to re
ach the room yet. Besides, he would have simply turned on the overhead light.

  What would happen if he walked in and caught the intruder off guard?

  She opened her mouth to shout a warning but realized that to do so would also alert whoever was in their room. She could do nothing to help, unless…Keely turned and ran toward the door that Noah had so recently entered, hoping to catch him before he burst in on their unwelcome guest.

  She’d only gone a few feet, however, when she heard a commotion from above. The unmistakable sounds of furniture being knocked over, of men shouting and then…

  A loud, reverberating gunshot echoed in the night.

  Chapter Twelve

  Walking down the empty corridor toward their hotel room, Noah found himself whistling a jaunty tune. He didn’t have to wonder why. He was truly enjoying his evening with Keely, and looking forward to what else the night might offer. Thanks to the magical Mexican moon, the strain between them had mercifully faded into oblivion, at least for one night. But that was enough right now. Tomorrow could take care of itself.

  Tonight he was grateful for the opportunity to explore the possibility of what might have been. If he and Keely hadn’t been such adolescent fools so long ago.

  Pausing at the door for his room key, Noah’s thoughts were lingering with the lovely woman waiting below, so it was without second thought that he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

  He turned to reach for the light switch when he was hit from behind with tremendous force.

  He staggered forward, falling onto his face beside the bed. His head was ringing from the blow and his eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness, but Noah sensed another imminent attack. Rolling left, he slipped under the bed just as something bright and heavy flashed past his eyes and thudded on the bare tile floor.

  Instinctively reaching out, Noah snagged the weapon the intruder had dropped. He’d hoped for a gun but was grateful for the comforting heft of the stainless-steel flashlight.

  Sliding farther under the massive bed, Noah slipped out the other side and stood to face his attacker. He was still woozy from the blow to his head, but he managed to hold tight to his makeshift weapon while he concentrated, trying to regain his equilibrium. He was able to discern a faint movement on the other side of the bed as the intruder took a stealthy step toward him.

  Noah raised the flashlight over his head and poised on the balls of his feet. When the shadowy figure inched within striking distance, Noah swung with all his might.

  A heavy moan followed by an ugly curse told him his swing had solidly connected.

  The figure stumbled backward, falling against the dresser. The ceramic vase filled with fresh wildflowers hit the tile floor with a crash. Seizing the momentary advantage, Noah leapt forward, swinging the flashlight in a wide arc in front of him. The steel batonlike weapon swished through the air, but the attacker had backed out of range.

  “Come on, you bastard,” Noah gritted between clenched teeth. “Why don’t you come out and fight like a man?”

  The stranger’s heavy breath as he panted with exertion was the only response, until a flash of moonlight filtering through the open window exposed his silhouette. He was holding a gun.

  Grabbing the wooden chair from the dressing table, Noah pitched it with all his might into the interloper’s chest.

  The air sucked out of the man’s lungs with a ferocious whoosh and Noah followed up by ramming his head into his stomach. But the determined burglar didn’t release his hold on the gun.

  Noah hadn’t trained for years in hand-to-hand combat to be repelled by the aggressiveness of his opponent. Locking both his hands around the hand holding the gun, Noah dragged him across the room until they crashed into the dresser. The man struck Noah’s wrist with the gun butt, and the piercing pain caused him to drop his only protection. The flashlight rattled across the tile floor before disappearing beneath the bed.

  Lunging after it, he held on to his opponent’s wrist as they careened into the bedside table, knocking it over with a loud whack.

  In that moment Noah realized the sounds of their furious battle could be heard in the courtyard below. Keely was bound to hear the noise and come running upstairs. Right into the firing line.

  Fear for her safety gave Noah the physical strength to challenge Goliath. With a roar of unadulterated fury, he threw the shadowy figure to the floor.

  But the intruder held on to the gun, and in the murky moonlight Noah saw the barrel swivel toward him. He ducked just as a loud explosion pierced his eardrums, then a dark gouge appeared in the white plaster near his head.

  Before he could move, the gun barked again.

  Dropping to the floor, Noah rolled and crawled across the room until he could see the line of light from beneath the bedroom door. Five more feet. If only he could get to his feet, open the door and run for safety—before the assassin nailed him.

  The would-be killer had lost sight of him in the darkness, Noah realized, as the man’s footfalls padded across the room toward him. He stepped on the throw rug two feet away and paused, listening for any telltale sounds that would betray Noah’s whereabouts. Noah held his breath. Only a protective shadow from the immense wardrobe hid his body and kept the man from spotting him and shooting him at point-blank range.

  Using the dregs of his energy, Noah’s fingertips inched to the edge of the throw rug and he yanked with all his might, knocking the assailant off his feet. Growling with fury, he smashed the gunman’s head against the tile floor.

  What he wouldn’t give for his own revolver right now! The man had fallen onto his gun and Noah couldn’t reach it. His only hope was to run and get Keely to safety before the man recovered from the repeated blows he’d taken.

  Rolling away from the stunned man, Noah stumbled toward the door, tripping over Keely’s straw bag, which had been knocked into the middle of the floor during the melee. Remembering why he’d come upstairs in the first place, to fetch Keely’s shawl from the straw bag, Noah bent over and searched for the elusive bag.

  By now the intruder was rising groggily to his feet. Noah knew he had only a few more seconds.

  If it wasn’t for Keely, he’d stay and somehow beat the truth out of their night visitor, then turn the creep over to the police. But Noah was unsure about the sanctity of certain members of the Ensenada police. Was it mere chance those officers had happened upon him while he was chasing the purse snatcher? Was it simply politics that kept them detained in Captain Suarez’s office until long after the Empress had set sail?

  Since he was certain a payoff had been made to someone in the San Diego PD, how could he assume that the Mexican police hadn’t been bribed, as well?

  He couldn’t risk it, not with Keely’s life at stake.

  Noah’s scrambling fingers at last found the familiar feel of the straw handle.

  The man was now on his feet and struggling to raise his gun hand. Frantic, Noah searched for something to use as a weapon, but only a couple of bed pillows were in reach. Snatching the white bedspread, he tossed it over the assailant’s head like a net.

  With any luck the maneuver would give him a few precious seconds to make his escape. Noah dodged into the hall and ran for the back stairs. Even as he rounded the corner, he could hear footsteps pounding up the steps.

  Someone had heard the scuffle—hotel security or the assailant’s partner? He had no way of knowing so he simply ran back down the rear stairs.

  He skidded to a halt on the landing, realizing someone was running up the stairs toward him. Noah hunkered down in preparation for tackling the second opponent, when Keely’s slight form came into view.

  Her face was a white mask in the darkness. Wordlessly, Noah grabbed her hand and pulled her down the narrow staircase behind him. Like the true professional she was, she sensed and accepted his urgency without question. Her grip was firm and her breathing was even. Noah couldn’t believe how well she was maintaining her cool.

  When they reached the bottom leve
l, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming toward them.

  “Quick!” Keely whispered. “This way.”

  She pointed to a side door all but hidden by a maid’s cleaning cart parked in the dim hallway.

  They slipped out the door and emerged in the courtyard they’d seen beneath their bedroom window. Trapped! He knew if they tried to make it across the open courtyard, they’d be exposed to anyone following them through the side door, not to mention the gunman in their bedroom. Their best chance was to hide and try to bluff the killer into believing they were gone.

  Sliding along the shadowy surface of the building, they ducked down behind a large Dumpster and waited. With a few tersely whispered words, Noah explained about the gunman waiting in their room.

  A shadow fell over the arched doorway leading to the courtyard. His heart beating a primal rhythm in his chest, Noah maneuvered between Keely and the doorway. If the gunman burst into the courtyard, Noah only hoped he could distract him long enough for Keely to make an escape.

  To his immense surprise, no one followed them.

  “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  “Yes,” she answered, her breath pumping in short, furious bursts. She huddled against him and wrapped her arms around herself as scant protection against the cool night breeze. “Why did you stop to get my bag? He could have killed you!”

  “Shh,” Noah cautioned. Keeping one eye on the door, he reached into the straw bag and pulled out Keely’s shawl. “Here. Wrap this around yourself and let’s get out of here.”

  “What about the box in the hotel safe?”

  Damn! He’d forgotten about the engraving plates. Well, they’d just have to come back for them later. Right now he wanted to get Keely far away from this hotel before they fell prey to a second assault.

  “We can pick up the plates tomorrow when the lobby’s full of people. I don’t think he’d try anything in front of a dozen witnesses.”