To Catch a Thief

by Christina Skye

  Something vibrated at her back. Nell blinked, trying to reach her pocket. “My phone—”

  “Hold on.” Dakota jammed a hand in her back pocket, pulled the phone out, flipped it open. “Hello,” he said tightly. “No, she’s not. She’ll call you back.” He snapped the phone shut and dropped it back into her pocket before she could protest. “It wasn’t your father. Anyone else can wait.”

  His long fingers skimmed her mouth. He nipped her bottom lip and sent up a new wave of heat, rich and maddening. Nell embraced every second, every pang. Needing to be open, needing to be in his arms.

  Needing to trust.

  Just for now.

  She watched the muscles lock at Dakota’s jaw as he stripped away the wispy pink panties and murmured rough praise against her skin. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, then slowly rested her face against his chest, hearing the hard, fast drum of his heart. His arms tightened around her and then turned gentle. How long since a man had touched her with such care and patience?

  Never.

  Never whispering her name, telling her in rough, simple detail how much he wanted her body moving against him, her legs urgent as they slid against his.

  Nell ran shaking hands across his chest, learning the rise and fall of every muscle. She bit the rigid line of his shoulder and then leaned down to tongue the warm skin above the waist of his pants.

  His stomach muscles tightened. “Nell.”

  “Too many clothes.” She shoved down his pants, shivering when she felt his erection, full and hot against her palms. She cupped him, holding his strength, hot and alive in her hands.

  “Nell, don’t—”

  She smiled at his low curse. “No orders. I want to remember how you taste, Dakota.”

  Her mouth closed and she explored the length of him, feeling him jerk against her mouth. He was salty with the edge of something smoky and male, a primitive mix that intrigued and seduced. She leaned down to savor more, to take and be taken.

  Abruptly his hand fisted in her hair, tugging her upright against his chest. “Damn it, Nell. No more.” His voice was hoarse, his mouth relentless on hers. He cupped her hips. Then his fingers slid lower to skim and tease.

  Need slammed her up, turned her inside out. Never this hunger, this madness as desire drove her to a blind place she’d never thought to know.

  Dakota bit her ear gently. “I could stop now, Nell. The choice is yours.”

  She managed to open her eyes, blinking up at him, lost in eddies of desire. Trying to understand what he was asking.

  “Tell me, Nell. Yes or no. Because you want this the way I do.”

  Protecting her, she thought. Even when she didn’t want to be protected.

  “Yes. Your sweat on my skin, your fingers in my hair.” She sighed as he sent her heart into a dizzy spiral with another smooth stroke of his callused fingers. Not just because of the madness and the heat, but because he made her feel alive, and Nell wanted every memory to hold when it was over.

  Only the hot, demanding now mattered. Only the racing madness and the gray-blue eyes that looked at her with something older and darker than hunger. And then she saw the cocky curve of his smile, holding that same fierce light of possession. “You ought to come with a warning, honey. A man could forget everything else touching you like this and wanting more.”

  For now, just for now, Nell wanted him to forget. His lips brushed her hair. His strong hands tightened.

  Holding.

  Just holding.

  “I thought that I’d lost you.” His voice fell. “When that stone came free, I was sure that you…”

  He stopped, breathed her name, his pulse very loud.

  So close when the stone had broken. It could have been Dakota.

  The old nightmare that was every climber’s darkest fear bit deep. But Nell willed away the fear and made another memory then, another moment to add to the string of yesterdays she would hold when desire burned away and the world settled back to safe, normal and boring.

  But now was not for normal. Now was for speed and fire, for claiming and being claimed. And for trust, even if it was temporary. Her body trusted him, logical or not.

  The first peak came, so fast she only had time to follow, her heart pounding. Before the shimmer ended, Dakota braced her against his arms and parted her legs farther, two fingers slipping high, finding her heat while she shattered and the world came apart again.

  Then his thumb caressed, working the exquisite point of hot sensation, making her cry out in pleasure as he found his way past her defenses, past all her careful rules, where trust glowed beyond desire, whispering in the play of his hands.

  He took her up surely, finding the heat and the yearning, learning what made her gasp, what made her nails rake his back.

  “Dakota, you aren’t—”

  “Shh.” His fingers stirred, drove, inflamed.

  It started again, tearing at her senses, and Nell reached out for him as the only sure anchor in the spinning world of fresh sensation. While desire keened, she fell into color and heat, her arms around Dakota’s rigid shoulders.

  She whispered his name without knowing it.

  And the sound made Dakota’s eyes darken.

  This matters, he thought, shaken by her response. She was honest and open in his arms like a long-forgotten dream he’d never hoped to find real and solid. She was all that—along with stubborn and quick and terrifying in her bravery. He didn’t want to think about losing her. He couldn’t lose her. Danger and risk defined his world, willingly faced, and the possibility of death was never more than seconds away. But the thought of Nell plunging from a wall left him shaken.

  He realized that all his careful distance was gone. He had crossed a bridge, real but invisible, and now he was caught by an unexplainable need to protect her.

  Distance be damned.

  Need drove him. As he drank in Nell’s ragged cries of pleasure, felt her slick heat on his hands, Dakota knew he would never have enough of her.

  Every rule forgotten, he fed her desire and felt her body rise, driven to the last edge of passion and then falling, falling, while her hair slid through his fingers and her knees gave way.

  He wrapped her legs around him, his forehead against hers. Claiming and claimed, he thought grimly. Taking and taken. There would be no forgetting her or any moment of what had just happened. Dakota knew that nothing would ever come close again.

  SHE WAS LEANING, Nell thought drowsily.

  Her hands were looped around his shoulders, her knees jelly. Her body was braced against his.

  Leaning. Trusting.

  The two things she’d vowed she would never do.

  She felt a laugh bubble through her at the thought of so many broken rules. Yet leaning didn’t seem so dangerous now. Was it because of spiking desire and good sex? No, amazing sex, she corrected.

  But there had been more than heat and urgency between them. The trust had come with the brush of his hands, gentle and possessing; in the power of his wintry eyes, drinking up the sight of her, hoarding it as if he had too few pleasures.

  Nell sensed that Dakota had given up his own pleasures for too many others. She wanted to change that.

  Things were suddenly very complicated.

  “Back among the living?”

  She turned her head and the power of those cool blue-gray eyes rocked her, as if in their silent force they could read all her secrets.

  “I’m…working on it.” Something fluttered in her chest when he bent his head, kissing the long welt at her neck.

  “Take your time. I’m not complaining.”

  No going back, Nell thought. But the idea didn’t frighten her as much as it should have.

  “Dakota, I—”

  “We probably should—”

  They spoke at once, skirting the force of unanswered questions. Suddenly the possibilities hurt, Dakota thought. Now he understood why Ryker insisted on no families and no personal commitments. Things were going to get
messy and complicated.

  He also understood why two of his Foxfire team members had broken that rule and faced Ryker without backing down.

  “Wait. Let me say this.” Nell’s fingers played along the taut muscles of his stomach. “You…were amazing. So careful.” She smiled at his sharp, indrawn breath as her fingers lingered. “Thank you.”

  She was thanking him for something that had turned his world inside out and made him feel alive again? Dakota frowned, trying to stay focused as her hands shredded his logic. “Trust me, no thanks required, honey.”

  She leaned her forehead on his chest, smiling crookedly as if she couldn’t believe what she was doing. Then she looked down at the phone, at her fallen clothing, at the photo that had dropped out of his pocket.

  She took a deep breath. “Dakota, you didn’t…” She touched his chest, frowning. “You weren’t—”

  “No, I didn’t. You call that a problem? I needed your heat in my hands and your cries as you slipped over the edge.” Something dark and primitive about those memories made him smile. “I hope you aren’t complaining now.”

  “Not me.” A ragged laugh. A wave of color streaking her cheeks. “Definitely not me. I just thought—”

  “Don’t think. Not about this,” he said roughly. “We’ll think it to death.”

  After what felt like a long time she nodded. His hands lingered on her cheeks. Then finally he released her.

  Though it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Nell, we need to—”

  “Yeah. Work.” She shivered as his hands lifted, slid through her hair, testing the soft strands. “There’s still the problem of the castle you need to break into.”

  “Lousy timing.” He watched color spill through her face, and then he stepped back, holding out her clothes. “So what do you have in mind?”

  She took a deep breath. He watched her refocus. “I want to chalk up your moves on a different wall. I’m worried about that traverse.”

  “Let me do the worrying, Nell. All you have to do is tell me what to climb and how.”

  “But—”

  Dakota brought her palm to his mouth and kissed the scraped skin gently. He saw the broken fingernails, the bloody climbing tape around her palm.

  Danger suited her, he thought. But he didn’t have to like it. “There’s a new game plan. You’re going to relax while I pack up a few things. And this time really rest. We could be up all night.”

  He noted the smudge of blue under her eyes as she straightened her clothes. Running on adrenaline, he thought. He needed her strong, rested and focused. They had one hell of an evening in front of them.

  “Stop doing that,” she muttered.

  “Doing what?”

  “Protecting me.”

  “Afraid I can’t stop, honey.”

  Footsteps echoed outside in the hall. Behind Nell the doorknob turned. Dakota put a finger to her mouth.

  “Locked? That’s odd.” Marston tried the door again, and then his footsteps moved off down the corridor.

  “One question.” Nell looked up at Dakota. “When are you going to sleep?”

  “Not a problem. I’ve got a high metabolism and good genes. I’ll sleep later tonight.”

  “I may have some ideas about tonight, Navy.” Her hand opened, warm and firm on his chest. Heat washed her face.

  The warm thing moved in his chest, capturing him. If only they had more time…

  But his cell phone chimed from the pocket of his pants. He knew the coded ring.

  Izzy.

  “I’ve got to take this, Nell.”

  “Of course you do.” She frowned, brushed her fingers across his jaw. “You’re too tough for you own good, Lieutenant.”

  At her touch another part of him fell away, open to her and to possibilities he’d never considered. If he had any sense, he would have been frightened, but instead all he felt was invincible.

  He unlocked the door and followed Nell out into the hall. “Don’t forget to clean those cuts,” he ordered. “Everything matters, remember?”

  She dragged a hand through her hair and summoned a smile. “Teach a man a few new climbing tricks and see how he turns insufferable.”

  “Lie down and rest. That’s an order. You’re no good to me if you’re cross-eyed with exhaustion. We’ve got a long night of work ahead of us.”

  “The student’s giving orders to the teacher?”

  “Damned straight, since the teacher refuses to take care of herself.” He pulled out his phone and answered curtly. “Smith here. What have you got?”

  “You want the good news or bad news?”

  “No,” Dakota snapped.

  “Too bad. I’ll be there in ten.”

  HE LOOKED INTO her room a few minutes later.

  He wasn’t taking a chance that she’d sneak out and try to climb another wall, but it appeared that she had actually done what he’d asked for once.

  If you could call it sleeping, Dakota thought wryly. The woman was as restless asleep as she was awake. One arm dangled off the bed, the pillow was jammed over her head and the covers were twisted in knots across her shoulder. She muttered something about footholds, swinging out an arm, almost as if she were climbing a wall in her sleep.

  He realized that was exactly what she was doing. Warmth nudged at Dakota’s chest, drawing out a smile.

  He smoothed her sheets, freed her arm, tucked in the blanket that was about to drop on the floor any second. The rich scent of roses drifted through the room, carried on a cool, fresh wind.

  Beautiful house, Dakota thought. There was something brooding about the place, as if it had seen too much history, both joys and tragedies.

  Too bad he and Nell wouldn’t have time to explore it. He closed the door softly as he heard the sound of a car coming up the driveway.

  NELL LAY very still, her eyes closed.

  His touch awakened her. She knew that he’d come to see she was asleep. He was relentless, focused on every detail; Nell was sure that you didn’t get to be a SEAL by being lazy or careless.

  But somewhere in the past two hours things had turned personal and she still didn’t understand it. She took a deep breath, listening to Dakota’s footsteps receding down the hall.

  She wasn’t shelving her emotions anymore. She wasn’t holding her distance. If you were going to break the rules, you might as well break them in a big way by sleeping with a man you barely knew and trusting him with your life.

  Most dangerous of all, trusting him with your dreams.

  She turned her head into the pillow. Every nerve felt raw, as if it had been short-circuited, and her knees were putty.

  She remembered the gentle way he’d straightened her sheets and pulled the blanket around her. Protecting her, even when he thought she was asleep.

  But who was going to protect her heart when the job was over?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  IZZY DROPPED two bags on the gravel driveway and stared up at the abbey’s chalk-streaked wall. “Looks like bad postmodern graffiti art.”

  “Try handholds. Nell chalked out the fastest route up, consistent with the dimensions provided from the Glenmor photos.” Dakota followed the chalk line upward, frowning.

  Izzy followed his gaze. “What?”

  “See that ragged line about ten feet from the roof? The damn ledge pulled free. Nell…almost fell.”

  “That’s a twenty foot drop,” Izzy said grimly. “She was free-climbing, no ropes?”

  Dakota nodded. “She was showing me a move when it happened. I broke a window and got her in time, but I sure as hell didn’t like it.”

  Neither man spoke. Izzy cleared her throat. “She knows what she’s doing, Dakota. Right now she’s the best teacher you’ve got.”

  “Don’t you think I know that? Otherwise I wouldn’t be here watching her take this kind of risk. She refuses to sit on the ground and give orders. No, she has to be on the wall right beside me.”

  “Most good teachers teach best in the fie
ld.” Izzy noted the harsh edge to Dakota’s voice.

  It was getting personal again. Izzy had seen it enough times with other members of Foxfire to recognize all the signs of impatience, irritation and finally calm acceptance. He hated it when things got hot and crossed the line. Why couldn’t people be mature and sensible, leaving emotions where they belonged, preferably on a neighboring continent?

  “So what’s the news you have for me?”

  “The auction is set. It’s tomorrow night.”

  Dakota’s eyebrow rose. “You’re sure?”

  “I have people scattered through the pubs near Glenmor Castle. They tell me all of the local staff were fired abruptly, told their services were not needed. According to local staff gossip, a big event is supposed to take place there tomorrow. Cooks, waiters and cleaning staff have been flown in from overseas. I’ve managed to get someone on the inside working the kitchen, but security is tight. There’s no way to do any snooping without raising suspicion.”

  “Anything more from Jordan MacInnes?”

  “Nothing. My contact will make every effort to reach him. If Jordan’s being watched closely, we may not hear from him again.”

  “With so much money at stake, the sellers won’t trust anyone. So what’s the good news?”

  “I’m a little weak on my Scottish history, but Draycott has located a sister castle to Glenmor, renovated by the same man under orders from Edward II. It’s nearly an exact match to the structure in Scotland, and it’s less than twenty miles from here. Draycott has cleared your visit with the estate manager, so you and Nell won’t be disturbed.”

  “The owners?”

  “Off on a Mediterranean cruise.”

  Dakota thought it over. Training on a wall with similar design and materials would be a huge help. But even there, he couldn’t risk being watched. Surprise was crucial to the success of the mission.

  “You’re sure no one is there? Not even staff?”

  “All taken care of. The staff has been given three days off, according to Nicholas.” Izzy pointed to his bags. “I’ve located an oxygen rebreather unit for your swim in. Judging by the latest thermal and infrared scans from the air, the main water pipe running into the moat is operational.”