A Dangerous Engagement

by Candace Irvin

  He took another step.

  "Please."

  Against his better judgment, he stopped—and turned.

  She was less than ten inches away. Close enough to touch. Close enough for him to see the flecks of gold in her dark brown eyes. Close enough for him to feel the full brunt of that heady mix of sultry sex and regal cool. Close enough for him to taste the shadow of fear. He had to hand it to her. She was good. If he didn't know better, he'd swear it was real. It certainly looked real. But it wasn't. And neither was she.

  Manny was right. Those wide eyes, thick lashes and pouting lips made a man want to dive right in. If he drowned, so what? What better way to go, than to go clinging to those silk tresses, slipping into that smooth, honeyed flesh. Only the scar to the right of her lips marred it. As stunning as she was, it would have been easy to miss. Thin and no more than an inch in length, it was a shade lighter than her complexion. But it caused the otherwise smooth skin at her mouth to pucker slightly. He was grateful. When he looked into this face in the coming weeks, that scar would remind him of why he was really in Panama. And what he'd come to do.

  He crossed his arms. "Well?"

  She blinked. Again, innocence incarnate.

  She was either exceptionally good or exceptionally high. At the moment, it didn't matter which. After all the details that had gone into setting up this cover, he'd have sworn on his Delta patch it was solid. But those thirty minutes he'd spent cooling his heels in the foyer proved it wasn't. Anna's untimely appearance confirmed it. He'd either done or said something during the past few days that had raised Luis's suspicions, or this was another one of Loony Louie's games. Either way, it was time to force the bastard's hand.

  Luis was supposed to be desperate? Then he could do the crawling for a change. "Lady, I don't have all day. If you have something to say that'll stop me from walking out of here and climbing aboard the next plane out of Panama, you'd better spill it now. But before you do, you should know that I already know who you are and what you used to do. I also know you sold out, whether or not the charges stuck. You're no better than me, honey. In fact, I'd say you're worse."

  Her spine stiffened. Obviously he'd struck a nerve.

  Good. It was time to strike another. "I'm betting Luis flew you home early so you could give him your professional assessment of me and my skills. Why not do us both a favor and cut to the chase. Do I have the job or not?"

  Her gaze narrowed at the condescension dripping from his voice. The regal tilt to her chin returned, too. "You're not the only one who's inquired, you know."

  He smiled. "But I am the best."

  Her gaze was focused now and sharpening by the second. Whatever she was on was wearing off. She crossed one smooth, bare arm over the other, locking both down as her chin cocked another notch. "So you say. Yes, your references check out. But they could be faked. The last man's were. How can Luis be sure you know how to light a match, let alone rig a bomb? How can I?"

  If she hadn't mentioned Manny, he might have let it go.

  But she had. And he couldn't.

  He closed in, ignoring the irony of her innocent floral scent as he plowed his hands into the dark cloud of her hair. He shoved the silk weight past her shoulders, his thumb timing the pulse throbbing in her throat as he leaned down to pour his promise directly into her ear. "You want proof of my skills? Lady, you just give the word. I'll light your fuse like it's never been lit before. And then I'll set you on fire." He felt more than heard her strangled gasp.

  He allowed himself the satisfaction of a grim smile at the ripple of shock that followed. Her hair swirled into place as he straightened and stepped away.

  "As for your cousin, you tell Luis he has twenty-four hours to make up his mind. If he wants a demonstration of my professional skills, fine. I'll blow up all three locks on the goddamned Canal if he wants, but then I get paid." With that, he spun on his heel and headed for the front door.

  This time, he didn't stop.

  * * *

  She was doomed.

  The second the double doors snapped shut, Anna slumped against the wall of the courtyard. It was either that or fall flat on her face. Even with the back of her head braced against the whitewashed stucco, she could still feel her brain spinning around inside her skull…or was that outside it? At the moment, she couldn't be sure. The only thing she was sure of was that she'd blown it. Royally.

  Tom Wild was right about one thing. Luis had ordered her home early from her so-called vacation visiting her college sorority sister. An entire week early. She'd deliberately spent the first four days alternately grieving and then climbing the walls and shuttered windows of Samantha's guest room just in case Luis came down with yet another case of sudden paranoia. He hadn't. What he'd contracted was worse.

  Complete trust. And she'd just broken it.

  Luis was not going to be pleased. If she'd learned anything about her cousin and his activities these past three months, it was that to keep Luis happy was to stay alive. Agent Foster might have turned out to be a bastard and a half, but he'd also hit the nail on the head three months ago.

  Luis was a monster.

  Anna stiffened against the wall.

  But maybe, just maybe, there was a way to salvage her career and her life. She vaguely recalled Luis telling her he'd be back by ten. Of course, that had been before the champagne he'd forced her to drink had kicked in, mixing with the Percocet Dr. Matthews had slipped into her hand as she'd staggered into a waiting cab ten hours earlier and twenty-five hundred miles away. God only knows what time Luis would really be home, much less what time it was now.

  Anna raised her wrist and carefully focused on the tiny slivers of gold that ticked off the hours on her watch, relieved with the seventy-minute reprieve she'd been granted. Given the way her eyes were beginning to respond, she just might be able to skim the dossier her cousin had compiled on the man she'd just met. A man she'd been so woozy while meeting, she even couldn't recall his face. All she remembered were steel-blue eyes and a voice filled with gravel and barely restrained, almost seething, anger.

  Sex. Just like that, she could feel it again. Feel him.

  She might not be able to pick Tom Wild out in a lineup to save her soul, but she would never forget the wave of pure erotic fury that had poured over her when she'd challenged the man's skills. Or had that just been another hallucination? If the dull throb beneath her right breast wasn't already beginning to increase in pace and intensity, she might have chalked up the entire day to her drug-induced imagination. As it was, the more the fog in her head dissipated, the sharper the ache in her chest became.

  Maybe she could rig a cool compress while she studied the references Tom had provided her cousin?

  It was worth a shot. It beat taking another one of those blasted tablets. No matter how bad the pain got, it wasn't worth losing her life over. If she didn't have an answer for Luis when he returned, it could very well come to that.

  Unlike his prospective employee, Luis knew her far too well to ever assume she was simply high on drugs, let alone addicted. A passing comment from Tom was all it would take to rouse her cousin's trademark paranoia. Luis would crawl into her life and examine it like he hadn't in months. Despite Agent Foster's assurances, she knew darn well it wouldn't take long for Luis to discover she hadn't been lying on a massage table earlier this morning—but on an operating one.

  Even if she could concoct an explanation, Luis wouldn't wait for it. She'd be dead before she could open her mouth.

  Like Manny.

  Anna shoved the image from her mind and straightened against the wall. There was only one thing she could do. She had to talk to Tom Wild before her cousin did. Somehow, she'd have to convince the man to keep his mouth shut, even as she figured out how to get him to open it far enough for her to satisfy Luis's lingering questions. Unfortunately, she couldn't risk contacting Foster so soon after arriving back in Panama. There was no time to e-mail Samantha, either. Even if her sorority sister got
the message immediately, it would take time for Sam to run a check on Tom with the level of detail she'd need. That left the dossier in her room.

  That settled it. She'd start with a shower to clear her head. Then she'd grab the dossier and a cab. Luis had penned the name of the hotel where Tom was staying on the cover. Maybe she could find something inside the folder on the drive over. Something Luis and his investigator had overlooked. Something she could use to hold over Mr. Wild's arrogant head.

  Anna pushed off the solid strength of wall and headed across the courtyard, determined to make up for lost time. Thankfully, her grip on equilibrium had improved since the last time she'd made the trek. But it still wasn't a hundred percent. Opting to improve her odds of making it up the stairs and into the privacy of her room, she kicked off her left heel, and then her right before leaning down to scoop them up.

  Unfortunately, another hand reached the shoes first.

  Her heart slammed into her throat, her reprieve and makeshift plans evaporating as she recognized its owner.

  Luis.

  What the devil was she supposed to do now?

  Chapter 2

  Anna stared at her cousin, no longer startled by his sudden appearance at the base of the stairs, but still stunned, nonetheless. There was a satisfaction, a burning intensity in Luis's gaze she'd seen only once before. Three weeks ago to be exact, during Manny's final seconds. For her, a lifetime. She was almost afraid to ask. "What happened?"

  Luis's wide grin upheld her fears. "Not here. Come, join me in the study."

  Somehow she managed not to flinch as he cupped her elbow with his left hand, her heels still dangling from his right as he guided her away from the staircase, escorting her past that hideous fountain to the devil's lair located beyond. He dropped her shoes just inside the doorway before crossing the dark gold carpet. No matter how many weeks passed or how many layers of new carpet Luis installed, she'd never understand how he could just walk into this room as if nothing had happened, much less expect her to do the same.

  But he had…and he did.

  He rounded the massive walnut desk in the center and gestured to the matching armchairs flanking it. "Sit, sit."

  Conscious of that ever-watchful stare, she stepped off the cold flagstones of the inner courtyard and crossed the threshold, all the while careful to keep her head held high, her hands hanging loosely at her side. Relaxed.

  They were not covered in blood.

  And neither was she.

  She reached the chairs and chose the one on the right. Despite Luis's assertions to the contrary, she swore she could still make out the damp stains that had marred the tooled black leather covering the chair to her left. She forced herself to focus on the front of the intricately carved desk as she sat. God, she hated this room. This man. It took everything she possessed just to sit there and look at him. The physical similarities only made it worse. As children they'd often been mistaken for siblings. Luis's lifelong struggle with his insidious childhood illness had even lent him a slenderness that added to the resemblance. What better reminder of that age-old admonishment there but for the grace of God go I?

  No. Try as Luis might, she would never be seduced over to the dark side. Not willingly. She'd made that decision at fourteen. She thought Luis had done the same. She now knew she was wrong. Nonetheless, she did as he'd ordered, feigning an ease she didn't feel as she slid deeper into the chair. The encrypted cell phone at the rear of the desk trilled as she tucked her legs to the side and smoothed the hem of her dress, ratcheting up her apprehension a thousandfold.

  Especially when her cousin answered.

  "Luis." He lowered himself into his captain's chair and laughed. A reprieve. Whomever the caller was, it wasn't Tom Wild. That laugh, as well as the subsequent inquiry into his caller's marriage and family life, pointed to someone Luis trusted. She didn't need to read the dossier abandoned on her dresser to know she could number those on one hand. Look what had been required of her. If it took murder to breach the outer sanctum of her cousin's trust, God only knows what price he'd require for entrance to the inner one.

  After she'd signed aboard, Agent Foster had provided damning evidence that Luis had murdered his way into partnership and then outright ownership of one of Panama's leading import-export firms. Within months of José Martineta's unexpected death, rumors reached U.S. ATF agents that goods arriving in Panama City from American ports were leaving for Chechnya, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan with Colombian high-end cocaine secreted among them. Less than a year later, agents believed that Martineta Imports—now Ortiz Imports—had graduated from cocaine distribution to illegal arms trafficking. The hefty stash of 7.62 mm ammunition she'd located in the tunnel beneath this very room had sealed Luis's guilt.

  Murder and Russian AK-47 assault rifles.

  If only that was the extent of her cousin's agenda. But it wasn't. Moments before Manny Morales died, Manny had claimed otherwise. Luis's sudden and intense interest in Tom Wild's purported demolitions expertise confirmed it.

  Luis leaned forward, his excitement increasing as his caller appeared to turn their conversation to business. "Yes, yes. It's done, then?" He frowned. "When does the shipment arrive?" Another pause, then a firm nod. "You do that. And don't forget to keep me informed." He returned the receiver to its cradle and smiled across the desk. "Tell me, cousin. Have you good news for me as well?"

  Here it came. How in the world was she supposed to confess that not only didn't she have good news, she had no news? Heck, she barely remembered meeting the man. But…Luis didn't have to know that, did he?

  Why not? She could still pull it off. All she had to do was lie. She'd gotten pretty good at it these past three months. She'd just give him a vague but favorable impression of Tom and then tell him she'd placed a few inquiries and was still waiting for the information to get back to her. Half of it was even true. Luis would never know which.

  "Anna?"

  She tore her gaze from the phone and lifted her hand, massaging her temple as she feigned a headache. Given the way her chest was throbbing, her frown wasn't a stretch. "I'm sorry, Luis. I've had a migraine since you left. It must have been the champagne. It's getting better, but Juanita had to wake me several times." She refused to give in to the guilt as Luis sprang from his chair and rounded the heavy desk.

  "Forgive me. I should have listened when you told me it made you ill. But I thought, one glass…obviously, I was wrong. I apologize for insisting."

  She clamped down on the revulsion in her stomach as he kneeled at her feet to cup her shoulders and rub lightly.

  "Shall I call a doctor?"

  "No. I mean, I don't think a doctor will be necessary. I feel fine now. But I should warn you. I may have offended your Mr. Wild. I don't think he received the message that he was to meet with me instead of you. When you add on the fact that I made him wait while I tried to clear my head…"

  "No matter. I will offer an explanation on your behalf when we meet again."

  Not if she could help it.

  She squelched another flinch as Luis patted her cheek. The gesture usually infuriated her. All these months and he still hadn't figured out she wasn't his little cousin anymore. This time, however, she let it slide. Better to take the protection the misconception afforded her. It just might help her get out of his lair alive. He finally straightened.

  Her heart hammered against the wall of her chest, overtaking the ache in her breast as Luis removed the jacket to his olive suit. He folded the heavy silk, then laid it carefully over the blotter on his desk. The polished gold of his precious vice-presidential fountain pen gleamed in his shirt pocket as he turned back, taunting her as he rested his thighs against the desk. That goddamned pen. If the Lord had been truly just, that pristine pocket would have been stained by now, saturated, and not with ink.

  With Manny's blood.

  Her stomach lurched at the memory. Her heart pounded harder. Whether Luis left the pen there on purpose, the effect was the same. T
he sight drew her to the gravity of the moment, underscoring the inescapable precariousness of life—right now, hers. Illness might engender Luis's sympathy, but it wouldn't excuse her from failing to carry out his instructions.

  "So, what are your findings?"

  Anna tore her gaze from the pen and forced herself to recall the basics Luis had related in conversation when he'd picked her up from the airstrip. While he'd sent the dossier to New Mexico along with his private plane, she'd been too busy sleeping off her anesthesia-induced fog to peruse it.

  She swallowed firmly. "The man is definitely an explosives expert." Or so he claimed. "My sources haven't had a chance to return my calls yet, but I did sense he was telling the truth about his U.S. Special Forces experience." At least, she prayed he was. "I think you're right. Mr. Wild is in it for the money. His desire for cash appears to have replaced whatever patriotic loyalties he once held."

  "Then, unlike Manny, you don't believe something is 'off' with this man?"

  She fought the almost violent urge to check her hands at the bald reminder. It took several moments, but she won. She shook her head. "No. I think this one's okay."

  "Excellent!"

  Startled, she watched as Luis practically vaulted up from the edge of his desk and grabbed her hands. Moments later, the shock gave way to dread as the satisfaction she'd noticed in his gaze out in the courtyard reignited before her very eyes. Right then, she knew. "This has something to do with the mysterious venture you've been planning, doesn't it?"

  His grin confirmed it. "It does, cousin. It does." He patted her cheek again. "But don't you worry your beautiful head. All I need you to do is to keep a careful eye on Señor Wild for me. A very careful eye. In fact…" The strange fire finally faded from Luis's eyes. But what took its place blasted an arctic chill straight through her bones. "I think, perhaps, it would be wise for you to get to know Señor Wild better. The man is handsome, no?"