Tall, Dark & Reckless

by Heather MacAllister

  “Wow,” she said.

  “Wow is right.” He brushed her hair away from her eyes. “I promise you I usually last longer.”

  “I couldn’t have stood longer.”

  “Hey. You don’t have to spare my feelings.”

  “Are you kidding? I barely kept from passing out.”

  “Yeah?” He got that satisfied male grin on his face.

  “Men.” She rolled her eyes.

  He shifted and she was aware that her boots were practically embedded in his back. “Oh, sorry!” She moved her legs and winced at the red marks the heels had left. “Did they hurt you?”

  “What?” He glanced over his shoulder.

  “The boots.”

  “Oh, yeah, the boots.” He rolled over and smiled. “Loved the boots.”

  12

  Step twelve: All men have flaws. Decide which ones you can live with.

  THE BOOTS WEREN’T the only thing Mark loved. He suspected he loved Piper, too. Did he know for sure? No. But he wanted to find out.

  Piper laughed. “You may change your mind.” She sat up and unzipped the boots.

  “Nah.” Mark absently ran his hand up and down her spine.

  He hadn’t let himself love for a very long time. He cared; he liked, but he never got love right.

  Piper pulled off the boots and her socks. When she leaned across Mark to drop them over the side of the bed, she got a good look at his injured leg.

  “Mark!”

  He gazed down his body. It looked like something had taken a bite out of the area above his knee. Scars of various shades of pink decorated it. A few inches above that was a scar with suture marks on either side. “Ugly, huh?”

  “Who cares about the way it looks? It’s what you went through.”

  “That was ugly, too.” He shifted to a sitting position and leaned against the wall.

  She scooted up the bed and rested her head against his chest. His arm automatically went around her.

  “Tell me.”

  He’d known she’d ask eventually. “I got shot when I tried to escape and the wound became infected.”

  “Like your wrist.”

  “More. There I was, surrounded by drugs of every kind—except antibiotics. By the time they gave me some, the pills weren’t strong enough. I was in pretty bad shape when they finally got a doctor to see me.” Mark had been delirious and didn’t remember. He assumed the man had been a doctor. Maybe not. He skipped that part. “When I got back, I had more surgeries.” He pointed. “I’m working to develop this muscle to compensate for the part that’s missing.”

  Piper traced her finger over the higher scar. “How did you get stabbed?”

  “During the rescue. Couldn’t move out of the way fast enough.”

  She sat up and he missed the warmth where she’d been nestled against him. As she bent over his knee for a closer look, her hair swung forward and brushed his thigh. That was all it took for things to get stirring again. That, and looking at the curve of her breasts.

  She set her palm lightly on his leg. “It’s warm. You probably strained it.” She smiled over her shoulder. “Next time, I’ll be on top.”

  * * *

  “I DIDN’T KNOW FRIEZEN BURGER delivered.” Piper dipped a fry in queso.

  “Officially, they don’t,” Mark said.

  Which meant he’d sweet-talked some poor student into bringing him the order. Piper decided to let it pass and fed him the fry. He ate it and then nibbled on her fingers, making her giggle.

  They were in the pup tent with Mark’s new sleeping bag unzipped all the way and spread out.

  Mark’s new sleeping bag smelled like sex now.

  And French fries.

  “My turn.” He dipped a fry in a creamy artichoke sauce and traced a squiggle across her stomach. Then he followed the path with his tongue. And then he ate the fry.

  Piper laughed. “That was supposed to be mine!”

  “You’re insatiable when it comes to French fries.”

  “And you’re insatiable when it comes to sex. Exactly how long had it been?”

  Mark popped a naked French fry into her mouth. “Since right before I became Mendoza’s guest.”

  Piper thought back. “You mean…like over a year and a half ago?”

  “Don’t look at me that way. I was a prisoner for five months. When I got back, my body needed to focus on healing.”

  “It did a good job,” she told him.

  Grinning, he fed her another fry. “It did a great job.”

  Piper nodded her agreement and then asked casually, “There’s a picture of a woman and two boys on the wall between the map and the table. Is that her?” She looked right at him to gauge his reaction.

  “Yes.” He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “How did you know?”

  “There aren’t any other pictures around it.” Piper was curious, not jealous. Yet.

  Mark tossed the fry he’d been going to dip and rolled onto his back. Staring at the tent ceiling, he said, “It’s there because of her sons, Gilberto and Hector. I’d been in the area a few weeks working on the Mendoza story. He takes boys to use as his couriers. He terrorizes the families, and the local police don’t do anything. I wanted to attract media attention so they’d be forced to deal with him. Very few people would talk to me until I met Gilberto one day. I got to know him and his mom and Hector. Elia asked for my help because her brother was pressuring Gilberto to join one of Mendoza’s squads. That’s when I learned Mendoza paid the boys’ families. It’s a poor area. No wonder no one wanted to talk to me. I learned a lot from Gilberto because he talked to his friends who were working for Mendoza. And then one day he was gone. Elia was frantic, so I said I would get him back.”

  “And she was very grateful,” Piper said.

  “Yep.”

  There was more he wasn’t telling her, but she could guess the rest. “How did you think you could get him back? You’re a journalist, not a superhero.”

  “I had a plan.”

  “Only it didn’t work.”

  “Oh, it worked.”

  But he stared, stone-faced, at the tent ceiling, and Piper knew what he’d done. “Mark Banning, you did not offer yourself as a hostage in exchange, did you?”

  He rolled to his side and looked at her. “The plan was that several men from the village would trade me for their sons. Then when the boys were safely out, the men were supposed to sneak back for me. I guess they forgot that part.”

  She heard the bitterness he tried to hide. “Maybe they tried and couldn’t get to you.”

  “Or maybe the money Mendoza paid them was too good.” He drew a breath. “If it hadn’t been for Travis, I’d still be there. Maybe not alive, though.”

  Piper felt cold. “Thank God for Travis. I’m going to be nicer to him from now on.” She gathered the French fries and set them outside the tent.

  “How nice?”

  Piper grinned and kissed a trail down Mark’s chest. “Not as nice as I’m going to be to you for the next few minutes.”

  * * *

  “IS THERE ANY COFFEE LEFT?” Piper hurried through the door, hoping to breeze through the Dancie-Anna gauntlet. “I’m running late this morning. Anna, when’s my first appointment?”

  “Now. With Dancie. The website Q&A?”

  Right. Drat.

  Piper crossed the reception area under Dancie’s watchful eye. “You’re not twitchy anymore.”

  “She’s not mad anymore, either,” Anna added. Helpful Anna.

  “Mark and I worked things out.” Piper stepped inside Anna’s work area and poured coffee into a foam cup. “It was all a big misunderstanding.” Deciding to try drinking it black, she escaped to her office.

  “You slept with him.” Dancie’s voice carried clearly.

  Piper returned to her doorway and couldn’t stop the smile from stretching across her face.

  Dancie took one look at her and said, “Anna—”

  “Oh, man!” Anna pushed her
chair back. “You’re going to make me go for croissants, aren’t you?”

  Without taking her eyes off Piper, Dancie said, “I was going to send you to OMG for some stray résumés that arrived after my brother sent the last batch, but croissants are an excellent idea. Thanks for offering.”

  “I wasn’t exactly— You know he could just email them.” Anna looked at the two of them hopefully. “I volunteer to print hard copies.”

  “I like seeing the originals,” Piper said. “Croissants are on me this morning. And I want an almond one. This isn’t a chocolate–mocha cream occasion.” She sipped her coffee and made a face.

  “Get a few of the chocolate ones, too, Anna. It’s only a matter of time,” Dancie predicted.

  The instant a grumbling Anna left, Dancie pounced. “What were you thinking?”

  “Thinking is overrated.” Piper waved airily. “I think too much. Going with my feelings is a lot more fun.”

  “What did your feelings do—hijack your brain? Playing with your head wasn’t enough? You let him play with your body, too?”

  “Mmm.” Piper let a tiny smile drift across her face.

  “Oh, he’s good,” Dancie said, shaking her head.

  Piper let out a long, slow breath. “Yes, he is.”

  “Oooookay. Well, now you know. You can take your little Piper Plan quiz and bump up the Mark-like traits on your wish list, and you should be good to go.”

  “I don’t need to take the quiz. He’s the one, Dancie.” Piper added powdered creamer to her coffee. Marginally better. “All I’d be trying to do is find a man just like him. Why bother when I’ve got the original?”

  Dancie looked at her as though she’d gone nuts. “Because you’ve only got the original for a few weeks.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “That’s the afterglow talking. How many women do you think have thought exactly the same thing?”

  “This is different.”

  “Piper.” Dancie walked up to her and put a hand on either shoulder. “Look at me. You’re trying to find the guy a partner. He is going to leave.”

  “But I haven’t found him a partner yet, have I? And maybe I never will.”

  “Don’t make me shake you.”

  Piper pulled away. “I doubt I’ll find anyone in Travis’s leftovers. The ad will have to run again and we’ll start the screening process all over. It’s already November. Then finals and the holidays. If he’s gone by the Super Bowl, I’ll be surprised.”

  “So what’s another month?” Dancie asked. “In the end, he’s still leaving.”

  She gave Dancie a smug smile. “By that time, he won’t want to leave.”

  “Seriously? Listen to yourself. If you were one of your clients, what would you say?”

  “I know it sounds as though I’m deluding myself—”

  “Yes! And if I’d thought for a moment that you’d become one of those women who comes in here saying, ‘I knew what he was like, but I thought it would be different this time,’ I would never have suggested you get involved.”

  “It is different this time.” It was. Mark had never connected with a woman the way he had with Piper. He’d told her so, but she’d already known. “Mark isn’t going to bounce around the world forever. He’s going to want to settle down sometime. Why not with me?”

  “You sound exactly like your mother.” Dancie clearly thought she’d delivered a killing blow.

  “I called my mother,” Piper countered.

  Dancie’s jaw dropped.

  Piper savored Dancie’s reaction before adding, “And you know what she told me?”

  “Heaven only knows.”

  “She said to follow my heart.”

  “Of course she did.” Dancie leaned back against Piper’s desk and crossed her arms. Classic I-don’t-want-to-hear-this posture.

  Too bad. She was going to hear it. “Mark might be a mistake, but what if he isn’t?”

  Dancie gazed at her and because Dancie was a true friend, she said, “Okay. Find out. I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m not, I’ll be there for you. And I won’t say ‘I told you so.’”

  Piper’s phone rang. “Thanks, Dancie.”

  Dancie nodded and went back to her own desk.

  Piper let the phone ring once more while she shifted into professional mode. “Piper Scott.”

  “Hi. It’s Mary Wade. I wanted you to know that after we spoke yesterday, I got a call from Wally Shetland at a regional bureau. Mark had told him about me. We talked, and it looks really good.” She gave a surprised laugh. “I’m flying out to Arizona to meet with him, but he said Mark’s recommendation was all he needed.”

  “That’s quick!” Mark’s thoughtfulness gave her warm fuzzies. “Congratulations. I know Mark thinks you’re very talented.”

  “Thanks. He was right about not leaving my kids. And after the research I’ve done for him, I can see why.”

  “Yeah. The Middle East is no picnic for a woman.”

  “I remember,” Mary said. “But I was referring to the Mendoza piece. Mark’s got a lot of guts to go back there, but if he didn’t take those risks, he wouldn’t be Mark Banning.”

  Go back? “No. He wouldn’t.” As she spoke, Piper remembered the wall map. The Texas-Mexico border, not the Middle East. The picture of the woman and her sons.

  Piper’s warm fuzzies turned to icy prickles.

  “It would have been a great opportunity and I’d love to help him take down a guy who exploits kids like that, but realistically, it would have been rough on my family for me to leave in a couple of days,” Mary said.

  “Days? You must have misheard.” But Piper knew better. “He’s teaching a class this semester.”

  Mary hesitated and Piper knew her loyalty to a brother journalist was kicking in. “He didn’t mention that. He did say that there had been recent developments in the story.”

  How recent? Piper wondered. Recent since she’d left this morning? Not likely. “Then I guess I’d better check with him because I’m still screening candidates and setting up interviews.”

  “Good luck finding someone on such short notice,” Mary said with genuine sincerity. “When you get in touch with Mark, would you ask him to call me? I’ve got some information and a couple of names for him. I only have his office number and he’s not answering. I did leave a message, but I want to make sure he gets it.”

  “I’ll tell him. It’s very generous of you to keep working under the circumstances.”

  “Honestly? It feels so good to get my teeth into a meaty story again. He’s doing me a favor.”

  Dazzling Mark strikes again.

  Piper’s first impulse was to call him immediately, but she literally sat on her hands until the feeling passed.

  Mark was leaving; she knew that. But he’d planned to leave far sooner than expected and hadn’t said anything to her about it. Yeah. There just wasn’t a smooth way to say, “By the way, this is a one-night stand.” Especially when one of the participants was going on and on about the future and it was obvious she expected you to be a part of it because, of course, what you had together was special and this time would be different.

  Piper had noticed the paperwork spread all over the table and still hadn’t registered the significance. Even when telling her about Mendoza, he’d left out the part about a rematch.

  Had that Elia woman asked him for help again?

  A wave of jealousy swept through her, leaving her shaking.

  Mark should have said something to her. Their personal relationship aside— Could she even call it a relationship? She thought not. But they did have a professional relationship and he should have given her a heads-up so she wouldn’t waste time testing candidates.

  It was tempting to call him and ask for an explanation, but she’d already reacted without hearing his side once. Let him call her. Or at least, Piper was going to do a little digging before she confronted him.

  She unplugged her laptop and carried it into the reception area.


  Dancie gave no sign that she’d heard anything and honestly, Piper couldn’t remember what her half of the conversation had sounded like. “Dancie, do you mind if we postpone working on the website?”

  “Yes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t.” She eyed Piper’s laptop and scooted her own to one side. “What’s up?”

  “I want to see what I can find out about the guy who captured Mark.” Piper dragged a chair from the waiting area to the desk. “I know OMG has accounts with databases I can’t access. I’m hoping you can still get in. Help?”

  “Sure. Let me see if my user name and password still work.” Dancie went to a web page and logged in. “That one is still good.”

  Piper looked at the screen. “It’s a genealogy site.”

  “Through which I can access public records. I can find relatives, neighbors, employment records, real estate deeds. Stuff that leads you to other stuff.”

  “For Mexico?”

  “If you know where and how to search. Are you going to tell me what’s happening?”

  Piper ended up telling her probably more than she wanted to hear.

  “You know,” Dancie said thoughtfully, “we’re forgetting Travis. Those guys he hired to rescue Mark must have a ton of info.”

  “Mark will have it by now. Can you convince Travis to give us copies without telling Mark?”

  “Yes,” Dancie answered promptly.

  Piper raised an eyebrow and Dancie explained. “He’s desperate for help with the Fab Living site, but won’t admit it. I’ll offer to set up new content for a couple of weeks and he’ll agree to anything.” She picked up her cell phone. “You know what the best part is? He’ll unblock my password rather than go to all the trouble of setting up new accounts for me. And I had an all-access password—which includes the news division.”

  “Dancie, you are the best friend ever!”

  “I know,” she said.

  As Dancie negotiated with Travis, Piper became more and more certain that Mark was about to do something recklessly heroic. He wasn’t telling her or anyone else what he planned because he didn’t want to be stopped, and he knew any sane person would try to stop him.

  When Dancie gave her a thumbs-up, Piper felt weak with relief, even though she didn’t know what she’d find or how she’d convince Mark that he was a journalist, and should let the police or some government agency handle Mendoza.