by Laura Gordon
“Reed.” She murmured his name and the spell was broken. He drew back so quickly she almost stumbled.
“We’d better go in,” he said.
She could only nod and look away. Her voice was stolen by the series of sudden shocks rippling through her system. She felt dizzy, weakened by his kiss, by her body’s own intense awareness of him. Numbly she followed him up to the room, her mind in turmoil and her heart in her throat.
In one short night, she’d cheated death on a narrow ledge, narrowly escaped an attack by armed assailants and survived a car crash that should have killed her.
In light of everything she’d endured, she ought to feel invincible, Tess told herself. Why then, she wondered as they walked into the hotel room and he closed the door behind them, had just one kiss from her former lover made her feel so utterly and hopelessly vulnerable?
Chapter Seven
For Reed, spending the night in the same room with Tess Elliot had been an exercise in self-control. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t even closed his eyes for longer than ten minutes, because every time he had, the image of her standing in front of that warehouse with bullets flying came back to him in chilling detail.
Though he longed to, Reed doubted he’d ever be able to forget how he’d felt at the thought of her dying. For a moment he thought his heart might explode.
The aftershock to his emotions had been even worse, resurrecting too many old feelings that were better off left for dead, or at least sleeping. Last night, instincts that were distinctly and disturbingly protective had been stirred and feelings he didn’t want or need had begun smoldering again. A fire was beginning inside him that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel for anyone since he’d left her.
He’d spent most of last night pacing and wishing to hell he had a cigarette. The more he’d paced the more he wanted her and the more he wanted her the harder he paced. The memory of how good she felt in his arms had taunted him through the long, dark hours and it still tortured him now.
With luck, Selena Elliot’s abductors would contact Tess today and when they did, Reed meant to resolve the situation and get the hell out of Grand Cayman in the next twenty-four hours. He had to do something and do it fast. If Morrell’s thugs didn’t kill him, Reed warned himself, spending another night alone with Tess in separate beds certainly would.
As he moved past her bed and into the bathroom, he glanced down and saw that she’d slept fully clothed, with her purse, still containing Selena’s notebook, tucked beneath her pillow. He could see the leather strap extending over the side of the bed and he couldn’t resist smiling at her naiveté.
Did she really think if he wanted that journal badly enough a pillow would stop him? That sleeping in her clothes would stop either of them, if they wanted each other as badly as it seemed they had last night when they’d kissed? Reed forced himself to look away.
In the bathroom, he showered quickly and changed into a blue knit pullover and white shorts that unfortunately offered him no convenient place to conceal his shoulder holster or gun. For now, he’d have to be satisfied with keeping the .38 in his duffel bag.
By the time Reed stepped back into the room, the first pale rays of morning were filtering through the wooden blinds that covered the sliding glass door. Pushing the blinds aside, he stepped out onto the balcony and inhaled a lungful of ocean air. If things went well, fresh air would become part of his daily routine, he told himself, although the air he hoped to be breathing would be mountain air from the front porch of a cabin tucked somewhere high in the Rockies.
But even though his home state of Colorado beckoned him like an old friend, he had to admit that this island was pretty close to paradise, especially this morning bathed in the soft, pink light of a perfect sunrise. The only clouds were high and thin, and Reed guessed the temperature was already in the seventies.
The whisper of rustling sheets told him that Tess was beginning to stir. Before he went back inside, he took another deep breath and braced himself for the gut reaction he knew he’d feel when he saw her again.
She wasn’t awake, but she’d turned over and kicked the sheets off her long, bare legs. She’d slept in an oversize man’s white shirt and a pair of pink running shorts. An unwanted twinge of jealousy caused Reed to wonder whom the shirt belonged to.
Her long hair was tousled, but still silky where it fanned in thick swirls of dark brown against the white pillowcase. Her dark lashes lay like velvet shadows against her creamy skin.
The sight of her face, as captivating in repose as it was when animated with her indomitable spirit, touched Reed deeply and he remembered how much he once loved his beautiful Tessa. The term beautiful didn’t really do justice in describing Tess Elliot, Reed decided as he sat down in the wicker chair opposite the bed. With her perfect bone structure, delicate features and skin as flawless and creamy as a child’s, she was the kind of woman other women envied and men wove into their fantasies.
Unbidden, his thoughts drifted back to a perfect Sunday morning nine years ago when he’d picked her up on his Harley to take her hiking on a high-country trail behind her parent’s home in Evergreen. It had been the first time they’d made love.
The memory caused desire to ripple in fresh waves through his body. As he watched, her dark eyelids fluttered open. “What is it? Is something wrong?” she asked, her voice husky with sleep and unbearably sexy.
“Nothing’s wrong.” His aching awareness of her made his response terse as he rose and walked to the door. “I was just going out to get us some breakfast.” Until she’d opened her eyes, he’d planned on calling room service, but the sight of her, combined with his idiotic daydreaming, warned him to put some fast distance between them before he reacted again on impulse as he had last night.
“Lock the door behind me and don’t let anyone in,” he said over his shoulder. Before she had the chance to answer or he had the chance to look back, he walked out, slamming the door unnecessarily hard behind him.
* * *
THE OPEN-AIR RESTAURANT wasn’t crowded, but Reed chose a small table in the corner to nurse a cup of black coffee while he waited for their breakfast order. Out of habit, his eyes flicked over his surroundings, assessing the situation for anything or anyone who could pose a threat.
He spotted and recognized Talbot immediately, even though the tall, sandy-haired agent had taken the precaution of dressing similarly to the members of the hotel staff.
Nick Talbot was Reed’s age, thirty-one. He’d already been with the agency at least eight or nine years, recruited right out of college. They’d worked together during Reed’s own brief stint on the federal payroll. Reed respected Nick, as much as he respected any of those by-the-book types who pledged blind allegiance to the bureaucrats. Even so, Talbot was something of an enigma.
In contrast to his mild temperament, Talbot’s specialty was explosives. The few times that Reed had been assigned to a case with a bomber or a wacko with a penchant for chemicals, Nick had been the expert the agency called in.
Why, Reed wondered now, had Talbot been sent to Grand Cayman? What possible expertise could he bring to this case? Was it because of the way Andy Dianetti had been taken out in a blaze of glory? Perhaps the agency expected that same kind of attack on Selena. If so, why hadn’t Charlie warned him?
Reed didn’t have the information he needed to make any kind of definite assessment, but he did know that he had no intention of letting Nick Talbot into the middle of this case.
If a line opened up to negotiate with Selena’s abductors, Reed would take the call. If Selena’s incriminating journal had to be compromised, he’d sacrifice it. He’d watched the jury process work enough times to know that Selena Elliot’s flesh-and-blood testimony would impress them far more than a book full of numbers, anyway.
The real question was, why had Morrell’s forces taken this sudden detour? Why the focus on the journal?
Reed decided to let those questions simmer and to aim his immediate attention on confro
nting and removing Nick Talbot from the scene. He was out of his seat and halfway across the dining room when his waiter caught up to him with the breakfast Reed had ordered, all boxed and bagged and ready to take up to the room.
Reed hastily scratched a fictitious name and Tess’s room number on the back of the tab, but by the time he glanced up, Nick Talbot was gone.
After a quick search of the lobby, Reed headed to a pay phone on the wall outside the men’s room in the bar.
When Charlie answered, Reed said, “Call your boy in, Charlie.”
“What? Who is this—hey, McKenna, is that you?” The fuzz in Charlie’s voice told Reed he was the older agent’s first call of the day.
“What the hell are you guys trying to do,” Reed demanded, “get me and all your witnesses killed?”
“Wait a minute, hang on—” Charlie sputtered. “What are you talking about, Mac?”
“Talbot.”
“Talbot? Nick Talbot? What about him? What’s he got to do with this?”
“That’s what I was about to ask him, right after he finished his rum punch.”
“Nick Talbot’s in Grand Cayman?”
“In the flesh, and looking about as convincing as a native as I’d look in a convent.”
“I thought he was working the Dianetti case.”
“You should have told me.”
“Hey, believe me, Mac, if I’d known he had been called in to find the bookkeeper, I would have told you. I don’t know why he’s there. Honest.”
Reed had learned from experience that most people only added “honest” when they were in the midst of telling a lie, but for some reason he couldn’t name, he believed Charlie Franklin was telling the truth.
“Well, somebody had to have given him his orders, and whoever it was needs to get him the hell out of here,” Reed demanded. “And by the way—” he dropped his voice a notch and cradled the phone closer “—Morrell’s men grabbed the bookkeeper yesterday.”
“Damn it!” Charlie shouted. “Do you have a link yet? Have they contacted the cousin?”
“Yes, in both cases.”
“Is she willing to work with you?”
“She wasn’t at first, but I think I may have changed her mind.”
“Do you think the bookkeeper’s still alive?”
“I think so.”
“Strange. I mean, why? They certainly didn’t give Dianetti a second chance.”
“My thoughts exactly, Charlie.” Reed didn’t mention the incriminating journal. He sensed it was his trump card and until he was prepared to show his hand, the fewer people who knew of the existence of Selena Elliot’s journal, the better.
“What are you going to do, Mac?”
“Whatever I have to.”
“Anything I can do at this end to help you out?”
“I’ll let you know. For now, just get Talbot out of my way before I have to.”
Charlie groaned. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Pretend whatever you like, buddy. But I’m warning you, I’ve got too much at stake to let some G-man muck it up.”
“What about the kid?”
“She’s not your problem.”
“The hell she isn’t!” Charlie shouted. “I stuck my neck way out to get approval for you to take temporary custody. I just hope you had sense enough to stash her some place safe before you left the country.”
Charlie’s ulcer would explode like an overinflated balloon if he knew Reed had taken the child out of the country. “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job, old man? Maybe when I retire, you’d like to take over my clients?” Reed jabbed, diverting Charlie’s questioning from a potentially dangerous route. “Ready to do a bit of free-lancing, Charlie?”
The older man’s laugh was nothing but a cynical snort. “Mac, I wouldn’t have your job for all the gold in Fort Knox.”
* * *
BEFORE HEADING BACK to the room, Reed took another look around the lobby and the beach area for Nick Talbot. He knew it would be useless to ask for Talbot by name at the front desk. The agent, if he was registered at West Palm, would be using an alias.
Although he figured Talbot was long gone, Reed made another trip to the bar. Aside from a couple of waiters chatting with the bartender, the bar was empty. Reed headed back to the room hoping that Charlie Franklin would act quickly and see to it that Talbot received his marching orders.
Reed had just turned the corner on the fourth-floor landing when a frantic Tess charging down the stairs nearly bowled him over.
When he regained his balance, he placed the take-out box on the floor and planted a hand on each of her shoulders to steady her. Tess’s eyes were bright and her face was flushed.
“What’s happened, Tess?”
“He called,” she said, gulping to catch her breath. “You were right. He said last night was only a warning, a preview...of things to come if I didn’t follow his instructions to the letter. He saw you, Reed. He said I’d double-crossed him.” Her voice was tremulous and her breasts rose and fell beneath her blouse as she tried to catch her breath. “He said if he’d wanted to, he could have killed me. Killed you. And he reminded me that he could still kill Selena at any time—” Her voice cracked.
“Calm down, Tessa,” he soothed as he turned her around gently and pulled her into the deserted hallway. “So far, he’s only threatened. I know it’s hard to believe, but you do still have bargaining power. You have what he wants—what they want, whoever they are. The kidnapper was telling the truth when he reminded you that if murder was his only intent, he had the perfect opportunity last night.”
Once they were back inside the room with the door closed, he said, “All right, now, tell me exactly what happened.”
Tess sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath. Reed could feel her physically trying to center herself, to recapture her poise, and his admiration for her grew. He’d worked with seasoned cops who couldn’t recover from a shock as quickly.
“At first he was angry,” she began. “But I told him I didn’t know I’d been followed last night and he seemed to believe me. He seemed to want to believe me. Does that make sense?” Her eyes were wide and beseeching.
“Right now I don’t think we have enough pieces of the puzzle to make a guess.” He ran a hand idly through his hair. “Go on, Tessa. What else did he say?”
“Well, after warning me again to follow his instructions precisely, he gave me the name of a place where I’m to be given more instructions.” She handed him a piece of hotel stationery on which she’d scrawled the name of a local bar.
“The Dive?”
She nodded and managed a weak smile. “He said there would be a message waiting for me there after ten tonight. He said to come alone and to identify myself to the bartender.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “You can’t go with me this time, Reed. They might be watching. I’ll have to go alone.”
Like hell you will, he thought, but resisted arguing with her for the moment. He would be there tonight, all right. And this time he had no intention of allowing her to walk into an ambush. From now on until this entire ordeal was over, he intended to stay one jump ahead of the game.
“Did he say anything else?”
“He reminded me that he held Selena’s life in his hands,” she said quietly. All color had drained from her face and beneath her eyes pale purple shadows attested to the strain under which she’d been operating for the last twenty-four hours.
Seeing her this way, shaken and afraid, Reed longed to get his hands on Selena’s kidnappers and make them pay for the hell they were putting both women through. As far as he was concerned, the kind of men who bullied women were beneath contempt—men like his old man, gutless wonders who took their failures out on those they perceived to be weaker than themselves.
He felt his heart suddenly constrict as an image came to him of his mother—or at least the image of what he remembered her to be before his father had chased her out of their lives
forever.
“Did you talk to Selena?” Reed asked, forcing himself back to the situation at hand.
She nodded and swallowed hard before she spoke. “Only for a minute. She was crying, but she said she was all right. She begged me to do whatever he asked. She said he would do anything to get his hands on her journal and that I had to give it to him, no matter what.” Her blue eyes swam with the tears he knew she was choking back. Without words she was asking him for reassurance, for comfort.
But all he could give her was the space to compose herself when she turned her back to him and walked onto the balcony. He watched as she stood in silence, staring out at the water.
Although his heart ached for her, he resisted the impulse to go to her. Kissing her last night had been a stupid mistake, one he couldn’t afford to repeat. If she started believing in him, thinking they had some sort of connection or future, it would be just that much harder when she found out what he really was: a hardened man who would go to any extreme to get what he wanted, to satisfy his own purposes.
The best he could offer Tess Elliot was survival. He’d do everything to protect her and, when it was all over, get her off the island in one piece. But he’d proved long ago he couldn’t live up to her expectations as some kind of hero. Even if he wanted her loyalty or her trust, he’d known for almost a lifetime that he deserved neither.
Reed McKenna was a man out for himself, he reminded himself. He got what he wanted at any cost. And right now, all he wanted was to find Selena Elliot, convince her to testify and collect his two hundred grand.
To allow his beautiful former lover to believe otherwise would be cruel. And even to consider believing it himself would be disastrous.
Chapter Eight
The hours until the rendezvous with Selena’s kidnappers loomed before Tess like an uphill marathon, the waiting made all the more unbearable by the memories it evoked of that other horrible time of waiting with a loved one’s life hanging in the balance.