She didn’t want to think what would happen then. She had to trust that Nat could take care of himself. He’d been through some pretty hair-raising experiences and had survived so far. She had to believe that he would survive this.
As for Alex, she could only hope that the police listened to him long enough to hear what was said earlier. If they didn’t—if it had been for nothing—then they were all in a bad situation: her father in the hands of the police, Nat in the hands of Sabhad’s hit men, and her in the hands of Sabhad himself.
They had to listen, she told herself fiercely. She wouldn’t let herself think otherwise. Any minute now they’d come bursting through that door and tell her it was all over—that Nat and her father were safe and that she was free to go.
As if in answer to her thoughts, the door opened abruptly. For a single second Valeri thought her wishes had been granted, but then her heart sank. It wasn’t the police who stood there, but Sabhad. And he was no longer wearing his robes and turban.
He wore instead what looked like a long nightshirt, and the smile on his face told her she was in serious trouble.
“Ah,” he said, coming into the room and closing the door behind him. “Alone at last.”
Valeri was in no mood for jokes. She watched him take a key from the folds of his shirt and lock the door. Looking wildly around the room for a possible weapon, she realized that the tops of the tables and the dressers were bare. Obviously this was a guest room.
She fought the panic that urged her to beg for mercy. She had to stay in control—to play along with Sabhad long enough for the police to come and rescue her. And they would come, she promised herself. She had to hang on to that.
She got slowly to her feet and moved across the room to the windows. She could see nothing in the darkness outside, but it made her feel a little better to know that the outside world was just a pane of glass away from this... harem.
She didn’t know what had brought the word into her mind. She only knew the thought of it made her feel sick. Forcing her voice to sound casual, she said, “You have a beautiful house.”
“Thank you, my dear.” .Sabhad crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “But it’s not mine. I only lease it when I come to your beautiful country on business.”
She flicked a glance at him. He was watching her the way a cat watches a mouse, giving her just enough room to move, knowing he could reach out at any time and trap her.
She searched desperately in her mind for something to say that would keep him talking. “I imagine the U.S. is a lot different from Saudi Arabia.”
“It is, indeed. This is a beautiful country filled with beautiful women.”
“You have beautiful women in your country, too.”
“Ah, but they do not excite me the way western women excite me. There is something about your smooth, alabaster skin that sets my soul on fire.”
Deciding that she was approaching dangerous ground, Valeri changed the subject. “How did you get those pictures of me?”
Sabhad laughed, obviously very pleased with his cleverness. “I’m an expert with a computer, as you might have guessed. I have all the latest software from your country as well as from Japan—sophisticated software that can do many things, like transplanting one face for another.”
Valeri nodded. “I thought so. But where did you get the picture of me in the first place?”
Sabhad raised his chin and stared at the ceiling. After a moment he lowered his gaze, and looked broodingly at Valeri. “I invited your father here for dinner. We talked, he showed me pictures, I kept one.”
“So you had all this planned all along,” Valeri said bitterly. “You intended to frame my father for murder.”
“Not at first—” Sabhad sighed “—I had hoped to persuade him to sell me the project. When he refused, I approached his assistants with the same offer. I had pictures of all their families, in case I should need them for leverage. Luckily, Simpson accepted my offer after giving it some thought. Apparently he was deep in debt and in danger of losing his home. He saw this as a way out.”
“But why did you kill him?”
Sabhad shrugged. “He got cold feet. He called me and told me your father was going to the CIA. He wanted out of the deal. Of course, I couldn’t let that happen. I told him that I would change your father’s mind—that he was to call Dr. Forrester and arrange to meet him at the laboratory at midnight. I would be there to persuade Dr. Forrester to see things my way.”
“And Simpson believed you?” She couldn’t believe the scientist could be so gullible.
“Simpson was desperate. He was grasping at straws.”
Valeri thought about Simpson’s fatherless children. “What about the two little girls in the picture,” she said, suddenly remembering them. “Who are they? Are they your children?”
Sabhad’s expression changed. He got up abruptly, smoothing down the folds of his shirt. “Enough questions. They are boring me. We have better things to talk about, you and I, Valeri.”
With her tongue, she moistened lips that had suddenly gone dry. “Like what?”
“Such as how we are going to pass the time until Mr. Thorne gets back here with the disks.”
He took a step forward, and Valeri moved back. A small padded bench in front of the window caught her behind the knees and she sat down heavily.
“Come, my dear,” Sabhad said, moving closer. “Don’t be shy. I’m sure you’ve had men make love to you before. You have never had a man like me, however. I can guarantee it.”
“You’re right about that,” Valeri muttered. She tried to remember all the moves she’d learned in a self-defense class years earlier. She wished now she’d paid more attention. All that came to mind was a swift knee in the groin. She’d have to resort to that if things got serious.
Sabhad stood in front of her now, one hand outstretched to touch her cheek. She jerked her head away, out of his reach.
He smiled, making her squirm. “Don’t resist me, Valeri. You know you will submit to me in the end. Why not make it pleasant for both of us? There is so much I could teach you.”
Her stomach churned so badly she thought she might throw up. “I’m not interested in anything you might have in mind,” she said curtly.
“Ah, but I could make you interested, if you give me half a chance.” His hand snaked out so suddenly that she had no time to react. Sabhad’s cruel fingers grasped the back of her neck and forced her forward while his lips fastened on hers, wet and disgusting.
She lifted her hands and shoved hard against his chest, but he was stronger than he looked. He trapped her hand easily, and twisted her arm behind her back.
She gasped when the vicious pain bit into her shoulder. Twisting her head, she tore her mouth from his. “Let me go, you bastard, or I’ll make you sorry you ever set eyes on me.”
Sabhad chuckled, a triumphant sound that chilled her blood. “Such feeble threats, my dear. But I like my women spirited. Fight all you like. I shall win in the end.”
He pulled her closer, putting pressure on her bent arm. The other hand closed savagely over her breast, squeezing so hard she cried out in pain.
Sabhad grinned. “See, my dear? You like it.”
He pressed his body closer, until she could feel his arousal. Filled with a loathing she couldn’t describe, she put all her strength into the upward swing of her knee.
Sabhad sidestepped, and she caught him on the thigh. He grunted and shoved her toward the bed so hard that she lost her balance. She stumbled and ended up sprawled across the beautiful spread. Before she could move, Sabhad was on her, trapping her legs with his, bending her hands back above her head.
Terrified now, she struggled, but he only grinned, his garlic breath nauseating her. “Relax, Valeri,” he whispered. “This will be a pleasure, believe me. Be nice to me, and I might even decide not to kill you when your lover comes back.”
“He’s...not my lover....”
“Your lips lie, Valeri, but
your eyes cannot....”
She struggled with all her strength, but she knew she was fighting a losing battle. Tears spurted from her eyes, and the room swam in a salty haze.
His hand ripped the buttons from her shirt, and she screamed—a loud, shrill yell of desperation. Sabhad swore and clapped his hand hard over her mouth. “Do that one more time and I’ll slap you into silence,” he muttered.
He dragged her shirt open, and his hand stilled.
Too late, she remembered the microphone. Sabhad uttered something in his guttural language. “So, you betray me. You will die for that....”
The room exploded into bursting sparks of light and pain as his hand cracked across her face. She screamed again, bracing herself for the next blow...and heard instead the shattering, splintering sound of broken glass.
Sabhad lifted his head, then suddenly he was gone... hauled off her bodily by two strong, tanned hands.
“All right, you sniveling bastard,” Nat snarled. “You’re gonna pay for this.”
Struggling to sit up, Valeri watched in terror as the two men fought. Sabhad was strong and quick on his feet, but Nat was taller, and what he lacked in speed he made up for in sheer bulk. After an exchange of blows, he landed one that lifted Sabhad off his feet and sent him crashing against the wall. The stunned sheik slumped to the floor, his chin resting on his chest, his eyes closed.
“Nat!” Valeri slid off the bed and flung herself into his arms. “Thank God. He was going to...going to...”
“I know.” He silenced her with his kiss, soothing her ragged senses, smoothing away her fears with his hands. “It’s all right now. We—”
A loud thumping on the door interrupted him, harsh voices calling out in the language she couldn’t understand. She looked up at Nat, and saw for the first time the gash across his forehead. “Nat, you’re hurt!”
He rubbed at his head, then looked at his blood-smeared fingers. “Lucky I’ve got a hard head. I had to make a quick entrance.” He nodded at the shattered window.
She went cold when she thought of how badly he could have hurt himself. For her. He’d risked his life for her... again. How could she not love him?
“We have to get out of here,” Nat said urgently as the pounding on the door became a heavy thudding. The wood creaked as if to emphasize his words.
But Valeri had heard something else. She held up her hand. On the night air came the reassuring wail of sirens, approaching fast. “Enter the cavalry,” she said, smiling in relief.
“I’m so relieved that everything turned out all right,” Alex said, looking up at Valeri from his hospital bed. “But you took a terrible chance. Had I not been so weak and irrational, I would never have agreed to let you go.”
“You didn’t have much choice,” Valeri reminded him. She bent down to kiss his cheek. “I’m just happy to see you looking so much better.”
“Of course I’m better. How about you?”
“Much better after a good night’s sleep. They kept both Nat and me in overnight for observation. I haven’t seen him this morning yet.”
“I’m told I can go home soon.”
She smiled. “I know. I checked with the front desk. They have your release papers all ready to sign.”
“Then I can go home now?”
“As soon as Nat gets here. He’s with the police, filling in all the details for their report.”
“So Sabhad is behind bars?”
“For the time being.”
“What happens to him now?”
“I guess it will depend on what arrangements our side makes with Saudi Arabia. The important thing is that you’re completely cleared of suspicion in the murder. The police heard enough to satisfy them on, that score.”
Alex nodded. “Thanks to you and Nat. Now I’m ready to go home, I can tell you. I’ve already called the opticians, and they’re rushing my order for new glasses. Meanwhile, I have a pair of old ones that will get me by until the new ones are ready.”
Valeri patted his shoulder. “I’m glad to hear it. I’d hate to think of you groping around like that for days.”
“How is Nat? Thank heaven he turned up in time. It was a miracle he got away from Sabhad’s men.”
At the mention of his name, her smile faded. “Apart from a nasty gash on his forehead, and a few cuts and bruises he collected when he rolled the truck, he seems okay.”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “He’s leaving.”
She nodded, trying to swallow past the hard lump in her throat. “He’s driving us both home, and then he’s going back to San Francisco. He called his agency. They have a job for him in the Philippines.”
“What sort of job?”
Valeri shrugged. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask.”
“You love him?”
She blushed. “I care for him a great deal.”
Alex nodded. “He seems like a great guy. What is it—his job that you can’t accept?”
She looked down and followed the line of weave on the white bedspread with her finger. “That’s part of it.”
“You don’t approve, is that it?”
She smiled, though her heart was breaking. “It doesn’t exactly make for good husband material.”
“You could work things out. After all, he doesn’t work all the time. If you loved him enough, you could be satisfied with the in-between times, couldn’t you?”
“Maybe. But then if he loved me enough he could give it up, and do something else. And I just can’t see him doing that for anyone.”
Alex winked. “Stranger things have happened.”
She shook her head. He didn’t understand, and she couldn’t tell him. How could she explain to her father that it could never work between her and Nat because she couldn’t give him what he needed? She’d already failed in one marriage because of her problem. It would break her heart to have Nat for a while, only to lose him later.
She looked up as the door opened and the man so prominent in her thoughts walked in. Seeing him again like that, with a small thin bandage covering the gash in his head, her heart turned over. He looked so audacious, and just a little dangerous. She fell in love with him a little bir more every time she saw him.
“I’m ready to play chauffeur if you two are ready,” he announced, grinning at Valeri. “That’s if you feel you can trust my driving.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that.” She turned to Alex. “For an ex-race driver, he’s not too sharp on the bends.”
Nat pretended to look hurt. “Just because I managed to wreck a couple of vehicles?”
“Make that three if you count mine.”
Nat sighed heavily. “That’s the thanks I get. Just no pleasing a woman, that’s what I always say.”
“Typical male response.”
“Quit arguing, you two, and get out of here so I can get dressed,” Alex said plaintively. “I’ve already been here longer than I want to be.”
Nat put his hand on Valeri’s shoulder and guided her to the door. “Don’t worry, Alex, I’ll deal with her. She’ll be purring like a kitten by the time I’ve finished with her.”
Valeri shuddered. “Now you sound like Sabhad.”
Nat followed her out into the hallway. “He sweet-talked you?”
“If you can call it that, yes.”
“The man’s got more style than I gave him credit for.”
Valeri frowned. “How can you say that? How can you—”
“Relax.” Nat grasped her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. “I was just teasing. Sorry. I guess it’s a sore subject.”
“Very,” Valeri said grimly. “Did the police say what was going to happen to him?”
Nat shook his head. “They were being pretty closemouthed about it. My guess is that they’ll deport him to stand trial back there. One thing’s for sure, he’ll never set foot in this country again.”
“That makes me feel a little better. You never did tell me how you got away from Sabhad’s men after you rolled the tru
ck.”
Nat dropped his hands, the cold, closed expression she knew so well spreading over his face. “They missed the knife in my boot when they searched me.”
He didn’t have to say any more. She didn’t want to hear any more.
They both looked at the door as it opened to reveal Alex, fully dressed and, much to Valeri’s relief, looking more like his old self.
He talked incessantly for the three hours or more it took for Nat to drive the rented car to his townhouse in Sacramento. He invited Nat and Valeri inside, but Valeri was anxious to get home and into some clean clothes. She waited until she was sure he could manage for himself, then she left him alone with a promise to call that evening to check on him.
“Does he mind living alone?” Nat asked as he drove into the city.
“No more than I do.” Valeri looked out at the buildings flashing by without really seeing them. “He’s very selfsufficient, and he’s been alone a long time. To the point where he prefers it now, I think.”
“He’s a nice guy.”
“Thank you. Actually, he said the same about you.”
“He did?” Nat looked pleased by that. “I hope his daughter shares his views.”
“I was the one who vouched for you in the first place, remember?”
“Ah, yes. So what about you? Do you prefer living alone?”
She thought about it before answering. “There are some things I like about it. Being able to eat when I want, what I want. Being able to read in bed at night without someone complaining about the light being on.”
“But?”
She shrugged. “It’s lonely. Sometimes I wish I had someone to share the evenings with.”
“But not enough to do something about it, right?”
She looked at him, startled by the comment. “What made you say that?”
“Just a hunch.”
He swung the wheel over and she realized they had arrived at her apartment complex. Now she felt nervous again, her heart thumping the way it always did when she was alone with him somewhere. She couldn’t stand the thought of saying goodbye to him, yet she didn’t know if she wanted to be alone with him in her apartment.
The Mercenary And The Marriage Vow Page 21