Breakaway

by Rochelle Alers

  Reaching for Celia’s hand, Gavin held it protectively in his strong grasp as he led her across the animal hospital’s parking lot. Her brow had knitted in consternation when the veterinarian who’d examined Terry recommended keeping the terrier for at least three days. He’d complimented Celia’s surgical skills and reassured her that Terry’s chances of survival were very good. The canine’s treatment plan included pain management and IV feeding.

  Leaning down from his superior height, Gavin pressed his mouth to her ear. “I thought we were going to share Terry.”

  Celia shivered slightly from his moist breath. “We are.”

  “That’s not possible when you registered him as Terry Thomas, not Terry Thomas-Faulkner.”

  She didn’t know whether to sucker punch Gavin or laugh for his teasing her. She did the latter. “You know you’re a little crazy.”

  “I’m serious, Celia.”

  “What are you going to do with a dog when you’re off protecting the world’s powerful elite?”

  “The same could be said for you when you’re practicing medicine.”

  “But I’m not practicing medicine. I’m on leave, and if or when I return I’ll have someone take care of him.”

  Slowing his stride to accommodate Celia’s shorter legs, Gavin dropped her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist. He felt a modicum of guilt because he knew facts about Celia she’d probably forgotten or wasn’t aware of.

  He wondered whether she knew that her late fiancé had fathered a son at seventeen. The baby’s mother had given him up for adoption. Trevor-Jones had another secret. Although he’d been caught cheating in high school, his family’s name, money and clout got the charge expunged from his permanent records.

  Gavin didn’t know whether Celia’s decision not to practice medicine was because she was still grieving the loss of her fiancé or because she’d feared a repeat of an episode that almost cost her her own life.

  “Why aren’t you practicing?” She stopped abruptly, causing him to stumble but he quickly regained his balance.

  Celia stared up at Gavin. Wearing flats put her at a distinct disadvantage. Standing close to five-ten in her bare feet, whenever she wore heels not many men towered over her.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry for prying.” Gavin actually hadn’t expected her to disclose any facts about her personal life.

  “It’s not about prying, but me not wanting to, as they say, spill my guts to a stranger.”

  Putting both his arms around her waist, Gavin pulled Celia to his chest. “After a couple of dates we should stop being strangers.”

  She lifted her chin. “Who said anything about a couple of dates? After Saturday’s cookout we may never see each other again.”

  “How soon you forget, lady doctor. You promised to share Terry with me and there’s still our cook-off challenge.”

  Lids lowering, lashes brushing the tops of her cheeks, Celia was able to conceal the rush of excitement eddying through her body. She’d boldly asked Gavin to go to Hannah’s with her, something she’d never done with any other man, but she didn’t want to be presumptuous and assume he wanted to see her again. After all, he’d come to the mountains on vacation, not to become involved with a woman.

  “How long is your vacation?”

  Gavin pressed a kiss to Celia’s forehead when what he’d wanted was to taste her mouth. Her mouth and voice were the personification of sensuality.

  “It’s as long as I want it to be,” he said after a comfortable pause. “I’m leasing a time-share. I plan to stay through the Labor Day weekend.”

  Her eyes caught and held his amused gaze. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  Attractive lines fanned out around Gavin’s eyes when he smiled. “No, I’m not. I just finished a job where I spent two months traveling with a businessman and his family throughout Europe and Asia. Once I returned to the States it took a week to balance my body’s circadian rhythm and even longer to readjust my taste buds. Speaking of taste buds,” he said without pausing to take a breath, “how about sharing lunch with me?”

  Her smile was as intimate as a kiss. “I’d love to share lunch with you.”

  Tightening his hold on her slender body, Gavin tucked Celia into the hard planes of his physique. Holding her, inhaling her feminine scent made him aware that she wasn’t skinny, but slender. Her womanly curves fit perfectly within the contours of his length.

  “What do you feel like eating?”

  Celia closed her eyes, melting against the man who reminded her why she’d been born female. A rush of craving, longing and trembling she’d never known held her in a vise-like grip, refusing to release her.

  He looks so good.

  He smells so good.

  He feels so good.

  And I need him to make me feel good—to help me to heal inside and out.

  Hot tears pricked the backs of Celia’s eyelids with the silent entreaty. She’d spent the past year wallowing in fear and grief. As a doctor she’d come face-to-face with life and death on what had become a daily basis. She’d called the time of death on patients ranging from newborns to centenarians, and it was never easy. She was a scientist and a realist. It was inevitable that life was always followed by death.

  What she never would’ve anticipated was that her own life could’ve possibly been ended by a teenage boy who had resorted to murder because of a frivolous boast.

  Gavin eased back, staring at the woman in his embrace. “Are you all right, baby?” The endearment had slipped out unbidden.

  Celia nodded, smiling. “I’m real good,” she admitted. And she was. Being cradled in Gavin’s arms made her feel as if she’d been frozen, locked away in a state of suspended animation for the past year, and now she was finally thawing out. “There’s a restaurant called Carmel’s on Page and Battery Park. They have good food and alfresco dining.”

  “Let’s do it. You’re going to have to show me how to get there.”

  Glancing at his watch, Gavin noted the time. It was almost one. He’d suggested lunch because he’d only drunk two cups of coffee earlier that morning. Most of his time was spent on the computer, reading updates from a secure government site in order to gather information as to the whereabouts of Raymond Prentice.

  It was as if his brother had literally dropped off the planet. Meanwhile, the band of gun thieves had successfully pulled off two more robberies—one in Arkansas and the other in Oklahoma. What Gavin found puzzling was the speed at which they’d traveled from one state to another. They’d robbed a shop in Jonesboro, Arkansas and three hours later they hit another dealer near Lawton, Oklahoma, only miles from the Fort Sill Military Reservation.

  An ATF memo indicated the gang’s major focus was on U.S. law enforcement dealers. Another memorandum was circulated to dealers, warning them to be vigilant and to alert their local law enforcement of individuals who appeared to be window-shopping instead of purchasing firearms.

  The latest information from the inside informant was that a member of the group, a former Army sniper, was left behind to search out and execute Raymond Prentice. Gavin knew it would be a race against time to find his brother before the sniper.

  Celia and Gavin decided to wait for a table outside the restaurant because they wanted to take in the sights of downtown Asheville while enjoying the balmy spring weather. Once they were seated she ordered smoked turkey breast, Swiss cheese and a cranberry-horseradish mayonnaise on sourdough bread.

  Gavin had selected a crab cake sandwich with rémoulade sauce, romaine, tomato and red onion on a Kaiser roll. He’d also ordered a half carafe of white wine to accompany their lunch, and after a glass, Celia felt completely relaxed.

  “I can’t remember ever drinking wine with a sandwich,” she said, smiling.

  Gavin stared across the table at his dining partner. There was something about her bearing and body language that called to mind the graceful movements of a prima ballerina.

&n
bsp; “Haven’t you had wine with bread, cheese and salad?”

  Celia nodded. “Yes.”

  “We ordered dishes with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bread, so drinking wine is permissible.”

  “Do you like traveling?”

  Her question was so unexpected that it gave Gavin pause. “Yes and no.”

  Propping her elbow on the table, Celia rested her chin on her fist. “Why yes and no?”

  His lids came down, hiding his innermost thoughts from her. He didn’t like lying to Celia, but he couldn’t afford to be forthcoming because it would reveal his identity and his mission.

  “It’s always nice to visit a country where I’d never been. The downside is I find myself getting homesick.” He glanced up at her. “And I get homesick for the worst things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Hamburgers, franks, deep-dish pizza and Southern fried chicken.”

  Celia’s eyebrows lifted. “What about North Carolina pulled pork?”

  “That, too,” he crooned as a dreamy expression came over his face. “Have you done a lot of traveling?”

  “I used to when I was a young girl. My dad would take me with him on business trips to Belize, Mexico, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Once I entered high school, academics became a priority for me. I knew I wanted to become a doctor, so all of my spare time was spent studying. I have a few doctors in the family, so they would give me study tips for the MCAT. Thanks to them I scored in the top one percent.”

  “Where did you go to medical school? No, I take that back. What schools did you apply to that accepted you?”

  Lowering her arm, Celia dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “I applied to all the Ivy League schools. The others were Johns Hopkins, Howard and Meharry. I was accepted into most of them, but decided on Meharry.”

  “Why Meharry?” Gavin asked.

  A mysterious smile softened her parted lips. “I fell in love with this part of the country. The first time I drove through the Great Smoky Mountains I felt as if I’d stepped back in time, and I made a promise to myself that once I became a doctor I would buy property here.”

  “Do you keep all of your promises?” he teased.

  “Maybe not to myself, but if I promise someone else something, I do everything within my power to keep it.”

  Leaning over the table, Gavin gave Celia a long, penetrating stare. “Will you promise…”

  “Promise what, Gavin?”

  A deafening silence swallowed them in a cocoon of anticipation where they were able to shut out everything and everyone around them. The seconds ticked as a slow smile parted Gavin’s firm lips. “I want you to promise me that we’ll be civil when it comes to Terry.”

  Slumping back in her chair, Celia’s expression registered disbelief. She’d thought what he’d wanted to propose had something to do with them, not the dog. Perhaps, deep down inside she wanted it to be different—that she’d met Gavin under another set of circumstances.

  She also wasn’t oblivious to the admiring glances women diners directed at Gavin. Celia wanted to tell them they could look, but he was going home with her. Her fingers tightened around the stem of her wineglass. Now, where had that thought come from? She, who’d professed not to have a jealous bone in her body, was suddenly struck by the green-eyed monster.

  “I promise.” She placed her hand over her wineglass when Gavin attempted to refill it. “Please. No more.”

  His hand halted. “You only had one glass.”

  “One glass is my limit.”

  Gavin leaned over the table. “What happens after the second glass?”

  Celia also leaned closer. “I lose my inhibitions.”

  “No!”

  “Yes-s-s,” she slurred. “My tongue doesn’t work well after one glass.”

  Reaching over the table, Gavin took her hands in his. “I promise not to take advantage of you if you do drink that second glass.”

  I wouldn’t care if you did, she mused. Easing her right hand from his loose grip, Celia traced the rim of the wineglass with her forefinger. “I trust you to keep your word,” she lied.

  Gavin’s gaze moved from Celia’s face to her chest. He could discern the lace on her bra under her blouse. The flesh between his thighs stirred when he recalled the press of her firm breasts against his chest. He wanted Celia Cole-Thomas in his bed, he between her legs and his hardened flesh buried so deep inside her they wouldn’t know where one began and the other ended.

  “Are you an only child?” He had to say something, anything to take his mind off the solid bulge in his jeans.

  Celia smiled. “No. I’m the dreaded middle child. I have an older and younger brother.”

  “Being the only girl should’ve made it easier for you.”

  “Wrong, Gavin. Being the only girl isn’t what it’s cracked up to be when you’re a Cole.”

  Gavin forced back a smile. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted Celia to open up to him. “Is there something special about being a Cole?”

  “Very, very special. Have you ever heard of ColeDiz International, Limited?”

  A beat passed as he pretended to search his memory. “No. Why?”

  “ColeDiz is the biggest family-owned agribusiness in the United States.”

  “Will I be able to look it up on the Internet?”

  Celia nodded. “You can, but chances are you won’t find much information because it’s privately owned. There was a time when most of the top positions were relegated only to those with Cole blood, but my father changed that. Now, only the CEO is mandated to be a direct descendant of Samuel Claridge Cole.”

  “Who is Samuel?”

  “He was my great-grandfather. The male members of the family are encouraged to join the family business, while the girls can choose any profession.”

  “Who’s the CEO?”

  “My older brother, Diego.”

  For a moment, Gavin studied Celia intently. “Is your younger brother involved in the family business?”

  She shook her head. “Nicky wants nothing to do with growing and exporting coffee, bananas and cotton. He bought a horse farm in Virginia, and spent millions on horseflesh to improve the bloodlines. He struck gold last year when one of his Thoroughbreds came in first in the International Gold Cup race. My brother did something I thought was very strange. He announced that he was retiring New Freedom and putting him out to stud.”

  Gavin touched a napkin to the corners of his mouth. “That’s a smart move. He can offset his expenses with what he can collect in stud fees.”

  “That’s what he said.”

  “It looks as if your younger brother has found his niche. I…” Whatever Gavin was going to say was preempted when his cell phone rang. Removing it from his waistband, he stared at the caller’s name. Pushing back his chair, he came to his feet. “Excuse me, but I have to take this call.

  “Faulkner,” he said softly, identifying himself as he walked over to where he couldn’t be overheard. Gavin felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. “Did you find Ray?”

  “No. I don’t know how he did it, but he got word to the North Carolina field office that he’s not coming in until he feels it’s safe to surface. And, he’s only going to turn himself in to you.”

  “Weren’t you able to trace the call?”

  “Yeah. It originated somewhere near the Cascades.”

  “How did he get to Oregon?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question. By the time we’d dispatched agents from Portland, Salem and Eugene, there was no trace of him. We don’t know how long it’s going to take him to crisscross the country undetected, but if we have to wait six months, then so be it.”

  “The next time he contacts anyone, tell him to call me.”

  “That’s not going to happen, Faulkner. One thing the Bureau doesn’t want is for anyone to make the connection between the two of you. Stay put and Prentice will contact you.”

  Without warning, the line went dead. Instead of going out to look for Raymond
Prentice, he would wait for him to come to him.

  His jaw tightened when he clenched his teeth. He was hoping his brother didn’t view his predicament as a recon mission, playing cat and mouse with a group of ruthless men who viewed him as a traitor. However, Ray Prentice had an advantage the others didn’t: Navy SEAL training.

  Securing the cell phone to his waistband, Gavin returned to sit opposite Celia. Smiling, he stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Celia Cole-Thomas was sexy, and he suspected she was totally unaware of how sexy she was. Wisps of black hair had escaped the twist on the nape of her neck. His gaze lingered on her full lower lip before moving up to the large dark eyes that reminded him of a velvet midnight sky.

  He’d been ordered to wait in Waynesville for the man who topped the FBI Most Wanted list to contact him, and interacting with the beautiful doctor was certain to make his stay quite enjoyable.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  Her dulcet voice caressed his ear. “I just got some good news,” he half lied. “My next assignment has been postponed to the end of the summer, and that means I get to have an extended vacation to hang out with Terry and Terry’s mama just a wee bit longer.”

  “Why do I get the impression that you’re a wee bit smug about slacking off?”

  “And you’re not, Dr. Thomas? I mean slacking off?”

  Sudden anger lit Celia’s eyes. She’d told Gavin that she didn’t want to talk about why she wasn’t practicing, but he’d insisted when he’d refused to disclose the names of the celebrities and high-profile personalities he’d protected.

  Raising her hand, she signaled for their waiter. “I’ll take the check, please.”

  Rising slightly, Gavin reached into the pocket of his jeans for a money clip. “I’m paying.” The two words were barely off his tongue when Celia gave the waiter a large bill.

  “Keep the change.”

  The young man was all smiles. “Thank you, Miss.”

  Gavin stood up, reaching for her arm, but she was too quick, pulling away and walking to where he’d parked his truck. He managed to catch up with her at the corner. This time when he reached for her arm, he tightened his grip, not permitting her to escape him.