by Lora Leigh
Pulling the cell phone from the carrier on his belt he punched in Joe Angeles’ number and waited for the other man to pick up.
“You have her, Jardin?” The other man sounded worried.
“I have her. We’re headed to the airport. Is the plane ready?”
“Fueled and ready to go. Just pull into the hangar; the guard is waiting on you. Remember, it’s a company airfield so you shouldn’t have any problems. Did you get her cat?”
Luc frowned at the other man’s tone of voice. He sounded as though he were almost afraid to ask.
“Yeah, I got the black bastard,” Luc told him. “I’m still bleeding for my efforts, too.”
Joe chuckled, suddenly sounding more relaxed. “Mason is a bit protective of her, but he’s easy enough to get along with. Keep me updated and make sure you don’t fall for any of her tricks. She’s really a good kid, Luc. I know you don’t believe that right now, but you’ll see.”
Luc shook his head. Her brother’s belief in her was to be commended. Stupid, but commendable.
“Good kids don’t turn a blind eye to murder, Joe. But I promise I won’t hurt her. You know me better than that.”
Joe had come to the ranch two years before, after Luc’s trip to the Angeles mansion. For months, Luc had no idea who he was as the younger man worked with the horses and they formed a wary friendship. Finally, Joe had come to him with the truth, that he needed to know how far his parents were willing to go to protect Maria, so he could protect them. Luc had understood it, but damn if he hadn’t been pissed for a while.
“Yeah.” Joe sighed. “I know you won’t hurt her, Luc. That’s the reason you have her. You’re the only one I can trust with her. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“I’ll call you when we lift off,” Luc promised. “Later.”
He disconnected the phone and turned away from the apartment building, heading for the airport. Joe hadn’t seemed quite this fond of his sister during the long talks they had shared through the past two years.
The brotherly concern he was showing now didn’t sit well with Luc. Not that he thought Joe was lying. It was just a bit odd considering the other man’s reticence in discussing his family, or his sister. That boy hated lies, but something wasn’t right. He shook his head and sighed wearily. Whatever it was, Luc thought, he had no doubt it would rise up and bite him in the ass soon. When it did, then he would deal with it. Until then, he had vengeance to secure.
Chapter Three
Joe hung up the phone and stared across his desk at the tall, slender figure of his father’s butler. Johann held the same cool, aloof expression that Joe could remember he had always held. He had seen it crack once in the past thirty years. And only once. The week before when Johann had shown up late into the evening and informed Joe that his parents were going to attempt to convince Melina to once again stand in Maria’s place.
“Mr. Joe, if she walks into the courtroom as Maria, she might as well stick to it. Miss Maria is going to be locked up, one way or the other; I’ve already found that out. Her parents know it, but they won’t accept it. If Melina stands in for her, they’ll lock her away, and she’s just not hard enough to survive that.”
Johann had shed tears at the thought of it. His faded blue eyes had welled with the moisture and they spilled down his cheeks as fear overcame his reserve.
“Miss Melina doesn’t deserve this,” he had sniffed. “She’s a good girl, Mr. Joe. They’ll hurt her worse next time she gets locked up.”
Joe had been in shock. Not because of the tears, though those had contributed, but his parents’ depth of ignorance. Maria slept with every lawyer they hired for her, and they would tell her parents whatever she wanted them to hear. And as usual, she wanted Melina to take the fall.
“What are the chances of her agreeing to it?” Joe had asked him.
Johann had shaken his head. “You know Miss Melina. She’ll rage and cry but when her Papa speaks sharply to her, he will gain her agreement. She dreams of their love, Mr. Joe. I’m terrified she’ll agree to it.”
Now, a week later, Joe was reasonably satisfied that Melina wouldn’t be agreeing to anything their father wanted. Sending Luc after her thinking she was Maria didn’t sit well with him, but he’d be damned if he would see her nearly broken, almost dead, as he had after taking her out of that jail two years before. Not that Maria had cared; even though it had been her fault her sister had endured it.
Rather than contacting their parents she had gone on a weeklong high and merrily allowed Melina to face a punishment she didn’t deserve.
“He has her,” he finally told Johann, watching the other man slump in his chair in relief. “Now where’s Maria?”
“Your Papa has her confined to her rooms.” He shook his head dismally. “You know how long that will last.”
“How close are they to buying her out of it?” Joe finally asked, knowing his parents would spend any amount of money to do just that.
Johann sighed bleakly. “I heard them discussing information their investigators had that could embarrass the judge, as well as the prosecutor. They will blackmail her out of it just as they did the last time. They have paid one of the arresting officers off and are now attempting to do so with the other.”
Joe sighed wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose, assuring himself he would not strangle his parents next time he saw them. “What are they asking for?”
“Complete dismissal. They have disowned Miss Melina, though. Poor child left crying. It was all I could do, Mr. Joe, not to cry with her.” Johann shook his head compassionately. “Poor little thing feels so alone. It’s not fair we had to do this to protect her.”
One problem down, one to go. Maria. Joe fingered the file he had before him. The private clinic in Switzerland would cost him an arm and a leg once he delivered Maria to it, but it would be worth it to have Melina protected after all this was over.
“If they manage to pull this off, Johann, you let me know,” he said. “I’ll take care of Maria after this. Just keep me updated.”
Johann rose wearily to his feet. “That Mr. Jardin won’t hurt her, will he, Mr. Joe?” he asked softly. “He was a hard man. I wouldn’t want her hurt.”
“Luc won’t hurt her, Johann. I give you my word.” Joe was positive there would be no true danger to Melina. He wouldn’t have contacted Luc if he thought there were. Luc was just the only man he could trust to do the job and not go to Maria’s parents for more money to release her.
It was becoming harder to protect Melina than it was to keep up with their parents’ attempts to protect Maria. They had always seen Melina as stronger, needing less love than Maria had. Joe wasn’t certain why his parents had made a stronger bond with Maria, unless it had been that incessant wailing she had done as a baby. Melina had always lain quietly, while Maria would scream for hours. Often it had been Joe who had picked up the newborn Melina, fed her, changed her, took care of her as her parents concerned themselves with the other, more demanding, twin.
When Maria had begun getting into trouble, his parents had learned that Melina had a natural innocence and inborn depth of honesty that could get their troublemaking daughter out of her messes. It had been then that they had begun using the youngest twin, almost unconsciously, as though it was Melina’s job to keep her sister from facing the consequences of her actions. Now, Maria had sunk to new levels, uncaring of the harm she created because she knew her parents would use Melina to get her out of it.
Joe had enough the day he learned Melina was in jail in Maria’s stead. Melina had tried calling her parents for days with no success. If it hadn’t been for Johann and Melina’s call to Joe’s secretary, he would have never known the danger Melina was in.
“I must return to Mr. Angeles then.” Johann stood slowly to his feet, his expression weary and grief stricken. “Each day, Mr. Joe, I think more often of retirement, hearing them disown that child…” He shook his head painfully.
“If you decide to do so let
me know, Johann.” Joe nodded respectfully. “I’ll make certain there are no repercussions.”
Johann drew in a hard, tired breath. “It is a shame, Mr. Joe. A shame. Once, your parents were good people. Good people. Now…” He tucked his hands in his pockets and moved for the door. “Now, I just don’t know…”
And Joe agreed with him. Like Johann, he had no idea what had happened to his parents, but more to the point, he had given up on them ever returning to the caring, decent people they had once been. If they had ever existed.
Chapter Four
She had been kidnapped. Melina fought to hold back her terror as she awoke to realize her hands and feet were bound. She was lying on a surprisingly comfortable bed. Not that comfort meant anything. She was certain even serial killers could have comfortable beds. But she knew it wasn’t a serial killer who had kidnapped her. Damn, the more she thought about it, the more she was beginning to fear that her chances could be better with a nutcase than they were with the man she had glimpsed in one blinding second the night before.
She fought to still the fear as she remembered the face of her kidnapper. For one, heart-stopping moment she had stared up at him and realized that once again, despite all her efforts, she was going to pay for Maria’s sins.
This was great. Like he would believe she wasn’t Maria. How many people knew her parents had two daughters? She could count them all on ten fingers and have a few left over. Since she was a child, she had been content to be left alone with her dolls, her books, her various hobbies, rather than be the social butterfly her sister had started out as. And her parents had been willing to leave her behind. The fewer people who knew Maria had a twin, the easier it might be to get the older twin out of trouble later. That lesson had been learned early.
She opened her eyes, her senses groggy from being drugged, her mind sluggish. She needed to think clearly, to clear the fog out of her head and figure out how to handle this one. There was no doubt Jardin was out for revenge. And she couldn’t blame him. The surprising part was that he had let her live long enough to wake up.
“Awake, are you?” His voice sounded behind her.
His voice sent shivers up her spine. It was deep and rough, like the growl of a hungry predator. It sent a chill of dread through her and had her licking her dry lips in response to the nervousness suddenly flaring through her body.
The man most likely to kill you shouldn’t sound so damned sexy seconds before doing so. Melina swallowed tightly. She should be more frightened and less aroused by that voice.
Her darkest fantasies had been filled with the image of him for two years. She had often awakened in the middle of the night, her hips lifting, reaching for the dream vision ready to impale her. She was as sick as Maria, she thought in disgust. The way she lusted after him made no sense.
“I assume you are at least reasonably clear-headed,” he drawled mockingly. “Pretending to sleep won’t save your ass, little girl.”
Melina winced at the pet name. She wasn’t a little girl, dammit.
She breathed out in resignation. She had to use the bathroom and her mouth felt like cotton. She might as well give in and get it the hell over with. Jardin hadn’t seemed like a man who would easily be sidetracked or sweet-talked. Not that she had ever been very good with the sweet talk anyway.
That didn’t mean she had to like the unusual response to him. Why, of all the men in the world, did she have to be so attracted to this one? She was certain he would just as soon kill her than look at her. And knowing that, why was her pussy heating, her breasts tingling, her body so sensitized in response to his voice?
Drawing in a deep breath she prepared herself to face him. The sooner she did so, the sooner she could possibly find some peace.
“Do you think you could untie me long enough to use the bathroom before you begin tormenting me?” she asked him coolly.
She wasn’t about to roll over and make the pain in her shoulders worse by lying on her back, bound as she was. It was damned uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her. She also felt too vulnerable, too helpless. She was at his mercy, and being in such a position was much too arousing.
Arousing? It should be terrifying, not arousing.
Melina trembled as he moved. She felt cold steel slide between her bare ankles, slicing through the ropes, then between her wrists. Flexing her hands she eased into a sitting position, placing her feet tentatively on the floor. Glancing through her lashes she saw the lean, strong legs that moved into her line of vision.
She raised her eyes as her heart stopped in her chest. He was releasing his belt. Oh God. She gasped for breath as his fingers, calloused and very male, began unbuttoning his jeans.
She wasn’t going to whimper, she assured herself. She would not show her shock and arousal by actually letting that helpless little sound free. But as he pulled his thick, hard cock from the depth of his jeans she knew the sound squeaked from her throat as his broad hand stroked over the dark flesh suggestively.
“Come on, Catarina,” he whispered darkly. “Open wide, baby, and let me have that tight throat again.”
Her gaze flew to his. He was watching her with a deep vein of amusement and lust, his handsome face taut with arousal and demand. Melina wanted to laugh. She almost did. She wouldn’t know what to do with it even if she did consider “opening wide” as he suggested.
“Uhh, I really need to go,” she whispered faintly, trying desperately not to gaze at the hard cock only inches from her mouth. “Really bad.”
His lips quirked mockingly, his dark gray eyes darkening further. “Then pay the price,” he suggested softly. “Come on, Catarina, it’s not like it’s the first time.”
It wasn’t? It was the first time for her, she thought with disbelief. Surely he didn’t think she really would? Melina never had, but she was well aware of the fact that Maria would do it and had done it.
He moved his arm, his hand lifting, fingers threading her hair, the touch sending tingles of sensation to her scalp as he held her still and moved closer. Her gaze dropped nervously, her vision filled with the dark, pulsing flesh of the head of his cock.
He really thought she was going to? Thought she could?
The broad, purpled head touched her lips, throbbed, then spilled a soft pearl of semen against her lower curve.
Before Melina could stop herself, she jerked back, a cry of outrage escaping her mouth as she rolled clumsily across the bed. Shaking with nerves, she fell over the side and scrambled to her feet before staring at him across the mattress.
“No,” she snapped out, though her response was rather late, she thought as she watched him redoing his jeans with a quizzical frown. He appeared both amused and bemused by her reaction.
“That’s all you had to say, Catarina.” He shrugged. “I don’t remember you being so hesitant last time.”
Last time? She wasn’t hesitant? She was going to kill Maria. Seriously. Honestly. First chance she had her parents were being cut down to one daughter in truth instead of just in wishes.
Would he believe she wasn’t Maria? Melina clenched her teeth in fury, weighing her options carefully. He didn’t seem determined to kill her at this point. He was lazily amused, perhaps a little sarcastic and mocking, but he didn’t appear murderous.
“Look,” she finally said, fighting to keep her voice steady as she heard the betraying quiver in the words. “You’ve made a terrible mistake here. Really. I’m sure you’ll find it quite funny…”
He frowned. The look sent fear rioting through her system. Thick black brows and stormy gray eyes darkened, his lips flattened, the high cheekbones standing out prominently. The look was a warning and sent Melina’s heart pounding in her chest.
“Really?” he drawled. “I never imagined for a moment that there wouldn’t be a good explanation.” He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her through narrowed eyes. “I think I should tell you right up front, Catarina, that there’s no getting out of what I have planned for you. Y
ou may as well forget any excuses, lies or tricks. This is hell, baby, and I’m your warden. So get used to it now.”
Melina’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, you’re my warden?”
He smiled. The hard curve of his lips sent a pulse of warning through her nervous system.
“Exactly what I said, sugar. You’re here to finish drying out and clean your act up. And I know just how to ensure that. You, sweet thing, are getting ready to learn how the other half lives. No drugs, no servants, no booze, no pampering. Now get showered. I’ll be up to get you in half an hour. Be dressed and ready or face the consequences.” He watched her intently, his eyes dark and steady, frightening. “And I promise, the consequences won’t be pleasant.”
Chapter Five
Melina gaped at her captor in shock as she blinked just to be certain she was awake and not having some horrible nightmare. He was actually threatening her. Had set himself up as judge, jury and executioner and thought she would go along with it. She would laugh if he didn’t look so damned serious about it.
“You’re joking.” She couldn’t stem the horror that she knew reflected in her voice.
“Nope.” He crossed his arms over his chest arrogantly, staring back at her with cold, mocking eyes. “No joke, sugarplum. You play, you pay. If the courts can’t do anything with you, then I can sure as hell try. Consider it punishment for the little crimes you’ve escaped in the past years. All rolled into one.” His smile wasn’t comforting.
Melina drew a hard, deep breath. Patience was a virtue, she reminded herself. Only cool, calm heads solved extreme problems. She had faced the wrath of her parents, been disowned and turned down for the last three jobs she interviewed for. She could handle this. She hadn’t killed anyone yet. She really didn’t have to start with this ignorant cowboy.
“What in the hell makes you think I’m going to go along with this?” she asked him incredulously. “Do I have ‘stupid’ written across my forehead? ‘Wimp’? ‘Go ahead and step on me because I’m too stupid to live and I enjoy abuse’?” She threw her hands up in frustration as she faced him in disbelief.