9

MAKE LOVE TO ME. She wanted to tell him the words, but they were locked in her throat. Held there by fear and longing.

Then words weren’t necessary as Ryan stopped massaging and began caressing. He began with tempting swirls to the backs of her thighs, sliding his fingers beneath the short hem of her robe. Then he smoothed the material against her skin, traveling on top of it, the heat of his touch burning through the white cotton.

Tracing her spine with gentle fingers he tunneled beneath her long golden hair to settle on the back of her neck, brushing the downy hair there, before swirling onward to the curve of her ear. She melted even more. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear. “Tell me what you want.”

“You,” she whispered in return, rolling onto her back as he straddled her body. The movement created a friction of his hard body rubbing against hers, increasing the aching hunger tenfold.

Pulling his head down to hers, she kissed him. The hunger was immediate, the passion familiar. This was Ryan. The man she loved. The man she’d always loved. She didn’t want to think, she just wanted to feel—feel his arms around her, his hands slipping beneath her thin robe to caress her.

At first he was barely touching her, his fingers grazing but not lingering over the curves of her breasts. Her nipples tingled with the need to know the feel of his touch. And then he cupped her in the palm of his large hand as the robe slid away, leaving nothing between her creamy skin and his long fingers.

Their kiss took on a new level of intimacy. So did his caresses. He stroked the underside of one breast with his index finger, teased the rosy crest with the ball of his thumb until it firmed in lush arousal. Then his seductive mouth descended as he tempted her nipple with his tongue.

She gripped his shoulders, pleasure swirling through her. “I want you,” she gasped. “Now.”

“Shhh,” he soothed her, gently combing his fingers through her hair, lifting it away from her face and spreading it across the black silk sheets as if it were her crowning glory. And all the while, he was kissing her parted lips, his thumb rubbing the skin beneath her ear in a mesmerizing motion that spoke of building passion. Because his other hand was also rubbing, farther down, in the one spot that yearned for his touch.

In Dvoák’s New World symphony there was a passage that had been made into a song called “Going Home” and that’s what it felt like when she was wrapped in Ryan’s arms. As if she’d come home. As if this was where she was meant to be.

She loved him. The knowledge slipped into her heart. She’d never really stopped loving him. That’s why she hadn’t been able to get this intimate with another man. Because it had never felt this right.

Their lovemaking took on a dreamlike quality, an erotic celebration created not just by the cool slipperiness of the black silk sheets and the surrounding mirrors but by the enduring passion that flared between them. The bed was king-size and they made use of every inch of it as Ryan tossed off his clothing with hasty urgency. When he was as naked as she was, he grabbed a latex condom from his jeans pocket. Once protection was taken care of he rejoined her, his lips consuming hers with unmistakable hunger, the thrust of his tongue imitating the thrust of his body as he joined with her.

Courtney lovingly welcomed him. The ecstasy went beyond sensation, transporting her into a new realm of wonder and bliss. Bending her knees, she rolled over him to perch atop his glorious body and smile down at him with Eve-like triumph.

“You like that?” His voice was raspy with passion.

“Mmm.” Her breathy sigh was catlike. “Don’t you?”

“Yes,” he growled before showing her exactly how much.

Completion came quickly as her entire being hovered on the peak of excitation before beginning the free fall into total satisfaction.

THE NEXT MORNING, Courtney woke to see a reflection of herself in the mirrored ceiling. She was smiling. And she looked as well loved as one of those naked nymphs in the mural on the bathroom wall.

Her gaze sought out Ryan, before registering the sound of the shower running. So he’d been unable to resist trying out the deluxe shower in her bathroom. She wished he’d wakened her to join him. Some of her muscles gave a twinge as she stretched. Remembering what they’d done in the middle of the night and again just before dawn made her blush.

The sound of the phone ringing startled her. She wondered whether or not she should answer it before recalling that Ryan had arranged to have her calls forwarded to this number.

“Hello?” Her greeting was hesitant, her voice still husky with sleep and remembered passion.

“Good morning, malenka,” Anton declared cheerfully. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Pulling the sheet around her, Courtney sat up in bed while casting a wary look toward the bathroom where Ryan was still taking his shower. “I’m so glad to hear from you,” she whispered into the receiver. “I’ve been so worried.”

“And I about you. You sound…different”

“Must be because of call forwarding.”

“Are you sure it is not Ryan? Having your old boyfriend staying with you, alone, this is not a good thing. You have done nothing to regret?”

Courtney felt uncomfortable discussing her intimate relationship with Ryan. “Let’s talk about you. Are you okay?”

“I am fine. But I have had to move. I can tell you now. Before I was hiding out in Fred’s basement I remember you telling me he never went down there.

And he keeps so much food in his freezer he never noticed that some of it was missing.”

“Fred’s basement!” She couldn’t believe it. Her uncle had been only a few blocks away.

“I had to move because the police were there when I returned from taking a walk. No one recognized me in my disguise as an old woman, but such a close call made me nervous. They took Fred away.”

“He’s been charged with embezzling money from the bank,” Courtney said, keeping her voice low.

“Ah, I thought perhaps they were after me. Well, as you know, I was no fan of Fred’s”

“No, I didn’t know that.” This came as news to her. “You never told me.”

“Do not get me wrong. I appreciate the use of his basement, even if it was without his knowledge.”

“What are your plans now?” she asked, nervously twining her hair through her fingers. “You’re not going back to Fred’s are you?”

“No, that would be too risky. But I do plan on staying hidden until the Zopo brothers are caught and are behind bars.”

A sudden noise made Courtney start nervously, but it was only Ryan dropping his bar of soap in the shower. She knew from personal experience that he loved long hot showers, the longer the better. But just to be on the safe side…

“Hold on just a sec, I’m going to switch to the phone in the living room.” Throwing on her cotton robe, she raced to the living room. “Are you still there?”

“Yes. And I am still wondering how you are?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Ryan is taking good care of me.”

“This is what I am afraid of.” Anton’s voice reflected his parental-like concern. “The two of you locked up in your small apartment.”

“I’m not in my apartment now.”

“How can that be?” He sounded confused. “I called you there.”

She briefly filled him in on the break-in at her building, and at the attempted robbery at the bank. “Ryan tells me they should have the Zopos in custody any time now.”

Anton snorted his skepticism. “I will believe that when I see it. Where are you?”

“I’m near Newport, on the coast”

He was clearly surprised and delighted with this news. “Me, too. You know how I love the ocean. But why are you here?”

“Ryan brought me to a beach house of a friend of his so I’d be safe.”

“Safe, hah!” Anton scoffed. “I’ll bet the scoundrel brought you to a love nest on the ocean. Tell me where you are and I will come there myself.”

His words panicked her, stopping her in her tracks from the nervous pacing she’d been doing across the living room floor. “No, you can’t!”

But he overrode her objections. “Yes, I can,” he said righteously. “I will come to protect you before your love for him returns.”

“It’s too late,” she admitted unsteadily. “I do love him. Maybe I never stopped loving him. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I know that he’s the only man for me.”

“Oh, malenka.” Anton’s voice was sympathetic, as if he already knew she was doomed for heartbreak.

“I shouldn’t keep you any longer,” she said, belatedly realizing that the phone could still be tapped.

“Do not fear,” Anton reassured her. “All will be well. Try to get free of Ryan long enough to call me from a pay phone so we can talk longer. These short speeches are not enough. I am at the Sea Breeze Motel. Call me.”

“I’ll try. I promise.”

As she retraced her steps back to the bedroom, she hoped this mess would be over soon. And if it was, if the Zopos were in custody and her uncle did decide to testify, would Ryan walk out of her life again? Had she kept her uncle on the phone too long? As she entered the bedroom, her worry about the authorities being able to trace her uncle’s call became a moot issue.

Because Ryan was there, a towel hastily wrapped around his otherwise naked torso. The water may still have been running in the bathroom, but he was no longer in the shower. Instead he was standing next to the bedside table, with the phone receiver against his ear. From the look on his face it was obvious that he’d been eavesdropping on her conversation with her uncle, listening to every word on the bedroom extension.

Which meant he knew where her uncle was staying. He also knew that Courtney had just confessed she loved him. She could imagine which news Ryan considered to be the most important.

His voice could crack stone. “I notice you didn’t try to convince your uncle to turn himself in.”

Maybe that was all he noticed. No, Ryan never missed a thing. He’d heard, he’d registered. He just chose to ignore the information about her loving him because it was irrelevant to his case. Picking up a feather pillow from the bed, she whacked him over the head with it.

“What are you angry about? I’m the one who should be furious,” he growled at her, trying to wrestle the pillow away from her.

She held on tight. In the end something had to give, and it was the pillow, ripping right down the middle, the way her heart felt like it was doing. Feathers flew everywhere as Courtney flew backward onto the bed.

Shoving her long hair out of her face, she blew a downy feather out of her mouth as she looked up at Ryan. How could she have been so weak? She’d known all along what he was up to, but like a stupid fool she’d let herself be swept away by rosy fantasies.

Like a vengeful mythical god, Ryan stood beside the bed, his hands on his lean hips as he glared down at her, fire in his hazel eyes. The towel wrapped around his waist had slipped dangerously low. His voice was as intimidating as his expression. “I don’t have time to get into this with you now.”

She tried to keep her voice from trembling. “What are you going to do?”

“My job.” Turning his back on her, he picked up the phone, angrily punching out a number.

She numbly listened to him arrange with local law enforcement to have someone come to the beach house to keep an eye on her. So he was going to take her uncle in. She’d known he would. It had been foolish to think he’d do otherwise. It was his job, as he’d told her frequently. And he was good at what he did. He wasn’t about to let anything get in the way of his goal. Including her.

As she looked at her surroundings through tearstreaked eyes she was hit by the undeniable fact that a leopard never changes its spots.

Pain spilled through her. She distantly, heard him hang up the phone as she hurriedly wiped away her tears.

“Officer Logan will be here in five minutes,” he told her curtly. “Until then, you’ll stay right where you are, where I can make sure you don’t try to double-cross me by calling your uncle and warning him.”

“Double-crossing is more up your alley than mine,” she accused, the betrayal cutting deep. Her words were choppy, her sentences abrupt. “You planned this entire thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This.” Sitting up, she angrily smacked the mattress with the open palm of her trembling hand. “You got me into bed and made love to me so that I’d let my guard down and lead you to my uncle.”

All Ryan said was, “I had no way of knowing you’d talk to your uncle behind my back, although I should have guessed as much since this isn’t the first time you’ve conspired with him.”

She noticed he didn’t deny her accusation of him having sex with her to use her to get to Anton. He didn’t bother defending himself from the truth. She read it in his face, in the tightening of his jaw.

In silence they got dressed and waited for Ryan’s replacement to arrive. “Don’t let her near the phone,” he instructed Officer Logan. To Courtney he said, “I’ve got work to do.” Then he was gone.

“I GIVE UP!” Muriel tossed her hands in the air, nearly flinging her magic wand through the mirrored bedroom ceiling.

“Fairy godmother’s aren’t allowed to give up,” Hattie primly informed her. Today her hat was a perky straw affair with fresh flowers on the crown.

Aggravated, Muriel turned on her. “Says who, Miss Smarty-pants? Where is it written that we can’t give up?”

“In the rule book.” With a whisk of her wand, Hattie produced a thick volume that was almost as big as she was, and as fancy, with gilded pages and colorful calligraphic printing. Moving the pages with a wave of her wand, she riffled through until she found what she was looking for. “Right here, on page 3,333.”

“We’ve already broken plenty of rules in that book. Plus we messed up the Zopo brothers’ fancy equipment, so we’ve already interfered more than once.”

Hattie glared at Muriel, not pleased by the reminder. “But we’re not supposed to. We’re supposed to act like proper fairy godmothers.”

“Proper, hah!” Muriel gave a sharp laugh. “If we were proper we wouldn’t be in this. mess. We wouldn’t have screwed up at the Knight triplets’ christening and given each of the babies too much fairy dust.”

Betty looked like she wanted to bop both her sisters over their heads as she joined in the conversation for the first time. “Can it, you two fussbudgets! We’ve got to put our heads together to correct the situation.”

“We’re not supposed to interfere,” Hattie repeated.

“We’re not supposed to fail, either,” Betty said sternly. “And given a choice, I’d rather do the former than the latter.”