Kyle and Marianne sat on a blanket on the beach long after dark with a small fire crackling before them. He was leaning back against a large piece of driftwood with Marianne sitting between his raised legs, cradled against his bare chest while she wore his T-shirt.
He adored the sight of her in his clothes, which she had been wearing every day since he’d “kidnapped” her. There was no way he was going to let her return to her hotel room, where one of the others might be able to keep her from him.
Not that they could. He just didn’t want to have to hurt someone unnecessarily. But he would hurt anyone who tried to pry her away from him even a minute earlier than he had to let her go.
She was braless underneath his shirt, and the thin material reminded him constantly of the fact that she was ready for him at any time. Her nipples were puckered nicely against the thin white cotton fabric, begging him to reach out and touch her while she had her head resting back against his shoulder. Her hips were nested firmly against his groin, and every time she moved, his cock jerked with awareness of her warm softness so close to him.
With the awareness of just how much he enjoyed her company and her body.
It was quiet now, with only the sound of the surf and fire to intrude on their peace.
But Kyle was concerned. The men from her side of the island were getting more resourceful and insistent that Marianne return to her “fantasy.”
He’d be damned if he was going to let her go. Not until she asked him to, and so far she seemed utterly content to stay with him.
But those pesky vermin kept running after them, and today they’d gotten a little smarter.
One of the buggers had almost caught up to them on the cliffs. But a few well-tossed grenades had sent the man running back the way he’d come.
Tomorrow Kyle would have to move them to a new location farther down the beach.
Marianne continued to play along with the idea of their pursuers being Tyson’s henchmen out to get them, but by the light in her brown eyes whenever he spoke of it, he could tell she didn’t believe him.
It was just as well. Tyson had been a stupid idea, but it had brought him the best moments of his life, and if she didn’t call his bluff, he wasn’t going to confess the truth to her.
He just wanted to enjoy what little time they had left.
Marianne snatched her stick up as her marshmallow caught fire. She quickly blew it out. Her long hair tickled his skin as she moved, stirring the air between them so that he could smell the fragrance of his shampoo in her hair.
He loved the smell of his scent on her. It touched him on a level that was profound and frightening.
Entranced, Kyle watched as she pulled the gooey mess from the tip of the stick and carefully took a bite.
The sight of her tongue flicking back and forth over her lips undid him.
His body burning, he pulled her close to taste the sugar on her lips. She moaned the instant he swept his tongue against hers.
“Are you burning your marshmallow, Kyle?”
He rubbed noses with her and inhaled her womanly scent before pulling away to see his stick and marshmallow buried deep in the fire. “It would seem so.”
She tsked at him. “And that was the last one, too. Shame on you.”
Shaking his head at her, he tossed his stick into the fire. They were running low on supplies. He’d snuck over to his hotel to get a few more essentials such as soap and shampoo while she’d slept last night, but the truth was they would have to go back to the real world all too soon.
Their time was so limited.
“If I have to die for my country, Joe, then I’d like to know what the hell I was living for.”
Those angry words haunted him now as he remembered saying them to Joe right after he and Retter had blown their way out of the Middle East.
Marianne was the answer, but he couldn’t stay with her. His duties were elsewhere. Men like him didn’t have liabilities, and Marianne Webernec was a huge liability. He didn’t need to have the stress of worrying about the widow he would leave behind if he died.
Such things guaranteed death with cold-blooded certainty. In the field the best soldiers were the ones who had nothing to focus on or worry about except the job.
The job was everything.
But at least now he understood what it meant to be alive. To feel deeply for a woman and to know, while he was getting the crap shot out of him, why his job was so important.
It kept people like Marianne safe. She was no longer some faceless stranger. An abstract ideal.
He had something real to hold on to.
Closing his eyes, he leaned his cheek against hers and just held her in the quiet solitude, wishing that time could stand still and that he could make this moment last for eternity.
He never wanted to leave her.
He never wanted to leave this island.
Marianne sighed as she absorbed the sensation of Kyle’s whiskers lightly scraping her skin. His strong arms were wrapped around her chest as if he were afraid to let her go.
She loved that feeling, but more than that, she suspected that she might actually love him.
These last few days they had shared so much of themselves with each other. She had told him of her fears of dying alone without ever having one spectacular moment to say Marianne Webernec had lived. That she was important to someone other than her rogue tomcat.
Kyle had listened and he, too, had shared his sad past with her. And with every nugget he had entrusted her with, she had fallen for him more.
No one had ever been closer to her. Never meant more to her. Kyle was wonderful.
She didn’t know how much of what he’d told her was truth and how much was made up, but she didn’t think he was lying about the important things, such as his best friend and mother dying. The pain in his eyes when he spoke of them was too real to be faked.
No, he had opened himself up to her, too.
Her heart thrilled at the thought. Warmed by him and his concern, she turned around to face him. The firelight played in his hair and across his face, making shadows along the sharp, handsome planes.
“You are so delectable,” she said.
He arched a brow at that.
Smiling wickedly, she reached for the button of his jeans.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
She unzipped his fly. “Why, I’m having my wicked way with you, sir.”
His swollen cock, nestled by his short, dark hairs, jutted out, arching back toward his stomach. Luckily his underwear was still drying from where they had washed their clothes earlier, so now he was all naked and exposed to her.
Mmm, how she loved the sight of him like that. Hard and ready for her. She ran her hand down the length of him and delighted in the way his cock followed the motion of her caress. The way it lifted and arched in reaction to her touch.
She brushed her hand along the sensitive tip, letting his wetness coat her fingers.
Kyle watched her with hooded eyes as his breathing changed to sharp, intense breaths.
Marianne licked her lips and lowered her head so that she could draw the tip of him into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she tasted the salty sweetness of him. How she loved the taste that was Kyle.
He hissed in reaction.
She growled deep in her throat as she took more of him into her mouth, while running her tongue around the large vein, and allowed the vibration of her voice box to add to his pleasure.
He cupped her face in his hands and ran his hands through her hair while she cupped the soft sac of him in her hand to massage him in time with her long licks.
Kyle’s head swam as he leaned back to allow her more access to his body. There was nothing better than the sensation of her sweet little mouth teasing him. Her timidity was gone now after the days they had been together. She was bold with him.
And he liked that most of all.
She no longer hesitated to touch him. She’d learned he couldn’t deny her anything. Whatever she wanted was fine by him, and in truth, he liked being her chew-toy.
She sucked him gently, then licked her way from the base to his tip. His pleasure was so intense, he swore he could see stars.
And when she reversed direction, it was all he could do to not cry out in ecstasy. Oh, the feel of her mouth on him, especially when she kept going and drew one of his balls into her mouth to suck and nibble.
He dug his heel into the blanket as he carefully balled his hand into a fist in her hair without hurting her.
She didn’t take an ounce of mercy on him. Instead, she continued her bittersweet assault. Breathless, he ran his hand down her jaw while she returned to his cock and took him all the way into her mouth again.
The sight of her there was enough to finish him off. Unable to stand it, he let his orgasm tear through him. His entire body shuddered and convulsed.
Weak and spent, he collapsed back against the driftwood. Marianne kissed her way up his body slowly, as if savoring every inch of his skin as much as he savored hers.
He groaned when she paused at his nipple to draw it deep into her mouth and flick her tongue back and forth over it. “I love the way you taste,” she said, her breath scorching him.
“I love being tasted.”
Her smile made his heart pound even more.
Then she dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a quarter.
“What are you doing?” he asked suspiciously.
“Turn over.”
He laughed nervously. “I’m not sure about this.”
“C’mon,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do.”
When he hesitated, she shook her head. “Don’t be a baby, Kyle. Trust me.”
Reluctantly he moved so that he could lie down on his stomach. “Okay,” he said slowly. “But I want to be able to use that quarter later. You know what I mean?”
Laughing, Marianne pulled his pants down to his buttocks. “You are such a worrywart. Relax.”
Suddenly very nervous, he lifted himself up on his forearms so that he could stare at her over his shoulder.
She stared at his butt, then took the quarter and bounced it off his left cheek.
“I knew it!” she said triumphantly. “Your butt is so tight the quarter actually bounces.”
“What?”
She smiled even wider at him. “You have the tightest ass in the world, you know that?”
“Yeah, okay,” he said again. This had to be the strangest moment of his life, and when you considered the fact he spent a great deal of time with drug dealers and terrorists, that was saying something. “You do this a lot?”
“Nope,” she said, putting the quarter into her pocket. “I just wanted to test my theory.”
“And now that you have?”
Her look turned wicked. “I have plans for that tight butt cheek.”
She placed her hands on his cheeks and gave a hard, pleasurable squeeze before she leaned forward and took a nip in the same spot where she’d bounced the quarter.
Kyle laid himself down, content to let her have her way with his body.
Marianne never ceased to surprise him. He found the challenge of her the best part about all of this.
And as the night sped by, he realized something.
For the first time in his life, he was in love with someone.
Someone who had come to mean everything to him.
Someone he was going to have to leave behind forever.
KYLE WOKE UP inside the cave the next morning so sated that he was sure he must have died and gone to heaven. This last week with Marianne had been unlike anything he’d ever known.
The more he got to know her, the more he liked her.
No, it was more than like. She made him feel things he’d never felt for anyone.
And he adored the scent of her on his skin. The feel of her hands on his body. He loved waking up with her lying next to him.
Dreamy and warm, he rolled over to pull her close for some serious snuggling, only to find himself alone on the air mattress.
Frowning, Kyle opened his eyes to see the strangest sight of his life.
Someone had placed a toy rubber chicken on Marianne’s pillow.
“Marianne?” he called, laughing at what he assumed was a prank. She had an odd sense of humor at times.
No one answered.
And now that he thought about it, where would she have gotten a toy chicken?
Extremely concerned, he sat up instantly. His gaze fell to the handwriting on it, and his blood ran cold.
If you want to see Marianne alive again, call Tyson Purdue, 212-555-6209.
What the hell?
His heart pounding, Kyle shot out of bed and dug his cell phone out of the small backpack he’d brought along days ago. For the first time in a week, he turned it on and dialed the number.
“Kyle?” The voice was electronically distorted.
“Who is this?” he demanded.
“It’s Tyson Purdue, and you have been a bad boy. Literally. I’m sick of you interfering with my business, and it’s time I taught you a lesson.”
“What are you talking about?”
A sharp click sounded. It was followed by Marianne’s terrified voice. “Kyle? What’s going on? Who are these people who have me?”
He saw red at the fear he heard from her. He’d kill whoever had scared her like this. “It’s okay, baby. Don’t worry. I won’t let them hurt you. Can you stay calm for me?”
Marianne didn’t answer. Another sharp click sounded and then the electronic voice responded. “Don’t worry, Foster. She’s okay so long as you do what we say.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you, Kyle Foster. I want you dead for what you’ve done.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“You know who I am. Don’t be stupid. And at the risk of being cliché, if you want Marianne to remain healthy and living, meet me at dusk on the south beach. Oh, and you’d better be unarmed.”
The phone went dead.
MARIANNE WAS SO scared she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. All she knew was that one minute she’d been sleeping happily wrapped around Kyle, and the next minute someone had pressed a pungent-smelling rag against her face.
Then everything went black again.
She’d awakened a short time ago with a ferocious headache to find herself blindfolded, with her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied to the wooden chair she sat on.
From what she could tell, there were three men with her. The one who had awakened her to talk on the phone seemed to be an American. His voice was extremely deep and seemed to have a very light hint of an unknown foreign accent to it.
The man on her right spoke with a heavy Spanish accent while another man’s voice was definitely German.
“Why did you tell him to wait until sunset?” the man with the Spanish accent asked. “I’m ready to get this done and go home.”
“Reno, you were born impatient, mi’jo. The beauty of dealing with your opponent is playing with his head. Let’s make him sweat a little. By nightfall he’ll be so rattled, he won’t even be able to think straight.”
Marianne heard something click that sounded like a gun being cocked or maybe loaded.
Reno laughed. “You are an evil bastard.”
“Yes, I am, and if you were wise, you’d be taking notes. Learn from the master, boys, and learn well.”
Marianne was so afraid that her teeth chattered. She was freezing cold, shaking even though her hands were tied behind her back.
She wanted to be brave for Kyle, but she wasn’t a secret agent. The character in her novel would be able to get out of this. A small-town high school teacher couldn’t.
What was she going to do now? This wasn’t supposed to happen to her. She was…
Marianne paused as the men started talking about blowing up the cabin she was in.
Wait, this was familiar to her. She knew this part. Being tied to the chair, the phone call.
The cabin explosion.
Chapter 9!
Her mind raced as relief coursed through her. That’s right. Halfway through the book Ren ends up captured by the villain and Brad has to come to the rescue, only Ren ends up being the one who rescues him.
It was the book!
These men must be more actors, and they had finally recaptured her from Kyle.
Well, it was about time. They’d been woefully inadequate up until now.
She relaxed at the discovery. This wasn’t real. It was only part of her fantasy.
Oh, thank God no one was going to kill her or Kyle. She let out a long breath as she tried to wiggle out of the ropes.
“Okay, guys,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady. “You can untie me now.”
“Untie you?” the American repeated, his tone filled with disbelief. “Why should I?”
“Because I asked you to?” She waited expectantly for them to untie her.
They didn’t. Nor did they say anything, and she had a sneaking suspicion they were staring at her.
“Look,” she tried again, “I realize that you guys finally managed to get me away from Kyle. Bully for you, you did good for once. But now we’re back to the book, and since I’m the heroine and I’m supposed to escape, I need some help. This chair is really uncomfortable and my hands hurt.”
She waited for them to obey her, and again they didn’t make a move to undo her.
Time stretched out interminably.
“C’mon,” she said, hopping in the chair. “I can’t undo these knots. See, I know Ren Winterbourne, Secret Agent, is supposed to be able to get out of the chair, but Marianne Webernec from Peoria can’t, and until I get loose, we can’t move on to the next scene, so would you guys help?”
“What is she talking about?” the Spanish man asked.
“Who is Ren Winterbourne?” the German asked.
The American laughed.
Another ripple of fear went through her.
They’re just playing with you. You heard them, they like to play with people’s heads.
Play with Kyle’s head.
Marianne paused as she realized this wasn’t about her. They might really be after Kyle after all. Otherwise, why use the name Tyson Purdue?
Dear Lord, what if Tyson Purdue was a real man?
Stay calm, Marianne.
“C’mon,” Marianne said again, hoping she was wrong and they were just being mean for all the times Kyle had scared them off. “I know this isn’t real. Just let me go and I won’t tell Mr. Zimmerman how bad you scared me.”
“Do you guys know a Zimmerman?” the German man asked.
Marianne felt someone move closer to her.
“Not real?” The American stood so close that his voice was nothing more than a growl in her right ear. “Lady, do you know what BAD is?”
“Bureau of American Defense. It’s the agency Kyle made up.”
She heard the American move away from her then. It sounded as if he might have huddled with the others.
The men began speaking to each other in German. Little did they know, German was one of the languages she taught at her school, and she understood them perfectly.
“If she doesn’t believe him, then we can let her go, right?” the German man asked.
“How much did Foster tell her?” the Spanish man asked. “You were the one who had him bugged.”
The American answered, “A lot more than he should have. I don’t know….”
There were a few seconds of silence, and again she heard something that definitely sounded like a gun being cocked this time.
“I’m thinking she’s a liability, and you know what I think of liabilities.”
“Put your weapon down. You can’t just kill her,” the German man said. “I’m tired of cleaning up body parts after you get through.”
Oh, God, it’s real!
These weren’t actors from the island.
Someone pulled the hair back from her neck, and then something sharp and cold was pressed against her throat.
“Are you scared, teacher?” the American whispered in her ear. “You said you wanted to be an agent. Were you really prepared for it?”
I don’t want to die! The words tore through her mind. No, she didn’t want this any more than she wanted Kyle to die.
Against her will, she started sobbing uncontrollably.
“Hey, hey, hey!” the American said as he moved whatever was against her throat away from her. “What is this?”
She couldn’t speak past her wrenching cries.
“Ay caramba! What have you done? Look at her.”
The blindfold came off instantly, and she realized she was inside a very small cabin that had next to no furniture. Her chair and a table appeared to be it.
Well, that and a whole lot of ammunition and guns. There were boxes all around her bearing the words Fragile, Danger, Explosives, Ammunition, Grenades, etc.
Marianne saw the three men through her blurry eyes. The one in front of her was gorgeous for a psycho. He had shoulder-length black hair that fell around a face that belonged to some Calvin Klein model. His dark skin was perfectly tanned, his eyes so pale a blue they didn’t look real.
He reached out and wiped the tears from her face. “Don’t cry,” he said, letting her know he was the American. “C’mon, I can’t stand to see a woman cry.”
Reno cut the ropes on her feet.
Angry and scared, she reacted without thinking. She kicked the American in the leg.
“Ow!” he snapped, moving away from her.
Reno untied her hands, flipped closed his knife, then slapped a hand against the American’s shoulder. “Pendejo!” he snarled. “I told you not to tie her up like this.”
The American hissed and took a fearsome step toward Reno, who stepped back instantly. “Don’t come at me, maricón, unless you come bearing a weapon.”
“I’ve got your weapon, right here,” Reno said, flipping open the large black butterfly knife he’d used to free her with.
The tall, blond German stepped between them. His hair was cut short, and he wore a pair of black aviator-style sunglasses. His white T-shirt was tight over a body that was huge and well built like a major bodybuilder. A colorful tattoo spiraled down his right arm.
“Enough!” the German said, keeping them at arm’s length with his body between them.
Marianne decided to take advantage of their fight to run for the door.
She’d barely reached it before the American caught her. He swung her up in his arms.
She kicked with everything she had and screamed while trying to claw his eyes out.
The other two men laughed.
The American sat her down hard in the chair and held her there with an ease of strength that was truly terrifying.
He turned his icy gaze back to hers. “Look, no one’s going to hurt you, okay?”
“You’re going to kill Kyle.”
A lopsided grin broke across the man’s face, showing her a set of perfectly white teeth. “Not today, I’m not. I just want to teach him a lesson.”
She launched herself at him.
He actually laughed as he held her easily away from him. “Well, the little teacher has spunk.” He set her back in the chair. Again. “Listen to me, Marianne. You had a fantasy to be a damsel in distress, right?”
She swallowed her tears as she looked back and forth between the men. “You don’t look like actors.”
“Yeah, well,” the American said. “That’s because we’re not.”
“Then what are you?”
“We’re friends of Kyle’s.”
The German snorted at that. “Since when?”
Marianne glared at the American. “I knew you were lying.”
“Look, I swear, I’m not lying about this.” He looked at the German. “Dieter, really, don’t help me here, okay?”
“Fine, Retter. Don’t call me the next time you need some Scheiflekopf to help you.”
That diabolical half smile played across the American’s face. “Your words, not mine.”
Marianne froze as the man’s name registered in her mind.
Retter…
The name went through her like glass. She knew who this man was. Kyle had told her much about his pseudo-partner who didn’t listen to anyone except himself. Kyle’s exact words had been, “Retter is a dick-head, but he gets the job done with scary reliability. The man strikes like lightning.”
Retter turned back toward her. “I’m just playing a joke on Kyle for making me have to come out here to retrieve him. Since you wanted to be a damsel in distress, I was going to give you what you wanted while I jerked his chain. I’m sorry I scared you so badly. I’m used to dealing with agents who would sooner have their hearts cut out than cry.”
She narrowed her eyes on the man before her. Still skeptical, Marianne wasn’t sure what to believe. “How do I know you’re who you say you are?”
“You’ll just have to take my word for it.”
“If I don’t?”
Reno laughed. “I really like this woman, Retter. She thinks you’re an asshole, too.”
He gave Reno a cold, brutal look before those piercingly blue eyes moved back to her. “You’d be wise never to accept my word on anything, but if I kill Kyle, I’d have to explain it to Joe, and then he’d get bent and then I’d have to kill him, too, and that would make his woman go wild on me. And it’s all just more trouble than even I want to deal with at the moment. So, see, he’s safe.”
There was a light in his eyes that said he would enjoy the challenge of the fight in spite of what he said, but there was also something charming and oddly warm about this man.
Marianne nodded quietly at him. “He’d better be safe,” she warned him. “I don’t know who Joe or his woman is, but if you do anything to Kyle, I swear Joe’s woman going wild on you will seem like a walk in paradise compared to what I’ll do to you.”
KYLE STALKED BACK and forth in anger as he tried to figure out who could have taken Marianne while he slept.
He discounted the morons on the other side of the island. He’d been hanging them from trees and escaping them with barely more than a fierce growl. They could never have perpetrated anything like this.
It would have to be someone stealthy. Someone who knew how lightly he slept and how to move about without waking him…
He cursed as one name resonated in his head.
Retter.
There was no one else it could be.
Kyle’s sight clouded at the thought. It had to be. Retter was the only man Kyle had ever known who could maneuver around him while he slept and not wake him. The man was part ghost.
But how did Retter know about Tyson Purdue?
He’d made the name up and…
He paused as he glanced back at the chicken and the crisp handwriting.
There must be a bug on him somewhere. There had to be. Joe was ever paranoid about losing agents and bugged almost every piece of equipment they had. The only reason Kyle hadn’t thought of it sooner was the fact that every time he called Joe demanding a ride out of this place, Joe had laughed at him and told him to get lost.
It had never occurred to him that Joe would have the stuff on the island tagged, but since he’d raided the BAD supply closet for supplies, he should have known.
“Damn it.”
Pissed and wanting blood, he called the number again.
No one answered.
So he dialed Joe’s office, where Joe’s assistant director, Tee, picked it up on the third ring.
“Tee, this is Kyle. Is Joe in?”
Tee Ho was the extremely attractive assistant director of the agency. She was a Vietnamese immigrant, and her intelligence was off the scale. So was her memory and her need to exact revenge on anyone dumb enough to mock her name. It was a mistake Kyle had made only once, and he was lucky he didn’t have a permanent limp from the experience.
She was a top-notch agent and Joe’s right hand, and she never let anyone forget those two facts.
“Well, well, Mr. Foster,” she said in her crisp, flawless English—Tee could speak somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen languages fluently—“how nice of you to finally check in. Blown up any busboys lately?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Please, don’t beg, it’s not becoming of you, Mr. Let-Me-Kidnap-a-Woman-and-Drag-Her-Back-to-
My-Cave. Joe is so hot about you right now, you’re lucky you’re still living. He’s on the phone with Wulfgar Zimmerman from Rose Books trying to assure him you haven’t hurt Marianne and that she will be returned to him shortly.”
“I’m not the one who hurt her. Retter kidnapped her from me this morning.”
Silence answered him for a few heartbeats until Tee started laughing.
“It’s not funny, Tee.”
“Sure it is. You’re just mad he got away with it. At least he didn’t punch you in the nose before he grabbed her. The actor playing Brad Ramsey, in case you’re wondering, is fine, but bruised. He also quit his job and was threatening to sue us until I introduced him to Tessa and convinced him that a lawsuit would be extremely hazardous to his health.”
Tessa was Tee’s prized Glock 33. Which was only slightly more deadly than Tee’s other lethal weapon, Petey the killer Pomeranian.
“I swear, I’m going to kill Retter for this.”
“Uh, no, you won’t, hon. He’s vital to national security and falls under extreme protection.”
Kyle growled into the phone. “Then tell me how to get ahold of Retter and call him down.”
“Ooo,” she breathed. “I don’t think that’s possible. See, he was off in Rio having a grand old time on the beach when Joe had to call him in to come get you away from Wulfgar’s tourist. You were bad, Kyle, not BAD. So sorry. If you want to talk to Retter, then call him. There’s nothing I can do.”
She actually hung up the phone.
“Fine,” he said loudly, hoping that whatever mic was hidden, it picked up his voice. “You’d better hide, Retter, because tonight I am going to kick your rotten ass all over the beach.”
THREE HOURS LATER Kyle came across the beach, loaded for bear, or in this case, loaded for Retter.
He’d fought beside the bastard enough to know what he needed to beat him. And beat him he was going to do.
For the last three hours Kyle had done total recon on the island. There was only one place where Marianne could be.
One place Retter would deem “secret.”
He already had the small cabin in his sights. It sat alone at the base of a small mountain. It was used for supplies that Joe didn’t want near the hotel in the event of a fire or something else that might make it explode.
Kyle didn’t break stride or hesitate as he headed for it. He was less than three yards from the door of it when he heard a sharp click.
Cursing, he dived away from it an instant before the shack blew apart.
Debris rained all around him.
Kyle couldn’t breathe as terror overwhelmed him. Marianne!
“It’s not sundown, Kyle.”
Kyle saw a two-way radio in the sand a few feet from him. He got up and grabbed it. “Where the hell are you, Retter?” He looked around, scanning everything.
“Look up.”
He did and found Retter, Reno, and Dieter standing on the cliff. Marianne was nowhere in sight. “What kind of game are you playing?”
“Hide-and-seek. If you can find Marianne, I’ll let you keep her.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Your loss. Literally.” He saw Retter motion for Reno and Dieter to leave. Once they were out of hearing range, Retter spoke again. “Do you feel her loss, Kyle? Tell me the truth.”
Yes, he did. He’d been feeling the emptiness of it since he’d awakened and found himself alone again.
Every minute he’d been away from her, he hurt. The desolation inside him was unlike anything he’d ever known.
He didn’t want to live without Marianne.
But Lucifer would freeze solid before he ever admitted that to Retter. “Go to hell.”
“I most likely will, but in the meantime the clock is ticking for you. If you don’t find her by nightfall, it’s over, and you, my friend, are on a plane out of here.”
It was all Kyle had wanted. But that was before he’d met Marianne and had learned to have fun without explosives. Fun without someone taking potshots at him.
What would he do without her?
He didn’t want to find out. Tossing the radio down, he backtracked through the woods and tried his best to focus on where Retter would have hidden her now.
MARIANNE SAT IN the lobby of Kyle’s hotel, wrapped in Kyle’s jacket. The scent of his body clung to it, making her want to bury her face in the sleeve and just inhale it until she was drunk from the scent.
Sam sat behind the concierge counter, staring at her. His old basset hound lay beside him on its back with all four of its paws up in the air.
“Are you sure that dog’s not dead?”
Sam glanced at him. “Nah, ole Roscoe always sleeps like that.”
She nodded, then frowned. Sam was a strange bird. “How long before Kyle gets here?”
“I dunno. Depends on what Retter does to him for taking you.”
“Do you think they’ll be really harsh on him?”
“Well, back when I worked for the CIA, we’d have killed him for being such a pain, and Retter might yet. He’s got a lot of the old school in him.”
Marianne felt the color drain from her face.
“But his boss, Joe, is a bit more understanding about such things, so it’s hard to say. I figure the worst thing that could happen to Kyle is nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he must have thought a lot of you to keep them actors and all on their toes. He had to have known that sooner or later Mr. Zimmerman would call in Joe to come get him. So to my way of thinking, he must have thought you were worth the trouble that’s now coming his way.”
Before Marianne could speak, Aislinn Zimmerman came running into the lobby. She was followed by an extremely tall, devastatingly handsome man. There was an air of refined elegance to the man, who wore an expensive tailor-made suit.
“Oh, Marianne!” Aislinn exclaimed. “Thank goodness they found you. We have been worried sick.”
The man with her rubbed his brow as if Aislinn’s dramatics were giving him a headache.
He held his hand out to Marianne. “Hi, Ms. Webernec. I’m Wulfgar Zimmerman, and I just wanted to tell you personally how sorry I am for your ordeal.”
So this was the mysterious owner of Rose Books. He was devastating and rumored to be one of the richest men in the world. Marianne shook his hand. “There really is nothing to apologize for. I’ve had the time of my life.”
Aislinn snorted. “Yes, but that was before that lunatic Kyle Foster ruined it.”
“You’re the one who put her here, Ais,” Wulfgar said calmly.
Aislinn turned on her brother with a snarl. “Well, the next time the island is occupied by them, I wish you would put something down on paper.”
He arched an elegant brow. “Forgive me, but I thought the word occupied on the schedule was self-explanatory.”
“I thought you meant it was occupied by our people, not theirs. You’re supposed to put training down when they’re training here.”
“Excuse me,” Sam said, interrupting them. “But I take exception to that. Me and Roscoe are always here, and we definitely fall under the them category.”
“You’re you, Sam,” Aislinn explained. “You don’t count.”
Sam looked extremely offended by that.
Wulfgar shook his head. “You’d better stop while you’re behind, Ais. You’re just getting in deeper at the moment.”
Aislinn ignored the men and took Marianne’s arm. “Don’t worry, hon. I’ll take care of this mess. We’ll extend your stay another week and get back to your fantasy.”
“It’s okay, really,” Marianne said. “I’ve had a great time with Kyle.” She stared up at Wulfgar, hoping to make him understand. “Look, I don’t want Kyle to get into trouble. Had he not shown up, I was ready to call you and ask for the fantasy to be canceled.”
“Really?” Wulfgar asked.
She nodded.
He looked at his sister, who appeared horrified. “Well, how was I to know Brad was having an affair with Spencer?”
“I don’t want to go into that again, Ais, but this is the last time I leave a fantasy package up to you.”
“Fine,” Aislinn snapped. “I don’t want to do another one anyway. You get entirely too cranky when the guest goes AWOL. So I leave it up to you from now on. I’m through.” Aislinn stalked out of the hotel and left Marianne alone with Wulfgar.
Wulfgar gave her a patient stare. “Tell me something, Marianne. What could possibly make this story turn out to be a happily-ever-after for you after everything that’s happened?”
Marianne opened her mouth to say having Kyle as her own, but the minute the thought occurred to her, she realized something.
Mr. Zimmerman might be a billionaire magnate. But he couldn’t give her the one thing she needed.
Only Kyle could do that.
And right now she had no idea if he even wanted to.