Chapter 12

“Stay here and don’t turn on the lights,” he whispered. “I’m going to check a few things.”

After searching the cottage for a few minutes, he slipped outside. She heard faint noises around the cottage, the whisper of the bushes that surrounded the small building, a tiny scratching sound against a window.

Marcus reappeared like a ghost, silent and almost invisible. “Is everything okay?” she whispered.

“Fine. I just wanted to make sure there were no signs that the cottage had been disturbed.”

“And there weren’t?”

“Not one. We should be okay tonight.”

She understood what he was saying. They might be safe tonight, but he had no idea how long it would last. Every time they appeared in public, there was a greater chance they would be seen by the kidnappers. And a greater chance of the kidnappers finding their way to the cottage. Just because they were safe tonight was no guarantee they would be safe tomorrow.

He moved silently through the cottage, his dark clothes blending with the shadows until she had to strain to see him. This was his life, she realized. This was what he did. He lived in the darkness, in the shadows of life.

And he made it safer for the rest of them.

Her heart moved in her chest. He took it for granted, but she knew she would have been lost without him. She didn’t want to think about what might have happened if Marcus hadn’t stumbled across her on that beach.

“Is it all right to turn on the lights?” she asked. She wanted him to come out of the shadows, to stand in the light, at least for tonight.

He took one last look out the window and turned to her. She could see his eyes gleaming without the lights. “Don’t bother. We’re not going to be in this room long enough to use them.”

Her heart began to pound. “Why is that?”

“I have other plans for the night. And they don’t include sitting in the living room and talking.”

“What do your plans include?” She barely recognized the husky, seductive voice as her own.

“Come over here and I’ll show you.”

Without taking her gaze from his, she moved a step closer, then another. It felt like she was stepping into an electrical field. The air sizzled around her, and his heat rolled over her in waves, seeking out the places deep inside her.

He stared at her for a moment, then reached out and touched her cheek. His fingers were tentative, almost hesitant. “I’ve been thinking about this all night,” he finally said. “About what I’d do when I got you alone.”

“And what did you decide?”

His blond hair gleamed in the light from a street lamp as he bent his head to trail kisses down her neck. “I’m going to start by finding out what’s beneath this dress.”

She drew in a sharp breath as he moved lower, his mouth burning a trail of heat and need down her chest. “What do you think I would find here?”

He played with the neckline of the dress, his fingers tugging at the stretchy material, trailing lightly inside to caress her skin. She felt her breasts swell and her nipples harden. “Why don’t you take a look?”

“Not yet.” He looked at her, and his blue eyes looked black with desire. “I don’t think I want to hurry.”

She wanted to beg him to hurry, to touch her. Every inch of her throbbed with need, pulsated with urgency. But he wouldn’t be rushed.

His fingers toyed with the neckline of her dress, brushing over the slope of her breasts, skimming the sensitive skin, dipping into the valley between her breasts. She closed her eyes, wanting only to feel. Then he put his mouth on her breast through the material of her dress, and she moaned his name.

Suddenly he picked her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Stripping off the dress, he looked at her, and his eyes darkened even more.

“Do I take that to mean that you like what I’m wearing?”

His hungry gaze devoured the scraps of black lace she’d found that morning. “It’s a good thing I didn’t know what you were wearing under that dress. We would never have made it out of the house.”

She gave him a slow, sexy smile. “You’ll know next time I wear this dress.”

His face tightened even more, and his hands shook as he peeled the lace away. Then he pulled off his clothes and lay beside her.

He made love to her with an intensity, an emotion she’d never felt before. He worshiped every inch of her, kissing and tasting, touching and caressing as if he’d never seen her before.

Or as if he were never going to see her again.

As she clung to him, helpless in the throes of passion, she wrapped her arms more tightly around him as if she would never let him go. And she wondered what he was thinking. Was he afraid their time together was drawing to an end? Was he counting the days, the hours, until he left her?

She wouldn’t let it happen, she vowed fiercely to herself. She wouldn’t let Marcus leave when her kidnappers had been caught.

But as he pulled her close and she drifted to sleep, she wondered how she was going to stop him.

 

Marcus woke slowly, reluctantly. Jessica was wrapped around him, her head burrowed against his chest, her hand resting on his thigh. It felt right to hold her like this, frighteningly so. And he knew it was more than time to bring this part of the job to an end.

Gently he disentangled himself and forced himself to move away, to get out of the bed. Jessica had become far too important to him. She was all he could think about. He’d spent more time at the restaurant last night thinking about Jessica, listening to her talk about herself, than he’d spent watching for her kidnappers.

That was dangerous. It was dangerous for her, and it was dangerous for him. Never before had his job come second, and the realization panicked him. It was time for him to get the hell out of Cascadilla.

It was time to catch Simon, he corrected himself coldly. That was the point of everything he’d done since he’d been here. That was the point of trying to catch Jessica’s kidnappers. He was sure they would lead him to the traitor.

Only if Marcus did his job would Jessica be safe. And his job involved dragging her around the island, using her as bait.

It was a hell of a job, he thought savagely. He stormed into the kitchen to make coffee, his emotions in a knot and confusion blackening his mood. His need to protect her, to keep her cocooned in safety in this cottage warred with his need to catch Simon. And he lost, no matter which one he chose.

“Good morning,” Jessica said behind him, her voice sleepy and content.

He didn’t turn to face her. “I figured you’d sleep later than this.”

“I woke up when you got out of bed. I couldn’t sleep without you next to me.”

The flash of joy took him by surprise. He allowed it to swell inside him for a moment before he deliberately squashed it. He couldn’t afford that kind of hope. “Seems like you’ve done it for the past twenty-one years,” he said in what he hoped was a casual voice.

She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning into her. “That’s before I knew what I was missing.”

He bent and kissed her, savoring her taste. Then he eased himself away. “How about some breakfast?”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her grin. “I don’t know why, but I’m hungry all the time lately. I guess I’m just more active than I have been.”

“I guess so.” Her gentle teasing stirred his blood, and he wanted to turn and take her in his arms, carry her back to bed. Instead he moved away. “I guess I better give you some food, then. No telling what you’ll do if I don’t feed you.”

“I can see you don’t want to take any chances.”

She leaned against the counter, her eyes laughing at him, and all he wanted was to bury himself in her, to lose himself in Jessica until nothing else mattered.

But something else did matter. Simon mattered, he reminded himself grimly as he began to prepare breakfast. And he’d better not forget it.

“What’s the plan for today?” she asked, her voice completely trusting.

He couldn’t afford to respond to that trust. “I thought you might like to go snorkeling.”

She jumped away from the counter, her face blazing with pleasure. “Really? You think it’s safe?”

He shrugged. “As safe as anything else. We want to be seen around the island, and that’s as good a way as any.” He felt his heart soften as he looked at her and saw how excited she was. “And I knew it was something you’d enjoy.”

“Thank you, Marcus.” Her eyes shone. “I can’t wait to show you our reefs.”

“Are there places where we can stay fairly close to shore? I don’t want to get too far out in a boat. We’ll be far too vulnerable and isolated.”

She nodded slowly. “We won’t be able to see the best reefs, but we can see enough.” She grinned at him, her eyes bright. “I can take you to the best reefs later, after we don’t have to worry about the kidnappers.”

There would be no later for them. He would be gone as soon as Simon was caught, as far from Cascadilla as he could get. But he couldn’t bring himself to say that to her. He didn’t want to wipe that excitement out of her eyes, that happiness from her face.

“Let’s eat, then.” His voice was too abrupt, but he didn’t think she noticed. She was too excited about snorkeling. “Then you can tell me where we’re going so I can let my partners know.”

“I’ll make up a list.”

She slid into one of the kitchen chairs and grabbed a piece of paper. After thinking for a moment, she began writing.

While they were eating, she gave his questions only perfunctory answers. She was too absorbed in what she was doing. In spite of his warnings to himself to back away from Jessica, he was fascinated. He imagined this was how she would act when she was working.

No wonder it had been so easy for those two men to grab her, he thought. She wouldn’t have heard a thing until they were on top of her. He suspected that a parade could have gone by outside the window and she wouldn’t have noticed.

She was a lot like him that way.

The thought shocked him, then made him uneasy. But he had to acknowledge the truth in it. While she was working, she was totally absorbed in what she was doing. Just like he was.

No wonder she understood him so easily.

The thought crept, unbidden, into his mind. He tried to banish it, but it stubbornly refused to leave. Other than Margarita, a fellow agent, he had never met anyone who understood his intensity about his job, understood his commitment to it. Even Heather, so many years ago, hadn’t understood. And he thought he had loved Heather.

There was no comparison between Jessica and Heather, he thought, panic rising. They were as unlike as two people could be.

Then why was he comparing Jessica to Heather? Why was he assuming that Jessica would have the same reaction to his job as Heather had?

It wasn’t just his job. He and Jessica came from different worlds. And she was far too young for him.

But the pat answers didn’t feel right anymore. They didn’t fall as glibly from his tongue. Jessica might be years younger than he was, but she was his equal in every way that counted.

He was veering far too close to forbidden waters, he told himself, and he stood to clear the table. He would be doing Jessica a grave injustice if he tried to hold on to her. She belonged in her own world, a world that didn’t deal in death and fear and destruction. She deserved to live in a world without shadows, a world full of people like herself.

And totally unlike him.

“Ready to go?” He glanced at her and was rewarded with another blinding smile.

“Just about. How long do you want to be gone? And do you want to go to more than one beach?”

“That would be best, I think.” He forced himself to concentrate on the problem of the kidnappers. Mooning about Jessica wasn’t going to get them caught.

“Good.” She beamed at him. “That’s what I was hoping you would say. I’ve picked out four places to try.”

“Sounds good.” He reached for her list. “Let me call my partners.”

She handed him the piece of paper and leaned back in her chair. “They must be good at what they do. Other than the time I saw one of them step out of the alley, I haven’t seen them at all.”

“You’re not supposed to see them. And neither are the kidnappers. With any luck, those two won’t see our men until we’ve slapped the handcuffs on them.”

Some of the smile left her eyes. “Do you think that will be soon?”

“I have no idea. So far, they’ve played this exactly right. They’ve stayed out of sight, they haven’t talked and they haven’t tried to snatch anyone else, at least as far as we know. But if they’re still around and still looking for you, we’ll get a hit sooner or later.”

“Do you think they’re still around?”

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. “We have to assume they are.” If Simon was involved, Marcus could almost guarantee it. The traitor had gone to too much trouble to give up so easily.

Apparently she didn’t notice his hesitation, because she nodded. “All right, then, let’s give them some opportunities to find us.”

He picked up the phone, called Devane and told him their plans for the day, then read the list of beaches where they could be found. Then he hung up and turned to Jessica.

“Are these all beaches where you’ve snorkeled in the past? Are they places someone who knew you would look for you to go snorkeling?”

She nodded. “I usually go to the reefs that surround the island, the ones you can only access by boat. They’re more suitable for my research. But if I’m going to snorkel from the shore, these are the ones I would choose.”

“And people would know that.”

Her eyes darkened. “Are you implying that someone would have sold me to those men? That someone would have told them how to get to me?”

“They had to get the information from somewhere,” he said gently. “It doesn’t mean someone deliberately betrayed you. The information could have been gleaned in an innocent conversation. The person who gave away the information might not have even realized what he did.”

Her eyes were troubled. “I hope so.”

He ached when he saw how he’d shattered her trust. He’d do anything to give it back to her, he realized. But once broken, it couldn’t be fixed. Welcome to my world, he thought grimly.

It was only another illustration of how bad he would be for her, how wrong it would be to drag her into the darkness with him. Jessica would only be disillusioned if she stayed with him. Above all, he didn’t want to see her become as cynical and hard as he was.

“Can we pick up the equipment we’ll need somewhere in town?” he asked to distract her.

She nodded, then her eyes brightened. “If they’re smart, those kidnappers would be watching the dive shops. They’d know I didn’t have any equipment with me and that I’d need it.”

“Good thinking. Where are we going?” He waited for her answer, then pulled out the phone and called Devane again. “Put someone on Boss Frog’s Dive Shop. We’ll be stopping there for equipment. Jessica suggested they may be watching the shops.”

He closed the phone and leaned over to kiss her. “I hope you don’t turn to a life of crime,” he said lightly. “We’d be hard-pressed to keep up with you.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she said, equally lightly. “I much prefer working with you. I don’t think I’d like to be your enemy.”

She’d never be that. Emotion stirred inside him again, and he tried to ignore it. Emotion had no place in this job. He needed to catch Simon, and that was all he could focus on.

It was all he could afford to focus on. Because if he didn’t, he’d begin to make mistakes. And this time, the stakes would be too high to contemplate.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“All set.” She jumped up from the table, her eyes shining with anticipation. “I can’t wait.”

They caught a taxi again, and Jessica leaned forward to give the driver directions to the dive shop. When the taxi slowed, Marcus looked around with narrowed eyes.

He didn’t like this neighborhood. The dive shop was a tiny storefront, tucked into a maze of small shops and buildings. Most of the shops had apartments over them, the perfect locations from which to watch the shop and not be seen. There was too much traffic; there were too many alleys and too many sidewalk cafés.

“Do we have to stop at this shop?” he asked in a low voice.

She snapped her head around to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, yet. But there are far too many places for someone to hide. If the kidnappers are watching for you and they’re as smart as we think they are, my men might not ever see them.”

“John, the owner of the shop, taught me to dive, and I’ve never gone anywhere else,” she said, staring at the shop with an almost wistful look in her eyes. Marcus felt a black wave of jealousy wash over him. “But I suppose we could try another shop.”

“No, we’ll go to this one.” He leaned forward to pay the driver. “Hell, it’s what we want, isn’t it?” He opened the door with a savage twist of his hand. “We want them to spot us. I just have to count on my partners being good enough, and lucky enough, to spot the kidnappers.”

“Right.” She gave him a bright look, but he could see that her eyes were troubled. “Let’s go inside.”

“No, stand here for a moment.” His gut clenched at the thought of making her a target, but that was why they’d come. “Are you sure this is where someone would think you’d go?”

“Absolutely. Everyone knows that John taught me to dive. I always visit him when I’m home, and we usually go diving together.”

“So you’d be expected to go to this shop.” He ignored his surging jealousy.

“Yes.”

“Fine,” he said, his voice more curt than he liked. “Then let’s go inside. We’ve given them enough of a chance to see you.”

She gave him a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything as they walked into the shop. A curtain of beads hung in a doorway behind the counter, and he heard the tinny sound of a doorbell ringing in the back of the store. A moment later the beads rustled and a man appeared from the back.

He was thin and wiry, his face like tanned leather. His gray hair hung down his back in a thin braid. When he saw Jessica, his eyes lit up.

“Jess! I didn’t know you were coming in. Why didn’t you call?”

“This was a spur of the moment decision,” she said easily. “John, this is Marcus, a friend of mine. I want to show him the sights and I don’t have my equipment with me. Can you fix us up?”

“You bet.” John’s eyes were on him, assessing. “You want to scuba?”

“No, we’re going to snorkel. But I want the best you have.”

He turned to Jessica. “That’s all I’d give you, sweetheart.”

The man’s eyes softened, and he stepped close to give her a hug. Marcus’s hands itched to push him away, but he clenched them into fists and pretended to examine the masks hanging from a rack by the door.

“You don’t want those,” John said, misinterpreting his interest. “I’ll get equipment for you from the back.”

He disappeared behind the beads again, and Marcus looked at Jessica. “You seem very chummy.”

He couldn’t keep the sourness from his voice, and she looked at him with surprise. “What’s wrong?”

I’m a stupid fool, he thought bitterly. That’s what’s wrong. “Nothing. I guess I’m anxious to get out of this shop.” That was the truth. For more than one reason.

“This won’t take long.”

She was right. They were out of the shop ten minutes later, after Jessica asked John to put their rentals on her bill. She gave him another hug that had Marcus grinding his teeth, then they emerged into the sunlight, carrying their equipment in mesh bags.

Marcus looked around casually, letting his gaze catalog everything he saw. Nothing appeared out of place, but his neck burned as if he was being watched.

He pretended to drop his bag, and as he bent to pick it up, he looked behind him. As he straightened, he made a complete circle on the sidewalk.

He didn’t see anyone who took an unusual interest in them, no one who stared at them. He couldn’t see Devane or any of the other agents. But he knew they were there. He trusted them with his life. He hoped to God they saw whoever was watching them.

“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know. But someone is watching us.”

Her face paled. “The kidnappers?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I hope so,” she said fiercely.

“My partners are here, too,” he reminded her. “If someone follows us, they’ll know.”

“Good.” She tucked her arm in his and gave him a wobbly smile. “Then we can forget about them and think about where we should go first.”

She was amazing. The men who had kidnapped her might be close by, watching them, but she managed to smile and act as if nothing was wrong.

“You’re something else,” he muttered. He couldn’t help himself. He covered her hand with his and squeezed.

Her face relaxed, and she turned her hand to join with his. “I think that’s my line. Are you ready to go snorkeling?”