Niall sat with Savannah as the tour bus drove through the crowded streets of Beijing away from the old section of the city. This trip to the hutongs—the narrow, ancient alleyways that had once dominated Beijing—along with a rickshaw ride and tea tasting at an ancient temple, had been designed to give them a flavor of the old days. But the entire time, all Savannah could think of was that the five-star hotel she’d slept in last night was a world away from the life experienced by the residents here.
Niall said nothing, and Savannah wondered if he was thinking the same things she was. Finally, she broke the silence, but she trailed off as she found herself unable to put her thoughts into words. “I never imagined...”
“Very few Americans do.”
“This wasn’t what I expected.”
Niall picked up her hand and examined it. “What did you expect?”
“I... I don’t really know. I mean... I wasn’t thinking about the people,” she admitted in a low voice. “Just the history. You know?”
He squeezed her hand in seeming understanding. “Yeah. It’s easy to forget much of the world doesn’t live the way we do even now.” He was silent for a moment. “But what you have to remember is, people often cling to the familiar. That they don’t want change, even if it’s change for the better from one perspective. When China was renovating the city for the 2008 Olympic Games, they bulldozed a lot of these older neighborhoods. But many people fought to keep them, to keep their traditional way of life. The daughter of a historian should understand the importance of cultural heritage. So don’t feel bad for them, and don’t feel guilty. They’re living the life they want.”
“How’d you know I was feeling...guilty?”
He smiled that faint smile she was coming to recognize. “You have a very expressive face.”
* * *
Their flight to Xi’an that afternoon went off without a hitch, although Savannah wondered how Niall had managed to secure a seat next to her. All the married couples had, as a matter of course, been assigned seats together. She hadn’t expected to have him as her seatmate for the relatively short flight because they weren’t a couple as far as the tour knew. But she was glad anyway, and especially grateful to have him at her back during the boarding process—no one would dare to shove him.
She didn’t think anything of it at first when he gave her the window seat, but then she realized he hadn’t asked her preference, aisle or window; he’d just shepherded her into that seat. That’s when she realized this was part and parcel of what he’d done all day yesterday and today. As if no one was going to cross the protective shield with which he’d surrounded her.
“I wanted to ask you,” she began softly after the airplane had taken off. “You mentioned yesterday morning you work in security.” She hesitated. “Is there something I should do to protect myself? I mean, I’m not going home, but I’m not planning to just ignore the potential threat.”
“For starters, don’t go anywhere alone.” He smiled that faint smile she was fast coming to recognize. “But you don’t have to worry about that—I’ve been sticking to you like glue, and I intend to keep doing it.”
Disconcerted, all she could think of to say was, “Oh.” Then she added, “You’re not responsible for me, Niall. I’m grateful, of course, but—”
His smile grew. “Won’t be a hardship, if that’s what you’re thinking. Especially if your invitation still stands.”
“Invita—” She broke off as she realized what he meant, and a hot tide of warmth invaded her cheeks.
He slid his hand beneath the hair at the nape of her neck and gently but firmly drew her head toward his as his lips descended for a kiss that drove every rational thought out of her mind. She gasped for breath when he finally released her, only to have his lips take hers again, and she melted.
She found herself free eons later, with no memory of having been released. She touched a shaky finger to her swollen lips, then whispered, “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” he asked, tongue-in-cheek, but his knowing smile told her he knew damn well what she meant.
“I’m not a virgin,” she blurted out, then was aghast at herself.
All Niall replied was, “I never expected you were.” His expression was enigmatic. “I’m not, either.”
“Of course you’re not,” she asserted with a hint of exasperation. “But I’m not... That is, I haven’t... What I mean is, I already told you I won’t be much of a challenge.”
He ran a finger along the curve of her cheek. “I’m not looking for a conquest, if that’s what you were thinking,” he assured her. “And I don’t put notches on my bedpost. But I will admit I have every intention of making love to you, if you’re willing. Tonight. Tomorrow night. And every night for the rest of this trip.” His deliberately seductive voice made her shiver uncontrollably. “And once we get on the boat, I’m thinking love in the afternoon sounds pretty damn good, too.”
She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, then looked at him again and confessed ever so faintly, “I’m not that good at it.”
His eyes softened as they gazed at her, as if he understood how difficult it had been for her to reveal this to him. How humiliating. “Don’t worry, Savannah. You will be.” He brushed her lips with his. “Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not some arrogant, boastful son of a bitch who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. But you and I both know you’re an incredibly responsive woman...with me. Last night...”
He’d left her again at her hotel door last night. But unlike the first night, this time he’d kissed her until they’d both been breathless. Until her whole body had trembled with longing and she’d mutely pleaded for more. Until he’d taken her keycard from her hand, unlocked her door and growled, “You’re hell on my good intentions,” before forcing her inside and closing the door—with him on the outside.
She dragged her attention back with an effort to what Niall was saying now.
“I don’t give a damn about your past, what you have or haven’t done in bed. All I know is last night proved we have something special together. Chemistry, with a touch of magic thrown in. Which means your sexuality is just waiting to be tapped.” His voice was little more than a whisper of sound when he said, “And I want to be the man who taps it.”
Her pulse accelerated like a bottle rocket because this was what she’d been telling herself she wanted. But some little demon of fear of the unknown suddenly possessed her, and she gripped his shirt in panic, not sure she could go through with it. “Niall...”
“Trust me,” he soothed. “It’ll be all right. You’ll see.”
* * *
The rest of the flight passed in a daze for Savannah. Niall held her hand the entire time. Reassuringly. Protectively. But not possessively. And he didn’t try to seduce her with words again, either. He was just...there.
She gazed eagerly out the window at the city below just before they landed, but was disappointed it looked no different from the air than any other modern city. She couldn’t help but hear her mother’s voice in her head, nevertheless, reminding her that Xi’an, under a different name, had at one time been the capital of China, rivaling the centers of other major ancient civilizations. Somewhere down there were the two-thousand-year-old terracotta warriors she’d come to see. She wouldn’t be disappointed then.
But that was tomorrow’s agenda. Tonight...tonight there was Niall.
Savannah had never understood what all the hoopla was about where sex was concerned. She’d lost her virginity at sixteen to the captain of the football team, a painful, less than fulfilling experience in a relationship that had lasted little more than a month. He’d said he loved her and she’d been dazzled into believing him. But once he’d talked her into sleeping with him, he’d dropped her like a hot potato...and then bragged about it. Humiliating her unbearably.
She’d wised up after that and had been more selective, eschewing “chemistry” and going for men she liked and respected. But after two tepid affairs in college, she’d decided sex was vastly overrated. Either she was undersexed or she had the misfortune of picking men who didn’t do it for her. Or some combination in between. She’d envied other women in college when they’d talked about their incredible sex lives, but she’d kept quiet. She’d had no intention of revealing her woeful inadequacy where that was concerned.
She’d dated sporadically in grad school, but once she’d attained her PhD and had accepted the job with her former employer, she’d stopped doing even that. No way would she date someone she worked with; if the relationship didn’t work out, she still had to see that person on a regular basis. Not happening, she’d told herself on more than one occasion, vividly remembering her excruciatingly humiliating experience in high school.
And she’d been so focused on her career she’d had little time for anything else. Little time to meet anyone other than the men she worked with. And she’d consoled herself with the thought that she wasn’t really missing anything anyway.
But that was before she’d met Niall. Before he’d looked at her with that certain something in his eyes, before he’d touched her and set off sparks that made her quiver with anticipation. And she knew—she knew—sex with Niall would be anything other than tepid. Sex with Niall would rival the best she’d ever heard about from other women, the best she’d ever read about in the romances she’d sneaked from her mother’s bookshelves when she was a teenager.
And all she had to do was let it happen. All she had to do was overcome any latent inhibitions that might crop up at the last minute. All she had to do was—
“Everyone else is off the plane, Savannah. I think the flight attendants would like us to leave, too.”
“Oh.” She blinked and came back to the here and now, realizing Niall was right. The cabin was empty except for them. He probably thought she’d wanted to wait until after the crowd had deplaned, and had stayed at her side. She wasn’t going to tell him she’d been so lost in thought she’d never even realized they were on the ground.
Niall rose and moved into the aisle, shouldering his knapsack and pulling their carry-ons from the overhead compartment, then waiting patiently. Savannah gathered up her purse and the light jacket she’d brought with her and pointed to her suitcase. “I can carry that.”
He gave her a look that spoke volumes, then started up the aisle, carrying both his and hers. She scurried to keep up with him.
They claimed their checked luggage inside the terminal, then boarded the tour bus that would take them to their hotel.
“Dinner’s at our hotel tonight,” Niall reminded her. “May I have the pleasure of your company?”
She couldn’t help but smile at the old-fashioned courtesy, especially since he’d already expressed his intentions about tonight in no uncertain terms. Still... “You’re right,” she said. “Your parents raised a gentleman. And I’d love to have dinner with you.”
* * *
Niall was grateful the operators of this tour handled checking into the hotel for their guests, because that meant keys to the rooms were handed out in the hotel lounge, along with corresponding room numbers. He quickly memorized a dozen of these and paired them with the couples who were occupying those rooms, including those of the Williamses and the overly friendly Thompsons. Not that he suspected anyone in particular, but still. If someone was targeting Savannah, what better guise than guests on the same tour?
He’d already set in motion background checks on all thirty-six of his and Savannah’s fellow tour-bus occupants, quaintly called Michael’s Family after the English name of their Chinese tour guide. The designation was a convenient way for each of the tour guides to keep track of the people in their group when they were dispersed in crowds.
Niall knew very well whoever was targeting Savannah didn’t have to be someone in their tour group. There would be close to five hundred passengers on the river cruise portion of this trip, and all the passengers were suspects, since they were all housed in the same hotels. Not to mention the tour guides. But...he was playing the odds. And the odds were, someone in their little tour group had their sights set firmly on Savannah.
Which meant he couldn’t leave her unprotected. Not on this land tour, and not on the river cruise. Because the same thing that had made his government wary, the same thing that had caused him to be dispatched, still put Savannah at risk—the highly classified data in her brain.
No one was going to take advantage of that. Not if he had anything to say about it.
* * *
Savannah unpacked and debated with herself over whether she should wear the same dress she’d worn the first night with Niall or go buy something new, then regretfully decided she didn’t have time to shop—Niall was coming to get her in less than an hour. Besides, much as she wanted to dazzle him with another killer outfit, she wasn’t sure she could carry off something more enticing than the dress he’d already said was perfect for her, which she’d had dry-cleaned at their last hotel. She’d pair it with other jewelry and do something different with her hair, but underneath she’d wear the same wisps of lace and silk she’d carefully washed out after Niall had left her at the door to her room the first night.
He’d already promised he wouldn’t do that tonight, and she wanted to...well...she wanted to be particularly sexy to make up for the things she’d admitted earlier.
“Awkward,” she muttered as she stripped and stepped into the shower. “Did you have to make a complete fool of yourself?”
But Niall had taken it in stride. Hadn’t seemed to find her wanting in some way because of her admission. In fact, he’d seemed to think whatever had been lacking in her previous sexual relationships wasn’t her fault at all, which had a particularly freeing effect on her now.
She was dressed and ready far too early, so she grabbed her laptop out of its case and booted it up to check her email. She frowned when her computer seemed to take an unusually long time to start up, but quickly forgot all about it when she checked her email and found a long chatty letter from Nancy. Her next-door neighbor, with her husband, Rick, was looking after Savannah’s house while she was gone.
She replied with a quick note about everything she’d seen and done so far, including visiting the Great Wall with “a million of my closest friends” and the trip to the Forbidden City yesterday. She said nothing about Niall, however. She wasn’t quite sure why.
She’d just hit Send when there was a rap at her door. She logged off quickly, slipped on the heels that didn’t even come close to making her as tall as Niall, then took one last look in the mirror.
“Smile,” she reminded herself. “Breathe. It’s just dinner. Dinner and sex. Dinner and hot, steamy sex. Dinner and hot, steamy sex with a man who pushes all your buttons and sure as hell knows what he’s doing.”