“And now I’m here. We’ll enjoy our lunch and then check out your Angelic Villa.”
That evening, well after the sun had made its stunning exit from the sky in a multihued splendor of brilliance, she and her uncle smuggled her weapons into the newly leased villa and stored them in the false bottom of the locking cedar chest at the foot of the filmy-curtained king-sized bed. But first they had made a complete sweep of the house for electronic bugs.
Kira sighed wearily as she straightened, glanced at the clock on the bedside table, and calculated her chances of catching up with Ian that night at one of the clubs. Considering the amount of time it would take to get ready, they weren’t good.
“Daniel will be staying down the hall,” Jason told her as he stored the little electronic black wand used to detect the listening devices into a secure section of the overnight bag she kept by her bed.
“Will you be staying in Aruba?” Kira kept her voice soft as she moved to the curtained balcony doors and looked out toward the stone fence that surrounded the Fuentes estate. She could see the upper floor of the villa, and if her source was right, she was staring directly at the window to Ian’s bedroom. It was the single most important reason for the acquisition of this particular property.
“I have to fly out day after tomorrow,” he told her softly. “I’ll take one of the guest rooms and set up the security while you go let yourself be seen tomorrow. I’d be interested to know which players we have gathering here.”
“Too many if those I saw in the clubs last night were any indication.” She sighed, watching as the bedroom light in the other villa flipped on then seconds later was dark again. “Ian has a bull’s-eye on his back, Jase, and if I’m not mistaken several of the players based here believe America would give them a quiet nod of approval if they took him out.”
“Ian made the decision himself,” Jason pointed out, apparently satisfied that there was nothing compromising in the room, then moved to where she stood by the balcony doors.
“You’re fascinated with him,” he stated, stopping behind her to grip her shoulders and pull her back against him. She felt his lips at the top of her head and his steady affection surrounding her.
They were each other’s rocks, and had been for twenty years now. Their shared past had shaped their shared present and all the choices that had brought him there.
“What would Daddy have thought of him?” she suddenly asked. She hadn’t wondered in years what her parents would have thought of anything.
“He would have respected his strength,” Jason answered simply. “But he would have worried about it as well. Your man isn’t known for his tender ways where women are concerned, sweetie.”
No, Ian was known for tying them down, torturing them with demanding caresses and warm spankings. He was known for his sexual demands and his determined lusts. He wasn’t known for roses and champagne or poet’s verses.
“I’m not exactly known for my tender ways where men are concerned either,” she pointed out teasingly.
“No. You’re not.” There was an edge of sorrow in his voice. “Your father would have gutted me for drawing you into this life and your mother would have never forgiven me.”
Kira leaned her head back against his chest and clasped his hands at her shoulders.
“Momma told me once that you were destined to do great things,” she told him, remembering how much her tiny mother had adored her overgrown brother. “She loved you as fiercely as she loved me.”
And her momma had been taken away from them both. Her momma, her daddy, and the woman her uncle had been engaged to. A terrorist’s bomb had killed them while they were on vacation in Greece, though it had been speculated that the bomb had been meant for them. Her father had been as immersed in the covert life as she and Jason were.
“She would have been proud of us,” she finally whispered, surprising herself with her introspection.
She had been doing that a lot these past months. Reflecting, thinking, considering the choices she had made, and her life in general.
She was thirty years old. She had a failed marriage behind her and no children. Her marriage to Kane Austin had been the first casualty of her secret life and covert activities.
She had no family but Jason, and so few true friends that at times the loneliness bore down on her.
And lovers? They didn’t last long even when she did find time to get involved with a man. She was too intent on partying and playing. They didn’t really know her, so they had no idea why the parties, the trips, and the shopping were so damned important.
No one really knew her. Except Jason. And Ian. That part of her that she hadn’t even known herself, had only begun learning in the past year, ached with loneliness. Ached for the man who held himself just out of reach.
Ian knew her. Ian had done what no one else had, he had made it a point to learn about her. He knew about her parents, about Jason, but more importantly, he knew who and what she was. He had informed her, his voice filled with amusement the night he slipped into her condo, that he knew her as no one else ever would. And he was right. He knew how to touch her, how to make her heart and her body come alive. And he knew the woman she hid from the world.
Which could be a liability if she thought there were so much as a chance of his turning against the friend who lay so helpless in that damned clinic.
“Where do you go from here?” Jason kissed the top of her head before moving slowly away.
“For now, I wait a bit.” She shrugged, turning back to him. “He’ll show up.”
“You seem certain.” His gaze was piercing in the dark.
Kira hid her smile. “I am certain.” He was growing as desperate for her as she was for him. She dreamed of nothing else, and sometimes, she thought of nothing else.
“I have a few contacts here,” he told her. “Let me know if you need invitations.”
“Dozens have already poured into the hotel,” she reported. “The flies are converging like a plague.”
Jason grimaced. “I was hoping to eat dinner tonight.”
Kira widened her eyes innocently. “What did I say?”
“Trouble,” he muttered. “That’s all you are.”
Kira rolled her eyes. She was growing tired of that accusation.
Six
IAN STOOD AT HIS BEDROOM window, the technologically advanced night-vision goggles sitting securely over his eyes as he stared at the bedroom window in the villa across from him.