Carnal Vengeance (24 page)

"I don't know what you're talking about." She purposely kept her eyes averted. "Let me go, David. I didn't give you permission for this."

Her gaze darted back to him a moment before his mouth pressed against hers. She tipped her head back and turned aside, as her fists pressed against his chest.

He kept his grip on her shoulders as he murmured into her ear. "Just one real kiss. One without anger, without pretended indifference. Then I'll let you run away. You know you want to try that kiss as much as I do."

"I do not."

"Liar."

His lips grazed her cheek and sought her mouth again. Instead of the pressure she expected, he brushed his mouth back and forth, teasing until she began to move to the lazy rhythm. She could not stop herself from closing her eyes to savor the exquisite sensation. Only then did he take the real kiss he had spoken of. As his mouth slanted over hers, his hands eased her backward until she was lying beside him.

This kiss held all the surprising electricity of the first only this time she could tell he was caught up in the same maelstrom of wonder as she. Twice he broke the kiss and returned for more.

She felt so warm, wrapped in a cocoon of luxurious velvet. Why did this man have to be the one to reawaken her desire? He had drawn one knee up and over her thighs, and she felt his male body hardening and tensing all along her own. What happened after their first kiss came back to her in a flash, and she pulled her head away.

"I thought you weren't interested, Mr. Wells."

"I'm not," he replied with a contradictory chuckle.

"Liar." She slid her hand down his shirt to his belt buckle, but he grabbed her wrist and pinned her arm down on the bed beside her.

"If you start that, you'd better be ready to finish it. Are you?" There was no hint of humor in his question.

She blinked in an effort to reorient herself. For the moment her mind was fully occupied with the need to catch her breath. It took another moment to realize what she had almost done.

David saw the confusion in her eyes and gave her a break. Gentling his hold, he placed a light kiss on her parted lips. "Easy now. I was just doing my damnedest to live up to my promise not to take anything more than a kiss. Gentlemen always keep their promises, you know." He grinned down at her and she relaxed in his embrace. "I have a confession to make," he whispered, stroking her hair.

"Do I want to hear it?"

"I hope so. The evening I saw you at the airport, I didn't really recognize Philip. I was trying to find out who you were."

"Surprise, surprise," she said with a dry laugh.

"Because I had seen you before and was intrigued as hell." He made her wait a few seconds for the rest. "About two weeks ago. In the lobby of the Kessler Hotel. You walked by and I felt like I'd been hit by one of
Star Trek's
tractor beams. It was all I could do not to follow you into the elevator." He felt her breathing change and purposely lightened his tone. "It's too bad I didn't know you then. You could have saved me a lot of time trying to get an interview with your friend."

The color drained from her face and she sat up slowly. "My friend?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Erica Donner. That
was
who you went up to the penthouse to see, wasn't it?" He gave a little shrug. "I noticed you got onto the private elevator."

"Oh. Yes, of course. I remember."

He sat up, but was careful not to crowd. She looked like it was taking every bit of her strength to sit still. "She's a real piece of work. Can't say as I understand you two being friends."

"We, uh, haven't seen each other in years. Since college."

His mind automatically called up the facts that Holly had graduated from Georgetown and Donner from Berkeley. But Donner had once attended Dominion as well. "Really? Where was that?"

Her pupils dilated a mere fraction, enough to give her fear away. "Georgetown."

He narrowed his eyes in thought. Could Donner have attended Georgetown and it never showed up in her bio? He didn't think so. Holly was lying about that. He knew it as well as he knew his own name. He also knew that whatever her connection was with Erica Donner made Holly nervous. But it wasn't time to challenge her yet. If he pushed for the truth now, he could be sacrificing the chance to get bigger truths later.

Being reminded that she was a liar who could be involved in something deadly helped him control his desire enough to let her leave his company... and made him more determined than ever to uncover her secrets.

* * *

April forced herself to wait until Sunday evening before taking action. She had called Holly's apartment Saturday afternoon and evening, then called her cell phone twice on Sunday, all without a return call. Finally, she placed a call to Bobbi.

"Hello?"

The strong tone of the voice put April on alert. "Roberta?"

"Yes. How are you, April?"

"I'm fine, but I need to speak to Bobbi."

"I'm sorry. That's not possible right now."

It was difficult to deal with the Roberta personality face to face, over the phone was nearly impossible. April strengthened her own voice to one of supreme authority. "How long has Bobbi been away?"

"About a week, maybe a little more."

April deduced that the personality change probably occurred after their group meeting. "What have you done, Roberta?"

She paused long enough for April's tension to mount. "Nothing."

"You and I both know that's probably not true. Otherwise, Bobbi would be back. What did you tell her employer?"

The voice lost a good deal of its confidence. "She has a bad case of strep throat. She couldn't call in for herself."

"Listen to me, Roberta, you and I will have a long talk about this the next time we get together, but Bobbi has to come back now. She needs to report to work, and I need her to do an important favor for all of us."

"I could do it," Roberta countered a bit testily.

"Bobbi is better suited for this," April stated firmly. "Now let me talk to her." There was another momentary pause on the line, during which April could almost visualize the transfer of control.

"Hello?"

"Bobbi, it's April. Are you all right?"

Bobbi took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm just a little tired."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I, uh, I'm not sure. We were all meeting at the hotel, and I went back to my office and... I'm sorry, April. She was too strong this time."

"It's all right, Bobbi. We'll talk about it some more the next time we're together. The important thing is that you're back and I want you to work very hard on staying in control. Okay?" When Bobbi didn't answer right away, April used her most sympathetic voice to say, "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Bobbi. You've made incredible progress, but I warned you that there would still be times when the pressure might get too great. If it starts again, I want you to call me right away. Don't try to handle it yourself for a while."

"All right."

"Good girl." Knowing that Roberta never allowed Bobbi to see or hear what was going on when she was in control, April brought her up to date about the Ziegler murder and Holly Kaufman's acceptance of the Frampton assignment.

"I would like you to give Holly a call at work tomorrow and suggest you get together for lunch. One of us needs to stay very close to her for the time being. I can't be there, and I think she'd be more apt to accept you as a friend than Rachel."

"Do you think she's going to cause problems?" Bobbi asked fearfully.

"No, no. Not at all. It's just a precaution because of the murder investigation."

"All right then. I'll keep an eye on her."

* * *

Holly had the old dream that night, only this time, instead of turning to find Tim Ziegler or a monster beside her, she saw David's face. At the point when she normally awoke covered in perspiration, he grinned at her and she nestled into his arms. Threads of the dream were still with her when the real David's travel alarm clock went off on the other side of the camper.

Friends!
What an insane notion. What happened last night was proof that there was too much sexual attraction between them for a simple friendship. Twice he had shown that he could banish her common sense with nothing more than his kisses. Twice he had shown more control than she.

Last night she would have made love...
No.
Philip made love. With David it would have been fornication—a clinical, unemotional, biological function. But she had been ready to do it, enthusiastically, until he spoke and jarred her back to reality. Did that make him a gentleman, or a cold, calculating machine who could turn off his passion rather than be harassed by a clinging woman the next morning?

Though she realized she couldn't handle him the way she did Philip, the fact remained that David wanted her. Even with as little experience as she had, she knew that part of his interest stemmed from her refusal to acknowledge an attraction. She may not know the game as well as he, but if she could keep from giving in to him, she might be able to hold his attention long enough to watch him investigate Frampton. It was worth considering.

His comments about Erica Donner had shaken her but on reflection she realized they weren't uncalled for, since he was the reporter Erica had told her about. She was certain her answer had been logical, almost truthful, and that there really wouldn't be any reason for him to question her further about that relationship in the future. She would just have to keep in mind what an excellent memory for details he had and never reveal more about herself than she absolutely had to.

She hated the fact that David was completely at ease when he came out from behind his partition fully dressed. Busying herself with the coffeemaker gave her an excuse to avoid meeting his eyes. Again he surprised her by acting the part of the gentleman.

"While the coffee's brewing, I'll take care of refilling the water tank so you can shower later. Is fifteen minutes enough for you?"

She smiled, less shyly than she had yesterday. "Yes, thank you." Just before he walked out the door, she stopped him. "David? Could you do me another favor? I have a nine o'clock flight back to Washington tonight. Would you mind asking the manager if there's an airport shuttle that might pick me up here?"

His frown revealed that he hadn't realized she was leaving so soon, but he merely gave her a mock salute and left.

Several inches more rain had arrived during the night to drench the savaged land and scattered belongings of the dispossessed. Although it had stopped by the time David and Holly were riding to the site where they were to board the helicopter, the intense humidity made Holly think they were enveloped in a giant steam bath.

The news team's flight was slightly delayed, but it gave David and Holly a chance to speak with another man and woman who would be sharing the ride. The woman was the local reporter David had met the day before who had told him about the flight. The man was a marine biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources, and the others immediately took advantage of his knowledge.

Headphones allowed the conversation to continue after they were in the air. The islands looked as though they had been bombed by an enemy intent on total devastation. Key West had suffered damage similar to Key Largo in that some of the newer structures were still partially standing. However, the islands in between had been decimated.

The biologist pointed out that for another week or so, the water would be too murky to judge the damage to the reefs, but it was expected to be massive. They passed over a sunken ship in shallow water, and he explained how it had undoubtedly been pushed there by one of the tidal surges during the storm. It could be dragged back into deeper water again, but it would be decades before its previous function as an artificial reef would be restored.

Holly was disappointed that she could not get any clear indication of reef damage and that the cloudy day was going to limit the quality of the pictures she was taking.

Unfortunately, the weather reports sounded as though this was the way it was going to be for the rest of the week, so it would make no sense to extend her stay. It would be more efficient to go home and figure out how she could help there. If nothing else, she and Philip could put pressure on the government to act quickly and attend to the needs of the environment as well as the people.

Concentrating on the biologist's monologue and the scene on the ground occupied her thoughts until David distracted her. He didn't need to speak to her or touch her. She could
feel
him watching her, daring her to look at him. She ordered herself not to let him see that she picked up his unspoken message, but her eyes betrayed her.

Turning her head toward him, she was suddenly caught in a visual snare that no gentleman would have cast in public. He should not have been looking at her that way, as if he was remembering the way she moved beneath his hands. It was possibly the most erotic moment she had ever experienced. She dragged her gaze away from his, but the effort caused a shiver to streak through her that was more telling than any verbal admission would have been.

David smiled to himself as he noted the hot flush on her cheekbones. It was gratifying to know that she hadn't been able to banish the memory of last night's kisses any better than he had. He hadn't been able to sleep all night and her indifferent attitude that morning had him searching for a bit of reassurance. Now he was certain her imminent departure would not prevent him from establishing the bond he wanted. He would just pick up where they left off once he was back in the capital.