Kissing Fortune (Man Season) (6 page)

“Maybe I am.”

She was frowning at him when
Kiel
came into the galley. Her heart began
to flap wildly in her chest as she stared at him. Ever shirtless, sweat beading
on his sexy muscled arms and midriff; he snitched a couple of donuts and a cup
of coffee, headed for the living room.

“Too good to eat with us?”
Tierney hissed.

“No, I just came in here to check on
the news. Everybody thinks you’re dead. Someone saw you leave with Travers.
Then the report came in about his yacht blowing up.”

She jumped up, hurried to the
satellite TV. “I’m dead? Wow. That means I could restart my whole existence,
doesn’t it?”

“Would you want to?”

“Hell, yes! I’d like to live a life
where nobody wants to kill me!”

Travers joined them as they listened
to a pert newswoman with faked concern in her voice. “Yes, it appears that reality
star Tierney Evans is dead, killed in a horrible explosion on a yacht at sea,
though no bodies have been found. Why she was on the yacht, and the cause of
the explosion, are not clear. But recently the billionaire heiress just missed
being killed by a bomb planted on her car. Join us later this evening when our
ace reporter, Hawk Greeley, speculates on these matters in his special report:
Who
Wanted Tierney Evans Dead?”

Tierney sighed as
Kiel
clicked off the TV. “Maybe I should
watch Hawk’s special. I’d like to know who wants me dead, too. I dated him
once, back when he was still pretending to be straight.”

“Who haven’t you dated?”

“There’s no call for that,
Kiel
. The child is shaking so bad I can
hear her knees knocking. Be nice.”

“I didn’t mean anything.” He stood,
she squinted her eyes as she followed him up. “I’m sorry, Tierney. We all have
a lot of baggage. I have no right putting you down.”

“No, you don’t!” she spat and walked
back to the galley. She was wearing the pink polka dot bikini and shorts.
Kiel
tagged along behind her; she turned,
almost bumped into him. She noticed he was moving his gazes along the crest of
her cleavage. He licked his lips, she tingled. It was really going to be hard
to keep her hands off of him.

“Did you say we were going to your …
hacienda
?”

“Yeah, it’s in Baja, near the sea. My
folks had it built there forty years ago.”

“
Your
… oh,
Travers told me about them. They died in an earthquake?”

He threw Travers a fierce glance.
“Yeah, they did. They were explorers and philanthropists. They were down in
Chile
doing some work for
Unicef
in the 90s when a big quake
hit.”

“I’m sorry. You were just a kid,
right?”

“Sure, but I survived. A person can
survive anything if they try.”

“Oh, Travers, what about your family?
Won’t they believe you’re dead,
too?”

He entered the galley. “I called them
last night, made sure they knew I was okay, and that they needed to pretend I
wasn’t … for awhile. The cops had already been to see them once. They probably
will again.”

“I hate that you two were dragged
into this mess! Maybe I should go home and try to straighten it all out.”

“No, I don’t want you stepping into
any more booby traps. We’ll all be safer at my house.”

He went on deck without explaining.

“What’s he mean? Is someone after
him, too?”

“I’m afraid we’ve all stepped on some
booby traps, Tierney. Do you think you can handle it if things get rough?”

“What choice do I have?”

“Good girl. Have another donut?”

She shook her head, wondering what
sort of danger she was in now.

Kiel’s
hacienda
was more like
a palatial fortress; made of concrete with white, hand-veneered plaster, a red
tile roof, brightly colored tile floors throughout, sturdy, comfortable
furnishings, with a secure wall surrounding the property. The interior of the
grounds was lush and cool, thanks to a mango orchard, a stone fountain and
long, lazy palm trees. There was even a freshwater pond full of fat, happy
koi
.

“I thought you were kind of a …”

“What, a drifter?”

“Well, yeah, you seemed down on your
luck, anyway. How can you afford this place?”

“It was built by my parents. I told
you that. My great granddaddy got rich in South American oil.”

“Oh.
Kiel
, did your parents love you?”

“They said they did. Why?”

“I was just wondering.”

He led her and Travers through the enormous
foyer and up a winding staircase to their rooms.

“I think I’ll take a nap
Kiel
. It’s been a hard week.”

“Sure, bud, I’ll call you when
dinner’s ready.”

Kiel
opened a door near the back of the
house and ushered Tierney in. “How do you like it?”

She walked in, examined the giant
carved wooden bed and
elaborate
furniture then she
tested the veranda, smiled at its
seaview
.

“It’ll do, I suppose.”

“You know you like it.”

She smiled again. “I do. I can’t understand
why you’d leave it. If it was mine, I don’t think I ever would!”

“I thought that way, a long time ago.
But then I made some bad mistakes …”

“What mistakes? Tell me, please? I’d
like to help you if I could.”

He watched her mouth as she talked;
his gaze intense, hungry. If he could let his guard down long enough she knew
she could make him love her.

“No one can help me now. I’ve put off
facing my demons for too long. I only hope they didn’t track us here. I’ll send
my housekeeper up with some fresh clothes. I know you’re probably sick of
wearing that bikini.”

“Don’t you like the way it looks on
me?”

“Don’t flirt, Tierney. It’s useless.”

He left her on the veranda, smarting.
How a man could turn it off and on like a faucet, she did not know. Then she
felt a bit guilty, realizing how often she’d done the same thing in her own
life.

After an early dinner of roast
chicken with mango salsa and a cinnamon rice dessert, Travers and
Kiel
retired to the study, to check the
news reports. Tierney, wearing a crisp blue sundress and espadrilles, explored
the grounds, enjoying a tiny bit of freedom in Kiel’s lush, protected world.
She fed the
koi
, freeing the gardener to attend to
other chores then she watched a perfect sunset in miserable solitude.

“He should be here with me,” she
sighed. Then she decided to search out the study.

***

Kiel
was alone with his eyes closed,
sipping a beer as he listened to some smooth jazz on a radio. He was sitting on
an upholstered chair, one leg swung over the arm of it. His thoughts were on
Tierney again. He kept going over their lovemaking in his mind, seeing it
happen in a delicious slow motion. He couldn’t get over how good she was; how
every move she made suited him perfectly. She’d given him the best damn orgasm
of his life. Even better, he sadly admitted, than any he’d had with Jeri,
though it seemed somehow sacrilegious to think it.

He wondered if he was doing the right
thing in keeping her there. Joe and the others were bound to catch up with him.
They would probably feel safe in making a full-on attack in
Mexico
, since they had connections with
some high ups in the military. He’d made a bad move, going down there, he was
certain of it now.

***

Tierney entered the study without a
sound, stood staring at Kiel who was still engulfed in the rhythm of the music,
his eyes shut tight, his leg still thrown over the chair arm. She gulped as she
made out the line of him going down long next to the seam of his crotch.

“Is he thinking about me?” she
grinned, knowing what she had to do.

She quietly pushed the door to and
locked it. Then she walked about the paneled room, closing the shutters. She
accidentally knocked a silver lighter off its perch on a side table.
Kiel
stirred, cleared his eyes. She was
standing right in front of him. Their gazes met; Tierney breathed deeply,
kicked off her espadrilles and dropped the dress to the tile floor.

Kiel
took more than a moment to admire
the vision before him. Her nipples hardened under his stare. She moved towards
him, eased his leg off of the chair arm and unzipped him. Then she took him in
her luscious mouth and tasted him like candy. He groaned, grasped her shoulders
with firm hands, holding her there until he was on the edge of imploding. Then
he lifted her hips, sat her on him and slid her up and down as his kisses
smothered her sighs. His fingers delved deep into her, manipulated her with a
deft touch. She couldn’t take it – began to wail and twitch. Her movements sent
him over the edge; he grunted hard and loud, banging her bottom against his
thighs until they came together in a hot, sweaty song of passion.

“Did I drive you insane yet?” he
asked as his eyes searched her face.

“Not yet,” she breathed. “I guess
you’ll have to try again.”

“Maybe later.
Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“I’d like that. I feel safe with you.
I’ve never felt safe with anybody till you.”

He pulled her up off of him, stood to
stretch his legs.

“I don’t think you are safe with me,
Tierney. I’ve got a couple of hound dogs on my tail. They might show up here.”

“Who are they?”

He zipped his pants, finished his
beer. “Well, they used to be friends, until I decided to leave their
organization. Now … they’re more like enemies.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Could be.”

She wrapped his arms about her naked
body. “And I thought I was putting you in danger by being here. Tell me about
them,
Kiel
. I want to know everything.”

“Come to bed, and I will.”

She nodded, slipped on her dress and
picked up the espadrilles.

***

The night lit up like fireworks,
rousing Tierney from
Kiel
’s cozy arms. She screamed.

“Hush!” he ordered as he scooted away
from her and peered out the window.

“What’s going on?”

He removed a pistol from a drawer,
checked its ammo and headed for the door.

“Stay here! And keep quiet!”

He disappeared down the hallway. Tierney
ventured towards the window. She could see the silhouettes of men in the bushes
outside the fence wall. Their guns blazed like fire as they bombarded the fence
with shattering blasts.

“
Kiel
! Don’t leave me!” she whined,
donning a lacy black nightgown from the dresser and taking off after him.

The ground level of the house was
etched in chaos – servants running around, frantic and afraid, Travers loaded
down with two automatic rifles, searching for
Kiel
.

“Where is he?” Tierney cried.

“I don’t know! A man sure gets
excitement in
Kiel
Fortune’s company! I
ain’t
had nerves this bad since I was in ‘
Nam
!”

“Please, calm down! I don’t want to
have to tell your grandkids that you really are dead!”

“Don’t worry about me, girl! Just
because I’m nervous doesn’t mean I can’t handle a fight!”