Mafia Secret (29 page)

Closing her eyes, she focused on where her body was touching his and judged where his weak points were. The gun wasn't pointed at her, but stayed aimed at Marc. A nervous tremor skittered through her stomach at the possibility that she wouldn't be able to move fast enough to stop Ryan from shooting Marc. She had no doubt he'd pull the trigger as soon as he realized what she was doing.

"There's no way out," Marc repeated.

Lessa shifted her weight to the balls of her feet then went completely limp. She fell against Ryan, and his arm tightened slightly as he tried to adjust his hold. Planting her feet, she pushed up and back with all her strength. Her plan to throw him off balance worked. His feet scrambled for traction as he fought to regain his footing. But he was already falling backward.

Marc lunged forward as part two of her plan went into motion. She pushed back with her hands into Ryan's stomach, accelerating his fall. She shoved, then dove forward as he dropped his grip to reach out for something to hold onto.

With a cry of terror, he hit the edge of the open doorway and tried to grab the wall. His fingers slipped, and he dropped out of sight to the ground below.

Marc's hand locked around Lessa's wrist, and he yanked her solidly against his chest then spun them both away from the opening.

L
eaning back, Marc cupped her face. "You all right?"

She nodded and glanced behind her at the opening. Marc released her to step forward and look down at Ryan on the ground below. His stance relaxed.

"Is he dead?" Lessa whispered.

He shook his head. "He's moving, but I'd wager he's hurt pretty bad. It's about a three story drop, and he landed on his back."

Lessa couldn't bring herself to see what she had done. "What are you going to do?"

He stared at her as he holstered his gun in the small of his back. "Do? I'm going to let Jio take care of the problem. It was his dad Ryan killed, so that'll be up to him."

She'd assumed that was Marc's job, but was relieved he wouldn't have to clean up that mess.

He frowned. "And where the hell are your shoes?"

She shifted on her sore and dirty feet. "I have no idea."

His frown remained as he went to her, gently touching her neck where Ryan had strangled her. His jaw flexed. "You're not okay."

"I'm alive. I think that's pretty okay." Her hands were beginning to tremble. "Can I go back to the house now?"

"Yeah, come on." Putting his arm around her shoulder, he steered her back to the ladder. "You sure you can walk?"

She nodded. "I don't think my feet are going to fall off."

Marc climbed down first and helped her off the final rung. This time he wrapped an arm around her waist, helping her walk gingerly back outside. She smiled as she realized how he'd gotten to the barn without them hearing his approach. Old Ben munched on the grass growing at the base of the vine where he was tied.

"Wait here." Marc strode over to Ben, unlooped his reins, and walked him to the door and Lessa.

"What about Ryan?"

He pointed to the dust trail coming from the house. "Cavalry's coming. I called Jio as soon as I realized what was going on."

"How did you know? Ryan said everyone had left the vineyard."

Marc touched her cheek again before helping her up and into the saddle. He flipped the reins over the gelding's head, then swung on behind her. She had to lean forward as he did so she didn't get knocked off.

"He forgot about the lower gate." He motioned down the hill to the wall of trees. "We have a guard stationed there." Wrapping his arm securely around her waist, he pulled her close, then took a deep breath. "Ryan stopped me just outside the house. Wanted an update on the search for Jiovanni's killer, so I gave it to him." He shook his head. "I started to worry again about how your being grabbed had to be connected to the murder. My gut told me it was an inside job, so I decided to get more tapes for you to listen to and decided to start with the perimeter guards. Also, taking Old Ben to check the gates is a habit of mine. I saw the jeep run off the trail and came up to see if anyone was hurt. I saw you run into the barn with Ryan behind you. He was so focused on getting you he didn't even hear me coming."

"According to Ryan, Jiovanni seduced his daughter."

"What?" Marc shifted so he could see her face.

She glanced over her shoulder to meet his gaze. "And she's pregnant."

He couldn't have looked more dumbfounded. She almost laughed at the sight, but thinking about it all made her sad.

"Shit." He shook his head. "I can almost understand why he went after Jiovanni."

"Almost?"

His eyes hardened. "I protect what's mine."

Reaching back, she smoothed a hand down his tense face. "I think you're more upset than I am, and he was trying to kill me."

He closed his eyes as a shudder went through his body. "He abducted you right out from under me. I didn't keep you safe."

"It wasn't your fault. Suspecting Ryan would have been like suspecting you. Right? Why would you think it was him?"

"He shouldn't have been above suspicion." He shook his head. "Even you caught on." Lessa frowned in confusion. "At the funeral, you thought it was odd the way he and his daughter were behaving, and I brushed it off. I should've followed through."

"You knew them." She rubbed her thumb on his cheek to sooth him. "I didn't."

"Exactly. When betrayal is that close, it takes an outsider to spot the inconsistencies."

"You're being too hard on yourself. Besides, here I am, safe and sound. You know who killed Jiovanni and why. You know who arranged my kidnapping and why. It's over."

"Yes, it is." The finality in his tone worried her. "No matter what I say about protecting you, you'll never be completely safe, none of us are."

Lessa frowned at his words. "No one is ever completely safe."

"I don't know if I could protect you without the family's support. But you don't belong here. You're too . . . light for what goes on here. It will destroy you."

"Why are you trying to scare me again?" Her aches were forgotten as she tried to turn in the saddle to face him.

"Fear's healthy if it makes you do the right thing."

He was pushing her away. She grabbed on to her anger. "Stop talking in fucking riddles, Marc!"

"You don't belong here."

"I belong with you." She'd already demonstrated her trust last night despite the doubts she'd had about this life. He wasn't going to pull back from her now. "We already went over this."

"What if I don't want you anymore?"

His careless words stabbed into her heart. But she refused to believe them and ducked her face to meet his eyes. He wasn't hidden behind his mask, but tried to avoid her gaze before she could see the sadness and fear in them.

"Look at me," she whispered. "You're a bad liar."

He looked up then and met her gaze. "I promised I wouldn't lie to you. It appears I can't even when I want to."

"So, don't."

His arms tightened around her waist and he touched his cheek to hers. "It would be better for you to go home and never look back."

Two Jeeps reached them at that moment. Jio drove the lead Jeep with Edoardo in the passenger seat. Two men she vaguely recognized pulled up behind them. Marc shifted back so they were no longer intimately entwined.

"Glad to see you found her," Jio said. "What happened?"

Marc motioned to the barn. "Ryan fell out the loft door while trying to kill Lessa and me."

"Ryan?" Jio's expression was almost a duplicate of how Marc had looked a moment before.

"He killed Jiovanni and arranged Lessa's kidnapping," Marc said curtly. "I'm taking her back to the house."

Jio frowned in disbelief and shared a look with Edoardo before turning back to Marc. "You sure it was him?"

"He admitted it to Lessa and snatched her out of the house when she recognized his voice."

Jio leveled a considering gaze on her and nodded. "I'll take care of it."

"You're the boss." Marc released Ben's reins and urged him into a canter. The gelding moved easily down the vineyard path toward the estate in the distance.

"You didn't tell him the rest." She wondered at the short exchange between them.

"Plenty of time to deal with that later."

A sudden flash of Ryan falling through the opening made her shudder. Her eyes burned with backed up emotion. Ryan had planned to kill both of them. His gun hadn't wavered from Marc. "He was going to shoot you."

"He didn't," Marc whispered, checking the reins and slowing Ben down to a walk again. He hugged her close. "He was going to throw you out the hay loft door."

All she could see was Ryan's steady hand pointing the gun at Marc. "He was going to shoot you."

"You knocked him on his ass before he had the chance. You gonna tell me where you learned a move like that?"

"A girl has to be able to protect herself."

He chuckled softly and squeezed her hand. "I don't want you going back to Florida."

She smiled and her heart warmed. "You said it would be better for me to go home."

"It
would
be better for you."

She sighed at the familiar warning. "Then what are you saying?"

"I don't want you to go. I know it's selfish and I should force you to go Florida where you'll be safe. If I could, I'd whisk you off to some tropical island where we could forget all of this. But life doesn't always work that way."

Intertwining her fingers with his, she glanced over her shoulder at him. "I don't want to leave you."

"I thought you were counting the days. The danger's past, and I promised you could go home once you were safe."

She frowned and considered. "You think I want to go home?"

"Why wouldn't you? You have a good life back there. As if that wasn't enough, being kidnapped and nearly murdered would make anyone run screaming to the hills."

The dark note in his voice worried her, and she squeezed his hand again. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was completely my fault. He grabbed you because of me. He tried to kill you because of me."

"It was not because of you. It was all him."

Marc shook his head.

At his mutinous look, she decided she wouldn't be able to convince him he wasn't at fault so changed the subject. "Why don't we get back to why you don't want me to leave?"

"I want you to stay," Marc said slowly, "with me."

She liked hearing him say that. "All right."

"All right?"

She smiled at his doubt. "What do you want me to say?"

"I thought I'd have to convince you even though I knew I shouldn't try."

"I'll have to go home for a little while. Give notice on my job, find someone to take over my lease, and pack up." She shifted so she could look at Marc's face. "You really thought you wouldn't be able to convince me?"

Marc shrugged, his expression dropping in to his usual blank mask. "I won't ask you to leave your life for me. Not to come into this life. Not until I can figure a way out so I can keep you safe. If I can convince your brother to grant me an early retirement from a business that doesn't have a pension plan,
 
you won't have to choose between me and your life."

"People move all the time. It's not like you don't have cheerleading teams out here in California." She touched his cheek with her fingertips, and the shutter lifted, showing his desire for her. "I love you."

Marc pulled Ben to a stop and twisted her slightly in the saddle. His lips brushed hers gently, his grip tightened and the kiss became more passionate. She returned his ardor. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers for a moment before opening his eyes and kissing the tip of her nose.

She grinned at him. "I wouldn't have come back here if I didn't plan on staying."

"I made you come back."

Shrugging, she wasn't able to drop her smile even as she challenged him. "Did you?"

Marc growled and tugged on her hair. "You're staying, for now?"

"How many times do you need me to say it?" she asked with a frown.

"One more time."

"Where you go, I go. Where you stay, I stay. Is that clear enough for you?"

"It'll have to do." Marc kissed her frown and urged Ben back into a walk.

"Now what happens?"

"I declare myself to your brother and ask for your hand."

He made the statement just as she was turning to face forward again, and she nearly fell off the horse when she yanked back around. His strong arm around her waist was all that kept her astride.

"Excuse me. Ask my brother for my hand in what?"

"Marriage. I'm a little old fashioned and would prefer to not live in sin for too long."

She stared at him, trying to figure out his one-eighty. One minute he was doing everything he could to convince her to return home, and the next he was proposing marriage.