Black Jack (22 page)

lifted her leg with one hand, her hips with the arm wrapped around them.

“Put your legs around me,” he ordered her desperately.

Whimpering cries came from her lips as he lifted her from her feet and felt her legs circle

his hips as he guided the blunt head of his dick to the sweet portal between her thighs.

It was paradise. Pure ecstasy engulfed him as he began to press inside her, taking her,

possessing all that sweet, fiery heat to warm the places in his soul that had been cold before

her.

Lilly felt the iron-hard, white-hot entrance of his cock inside her. Her head fell against his

shoulder, her arms and legs tightening around him as he shoved inside her, sending half the

length of his erection powering inside her with a stroke of violent pleasure.

She wanted to scream but she couldn’t find the breath, the wash of sensations were too

intense, too fiery.

She could feel the thick length of his cock stretching her, burning her, as her juices rushed

to lubricate and prepare the ultrasensitive nerve endings exposed by the penetration. Nothing

could have prepared them. She had to learn that. Each time he took her it was the same, so

much pleasure she was lost inside it.

She could only hold on for the ride as she felt her back meet the wall, felt his hands clamp

on her ass to hold her to him as he began to fuck her with hard, powerful strokes.

Each shafting entrance tore a cry from her lips and sent pleasure tearing through her as she

fought to thrust back at him, her thighs tightening on him, her hands clenching on his

shoulders as she let the exquisite sensation rule her.

The deep penetrating strokes stretched and burned, stroked naked nerve endings to a

precipice of sensation so intense she was gasping for breath, begging, pleading.

When the explosion came, it hurled her through ecstasy. She felt as though she were a

creature of pure sensation. A mass of sensual impulses that exploded over and over again,

leaving her limp, breathless, and completely sated in his arms.

lilly put the final
touches to her makeup and applied the last

sapphire-studded pin to her hair when Travis walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed in his

black tuxedo. The dark blond and light brown strands of hair that grew long at the nape had

been tied back. The short growth of beard and mustache was still present, neatly trimmed and

giving his face a dark, rakish look.

He was too damned handsome, and too damned dangerous. There was no mistaking the fact

that Travis Caine was a man that others would be careful not to cross.

What did he have planned tonight? she wondered. She didn’t believe in coincidence, and

the presence of her so-called former employers at the party, as well as Travis, was a fairly

good indication that something was up.

Or someone was trying to learn something. That suspicion was firmly implanted in her

head now, and it refused to leave. She couldn’t help but believe that Santos Bahre and

Rhiannon McConnelly were hanging around for the simple reason that she was some kind of

threat to them.

Rhiannon McConnelly had assured her that she and Santos Bahre weren’t there to drag her

back into whatever life she had lived for the past six years. There was a part of Lilly that

actually believed that. So what else could they be after?

How far could she trust them? She had a feeling that trusting them was the last thing she

should do.

So where did that leave her with Travis?

“Are we arriving on time, or fashionably late?” he asked as he came up behind her at the

mirror and adjusted the bow tie at his neck.

For a moment, a spurt of fear washed through her, a premonition that she was going to lose

him. She could almost see him walking away from her, refusing to look back, leaving her cold

and alone. She had to prepare herself for that. Nothing lasts forever; she had learned that

lesson already. In the blink of an eye, or the shot of an assassin’s bullet, it could all be wiped

away.

“You’re not answering me, Lilly,” he pointed out, his voice gentle. “Are you feeling well?”

“I’m supposed to be greeting guests with Mother.” She breathed in deeply as she fought to

pull herself back from the mist of knowledge and memories she could feel awaiting her. “It’s a

welcome-home party as well.”

A celebration, her mother had called it. A time to celebrate with their friends the fact that

Lilly had returned, that she wasn’t dead.

The explanation given to friends and family had been a simple one. That she had run away,

that she had hidden as she tried to come to terms with what had happened that night with her

father’s death.

The crash had been declared an accident. Lilly’s father had been behind the wheel, and

several eyewitnesses had sworn they had seen them driving from the estate together.

It wasn’t possible. She didn’t know who had been driving the car that night, but it hadn’t

been her father. He had already been dead. She knew that. It wasn’t something she sensed or

suspected, it was one of those things she knew without the memories to back her up and

substantiated by Travis. According to him, this was what she had told him as well.

When Lilly had had no answers for where she had been or what she had been doing for six

years, her mother had gone looking for those answers. She had found far more than she had

wanted to find.

It was as though her mother had assumed no one else would bother to hunt for the identity

her daughter had used those six years and conduct an investigation into it. And what did she

think the journalists, who had been like rabid dogs after her release from the hospital, were

doing? Twiddling their thumbs?

“You’re worrying again,” Travis stated softly as he laid his hands on her shoulders and

stared at her in the mirror.

“Perhaps I have things to worry about,” she retorted as she moved away from him and

smoothed her hands down the hips of the sapphire ballgown she wore.

She checked her appearance one last time, adjusted the string of sapphires at her neck,

checked the tips of her sapphire blue heels for any smudges, then turned back to him.

“Why are Santos Bahre and his sidekick showing up tonight?” she asked point-blank,

knowing he would at least have an idea why.

“Curiosity perhaps.” He shrugged. “They could be hoping a part of you will want to return

to your old life, or that any memories that resurface will give them some sort of business

edge.”

Her brows lifted. “I can’t imagine how their business interests would coincide with my

family’s.”

“You’d be surprised.” His lips quirked in amusement. “Santos and Rhiannon are extremely

astute business people. They have many more interests than that of business managers.”

“Business managers?” Her lips tightened. “That’s a hell of a title to give them, Travis. It’s

my understanding they’re no more than high-priced pimps.”

He surprised her.

Gripping her arms, he swung her around and glared down at her furiously. “I’m growing

tired of hearing you call yourself a whore, Lilly. You were never a whore.”

“What else do you call a high-priced call girl?” she snapped back.

“The title that damned investigator used was far from the truth,” he growled as he swung

away from her then and paced to the end of the bed.

As he turned back, his eyes seemed to flame with anger.

“You were paid for a service rendered, and that service was not necessarily sex. You were

trained for combat, for covert operations, and as a companion in dangerous situations. You

were not paid for sex. If you had sex with the men you worked with, then it was your choice,

not your job.”

Lilly glared back at him. “Tell me, Travis, once the press gets hold of that story, how do

you think it will be viewed? And they will get hold of it.”

He shook his head to that. “That investigator wrote his report based on accounts given by

less than reliable sources,” he growled. “Santos and Rhiannon operate a legitimate business.

Their ‘escorts’ are advertised as those of a personal security nature. Do you truly believe they

would risk either their reputations or their clients with anything less? They may get a hint of

the trouble-making inclinations you seemed to have, or the less than savory individuals you

may have worked with. But there is not a client that requested the services of Escorts Etc. that

will ever claim you or the other girls to have been a whore.”

Lilly’s chin lifted, her lips tightening. “That is not the impression that was given while I

was working,” she bit out. “Don’t deny it, Travis.”

“Impressions and truth are two different things,” he growled. “Escorts Etc. have reliable,

reputable clients that will swear differently should anyone dare to accuse you of being

anything less than a glorified bodyguard. Outside that, yes, you were known to deal with less

than reputable individuals. Yes, the investigator may have spoken to one or more of them. But

trust me, should the press actually manage to get one of them to talk, they will never dare to

say you were less than a beautiful, companionable bodyguard. That cover will hold, Lilly, I

swear it to you.”

“Cover! You make me sound like some sort of fucking agent,” she snapped back. “For both

sides? Don’t tell me fairy tales, Travis, because I’ve read the report Desmond has on you as

well. You’re a ‘facilitator.’ A man that works both sides for any country. You’re no more a

patriot than I was, evidently.”

“I’m a businessman.” His jaw tightened furiously.

“You’re a liar!”

Lilly was shocked at the words that fell from her lips, the knowledge that suddenly stormed

through her brain, bringing an explosion of pain to her temples.

She nearly doubled over for the brief seconds that the agony radiated through her skull, but

at least this time, the knowledge remained.

He was lying. He was so much more than a businessman, and a hell of a lot more than a

man that worked both sides. But what was he? That answer remained as elusive as ever.

“Lilly!” She felt him jump toward her as she stumbled, the reverberating pain lancing

through her head like acid through her veins.

Pinpoints of rich colorful starbursts exploded before her eyes, nearly stealing her

consciousness as the light from it intensified the pain to an agonizing level.

“Shhh, it’s okay. I have you, baby. I’m right here.” The words echoed through her head, as

memories threatened, for the briefest second, to explode through her head.

“I have you, Lilly,” he whispered again, supporting her body, holding her upright as she

fought against the brutal pressure in her brain.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped as his arms went around her, holding her against him as the pain

slowly receded. “I didn’t mean that.”

His hand cupped the back of her head as he held it against his shoulder.

“I don’t lie to you,” he said gently, his lips against her ear. “I have no reason to lie to you,

Lilly.”

And that, too, was the truth. How could he lie and yet be telling the truth? The conflicting

instincts inside her were driving her mad.

“I want to make sense of what’s going on inside my head,” she whispered, a breath of

sound that she knew only he could hear. “I want to make sense of who I am, and what I know

and don’t know. And why, Travis, why do I trust no one but you?”

Why was her voice so low? It was a breath of sound covered by the rasp of tears she

refused to shed as Travis held her close against him.

She could feel the tremors racing through her now, almost like shock, trembling through

her body and rasping her voice as she fought to make sense of who she was. What she was.

“It’s shock, baby.” He kissed her forehead gently before swinging her up in his arms and

sitting with her on the bed, holding her close. “It’s just shock. You could have died today. It’s

finally catching up with you, that’s all.” There was an edge of warning in his voice, the same

warning she often saw in his eyes.

Her room wasn’t secure. That thought raced through her mind once again as the pain eased

entirely away. There was no way, at this moment, to ensure that no one was listening.

“Just shock,” she repeated as she stared over his shoulder into the dimming sunlight that

glowed through the balcony doors, knowing it was more than just the shock.

She eased away from him, staring up at him intently. The pain had left slowly, but in its

place was a certainty that if she didn’t figure out who was trying to kill her, quickly, then it

would be too late. And perhaps it would be too late for both of them.

Travis held her tight, fighting his own demons, fighting the emotions that threatened to

overwhelm him. When he had been inducted into the Elite Ops, he had been warned that his

loyalty was to the team, and no one else. He no longer had a family, a country, or a lover. His

entire loyalty was to the team and to nothing and no one else.

He’d had no problem with that then. He hadn’t wanted to divide himself, to risk his heart,

or the lives of those he loved, again.

Standing there now, holding onto Lilly, he knew that that loyalty had changed, shifted

focus. Hell, it had done so six years ago and he hadn’t even realized it. The team was taking a