Captain's Paradise (12 page)

“You won’t tomorrow,” he said.

She had no way of convincing him. And so much could happen by tomorrow. “Make love to me,” she whispered.

Michael half closed his eyes, but even then he was lifting her, placing her on the bunk, joining her there. “I knew that first night that you were dangerous,” he said, the words a rough caress as his lips explored her soft throat. “You held on to me so tightly when I pulled you from the water, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel.”

She threaded her fingers through the heavy weight of his wet hair, hearing his voice and feeling the throbbing surge of heat all through her. “How did it make you feel?”

“Caught.” He laughed tautly. “Caught by
something I’d never be able to let go. Oh, Robin …” His lips trailed down over her breastbone, then feathered hotly over a swelling mound until he captured her nipple.

Robin gasped, half arching against him. She had never believed such feelings were possible, and knew now that she was willing to pay any price for this. She could barely breathe, and the erotic touch of his mouth was driving her mad. Desperate to touch him, she probed the shifting muscles of his back and shoulders, her fingers learning him. She felt strength and power, and the heat of his damp flesh burned her.

Michael wanted to lose himself in her, to allow passion to carry them both to a place where no danger lurked, where no clock ticked away the remorseless passing of minutes. She was in his bloodstream, underneath his skin, and the only remedy for the maddening ache was this. He knew he would pay a price, and even knowing the cost would be his heart held no power to stop him. It was too late for that.

He couldn’t get enough of her. The softness of
her skin drew him, the heat of her fed his own fire, and her instant, total response compelled him. The touch of her hands was velvet, was exquisite torture. His heart was pounding out of control in his chest, his breathing ragged.

Her belly quivered as his hand slid slowly down, and she moaned when he eased her legs apart. His touch was gentle but insistent, fingers probing until he found the slick heat. Robin was hardly aware of her nails digging into his back; all her senses were caught up in the exquisite pleasure he was teaching her body to feel so wildly.

On some level of her consciousness Robin realized that Michael was a silent lover. And on that same level of herself, she saw and understood that he was holding back, that he was, even in this jarring intimacy, guarding himself. Shut inside himself for so long, he couldn’t abandon his defenses even here, even now.

It made her own need stronger, her own abandonment more complete. She took fire entirely, burning, offering everything she was to him and
demanding everything he would give to her. And what he wouldn’t give she tried to steal.

He took her right to the brink before he finally moved over her, settling between her thighs, and Robin thought she might not be able to survive the spiraling tension inside her. She felt the blunt pressure against her aching flesh, felt the hard length of him sinking into her body, and the slight pain brought only a quick gasp.

Then there was nothing but rising pleasure, until she wasn’t aware of anything else, until her body was a single throbbing, aching need. Her limbs held him with all the strength she could command, even as her body held him, until the pleasure exploded in a release so devastating she felt she’d shattered inside.

She was barely aware of Michael’s rasping groan, and when his heavy weight settled fully on her, she held him tightly.

It wasn’t until his pulse had slowed to something near normal that Michael found the
strength to raise his head and ease some of his weight onto his arms. She was looking up at him with those heartbreaking green eyes, and he bent his head to kiss her because he had to. Her response was immediate, and total. He wondered vaguely if he had any control left to him.

“You should have told me,” he said finally when he lifted his head.

With an odd little smile she said softly, “Then you
really
would have fought me.”

He wanted to shake her. He wanted to kiss her again, make love to her again. “Dammit, Robin.”

“Hey, I’m over twenty-one,” she told him dryly.

He kissed the smiling mouth again, unable to resist. “Your age has nothing to do with it,” he said, managing to hold his voice steady and even. “You’ll be hurt by this, Robin. You haven’t settled with your own demons yet, and now you’re ready to take on mine?”

Her smile faded, and the green eyes went grave. “I do have a few kicking around in the dark, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Then help me fight them.”

Michael found himself tracing her delicate features with one finger, conscious of an absurd sense of wonder that her skin could be so soft. “Honey, I can’t even fight my own.”

“I do love you, you know,” she said.

He felt something inside him clench in pain. “Today.”

“And tomorrow.” Her voice was steady. “And next week. Shall I go on?”

“You don’t know me,” he said through the tightness in his throat.

“Michael, I know all I’ll ever need to know about you.”

“And what about my life?” He cleared his throat roughly. “I’m the one with the dirty gray hat, remember? That isn’t going to change. Home is this boat more often than not. I’m not cut out for a desk and a mortgage, Robin.”

“What makes you think I am?” Before he could answer, she added quietly, “I’m not making
demands, if that’s what you think. But I love you, and I wanted you to know.”

“All right.” He could feel the growing tension in her, and he didn’t want to talk about it any longer. Their time together could well be brief hours, and he didn’t want to waste any of it. “All right, honey. We’ll talk about it later.”

Michael could feel the renewal of desire, and if his inner self reminded him of just how brief time could be, if his experienced inner voice nudged him with the knowledge that “later” sometimes never came, he chose to ignore it. He lowered his head and kissed her, conscious of her instant response and trying to keep the sharp edge of desperation out of his own.

At two o’clock that afternoon the big cabin cruiser containing Raven, Kyle, and Teddy narrowly avoided running down a small launch as it left the island called the Maze and headed toward the coast.

“Sorry!” Raven sang out, waving from her position
at the wheel and hearing curses from the skipper of the launch. She aimed the cruiser to circle around the island, her nonchalant glance toward the half-hidden cove taking in a great deal.

Kyle appeared suddenly beside her. “If Luc comes back soon,” she said, “I’m going to have to explain this bruise.”

“What bruise?” Raven asked.

“The one I got when your last maneuver slammed me against the table in the galley. I love you, Raven, but putting you at the wheel of a boat is more than my nerves can stand. May I take over now?”

“Certainly.” Unoffended, Raven stepped aside. She grinned faintly. “I thought the rest of you had learned by now that I can just barely be trusted with a car, much less any other moving vehicle.”

The erratic motion of the big boat had settled the instant Kyle took over, and she laughed softly. “Well, Teddy can’t steer, so I had to take a chance on you. A lesson well learned.”

Raven reached for the radio near the wheel and made a brief call, then cradled the handset.

“Was that Sutton rushing by a few minutes ago?” Teddy asked, joining them and absently rubbing her hip.

“In the flesh. With at least three of his men.” Raven looked at the broad masculine watch on her wrist. “And right on time too. I bet he has a helicopter coming to pick him up. We’ll wait just long enough to make sure he doesn’t send his men back to the yacht.”

“Then we call the captain and Robin?”

Raven nodded.

Thoughtfully Kyle said, “An interesting man, the captain. Doesn’t give much away, does he?”

“Not much, no,” Raven agreed dryly.

Kyle smiled, remembering when Raven’s expartner, Kelsey, had directed that same accusation at herself. “People with that kind of control,” she noted neutrally, “generally spend years earning it. Do you think he’s as dangerous as he looks?”

“I’d say he’s more dangerous than he looks,”
Raven said. “Kelsey told me what he knew, and the upshot is that Captain Michael Siran is a deadly enemy … and a wary friend.”

Teddy winced. “That doesn’t sound good for Robin. Or was I the only one who noticed how she looked at him?”

“You weren’t,” Kyle said. “Although I got the feeling that Michael is far from indifferent.”

“You’re perceptive,” Raven told her with a faint smile. “He hardly let it show at all.”

Teddy continued to worry. “Oh, damn, is he another Zach? That nearly killed me.”

Raven leaned back against an instrument panel, her gaze turning absently to study the Maze as they cruised around it. “The situation’s a bit different,” she said, referring to the battle Teddy had gone through to convince her own lone-wolf warrior that she belonged at his side. “Robin knows cops if she knows anything at all, and from what Kelsey told me, Michael walks alone more by habit than choice.”

“She can take care of herself,” Teddy offered
hopefully. “I’ve never seen anyone better at it than Robin.”

“Mmm.” Raven sighed. “We’ll have to wait and see. Things are moving awfully fast, and there’s rough water ahead. If they make it through—well, who knows?”

“I’ll cross my fingers,” Teddy said, sighing as well.

Raven smiled at her, then looked at their skipper. “Kyle, on our next pass, stop by Dane’s boat.”

“Right,” Kyle answered.

“Now,
he
definitely bothers me,” Teddy offered, frowning a little. “Raven, didn’t you call him an information broker? That’s hardly the part he’s playing now.”

Raven shrugged. “I guess he wears two hats. We certainly can’t complain so far.”

“Yes, but how will he be when the pressure’s really on? I mean, the way we’ve set this up, he and Michael will be the ones going aboard Sutton’s yacht. Even if we manage to draw some of
the guards away, that still leaves several on the yacht.”

Raven smiled a little. “Don’t worry about Dane. I’ve seen him in a few tough spots. He can handle himself.”

Teddy nodded, accepting Raven’s judgment. “Has the radio station made the announcement yet?”

“Should be any time now,” Raven answered. “I called our guy at the fishing equipment company, and he’s on his way.”

“Lucky that Long Enterprises is into fishing gear,” Kyle said.

“I wonder why,” Raven said musingly. “Josh doesn’t even like to fish.”

“Here we go,” Kyle said, cutting back on the speed as they neared the island closest to the Maze.

Teddy and Raven both headed for the deck, and both enjoyed the sight of Dane sitting alone in his small boat with fishing paraphernalia piled all around him.

He was playing his part to the hilt, as Raven
had told Michael, completely, with a fly-covered hat and a bottle in a brown bag. Anyone getting close enough might have noticed that the bottle contained fruit juice, but it certainly seemed like a pint of whiskey. Dane hadn’t shaved in preparation for his role, and the blue shadowing partially hid the classic bone structure that made his jaw rather memorable. With his hat pulled low, rumpled clothing, and the bottle, he certainly passed muster as a fisherman out for a rousing good time.

He bellowed out a ribald greeting as the big cruiser floated near, but the instant the engines were cut, his voice dropped to its normal deep and almost melodic tones.

“Tell me why people actually do this for recreation?” he requested of Raven in a pained voice.

She leaned over the side and grinned down at him. “Beats me. I’ve always considered it a rather unequal contest. Unless, of course, you catch something bigger than you are.”

He glanced around with mock uneasiness.
“Don’t say that. I saw a shark movie years ago and haven’t put a toe in the ocean since.”

“I saw the same movie. But we’ve got more to worry about today than killer sharks.”

“Agreed.” He took a drink from his disguised juice bottle, and looked steadily at her, his expression serious now. “I saw Sutton and company go roaring by. When do we move?”

“We’ll wait about an hour to make sure he doesn’t send his men back to the yacht, and to give him time to get well on his way to Miami. Then we’ll call Michael and Robin and have them start moving this way.”

Dane glanced at his watch, a complicated-looking sportsman’s watch that was far different from what he usually wore. “A little after two now. That means we’ll probably all be in position by four.”

Raven nodded. “Michael’s boat will circle around to the little inlet on the other side of the Maze, and meet you there. Robin will stay with the boat—”

“Will she?” Dane interrupted.

Raven and Teddy exchanged glances, and Raven looked back at him intently. “What’s on your mind?”

“Call it a hunch.” Dane frowned a little. “I got the feeling the lady has a lot to prove to herself.”

“She wouldn’t endanger Michael’s sister and the other girls,” Teddy objected.

“No, I agree with you there. But she won’t like Michael boarding a yacht full of guards either.” He shrugged. “Like I said, it’s just a hunch.”

Raven nodded. “And it’s Michael’s call. We’ve taken care of all the details we could; the rest’ll be luck and timing.”

“Speaking of which”—Dane looked at them steadily—“sure you ladies want to entice those guards off the yacht? That’s a dangerous game.”

“We can handle it,” Teddy told him cheerfully. “Once we get them below, they won’t know what hit them.”

He nodded, not so much doubtful as uneasy. “If you say so. Watch yourselves, though. I don’t relish the idea of having to explain to your husbands if something goes wrong.”

“Our husbands,” Raven told him lightly, “would be the first to understand.”

As they straightened away from the side, Dane prepared to return to his fishing. But they both heard his muttered comment before Kyle started the engines again.

“Sure,” he told his fishing rod dryly.

Robin hadn’t intended to cling to Michael as he headed the boat toward their target island, but he took the decision out of her hands. Once they were under way, he simply pulled her against his side and held her there, keeping one hand on the wheel.