Claiming Her (Keeping Her Series) (10 page)

He felt her smile form
across the skin of his upper arm where Miley’s head was resting.  “I thought we
agreed on ‘a pretty, pretty princess beach party,’ and you’re welcome.”

He chuckled at that,
and then went on, his voice dropping back to warm and serious.  “You remembered
my girl’s favorite was spice cake with cream cheese frosting.” 

“Same as yours,” she
murmured, snuggling in a bit.

He pulled her closer,
his head pressing into the curve of her neck where he breathed her deep into his
lungs.  He was so fucking exhausted his emotions were out of whack.  That was
the only explanation for what he was feeling.

She sensed it and
patted his arm.  “Sleep a bit, Lucas, everything else can wait.”

 “Don’t leave.”  He
growled it before he knew the words were there. 
Shit.

Her hand stilled on his
arm and then a second later started rubbing up and down again, only this time
it felt more as if she was set on soothing the savage beast.  “I’ll be here
when you wake up.”

He held her tighter
just in case.  The last thing he heard before drifting off was Miley’s sigh and
a softly whispered, “Definitely my kryptonite.”  He fell asleep smiling.

***

Now it was early
evening and Miley was attending some meeting with the staff about an upcoming
event.  He was back on the computer handling business with Eli across the room
on another desk and computer set-up he had brought with him.  Eli was working
off his standard two screens and his laptop set-up beside it.  Writing code for
security software was Eli’s job.  He was working his own algorithm and adding changes
from the notes Lucas had devised to go with this particular client — among
other things.

“So, Miley looks good
for a dead woman.”

Lucas did not find that
amusing, not even the smallest bit.  He stopped what he was doing and looked at
Eli; whatever the other man saw in his face must have got the point across,
because he turned immediately to give all his attention to the program.  He
whistled low and muttered, “Forget I said anything.”

Lucas went back to his
work, he disliked immensely that Miley was somewhere else.  “Can you pull up
the security cameras?”

Eli did and without
further prompting, he pulled up the feed to the conference room where Miley was
at that moment in her meeting.  Lucas saw the box hit his computer and opened
it, minimized it to the corner of his large screen.  Now he could look at her
whenever he wanted while still getting his work done.  She was sitting sideways
to the camera and she was laughing at something someone was saying.  A tension
he was unaware of loosened and disappeared.  He went back to work.

Minutes later Eli had
his full attention with a few short words, and all the tension came back,
multiplied exponentially.

“I have movement on
Rickarts’ financials.”

“And?”

“Looks like he is
taking a little vacation.”  Eli’s fingers moved in a blur over the keyboard.  “A
tropical vacation.”

“Shit.  How the fuck
did he get wind of Miley so fast?”

“He might not have. 
You aren’t exactly small potatoes, and if you were to team up with Hale and his
pack, you could rival his power on the East Coast, especially as Hale just
returned from old home week not that long ago.  He takes over his father’s pack
and you really will be a threat.  He might be getting closer to your action to
see what’s what.”  Lucas watched as Eli pushed back from the ergonomically
correct chair and swung his full attention his way.  “Even if we both know you
care dick all about power plays.”

Eli narrowed his eyes
on Lucas and he braced.  He had a notion he was not going to like what Eli said
next, and he was not wrong.

“One thing is bothering
me about this.  For years, rumors have said Rickarts is a ladies man.  Likes
pretty mistresses.  But refuses to mate until he finds ‘the one’,” Eli made air
quotes with his hands and managed to make it look derogatory.  “Not ‘the
one
’,”
air quotes again, “as
in
love.
  The
one
as in a full
shifter wolf, alpha female, preferably one who can give him allies in powerful
in-laws.  Suddenly, out of the blue, he mates little Miley?”  Eli shrugged.  “A
nearly full human who can’t shift, and has no connections of her own? 
Something isn’t adding up.”  “Not to dis the charms of Miss Miley Isabella
Rose, which are legion, but she is not enough wolf to give him an up in power. 
He would need an alpha female for that.  Or, at the very least, a wolf-shifter. 
And from what I understand Rickarts is all about the power.”

Lucas sat back in his
own chair.  “We’re missing something.”  He murmured words he had been thinking
since he heard her story, and who it was she was running from.

“Yeah,” Eli said, the
humor falling out of his voice.  “And either he knows something about Miley she
doesn’t . . .”

“Or she’s keeping
something from me.”  Lucas finished on his own, his eyes going to the picture
of Miley on the screen surrounded by the Island wolf pack.  “What the fuck is
going on?” was the last thing he said to himself but Eli shrugged and turned
back to his computer.

“Not the smallest clue,
nothing in my search shows anything where Miley is concerned.  The only thing I
am still looking into is whoever helped her fake her death and disappear. 
Whoever it was knew what they were doing.  I’m still hitting road blocks on
that score.”  Eli turned serious eyes his way.  “Whatever it is, it would be
good to find out in the next three days.  That’s how long we have before
Rickarts arrives on the mainland.”

“You keep looking at
both Miley and Rickarts.”  His felt his eyes go cat and the muscles in his jaw
contract when he ground his teeth.  “I will have a chat with my mate.”

Eli shrugged and went
back to his multiple searches.  “Just don’t piss her off so bad she cancels the
drunken luau.  I am all over that shit.”

At his words, Lucas
ground his teeth some more, his voice dry when he answered.  “Yes, canceling
the debauchery in bikinis we have scheduled for my
baby girl’s
birthday
would
be a shame.”

Apparently, Eli didn’t
hear the sarcasm, or he was ignoring it, because he spoke with that irritating
California surfer accent that always danced on Lucas’ last fucking nerve.  “Ye-eah,
dude that would suck.”

Fuckin’ Eli.
 
If he wasn’t the best computer man in the business, not to mention a loyal
soldier and friend, he would have killed him long ago.

When Isabella returned
to the suite, Lucas looked like he had something on his mind, but then when did
Lucas not?  She had been thinking, too — about what to do about Lucas Gibbs.

After being thoroughly
debauched all day, she was willing to go with the flow for a while.  At least
while Lucas was on the island.  No way was she going to miss the short time
they had to be together.  When the job was done and he went back to his world
and the giant spotlight he was always living under, she would say good-bye. 
Maybe he was right and Rickarts wouldn’t want to go against Lionsgate, but then
Lucas didn’t have all the facts, and he wouldn’t without her telling him the
whole truth.  So, she was going to . . . soon. 

Not while Lucas had
that particular look on his face, however.  And not with Eli present making his
brow wiggle while he looked her over in his usual appreciative way.  Lucas sat
back in his chair and studied her. 
What did he know? 
Not about her,
that was a given, no one knew, except Rickarts, and he was hardly going to
advertise.  That only left . . .
Crap.

“Whatever you heard
about Cleo’s party is a complete exaggeration.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes
even further.  “What about the party?”

Oops. 
Isabella
opened her mouth and then closed it again.  “It’s going to be extra special . .
. and
quietly
demure.”  Except that everyone and their sisters were
stopping her, super excited about partying with the Lionsgate pack.  You’d
think they were rock stars. 
Jeesh.

“
Miley.” 
Lucas
warned in a gruff voice.  Eli laughed and then bent back to his terminals when
Lucas glared his way.  But he winked at her with what could only be called a
lascivious grin while he did.

“It’s
nothing
.” 
She handed him the notes from the meeting that pertained to the caterers and
extra help coming in.  “Here are some new names to add to the employee
searches.  Forgot about the bands we use occasionally.  I got a super-hot Calypso
one for the . . .,” she cleared her throat, “. . . pretty, pretty princess
beach party.”  Eli snorted, looked between them, saw Lucas’ eyes on him and
bent his head back down.

Lucas turned back to
her, his voice weirdly mild.  “Hot?”

Isabella looked up and
blinked.  “As in excellent,
excellent
music.  In a low key, demure kind
of way.  Tribal, very historically uplifting.  Educational even.” 

Eli snorted again without
looking up, but Lucas just shook his head and sighed.  “A
hot Calypso
band and a drunken luau with an open bar for my baby girl.”  He stood up and
came around the desk to tower over her, way too much in her personal space.  He
pushed a loose piece of hair back behind her ear.  “If
anyone
shows up
with brownies of dubious origin, or anything similar, I will personally shove
them down said perpetrators throat before beating them with their own arms.” 
He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek.  “To avoid rivers of blood you
might want to pass that along to whoever you think should know.”

“No need.”  She
breathed deep and stepped back, trying to clear the Lucas daze that had her
body thrumming with excitement and her brain shutting down.  Unfortunately, he
also smelled amazing so that didn’t really help much.  “Drugs are strictly off
limits on the island.  Everybody knows that Griffin would lose his mind if
someone brought that in.  It would mean a beating followed by a quick
dismissal, or removal from the island for a guest, and they know that from the
room agreement, no refunds when drugs are involved, no exceptions.”

“Very well.”  He leaned
down and placed a soft kiss on her neck that made her breath intake wobble just
enough that she was lightheaded from lack of oxygen.

She stepped back
again.  Moving her head like a boxer loosening up her neck before a fight, Isabella
headed blindly for the laptop she had left on the side table.  “Well, we’re
burning daylight.  Back to work.  Chop-chop.  Time’s a’wastin’.”   Never mind
that it was after seven, the sun would be going down soon, and the workday was
definitely over.  Lucas was watching her walk away; she could feel it through
every layer of clothes she wore. The man made her crazy.

“Eli, we’ll finish this
tomorrow.”

Eli started closing
programs with a chuckle.  “You want I should keep an eye on Ian?”

Isabella turned to see
Lucas nodding at Eli, but his eyes were all for her.  “Keep him occupied
elsewhere for a few hours.”

Eli chuckled again, “Don’t
see that will be a problem.  I expect he has found his own amusement already,
but I’ll make sure.”  Then he smiled full out at them both, his eyes annoyingly
knowing.  “I’ll leave you to yours.”

Isabella huffed out a
breath watching Eli go.  “Does he have any idea how irritating he is?”

“Eli knows exactly what
he is doing and how irksome it is.  Always.  Why do you think he does it?”

 “I suppose everyone
has a calling.”  She mumbled it, her eyes still on the door, but she could feel
Lucas walk up to her back and then she closed her eyes when his fingers brushed
the hair at her neck and his lips found that spot again.  She stepped sideways
with a breathless little laugh.  “Yours seems to be seduction.”

“You running again,
Miley?”  She turned to meet sultry cerulean eyes in that incredible face.

She smiled nervously.  “No. 
Not unless you feel like chasing.”

He stilled utterly
before her.  “Does that mean you’re acknowledging my claim?”

She lost her smile and
had to gnash her teeth at his arrogance.  “Acknowledging your claim?  What, are
we talking about a relationship or an order of beef?” 
Shifter males.  I
swear.

“You know what I mean. 
Are you through fighting what we have?”

She sighed out her
annoyance and licked her dry lips trying to think of the right way to say it.  “Let’s
just say I have decided to go with the flow while you are here, on the island.”

His voice dropped, his
eyes flashing to cat.
Uh-oh.
  “And then?”

Probably not the time
to tell him she was not leaving with him, not when he already looked that
pissed off.  “Then we can revisit the issue.”