Hostage to Love (Entangled Suspense) (19 page)

His jaw tightened at the thought of the reporter—if he even was a reporter—and kicked himself for not trusting his first instinct. Recriminations would come later, though.

He had seconds to save his wife. “Sweetheart, you with me?”

With her face pressed between the grass and his chest, Nick felt her nod.

“When I say go, I want you to get up and run straight into the house.”

She made a sound of protest. “Not without you!”

“I’ll be right behind you, I promise. But you have to be fast, and you need to run straight ahead so you don’t move out of my bodyline. Got it?”

“I— Yes.”

“Good. Ready?”

Another nod.

He sucked in a sharp breath, gripped his gun, and flicked off the safety. “Go!”

God bless her. He’d never seen her run so fast. Nick emptied his clip into the shadows rising up from the sand as he ran backward.

Behind him, Belle screamed as glass shattered beside her. From the corner of his eye, he saw two of his security men dash from the pool house toward him.

“They’re coming up from the beach,” he shouted, and held up a hand. “Gun!”

The nearest guard threw a sub-machine gun at him, and Nick caught it mid-air. He turned to see Belle inside, huddled in a corner away from the windows.

She was safe, for now. He turned his attention back to the beach. A black-clad figure rose from the last step. Without a second thought, Nick took aim and fired.

A shout of terror sounded, then silence. A barrage of shots rang out as several more security guards converged on the beach. A minute later, the report of gunfire ended abruptly.

Nick backed quickly toward the door and peered into the living room. Belle rose from her crouch in the corner and came toward him. “Baby, are you all right?” he asked.

“Y-yeah. How many of them were there?” Visibly shaken, she tried to look past him, but he tucked her back and blocked her with his body.

“I don’t know yet. The men are checking things out. We’ll find out soon.” His jaw tightened as the last of the adrenaline rushed from his body. Taking a life had never come easy—even when the monsters in question deserved it—but Nick knew he’d do it again and again to protect Belle. He speared a hand through his hair. “Dammit, I knew something wasn’t right with Francis.”

She nodded shakily. The look of terror remained in her eyes but there was anger, as well. The hand she put on his arm was reassuring even as it trembled. “So did I. Which means everything he told us was probably bullshit.” Before she could say anything else, his phone rang.

The conversation with his security team down at the beach was quick, but the info they delivered was dismal.

“What?” Belle asked as soon as he hung up.

“Not everything Francis told us was crap. One of the men managed to dial out before he was shot. The line was still open.”

“Do we know who he called?”

“No, but the number was Venezuelan.”

Her eyes widened. “Mwana?”

He nodded reluctantly. “Francis fed us enough truth to try and lure us into complacency. And he almost succeeded.”

Witnessing her shudder threatened to blow the lid off the rage he was trying to suppress.

“I know he’s still out there, but please tell me we got all the fuckers he sent here?” she pleaded.

Despite the carnage around them, Nick grinned, deciding he liked this dirty-mouthed version of his wife. “Yeah. We got the fuckers.”

Chapter Ten

“Demetra has packed a picnic lunch, and the golf cart is out front. Are you sure you want to do this, baby?”

Belle’s breath caught as Nick walked into the room.

Dressed in a pair of jean cut-offs and a sky-blue polo shirt, he looked breathtakingly handsome. His hair had grown in the almost two weeks they’d been on the island and had begun to curl around his collar. Its thick vibrancy made her ache to run her hands through it. She forced herself to look away, focused on screwing the top back on the tube of lip gloss.

“Have the police left?” They’d been dealing with authorities from the mainland all morning. None of Mwana’s four men had survived to be questioned. What the police had found was a GPS bug near the living room door, no doubt planted by the seemingly harmless Richard Francis. He’d played them all, a fact Nick was finding hard to live with.

“All but a few officers the inspector insisted remain behind. Jameson isn’t taking it well. The guy’s already broken up about letting Francis slip out of his grasp when he dumped him on Mykonos. I left before a fistfight broke between him and the cops.”

“Poor Jameson. You think the authorities will catch up to Richard Francis?”

Nick’s lips twisted. “They’re hoping he’ll be much easier to track since they have a picture and the background info I gave them. But if he’s deep in with Mwana—” He stopped and took a breath. “Anyway, I’ve told Jameson I don’t want us to be disturbed, so we don’t have to go anywhere if you want to remain put?” he said hopefully.

“No. I refuse to live in fear, Nick. Those bastards shot at us yesterday, but we survived. I’m not letting them force me into hiding. I’m going to the waterfall.”

She shuddered at the memory of the gunfire, of the very real threat that she could’ve lost Nick. She hadn’t been able to sleep last night. Neither had he. They’d lain awake in bed holding each other. While the reason for that was terrifying, she was glad that she and Nick had grown closer because of it. She didn’t delude herself into thinking all their problems would be resolved just as easily…but there was hope amid all this turmoil.

“Earth to Tinkerbelle,” Nick growled in her ear. Strong hands slid around to anchor her waist. “Where have you gone, baby?”

She forced away the disturbing images of black-clad, masked men and focused on Nick’s image in the mirror.

“I’m glad I didn’t lose you,” she murmured.

He smiled. “I’m glad I didn’t lose me, too.”

She laughed and turned in his arms. He glanced down at her, his eyes intent on her face. “You didn’t tell me where you went.”

“I’m right here, and yes, I’m ready to go.” She tried to inject as much lightness into her voice as she could.

She must have succeeded because, apart from his raised brows, nothing indicated he’d intuited her inner thoughts. She didn’t protest when he ran a teasing gaze over her warm cheeks.

“You sure? Maybe I need to conduct a thorough examination, check that you are, indeed, ready.” His molten gaze traveled all the way down to her toes and back up again.

Her breath caught. He laughed.

“You know, it amazes me how you can blush at the tiniest hint of sexual banter and still be a tigress in bed.” He laughed softly as her cheeks burned hotter.

The hands she’d rested on his chest wandered up to entwine around his neck, and she inhaled his male scent, his closeness as usual causing her body to act independent of her mind.

“I know it’s your American forwardness that makes you come out with anything that pops into your head, Nick, but I really wish you wouldn’t—”

“Spare your blushes?” he cut in, a shameless grin lighting up his gorgeous face. “I thought it was my Greek arrogance.” He planted a soft kiss on her parted lips, then stepped back to hold out an arm to her.

Laughing, she took his arm and allowed him to lead her out of the room. “Well, I’d say it’s an unhealthy combination of both.”

His grin widened and turned lascivious. “Ah, but it turns you on anyway, right?”

She knew he was trying to distract her from the events of last night. And she was supremely grateful to him for that. So much so, her heart lurched as she gazed up at him. Nick cared for her, she knew that now. It was that final step into love that he seemed incapable of. But she wasn’t going to dwell on that right now.

“Did anyone tell you you’re incorrigible?” She slanted him a wry glance as they descended the stairs and exited the villa.

“No one has ever dared, but even if they did, where’s the fun in being boring and predictable?”

“You get to live a very long life?”

He helped her into the golf cart and took his seat behind the wheel.

“Trust me, I intend us both to live long lives, but boring and predictable will not feature. It’s rocket-straddling until we draw our last breath.”

“Speak for yourself. Rocket-straddling sounds…chafing.”

“Easy solution. You can straddle me instead. No chafing whatsoever. Ah, here comes another blush in three, two, one—”

Need exploded through her, threatening to consume her alive.

Nick was still laughing when he released the brake on the cart and eased it down the driveway. Between the trees, she spotted security guards, but she tried not to let their presence intrude on her enjoyment of being with Nick.

The late summer sun blazed down upon them, eased by the shade of the golf cart’s canopy and the slight breeze blowing from the sparkling sea. Its gentle undulation soothed her, and she sighed.

“Penny for them?” Nick asked.

Recalling the same question that had made her snap at him a week ago, she felt a twinge of regret for all the antagonism that had passed between them. Could they heal the old wounds, get past them to forge a sustainable marriage once the immediate danger was over?

“I was thinking how beautiful it is here. And how peaceful and breathtaking.”

“Yes. That was part of the reason my great-grandfather bought the island. The main reason was the saltwater springs in the rock pools. He’d heard of their healing powers, and I guess he thought there was no harm in seeing if it would help my great-grandmother.”

“Was it called Althea before your great-grandfather bought it?”

“No. He named it that after he saw its effect on my great-grandmother. The doctors had told them they could never have another child after they lost their first one. I guess he came here really as a last, desperate measure. At the time, there was only a small stone dwelling next to the largest of the springs, and that’s where they stayed. According to my grandfather, my great-grandmother swam in the pool every day for six weeks, and by the time they left for Athens, she was pregnant. Two years later, they were living here permanently. Alex’s grandfather was born here on the island.”

“So the island really does have healing powers?” Deep down, a part of her hoped it did, that the magic could somehow be applied to their own problems.

He shrugged. “The springs contain sulfur and various other minerals that are said to possess powers. But what happened to my great-grandmother could’ve been something as simple as getting away from the stresses of everyday life and immersing herself in complete relaxation.”

“But your great-grandfather believed it, which was why he named the island Althea.”

“That’s what he believed, yes. The island changed his life, I don’t deny that. He moved the rest of his extended family here after my grandfather was born and started building the villa.”

“I suppose your parents never considered living here full-time?” she asked, hoping to learn a little bit more about what had happened to him as a child.

“No. My mother didn’t like being cut off from civilization.” His clipped answer was in stark contrast to his warm tone a moment ago. “As for my father, he did whatever my mother wanted, for a while at least. That included sending his seven-year-old son away to boarding school in a foreign country thousands of miles away.” His voice had turned even cooler, and she suppressed a shiver of unease at the bitterness in his words.

“Was that when she walked away?”

Belle held her breath and remained silent in the hope he would elaborate, but the silence stretched, awkward and heavy, and she was reminded again that there were areas in Nick’s life she wasn’t privy to.

“No. That came later.”

“Where is she now?” she asked.

“She lives in L.A. with her latest husband.”

Nick’s mother hadn’t attended their wedding. From what he’d told Belle yesterday, she now knew why.

She reached up to adjust her sunhat more firmly on her head. She glanced at his stony profile and tried again.

“How’s your grandfather? Is he in Athens?” Nick’s father had let go of the reins of the family’s shipping company when Nick was twenty-five. A U.S. Marine at the time, he’d given up his military career and, with the help of his grandfather—the only family member Nick was close to aside from Alex—had started managing the failing family business a year or so before his father’s death.

“The old man passed away three months ago.”

She gasped, her hand falling back into her lap with the shock. “Nick, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” The words seemed inadequate for the memory of the man she’d met only once but who’d left an indelible impression on her. Even bound to his wheelchair, he’d had an overwhelming presence. She felt an even deeper sadness that she hadn’t been here for Nick.

Sadness and guilt.

Nick only shrugged. “He lived a full life. I think he was ready to go.”

She had no answer, so she subsided into silence.

After a few minutes, as if making an effort to dispel the morose atmosphere, Nick announced, “We’re almost there. Hold on, it gets a little bumpy from here.’

The smooth ride over the lush green vista gave way to a craggy landscape dotted with small rock pools and rising hills over which they traveled toward the northernmost tip of the island. As they crested the last hill, she held her breath in anticipation of the view from the plateau.

Her memory proved as fertile as the landscape before her.

There were six saltwater springs dotted around the island, ranging in temperature from extremely hot to mildly tepid, with the largest, the one they were heading for, somewhere in the mid-range and perfect for swimming in.

Beyond the pools lay the remains of a tiny Byzantine temple. Even though the structure was almost completely in ruins, four columns remained, stretching up to the blue sky in a timeless reminder of the island’s rich history. The ancient carvings etched into foot-thick stone walls had withstood the passage of time, as had the many treasures dotted around this special place.

Her attention was drawn back to the springs.

Warm, crystal-clear water flowed from a natural rock opening in the sheer cliff face on the other side of the hill and dropped in a short waterfall into a deep basin, which then ran via an underground stream into the sea. The basin was surrounded by a stand of tall eucalyptus trees forming a natural shade, but through it a stunning view of the sea could be seen from the pool. On one side of the pool a large flat rock offered the perfect diving-off spot and resting place, and it was there Nick headed after they left the cart. He led her down stone steps set into the side of the hill, one hand holding hers and the other carrying their picnic basket.