You are Mine (6 page)

“All quiet on the Western front.”

“Good. How long before dinner?”

“About another forty-five minutes.”

“Thanks,” Brian said and placing his bottle
into a recycling bin, left the kitchen. He passed the butler’s
pantry, walked through the dining room and made a left away from
the living room and walked underneath the twisting, floating
staircase. The long hall lead him to a large, bright room that
traditionally would be used as a den or family room, but because it
got a lot of sun, they’d set it up as Caroline’s studio.

He walked in and shut the door behind him.
Halfway into the room, he stopped and watched her. Bottom lip
caught between her teeth, she was on her feet and leaning in
towards what at best looked like a nascent being. Her hair was in a
sloppy topknot and her arms and feet were bare. Streaks of clay
were on her face, arms and clothes. Looking at the sculpture, she
cocked her head one way and then the other and put her hand on her
chin and tapped her nose with her index finger, adding more clay to
her face in the process. He found her unbearably sexy this way: all
mussed and focused.

Brian knew he was acting like a lovesick
fool and didn’t care. His attraction to her had been instantaneous
two years before when he’d bumped into her as he was exiting an
elevator, and the intensity of that attraction had not lessened at
all since. She was tall, lean and dark with a shy smile and
bottomless chocolate brown eyes that were a few shades darker than
her silky skin.

His gaze had met those eyes back then and
there had been an immediate visceral knowledge that she was his,
and belonged only to him. He’d questioned this knowledge briefly,
but he’d been trying so hard to get next to her in any way he could
that the questioning phase had barely flickered before it had died
an unceremonious death. His want of her went beyond intimacy and
was accompanied by an urge that had outpaced every other desire
he’d ever had. Two years later he suspected it would be that way
until he shook off his mortal coil, and he was perfectly fine with
that.

He watched as she took a towel and began to
wipe her hands. She was finishing up for the evening. Heat infused
his body and his eyes narrowed against its intensity.

“Sweetheart.” He was aware his voice had
gone gravelly with yearning, but he couldn’t help that.

She looked up and smiled that smile he loved
so much -- the one that somehow made her entire face light up. The
pleasure that filled her eyes and then her voice when she greeted
him, as always, made him feel like he was the most amazing being
the world had ever produced. “Hi, honey. Gosh! What time is it? Are
you early or am I late?”

She focused her attention on her work again,
and Brian continued his path into the room until he was standing
behind her. His hands went to her shoulders where he began to
massage, making her moan in pleasure and lean back against him.
“Neither. We’re both right on time,” he said and pressed a
lingering kiss on her temple…her ear…her neck. She granted him
better access when she let her head fall to the side, and he took
it, biting down gently and then sucking on the skin.

She shivered. “Dare I ask?” she murmured
teasingly. “Yes, I think I should,” she continued huskily when he
didn’t answer, but instead slipped one of his hands under her shirt
to cup her breast. “On time for what?”

Brian bit and licked some more. “On time for
me to make love to my wife,” he growled between more kisses to her
neck, and had the pleasure of feeling her tremor again. “Now kiss
me back.”

She turned in his arms and offered up her
mouth, her lips meeting his in a kiss that was filled with heat and
so was instantly carnal. “Mmm, I love it when you’re so masterful,”
she purred against his mouth.

Brian chuckled and bit her bottom lip while
his hands got busy under her shirt. “Miss me today?” he asked as he
unclasped her bra so that her small breasts filled his hands.

With eyes closed and head thrown back,
Caroline was too busy moaning to answer him at first. “Of course I
did. Always,” she gasped right before pressing her mouth to
his.

Brian kissed her back, his tongue taking a
thorough path through her mouth. “I missed you, too, baby,” he
murmured between hard breaths as he intermittently kneaded her
breasts and tweaked her nipples. “Much too much.”

“You’ll get…ahh…clay all over...oh,
God...ahh…your suit,” she warned breathily when he slid one of his
thighs between the two of hers.

“The drycleaner will get it out like he
always does,” Brian said right before he peeled off her shirt.
Pushing the bra aside, he bent his head and sucked a nipple into
his mouth, making her dig her fingers into his skin as he bent her
over his arm. Brian closed his eyes to relish the taste of her, his
blood singing hotly and urgently as he took his fill. He could not
and would not ever get enough of her, he knew, and greedily
switched to her other breast, his hands going to her waist to grip
her tighter and bring her closer to his mouth. She squirmed against
him and using his shoulders as leverage, lifted her legs and
wrapped them around his waist.

He felt the heat of her through her jeans
and groaned. With a sweep of his arm, he cleared a spot on the
table and laid her on it.

“Brian…the sculpture.” He heard her
protestation, even as he felt her trying to push his jacket off his
shoulders.

“We’re nowhere near it,” he promised huskily
as he lifted himself to remove his jacket, shirt and T-shirt
himself. He looked down at her nakedness and with effort, resisted
the urge to bay at the moon. Her hands were on his belt now and she
suddenly smiled with amusement. Unable to help himself, he kissed
her again and took his lips from her mouth to her chin, and finally
her neck, causing her to moan and lift her chin and stretch her
head back. “What was the smile for?” he asked as he pressed
open-mouthed kisses to her neck.

“Isn’t this precisely why you bought the
couch?”

Brian didn’t even bother to look over to
where it sat in a corner of the room. “You know I can never make it
over there,” he said unrepentantly and wiggled his hips as she
pushed his pants and boxers down around his knees. He made quick
work of her jeans and underwear and lay on top of her, groaning
appreciatively when she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Damn
thing probably has cobwebs on it by now,” he muttered and grinned
when she laughed against his mouth.

Amusement ended abruptly when he slid into
her, and knowing she liked to suck his tongue as he moved within
her, he slipped it into her mouth. Her knees came up to dig into
his hips and he broke from the kiss to press his forehead to hers.
“I can’t go slowly,” he panted.

“I don’t want you to,” she whispered
back.

Chapter Four

Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico

“
Hola, Esencia
. What would you like
to do this morning?”

The woman known as Essence Carter turned
from contemplating the lovely view of the stunningly blue Gulf of
California the breakfast room’s bay window afforded her. She smiled
and rolled her eyes chidingly at her friend Rafael Guerrera. They’d
only met six months before, but she felt as if she’d known him for
years.

He groaned and she smiled. “What is it
today, Rafe?”

Releasing the biggest put-upon sigh she’d
ever heard, he stalked over to her and taking her wrists in his
hands, spread her arms wide and took a quick study of her body,
shaking his head all the while. “I am afraid, my darling, that you
have failed yet again to clothe yourself properly. You have the
kind of body that positively cries for haute couture – long,
skinny, elegant – yet you are determined to drape it in swap meet
specials.” He lifted the thick braid lying neatly against her
chest. “And this hair,” he gasped dramatically, “my dear, it is
absolutely criminal to neglect it this way.”

Essence laughed. He, of course, was dressed
beautifully in a white linen suit. She pulled her braid from his
hand. “Hey! Leave my hair out of it; it’s too hot for me to wear it
any other way except in a bun or ponytail. And what’s wrong with
what I’m wearing?”

“This…this…
thing
is more like a
sack,” he argued as he grabbed at the extra material at her waist.
“It should be more fitted to show off your figure. I’ve seen people
who have lived on the streets for years dressed more attractively
than you.”

Essence slapped his hands loose and turned
away. “The dress is perfectly fine.” She picked up a straw hat and
placed it on her head. She thought about her regular clothing in
her closets at home in Chicago and bit back a wistful sigh before
it could escape. Little did Rafael know, but she was normally
thought of as a fashion plate by her friends and family, and she
detested the clothes she had to wear for this mission. The entire
wardrobe would have been better suited to a woman four times her
age. Alas, she’d been told she had to keep it simple and to dress
as unobtrusively as possible to stay in keeping with her cover as a
shy and somewhat insecure geek. The disguise was also supposed to
keep attention away from her, particularly that of the head bad
ass, rumored to be a man with an insatiable lust who took what he
wanted from whoever had it because he believed he was entitled to
have what or whomever he desired.

Rafeal’s exaggerated gasp when she turned
wearing the hat made her shake her head in amusement. His clutching
at his chest as if he were having a heart attack made her burst out
laughing. “Whatever, Rafe,” she said and punched him lightly on the
shoulder.

He laughed as well and pinched her cheek as
a favorite uncle would do. “Ah, it’s too bad you’re not my type. I
could totally spend my life with you.”

She kissed his cheek. “Yes,” she said dryly.
“So sorry I was born female.”

“So am I, my darling, so am I,” he muttered.
“Thanks so much for coming here and agreeing to be my beard.
Tio
Miguel is not the sort to understand one man’s desire
for another. As I got older, the yearly command appearances at the
family compound became more and more uncomfortable as I was
questioned about my lack of a girlfriend, so a couple of years ago
I started asking friends to come and pretend. It’s lucky for me you
and I met at that café in Georgetown all those months ago because
both of my usual beards were unavailable.”

Feeling guilty because she’d gone to that
café for the express purpose of meeting him so she could gain an
invitation to the family’s home, she looked away from his smile.
He’d been chosen because he was closest in age to her and was
considered one of his family’s weakest links. Her agency had a
thick and thorough file on Rafael and knew everything about him
down to the last detail. She’d studied the file until she couldn’t
see straight, and then to the letter had followed the agency
psychiatrist’s instructions on how to get close to him. She hadn’t
counted on liking him so much, however.

“Will you stop thanking me, Rafe?” she asked
plaintively. “I’ve told you a million times that it’s not a
problem. And besides, look at the splendor you’ve brought me to.
All I had to do was agree to come.”

“
And
miss a couple of weeks of
school, and quite possibly graduation.”

Her being a student on the verge of
graduation was another lie the agency had concocted, but she
managed to smile and say, “Oh, no, I can’t miss graduation. My
parents would never forgive me. If it comes down to the wire,
you’re on your own because I’ll be on the first plane out of
here.”

“I was only teasing, Esencia. You should
know me well enough by now to tell when I’m joking.” He took her
hands in his and leaned in to kiss her nose. “Now, I believe you
wanted to take a cruise to Bird Island today.”

“Yes. I’d love to see the dolphins.”
The
place looks optimal for some initial reconnaissance work.

“Ah,
sobrino
. You take your lovely
young lady out to enjoy the sites of our paradise today, eh?”

Essence shivered and turned to look into the
dark, cunning and always assessing eyes of Miguel Guerrera, her
assignment. She studied him from beneath her lashes.
If I have
to kill you before this is all over
…
I wonder
…w
ill you
die easy?

“
Buenos dias, Tio Miguel. Si
, I will
be taking Esencia to see the dolphins – something she has been
begging me to do almost since we arrived yesterday,” he finished
with a teasing smile at Essence.

Essence did her best to look flustered and
lowered her eyes. “Don’t make fun of me, Rafe,” she began in a shy
tone, “You know how much I love all marine life. I’m just a little
excited, that’s all.”

Laughing, Rafe took her hand and began to
swing their arms between them companionably. “I know,
mi
amor
, but teasing you is so easy and too much fun to resist.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and bussed her fingers. “Forgive
me?”

“Yes, of course,” Essence said softly, still
playing her role as best she could.

“Oh, come now, my darling,” Rafe crooned. “I
won’t believe you until you look me in the eye and tell me so and
then honor me with one of your sweet kisses.”

Essence wanted to kick him in the shins, but
what she did was throw him a look of warning. The rat was smiling
devilishly and then he had the nerve to actually wink at her.
Peripherally, she looked at Miguel, who seemed to be waiting
expectantly. She smiled shyly once again and moved into Rafe’s
arms, burying her face in his chest as if she were embarrassed.
“Rafe,” she protested, drawing his name out in three syllables.
“You’re embarrassing me!” And then she bit him. It wasn’t as
vicious as she’d wanted to make it, but it was enough to make him
jump in surprise.