But having her in his arms, being inside her, seeing her eyes shine with the same magic he was feeling…
He would be half a man without her.
Less than half. He’d be howling at the moon crazy.
Dear sweet heaven. He’d opened Pandora’s box, and what lay inside scared him like nothing ever had.
He clutched at Gaby with his good arm and ignored the throbbing of his wound. He stared at the ceiling and looked beyond it to the desert his life had been. The wasteland it would become when she was gone.
He’d sell his soul to keep her, but the odds of that weren’t good, not if she used that brilliant brain of hers. She might not—her heart was huge, outsized for her small body—so it was up to him to see that she did. Nothing in this world was more critical than protecting her.
Eli pressed a kiss to her hair and tried to turn his thoughts to the hours ahead of them and what must be accomplished. First, he had to gain what strength he could. Gaby slumbered on, and he should join her. Gather himself for the battle to come.
But instead, for long moments, he contemplated a future much bleaker than his past, holding tightly to the woman who had always been the color in his gray world, not wanting to miss a second of the time they had together.
But eventually, his injury and the long nights without rest caught up to him.
And Eli slept.
Gaby awoke, suffused with a sense of well-being unlike any she’d ever encountered. She turned her head and remembered why.
And smiled.
Every cell in her body was doing a happy dance. Singing the Hallelujah Chorus. If that was how Eli made love when he was injured, just imagine…
She shivered at the delicious notion of it. How she hoped she’d get the chance to compare and contrast.
She slipped from the bed carefully so she wouldn’t wake him. Dark circles beneath his eyes demonstrated the toll of his injuries and the strain he’d been under. How he’d ever summoned the energy to make love to her, much less such astonishing love—wow.
She had to leave him alone, however badly she wanted to awaken him with a slow, delicious journey over every inch of that amazing body.
Let him be, you greedy witch. Despite how serious their circumstances were, Gaby couldn’t help grinning. She’d never been insatiable before, but oh, baby, baby…
Before her self-control faltered completely, she grabbed some clothes and made her way from the room. Eli needed rest first and food second. She would get to work in the kitchen and keep her hands to herself.
For now, at least. But when he recovered…
Another shiver trickled over her.
Eli. Yum.
The phone rang, and she pounced on it. “Hello?”
“You okay, Gabriela?”
Chad. “Oh—sure. Fine. Why?”
“Something wrong with your voice? You’re so quiet.”
If only her father had sprung for a portable phone. Gaby retreated into the far corner of the living room and curled her back. Tried a feint. “I can’t tell any difference. Maybe the phone line?”
“Maybe. I’ll call Maria to check our phone.”
Come on, come on, she urged silently. Let’s get finished before Eli wakes. But to Chad, she only said, “What’s up?”
“Just want to be sure you’re okay. You didn’t answer the door this morning.”
“Chad, you don’t have to check on me every day.” She struggled to keep the annoyance from her voice. With Eli here, it was imperative not to arouse his suspicions. “I was probably in the shower.”
“I thought so.” A small chuckle. “I could have sworn I heard you singing.”
She uttered mute thanks her gamble had worked. “Don’t guess I should hold out hopes for that recording contract, huh?”
A short laugh. “I plead the Fifth.”
This was Chad, the charming boy she’d once been head over heels about. How could he possibly have—
But she couldn’t forget the menace in his eyes when he’d battled Eli as teens. When he’d promised that Eli would pay for her father’s murder. “I might be gone some the next few days.” Abruptly, she decided.
“Where?”
She closed her eyes. Fought the urge to say none of your business. “I need to clear my head. Figure out what I really want. I have a lot of vacation time built up, so I thought I might head over to Alpine and Marfa. Fort Davis. Maybe even check out El Paso and stay a night or two.”
“Don’t cross the border. Things have gotten nasty the last few years. I’d rather you didn’t go to El Paso, actually. Kidnappers are operating out of all the border towns.”
“They want rich gringas, Chad, not Latinas.” And don’t order me around, she wanted to say but didn’t. “Nobody’s paying a ransom for me.”
“I would.” His voice was husky with the ring of true emotion. “I’d do anything to protect you, Gabriela.”
He sounded so sincere that she was tempted to believe him. “That’s very sweet.” If he knew she was harboring Eli, his tune would, no doubt, be quite different.
“I’m not sweet.” A hard edge crept in. “I protect what’s important to me. Damn it, Gabriela, how long are you going to keep me hanging? You know I want you.”
Me? Or my land? “Chad, I—” She bit her lip. “I wish I could think straight. If I hadn’t left my father on such bad terms, maybe this decision wouldn’t be so hard, but I have a life in New York, and I worked very hard to get where I am. I just received an important promotion. I thought my course was set, but now…here…so much to deal with. So many memories and regrets—”
“Where do I fit in that?” he asked softly. “Am I a memory…or a regret?”
“You’re some of both.” That, like her turmoil, was honest.
“I want to be your future. I won’t lie about that.”
“Chad—”
“Don’t. I’m not asking you to decide, not yet. But I need to be clear with you. I’ll buy your land, Gabriela, if New York is what you want, but I won’t kid you. I’d rather have you. I’m going to find Eli Wolverton and wrap up your father’s murder. Once that’s done, maybe you’ll be able to see clearly what you want, without that cloud hanging over your head.” He paused. Exhaled sharply. “So no, I don’t like the idea of you wandering around with a murderer on the loose, but maybe it’s better if you put a little distance between yourself and here for the next few days. Just please do me a favor and check in every now and then, would you, so I don’t worry any more than I already am?”
If she didn’t know Eli as she did, if she hadn’t heard his side of things, hadn’t felt his arms close around her, cherishing her, perhaps Chad’s impassioned arguments would have persuaded her. Blinded her.
But she did know and had heard. Had felt her world shift and settle in Eli’s embrace.
“I will.” It was all she could manage through a throat gone thick with longing and fear, sorrow and desperate hope. “My father will still be dead, even if you put someone in jail. Maybe the risk isn’t worth it.” Please, please, leave Eli alone.
“Babe, you don’t have to worry about me, but I love that you do.”
Perhaps that illusion could serve a purpose, so she didn’t argue. “Be careful, Chad.”
“I will if you will. Bye, babe.” He clicked off.
Don’t call me babe. Slowly, she replaced the receiver and rose.
“Loverboy staking his claim?”
She whirled at the sound of Eli’s voice. “Oh—you scared me.”
He crossed the room in two long strides, his chest and feet bare, clad only in jeans not fully buttoned. His blue eyes blazed. “What did he want?” No tender lover now, he gripped her shoulder with the hand of his good arm. “And why are you telling him to be careful?”
“You’re hurting me.” She shook him off. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Wrong with me?” The blaze roared into an inferno. “You’re all cozy with the man who wants to kill me. Whose father framed me and
who’s determined to do the same—”
She stepped around him.
He blocked her path.
“Eli—” She noticed, then, the heightened color. The glassy eyes. She felt his forehead. “You’re burning up. Come back to bed.”
“Not until you explain—” He faltered. “What am I doing? I’m sorry—you were just—”
She slipped under his good right arm. “Yeah. ‘How good an actress are you?’ Pretty good, I’d say, wouldn’t you?”
“Gaby, I’m—”
“Sorry. I know.” As her heart settled, she glanced up. Managed a grin.
“And jealous as hell. Even if he weren’t trying to do away with me, I’d have to hate him simply because he wants to be where I was last night, in your arms. Your bed.” His gripped her waist and yanked her close. “I went a little crazy, thinking he might win.”
“He wouldn’t.” She snuggled into him. “I wish you weren’t feverish.”
“It’s you, not the wound.”
She snickered. “Sure it is.”
“I’m serious.” He buried his face in her hair. “I burn for you, Gaby. Last night was…”
“Yeah.” She didn’t have the words, either, so for a moment, she simply relished the closeness.
“You’re all my dreams rolled up into one, Gabriela Lucia Navarro,” he whispered in her ear.
She melted.
“If only I could have you…” he murmured.
Suddenly, he sagged as if all the starch had gone out of him. She struggled to get him back to the bed. “Eli, come on. You have to help me. I’ll get the pickup. I’m taking you to a doctor.”
“No.” He rallied. “I can’t. Tomorrow night I have to—”
“You’re not doing anything but lying in this bed and getting well.” She settled him on the mattress, her heart pounding with fear.
He grasped her hand. “No doctor. Just tired. Need to sleep. Give me more antibiotic.”
“I’ll give you a knot on the head, you stubborn jackass,” she muttered, fighting her terror.
“That’s my girl.” He smiled, and his eyelids drifted shut.
Gaby raced for the pack with the syringe and precious vial. She filled it as he’d taught her, then struggled to roll over two hundred pounds of dead weight while she slipped down his jeans. “I hope this hurts, you stupid, hard-headed—” She brushed at the tears leaking from her eyes and tried to steady her shaking hand.
She held her breath as she slid the needle in and depressed the plunger. Carefully, she rolled him to his back and tenderly covered him.
And watched him for a long time, each and every rise and fall of that chest encasing the heart that kept her own beating.
Eli awoke, starving. For the first time since he’d been shot, his head was clear. He started to rise, then registered the form beside him.
Gaby lay fast asleep, her hand lightly resting at his side, so small and slender, yet strong well beyond its size.
Just like her lion’s heart.
He wanted to touch her, to draw her into him. To sink into the unbearable sweetness of her. To circle her with his arms and his strength and his determination, to protect her with every fiber of his body.
But the only way to safeguard her was, once again, to leave her. What he’d heard of her side of the phone conversation and Chad’s cell phone call earlier convinced him that Chad wouldn’t wish to harm her. Whatever his crimes, he had loved Gaby before Eli ever knew her. Both of them had one goal in common: to get Gaby out of harm’s way.
As he studied her precious face, he saw the cost caring for him had extracted from her. She was thinner than when she’d arrived. Dark smudges lay beneath her eyes, and exhaustion lined her frame.
He couldn’t lock her away in some safe spot, much as he’d like to.
So he had to lead the danger away from her. Tonight was the night, and he had preparations to make. He needed to leave before the sky lightened any more, and he would spend the day in his cave, resting.
He would tell Gaby—no, he would beg her—to catch the first plane. Since he was fairly certain she wouldn’t listen, he would add another suggestion that could lead her out of harm’s way: he’d ask her to go to Alpine and try to find the safe deposit box to match that key. If she uncovered the evidence Frank had been compiling, all to the good, but Eli would be gathering his own tonight at the drop point. He would ask her to meet him tomorrow night at the cave. Together, they’d journey to Fort Davis, out of Chad’s jurisdiction, to turn over what they had to the proper authorities.
Because his plans had changed. When he’d answered Frank’s summons, he’d wanted revenge as much as to clear his name, but Gaby had thrown a wild card into the game.
He hadn’t cared, for a long time, if he lived or died. That was the secret of his Hot Spot Journal—he’d gone into all those dangerous places because his safety hadn’t mattered all that much.
But now it did. Maybe last night was all they’d ever share, but he wanted to protect her, to return her to her life safe and sound.
Step one was to walk away from her now.
And so he did, praying with every step that he hadn’t just had his last sight of her.
Chapter Sixteen
Please don’t try to find me—you won’t be able to, and you’ll only arouse Chad’s suspicions if you’re spotted as you search.
Go home, Gaby, to New York. I swear I’ll come to you when this is over.
You’re frowning, I’d bet money. Maybe muttering some more about jackasses. Okay, I had to try. I really do wish you would leave and stay out of this.
But I know that thick head of yours and that stubborn heart. If you won’t comply, I need your help. I promise I’ll meet you tomorrow night at the cave. Please find out if that key opens the safe deposit box in Alpine, as you think it does. Be careful. Make sure you’re not followed. If you see any sign of surveillance, forget the key. I’m going to have my own evidence by the time we meet, so don’t take any foolish chances.
Just stay safe, Gaby. Please. You hold all there has ever been of my heart.
Eli
“Idiot,” she muttered. “Stupid, muleheaded—” She sank to the kitchen chair. “Oh, Eli, what have you done?” She resisted the urge to lay her head down and weep.
Instead, she shoved herself to her feet. Carefully folded his note and tucked it inside her bra, next to her skin.
He was right, damn it. She didn’t dare risk leading anyone to him. That didn’t change how she would read him the riot act when she found him. He was hurt. He had no business being out there in his condition.
She walked to the sink, looked out at the vast expanse, knowing he could be anywhere out there. Could be faint, could be bleeding, could be—
She snapped her gaze from the sight. Landed on the single plate and fork he’d washed and tried to draw comfort from knowing he’d eaten the food she’d prepared for him, but all she could think was—
Please.
Blindly, she made her way to her mother’s altar. Blew the dust off the candle and lit it. Withdrew the rosary in shaking fingers and tried to remember how to pray. She summoned every saint she could recall, begged the Virgin for help, pleaded with all of them to guard Eli, to keep him from opening his wound, to give him the strength and cunning to survive whatever his plan was—
Bring him back to me. I know it’s selfish. I know I’ve strayed. I’ve made so many, many mistakes, but please, please don’t let him pay for them.
Even if I can’t have him back…let him survive. Set him free from the past that has haunted him for so long. Grant him the happiness he deserves more than anyone I’ve ever known.
Clutching the rosary, she pressed her forehead to the altar. Mama…Papa…help him.
Long moments later, she rose, slipped the rosary over her head and extinguished the candle.
Then she went to her room to prepare.
Eli breathed a sigh of relief as he trained the binoculars on the house and saw a dres
sed-to-the-nines Gaby depart, he hoped, for Alpine and the bank. It was possible that she wouldn’t be allowed access, but he’d have to hope that Frank had anticipated the need for someone else to get into the box. Regardless that Frank and Gaby had been estranged, she still seemed the most logical person for Frank to trust, since any need for the box but his would likely mean that Frank would be unable to do so himself. As the only blood relative, Gaby was the obvious choice.
He watched her go, slammed right back into reality by her appearance. Understated elegance in her trim black sheath, her hair slicked into a French twist, she looked every inch the successful career woman. Not a trace left of the innocent girl he’d once loved or the jeans-clad woman who’d battled both his injury and her own fears in order to save him.
He didn’t know this Gaby, what she was like, what she wanted…who, if anyone, she could love.
But she’d clung to him in the night, fed him water from her own lips. Had wept when they’d made love.
Had fought the devil himself, more than once, for Eli’s worthless soul.
And just might do so again.
Regardless, his course was set. He’d bluffed her successfully, it seemed, so he would hole up in his cave today to gather strength for the night, now that he’d seen her leave.
And when darkness fell, he’d finish this miserable chapter of his life.
Surely there was a magazine article in this: City Girl Goes Undercover. Maybe her old dreams of being a writer hadn’t all vanished. Opening bullet point: How to Spot a Tail, Based on All the Spy Movies You’ve Ever Watched.
Her only saving grace was that the Trans Pecos was hardly overcrowded. Between Chamizal and Alpine, nearly two hours away, she might pass ten, maybe twenty cars. Even a neophyte could surely notice if the same one appeared behind her.
Of course, it might only be someone else headed to Alpine, for groceries or a doctor’s appointment or…whatever.
Could she count on a bad guy looking like a bad guy?
Guarding Gaby Page 17
