Seducing the Colonel's Daughter: Seducing the Colonel's DaughterThe Secret Soldier

by Jennifer Morey

  “When he locates a piece he likes, he makes an offer to the owner, and if that owner doesn’t sell, he simply steals the art. In a couple of cases, it’s suspected that he’s killed to possess them. The man has a real fetish for certain pieces. Artifacts that belonged to Jews who were gassed or to Nazis who were executed after the war and the family members who suffered as a result, things like that.”

  “The Portrait of Sarah is his kind of art,” Travis said.

  “Yes,” Odie said. “And it explains why he’ll stop at nothing to get it.”

  “Kill to get it,” Raeleen added, finding the pictures of LeFevre eerie. Even in still shots he looked menacing. “He’s done that before.”

  Odie nodded. “Our good pal Deet got himself in a fine little mess. He should have listened to his wife and not tried to sell.”

  Despite his lies and halfhearted regard for his wife, Raeleen did feel sorry for him. “I’m sure he didn’t know what he was walking into.”

  “Obviously.” Odie began putting photos and papers back into a file folder. “Now he’s faced with a murdered wife and brother-in-law and losing his livelihood, the very thing he sought to preserve. The poor bastard.”

  What if they gave the painting back to him after LeFevre was caught? What would TES decide to do with it? As far as Raeleen was concerned, the painting belonged to Deet.

  “LeFevre will go where the painting is,” Travis said. “We should choose our battleground carefully.”

  Jag leaned down and slid the last photo to his wife’s reaching hand. “Rorey isn’t answering his phone.”

  Odie picked up the photo with an agreeing nod. “He could be dead for all we know.” She put the photo into the folder with the others and closed it.

  “Or running scared just like Deet is,” Raeleen added.

  “Then we have our battleground.” Travis stood and pushed in his chair. “I’ll fly to Anguilla to check on him. LeFevre won’t be far behind.”

  Of course, he’d say that. Raeleen was about to say something.

  “Actually, you’re both going.” Odie stood and walked around the table to Travis, handing him the folder. “You and Raeleen.”

  Incredulous, Travis took the folder. “It’s too dangerous. If she doesn’t have to go, she should stay here. You two can watch over her.”

  Raeleen couldn’t tell if he was being overprotective or not. It would be dangerous for her if she went with him, but it would be dangerous for her no matter where she went. Deet had mailed the painting to her.

  “We’re working another assignment.” Jag put his arm around Odie when she came to stand beside him. “We don’t have time.”

  “Then get someone else to watch her.”

  “No one else is available,” Odie said.

  “Hey.” Raeleen was the last to stand up. “I’m not a twelve-year-old. I’m going with you, Travis. You don’t have to find a babysitter for me.” He was only resisting this because of his fear of failure. She wished she could make him see that.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” He met her gaze and then his eyes traveled down her body. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  For intimate reasons, she guessed, by the way he’d just looked at her. She felt it all the way to her toes. Their early morning quickie had a potent effect on both of them.

  “There’s another reason why she needs to go with you.”

  Raeleen turned with Travis toward Odie.

  “It’s the reason we needed you to come here,” Jag said.

  “Three men broke into Harry and Meena’s home and tore it apart looking for the painting. They tried to rough them up a bit to get them to talk. ‘Where is the painting? Where did Travis take Raeleen?’ Those kind of questions.”

  Travis cursed a couple of choice words. “Are they all right?”

  Concerned for her newest friends, Raeleen moved closer to Travis, putting her hand on his big shoulder.

  “Of course. Harry got the upper hand and chased all three of them away after one of them hit his wife. He’s not one to mess with, that Harry.”

  “Where are they now?” Raeleen asked.

  “On their way to Cape Canaveral, where they’ll be waiting for you two on their boat. The four of you are going to Anguilla. You’ll be there by tomorrow night.”

  Raeleen looked up at Travis and exchanged a worried look with him.

  “Harry was so mad that anyone dare harm his wife that he joined TES,” Odie added.

  “He’s a sixty-year-old man!” Travis roared.

  “A sixty-year-old man who’s in fantastic shape. And he’s a temporary employee. Not a full-timer.”

  “I don’t believe this.”

  “Rorey lives on a yacht.” Raeleen lowered her hand from Travis’s shoulder, seeing Odie and Jag’s logic now.

  “Odie’s arranged everything,” Jag said. “Once you get to Sandy Ground, you’ll be right where you need to be.”

  Close to Rorey.

  “I’ll be where I need to be. The other three are debatable,” Travis protested.

  Odie moved away from Jag. “Get out of yourself, Travis. She’s Colonel Roth’s daughter and Harry is no novice. They’re not completely helpless.”

  “Let’s go,” he grumbled to Raeleen, taking her hand.

  She waved goodbye to Odie and Jag and went outside with Travis.

  “If anything happens to you, it will kill me, you know that, right?”

  He still held her hand as they walked down the street toward the rental car.

  “If anything happens to you, it will kill me, too.”

  He turned his head toward her as they walked, intimacy in his eyes the same as she was sure was in hers. Last night had brought them inexorably closer. She cared so much for him. Felt him getting closer to facing his sister’s death and the way it influenced him in his work. She wanted to help him get there. But would doing so be a mistake?

  He was a military man. M-i-l-i-t-a-r-y. She’d made herself a promise a long time ago to avoid men like him. Was it wise to forget?

  Chapter 12

  Arriving at the boat in time for dinner the following night, Raeleen had insisted on having her own cabin, and while Travis had agreed, he hadn’t taken it well. She had to get her head straight regarding him. No more relationships that weren’t good for her. She had to be sure. And she wasn’t sure about Travis.

  Meena sat beside Harry, who sipped an after-dinner decaf coffee and talked to Travis about what they’d do when they reached Anguilla.

  “One of us needs to stay on the boat with the women while the other pays Rorey a visit on his boat,” Travis said.

  Of course, he’d say that. Mr. Protector at work again.

  “You talk to Rorey. I’ll watch the girls.”

  Meena leaned back against her chair, the boat rocking gently in a calm sea. Harry smiled his love and took Meena’s hand in his, leaning back with her.

  Raeleen refrained from commenting that she didn’t think Travis going alone was a very smart idea. She and Meena would be fine alone on the yacht, or all four of them should go. Rorey hadn’t been answering his phone; there was no telling what they’d find when they went to see him.

  Travis picked up another fishing lure from a box he’d been sifting through for an hour now. “We can stay in contact with radios.”

  He’d need a lot more than a radio.

  “I don’t think we have much to worry about. It will take a while for LeFevre to catch up to us.”

  That, at least, was a relief to Raeleen.

  “I’m hoping we find him first.”

  She watched Travis fingering the fishing lure, smooth and sure, and with reverent appreciation. He was more relaxed than she’d ever seen him and she wondered why. Her attention wandered to his torso,
his stomach and wide chest. Muscular shoulders. Blue-gold eyes that softly regarded her. She was what had him so relaxed.

  She turned away, disconcerted by the instant ignition of desire that that gave her.

  “I remember when I first met Harry,” Meena began, increasing her discomfort because she must have noticed the way she and Travis were looking at each other. “He terrified me. I didn’t think for one minute that we’d last past the first kiss.”

  “I couldn’t stay away from her.” Harry lifted his wife’s hand and kissed the back of it.

  “And I fell madly in love with him.”

  Losing his wife had to have been a hurdle, but if it was meant to be, it was meant to be.

  Raeleen looked over at Travis, wondering if he was meant to be.

  If she didn’t have her predisposed notion of military men, how different would things be between them?

  Bothered by her wavering thoughts, Raeleen stood up. “I’m going to go up to the bow.”

  She walked the narrow plank along the salon and pilothouse, putting her hands on the railing, wind lifting her shoulder-length blond hair.

  Her relationship with Deet had made her realize she’d been choosing convenient men. Men who allowed her to avoid commitment. Was she afraid of commitment? Was she afraid she’d end up with someone who’d neglect her the way her father had? Maybe it wasn’t only military men she avoided.

  Depressed, she left the railing and found her way to a side door, needing to be alone for a while. She’d go down to her cabin and hopefully by morning she’d have figured herself out.

  Unfortunately, Travis must have planned the same thing. She bumped into him when she reached the narrow deck, just as he reached for the door handle.

  She jumped back.

  “Sorry...I was...”

  All the pent-up lust billowed. She didn’t move, and neither did he.

  “Harry and Meena went to their cabin.”

  She nodded. “I was just heading to mine.”

  He nodded, too, still relaxed the way he had been fingering the fishing lures, but now with sultry flames licking in his eyes. She’d enjoyed watching him fish earlier today. She enjoyed watching him no matter what he was doing.

  When he stepped toward her, she didn’t back away. The physical took over, and before she knew it he slid his arm along the back of her waist and had her pressed against the railing. Then his face was just above hers.

  “I’m tired of fighting this,” he murmured. “If it doesn’t last, I don’t care.” And then he kissed her.

  His words ran over and over in her head. But then his tongue caressed hers and pulled at her desire. His mouth moved with hers, perfectly matched. When he kissed her neck, she let her head fall back. The stars twinkled above.

  He kissed her mouth again, his hands rubbing over her clothes, thumbing her nipples through her T-shirt, over her rear, between her legs. She ran her hands from his biceps to loop around his shoulders.

  Kissing him was a dream.

  He lifted her up and she felt his hardness. Almost wrapping her legs around him to make him fit better there, she heard his words filter through her head again.

  If it doesn’t last, I don’t care....

  There was a time when that would have been fine with her. If it didn’t last, she didn’t have to worry about ending up with someone who wouldn’t be there for her. All her steadfast rules had been in place for a good reason, so she wouldn’t end up with the wrong man. She’d rather be alone than give herself all the way to the wrong man.

  Bringing her arms down, she pushed his chest.

  He stopped kissing her and met her gaze.

  “I care,” she said.

  Looking from her mouth to her eyes again, he assimilated her meaning. “Nothing lasts with you, Raeleen. I would think an arrangement like that would appeal to you.”

  Had he taken this strategy on purpose? Offering up a convenient affair to appeal to her? Did he hope to woo her into more? Trick her?

  “I never get involved with anyone if I don’t think it will last.”

  “But it never does.”

  “Especially if you’ve already decided it won’t.” She pushed him again, stepping back.

  He hung his hands at his sides, but she sensed he was ready to take her back into his arms. “Sex is good between us. Let’s go with that.”

  It was good, but she was starting to want more from him, and that confused her. More with Travis went against all her beliefs. He represented everything she’d promised to avoid, in order to prevent a mistake.

  “If you were Deet, I’d be happy to hear that.”

  “Don’t talk about him now.”

  “I’m not saying I’d have sex with him. If you were any other boyfriend I’ve ever had, I’d be happy to hear that.”

  “But I work for your father.”

  Yes. And more and more she was beginning to think that that no longer mattered. Her heart was drawn to him. If she relented to the pull, would she line herself up for a future of unhappiness after she discovered her original assessment was accurate and he wouldn’t be there for her? The powerful pull in her heart argued that he could be what she had been looking for all along. Which challenged her decision to avoid military men. What if avoidance was a way for her to avoid committing to one man instead?

  When she didn’t respond, he swung open the door and stormed inside. He thought she’d just rejected him. He didn’t know that it was her confusion that caused her to step back, and she wasn’t sure she should enlighten him.

  * * *

  Travis looked through binoculars as Harry navigated the yacht into Sandy Ground and the newly constructed marina. He spotted the sailboat called Summer Storm and shouted to Harry, who steered toward their slip rental, which happened to be close.

  Helping Harry tie off to the deck, he headed for the stern to get off the yacht. Raeleen was waiting there, purse over her shoulder, movie star sunglasses on, dressed in a white sundress that drew his eyes to all her curves and those long, sexy legs.

  He was still raw from last night. He wasn’t angry, just frustrated with her. He could see her confusion and fought the urge to keep pushing her. The only thing stopping him was her resolve to steer clear of men who worked for her father. He didn’t think wasting time on women who weren’t certain about him was particularly bright. He could see her misconception, her mistake in assuming all men in her father’s profession were the same. The woman he ended up with would accept him for himself, profession and all. He wouldn’t have to feel like he had to change, to be someone he wasn’t. Quit his job and find another to enable her phobia.

  If only she’d wake up about her father. See him for the man he was instead of the one he wasn’t, never there for her. Or not enough. Didn’t she realize her father loved her?

  And why had she decided to torture him by dressing like that? Damn, she was beautiful.

  “We’ll be watching from here,” Harry called, his smile saying he knew what Travis was up against.

  He turned to Raeleen. “Don’t argue with me. Let’s go.”

  With a smug look, she turned and walked onto the dock, hips swaying just enough, long legs tugging him to follow.

  “Did you wear that on purpose?”

  Her chin lifted in defiance.

  “To make me pay more attention to that than arguing about whether or not you’d go with me today?” The tiny sapphire flirting with her cleavage captured him for a few strides. “Or are you trying to punish me for attempting to seduce you without strings?”

  “You’re a control freak.”

  How had she drawn that conclusion? She was the one who’d placed restrictions on the men she dated.

  “Me?” he said leadingly.

  “Overprotective. Haley was right. Does s
he know why you’re like that?”

  She was referring to what had happened with his sister, and he didn’t feel like talking about that. “I’m not the one who stereotypes the people I will or won’t date.”

  He couldn’t see her eyes behind her glasses, but the pinched corners of her mouth were enough of an indication that her confusion had returned. She really was on the fence when it came to him.

  One push...

  “If it makes you feel any better, at least you made it this far avoiding military men. That’s not a bad record.”

  She humphed. “Just my luck to run into one who’d actually think I would agree to a sex-only affair.”

  “Isn’t that what you had with Deet?”

  Incensed, she stopped walking. “No!”

  He could tell by her sharp reaction that at least part of her acknowledged the truth. She may not have thought of it that way when she was seeing him, but that’s how her relationship with him had ended up.

  “How can you call a long-distance relationship anything other than casual?” he asked. “You flew to Anguilla to have sex with him, not marry him.”

  “He was already married.”

  Her defensiveness only proved his point. “A fact that you should have figured out a lot sooner than you did.”

  “Let’s just find out what Rorey knows about LeFevre and be done with this.”

  “I’ll do that. You just keep dressing like that.” The rest would happen naturally. Unless she persisted in denying it.

  “It worked, by the way.”

  She glanced at him impatiently. “What worked?”

  “The dress.” He gave her an up and down. “I’ll take you anywhere if it means I can keep looking at you.” Except into the line of fire.

  “I’m not having a sexual affair with you.”

  He thought twice about reminding her that they already were. “Then I’ll just have to seduce you into more than that.” Unable to believe he’d said that, he reasoned it was where this was headed, anyway. Why continue to fight it?

  She stopped again, this time right in front of Rorey’s yacht.

  “Travis...”

  He couldn’t rationalize why he pushed for something he wasn’t even sure he wanted himself. He didn’t trust her not to reject him in her determination to ban men who reminded her of her father. What if she never accepted him for the man he was, with no ties to her father? His heart would be in danger of being broken, but he couldn’t back down, either.