“May I keep you forever?”
Alex took a deep breath. “You mean the world to me, Beth. I love you. I want you in my bed and in my life for the rest of my life. Keep me for as long as you want.”
He ran his finger under the gold chain around her neck, pausing when he reached the padlock. It was a work of art and she looked beautiful in it, but he had to know.
“Beth, are you really happy to wear this?”
He felt her lips against his chest, an inch or two above his nipple. “Alex, I love this collar. I love what it means. I want to be yours—this collar means that I am, and it lets everyone know who needs to know, that I am.”
As they lay facing each other, Alex—overwhelmed by a feeling of possessiveness so primitive that it drove the last veneer of civilisation from him—tightened his arms around her and wrapped his leg over hers. She was the centre of his world, his holy grail, and he’d kill or die to protect her.
12
Beth and Alex had been sitting tight at Winterleigh for over a week. Their days had settled into some sort of routine, with Alex spending his mornings on the shooting range, out running or working out with weights, while Beth explored the house, familiarising herself with the layout of it.
She was also—grudgingly, it had to be said—joining Alex for some of his sessions in the gym. Somehow, he’d succeeded in persuading her that getting into better shape seemed like a sensible thing to do, although she had a hard job convincing herself of that when she was working up a sweat on the cross-trainer. What did he want to do? Bounce coins off her arse? Sometimes the only thing that kept her going was imagining all the things she could bounce off his arse in revenge. Still, she took his point—the sole aim of the exercise was to improve her fitness, should anything happen that required her to go somewhere in a hurry.
However, it was her novel that claimed the majority of Beth’s attention when she wasn’t with Alex. She still hadn’t let him see it, and it was becoming more and more difficult to resist his cajoling. It was only a matter of time before he turned the Dom voice on her to get his own way. She was amazed he hadn’t already.
One thing that was causing her some grief was Alex’s flat-out refusal to let her stray beyond the bounds of the house and grounds. She would have loved to take a stroll to the nearest village, but her man insisted that she remain on his property for reasons of safety. Again, it was something eminently sensible, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
The one time she’d tried to defy him, he’d caught her before she reached the main gates, lifted her bodily into the Range Rover he kept to use while in the country, and driven her straight back to the house. He’d hauled her into the family room, put her over his knee, and proceeded to spank her bare bottom so hard, she hadn’t been able to sit comfortably for hours. Looking daggers at him over dinner that evening hadn’t helped her cause either—he’d taken great delight in denying her orgasms the next time they played. And the time after that.
At first she’d fumed about it—and not silently, either—but by the time she started thinking Alex’s protective instincts were really quite sweet, she decided there was no hope for her.
Cam had called Alex regularly with the latest updates on his investigation into who was intent on harming him, be it through industrial espionage or some sort of warped, personal vendetta. The last Beth had heard, both the men’s instincts seemed to be leading them to conclude that the former was looking less and less likely. There hadn’t been much to report up till now, but today Cam had insisted on a personal visit. The plan was for him to spend the day there and stay overnight in one of the guest suites.
“Beth, we’re going to the shooting range,” Alex informed her, dropping a sexy little kiss on her mouth. “Cam and I need to discuss a few things. While we’re doing that, you go and do your homework.”
She watched the two men leave, keenly aware of how grave their demeanour became once they left her and thought she wasn’t looking. Over the last few days there’d been times when she’d almost forgotten how serious the situation was, to bring her to this house in the first place, but Cam’s visit brought it all back. She could only hope that it would all be over soon.
And homework. Really? Beth frowned—there were days when she could happily kick Alex’s legs from under him.
Think calm thoughts.
Oh, she knew he was taking care of her, which made her feel bad about being irritated by what he’d said. She also knew she should look at the positives: she was in love with and loved by a beautiful man who gave her the sexual domination she needed, who was giving her support and encouragement in her attempts to become a writer, and who was doing all he could to ensure her safety. In return she could give him the love and emotional support he needed, in spite of all his Dominant characteristics. They worked well together in so many different ways.
Back to homework. That meant two things: the first was more familiarisation with the layout of the house, and the second was working on her manuscript. She opted for the second.
Beth sat in front of her laptop. She hadn’t wanted to impinge on Alex’s work space in the office he kept at the house, but he’d insisted on it. He had occasionally spent time in there with her, keeping in touch with the office back in London; at the moment, though, she was alone—and couldn’t concentrate worth a damn.
She stood and stretched; maybe some fresh air would help. It was dull outside, probably cold as well, but at least it wasn’t raining. Wrapped up in a bright-red, knee-length duffle coat, feet shod in warm boots, she headed for the woods, away from the sound of shotguns—plural—being fired.
Boys and their toys.
Fallen leaves crackled and crunched satisfyingly beneath her feet as she walked through the trees, mostly denuded by autumn winds. Although she loved the colours of autumn, Beth’s favourite season was spring, when all the trees would be sporting the light, fresh greens of new growth, birdsong would be making the woods come alive, and the days would be getting longer.
And by next spring, all of this would be nothing more than a bad memory.
Another barrage of shots sounded in the distance. Beth shivered—not through cold but through imagining what might happen to cause those weapons to be fired in anger. She really didn’t want to dwell on it too much. It would all be over soon, it had to be. Perhaps that was the reason for Cam’s visit—to tell them that it was all over and there was nothing to worry about.
She was only fooling herself. That was the sort of news the blond Dom could have imparted via a phone call; even if he’d felt a need to deliver it in person, he and Alex wouldn’t have gone off to practice on the shooting range. Something must have happened that required the two of them to talk in person, and if that were the case, it couldn’t be good.
She was washing dishes in the kitchen when the two men returned to the house. Masculine arms came around her waist, pulling her into a hard male body, while firm lips planted a sneaky kiss at the side of her neck.
“Did you lose the dishwasher again, love?”
Beth rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t worth loading it with so few dishes, and you know I hate leaving the things lying around.”
“Will you two quit already? You’ll put me off my lunch.”
Beth felt Alex chuckle at his friend’s words, spoken with mock disapproval. If only things could have been like this without the threat that was hanging over them. On the couple of evenings when Cam had ended up staying overnight, the three of them had been able to forget the spectre at the feast and have some fun, like the time they’d tried to teach her how to play poker. She was just so glad they hadn’t insisted on playing strip poker…
“So, what have you two been talking about?”
She felt Alex tense up at her question. His tone, when he spoke, was as dismissive as his words. “Nothing much.”
Cam cleared his throat in a way that did absolutely nothing to reassure Beth. “She should know, Alex.”
“Yes, she should,” Beth agreed. “Don’t keep me in the dark, I need to know. This affects me just as much as it affects you.”
Alex’s arms tightened around her waist. “Come on. If we’re going to talk, we might as well do it in comfort. Cam?”
All three of them went to the family room. Alex sat on the sofa with Beth, while Cam made himself comfortable in one of the armchairs.
“Beth, my love,” Alex began, “we know what’s going on now, and it’s not industrial espionage. Cam’s been able to confirm that someone from my past is responsible for the breaches in security at the office and is deliberately targeting me.”
“So it is revenge.” Without conscious thought, Beth moved closer to Alex. “Have you gone to the police?”
A look flashed between the two men. It was Alex who responded. “I don’t want the police involved in this. Cam and I can handle it between us.”
Beth couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Excuse me?”
“The evidence we have won’t stand up in court, so there’s no way they’ll take action,” Alex said soberly. “It’s too flimsy. They’d need hard evidence, and that might mean waiting for the perpetrator to take this to the next level. I’m not prepared to put you at risk.”
“That’s why you wanted me to leave.”
“And why you should still leave,” Cam broke in. “I’m sorry, Beth, but that would be the safest –”
“Course of action—I know!” she bit back, more harshly than she intended. “Look, if something happens, I know what to do. I know where the safe room is and I know what to do when I get there. But I’m not leaving!”
Alex wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to his chest. “It’s all right, sweetheart,” he murmured. “You don’t have to go anywhere –”
“Alex!”
“Cam, please…just don’t. It’ll be all right,” he repeated.
Beth looked up at her man. “You really believe there’s a threat then?”
“Yes,” Cam responded tautly. “And Alex and I are working on a plan to deal with it.”
She looked from one man to the other. “What can I do to help? There must be something I can do.”
Alex gave her a brief, gentle kiss. “You already have by making sure you know where the secure room is and how to get there from anywhere in the house. If the worst happens, we can deal with it—so long as you’re safe.”
“You won’t get in trouble with the police because of what you’re doing, will you?”
The two men exchanged a swift look. Again it was Alex who answered the question, albeit in a roundabout way. “We know what we’re doing, Beth. Like Cam said, we’re putting a plan together to ensure that we keep you safe –”
“But what about you? Both of you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“We don’t intend to get hurt,” Cam said, his tone as serious as his manner. He was a million miles away from the light-hearted charmer she knew from her interactions with him in the office. “Trust us, Beth—we know what we’re doing.”
“Cam, I just had a thought. I don’t suppose you’ve managed to convince Ros to come and work for you yet, have you?”
Cam grimaced. “Not for want of trying. She’s still ‘thinking about it.’”
The heavy emphasis he placed on the last three words left Beth somewhat bemused. “Who’s Ros?”
Alex gathered her to him in a reassuring hug. “Ros Edwards is someone I would trust with your life, love. I was thinking that if Cam had managed to charm her into quitting on her uncle and working for him instead, we’d get her down here to keep an eye on you.”
“I’ve been trying to get her to ditch the life of a glorified civil servant and come and work for me for at least a year,” Cam complained, “and every time I ask her, she says ‘I’ll think about it.’”
Beth wanted to know more about this woman whom they both knew, and knew well, or so it seemed. “Not that I need babysitting, but what does she do?”
The two men glanced at each other; it was Alex who spoke first. “There’s only so much we can tell you; what we do is covered by the OSA –”
“And what’s that?” Beth felt like she was rapidly getting out of her depth and clutching at anything remotely resembling a lifeline.
“The Official Secrets Act,” Cam supplied. “Ros used to be in the Army; she was a military police officer, but she left about eighteen months ago and went to work for her uncle. He commands a covert unit –”
“And that’s as much as we can tell you about that,” Alex finished off. “But, if Ros is still working for Guy, she’s probably off somewhere we can’t talk about, doing things you can’t imagine, Beth. For which I am extremely grateful.”
“You’re absolutely certain that it’s not just industrial espionage?” Beth knew she was clutching at straws.
“We’re certain, sweetheart,” Alex confirmed, his tone grave with resignation. “And we can’t just sit here, waiting for something to happen so that the police will get involved. We have to be prepared to protect ourselves.”
Beth turned her face into Alex’s chest, her arm resting across his waist. Her mind was fighting the worst-case scenario—that she could lose the warm, vital man she loved. She breathed in the scent that was uniquely him, feeling her body respond in its usual way. “What’s going to happen? What do you think they’ll do?”
“Not they—he. Carmichael and Rhodes were able to uncover all the information we needed to identify the person responsible. It’s one man, and now that we know who he is, we know why he’s doing this.” Alex paused; the look on his face was one of revisiting a past that wasn’t a good place. “I killed his brother.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Alex!” Cam's disagreement was explosive. “Underwood was a damn fool and didn’t obey your orders –”
“I as good as killed him. He was under my command when he died. There wasn’t enough left to bring home for his family to bury,” Alex said, his voice quiet, bleak under the assault of memories that clearly haunted him. Whatever it was that had happened, whatever the circumstances were, the tragedy had hit him hard. Beth nestled closer, offering her man the comfort of her body, in spite of Cam’s presence just a few feet away. Any words could wait until they were alone.
“Jimmy Underwood was a loose cannon,” Cam insisted. “You know that as well as I do. You gave the order to stay back but he charged into that building anyway. You didn’t lay the IEDs, Alex, any more than any of us did, and if that idiot had followed orders—your orders—he’d still be alive now.”
“When did this happen?” Beth asked.
“Fifteen years ago,” Cam replied. “The building blew seconds after Underwood ran into it. Alex went in after him, and that was when a second wave of explosives were detonated. We were able to pull Alex out, but there was nothing left of Underwood.”
Beth went very still, glancing from one man to the other as she took in what had been said. That was the incident that had given Alex the scars. It had to be. “You mean that that man deliberately disobeyed orders, Alex risked his life to try to save him, and now his brother’s coming after Alex in some misguided desire for revenge? That’s insane! And isn’t fifteen years a long time to wait?”
She felt Alex’s arms tighten around her. “I survived, Beth—Underwood didn’t. I was in command of the mission. It’s hardly surprising Ewan blames me for his brother’s death. That family’s been through enough—another reason why I’d like to keep the police out of this, if we can. If he does make a move on us, then maybe we can talk him out of it and get him some help –”
“And if we can’t, then we have to be prepared for whatever he throws at us.” Cam finished grimly.
“But why now? It all happened so long ago. That’s what I really don’t understand.” Beth was genuinely puzzled.
“There could be any number of reasons,” Cam said. “It was a covert op—it could have taken him years just to find out
Alex was the officer commanding.”
Beth’s mind was racing. “If you know who it is, does that mean you know where he is now?”
“He’s gone to ground, so for the time being we’ve lost him,” Alex told her. “Cam has contacts on the lookout, and as soon as they find out anything, they’ll let us know.
“Beth, I don’t want you to worry about this,” he continued. “Ewan will make a mistake, and then we’ll deal with him.”
“You don’t want me to worry? You’ll deal with him?” She was incredulous. “First of all, you might as well tell me not to breathe as not to worry. And what does ‘deal with him’ mean, exactly? He was either smart enough to get into the office and plant the surveillance equipment himself, or he knew who to pay to do it. And if he does track us down to Winterleigh, who’s to say he’ll come here alone? Do you know anything about him? Any training he might have had?”
All of a sudden, Beth stopped talking. It struck her that she’d just stepped into the realm of teaching her grandmother to suck eggs, judging by the look the two men levelled at her. And looking at Alex’s face in particular, she had the strangest feeling that her backside was going to pay for her mouth’s recklessness later.
“Everything will be all right, Beth,” Alex reassured her. “We’re putting a plan together, and we’ll deal with Ewan Underwood.” Even so, he still held her a little more tightly.
“I know what we can do,” Cam said suddenly. “Get some of the boys down here for a training exercise out in the woods—if nothing else, it’ll stop them getting too soft between jobs.”
“Can’t hurt,” Alex agreed.
“They could do with some unarmed combat training and knife practice, and remembering how to live rough won’t hurt them. I’ll get them organised.”
To Beth, it seemed like all of a sudden the conversation had headed off into parts unknown. “You’ve lost me.”
“It’s all right, sweetheart. It just means that a couple of Cam’s operatives who aren’t on assignment will be spending an indefinite, but hopefully short, period camping in the woods around the house.” Alex’s tone held an audible degree of satisfaction.
The Velvet Ribbon Page 19
