She had no idea where they were or in what direction they were headed. Darkness and the speed of the Lamborghini were as effective as a blindfold. And there was no point in asking him, even if he turned down the music. She glanced at him in the light of an incoming car. There he sat, dressed in black cords and a black turtleneck shirt despite the heat, with that damned impassive profile that said more clearly than words ever could that he'd tell her what he wanted, when he wanted. It didn't matter a damn to him that he was frightening the life out of her, that he was intimidating her-that he'd whisked her away on the very eve of the wedding ...
The sudden realization brought a quick, satisfied smile to her face. Rhys Hunter, the great security expert, still didn't know he'd snatched the wrong woman-and he'd done it not once, but twice. Blair risked a quick look at him. Go on, she thought, play at being a midnight commando! You just wait until we get wherever we're going. I'll tell you who I really am. I'll tell you how stupid you are! Yes, she thought, settling back in the seat that would take care of Mr Hunter. A few weeks ago, she'd worried about wounding his pride. Now, she relished the thought of destroying it.
The car raced on into the night. Gradually, she began to realize there was only one place he could be taking her. Not to Florence-they'd have to be on the road too long for that and, no matter what he said, he'd have to worry about the authorities this time. The villa he'd taken her to the day he'd abducted her from the airport, then. That had to be where they were going.
It was. The Lamborghini swung sharply to the right and mounted the rise leading to the small stand of cypresses standing darkly against the night sky. Hunter touched something on the dash and the garage door swung open. He shut off the engine as soon as they were inside the building, and the door hissed closed behind them.
'OK,' he said softly. 'Out.'
Blair took a deliberate breath. 'Hunter, for the last time .. .'
'I hope so,' he said, wrenching open her door. 'I'm getting tired of listening to you. Now, get out. You know the way.'
She gritted her teeth and swung her legs from the car.
There was no sense in arguing with him now, not when there was nothing she could do but follow his orders. Later, perhaps, when they weren't in such close quarters, there might be a chance to ignore his instructions, a chance to get away. For now, all she could do was obey.
She marched ahead of him to the door, waiting while he unlocked it, and then she stepped inside the dark house. A switch clicked on the wall beside her and Blair blinked in the sudden flood of light. Hunter cursed softly and touched the switch again, and the light dimmed to a soft glow.
Blair had been too frightened to really look around her the last time she'd been in the villa. She was still frightened, but this time she was determined to use every moment to good advantage. She moved forwards slowly, taking a careful survey of the room in which they stood, hoping for some miraculous means of escape to present itself.
The room was large, its predominant colours a muted charcoal and a pale cream. Thick carpet covered the floor. A pair of couches flanked a free-standing brick fireplace; beyond there was a long window wall overhung by vertical blinds in a fabric that matched the couches. Shelves marched up the near wall, most of them covered with books, except for the middle one, which housed a compact disc player and other sound equipment. The light came from recessed overhead spotlights. A book lay, open and face down, on one of the couches. All in all, it was a handsome room, a comfortable room, and Hunter, leaning casually against one of the pale walls, looked very much at home in it.
'Satisfied?'
His voice was cool and mocking. Blair squared her shoulders. Somehow, she sensed it was important not to let him know how frightened she was.
'Is that why you brought me here? To admire your decorating scheme?'
He tossed his keys on a table that stood near the door 'The windows are double-glazed and mirrored,' he said casually, strolling across the room and pulling back the vertical binds as he spoke. 'They're virtually impossible to smash. The view from here is magnificent, Blair.' He drew the blinds closed and smiled coldly. 'You could stand at that window for hours and see nothing in the valley below except an occasional wild boar.'
She felt her pulse leap. 'I don't know why you're telling me all this, Hunter. I .. .'
'Yes, you do. You were checking this room like a weasel caught down the wrong burrow. I'm just trying to save you a hell of a lot of trouble. You can't get out the door, either. I've closed it electronically-you'd have to punch in the right series of numbers to get it to open for you.' He smiled again. 'You'd get it right eventually-give or take a hundred years.'
Don't let him see that you're afraid, Blair ...
'All right,' she said, 'you've had your fun and games.
Now take me back to Rome.'
A quick smile came and went on his face. 'When I'm good and ready.'
Her chin rose. 'Hunter, you'd better listen to me. There are things I could say to you, things you don't want to hear ...'
His eyes darkened. 'Funny,' he said softly, 'that was going to be my line.'
'What are you talking about? There's nothing you could say that would upset me. I ...'
'Isn't there?' he asked softly.
Dear lord, she thought, her eyes widening. Was he going to tell her he'd kidnapped her for ransom? It was the only thing that made sense.
'I really misjudged you, Hunter,' she said quietly.
His eyes swept over her, his gaze lingering on the rapid rise and fall of her breasts. 'Yes,' he said, his voice a low whisper, 'yes, you did.'
She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. !How much are you going to ask for me?' she demanded.
His eyes narrowed. 'How much am I .. .'
'Come on, Hunter,' she said, hoping she sounded tougher than she felt, 'I'm not stupid. I'm just surprised you suddenly decided it was more profitable to steal people than it was to protect them. I ...'
The breath caught in her throat as he moved towards her. Anger darkened his face; she flinched away as his hand encircled her wrist and drew her forward.
'You really don't know the first goddamned thing about honour, do you?' The low timbre of his voice sent tremors of fear through her; his face was so close to hers that she could see a muscle twitch beneath the skin of his cheek. 'Is that what you think this is all about?'
His fingers were biting into the tender flesh on the underside of her wrist, but she held her ground.
'You said ... you said you were going to tell me something that would upset me, and I thought... I figured ...' 'Does your fiancée know what a bitch you really are, Blair? Or am I the only one who's had the privilege of getting to know the real Meryl Blair Desmond?'
Blair swallowed. 'Listen, Hunter-about that. You've made an awful mistake ...'
His eyes smiled coldly into hers. 'Have I?' -
'Ye-yes,' she breathed as he drew her closer to him. 'You see, I'm not ... I never was .. .'
'No,' he said softly, 'you never were. I just wonder if you're everything poor old Perry what's-his-name thinks you are.'
'Perry's got nothing to do with this ....'
His hand tightened on hers. 'What's he like, Blair?
An attorney, the magazine said. Is that right?' 'He's ... yes, I guess that's what he is. I ...'
His head dropped towards hers. 'You guess? Don't you know?'
'He ... he works for his father. They own a chain of stores, and Perry's in charge of the legal end ... Listen, Hunter, they'll know I'm gone by now. There's a midnight supper at the villa, did you know that? Everybody will be looking for me .. .'
His eyes burned into hers. 'Nobody even knows I took you,' he said in a soft whisper. 'Did you know that?' Her heart banged loudly. 'Your men know, don't they?' she asked in a raspy whisper. 'I mean, how else could you have sneaked into the grounds?'
His smile sent a chill deep into the marrow of her bones. 'I told you, Blair. I'm good at what I do. Damned good.' His eyes
narrowed as he looked into her face. 'No one knows I took you,' he repeated. His free hand slid up her back and curled around the nape of her neck. 'I can do anything I want to you,' he said softly, 'and no one would know.'
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't swallow. She could only look into Hunter's face and wonder what she had done to make him hate her with such all-consuming passion. Thank God she hadn't told him the truth about herself a moment ago, she thought with a shudder. If I trust you and you let me down, he'd said ... If he felt this way about her now, how would he feel if he knew she'd lied and cheated from the moment they'd met?
Blair ran her tongue over her dry lips. 'Wh-what are you going to do?' she whispered finally.
Hunter's eyes became blank. His fingers loosened on her neck, his thumb moving over her skin in what was almost a caress.
'I don't know,' he said after a long silence. His fingers tangled in her hair and he forced her face up to his. 'I don't know, Blair,' he repeated and his head lowered towards hers.
'No,' she said, trying to turn away from him, 'no, Hunter, don't .. .'
His mouth closed over hers with a punishing passion that drove the breath from her. Tears stung her eyelids as she thought of the last time he'd kissed her, on that long-ago night in the Tuscan hills, when they'd lain in each other's arms and she'd let herself think he loved her.
His mouth gentled on hers. His lips were asking now, not demanding, his tongue offering, not insisting. And suddenly she was drowning in that same pool of liquid fire she'd known in his arms before, clinging to him, murmuring his name as his arms closed around her ...
Hunter thrust her from him. 'Jesus!' he whispered. Blair stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. 'Keep away from me,' she said. 'I warn you, Hunter, I .. .' She pounded her fists against his chest as he swung her into his arms. 'Dammit, what are you doing? Hunter? Hunter! Where are you taking me?'
'Where I can keep you until I decide what the hell to do with you,' he growled as he carried her through the house. He kicked open a door and hit the light switch with his elbow. 'The glass is double-glazed in here, too,' he said, dumping her on the floor. 'Don't even bother trying to get out.'
She looked around her wildly. She was in a small bedroom; Hunter was already stepping into the hall and closing the door after him.
'Hunter .. .'
He paused and gave her one last, long look. 'Maybe we're both sick,' he said softly, 'And it's either quarantine or Coventry before we destroy each other.'
The door slammed, and Blair was alone.
She had slept. She had no idea for how long, but when she opened her eyes she felt headachey and stiff. But she would be, lying on the edge of the bed this way ... She drew in her breath and sat up quickly as everything that had happened came rushing back to her. Hunter had left her and she'd pounded on the door until finally she'd slipped to the floor, sobbing with frustration and then she'd stumbled to the bed and sat down on it determined to outwait him. '
And she'd fallen asleep. Such a prosaic thing to do while a madman lurked outside, she thought with a bitter smile. It was late, and the night had turned black and chill. Blair wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. There was a blanket on the bed, but she'd be damned if she'd use it. She wouldn't use anything that belonged to Hunter, to that madman ....
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. He wasn't mad. She knew that. In fact, if anybody was crazy, it was she. Look at the way she'd behaved when he'd kissed her. Her eyes closed against the humiliating memory. It hadn't been a real kiss-he'd only done it to prove something. Maybe he was trying to remind her that he was stronger than she .. Maybe he'd been trying to frighten her. Maybe he'd simply wanted to embarrass her by reminding her of what had been between them once. Whatever the reason, it was she who had melted in his embrace, she who had deepened the kiss, she who had clung to him as if she were drowning in that flood of sweet fire that flamed through her at his touch ...
What time was it, anyway? She glanced at her wristwatch and blanched. It was almost five in the morning the wedding was scheduled for nine. Perry had wanted a sunrise ceremony, but Meryl had laughed and insisted that nine a.m. was as close to sunrise as she was ever going to get in her life. She'd never be there in time not even if she could talk Hunter into letting her go. It' was at least a two-hour drive back to Rome, and she'd have to fix her hair and do her make-up and.
She bit back hysterical laughter. There wouldn't be a wedding, not if the police were crawling all over the Desmond villa. And surely they were, by now. They might even have picked up Hunter's trail-if, by some miracle, he'd left one. They could be surrounding his villa at this very moment, moving in on him while he slept, setting up rifles and guns and…
The police. The last time she'd thought about them in connection with Hunter was that day in Fiorello. She'd thought he was a kidnapper then, but she'd been willing to do anything to keep him safe ... And she still would, she thought, as tears filled her eyes. Oh God, what was the matter with her? Hunter had seduced her and abandoned her, and now he'd stolen her for who knew what reason-and still she loved him. There was no sense in trying to deny it. She loved him, even though she didn't understand why he was so determined to hurt her even more than he already had.
She sprang to her feet as a key grated in the lock. The bedroom door swung open and Hunter stepped into the room. Dark shadows lay like bruises beneath his eyes. They looked at each other in silence, and then he let out his breath.
'All right,' he said. 'I'll take you back.'
A weight seemed to lift from her heart. 'Thank you,' she said, smiling at him through her tears. 'Thank you, Hunter.'
He nodded. 'There's not anything else I can do,' he said, as if to himself. His voice was hoarse with exhaustion. 'I ... I don't know why I took you from the villa. I .. .'
He sounded so tired, she thought. And he looked so unhappy. She took a deep breath, fighting against the sudden desire to walk to his side and touch him.
'It's all right,' she said softly. 'We'll be back in time, if we hurry. And I won't tell anyone what happened. I .. .'
'Won't tell anyone? You'll have to tell Perry something, won't you? Dammit, Blair, the man's going to ask questions.'
She blinked. For a moment, she'd forgotten he still thought she was Meryl Desmond. Well, there was nothing to gain by telling him the truth now. She smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders.
'I ... I'll think of something,' she murmured. Hunter's eyes narrowed. 'You'll think of something?' he repeated.
Blair nodded. 'Yes. I'll tell him. I was with friends.
I'll tell him I was with ... with ...' Her voice broke and she turned away from him. 'I'll tell him I was with someone who's very important to me.'
She gasped as Hunter's hands closed on her shoulders.
He spun her towards him and drew her forwards.
'And what will you tell him when he asks who made you a woman, Blair?' His voice, his face, were hard with anger. 'Well? I'm waiting for your answer, dammit. What will you tell him then?'
She looked at him in disbelief. 'I ... I won't tell him anything, Hunter. He won't ask me.'
His fingers bit into her flesh. 'What do you mean, he won't ask you?' His eyes flamed to silver ice as they met hers. 'Doesn't he love you? Doesn't he want to know that your heart and body belong only to him?'
'Hunter, please, you're hurting me .. .'
'Answer me,' he growled, shaking her as if she were a rag doll. 'Come on, Blair, answer me! Doesn't the man you're marrying love you even half as much as I do?' In the sudden silence, Blair could hear only the rapid beat of her own pulse. She looked into Hunter's face, trying to decide if she had dreamed the words. 'What?' she whispered finally. 'What did you say?' Hunter made a harsh sound in his throat. 'I said that the son of a bitch I'm bringing you back to had better love you or I'll kill him. You can tell him that for me, Blair. Tell him I said that I'll kill him if I ever even suspect he doesn't love you and want you and .. .'
The be
at of her heart stumbled. 'Because ... because you love me?'
'Of course I love you,' he growled. He bent his head to hers and stared at her. 'What did you think that last night at the farmhouse was all about, dammit? I'd already told you I loved you in a dozen different ways, and then that morning ..! His hands dropped to his sides. 'What's the difference?' he growled. 'Look, it's getting late. We've got to get started if we're going to get you to the villa on time!
Blair shook her head. 'I'm not leaving here until you tell me what you're talking about. What about that morning?'
'I told you, it doesn't matter!
Her chin lifted. 'It does,' she said with quiet determination. 'I have a right to know!
A Flood of Sweet Fire Page 17
