Savage Destiny

by Amanda Browning

  ‘What does that mean?’ she demanded, grateful to hear that the words didn’t waver and betray her.

  Pierce spoke through a tightly set jaw. ‘It means you’d better get dressed and pack a case. The rest can be sent on later.’

  Her heart lurched on a dizzying wave of relief. Dear lord, he had almost scared her rigid! A shaky laugh left her. ‘You mean it’s come for us? Tell me where we’re going, so I know what to pack.’

  His head came up, and the breath he took hissed in through his teeth. ‘You’ll be on a flight back to England.’

  She couldn’t have felt more shocked if he’d actually hit her, and Alix’s fingers clutched at the sheet. ‘You’re sending me away?’ she charged dazedly, unable to take her eyes from his.

  His nod of assent was abrupt. ‘You’d better get moving. Time is short, and we’ve wasted enough of it already.’

  Wasted time? Was he saying that all that loving was wasted time? It was another blow, but this time it had the effect of snapping her out of the shock. She would not let history repeat itself. This time she refused to be dismissed so callously. ‘Why?’

  ‘Why what?’ he countered irritably, and she felt a ball of anger begin to swell inside her.

  ‘Why are you sending me away?’ she enlarged bitingly, and drew hooded eyes to her pale face.

  ‘Because I have things to do, and I don’t want you here getting in the way.’

  It would have been so easy, in that instant, to let her emotions rule her actions, but she was older and wiser now. There were bells ringing in her head, and one of them didn’t ring true. Things to do? What things? Until last night, this had been simply a honeymoon. Now, this morning, he was dismissing her. What had happened in between?

  Then, of course, she knew. ‘You lied to me, didn’t you? There was more to that phone call yesterday than you said,’ she charged, hating the way he had shut her out, was still shutting her out. ‘That’s what this is really all about, isn’t it? Why couldn’t you tell me? Don’t I have a right to know?’

  Meeting the accusation in her grey eyes, Pierce snapped tight the belt he was tying. ‘There was no point in alarming you unnecessarily,’ he said shortly, and her heart immediately jumped into her throat.

  ‘You think it was less alarming to be told to pack and go?’ she countered angrily, scrambling from the bed and grabbing her own robe.

  ‘What I was hoping to do was avoid just this sort of pointless argument,’ he gritted back tensely.

  ‘Pointless?’ she queried with a hint of mockery. ‘I think it’s very much to the point. How can I trust you when you treat me like this? What aren’t you telling me about this “little hitch”?’

  Pierce’s gaze became glacial. ‘I’ve told you all you need to know,’ he insisted stonily, but that only inflamed her anger.

  ‘You’ve told me all you want me to know, and that’s something entirely different! What will you be doing when I’m conveniently out of the way?’

  He clearly didn’t like her sarcasm. ‘I have a short trip of my own to make. It’s business, and I don’t need you along,’ he said acidly.

  ‘Which means it’s dangerous, whatever it is,’ she deduced, cold fingers running up her spine. What on earth was going on?

  ‘Crossing the street is dangerous, if you don’t watch what you’re doing,’ he returned brusquely, doubling her alarm, not easing it in the slightest.

  His ‘little woman’ attitude infuriated her, and hurt her too. She deserved better than that from him. Stamping across to him, her hands caught hold of his lapels. ‘Stop treating me like a foolish child, Pierce. Tell me where you’re going!’

  His hands came up to fasten over hers, but made no move to remove them. ‘It would make no difference if I told you.’

  Her eyes searched his and met an infuriatingly blank wall. Yet when it came to stubbornness she had her fair share too. ‘OK, don’t tell me, but I’m your wife, Pierce Martineau, and I’ve been crossing streets safely for years. Wherever you’re going, I’m going with you!’

  In an instant the air between them fairly sizzled with tension. The wall came down with a crash, revealing a volcanic rage, and his hands tightened punishingly on her wrists. ‘Like hell you are! You’re going nowhere.’

  Alix raised her chin pugnaciously. ‘Try and stop me!’

  Pierce visibly conquered his anger, eyes taking on a mocking gleam. ‘What is this? You’ve been trying to get away from me for weeks, now you’re clinging like a limpet. What happened?’

  The return of the mockery she hated was a calculated slap in the face, but she refused to back off, recognising it for the deliberate ploy it was. ‘Last night happened, or had you forgotten?’ she reminded him softly.

  He drew in an audible breath at that, the lines of his face setting deep and grim. ‘Low blow, Alix,’ he declared curtly.

  ‘You started this, with your commands! Well, I won’t be ordered about without reason. A marriage should be a partnership. I’m not weak, I can take the truth. I deserve it. I’m going with you because you haven’t given me one good reason why I shouldn’t!’ she argued defiantly.

  Releasing her hands and grabbing her shoulders, he gave her a shake. ‘Listen, you little fool, the only danger is that while I’m arguing with you the fault isn’t being put right!’

  ‘Then stop arguing,’ she advised shortly.

  Swearing under his breath, he flung her away, stepping back from her. ‘I don’t have time for this. You aren’t going, and that’s final.’

  Hurt and anger filled her in equal parts. This was now a matter of principle. Either they had a marriage or they didn’t. He couldn’t just order her about without explanation. If he expected her to trust him, then she had the right to the truth. Damn him, couldn’t he also see how worried she was? Everything he wasn’t saying just made her anxiety grow! If something was wrong, she wanted to help. If there was danger involved, then she wanted to share it. Damn it, she loved him, and she would not sit calmly by and let him walk into the lion’s den alone!

  It was the merging of all her love and fear which produced her next statement.

  ‘Make me leave here without a good reason, Pierce, and you’ll never see me again!’ The rash challenge was as much a shock to Alix as the words tumbled out as they were to Pierce, who went rigid as a statue.

  ‘Threats, Alix?’ he countered dulcetly, and her nerves jolted.

  She was white as a sheet, but it was impossible to retract the words once said, although she instantly regretted them. She knew it was the wrong tack to take, but she had wanted him to talk to her, not close himself off! Now, having started, she had to go on. ‘I won’t be shut out!’

  ‘And I won’t be coerced.’

  She swallowed hard. ‘Then it’s stalemate, isn’t it?’

  Pierce’s smile was chilling. ‘Not quite. You still have to pack. From the mainland, you’ll have no trouble picking up a flight to England.’

  She couldn’t believe he was calling her bluff. ‘So it’s over, just like that?’ she declared gruffly.

  ‘Your decision, Alix.’

  She stared at him, heart thudding so loudly that she was sure he must hear it. Where had all the warmth and promise of the night gone? How on earth had they come to this so suddenly? She felt sick, desperately wishing she could take everything back, but finding the words choked her. ‘No, it was your decision. It doesn’t have to come to this.’

  ‘It already has.’

  Hot tears burned the backs of her eyes, but she refused to let a single one drop. ‘So last night meant nothing to you?’

  Something flickered in his eyes for a moment. ‘On the contrary, you could call it the perfect farewell. Now, unless you have anything further to say, I’d better go and see who arrived.’ Without another word, he turned away, his thoughts already very far from her as he strode from the room.

  In a state of shock she simply stood staring at the closed door. She could scarcely credit that he had accepted her ultimatum
. Surely he must have known she wasn’t serious, that it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing? Shaky legs took her to the bed, where she sat down gratefully. She didn’t know how it had all happened so fast. From insisting she would go with him, suddenly the marriage was over and she was on her way home!

  It was like a nightmare. Everything seemed distorted. Last night she had believed she had finally understood, and then this had happened. Why? Damn him! Why had he so stubbornly refused to tell her where he was going, and why? Shock rapidly gave way to anger as she dwelt on the last few minutes. No. She was damned if she’d go! Not without a suitable explanation. Last night he had said he wouldn’t let her go, and now he was quietly telling her to go? It didn’t make sense.

  Except, of course, it did, as soon as she made the contradiction. She gasped aloud. He had, she realised now, very neatly used her own anger against her, and she had come within an ace of letting him win. The knowledge revitalised her flagging spirit.

  Gritting her teeth, she went to the dressing-room to grab up some clothes and headed for the bathroom. She showered and dressed in jeans and shirt in next to no time, and didn’t bother to do more than run a brush through her hair. She couldn’t afford the time, because whatever Pierce said she was determined to stay right where she was. She did pack a case, though, and left it on the bed with her bag. She would need it, but not to go to England.

  So, much less than ten minutes later, she walked into the lounge, ready to do battle, to find that Pierce had somehow found the time to dress too, and was now in deep conversation with a tall fair-haired man. They both looked round as she entered, and her husband’s face was set in stern lines as he beckoned her over.

  ‘Alix, this is Pat Denning, my right-hand man,’ he introduced them in an icy voice.

  ‘Pleased to meet you at last, Mrs Martineau,’ Pat Denning declared in a friendly Texas drawl, shaking hands with her, his smile faintly tense. ‘I’m sorry to have to drag you away from your husband.’

  She returned his smile with an edged one of her own. ‘That’s OK, because I’m not going anyway.’

  Beside her Pierce breathed in harshly. ‘I thought we’d settled all that,’ he ground out tersely.

  Alix shrugged, although it took quite an effort to make it careless. ‘I was lying and you know it.’

  Their eyes engaged in silent battle, with neither looking away. Pierce set his jaw. ‘I wasn’t,’ he returned, but she simply raised her chin. ‘For God’s sake, Alix, don’t force me to do something I’ll regret!’ he warned coldly.

  Her expression became every bit as stubborn as he might have expected. ‘I don’t believe you’ve regretted anything in your life! And I refuse to go until you explain why I should.’

  Again that nerve ticked in his jaw. ‘What are you trying to get me to say, Alix? That I’ve had all I wanted from you, and now you can go? Well, if that’s what it takes, consider it said!’

  She felt her blood seethe with anger at the studied cruelty of the words. Five years ago she might have believed him, but with her fledgeling insight she saw something in the peculiar tension filling him which made her stick her chin out once more. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she returned softly, ‘and the only way you’ll get me off this island is if you knock me senseless.’

  Pierce swore long and hard.

  Pat Denning’s slow drawl broke the silence. ‘It’s getting late, boss,’ he interjected.

  The comment brought Alix’s head round towards him, and in the next split-second she heard Pierce mutter, ‘Oh, hell!’ and, turning back, came into sharp contact with his fist. Blackness opened at her feet and she plunged headlong into it.

  Pierce caught her as she fell, as white now as she was. ‘She’s OK. I pulled my punch. Her bag’s in the bedroom; get it, will you, while I put her in the helicopter?’ Face set in grim lines, he carried her outside to where the steel bird waited, strapping her into the machine, and tenderly probing the darkening spot on her chin. ‘Damn you, Alix, must you fight me all the time?’ he muttered, then turned as Pat Denning came to climb in.

  He looked questioningly at his employer. ‘Sure you want it this way, boss?’

  ‘Just get her out of here, will you, Pat? Make sure she’s safe.’

  Pat signalled to the pilot, then raised his voice over the mounting engine noise. ‘I’ll do that, but I sure wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when you get back! See ya, boss.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  ALIX returned to consciousness with a groan. Her jaw ached like the very devil and her head seemed to be thumping outrageously.

  ‘You OK there, ma’am?’

  The drawled query from beside her brought her head up and round, and she realised the thumping sensation came from the fact that she was airborne in a helicopter. Then, of course, she recalled everything—her refusal to leave, Pierce’s warning, and the final indignity of the way he had knocked her out.

  With a cry which made her jaw ache further, she looked around. Ahead of her sat the pilot, beside her lounged a blonde giant, and through the window she could see the island and the sparkling blue waters surrounding it. She could also see the speck that was Pierce watching them leave, and her hands went instantly to the belt which held her in place, wrenching at it in her efforts to break free. She would jump out and swim back! She’d...

  Strong hands clamped down on hers, stilling her movements. ‘Whoa there, ma’am. Pierce wants you alive, not throwing yourself from a moving helicopter and killing yourself!’

  Alix turned angrily flashing eyes on her guardian. ‘Who the hell are you?’ she demanded, then winced, raising a hand to cradle her jaw.

  The giant whistled silently. ‘Pat Denning. We were introduced. You’re going to have a bruise the size of a hen’s egg, I’m afraid,’ he observed sympathetically.

  ‘He hit me!’ The statement was a mixture of anger and disbelief.

  ‘Seemed to think it was the only thing he could do. I figured it was a big mistake, but he knows you better than I do.’

  ‘I’m going to kill him!’ Alix declared wrathfully, trying, without much success, to get her brain working. It was one thing to invite him to do it, another for him to take up the option!

  ‘Figured you might want to do that,’ Pat Denning agreed laconically.

  Even in the depths of her anger Alix was tempted to laugh, but she gritted her teeth. ‘Take me back to the island,’ she ordered instead.

  ‘Can’t do that, ma’am. I have my orders,’ he refused in his friendly way, and she sent him a flashing look.

  ‘Where is he going?’ she demanded, determined to get a flight there somehow.

  Ruefully, Pat Denning shook his head. ‘Sorry, I can’t tell you that.’

  Her look became derisive. ‘Is there anything you can tell me?’

  He gave that some thought. ‘Figure not.’

  That had her lip curling sarcastically. ‘You do a lot of figuring, don’t you? Is that what Pierce hired you for?’

  ‘Guess so,’ he agreed.

  ‘That and kidnapping women, to be more exact.’

  Pat Denning turned to frown at her over that remark. ‘You want to be careful, ma’am. Saying things like that can get a man into a powerful lot of trouble.’

  Having calmed down, Alix found she was beginning to get the measure of this man. ‘Exactly. So now are you going to tell me where Pierce is going?’ she bartered, knowing she didn’t have to spell everything out.

  She received a look of considerable respect. ‘You play a mean game, ma’am. Hell, the truth is, Pierce isn’t going anywhere,’ he pronounced bluntly.

  She hadn’t been expecting that. ‘What do you mean? What about the construction company?’

  Pat sent her a wry smile. ‘Oh, the company is building a dam in one of those tiny little Central American states all right, but that has nothing to do with this. Some lunatic with a grudge took a pot-shot at his brother in Italy, day before yesterday. Missed, thank the good lord, but he disappeared, and we think he�
�s on the way to try to get Pierce. The plan is for Pierce to stay put, and the police will catch him as he makes his move.’ Hearing her gasp, he sent her a solemn look. ‘Figured you had a right to know, ma’am.’

  Alix swallowed back a sudden rush of nausea as she thought of Pierce staying in the danger area. Staking himself out like a Judas goat, just waiting to be killed! ‘Why didn’t he tell me?’ she croaked out of a dry throat, willing herself not to utter the scream which grew inside her.

  ‘Said he didn’t want you to worry.’

  ‘Not worry?’ she ejaculated. How on earth could he think she’d worry less not knowing the facts? Was he crazy? ‘He should have told me!’

  ‘Reckon he should at that. Told him so, but he wouldn’t listen. Said you’d insist on staying behind, and he wanted you safely off the island.’

  ‘Oh, God!’ Alix had to acknowledge that Pierce was right. She would have refused to go. But that didn’t alter the fact that he should have told her the truth.

  ‘Don’t be too hard on him, ma’am. Poor old Pierce never could think straight where you were concerned,’ Pat enlarged, squeezing her hand avuncularly, although he was much the same age as Pierce.

  Alix frowned, tearing her gaze from the window and the rapidly decreasing island. ‘What do you mean?’

  He shrugged and pulled a wry face. ‘Where would I start? Take that business of the shipping line. We all told him he could get it for a tenth of the price, but would he listen? Uh-uh. He paid the full market price as if they were seaworthy, and then put in the same amount to bring them up to scratch. Crazy! But he wouldn’t hear any argument.’

  Alix didn’t know whether she was on her head or her heels. ‘Are we talking about the Petrakos shipping line?’ she queried, and when he nodded went on stiltedly, ‘But he got that for nothing.’ I know, I was there! she thought grimly. She would never forget; it was etched indelibly into her memory.