by Julie Leto
The thought flew away the minute she took him in her mouth, her hands still working magic, her tongue and teeth sending him into a tornado of spinning need, rocking desire. Damn, he wanted her. Damn, he loved her. Damn, he was going to come.
And when he did, she took what he gave, then soothed him back down to satiation with soft kisses and softer strokes. When she dropped from her knees onto the ground, cradling her head in his lap, he lost what was left of himself in the texture of her hair in his hands.
As soon as his ability to think returned, he realized she’d done more than give him pleasure. She’d showed him a part of her heart, the part she protected like some priceless limited-edition creation, more valuable than any jewel she had ever worked on, more delicate than any links of gold. She’d showed him, but hadn’t given it to him. For that, they’d need words—words Grey suspected he was ready to say, but doubted Reina was prepared to hear.
First they had to solve the mystery around Judi, her mother, the possibility of their coldhearted betrayals. Then, they could turn to the issues between them. And in the meantime, Grey had to figure out just how far he was willing to go.
13
REINA SLEPT on the ride home. She hadn’t allowed Grey to say anything after he’d dressed, silencing him with a finger over his mouth—a finger he’d wanted to make love to as a starting point for the rest of her. But he resisted. She hadn’t wanted anything for herself. To force the issue would be disrespectful to the gift she’d given him. Once he’d guided the car out of the secluded spot next to the river, she’d drifted off, her shoulder propped against the door and her cheek softly pressed against the glass. The woman could even control when she fell asleep, perfect for avoiding a discussion about the significance of what they’d just shared.
And it had been significant. Grey wasn’t certain about how or why, exactly, but he knew the simple act meant something significant to her. It had to him.
After he parked the car in the detached garage beside the house on First Street, he woke her with a gentle shake. Her eyes opened and the warmth in the way she looked at him, a tiny smile curling her lips, forced his hand. He wasn’t letting this woman go. Not now. Not ever.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi, yourself. We’re back.”
She snuggled into the leather seat. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?”
He couldn’t contain a wide, toothy smile. “Some of it was, believe me. The best dream I’ve had in years.”
She answered his grin with one of her own, but when she sat up, the expression faded. “But now we’re home. Dream’s over.”
He stroked her cheek. “Doesn’t have to be.”
The moment his gaze locked with hers, the dome light from the Jaguar casting a revealing glow, a mechanical trill broke the heavy silence.
His cell phone.
He answered it instantly.
“Mr. Masterson? This is Dawson Security Monitoring. We have an alarm sounding at the First Street residence.”
Grey shot from the car, doused the automatic light sparked when he opened the garage and leaned out the large doorway, straining to hear something from the house. But he’d disengaged the sirens earlier. The alarm was silent, meaning he knew someone was inside, but whoever had breached the locked doors had no idea they were about to be caught.
He motioned for Reina to get out of the vehicle. Quietly. “Have the police been called?” he asked the security representative.
“I’ll dispatch them now. We have entry through the back door and tripped motion detectors. Are you sure this isn’t a false alarm?”
Grey knew that most home-security systems were tripped by careless home owners or wandering pets. Most home-monitoring companies went days without catching an actual break-in. Too bad they couldn’t be on the side of statistics right now. Fact was, Judi had had time to return to the scene of her crime, though he doubted that was the case. He didn’t buy her story, but he did buy her fear. He also figured she wouldn’t be stupid enough to try again on the same night. Someone else was inside Reina’s home. Pilar, perhaps? Or someone else they didn’t anticipate?
“No, this isn’t a false alarm,” he said, then disconnected the call.
Reina waited inside the shadows of the garage.
“Someone broke in?”
“Yes, and they are likely still inside.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her arms as if a chill assailed her, despite the warm New Orleans night. “The police are on the way?”
“They’ve been dispatched. They may or may not get here before whoever is inside finds something, or gives up and leaves.”
She dismissed his doomsday prediction with a quick shake of her head. “I have the most valuable pieces with me. And no one will find that secret room.”
“Not on purpose, maybe.”
Her voice shook with surprise. “You want to go in?”
“You did ask me to help you solve your mystery. Our best shot at doing that is catching someone in the act.”
Grey noticed she kept her eyes peeled on the back door. Once again, he could see no signs of forced entry—not from this distance, anyway.
“What if Judi was lying?” Reina reasoned. “What if she stole the key chain from my mother to falsely implicate her, and is only biding her time until she cashes in on what she’s stolen.”
“Do you normally keep valuable stones in your house?”
She frowned. “I use the safe at the gallery, and only take out the precious gems when I’m almost done with the piece. I never bring them home.”
He figured she’d employ such caution. “And as far as we know, Judi doesn’t know about Claudio’s jewels or have any reason to believe you were working on anything valuable. But then what if she somehow found out? She did go straight to your work area.”
“There’s no way Judi knew about Claudio’s collection.”
“She could have eavesdropped during your initial meeting. You might not have noticed.”
She pressed her lips together, thinking. Lips that had just given him intense pleasure, lips that had yet to open with any confession of how she felt about him. But did she have to say anything? She’d shown him, hadn’t she? Just as he’d show her now by solving her problem and making good on his promise to help her. Grey still wanted to be with Reina, spend time with her, make love to her. But he wanted to have a chance to do this with nothing in the way to distract them, nothing to tug her heart apart before he had a chance to sneak inside.
“I would have noticed. My office is across the gallery from her reception desk. She can’t answer the phone or buzz people in from that distance without my noticing through the glass door.”
Grey conceded that, but added, “Could she have used the phone system to listen in? An intercom feature?”
At this, Reina paused. The possibility narrowed her eyes, but when she twisted her neck to meet his gaze straight on, he saw her suspicion.
“What about the men who helped Claudio deliver the stones?” she guessed. “They could have decided to come back, double-cross Claudio. I don’t want you going inside before the police arrive. It’s too dangerous, Grey. We should just stay here and wait.”
Grey knew Reina’s decision made sense. He might own a gun, one he’d tucked into the glove compartment of the car when they’d left to find Pilar, but he wasn’t a cop.
Still, he had to make sure she understood the big picture of letting the police be the first to discover the identity of her intruder.
“What if your mother is inside? Do you really want the police to find her there?”
Reina’s face melted into an emotionless mask. After only two days together, he now knew that her stoicism meant that she struggled bitterly with her fear, rage and betrayal. All the emotions any average person would experience in the same situation. All the emotions she’d taught herself to hide in order to keep others from ever considering her to be just like anyone else. Human. Fragile. Vulnerable.
“S
he’d be better off if they do. She might be able to flirt and seduce her way right out of their handcuffs. I don’t think she could work the same magic on me.”
Grey nodded, not doubting for a moment that Reina’s anger would be formidable once she allowed the rage to show. If Pilar was indeed inside, she’d better hope the cops formed a shield to protect her from her daughter’s wrath.
If the police ever arrived. Grey checked his watch, then looked for any movement inside the house. Only five minutes had passed, but he knew that a home invasion, particularly where no one was in danger, wouldn’t rate as a top priority for the police. They could be waiting long after the would-be thief escaped. And the longer the trespasser remained inside, the better the chance that the secret room would be discovered.
“At least we should keep a watch on both entrances. I’m going around front. You stay here.” He handed her the cell phone. “Call 911 if you see anyone, and stay out of sight.”
“You’re awfully bossy,” she said wryly.
He nodded. “So I’m told.” He touched her shoulder lightly, drawing a line up her collarbone to her cheek. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“You’re sweet,” she replied.
Grey grabbed the gun from the car, then brushed a kiss across her mouth before tucking the weapon out of sight. “I am, aren’t I? Stay hidden.”
She rolled her eyes at his final command, but as he slipped into the shadows cast by the tall hedge that surrounded her yard, he noticed she’d done as he asked by ducking into the darkness. He moved toward the front of the house, hoping it was the mob or even a stranger inside Reina’s house, rather than her mother or anyone else close to her heart. She didn’t deserve another dose of betrayal tonight.
Or ever. And it was up to him to make sure he kept her safe.
REINA FOUGHT to keep her eyes peeled on the back door. She was so sleepy. Yet every time her lids fluttered closed, even for an instant, the image of what she’d done with Grey—to Grey—on the bank of the Mississippi flashed in her mind.
So what? She’d performed the sex act before, though, at the moment, she couldn’t remember where or with whom. There was an intimacy about what she’d done, a selflessness that had her reeling. For the first time in her love life, she’d allowed only her lover’s pleasure to be sated…she hadn’t wanted anything for herself. At the time, the significance hadn’t even occurred to her. She’d simply wanted to bring the man she loved to orgasm, watch the play of pleasure on his face, feel the reflexes of his body’s response.
The man she loved?
Reina laughed and shook her head. Utterly ridiculous. She’d known Grey Masterson for less than three days, two if she counted the time it took for her to discover he wasn’t his brother.
And yet, she knew his twin, didn’t she? She loved Zane on a level she’d never shared with any other man—like a brother, really. And despite the differences the public saw between the Masterson men, Reina knew they shared more in common than either would admit. They were both loyal, caring. Zane’s dedication to his hedonistic lifestyle hid a heart she knew to be protective of his family. He’d switched places with his brother, hadn’t he? He’d taken on a business he’d avoided all his life. Thanks to his maverick ideas, like the column detailing his love affair with Toni Maxwell, he had probably breathed new life into the struggling venture. She’d never doubted Zane’s intelligence or his ingenuity, and she’d learned Grey matched both of those qualities point for point.
So how could she not love Grey? How could she not love a man who was a carbon copy of Zane and yet, as her lover, had touched her deeply, intimately, in ways she had never thought possible? Not since Martine had she allowed a man such mastery over her body, such control over exploring her sexual needs and responses. After that first affair, she’d realized what she’d liked and had taken control. She’d told her lovers what to do and when to do it. And they’d all complied.
But Grey took her experience one step further, outside the realm of the physical. He’d turned the tables, usurping her control with a passion that broke through the walls she’d erected to keep her from ever falling in love.
So how did she know she loved him now? How could she possibly be so involved with him so soon? And if she was, what would she do about it?
Her eyes darted to Zane’s Jaguar, the keys dangling in the ignition, catching the faint light from the back porch.
“Oh, God,” she said with a sigh, her voice a hoarse whisper.
She wanted to run. Escape. But cowardly flight wasn’t her way. She’d simply have to find a way to take control of the situation. Soon. Before it was too late. Before she’d lost her heart entirely.
Because that would be tragic.
Submissive.
Weak.
Wouldn’t it?
Movement on the back porch snapped her attention to the present. She slipped farther into the shadows, her gaze fixed on the house. The inner door swung open, leaving only the screened door between the intruder and the porch.
A male figure stepped out just as blue-and-red flashing lights twirled around the yard with dizzying, sickening spin.
She breathed his name before collapsing against the wall.
“Claudio!”
THE NEXT FEW MINUTES EXPLODED with frantic activity. Police swarmed the yard and house. At first, Grey thought they’d been besieged by the entire New Orleans Police Department, but once his nerves calmed, he realized only four patrolmen had responded to the alarm, two in each cruiser now parked out front. Reina walked toward the house with an officer beside her, apparently having identified herself as the resident. Grey had done the same, and now waited near a hedge halfway between the front yard and the back gate while the officer ran his ID and his permit to carry arms through for verification.
Claudio, shocked and sweating, stood on the porch with his hands cuffed behind his back, his face pressed against the wall, his voice breaking the silence with outraged curses, all luckily in Italian so the police didn’t understand how thoroughly he insulted them. Yet, the minute Claudio spied Reina walking toward the house, he turned his attention to her.
“Reina, bella, you are all right? Please, tell these men who I am. This is all a—” he paused, searching for the right word in English “—a misunderstanding.”
Reina crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes livid, her mouth firmly set in a thin line. Grey’s mind flashed with countless scenarios, the strongest one involving Claudio stealing his own collection to receive payment on an insurance policy he had claimed not to have. Why else would he break into Reina’s house in the middle of the night?
“Then you should start explaining, signore,” she answered, her signature coolness quavering so slightly Grey was certain only he had heard it.
The policeman who’d taken Grey’s driver’s license and carry permit to verify his identification returned the laminated cards.
“You don’t have to speak to him, ma’am,” the officer beside Reina said. “We can handle the questioning.”
Grey jogged across the yard, shoving his wallet back into his pocket.
“I’m sure you can, Officer,” he interrupted, “but first, I’m curious as to why so many policemen responded to a tripped alarm.”
“We had a call from a concerned citizen just before the alarm came in. Two cars were dispatched separately.” The cop, speaking with more authority in his voice than matched his young face, turned to Reina. “Do you know this man, ma’am?”
Claudio released another long string of Italian curses. “I called the police!”
“You what?” Grey asked.
“Sì. I tried to call you earlier,” he said to Reina, “to check on your progress with the collection, but you didn’t answer the phone. I even came by the house and knocked. Lights were on upstairs, but you didn’t answer.”
Grey thought back, realizing Claudio could have arrived when he and Reina had been upstairs making love. “I went to look for you, and when I couldn’t find
you, I returned. Again, I knocked. Again, no answer. This time, no light. I was worried, so I called the police, then came inside to make sure you were all right.”
Reina eyed him with pure skepticism. “Why would you be worried? You knew I was with…”
Her voice trailed off, and Grey piped up. He’d already shown his correct identification to the police, figuring he’d have more clout with the cops as himself than as Zane, who tended to annoy law enforcement officers whenever he had the chance. But Reina didn’t know that. Neither did Claudio. And with his brother living it up with Toni Maxwell while pretending to be him, he figured the less people aware of the switch, the better.
“Me,” he supplied. “I’ve been with Reina since you left the other night. You had no reason for concern.”
Claudio looked at the ground, and the skin along Grey’s neck prickled with electricity. Just as he sensed Judi had been earlier, this man was hiding something—something important—perhaps something even more shocking than an attempt to steal his own collection. He hoped his friend at Interpol sent his files soon. He’d check his e-mail just as soon as he could.
“I had my reasons,” he said, his voice soft.
Reina turned to the policeman beside her. “Officer, it’s quite clear that all of these patrolmen searching the grounds of my home is an unnecessary disruption to the neighborhood. If you’ll give me a moment to check inside, I can let you know if my valuables are undisturbed.”
“Sounds reasonable, but I should check out the house myself first. Make sure there isn’t anyone else inside. Then I’ll take you in.”
Reina glanced at Grey, obviously reluctant to reveal the hiding place of the collection even to the police. He couldn’t blame her. The department had yet to solve her robberies and she had no reason to trust these strangers, not when the people she knew—Judi, Claudio and possibly Pilar—had already proved themselves untrustworthy.
The police made a quick sweep of the house, after which two officers returned to their beat while the other two, at Reina’s request, remained outside on the porch with Claudio and Grey while she went upstairs to check on the collection. When she returned, she nodded at Grey, indicating that all was well.
