Her body erupted into ecstasy, quivering.
He was so hard, so hard and her hand was on him.
Sweeping her up in his arms he carried her over to the loose hay, dragged his saddle down and set her down in the hay so her hips were raised on the saddle. He wanted her, needed to sheathe himself in her, go deeper than he’d ever gone before. Sunlight poured over her white skin, made her eyes glow as he spread her thighs and plunged into her.
So deep, he was so deep inside her that her eyes widened.
Ariel looked up at him. The light gilded his hair and his body. He was magnificent, muscles straining as he stroked deeper inside her. His green eyes glowed, looking at her as he drove into her and held there.
Matt felt her tighten, felt the liquid quiver of her muscles clench around him as she came. She cried out his name. He pounded into her, stroked into her, the muscles inside her quivering uncontrollably, pounding as she bucked beneath him. He called her name as he filled her. He shuddered, stroking into her with each pulse.
He collapsed on and around her, wrapping an arm around her to shift her higher in the hay. Cradling her head in the crook of his arm he looked down at the satisfaction on her sweet, smiling face, her blue eyes shining up at him. He cupped her face with his free hand, kissed her gently on the lips.
“I love you, Ariel,” he said. “I love what you do to me and what I can do to you.”
Sliding her hand across his beautiful body, she said, softly, “I love you, too, Matt, I want to make you happy as much as I can and in as many ways as I can.”
“You do that, love,” Matt said, “simply being with me.”
Her eyes twinkled. “But it’s such fun to surprise you.”
She’d been right, he had needed it, after what had been said out there. A release.
Matt thought of how she’d looked, standing in that shaft of sunlight and smiled. “You do that, too. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Shaking her head, Ariel laughed and said, “No, but I think you may have left your mark. You are a very passionate man and I have very fair skin.”
She turned her head.
Touching the rosy mark on her throat gently, he found another on a smooth ivory breast and grinned. “That will be hard to explain.”
For a little while they lay there in the sweet hay regaining their strength until he gave her a hand up. The stable wasn’t that hot but Darrin would be there soon for dinner and they hadn’t finished with the horses.
Matt pulled his clothes on.
He looked at Ariel, standing in the sunlight streaming through the window, with those blue highlights dancing in her hair. He walked over to her, took her in his arms and held her very tight.
Wrapping her arms around his waist, Ariel settled her head against his chest and listened to his heart beat.
How could she not have wanted to love him like this?
After a minute he kissed her hair, before they finished working with the horses and went to get started on dinner.
Darrin spotted the mark on her throat damn near immediately and Ariel saw the look.
He grinned and shook his head.
She blushed.
“Damn, son,” Darrin teased, as Matt came out to hand him a glass of Bushmills. “I thought you grew out of that shit.”
Knowing exactly what Darrin referred to, Matt grinned. Contentedly, he pulled Ariel close.
“I’m marking this one as a keeper,” he said.
Slowly, Darrin nodded and smiled wistfully. “It was like that with your mom and me, too.”
Matt looked at him. “But you two didn’t get married for a couple of years.”
“I’d have married your mother the week I first met her but there was you, Matt. She would have done the same. We wanted to give you time to get used to the idea.”
Memories drifted through Darrin’s mind, of a golden haired woman he’d loved as intensely as it seemed Matt did Ariel, although Julianna’s eyes had been more hazel than green. His golden lady. His heart ached.
He sighed and turned his mind back to the matter at hand.
“Folks say there was a helicopter out this way this morning. From Marathon. A few gunshots, too, but someone might have been popping off a few varmints.”
He wasn’t talking about the four-legged kind. He suspected what might have gone down out here.
“Yep,” Matt said, “they came. Offered me money. I told them where to put it and then Ariel and I convinced them I was serious.”
“They know where you live, they’re letting you know that,” Darrin said. “Are your plans still on for tomorrow?”
Matt looked at Ariel and shook his head. “He brought company with him, as insurance. After that, I think it’s become too dangerous. I might need some help getting an appointment with the State Attorney General. With what I’ve got now, we probably have enough to convince him to order an audit here. That should be enough to get the ball rolling.”
Ariel grinned ruefully. “I can confirm that. I’ll call the office, tell them I’ve got the flu. That might hold my job for a little while.”
When all this was over, Matt had his own plans on that count. He was going to talk it over with Darrin privately as soon as he got the chance, to see what he thought before mentioning it to Ariel.
A way to keep her here. He thought she’d go for it.
“I’ll talk to the AG,” Darrin said. Antonio Morales was an old friend. “Hell, he knows us well enough.”
“Better from you, Darrin. In the meantime, want to play some cards?”
Pulling out the deck, Matt gave Ariel a wink as they set up for a penny-ante game. They played poker as they sat around by the pool swapping stories. It took a while before Darrin started giving Ariel some curious looks.
“I’ll fold,” Darrin said suspiciously, “show your cards.”
Ariel grinned as she turned her hand over.
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “You were bluffing. I ought to…”
He scooped her up and made as if to throw her in the pool. She was laughing. So was he.
“You had nothing. Matt, you better hang on to this one, we need another hand at the table.”
“My thought exactly,” Matt said.
With luck, tomorrow would start the ball rolling. Soon it would be all over. He could start thinking about a normal life again. He hadn’t found the one responsible for killing Bill but he was closer.
Tomorrow, maybe.
Chapter Twenty
Eight thirty East Coast time was five thirty Phoenix time at this time of year. The sun was only a glimmer on the horizon but light filled the sky. Not that Rae Anne would care. Matt was out at the stable, feeding, watering and cleaning the horses’ stalls. Tossing her phone on the bed at the end of the call, Ariel wandered out to join him, crossing her arms on the side of the stall where he worked.
Matt looked at her, at the clear signs of frustration on her face. “I take it, it didn’t go well.”
Shrugging, she grinned a little wryly. “That’s one way of putting it.”
It was a very mild way of putting it. Carol hadn’t been happy. Her voice had been tight, furious. Ariel couldn’t blame her and lying had made her very uncomfortable. She hated it but she could scarcely tell Carol the truth. For all that, though, it was also true that in all the time Ariel had worked for Titan this was the first time she’d requested any personal time. In the end, Carol dumped it back into Ariel’s lap to handle. Still, it hadn’t been easy and she couldn’t help wondering whether she’d still have a job when this was all over.
With both hands, Matt brushed the hair back from her face. She was taking a big risk for him and for Bill. He hoped by the end of the day to offer her something that might make up for it. He couldn’t say anything, though, until he talked to Darrin.
“I’m sorry, Ariel. I know this isn’t easy for you,” he said.
Thinking about all those people who’d entrusted their life savings to Marathon and Genesis she blew o
ut a breath and smiled up at him. “If what we know about Marathon and Genesis is true then shutting them down will be worth it.”
How many people were risking their life saving so two men in the top one percent could afford their yachts?
“At least you can relax and take it easy today. Go for a swim in the pool.” Sliding his arms around her waist, Matt pulled her close. “I wish I could keep you company.”
With her own arms around him, she lifted her lips for his kiss. “You’ll be home later.”
He was more than glad to give her that kiss before he had to release her. Darrin had pulled a few strings and his personal relationship with the A.G. to get an appointment. Darrin was expecting him in the office to review the materials and discuss how they would present it.
“Okay,” he said, reluctantly, “as long as you don’t close the outer patio doors, you’ll be fine. Once you close them, though, you’re stuck. The alarm system will trigger, then.”
Smiling, she reached up to lay a gentle hand on his face. “Matt, I’ve got it. You’d better go.”
His mouth twitched, ruefully. “I’m delaying. I don’t want to leave. What I want to do is tumble you back into that bed and make love to you until neither one of us can move. I’ll get a set of spare keys made today, so you can at least leave the house for a while.”
“A quiet day spent by the pool with this view isn’t exactly a hardship,” she said with a smile, waving her hands at the view of the mountains.
Kissing her hard, he made himself release her and go to the car. “I could come home for lunch.”
She gave him a look but smiled. “That’s a long drive. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine. We’ll make up for it when you get home.”
Looking at her standing at the door to his house in the rearview mirror, Matt knew he wanted to see that view for a long time. The rest of his life. Thinking of her waiting for him to come home filled him with a peace he’d never known until now. He knew she wasn’t made to be a stay-at-home wife and he didn’t want one. What he wanted was Ariel. He didn’t know if he liked her traveling so much and he’d gotten the feeling she only accepted it as part of the job, something that kept her distance. She didn’t want distance anymore, though, and he wanted her close. He’d been thinking about it since she told him about the computer tricks she knew. He and Darrin had talked about hiring their own guru for a while, maybe now they had one. She knew the financial end of it, too, certainly well enough to have spotted problems at Marathon.
The first order of business, though, was Marathon and Genesis.
Darrin waited in his office, two mugs of coffee sitting on his desk. One for each of them.
Firing up his laptop, Matt walked Darrin through what they had.
After seeing it all, Darrin sat back, shaking his head. “They were smart, kept it low-key enough that no one would notice.”
“Especially with no obvious link between the two companies. It was a match made in heaven for them, with Genesis backing Marathon’s play.”
“I did a little checking on my own, seeing if I could find any sign of them manipulating prices here,” Darrin said, his mouth thinning. “Now that I knew I needed to be looking, I found enough to raise some questions.”
It was Darrin’s pull, the mention of Enron, Ponzi schemes, Marathon, Genesis and price fixing that got them an appointment in the early afternoon with the Attorney General’s office. The AG cleared some appointments on his schedule to arrange to meet with them. Darrin hung up the phone.
The situation with Ariel made Matt uncomfortable. She’d put her job on the line for him now.
“Darrin,” Matt began.
With that familiar crooked grin that Matt had known all his life, Darrin said, “Folks at her job not too happy, huh?”
Matt blew out a breath. “How did you know?”
Leaning back in his chair, Darrin looked at him. “Hell, I’ve known you since you were in short pants. You might fool other people but you can’t fool me. Besides, I saw the look on your face. So, how good is she?”
“She knows tricks I don’t.”
“That’s not saying much,” Darrin laughed but he thought about it. “She’s bright and honest, for all that poker face and she’s got a good one. That’ll come in handy in our trade. What she doesn’t know, she can learn. Go ahead and ask her. If she wants the job, it’s hers. We’ll negotiate salary and all whenever.” He glanced at Matt. “It’s good to keep it in the family.”
Smiling, Matt said, “It will be.”
Ariel watched Matt disappear over the rise with a pang and then closed the front door. It was nearly over. What would happen then? She looked at her watch. She’d better call Marathon and plead the flu before Marathon called Titan to complain. Until she knew what the future would bring, she didn’t want to burn any bridges, not at the risk of losing her job. She was close enough to that already. Taking her cell phone out on the patio, she made the call.
She finally reached a real person, pleading the flu with the office manager. He was surprisingly unconcerned about the delay after the rescheduling.
With that out of the way, though, she could sit out by the pool and read, swim and wish that Matt was there. It was astonishing how much she’d grown to love him in such a short time.
She had the whole day to herself without having to run to an airport or get ready to run to one. This wasn’t a cheerless plastic hotel room and no office waited for her to show up.
There were books on her e-reader she hadn’t even looked at – her original companions for the trip – but Matt had kept her so gloriously busy she hadn’t even thought of them. Thinking of him made her heart beat heavy and deep. Making love to him, though… The things he did to her, the way he touched her, brought her amazingly alive. Simply the thought of it sent slow waves of pleasure rolling deep inside her.
More than that, though, was the knowledge that she could trust him. He fought for the things he believed in, come hell or high water. As much as it frightened her in some ways, he was the only kind of man she’d want. Look at the chances he’d taken for Bill. She could let go with him. Completely.
She curled up on a divan by the pool with her book, the umbrella angled to keep her from burning. It would be easy to get used to this, to coming out here with a book to sit and read. With only the sound of the wind across the sand, the silence was soothing. After a while she became accustomed to the little noises, the horses moving around the corral, the breeze. It would get hot soon and then she’d have to go inside, or go for a swim.
It was such a beautiful house, though, such a great place to live.
What would it be like to live here all the time? If she could, she thought wistfully.
Getting up, she fetched herself a tall glass of ice water, drank some and then carried it out to put it on the table. It would be easy to get dehydrated here. She had to shift anyway to get out of the sun. The book was good and involving but something odd had caught her attention. A noise that wasn’t natural. Or a lack of it. The sudden feeling of being watched.
Something was wrong. Her nerves were on edge as she looked around. She couldn’t see what it was but something was wrong. The horses were restless, too, moving around the paddock. It made her uncomfortable. For some reason her heart pounded with an alarm she didn’t quite register.
Ariel got up and walked to the patio door, put her hand on the latch.
“That will be far enough, Ms. O’Donnell,” a smooth and oily voice, surprisingly deep, said.
Slowly, she turned, as fear moved sluggishly through her veins.
All the stooges were there, along with Genardi and another man, one with the eyes of a predator and the cold and pitiless face of a snake.
A shiver of fear went through her as she looked at him.
Jonathan Lovell, Head of Security for Genesis.
She knew him from his picture. It hadn’t done him justice. No two-dimensional representation could carry the sense of menace he conveyed.
She kept her expression clear. She didn’t want him to know how frightened she was.
He was taller than she’d thought, as tall as Matthew and lean. That face was more angular than she remembered from the photo but maybe it hadn’t been able to truly capture the hard, expressionless angles of his features.
Where had they come from? How had they gotten here without her hearing them?
It didn’t matter. They were here.
Matt’s guns were inside but even supposing she knew how to use them, she knew she would never reach the bedroom in time. There was no chance, looking at her bag sitting under the table, that she could reach her cell phone.
Deliberately, she drew the patio door closed. She heard the latch catch.
The alarm system was activated.
She wouldn’t let them into Matt’s house, have access to his guns, nor would she let them trap her in there.
At a signal from Lovell, his men spread out to try to cut off her chance to escape. Her only hope now was to run. If she could reach the desert, out in the open, she might have a chance to get away among the hills. Once they closed in on her, though, she was finished.
She had to try. She bolted.
Dodging and darting around them and the cactus, she tried to reach cover. A tackle from behind brought her down.
They dragged her back and sat her down in one of the patio chairs forcefully.
“You didn’t go to work today, Ms. O’Donnell,” Lovell said. He had a voice like a wolf, a low growl. “Nor were you where you were expected. That caused me a great deal of trouble. You made me change my plans not once but twice. I don’t like changing my plans.”
Lovell pulled up a chair and sat so they were knee to knee.
“And where is Mr. Morrison?”
He’d hoped to catch Morrison at home. It would have been easier to finish this out here in the desert, so far from prying eyes.
Ariel looked at the man. If Genardi had been frightening, Lovell was far worse. He was a hunter, cold and calculating, icy, there was no mercy in those black eyes, not a shred of kindness. There was no emotion at all. Like any predator, he would hunt her down as dispassionately as a wolf would a deer. Genardi enjoyed hurting, the physicality of it, it played to his ego but this man was colder. He would use it as a tool or a practical necessity, but he would enjoy it, it was just that his pleasure would be more clinical. He would enjoy it as a wolf enjoyed the moment when the deer fell, its jaws closed around the deer’s throat while the hot blood coursed down its throat.
Lucky Charm Page 28
