He searched a military database that wasn’t supposed to exist but which the U.S. intelligence community used to identify hostiles, terrorists or spies. He entered the name “Georgi Petrov” and waited for the computer to sift through thousands of names from hundreds of countries.
The computer told him no matches had been found. Hunter wasn’t surprised. He’d assumed the name had been an alias right from the start. Next, he withdrew the wallets of his three assailants. One by one, he entered their names into the database. Again, no matches were found, and Hunter assumed they were simply low-level thugs who had never drawn the interest of any international network.
Hunter withdrew from the U.S. database and drummed his fingers on the table. Should he request a crack from U.S. intelligence to break into the Russian, Bulgarian or Turkish Web sites to search for the names? Hunter possessed the security clearance to request that high-level kind of search, but he knew every search left a trail, and this early in his investigation, he couldn’t justify the risk.
Hunter shut down his computer and repacked the equipment. Unfolding a map of the immediate area, he studied it carefully before he took out the tracing device and checked it. The first two digits of the phone number had been identified. He matched them to a phone book directory to make sure his memory was correct. It was. The kidnapper’s call had come from somewhere inside Vashmira’s interior. From the mountain region. If they didn’t receive a call by morning, he intended to start driving in that direction.
“Hunter?”
Tashya opened the bedroom door. She walked into the living area wearing a shirt that barely reached her thighs. Her legs, incredibly toned from riding her horses, forced him to keep his gaze anywhere by there. She had marvelous legs, long and lean and…erotic. He lifted his gaze and realized she wasn’t wearing a bra, either.
Oh, God.
She was pure temptation.
He raised his eyes to hers, figuring that would be safe. But the need and desire he saw swirling there turned him on even more than her magnificent body.
He almost growled at her. His voice was so curt that it didn’t resemble the laid-back Alexander’s in the least. “What?”
“I can’t sleep.”
He had to look somewhere besides her eyes, somewhere other than her breasts, or those sexy legs. He stared at her feet and realized he’d never seen her bare toes before, sinfully polished, gleaming pink toenails that led to the delicate arches of her graceful feet.
Blood surged to his groin. At his loss of control over his body, he turned away from her, stumbled toward the window and stared outside.
He saw nothing in the black pane of glass but her reflection, feminine, soft and hot. Hot enough to fry his nerve endings with just one searing look. Damn. He couldn’t go near her. Not now. Not with his heart pounding with need, lust filling him up from his soles to his scalp and making clear thinking difficult.
“Go back to bed, Princess.”
“Come with me.”
Come with me. Those words tore into his resolve—to her bed—battered his determination.
It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to turn to face her. Her expression was proud, her eyes hopeful and welcoming, her lips soft and inviting. But he couldn’t…
“We can’t afford any distractions right now.”
She spoke softly, her voice curling around him like a blanket. “Is that what I am to you, a distraction?”
“Don’t.”
She came to him, put her arms around his waist and laid her head against his rapidly beating heart. “I’m worried about the boys, and Sophia and my older brothers. Just hold me. Please, just hold me.”
She didn’t know what she was asking, didn’t understand the conflict raging inside him between needing to protect her and needing to make love to her. Her heat combined with her fresh scent almost undid him. Duty had been drilled into him first by his father, then by the military and then by the CIA. He’d been tempted before during a mission—but never like this. If he waited one second longer to free himself, he’d never find the strength. He yanked backward, out of her arms, retreated a step.
“This isn’t going to happen.” He folded his arms across his chest, controlled his ragged breaths through sheer strength of will.
At his cold words she flinched, then courageously lifted her chin. “What’s the matter?” Boldly she let her eyes drop to the straining bulge in his slacks. “You want me. I want you.”
“And what about tomorrow?” He cupped her chin and looked deep into her eyes, knowing he caused her pain but unable to stop himself because he damn sure knew that refusing her was the right thing to do. He might want her, but he cared most about protecting her. He wouldn’t go against the code of honor he lived by—not when letting down his guard could cost her life.
She shrugged. “We may be dead tomorrow.”
“Look, Princess. I’ve survived much tougher assignments than this one, and I have no intention of failing. You’re going to have a tomorrow, a next week and a next year, so I’m not going to take advantage of your enticing…suggestion.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “You aren’t taking advantage. I’m offering.”
“I’m refusing.”
“I could change your mind…but then I would be taking advantage of you.”
She turned from him, and with the grace of a queen, walked into the bedroom and quietly shut the door.
He bit back a groan, knowing he had hurt her, aching with wanting her. Still he’d done the right thing. So then why did he feel so bad?
TASHYA WANTED TO SHAKE some sense into the man. She was worried sick about her brothers and she couldn’t sleep. The waiting, the not knowing if the boys were even alive, made her feel helpless. Princesses weren’t supposed to feel helpless, and she was having difficulty dealing with not getting what she wanted. Okay, she was pampered, maybe a little spoiled.
But Hunter was being totally unreasonable. There was no good reason not to spend what was left of the night enjoying one another’s company. She wanted his arms around her. She wanted to rest her head against his broad chest and share childhood stories. She wasn’t asking for a lifetime commitment, but for a few hours of pleasure so she could forget for a while that she might never tell the boys a bedtime story again. Never bathe them or kiss their sweet little faces.
What better way to get to know Hunter, to learn to trust one another?
But did Super Spy see her point of view? No way. He had to stick to duty and honor and all those noble things.
She supposed she should feel humiliated by his rejection, but how could she after she’d seen the evidence of his desire? Instead, anger at his unilateral decision ruled her emotions. Who gave him the right to assume what was good for them both?
Stubborn fool. She bounced onto the bed, then stared at the ceiling with her fingers laced behind her head. All her life she’d been surrounded by powerful men, men who made life-and-death decisions and who ruled her country and those of their neighbors. Most of them were good men who went into public service out of a need to help their people.
But damn it. She’d never wanted one of them the way she wanted Hunter. Perhaps the danger had lowered her inhibitions, but his protectiveness aroused her.
She reminded herself that Hunter was more a soldier waging an attack than a politician planning a campaign. Still, she was a grown woman who knew exactly whom she wanted—and just because that man was set on doing things his way was no reason for her to give in. She may have lost this battle between them, but she was determined not to lose the war.
When Hunter’s cell phone rang, she forgot her anger and rushed out of the bedroom.
He attached his tracing device to his cell phone, pressed the speaker option that allowed her to hear the conversation, then let his phone ring three times before answering. “Yes?”
“Alex, it’s Sophia. Have you heard anything?”
Her stepmother sounded distraught, and Tashya’s heart hitched
. She leaned forward and spoke into the speaker. “We answered a phone call from the kidnapper at the National Museum, but we were attacked. Alex fended the thugs off, and we’re expecting the kidnapper to contact us at any time. We really shouldn’t tie up this line.”
“I understand.” Sophia hesitated. “I thought you should know a few things. Neve is nowhere to be found. She’s simply disappeared, never made it home. Ira thinks the girl might be working with the kidnapper.”
“Have Ira check her bank accounts for any large deposits,” Hunter suggested in Alex’s voice.
“Stephan—I mean, Major Cheslav checked through military records for me. Records General Vladimir refused to let me see. Neve’s father died during the revolution. She comes from a good family.”
“Is there something else?” Alex asked.
“I’m so worried about Dimitri and Nikita. I was going to ask Nicholas to put off the discussion of women’s rights in the cabinet until after we find the boys. It’s possible that someone took the boys to get Tashya out of the palace in order to counteract the princess’s influence with the cabinet.”
“You fear that if the vote comes too soon, then our enemies will have no use for my little brothers?” Hunter asked, following Sophia’s logic and filling in the blanks.
Sophia had never agreed with the women’s rights legislation that Tashya was trying to have enacted. Sophia believed women should remain at home and that their careers should consist of taking care of their families. Tashya had nothing against Sophia’s beliefs, but she thought all women should have the right and the opportunity to choose a career if they wished to have one. Could Sophia be correct? Had this entire kidnapping scheme been concocted by someone who wanted her out of the way while the votes were tabulated?
Or was there another reason altogether? One she couldn’t fathom.
“I see no harm in delaying the votes on these issues,” Tashya agreed. “Go ahead and speak to Nicholas, but I suggest you wait until morning. After all, he and Ericka are newlyweds on their honeymoon.”
Hunter disconnected his phone and carefully examined the tracer device. “Get dressed. Hurry.”
By his intensity, she knew something was wrong. Her pulse automatically shifted into high gear. She hurried into her room, but not before Hunter turned out the lights, pulled his weapon, and carefully peeked out the window.
She’d never dressed and packed so fast in her life. Breathless, she returned with her backpack slung over her shoulder to find he’d opened the rear window of the suite that overlooked a lower roof and that he’d already tossed his duffel onto the crumbling shingles.
She didn’t ask questions. But she had difficulty climbing through the window with her palms damp with perspiration. Hunter placed a protective hand on her head, and she ducked under the sash and slowly eased onto the roof. Although dawn had yet to arrive, the night sky was brightening, hinting at the daylight to come within minutes. On the rooftop, they were easy targets, and the ground looked sickeningly far away.
Hunter slung the duffel over one shoulder and led Tashya toward the rear of the building. The gentle pitch of the roof made walking relatively easy. She had no fear of accidentally falling. But somehow, they had to drop to the ground.
“Over there,” Hunter whispered, then tugged her toward a corner that couldn’t be seen from the front entrance.
She followed him, never once doubting that these maneuvers were necessary and that something had alerted him to danger. Hunter wasn’t a man who would endanger her or frighten her unnecessarily. She trusted his judgment with her life. If he told her to jump off the three-story-high roof, then she would jump off the roof. She just prayed she didn’t freeze up on him out of fear of breaking her neck.
“How are you at tree climbing?” Hunter asked.
She swallowed hard as she gazed at the narrow branch that extended from the tree to the roof. “Tree climbing isn’t exactly a mandatory course in exclusive Swiss finishing schools.”
“Hand me your pack.”
She did as he asked. Then he dropped to his stomach, lowered his duffel and her pack as far as he could reach, then released them. They landed in the grass with a hard thud that made her heart jerk. That could have been her body smacking the ground.
“Someone traced Sophia’s call to us. I expect company sometime soon.”
Company? Hunter had a way with understatement that jarred her nerve endings.
“Why did you allow the call to last so long?” she asked as she contemplated crawling out onto the branch.
“Because…I want to see who shows up.”
Chapter Eight
Hunter had been delighted to see that someone had traced Sophia’s call. Since the beginning of his impersonation of Prince Alexander, Hunter had been forced to react instead of taking action and going on the offensive. But now that he knew someone wanted to pinpoint their location, Hunter could take charge. Whoever showed up would have a nasty surprise waiting for them.
However, first he had to get the princess off the roof. The sooner the better. Dawn was only minutes away.
He pointed to their first goal, a thin branch that arched from the roof edge back to a massive trunk. “Are you strong enough to swing arm-over-arm until you reach that lower and thicker branch with your feet?”
“I can try.”
She didn’t sound confident. He couldn’t help admiring her for recognizing her own weaknesses and being brave enough to try to overcome them.
“Okay.” He unfurled a rope he’d taken from his duffel. Quickly he fashioned a makeshift harness around her hips and feet. “There’s no need to worry—”
“Yeah, right.”
“If you fall, I’ll catch you.”
“Why can’t you just lower me to the ground with the rope?” she asked reasonably.
“Because…this rope isn’t long enough.” A fifteen-foot drop probably wouldn’t kill them, but they could easily break bones.
Hunter reached into his pocket and handed her an earpiece with a miniature microphone/receiver. “Place this in your ear. The mike will pick up a whisper, and I’ll talk you through it.”
Without hesitation, she placed the tiny piece into her right ear. With a deep sigh, she then faced the branch. She would have to lean over the roof edge just to reach the slender handhold, then swing arm-over-arm, a total of maybe four or five times to reach the relative safety of the thick branch with her feet. And she would have to do it quietly.
Hunter couldn’t go with her. The thin branch wouldn’t hold both their weights. He secured the free end of the rope harness to his belt, then wrapped a firm arm around her waist. “I won’t let go until you have your hands set.”
“Give me a little push, okay?”
He leaned forward with her as far as he could, but didn’t dare push her. “Go for it.”
She jumped. Her hands caught the branch. Her feet kicked and the leaves rustled.
“You’re doing great. Wait until your feet stop rocking, then let go with one hand and swing forward. Do it fast.”
She didn’t move. He heard her breathing heavily, and he wondered if he had misjudged her determination and strength. But wouldn’t she have protested if she thought this was beyond her ability? Maybe not. She was one determined lady. He hadn’t even bothered to ask if she had a fear of heights. Now certainly was not the time.
“Don’t look down, Princess.”
“Okay.”
She released one hand, swung and regrasped the branch.
“Great. You’re doing fine. Don’t rest too long.”
Hunter unfastened the extra rope from his belt and let out more of the line attached to her harness. If she fell now, he could hold her weight. But if she fell after he let out a few more feet of line, the strength he would need to hold her after the drop would be enormous. There was no chimney to wrap the line around to absorb some of the shock. Carefully, he kneeled and wrapped his end of the line several times around the branch, then secured it back to his b
elt.
As she kicked and struggled forward, he prayed the branch would not break. “That’s good. You’re almost there.”
He broke into a sweat. Each forward swing of her body looked weaker. On the last swing, she’d barely regrabbed the branch.
Her breathing was ragged, and she grunted. He tensed. “One more time. Take a deep breath. After this one, your feet can find a solid perch, and you can rest.”
“I—”
“Don’t talk. Use everything you have.” If she waited too long, she’d weaken further. “Go.”
His voice might have been only a whisper, but he hoped to communicate his urgency.
She swung out and her feet thudded, slipped, then found the solid limb. Slowly she settled, sitting on the thick branch, her back against the tree trunk.
“Hold on tight with both hands, Princess. I’m letting go of this end of the line. I’ll reel it in after I get there.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
In three quick swings he was beside her. “You okay?”
With an annoyed frown, she sucked on her finger. “I broke a nail.”
He almost chuckled in relief. But they didn’t have time for levity. They still had to reach the ground. Luckily the tree branches remained close together and provided a natural ladder until the last ten feet. He used the rope to lower her to within three feet of the ground, and then she simply let go of the rope and landed on her feet.
They retrieved their packs without attracting attention, and Hunter skirted the woods, circling back to where he could watch the front entrance without being seen, hiding them behind a thick hedge.
He removed binoculars from his pack and handed them to Tashya. “You’re more likely to recognize someone than I am.”
The sun’s morning rays touched the treetops with a soft golden radiance, and Tashya tipped her head back to catch the light. Her skin, rosy from her exertions, glowed with a luminescence that made his breath catch. With her hair tumbling around her face and a smudge of dirt on her cheek, Tashya looked more like a schoolgirl playing hooky than the reigning princess of Vashmira.
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