by Nancy Gideon
“I’m not in love with Zach Russell.”
But her protestations fell short when she looked at the pictures again. In them, the usually sharp, almost feral angles of her face seemed softened. Her uplifted gaze held something more akin to adoration than the expected adversarial gleam. At Zach’s feet, the tiger had become a kitten.
“Good lord, we can’t print these.”
And she certainly couldn’t let Zach or her father view them. She was seeing a woman with her heart laid bare and that was more vulnerability than she was willing to display to the general public.
“Bryce already sent them in. He figured you’d pull the plug and wanted to get another opinion from the ad execs. He thinks they’ll ad a new dimension to our campaign, kind of a tough yet tender angle.”
“At my expense,” Toni groaned. “Who’s going to take this moony-eyed female seriously in the business world?”
And how seriously would Zach take the worshipful glow in her eyes? She scooped the photos up and shoved them back into the envelope.
“Is Russell the reason you broke my brother’s heart last night?”
Veta’s calm, almost matter-of-fact comment blind-sided Toni, the same way Mateo’s declaration had done. She leaned back against the headboard with a miserable sigh.
“Veta, you know how much Mateo means to me.”
“But this near stranger, this employee fling of the moment, means more?”
“Russell has nothing to do with what I do or don’t feel for Mateo. I just couldn’t say yes to making a marriage into some kind of business deal.”
“You know it’s more than that. You know he cares for you, that he’d protect you and support you and be there for you. Will Russell give you those things? If you pay him, perhaps, but the minute his assignment is over, he’s going to be gone, Toni. He’s going to be gone and you’ll be alone. For heaven’s sake, girl, if you want to have a fling with the man, do it, but don’t make it into something more than it’s ever going to be. Don’t confuse the moment with the rest-of-your-life. Russell is not a rest of your life kind of guy. Sex is not security.”
“I know that.”
But Veta didn’t seem to hear her assertion. “You’re a businesswoman. You know a good investment when you see one. Toni, when Premiero shows up tomorrow, you’re going to want someone with you who’ll take a stand next to you. You know what kind of man he is. He’s machismo. He has no respect for your ability to run this company simply because you’re a woman. But if you were to have a man there to deal with him, even if it’s just for show, he’ll pay attention.”
That logic backfired. Toni’s gaze narrowed. “I don’t need a man to figurehead my ideas. I don’t need a man to earn the respect I’ve worked for and I deserve.”
Veta threw up her hands, familiar with where this argument was going. “Fine. Do it all on your own. Show your father you can wear the pants in the family. But remember what you’re sacrificing.”
“And what might that be?”
“Your safety, your happiness, love.”
“But that sacrifice was good enough for you, Veta.”
It was a cheap shot, but with Veta, there was no way to tell if the barbed comparison pierced the mark. She merely gave an icy smile.
“You and I are not the same, Antonia. You hide your fears in the shadows hoping they’ll go away. I hunt mine down and take them out of the picture. You don’t have the strength for the kind of future I’ve settled for. Premiero’s going to eat you alive while your father sits back and enjoys watching the feast. Go ahead and do it on your own. But you’ll regret it and you’ll wish you’d made different choices.”
“But they’ll be my choices. I can live with that.”
“Are they, Toni?” Veta’s smile took on a mocking bend. “Can you really? Your past has made you a puppet to who’s really pulling the strings. Consider who and what is making you dance before you tell me the choices are yours alone. You’ve been alone and you couldn’t handle it. That’s why Russell is here. You’re using him to prop up your courage. What’s going to happen when he leaves? When you have no one but yourself to rely on?”
“I have you,” Toni answered quietly. “And Mateo. The three of us, like always.”
Veta nodded, her haughty anger evaporating. “Like always. Remember that, Toni. Remember who you can count on.”
And after Veta was gone, Toni sat in the silence with the envelope of photos hugged to her chest, her thoughts spinning.
Who was pulling her strings? Who was influencing the choices she thought were her own?
Something had happened.
Zach sensed it the moment he came out of the bathroom. To avoid any complications, he’d emerged fully dressed. Since the night before, he was cautious in his approach of his client. He’d think of her as his client. It was safer than thinking of her as his lover. That change in circumstance should never have transpired. The sad thing was, the really, really pathetic thing was, Zach didn’t regret it. Not one heart-clenching, pulse-rocking moment of it.
The aftermath had been a minefield of dangerous emotions because he wasn’t sure how Toni would react to their altered situation. He’d lain on the couch as if it was a bed of guilty nails, dreading what he’d do if she came to him, desiring it just as fiercely. But again, she’d shown a remarkable maturity by leaving well enough alone and they’d both had a chance to regroup their sensibilities in their solitary beds.
Then, there was the look she’d given him at the pool in front of the camera. That look was molten sex, burning through him as if their passions had come out of dormancy to detonate with atomic bomb force. For a moment all the blood had drained from his head to a lower, less predictable realm which left him swimming upstream against the lava flow.
However, when they’d returned to the room, she’d ignored him and left him chafing at that exclusion while, contrarily, he’d been craving her attention. He liked things simple and direct and his life had somehow gotten incredibly complex.
It was because of this woman who’d clung to his heart as little more than a needy teen and now teethed upon it as a quixotic adult.
She was standing at the open slider, back just far enough to be out of sight from anyone who might be observing. Just as he’d taught her. She seemed engrossed in the fireball sinking in the west, setting the ocean afire with brilliant pools of orange and scarlet. Her pensive expression was as compelling as the repetitious surge of the tide, inviting him as a man to come to her side to slip a supportive arm about her and yet, at the same time, warning him away with hints that whatever plagued her thoughts was too personal to share. He stayed away, moving about the room making just enough noise for her to be aware of him if she chose to be. Still, he didn’t anticipate her surprisingly calm question.
“Do you think someone is really trying to harm me or is it all some game?”
He paused to reflect for a moment, then gave her an honest response. “I think someone is intentionally abusing you mentally, but whether it goes beyond that to actual physical harm, I guess that depends on if they get what they want.”
“What do they want?”
“It depends on what kind of crazy we’re dealing with. Maybe it’s someone trying to get close to a celebrity. Maybe it’s one of your father’s old business dealings carrying a grudge. Perhaps it’s a competitor in the marketplace hoping to make you fail out of the blocks. Or maybe it’s the one that got away, coming back to claim his due.”
Toni shivered at that last suggestion. “And what do you think?”
“I can’t afford to have an opinion without proof. I have to be prepared for anything from the angry fashion critic to the enraged factory worker to the psycho who fantasizes about you wearing nothing but whipped cream.”
“That’s not an easy job.”
“No. It’s not.” Especially not the whipped cream part.
“And I haven’t made it particularly easy for you to do.”
He smiled faintly at the under
statement. “No, you haven’t.”
“Do you think things will get better or worse once Premiero gets here?”
“It depends on who’s behind the threats and what they’re trying to accomplish.”
“So it’s still game on.”
“Exactly.”
Her shoulders rose and fell upon a weary sigh. She nodded. “I’m glad you’re here, Zach.”
“For as long as you need me.”
“And if I decide I need you forever?”
She turned toward him when he didn’t answer right away. Her features were somber and closed tight against the sudden charm of his smile.
“You couldn’t afford me, love.”
“Because I’m too high maintenance?”
“No. Because I would be.”
He watched her puzzle over that and before she could continue with the unsettling direction their conversation leaned toward, he interrupted with an unexpected suggestion.
“What say we take your sweetcakes cameraman up on his offer and dine al fresco on lobster and good wine at his expense until his pockets groan?”
Her response was guarded. “Really?”
“Pick a nice inconspicuous dress.”
“In other words, go incognito.”
“Just like any other normal couple.”
He saw a speculative gleam flash in her gaze at the word couple. Or perhaps it was normal. Or worse, normal couple, as if they could come anywhere near approaching that definition.
Maybe for one night they could pull it off.
On this night, it was worth a try.
Chapter 12
Globes of light set into the raised brick planter beds cast a soft mood of romance over the outdoor patio. Candlelight flickered in hurricane lamps atop burgundy damask tablecloths, waking an answering gleam in the silver, crystal and bone china. The only music was the rhythmic percussion of the waves. Other than the server who issued them to their table and the bartender cleaning glasses beneath the thatch roofed bar, they were alone in the deepening twilight.
Antonia Castillo needed to learn something about concealment. A loose float of crinkly seafoam-green gauze with matching scarf covering her head and tinted glasses over her eyes didn’t hide who she was any more than they could disguise her beauty. Her tanned arms and legs, bared and strong, magnificent bone structure as well as the confident way she moved, with chin high and haughty, betrayed her supposed secret identity to anyone who knew her or of her. She was a light beneath a basket, not quite a beacon, but no less the glow. Zach directed their host to a table near the wall overlooking the beach. That had the bar shielding them from a casual view from the hotel yet left them open to the cooling breeze coming off the water.
True to his plan, Zach ordered them lobster and charged it to Bryce’s room. And with the gleam of the candle flame warming a reflection in the wine and in his eyes, he studied the woman across from him with a unswerving intensity.
“What?” Toni asked at last.
“This is nice, pretending to be regular tourists with nothing on their agenda but sipping local grapes and enjoying the sunset.”
She smiled, wondering where he was going with the pleasant charade.
“If you were just a gorgeous face and I was some software salesman who’d won this vacation, what would we be doing this evening?”
“You mean if I didn’t have someone out there trying to drive me crazy with their scare tactics and you weren’t sitting here with a pistol in your Dockers ready to blast away at anyone who approached the table in order to collect your paycheck?”
His smile softened the hawkish lines of his face. “That’s a bit cynical in interpretation but yeah. If we weren’t those people.”
“Well, we’d be trying to put a bigger dent in this bottle of wine. You’d be watching the sunset instead of over your shoulder for possible attackers. And I be thinking of ways to get you out of those Dockers as soon after dessert as it could be politely arranged.”
His brows arched.
“Or,” she continued, “we could settle for a walk along the beach.”
“I’m not sure which would be safer.”
“I’m guessing we’ll be walking.”
Her smirk was so knowing, so certain, Zach wished he could have proven her wrong. But he knew which of the two would be more dangerous. At this moment, with the artificial light bronzing her features and the generous curve of her cleavage, guarding Toni as a possible target on the beach was much safer than fending off Toni, and his desire for her, behind closed doors upstairs.
They sat watching the subtle change in the waters from blues to olive to silver grey and finally black. Lights winked on like fireflies on the surrounding hillsides and in the endless canopy overhead. Maybe it was the wine, maybe the beckoning curl of the waves. Toni couldn’t remember such a moment of complete peace. She knew, of course, that she was simply crossing a valley on her journey from one difficult peak in her life to another but for now, she chose to linger in that contented lull, to experience that ordinary life fate and family had denied her.
She finished the last bite of her crusty cheese roll and washed it down with the remainder of her wine. Her attention drifted from the restless waters to the calm surface Zach Russell presented. Though he looked as relaxed as she felt, his gaze moved continuously in a pattern not unlike that of the cyclic waves. And that steady dependability drew her with equal fascination.
Veta had said he’d be gone as soon as the paycheck was cashed. Zach had never led her to believe otherwise. For as long as you need me, he’d said. Her reply to that hadn’t been an exaggeration. That need could easily extend to forever. When would she not need the grounding influence his presence brought into her life? The sense of safety, of stability, and just recently, of potential passion. Those weren’t things she’d willingly surrender even after the momentary threat passed her by. Mateo had offered the same benefits, the security and the support, but with him, with her old, dear friend, there were none of the emotional entanglements to add spice and excitement to the mix. It was the tension, the challenge that Russell presented, as well as the steadfastness that appealed to her.
What would it take to convince Zach Russell to stay? Once the danger was past, she couldn’t envision him as content to follow her to her business meetings and stand guard while she approved ad copy. Though he presented a picture of outward stillness, he was a man of action and movement. She recognized a kindred restlessness in him because it drove her as well. Neither of them was made for a sedentary existence.
Something pushed Zach Russell, something she didn’t understand. He was well educated with a wealth of diverse interests. He appreciated fine things and creature comforts yet chose a life of uncertainty and self-deprivation. Why would a man choose to be nomadic, to court danger on behalf of someone he didn’t know, with no chance of gaining notoriety or achievement. In his line of work, one didn’t win medals. There hadn’t been much she could learn about Russell’s occupation other than it required him to sleep with a passport and a pistol, to be ready at a moment’s notice to defend what exactly, she couldn’t find out. This week, he was defending her peace of mind. She was sure that mission wasn’t his usual high priority assignment. A threatened athletic wear company CEO didn’t exactly equate to maintaining world stability.
So why was he here, with her? Obviously, the international scene hadn’t decided to take a break from chaos just to give him some free time on his hands. Was it for his friend Chaney, as he’d claimed, or was it something else, something more akin to a debt owed to an emotionally and physically broken eighteen-year-old who’d slipped through his protective net?
Was he here because he felt guilty about what had happened to her on his watch? Did he still view her as that unfortunate, damaged creature begging him for his silence?
That wasn’t the impression she wanted him to carry when he left her side for his next assignment.
“Let’s walk.”
With shoes in h
and, they trudged through the well-churned beach sand to the hard-packed strip washed clean by the waves. They followed another couple’s footsteps until the next rush of water scoured away all evidence of their passing. Toni watched the water retreat, thinking how simple her life could become if only the past could be erased with such ease.
The next whoosh of the tide boiled in with a surprising amount of force. The surf sucked the sand out from under their feet even as the last roll of the wave foamed over them. Losing her balance, Toni grabbed for Zach’s arm then continued to let her fingertips find refuge in the bend of his elbow. This close to the water, the sound of the swells coming in was like a roar. She had to speak loudly to be heard over it.
“What will you do next?”
“Next?”
“After you’re finished here.”
He was silent for a long minute. The pause grew uncomfortable.
“Afraid if you tell me, you’ll have to kill me?” Her laugh sounded strained even to her ears.
“I try not to look beyond the job. But I’m sure I won’t be without work for long. This is the closest thing to a vacation I’ve had since completing my agency training, so I’m in no particular hurry to get back to it.”
The job. Toni swallowed down the harsh reality of that statement. That’s what she was to him. A job nicely set in paradise. What wasn’t to enjoy? Throw in a little fling on the side as a bonus and what complaints could he possibly have?
Or was it that simple? Nothing about Russell was simple.
“Don’t you ever get tired of it? Of the traveling and the danger?”
“Every time I unpack my bag.”
“And where is that?”
“France.”
He didn’t seem to want to get more specific than that so she let it go for the moment.
“Do you think about retiring?”
“Every time I unpack my bag.” She could see his faint smile in the fading light. His was a strong profile, all clean, bold, honest angles. Only the diamond stud winking in his ear showed a bit of the flamboyance usually concealed by the job.
