Then he took something else out of his pocket. The wedding band. Her eyes flashed up to his in horror.
“You’re married,” he said, his voice hollow, his mouth twisting in an effort to hide his pain. “Your name is Mrs. Melanie Wilson. You belong to another man.”
He didn’t know she was MI-6! Of course he didn’t. He’d found only her cover information. Relief plunged through her. Then it flipped straight over and reared up into a horrible black realization. David was devastated not by the fact she was a spy, but by the fact she was married. And the agony that echoed through the hollowness of his voice ripped the very soul from her body.
David, the potent desert warrior, was destroyed by the fact she belonged to another man, another world. That she wasn’t his.
She choked on the emotion that boiled up into her throat. It’s not true! I’m not married! I don’t belong to anyone! She wanted to scream the words, wipe away his pain. Her pain. She wanted him. Like she’d never before wanted a man in her life.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t have him. She couldn’t tell him the wedding ring in his hand was a lie. A lie devised to snare him.
More than anything she wanted to tell him the truth. But the truth could cost lives. And the truth was worse. Because then he’d know she was a liar. And in his own words, he was a man who abhorred liars. What would he do when he discovered the extent of her lie, her deception?
Her face dropped into her hands. And agent Jayde Ashton cried. Her whole body shook. For the first time in her life since she was eight years old, Jayde Ashton felt. And it was overwhelming her.
David wanted desperately to go to her, to hold her tight in his arms. He ached with the need. But he couldn’t move. His limbs were numb, his brain thick. It was all he could do to clear his throat and say, “Tariq is making some more calls now that we have your details.”
Her big green eyes lifted slowly to meet his. And in them he saw an echo of his own devastating pain. He watched as she fingered the amber stone around her neck.
They stared at each other in silence. There were no words that could possibly ease the tension or the hurt. There were simply no platitudes that could fill the void of space and time that yawned between them.
A few minutes ago they’d been so close. Now it seemed as though an ocean separated them. He’d known a moment like this would come. But he’d underestimated the raw power of it. He was an absolute fool for having entertained the notion that things might somehow work out. He deserved this pain. But she didn’t. She was innocent in this. He should have protected her, not taken advantage of her. This was his fault.
She broke the silence, swiping the tears from her face. “David, I’m so sorry. I…I don’t know what to say.” She stood up, took a hesitant step toward him, reached out her hand as if to touch him.
He tensed, moved away from her. A small part of him took satisfaction in the fact she didn’t seem happy with the discovery of her identity. And that meant she cared for him deeply enough to be sorry to lose him…and Kamilah. But if he allowed her to touch him now, he knew he’d be powerless to stop himself from grabbing her into his arms, holding on to her forever. “I’ll take you back to shore,” he said, his voice rough, thick. “Hopefully we’ll get more details soon.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He hesitated. “Now that you know…now that you know your name, does it help you remember anything else?”
Uncertainty flickered through her eyes. Then she nodded. “Yes. I…I think it’s coming back, bit by bit. I…I believe I was on a diving holiday.”
He felt his fists clench, but he had to say it. “With your husband, Simon?”
She looked away from him. “Yes,” she said softly.
His stomach bottomed out so fast he felt ill. “I see,” he said. “I hope he’s all right.”
She nodded, but she was shaking like a leaf.
“Do you remember if there was anyone else on the boat?”
“N-no, there wasn’t. It was just us, the two of us.”
He nodded. “Come, I’ll take you back to my office. We’ll see if Tariq is making any headway. Do you remember now where you and your husband launched your trip from? The boat rental papers say Port Sudan. Is that right?” His voice strained against the effort to sound normal. All he wanted was to smash his fists into the wall.
“Yes. We launched from Port Sudan,” she said, refusing to look him in the eye.
He frowned. “Why do you think no one reported the boat—or you—missing?
“I…I have no idea.”
“Did you register with the embassy in Khartoum when you arrived in Sudan?”
She shook her head. “I know it’s recommended but we didn’t bother. We wanted to get out on the water as soon as possible.”
“And you remember all this now?” A strange cold shadow of doubt crossed his heart. This didn’t seem right.
She was still shaking, clutching her arms into her waist as if she was going to throw up. “I…I guess I blocked everything out…because of the accident. Do you…do you mind if I make the calls myself? I need to do it…to find out if my…my husband is missing.”
“Of course.” And with that, David knew it really was final. She was looking for her husband.
There could be nothing more between them.
David showed her into his office. There was no sign of Tariq, and that relieved Jayde immensely. She couldn’t face the man’s accusing eyes right now. And she needed to do this in private. She needed to contact Lancaster and tell him to bring her in. She looked up into David’s eyes. “Do you…do you mind if I do this alone?”
He hesitated. “You sure you don’t need me?”
“Yes,” she said.
Hurt rippled through his features. “Of course,” he said and left the room.
Jayde swallowed her remorse, picked up the receiver on David’s desk…and paused. Calling her handler from this phone was a risk. But she had to take it. It was the only way to make contact. She quickly punched in his number.
“Yes?” Lancaster’s voice was gruff on the other end.
“It’s Jayde,” she said.
She heard a sharp intake of breath. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Is…is Gibbs okay?”
“The lucky bugger is in excellent health. He was picked up by a fishing vessel. Good ploy with the amnesia, Ashton. We’ve been waiting for you to check in.”
“It…it wasn’t a ploy,” she said. “It was for real.”
Silence stretched over the distance. “But you’re fine now, right? You remember everything now?”
“Yes. But I’ve been compromised. I need to be brought in, ASAP.”
“They know who you are?”
“No. It’s…I’m not able to…the amnesia compromised me.”
“Ashton.” Her handler’s tone was gruff. “We need you there right now. You’re right inside his home. We couldn’t have orchestrated this better if we had tried. You have to hold steady.”
She scrunched her eyes up in frustration. What did the man want? Did she have to beg? “Lancaster, I can’t stress this enough, I’ve been irrevocably compromised. Besides, I believe Rashid is innocent.” And I trust him. And he’s made me feel things I never thought possible. And I’ve made love to him. I…I love him. She choked on a ball of tears that lurched into her throat.
Again silence stretched. “You have any proof of his innocence?”
“No.”
“And Rashid has no idea who you are?”
“No.”
Silence again. “We have new intel, Ashton. It came in late last night. Hear me out, then make your decision. If you still need out, we’ll mobilize ASAP.”
“I’m listening.”
“You just may be right. There is a chance David Rashid could be innocent.”
Her heart blipped, kicked into a light staccato beat. She knew it! In her gut she just knew it.
“The CIA operative undercover in Libya has made a breakthr
ough. He saw Tariq Rashid leaving the Falal base in Libya near the Azar border two days ago. He’s one of them.”
“Tariq is Falal?” she whispered.
“Yes. And according to the operative, Tariq is the one organizing Rashid uranium and oil shipments for the Falal. His brother may not even know about the deals, since it is Tariq Rashid who is now in control of those mines. We have also just learned that the Falal is funding the dissidents in Azar. The Falal is using the Azar rebels to disguise a renewed attempt to seize the Rashid oil fields and uranium mines. Once they have those under their full control, they’ll be in a position to mount a coup and take the whole country.”
“But the Falal is really just an underground arm of the Libyan government…” Her brain reeled as it hit her. “Lancaster, that means Libya is trying to annex Azar using the Falal. It means David and the Force du Sable are not just fighting against rebels, they’re fighting a whole damn country.”
“That would be the assumption from the recent intel, yes.”
“But Tariq…it just doesn’t make sense. Why would Tariq belong to a group fighting his own brother, a group fighting to take over the Rashid mines, his own mines, his own country?” Then with a sinking realization she knew. Once a fundamentalist, always a fundamentalist. Tariq had never forgiven his half brother. David Rashid had been deceived by his own flesh and blood. He was being destroyed from the inside out. And Tariq was running the show.
“There’s still the chance that David Rashid could be behind this, Ashton. He could be orchestrating this.”
“No, I don’t believe it.”
“One way or another the Rashids are central to whatever is going down in Libya and Azar. And whatever it is, it’s going to end up compromising global stability. If David Rashid is innocent, we need proof.”
“I’ll get you proof.” And by God she would. She’d stake her life on the fact that Tariq was deceiving his brother. The bastard. “I’m staying on Shendi.”
“Ah, there’s the Ashton we know.”
Fire burned bitter in Jayde’s gut as she replaced the receiver. She knew just how the revelation of Tariq’s betrayal would cut David to the core. He would feel that he had failed to keep his promise to his father. This was the stuff that went to the very heart of what motivated the man. But…she couldn’t tell him without blowing her cover.
Jayde’s heart sank like a stone. Keeping her cover, staying on Shendi, meant she would now knowingly be deceiving the man she had come to love.
She couldn’t do it.
But she had to. In order to prove his innocence, to protect him from a traitor, an enemy within the walls of his own home. His own brother. She stared at the phone. What had she just done?
She felt as if her very soul had been ripped in two by divided loyalties. She pushed her hair back from her brow with a shaky hand. God, David was going to hate her when he found out what she’d done. In trying to help him she was killing any hopes of a future with him. Who was she kidding? There was no hope for a future. David would never believe her amnesia was real once he learned who she was. He’d think she’d deceived him and Kamilah from the start. So what difference would it make to see the mission through now? None. Apart from the fact she might save him from the evil of his half brother.
Jayde sucked in a breath, filling her lungs until they felt they would burst. But as she did, she sensed a presence. Someone was watching her from behind. A cold dread seeped through her. Very, very slowly she turned around.
He stood rigid in the doorway, blue eyes crackling with sparks of fury, the muscles of his neck corded and tight.
“David!” she gasped. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Who were you talking to?” His voice was flat, dangerous.
Jayde’s eyes shot to the phone, then back to him.
How much had he heard?
“I said, who were you talking to?” he demanded.
“I…I called the embassy.”
“Bull!” He stepped into the room, slammed the door shut behind him, locked it, pocketed the key. “Who the hell are you?”
She forced panic away. She told herself she was trained for this sort of thing. But she couldn’t kid herself. Nothing in this world had prepared her for the situation in which she found herself now.
He grabbed her wrist, tightening his fingers around her like a metal cuff. He yanked her toward him. His eyes lanced hers, stabbing clean through to her soul. “Who was on that phone?” he growled. “What’s this about my brother? What about the Falal?”
She stared up into his ferocious eyes. Beyond the crackling anger, she could still read deep pain. A pain she had put there. And she couldn’t lie to him. Just couldn’t. She knew in her gut that he was innocent. And if his brother was working against him, he deserved to know it.
Jayde drew in a shuddering breath. Telling him would be one hell of a gamble. One that could cost lives if her gut was wrong. And it would most certainly cost her her job, right or wrong. But at this instant she didn’t care about her career. Before she’d met David, her job had been her life, her colleagues had been her family, and a sense of duty to her country had been her sole driving force.
But this man had sneaked in when her guard was down, and he’d changed her in some profound way. He’d put the missing part of her soul back into her heart. And life was no longer simple.
Deceit or truth? The choice hung over her head like a sword of Damocles. Her mouth went bone dry. She tried to swallow.
His fingers tightened painfully around her wrist. He was waiting for her response…for the thread to break and the sword to fall.
Tariq waited until he was absolutely certain she’d hung up. Then he clicked the receiver carefully back into place. His hand trembled. Perspiration pricked along his top lip. He swiped it away. He’d been exposed. This was far worse than he could have contemplated. He had to think fast. He had to move fast.
David’s fingers squeezed her wrist, and rage circled his heart like the winds of a terrible storm. He’d been betrayed by a woman he desperately wanted to believe in. A woman who’d made him dream once again of a future.
He was an idiot. He should have listened to Tariq. Instead he’d fallen into a trap as old as time. He had little doubt after hearing her on the phone that she was some kind of spy.
The question now was simply, who was she spying for?
She stared up at him with her huge innocent green eyes. But this time he knew they were a lie. “Who was on that phone?” he snarled.
“David, I…I’m…I’m not the person in that passport. I…I’m not married.”
A crazy wave of relief swooped through David’s stomach so fast he almost threw up. She wasn’t married. But the sensation bottomed out instantly. He tightened his grip, yanked her closer. And as he did, his nostrils flared in reflex at the scent of her. In spite of himself, his loins stirred involuntarily. Her body was so close to his he could feel her quick nervous breaths against his lips. His blood began to heat.
A dangerous cocktail of adrenaline, rage and furious desire began to spurt through his veins. A dark and primal voice whispered through him that she was fair game now. She didn’t belong to another man. And she sure as hell wasn’t the vulnerable amnesiac. He need feel no guilt, no shame in taking her now. Right here, on his desk. Hard and fast. His breathing quickened. His blood boiled with rage and lust. His eyes bored into hers.
But instead of challenge, instead of the latent confidence he was used to seeing in those bewitching eyes, a look of uncertainty…and of fear stared back up at him.
It totally threw him.
“Who the hell are you then?” he demanded, his voice hard and strange to his own ears.
She sucked in a shaky breath. “David, you have to understand, the only reason I’m going to tell you this is because I believe in you. You have to understand that.”
The desperation in her tone, the insecurity in her eyes set him on edge. “What are you talking about?”
&
nbsp; “What I’m going to tell you cannot go beyond these walls. Can you promise me that? Can I trust you, David?”
He could feel her pulse racing wildly under the pressure of his fingers.
“Trust?” He snorted. “Who are you to talk of trust?”
“My name is Jayde Ashton. I’m an agent for the British government.”
Anger and an unexpected jolt of sharp pain pierced his chest. He grabbed her jaw with his free hand, jerked her face up to his. She winced in pain.
“What in hell do you want from me, Jayde Ashton? Did you get what you came for? Was I a nice, easy lay? Will it please the British government?”
“Don’t do this David—”
“Don’t do what? Pretend I didn’t fall for a professional? Pretend I wasn’t taken by your lying sinful eyes?” He shoved her brutally away from himself. “You’re a spy!” He spat the words out in disgust. He raised a finger, aimed it at her face. “Tell me what you came for, then get the hell off my island!”
Shock, hurt, ghosted her features then was gone. She steeled her jaw, took a deep breath. “I’m going to give it to you straight, David. I owe you that much.”
“You sure as hell do.”
“If you are guilty, you will kill me for this.” She straightened her spine, squared her shoulders. “That is the measure of my trust in you, David. I am prepared to tell you the truth. I am prepared to tell you what I am doing here because…because I just believe—” her voice caught “—I believe in you. With my heart. And if I’m wrong, I don’t care. I don’t care if I die.” Her eyes glistened with hot emotion. “Because…I have nothing I want to go back for. Not anymore.”
A spasm of shock quirked through him. Him, kill her? Was she crazy? His anger shifted. Confusion swirled through him. Then he clenched his teeth. This was probably just another game, another ploy.
“If I am guilty of what?” he demanded.
“I work for MI-6, the British secret service—”
“I know what MI-6 is,” he snapped.
She swallowed. “My partner and I were sent to set up a perimeter surveillance system of your island—”
The Sheik Who Loved Me Page 16
