She pulled in one long, shuddering breath and slid off the bed to stand up. Facing him, she wrapped her arms around her middle, accidentally opening the fall of her robe, giving Rico a glimpse of luscious, tanned skin and the tops of her breasts beneath her nightgown. He had to force himself to focus on what she was saying.
“I left my father and Paulo packing and went back to our suite. Do you remember how you were? What you were saying?”
“No,” he said. All he recalled clearly was the helpless anger that had had him in a choke hold, strangling him with a sense of helplessness that no King could accept.
“I do,” she said softly. “You told me that if it was the last thing you ever did, you would hunt down those thieves. You would see them in prison for a lifetime.” She tightened her grip around her middle and held on as if clutching a lifeline in a choppy sea. “You said you would do whatever it took. That you and I would find them. Together. Then you asked if I had seen anything, heard anything unusual around the hotel.”
“And you lied to me.”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard and nodded. “I lied. To protect my family.”
“Why, Teresa?” he asked, though he already knew the answer. Her father. Her brothers. Her connection with them ran deep. Perhaps deeper than the link she had had with a new husband and the promise of a future too vague to be real.
“Because I couldn’t help you track them down, Rico. I couldn’t do what you needed me to do, but I couldn’t stay and not help you, either. I would have been living a lie every day, praying that you wouldn’t discover my secret.” She shook her head so wildly her ponytail swung behind her head like a pendulum. “It was a disaster. Any choice I made, I hurt someone I loved. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I thought that one lie was better than a lifetime of them.”
“You should have told me,” he said, pushing up from the bed to lay both hands on her shoulders. “You should have trusted me.”
She laughed now and the sound wasn’t musical at all. It was like shards of glass being ground under steel wheels. “Trusted you? I should have told you that the thieves were my family and please don’t prosecute?”
He frowned at her as her words resonated inside him.
“Would you have believed that I had nothing to do with the theft?” she demanded, all traces of tears gone from her eyes now, replaced by sparks of rising temper. “The first thing you said to me when you found me here was that you thought I had married you only to give my family access to your blasted dagger.”
Now it was his turn to feel a rush of shame. Yes, he had convinced himself years ago that Teresa had only married him to help her family’s thieving. But that had never made sense and he’d known it even while he’d allowed the thought to drive him insane. The Corettis were, if nothing else, excellent thieves. They didn’t need to use Teresa. They’d gotten past his security and out of the country almost before he’d known he’d been hit.
No, blaming Teresa had been his pride talking. The wound she’d left when she disappeared had festered until that convenient lie he’d told himself had simply been a way of deflecting the truth.
That she’d chosen another over him.
“You’re right,” he said, his voice hardly more than a hush.
She blinked at him and shook her head. “Excuse me?”
One corner of his mouth lifted briefly. Of course she would be surprised. He hadn’t given her any reason to think he would be on her side in any argument.
“I said, you are right. I would have accused you. I would have been wrong, though.” He slid his hands up to hold her face between his palms. His gaze bored into hers as he willed her to believe him. “I know you weren’t a part of it. And I can even understand a little now why you made the choice you did.”
She huffed out a breath. “Thank you.”
“But I need to know why you chose differently tonight, Teresa.”
Leaning into him, she said solemnly, “Because I didn’t want to hurt you again, Rico. Because this time you were more important. This time I had to trust you.”
“Good answer,” he murmured and bent down to kiss her. He’d meant only to plant a brief, hard kiss on her lips.
But at the moment of contact, Teresa wrapped her arms around him and held on. She opened her mouth and tangled her tongue with his and they were linked, as they were meant to be, always.
Rico groaned and held her tighter. Lifting her off her feet, he turned back to the bed, laid her down and then lay down beside her. Rising up on one elbow, he looked down into golden-brown eyes. Then he kissed her again and lost himself in the arms of the only woman in the world who held his heart.
* * *
Rico met Sean for lunch at a small restaurant near the harbor. It had been two days since Teresa had turned down a chance at escape. Two days since she had chosen him over her family. He liked knowing that she was on his side in this, but he had to wonder how long that would last if her family didn’t return the dagger.
Because if that happened, he would go through with his threat. He would hand over all of the evidence he’d collected over the last several years to Interpol. And once he did that, he would lose Teresa. How could he expect her to stay with the man who had imprisoned her family? No, he knew damn well she would never forgive him for that.
And if they did deliver the dagger as promised, then he would have to hold up his end of the bargain and not only release Teresa, but divorce her, as well. He couldn’t keep her here without going back on his word and couldn’t let her go without losing a piece of his soul.
Time was ticking past. With every beat of his heart, that internal clock moved on, pushing them toward the end of the month. Toward the end of his time with Teresa.
He couldn’t stand that thought.
This month had started out with him holding her against her will, yes. But that had changed, hadn’t it? She didn’t act like a hostage—with the run of the island, working in the hotel kitchen, coming to his bed eagerly. Whatever it was that was still humming between them, it was something that would die the moment he sent her family to prison.
“You look like hell.” Sean sat back in his chair and sipped at a bottle of beer.
“Thank you. It is good to have family to turn to in times of trouble.” Rico picked up his own beer and took a long swallow, hoping to ease the knot in his throat. It didn’t work. “How are Melinda and Stryker?”
Sean’s grin lit up his face. “Great. Seriously great.” He shook his head. “The baby’s keeping us both up all night, every night, but I don’t even mind. Right now I’m like a zombie, but I’ve never had so much fun.“
A pang of envy rippled through Rico, but he ignored it. No point in wishing for things that weren’t going to happen. Unless, a voice in his mind whispered, Teresa is already pregnant. Then your problems are over, aren’t they? You stay married. You keep her with you. And you have the family you’ve always craved.
He straightened in his chair as that nebulous idea took root in his mind.
“So.” Sean spoke up and Rico came out of his thoughts. “You said you wanted to talk. What’s going on?”
“That is a question with too many answers.”
“Pick one.”
“I am trying to decide what to do about Teresa.”
“Ah,” Sean said, smothering a laugh. “The brilliant plan falling apart? Wow. Wish I’d seen that coming. Oh. Wait. I did.”
Rico sneered at his cousin. “Very helpful, thank you. There is nothing better than an I told you so at just the right moment.”
“Happy to help.” Sean reached for a nacho loaded with beans and cheese, then popped it into his mouth, crunching with a grin on his face.
“Right.” He should have known his cousin would love this. A King liked nothing better than an entertaining “I was right, you were wrong�
� chat. Shaking his head, he leaned forward, bracing his arms on the glass-topped table. The bright yellow table umbrella shaded them from the noonday sun and all around them hotel guests were either boarding day boats for fishing trips or sitting at the bar having tropical drinks. “Her father hired a man to help her escape. Seems he hasn’t found her brother yet and he wants more time.”
“Escape? Okay, I’m guessing she didn’t go anywhere, yes?”
“She stayed.” Rico took a sip of his beer. “She wouldn’t leave.”
“Interesting.” Sean smiled, then narrowed his eyes. “Aside from the failed rescue, do you think her father’s stalling deliberately?”
“It’s possible,” Rico admitted, thinking back to the sound of Dominick Coretti’s outraged voice. “But I don’t know that he would take this kind of risk with his family. So if I assume he really does need the extra time, what do I do about it?”
“What do you want to do?”
Rico sent his cousin an exasperated glare. “If I knew that, would I be asking for your opinion?”
Sean laughed. “Okay, no. I’m no fan of Teresa’s family—they’re thieves.” He shrugged. “But you locking up her family isn’t going to score you points with her, either.”
“Yes, I know that, as well.” Talking to his cousin was supposed to help him straighten out his thoughts.
“So go with your gut, Rico.” Sean was still smiling. “You want Teresa. She wants her family safe. Do what you have to do to make everyone happy.”
“Let the thieves go free?”
“It’s family, man,” Sean said, smile fading into a thoughtful frown. “Look at the Kings. What haven’t we been willing to do to keep family safe?”
He was right, Rico knew. And the answer, it seemed, was simple after all. A King would risk anything for family. And Teresa—not to mention the child she might be carrying—was his family.
Eleven
Another week of her month was gone and Teresa felt as though she was listening to the inexorable tick of a countdown in her head. Every morning she woke up beside Rico and every evening the heat between them sizzled anew. And every day gone was one less that she had with him.
Sitting on a chaise on the beach below Rico’s house, Teresa curled her feet up under her on the floral cushion. She swept her gaze across Rico’s private slice of the Tesoro paradise and sighed. A yacht was docked at Rico’s private pier and the brass fittings winked in the bright sunlight. “Oh, God, I don’t want to leave.”
She loved it here. Loved the easy, relaxed way of life on the island. She loved having the wild beauty surrounding her wherever she went. She loved working in the hotel and she’d already made some good friends here. The hotel staff, Sean and Melinda.
But mostly she loved being with Rico. For so long she’d yearned to be with him again and now it was as if she was living in a perfect dream world.
But the sad part about dreams was that eventually you woke up and the dream shattered.
A wind off the ocean buffeted her, waves crashed against the shore, sending spray into the air, and Rico’s boat creaked noisily as it rose and fell with the surging sea. Out on the horizon, dark clouds gathered, promising a coming storm, and birds in the tree behind her chattered as if in warning.
The wind kicked up, sending grains of sand stinging into her skin like tiny bullets. She hardly noticed since the pain around her heart went so much deeper.
What was she going to do without Rico in her life?
“I was looking for you.”
His deep voice coming from right behind her didn’t surprise Teresa. It was as if she’d conjured Rico out of thin air just by thinking about him. She hoped it would work that well in the coming years, but somehow she doubted it.
“You weren’t worried, were you?” She tipped her head back and shaded her eyes with one hand. “I thought I already proved to you that I’m not going to leave the island before the end of the month.”
He sank into a crouch beside her and reached out one hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. That one slight touch sent shivers of anticipation rattling through her body. He gave her a half smile and shook his head.
“You did,” he said with a nod. “You gave me your word. I wasn’t worried. I just wanted to see if you’d like to take a ride around the island.”
His hair blew in the ever-present wind, the white shirt he wore was open at the throat and the sleeves were rolled up. His black jeans looked worn and comfortable. He was also barefoot and, for some reason, that only heightened his sex appeal. The man was a walking orgasm.
“With you?”
He gave her another half smile. “No. With Sean.”
“Funny.” She nodded, held out one hand to him and let him help her up from the chair.
For the last week, Rico had been attentive, seductive and romantic in a way she hadn’t experienced since they were first together. Every day he had a new adventure for the two of them. They had spent one day out on his yacht, alternately swimming in the ocean and climbing aboard to dry off and make love. They’d had a romantic seaside dinner in the village and finished the evening off by dancing in the moonlight. One day he had even taken her treasure hunting for Tesoro topazes.
There had been picnics on the beach and lazy swings in the hammock. Long walks and sitting together at night in front of a fire built more for romance than warmth.
It had been a perfect week. Perfect in ways that made her miserable to think of losing Rico forever. But in all the time they had spent together, not once had he talked about the possibility of her staying. Not once had he hinted he wanted her to stay. And not once had he said that he didn’t want the divorce he had promised her.
So though she was being romanced, she had finally figured out that Rico was simply saying goodbye to her. A long, drawn-out, incredibly sweet and romantic goodbye.
And that broke her heart.
Still, she wouldn’t let him see that she knew what he was doing. Wouldn’t let him know that her heart ached to be with him. That the thought of leaving made her feel as though she had been hollowed out and left an empty shell.
If he could make these last few days together special, then the least she could do was join him in the pretense. There would be plenty of time later for the tears that seemed to be constantly near the surface. So for now she smiled up at him and let him see only the pleasure she felt at being beside him. “Are we going in a car or on your boat?”
“For what I want to show you, we’ll have to take the car.”
“I’d love to.”
She bent to pick up her sandals and then followed him from the beach and across the manicured lawn to the driveway in front of his home. A small red sports car sat in the shade of several trees, waiting for them.
Once they were in the car and buckled in, Rico fired up the engine and steered the car out of the driveway and down to the main road. But instead of heading toward the hotel and the village, he turned left and sped along the narrow, paved road.
“You’ve been here nearly three weeks,” he said, his voice carrying over the growl of the engine. “And I thought you might like to see the rest of the island.”
Before you go.
He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to. She knew exactly what he meant. A bubble of pain opened up in the center of her chest, but Teresa fought it down. Being here with Rico was too nice to spoil with thoughts of what was going to happen all too soon.
“Thanks. I would.”
She’d seen a lot of Tesoro from his boat and he had taken her to the foot of the hills to search for topaz. But there was still so much she hadn’t seen. Still so much she hadn’t done. Leaving tore at her and she turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the sorrow in her eyes.
Instead, she looked at the landscape as they passed. As they got farther fr
om the village and the hotel and Rico’s house, the land changed, shifted. Stands of jungle were so thick the trees looked like a solid green wall. Even the sunlight barely made it through the leafy foliage. It was like driving through a green tunnel. Then they emerged into the light again and Teresa gasped at the beauty spreading out on either side of the car. Meadows with wildflowers dancing in the breeze. Patches of farmland, even a small vineyard. And at the edge of the island, a beach with sand so white it hurt the eyes to look at it and the ocean beyond.
“It’s so gorgeous here.” She leaned in to Rico to make sure he heard her.
He grinned, whipping his hair back from his face as he turned to smile at her. “It is. And what I’m going to show you now will take your breath away.”
That happened just looking at him, Teresa thought. But she was so glad to see pleasure in his eyes, in the easy curve of his mouth, she only said, “I’m ready.”
He laughed and stepped on the gas, sending the little red car hurtling along the road at a speed that brought a laugh from her throat.
The road wound on and Teresa hoped the ride would never end. She could spend eternity like this, she told herself. Beside Rico, off on an adventure together, with the wind in their hair and the sun on their faces. But eventually Rico pulled the car over and turned the engine off.
She looked around and saw a wall of rock spilling down into a patch of trees that looked cool and shadowed. “Where are we?”
“You’ll see.” He got out of the car, came around to her side and opened the door. “Just leave your sandals here. You won’t need them.”
Then, taking her hand, he led her into the cool shade of the stand of trees. Birds sang, the wind blew and under it all, she heard the steady roar of the ocean. But as Rico led her on, her bare feet making no sound on the sandy ground, that roar became louder and she noticed it didn’t have the sighing rhythm that she’d become used to. “What is that?”
He looked at her and grinned. “One moment and you’ll see for yourself.”
Her Return to King's Bed Page 14
