Brit could only assume that Roman meant for her to drop him off before she drove home.
“Why did you follow me?”
“If there’s to be any interrogating, I’ll be the one to do it. Right now I think it would be better if neither of us said anything.”
She didn’t know Roman like this and couldn’t imagine what she’d done to make him behave this way. His formidable mood drained all desire to provoke him. Instead, she stared out her side of the car window, but the passing landscape remained a complete blur.
Roman lived so close to the mouth of the canyon, it only took a few minutes to reach his house. Like déjà vu, they entered the garage, then got out of her car and went inside.
Their footsteps must have alerted Clouseau. Brit could hear him meowing from the kitchen, but Roman had closed it off. Needing comfort from any source to counteract this new form of pain Roman was inflicting, she started in that direction until his words stopped her.
“We’ll leave him there for the time being. Shall we go into the living room?” It was a demand cloaked in the politest of questions.
Brit’s heart accelerated to a wild rhythm as she followed him through the foyer to the familiar room where she’d spent so many hours dreaming about him, fantasizing about a future together while she waited for him to come home from work.
She’d been a different woman then. The client he’d sworn to protect. He’d been her savior.
Tonight he was her abductor, and she his captive.
As he shrugged out of his jacket, revealing the superb musculature of his hard body the black turtleneck and trousers only enhanced, a strange thrill of anticipation mixed with apprehension spread through her being.
She’d left her condo without a coat. He kept the heat down. Now she was feeling a little cold and vulnerable. She wished she had something to cover her off-white cotton sweater and jeans.
Taking refuge in one corner of his comfortable leather sofa, she curled up, clutching the arm nervously with her right hand.
He stood a few feet away from her, his powerful legs slightly apart, his hands raking his hair. Then he stopped, and they dropped to his sides.
“Why did you lie to me tonight?” he began.
Alarmed, she cried, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You told me you were inundated with work—a new project that made it impossible for you to come over and do your part for. Clouseau.”
Her cheeks started to flame. “I do have work.”
“Really. Then how come a thorough search of your condo produced no evidence to substantiate your claim.”
She froze. “You were in my condo tonight?”
Ignoring her question, he fired another one. “You said you were going to be up working all night. Yet the second you got off the phone with me, you were out the door like a shot.”
Brit’s eyes grew huge. “You had me tailed!”
“Were you supposed to meet someone at that café?”
The change of subject confounded her. “No—I just stopped there because I got cold and felt like something hot to drink.”
“Do you always leave your condo on a flying run with no regard for the temperature outside?”
“I refuse to answer any more questions when you don’t answer any of mine.”
If he’d been in her condo, that meant he would have seen things she’d never meant for him to see.
His eyes darkened so that hardly any green glinted through. “I didn’t know you had any. Fire away.”
Now’s your chance to hear the truth, Brit.
“Where did you go for a whole ten days?”
“Unfortunately, that’s classified.”
She stifled another groan.
“Is that it?” he baited.
“No. How can you stand there grilling me when every time I ask you a question, you either change the subject or tell me it’s confidential. You sound just like a mob boss always pleading the fifth amendment.”
He grinned. “I like your analogy.”
Furious with him she said, “But I’m an open book, and because you’re a P.I., you can enter my condo with or without my permission and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“That’s right. Unless you want to start telling me the truth.”
“About what?”
“About the reason why you have the picture of us kissing, set in a frame at the side of your bed.”
She couldn’t swallow or breathe. “I—I thought you were a gentleman. How mistaken could a woman be.” To her horror, her voice quavered.
He flashed her one of his disarming smiles. “I told you up the canyon you’re too naive for your own good. By the way, I’m waiting for your answer.”
She had to think fast. “I always keep souvenirs of the important incidents in my life.”
“I suppose that will do for starters.”
“That’s all the explanation there is, Roman.”
He shook his head and moved closer. “I don’t think so.” He reached the couch and sat down next to her, encircling her shoulders with his arms so she was imprisoned. “I think you’ve been lying awake nights wondering what would happen if we finished that kiss we had to break off for propriety’s sake.”
“Propriety’s sake?” she whispered, too bemused by his nearness and the enticing tang of the soap he used to think with any coherence.
“Hmm...you know as well as I that if we hadn’t had an audience, it would have gone on and on.”
“Roman.” Her voice trembled. “Please don’t do this.”
“I have to.”
His expression sobered, then she saw the banked fire in his eyes and her insides turned to liquid.
There was no way to escape his grasp, no place to run. But when she felt his mouth close over hers, she found she didn’t want to escape. His kiss blotted out all cognizance of her surroundings. The sounds of Clouseau’s meowing faded. Everything. Except the thunder originating from her heart.
This was what she’d wanted, what she’d craved long before they’d become man and wife. Roman’s mouth was sending her into shock and she welcomed it, returning each devouring kiss with a passion that had transformed her.
Something amazing was happening inside her, as if she recognized that this was the experience she’d been waiting for all her life, this explosion of need that drove her to undreamed of heights and feelings only a man like Roman could create.
“I want you, Brit.” His deep voice shook with desire against the scented flesh of her throat where his lips worked their magic. Too euphoric to realize what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around his neck in response.
“Roman—” she cried his name on a low moan, offering herself up to him in a surrender of soul as well as body.
The taste of him, the strength and hardness of his virile body had brought her own femininity to staggering awareness. The realization came that never again would she be complete without him, without this.
Overwhelmed by needs bursting out of control, a shudder of ecstasy passed through her body and she clung to him shamelessly.
“I’m right here, darling,” he said against her lips. “I’m not going anywhere and neither are you,” he murmured with a primitive fierceness that thrilled her and seemed part of the whole divine sensation which was overpowering in its intensity.
He leaned over her, raining one soul-destroying kiss after another on her face and cheeks, her gleaming blond hair which splayed over his strong arm.
Brit’s breath caught at the raw blaze of hunger igniting his eyes. “I wanted you the moment you walked in the police station,” he confessed huskily. “I wanted to take you to bed the day we were married. I want you now and know you want me.”
His chest heaved from the strength of his feelings. “You know what I’m asking, don’t you, Brit?” His mouth descended once more, sending her reeling into a world of sensual pleasure more exquisite than before.
Drugged by needs which were fast growing out of contro
l, she was barely capable of cognitive thought. She was in a precarious situation because more than anything in the world she wanted to know his possession.
But she wanted a lot more than that. She wanted to belong to him. Forever. Legally and binding.
But did he want that, too, or was physical assuagement all he could give because he’d lost his heart long ago?
He was kissing her again with such hunger, she could be forgiven for thinking he was laying heart and soul at Brit’s feet.
She needed clarification. He hadn’t once used the word love. He’d been very careful not to use it.
His way of being honest? His way of letting her know exactly where she stood?
Brit wasn’t a naive schoolgirl. She’d had enough years of experience to realize a man could become involved in a totally physical relationship, but remain emotionally detached. It happened all over the world, every day, with millions of men.
When the relationship ended for whatever reason, they moved on to a new woman without ever looking back, leaving the other woman behind, emotionally devastated. In some cases, never the same again. Brit in all probability would be another casualty of that particular group.
Unfortunately, the old cliché was true about a man’s love being a thing apart, but for a woman, ’twas her whole existence.
Brit could choose to ignore that fact. It would be so easy when she was painfully in love with Roman. She could give herself to him. It would be the transcendent moment of her life.
But she knew herself too well. There would always be nagging pain and uncertainty when he left her bed. In time, it would drive a wedge between them because she wanted all of him. In the end, she would want more than he could give, and he’d move on.
“Brit—” he urged her to answer him, capturing her mouth in a surge of longing, the caress of his hands tangible evidence of his growing need.
She wanted to succumb, to find forgetfulness no matter how ephemeral, but at the last feverish second she cried, “Did you say these same things to Angela when you were in New York with her all of last week?”
Angela?
Having Brit in his arms at last, tasting her mouth to his heart’s content, memorizing the look and feel of her beautiful face and body had enchanted Roman to the point of no return. Or so he’d thought.
On a shudder, he slowly relinquished his hold of her and got to his feet. He’d been so enraptured, he hadn’t realized that they’d been lying together on the couch.
Inhaling lungfuls of air, he stared down at her, rubbing his neck absently. Judging by the fire singeing her cheeks, she, too, was beginning to realize just how far one kiss had taken them.
Though there had been women in his past who knew from the beginning that he couldn’t give them a commitment and understood that fact, nothing in his experience could describe the way he felt about Brit.
She had become the embodiment of his every need and desire. He didn’t have to fantasize—not when she inculcated the best of everything in a woman and was physically perfect to him.
His eyes closed tightly. Someone had been telling tales out of school, and it wouldn’t have been Yuri. It meant that Jeannie had been the one to do the damage.
“What exactly did my sister-in-law tell you about Angela?”
Brit stood up jerkily and put some distance between them. In a frantic gesture that turned his heart over she attempted to smooth her disheveled hair and straighten her sweater.
“You did it again, Roman,” she said with an edge to her tone. “You answered my question with a question. Either you’ve been in law enforcement so long you don’t know how to carry on a normal conversation, or the subject of Angela is off limits.
“In any case, I’m not prepared to sleep with a man who can’t be totally open and honest with me, no matter how wonderful you are.”
Brit, darling—
“Until I met you, I couldn’t have fathomed making love with a man before marriage. That tells you how besotted I’ve become over you. It’s the reason I’ve tried to stay away from you, though in truth I do have a lot of work to accomplish this next month.”
“Brit—”
“No!” She cut him off abruptly. “I’m not finished You wanted answers so you’re going to get them. There’s something you should know about me.” Her eyes flashed blue sparks.
“I’m such a poor loser I’ve always wanted to be first at everything—my studies, sporting competitions, my career, men...
“Second best will never be good enough for me. You had your chance to tell me where you’ve been for ten days, but you didn’t take it You had the opportunity to answer a straightforward question about Angela, but you chose to avoid a simple answer in that inimitable style of yours.
“So now I don’t want to hear what you have to say. It doesn’t matter what Jeannie told me.”
Roman could feel her slipping away from him and he started to get the slightest bit apprehensive. “Angela’s married.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she retorted so fast, he was dumbstruck. “In ways, what you’ve just told me makes everything that much worse!
“You may be every woman’s fantasy, Roman—even mine,” she admitted through gritted teeth. “But that’s all you’ll ever be!”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” he demanded, at a total loss for an explanation.
Instead of answering his question, she made a dash for the foyer. By the time he could compute that she was actually running out on him, he heard the garage door open and she was backing out.
Jeannie Lufkilovich, what in the name of heaven did you tell Brit?
Not wasting a breath, Roman jumped in his BMW and backed out right behind her. After trailing her to an obscure café up the canyon, he couldn’t second guess where she might be headed now. But one thing was certain. He would have this out with her tonight no matter where they ended up.
At the light near the freeway he saw her glance in the rearview mirror. He flashed his brights in acknowledgment.
When the light turned green she sped away, her tires screeching as she climbed the off-ramp to the freeway. He followed in hot pursuit, feeling an adrenaline rush the likes of which he’d never experienced before.
The woman he loved beyond description was running away from him. Until he caught up with her and they worked out all the misunderstandings, his life would be a living hell.
At the thirteenth east exit she turned off unexpectedly, no doubt intending to drive to her parents’ house. He couldn’t allow her to reach it.
Pulling out his walkie-talkie from the glove compartment, he got in contact with his P.I.s, attempting to determine who was closest to them.
Phil indicated he was at a drive-in on seventh east and fourth south, but he could beat Brit to Federal Heights and block the entrance to her parents’ driveway.
Roman told him to take off, then stepped on the gas, hoping to rattle her. But when they reached Reservoir Park, she did the unexpected again. She pulled over to the side and came to a complete stop. She even had her window rolled down by the time he approached her car.
“How come you decided to make this easy for me?” His voice grated as he placed both hands over the opening.
“I saw you calling for backup.”
One dark brow lifted in amusement. “Maybe you should become a P.I. in your spare time. You’re developing the instincts of one.”
“No.” She shook her ash-blond head so the silky mass danced around her shoulders. “That job is definitely reserved for hero-types.”
Roman grimaced. “We’re going to call Jeannie together and find out what she said that turned the most beautiful night of my life into a nightmare. We can do it at my house or yours.”
She’d lowered her head so he could only see a partial profile. “There’s no point, Roman.”
Sucking in his breath he said, “There is if you’re in love with me, and I happen to believe you are.”
With that remark her head fl
ew back and he captured her tortured gaze. “Do you deny it?”
Her classic features hardened. “That’s confidential, Lieutenant.”
He deserved that, but he was feeling too out of control to calm down. “So hardball it is. Have you made up your mind where this three-way conversation is going to take place?”
She looked away. “I’m going home.”
“Excellent choice. I’m right behind you.”
Ten minutes later, after he’d apprised Phil that his services were no longer needed, he pulled in the driveway behind Brit’s car.
When he entered her condo, he could hardly believe she was the same woman who’d hired him because she was so terrified of her stalker.
All fear had left her. In its place was a defensiveness that absolutely baffled him. In truth, it was starting to terrify him.
While he undid the cover over the phone connection and attached another wire from his own phone, she stood in the middle of her kitchen, arms folded.
He punched in his brother’s phone number, then handed her the other receiver. He felt the trembling of her fingers as she took it from him and reluctantly lifted it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hi, sport.”
“Uncle Roman!”
“How are you doing?”
“Great. I hope you’re coming to visit us. Mom and Dad are really worried about you.”
“Is that right. Is your mother there?”
“Yeah. Just a minute and I’ll get her.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed on Brit’s face, reading the question in her eyes. “That was Robert, aged nine.”
“Roman? How’s my favorite brother?”
Jeannie’s exuberant voice almost knocked him over.
“Hi, Jeannie. How are you?”
“Better now that you’ve called. Yuri’s going to kick himself for going to the store.”
“That’s all right, because it’s you I wanted to talk to. Tell me what you said to Brit about Angela.”
There was a pronounced silence. Then, “Did I say something I shouldn’t?”
Roman’s hand tightened around the cord. “No, of course not. I’m just curious. I think she must have misunderstood what you meant. Do you recall your exact words, or an approximation?”
Undercover Husband Page 15
