Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  They stayed locked in that position for what seemed like eternity, while her heart stopped beating altogether. He had thought her the enemy and had defended himself with a speed and agility that told her he was practiced at this, that he was prepared. It gave her an insight into his life that she had not considered before.

  All the words she had prepared, the explanations and justifications, had fled her mind. She simply stared at him. The cut beneath his right eye had almost healed. He seemed otherwise completely untouched.

  She was absurdly glad to see him.

  With a groan, he let her wrist go and the arm against her throat slipped over her head to pull her to him. Then his lips crushed against hers. He kissed her with a thoroughness that left her breathless. He kissed her face, her eyes, her nose, her chin; he rained kisses upon her in a soft barrage that left her trembling for more.

  His hand held her head steady while he plundered her mouth. She felt his heart under her hands, under silk and she groaned, her eyes closing.

  His arms tightened around her and he picked her up, bringing her with him as he turned and pushed open the French door. He pulled her inside and shut the door with one hand. She heard a solid, small thud. He pushed her up against the wall again. His mouth came back against hers. He kissed her with a thoroughness that left her breathless. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, building an erotic storm of sensations that she could not track individually and could not prevent. Caresses covered her body—through her clothing or under it, she didn’t know.

  If he wanted her now, this moment, she would comply willingly. She wrapped her leg around his hip and threaded her fingers through the soft, heavy silk of his hair, and opened her body and soul to him, drunk with the joy of it. Eons passed within a heartbeat.

  Eventually Nick lifted his head from tasting the skin at the base of her throat. He kissed her throat, her chin and finally her mouth. Then he grew still, his head resting against hers. They were both breathing heavily. His body, a solid mass, held her against the wall—a support she needed. She could feel his cock, thick and hard, against her hip and delighted in the tangible evidence of his arousal.

  Finally, he shifted his weight away from her, a little at a time, then stepped away from her altogether.

  She marveled that she was still completely dressed.

  Nick back away to the center of the room, his gaze not leaving her. “Why did you come here?”

  “For you.”

  He shook his head a little. “Heads will roll for this,” he said, his voice low. “How you got in here—”

  “Your security is intact.”

  He considered that. “Duardo,” he said at last and gave a short laugh. He walked back towards her and reached out to the low cabinet by her hip. An automatic pistol lay there. She had not noticed it until now. Nick picked it up and with an absent-minded motion, flicked something on the gun that clicked audibly. He pushed it inside his jacket.

  She remembered the quiet knock she’d heard when he’d first pulled her in here. He had been putting the gun down.

  Nick gave a grimace. “I had the gun in my hand before I even turned to confront you,” he said. “Such is my life.”

  She felt a touch of fright, but knew that now was the time to say what she had come to say. She spoke the words. “Is there room in that life for me, Nick? Even a temporary, hidden corner of it?”

  “Temporary?” He looked at her sideways. “You would settle for that?”

  “Temporary can last a long time,” she said as airily as she could manage. “Besides, there are no guarantees, are there? That’s one thing Dominio de Leo taught me. You may have all the best intentions, the greatest plans in the world and it doesn’t matter a damn. It can all go—” She clicked her fingers. “Just like that.”

  He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Calli, the risks—”

  “And I could get run over by a bus tomorrow.”

  “The odds will be even shorter if you become involved in my life,” he said.

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  She straightened up from the wall and walked towards him. “Then keep me at your side. I know I’ll feel safe there.”

  “That could be a dangerous illusion for both of us.”

  She’d drawn very close now but he gave no sign of relenting. She indulged in her private pleasure: she slid her hands under his jacket and rested them against his chest, feeling the warm, delicate silk and the heat of his firm flesh beneath. She looked up at him, pleased that she had to lift her chin to look him in the eye.

  “I’m willing to accept the risks, if I can have you—even for a short time.”

  She saw him swallow. “Why me?” he asked, his voice low.

  “The bastard son who cannot use his mother’s name?” she whispered.

  “Yes,” he ground out.

  So many answers occurred to her. She picked and discarded a dozen, but it came down to the fact that he had seen something in her, a potential she had begun to discover for herself. “You know me,” she said at last. “Better than I know myself. You accept it.”

  Her fingers resting against his chest were not enough. She followed a blind instinct, leaned forward to kiss his neck, to follow the beating pulse with her lips, tasting him, the salty heat of him, up to his ear, where his hair tickled her cheek. She lifted her hands and pushed the jacket off his shoulders. The jacket hit the floor with a heavy thud. Of course, the gun.

  His pulse raced beneath her lips and she heard his breath, a little unsteady, next to her ear, but he did not move. She thrust her tongue in his ear and he rewarded her with a deep groan. The sound fluttered through her with little tendrils of pleasure. His hands came down around her waist, almost defensively. But he did not push her back.

  Encouraged, she brought his head down to hers and kissed him firmly. Her hands dropped to his waist, to the belt there.

  His hands came to life and snagged her wrists. He held her still. “Not here,” he said. “Not where Vistaria can intrude at any moment.” He looked her in the eye. “I want you for myself, with the world shut firmly outside the door.”

  She shivered at the implied promise. “Where, then?”

  “My place.”

  She gave a little laugh. “Where is your place? I thought it was here.”

  “Here?” He looked around the room. “This is just a tool.” He took her face in his hands and gave her a firm kiss on the mouth, then smiled. “You are relentless, Miss Callida. You drug my sleep, invade my thoughts and bridge every defense I’ve built. I must concede because I am helpless to do anything else, but at the same time there is a voice inside me telling me this is right.”

  “Yeah for small voices,” Calli murmured, unable to prevent her own smile of pure happiness.

  He pushed her away from him and bent down to pick up his jacket and slide it back on. “Forgive me, but for now we must be careful,” he said.

  She nodded. “But soon, Nick. Please make it soon.”

  “Is tomorrow soon enough?”

  “No,” she said quickly.

  He raised his brow. “I see. Then tonight it must be.”

  “You’re serious?”

  He laughed and kissed her mouth, his fingers sliding into her hair. Her breath deserted her again and she held onto his jacket. When he released her she shook him a little. “Tonight?” she repeated.

  He frowned a little. “Can we be together tonight? I think the laws of physics are against us there. But I can start the arrangements right now and we can start out tonight. I’m afraid that is the best I can do. Can you live with that, Calli?”

  “If we start at once, yes. But Nick, can you walk away from here, just like that?”

  “There’s an advantage to being a bastard son without a formal position,” he said. “I can come and go as I please.”

  “Stop teasing.”

  “I’m not teasing,” he said flatly. “I exaggerate just a
little, though. I will have to make certain arrangements, but they can be put into place tonight.”

  “You would do that for me?”

  “Certainly.” He raised his brow again. “What is it?”

  She shook her head. “It’s just that...after fighting so hard to reach this point, I suddenly feel like I’m freefalling.”

  He pushed his hand into his pocket. Studied her. “That’s because the brakes are off, Calli. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you and I’ve fought harder and longer than I’ve ever fought to resist you, but no more. I want you so badly that if I took you now it would not be soon enough to suit me...so you will find me more than willing to speed up arrangements in any way I can.”

  She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry and raspy. “And heaven help anyone who gets in the way?”

  “Yes, indeed,” he agreed, his voice very low. His eyes, his gaze burrowed into her soul again. Then he cleared his throat and looked away and Calli shook off the spell.

  He walked over to a desk in the corner and lifted the phone. “One moment,” he told her and spoke into the phone. He had a quick exchange in Spanish, then covered the phone with his other hand. “Calli,” he murmured.

  When she looked over, he waved his hand in an unmistakable ‘come here’ motion. She walked over and he sat her on the desk, facing him, her thighs on either side of his legs. As he spoke into the phone he watched her, his eyes never leaving her face. His other hand pushed her hair back over her shoulder, then lingered, the thumb caressing the flesh at the base of her neck. It sent little ripples of pleasure through to her breast. Her head fell back a little. She arched her back, forcing the taut nipple through the clinging jersey.

  It seemed that his eyes darkened, reflecting stormy emotions, but he had a calculating look on his face. He enjoyed his power over her.

  Well, it could be a two-way street. She reached for his belt buckle. She laid her hands on the end of the belt and looked up at him, lifting her brow inquiringly.

  His hand came down to cup her breast, the thumb sliding over the nipple and she jumped and gasped. The touch speared straight down to her already throbbing clitoris.

  Staring him straight in the eye, she pulled the end of the belt out of the carrier and slipped the tongue from the hole. Only the pressure she applied to the belt kept it closed. Gradually she let the tension ease, allowing the buckle to slide along the leather.

  Nicolás finished the call and hung up. He caught her hands in his. “You play a wicked game,” he said, delighting her with the throaty growl in his voice. He fastened the belt, then picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “All has been arranged.”

  “Really?”

  “You doubt me?”

  “No...it just seems a little simple.”

  “Simple enough. I always keep my options open. But you must play your part now, Calli.”

  “What do I do?”

  “You and Minnie must go to Pascuallita with Duardo.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Oh, yes, that might create some problems.”

  “Can you handle them?”

  “I think so.”

  “Good. Duardo can pay penance for interfering with my personal affairs by playing nursemaid to two American women who want to sight-see around the top of the island. He will be bored and charming in turns and you two will pretend a total fascination with the country.”

  “That’s the easy part. Vistaria is a fascinating country.”

  He smiled a little. “Vistaria can also be a deadly country. Don’t underestimate my fellow countrymen, Calli. You have only seen a glimpse of the passion and determination that runs in their blood. Vistaria has been self-determining since we threw off the Spanish yoke and men will give up their lives to ensure it stays that way.”

  She thought of the gun in his jacket. How could she underestimate Vistarians when the gun proved that Nicolás would not take any chances? “I won’t,” she said softly.

  “Good. Now, you should scale whatever wall you scaled to reach me and go give Duardo his orders.”

  “And then what?”

  “Enjoy your trip to Pascuallita.” He lifted her off the desk and walked her towards the door, his hand on her waist.

  It was moving too fast. “Wait,” she said quickly, turning. “What happens then?”

  “I will find you.”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t feel that way. Nick, I’m afraid that if I step out of this room, I’ll never see you again.”

  He didn’t dismiss her fears as foolish. “Do you trust me?”

  She answered honestly. “With my life.”

  “But you still believe I will not come to you. Hmm.” He thought about it for a moment, then reached into his pocket as she had seen him do a hundred times since she had known him. His hand emerged, snarled with a gold chain. He lifted it up, so that the pendant attached to it swung clear. “St. Christopher,” he explained. “Patron saint of—”

  “Travelers,” Calli finished. “My grandmother was Irish.”

  “My mother was Irish, too. This pendant traveled with her father through Europe during the war. She wore it until the day she died and swore it saved her life a hundred times in Northern Ireland. She gave it to me and I have carried it with me ever since.” He held it out to her.

  “No, Nick, I can’t.”

  He shook his head as if to refute her protest. He turned her around. “Your hair. Pull it aside,” he told her.

  She pulled her hair aside and watched as the pendant descended in front of her. It settled on her chest. Then he turned her back to face him. “Believe that I will come for you,” he said and kissed her gently.

  Chapter Ten

  They traveled by train, a slow, picturesque journey through the mountains. The train stopped at every station along the way and at every stop it seemed that dozens of people got off and three dozen more got on.

  The windows remained wide open throughout the trip and fresh air bathed their faces as they sat on the wooden seats facing each other, their luggage piled up on the seat next to Calli. Duardo, she noticed, did not give Minnie any of the overt signs of affection she had seen in the city. As he approached home base and his family, did he grow more wary of his reputation? She didn’t speak of it, but worried that perhaps while he had been in the city Minnie had provided a nice distraction and now he had been forced to bring her back home, he was carefully putting distance between them.

  Minnie did not seem to notice the difference in his behavior, but then, she had accepted with serene calm everything that had happened since Calli had shinnied back down the bricks of the Presidential residence last evening.

  Calli had found them sitting on the lawn at the base of the flowerbed, Duardo’s arm around her and their heads close together. When her vision had adjusted to the dark of the night, she had seen that only a few dozen paces away, a soldier stood with his rifle resting across his hips, not overtly watching them but hovering, just the same.

  Calli had dropped to the grass in front of them and told Duardo what Nicolás had said. Duardo had listened with his head cocked. It seemed he read more into Nick’s instructions than she did for he accepted the news with a sober expression, the twinkle of merriment in his eyes fading.

  “I’d like to see Pascuallita,” Minnie said simply.

  They had traveled back to the apartment, catching the last streetcar of the night. There, they had packed hurriedly. Calli finished before Minnie because she had less to pack. They’d discussed the pros and cons of telling Joshua exactly what they planned, then decided a note would delay the delivery of the news until they had left the city. They’d written a jointly-authored letter, assuring him they were snatching a last-minute chance to tour the north of the island. They promised to phone him from Pascuallita.

  Then on to the house where Duardo had been staying in the city, this time by taxi, which they had managed to hail from the main street that ran below the apartmen
t. Duardo quartered in a small, older house with a distinct lean, tucked away off the main square. Four or five army people shared the house. Duardo packed quickly while Minnie and Calli sat on the front stoop to wait for him—he had explained a little awkwardly that it would not be appropriate for women to go inside a male-only household. He slipped out through the door barely fifteen minutes later, an army issue suit bag over his shoulder and a Nike sports bag in his other hand.

  They had walked to the train station, at the bottom of el colinas, passing through silent streets where it seemed everyone slumbered. At the train station they had curled up on benches and dozed with their heads on their luggage until the ticket office opened an hour before the train departed.

  After the tickets had been bought, Duardo had disappeared into the men’s room with his luggage and returned, shaved and clean. He also wore a light windbreaker, protection against the pre-dawn chill.

  Now they were on the train. Despite the heat of the day and the collective humidity of a dozen bodies squashed in around them, Duardo had not removed his jacket, although he had pushed the sleeves up. He left it zipped a third of the way up, too, which prevented the jacket from falling open.

  Calli waited until they approached the next station, then sat on the edge of her seat and twisted around, as if she inspected the view out of the window beyond their luggage. When the train came to halt with the shudder and jerk she had been anticipating, she let herself fall sideways, her shoulder landing against Duardo’s chest.

  She apologized, pushed herself back upright and ignored Duardo’s thoughtful expression.

  Minnie already showed signs that the restless night had caught up with her, so Calli waited. Soon, Minnie’s eyes slid closed and her head bumped against Duardo’s shoulder. He lifted his arm and settled her head on his legs and she curled up like a kitten and slept.

  Duardo looked at Calli expectantly.

  “How many people around us understand English, do you think?”

  He didn’t look around, which told her that he had already assessed everyone near them. “None. They have made no reaction to comments we have made.”