Ricardo (The Santiago Brothers Book Three) (7 page)

“The wedding was quite beautiful.”

He looked at her. “You went?”

Mel nodded. “You would like Audrey, his wife. She really threw him for a loop. None of us thought he’d ever get married. He seemed to be the all-hard, no-soft type of guy.”
Like you.

“Yeah? You know my brother well?” His eyes held genuine curiosity.

“I’ve only been on his team for about a couple of years, but Alejandro isn’t that big of a mystery. He’s a straight shooter.”

Ric nodded and chuckled. “That sounds like Ale.”

“He’s one of my best friends. I can go to him with just about anything.”

He gave her a side-glance; his eyes probed hers through veiled emotion. “Hmm.”

She blushed, wondering how interesting he found that fact. His eyes narrowed on her just then and she feared he’d discover some secret she didn’t have. “Oh, and Rafael got married as well. Right before Alejandro,” she said, to distract him from his silent appraisal of her.

Ric’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “Wow. Being in the desert sure makes you lose track of time. But that doesn’t surprise me one bit. Rafa was always the ladies’ man. He was doomed from day one.”

Melody found herself laughing. It was the first time in days her situation hadn’t left her with a feeling of hopelessness. Could she trust this man? She trusted Alejandro with her life and even Rafael was a good man, according to Audrey. But wasn’t there usually one bad sheep of the family? Did she want to take a chance it wasn’t Ric? “So you’re not a ladies’ man?”

Ric smiled. For a second, Mel wished she could see his dimples. She settled for his rounded lips. “Would I be out here off the grid if I were?” Ric’s head turned at a soft sound from the other side of their room. Hakeem appeared at the entrance of the room. “Ah, Hakeem!” Melody has agreed to let me use this half of the bed. I won’t need that other mattress after all. You did get the mattress, right?”

Mel didn’t know why her cheeks were ablaze. It wasn’t as if their agreement was intimate in any way. Before she averted her eyes from both men, she caught Hakeem’s teasing smile.

“No, sir. I knew before long you’d charm your way into the bed.”

“And he just charmed his way out of it.” Mel pulled the covers up to just beneath her chin.

Ric frowned, but his eyes sparkled. “Then how ’bout you share the floor with me?”

Melody couldn’t recall the last time she was so on fire. Melting under the extreme heat were her hardened muscles, her body softening along with a tiny part of her heart. “I’ll stay in the bed, thank you,” she said stiffly. How could she remain objective enough to test her faith in him if he had her weak with every smile, every suggestive comment?

Ric’s look turned innocent. “You see, I can be nice, even if you’re not.”

“You smell like you have somewhere you need to be. Your bathwater is probably getting cold. I don’t want to hold you up.”

Hakeem chuckled softly from his position.

“Okay, but I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. When I come back, this half of the bed better be empty.” Ric rustled and flopped as much as he could. He disturbed Mel’s side of the bed and caused her to let out an annoyed grunt, before he finally stood. “I might be awhile, so don’t wait up.” He winked and disappeared from the room with a laughing Hakeem following behind.

****

Mel bolted upright, her breath coming in heaving gasps. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness surrounding her. Where was she? How did she get here? She groaned as her body rebelled against her movements. She swung her heavy legs around and out from underneath the covers. When her feet touched the thick threads of the Persian rug, awareness returned.
I’m in Ric’s tent, in his bed. I’m in the middle of the desert. I was kidnapped and Ric promised to get me home.
She eased herself from the bed and the constricting muscles in her thighs and calves hardened to the point of pain. Mel squeezed her eyes shut and sat down on the bed. She reached into space for the bottle of water she left on the nightstand nearby.
I should’ve drunk more water yesterday.
Her muscles had been deprived of adequate nourishment and the calcium buildup was at its peak. She moaned in satisfaction at the taste of the refreshingly cool liquid. Soon, her muscles responded to her mental commands and she hobbled toward the private entrance to the bathroom.

After she washed, she poked her head into the main area of the tent. On the table nearby, a covered dish waited for her. Instantly, her stomach growled. Despite eating past the feeling of full yesterday, her body still craved food. She stepped closer to the table and her hand reached out to remove the cover.

“Good afternoon. Sleep well?”

Mel jumped at the sound of Ric’s voice. She rotated and found him sitting on the large pillows in the corner with a few papers in front of him. He wore a soft smile as his eyes flickered over her once before settling back on her face. She absentmindedly touched her hair, styled in a sloppy bun at the nape of her neck. Although she rarely wore makeup, she couldn’t stand to go a day without moisturizing. Snooping through Ric’s bag in the bathroom yielded a small bottle of sunscreen, which she lathered on liberally. Now, she wished she had double-checked her face in the mirror for white streaks. “Yes, I think I did sleep well.”

“Good. You slept about twelve hours.”

Twelve hours? That was all?
I think I could sleep for days.
But being in a strange place, in a strange bed tended to disrupt her sleeping patterns. Had he returned to the room last night after bathing?
I must have fallen asleep right after he’d left.
The last thing she remembered was Hakeem’s throaty laughter.

“You hungry? Hakeem told me you nearly ate his arm off last night in a savage feeding frenzy.”

Mel rolled her eyes. Her lips involuntarily curved upward and betrayed her pleasure at Ric’s humor. “I did
not
almost eat his arm off.”

“He said he had to force you to stop gorging.”

“Well, yes, that’s true.”

Ric chuckled. “Well, there’s breakfast waiting on the table for you. It’s light, so you’re not puking in an hour. If you’re hungry afterwards, we can get you something a bit more filling.”

“Thank you.” She chose a chair at the table where she could keep her eyes on Ric, sat down, and pulled the plate toward her. A dulcet aroma permeated the air around the colorful plate of fresh tangerines, strawberries, cantaloupe, and pineapple. “Where’s Hakeem?” She chewed on the juiciest pineapple piece she’d ever had in her entire life.

“He’s got his own cover, so he’s working it.”

“And you won’t tell me what that is?”

Ric’s attention shifted back to the papers. “It’s best that you know as little as possible.”

“But what if I get into a situation where I’ll need to protect his cover?”

Ric’s eyes shot up. “What
situation
are you planning on getting yourself in to? You’re not to leave this tent. It isn’t safe. We can avoid all the trouble you’re conjuring up in that pretty head of yours if you stay put.”

Mel tried not to physically respond to the compliment.
He thinks I’m pretty?
Should it matter?
No.

“Since we’re on the subject of your troubles, what are you running from?”

The fork stopped halfway to her mouth. The question caught her completely off-guard. She took her time savoring the chunky piece of kiwi. “I’m not running.”

“Sure you are. You’re out here in Dubai, of all places, for a vacation when most women would be sunbathing in the Bahamas with friends. You are here alone, right?”

Melody’s head snapped in his direction. He reclined easily on some pillows, his hands clasped behind his head. His eyes revealed nothing about his thoughts. An old, familiar cover story she had used on several undercover assignments lay at the tip of her tongue.
Why lie to him? He’s helping you, right?
Trusting herself was a guarantee. Even if he was Alejandro’s brother, they hadn’t connected in many years. Ric’s job was dangerous.
And I might have to rely on myself to get home.

“Tell me. What’s got you so scared that you have to travel halfway around the world to escape it?”

“I’m
not
scared.”

“Okay, angry?”

“No.”

“You’re just here enjoying the hot, dusty, dangerous sights — by yourself.”

Mel turned her back on him. She eyed a bottle of water and snatched it off the table, unscrewed the top, and took her time gulping the liquid down her parched throat.

“You’ll run out of water and then we’ll talk.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being alone.” She wiped her wet mouth with the back of her hand.

“True.”

“It’s better than being with someone you love and trust who could hurt you.” Her mind conjured images of the man she thought she knew.

“I can relate to that.”

What? 
Melody cut her eyes to him. She hadn’t expected them to trade stories. “You can relate?”

“My father left my mother a few years after I was born. Imagine, three young boys under the age of ten, no income, all the bills.”

Melody’s jaw dropped. No, she couldn’t imagine. Alejandro had left that part of his childhood out whenever they had late-night talks at the office. It almost annoyed her that her partner couldn’t trust her with that information. Three children and no money?

“Three rambunctious boys who grew into juvenile delinquents. We gave our mother…we gave her a lot of grief.”

“I’m so sorry, Ric,” Melody breathed. “I met your mother at Alejandro’s wedding. She looked…looked like she hadn’t known that grief.”

He gave her a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. Melody knew he still struggled with that grief and perhaps some bitterness over his father leaving. “Thank you for saying so. Although I only have a few hazy memories of my father, I know what could have been if he had stayed. I believe our lives would have been…very different.”

“But you turned out okay, didn’t you?” Melody gestured around the tent. “Look around you. You are living your life in service to others. I’d say that’s progress.”

Ric chuckled. “Blowing sand out your nose and checking your boots every morning for sand spiders isn’t progress.”

“You’d rather be somewhere else?”

“Anywhere else,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “I’m thinking Florida is nice right about now.” Melody swallowed a gasp. Did he really want to return to the US? Was he losing interest in field work?

“I thought you loved—”

Ric held up a hand to silence her. His eyes darted to the front of the tent. Mel strained her ears and heard Hakeem and another person in what sounded like a heated argument. The voices got closer. A hand on her arm yanked her from her seat and down onto the pillows
. Oh, no, not again! What are we—
In a split second, she was on her back with warm lips gently caressing hers.

Melody’s mind reeled. Instinct demanded she shove Ric away but a strange and foreign desire held her lips to his. The voices were loud now, probably in the tent, but she barely heard them. A rebellious sigh escaped when Ric parted her lips and deepened the kiss.

By the time she realized it was over and her lids fluttered open, Ric was already in a deep conversation with Abdul. Mel’s brow furrowed.
What was he doing here? Why did Ric want them to be kissing when he entered the tent?
Abdul said something in Arabic and Ric lazily answered. Abdul’s face tightened, and then she was kissed again.

Her skin burned beneath her clothes as warm fingers glided from her neck to rest on her hips. His beard was silk against her skin, the heat of him inviting. Mel found her lips gently pulling at his for more. Then it abruptly ended. Ric answered Abdul, who must have said something while she and Ric kissed.

Mel blinked.
Am I the only one involved in this kiss?
She trembled slightly, embarrassed by the sudden realization that Ric was putting on an act and she, a genuine performance. She felt hot liquid behind her eyes and blinked several times.
Why am I so emotional?
She hated herself for waking up when clearly she needed rest. She would not cry.
Pull it together, Mel. Trust Ric!

Her spine steeled just as Abdul’s hard stare struck her. She didn’t flinch. Whatever the argument was about, earlier it had brought Ric to his feet, but now it had silenced Abdul. Abdul glared at both Ric and Hakeem before he stormed from the tent without another word.

“Thanks for the heads-up, Hakeem.”

“I figured if I started yelling…”

Ric slapped him on the shoulder. “It was a good move. I knew Abdul would come around sooner or later.”

“I’m surprised he let you have the night with her.”

“Probably didn’t want to upset Hassan’s orders.”

“But why is Abdul so keen on her?”

Both sets of eyes shifted to Mel. She swallowed at the slitted stares of both men. “I…what…what did he want?” Mel hated that she stammered. Ric’s kiss made her brain mush and she didn’t need Ric to know that.

Ric took a step toward her. “That’s a good question, Ms. Lewis. What
does
Abdul want with you?”

****

He knew innocence when he saw it. However, right now, there was only one person he trusted and that was Hakeem. Mel’s wide eyes stared back at him; her gaze shifted nervously between him and Hakeem.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in a shaky voice.

That was probably true. Abdul claimed she was a look-a-like for Hassan’s wife and that motivated her kidnapping.
And of course I can trust anything that guy says.

“You said Faruq mentioned gaining favor with Hassan,” Hakeem offered.

“He did, but how much sense does that make? Is he somehow out of favor with Hassan? What more could he want from the sheik?” Ric mused. He threaded all ten fingers through his hair and groaned as his mind worked to produce answers. “Hassan hasn’t mentioned any issues with Abdul either.”

“But what did he say? What did you say?” Mel asked.