Temptation Island (36 page)

On the fifth ring Marek answered, the connection weak and full of static.  “Hello?”

Carm placed a hand over her free ear.  “Marek?  Marek, is that you?”  She could hardly hear over the static.

“Carmen?  Where are you?  Are you alright?”  His voice was filled with concern.

“I’m fine, but I need you to come back as soon as you can.  Marek, I need you.  Something’s happened to my sister.”  Her voice broke on the last word.

She listened as noise scrambled his response.  “What did you say?  I can’t hear you.”

“Carmen?  You need to listen to me.  Are you at the house right now?”

“No.”

“Good.  Now listen.  I only have a moment before Landon and I climb in his helicopter.  Don’t go back to the house, Carmen.  It’s not safe right now.”

“Marek, where the hell are you?  What’s going on?” Carm hollered into the phone.

“We’re on St. Kitts.  We did some surveillance, remember?  Things are going down right now, Carm, on both islands.  Stay away from the house until I come get you.  Where are you now?”

Carm swallowed hard and felt a greasy knot form in the pit of her stomach.  Fear for Marek stirred to life and Carm fought it back.  “I’m at Landon’s.  I came here looking for you.  Marek, are you safe?  Are you hurt?”

She heard Marek say something on the other end before he spoke to her.  “I’m fine,
sugar
.  I just told Landon you were at his place.  We both think you should stay there.  I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but you’ll be fine at his place.”

Sweat made her grip on the receiver slip.  “Can’t you come back now?  You’re not going to put yourself in any more danger are you?  Marek, come home.”  She ended on a near plea.

She heard him sigh and his voice lowered as he answered, “I can’t, Carmen.  I don’t have time to explain it all now, but I need to be here.  I know the players in this drug operation and it’s my land they’ve been using.  I have to stay until this is finished.”

It made sense why he had to stay, but Carm still felt like weeping.  Her sister was in trouble, the love of her life was helping to catch some horrible criminals and could be in trouble, and she was alone.  What she really wanted was for him to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be OK.

“Carm?  Are you still there?”

She sniffed and blinked back tears for the second time that day.  “I’m here.  And I understand you have to do this.  It’s just Kate is in the hospital and I can’t be there for her, and you’re down on St. Kitts involved in something nefarious.  It just sucks, that’s all.”  Carm finished as she looked up at the ceiling.

His voice was like a sweet caress.  “I’m so sorry about your sister, sugar.  I’ll figure something out as soon as I get back.  I promise.”

“Be safe, Marek.  I don’t want to lose you when I’ve only just found you.”  Carm suddenly demanded.

A low chuckle came from the other end.  “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.  If I don’t get back tonight, Landon has a spare bed made up.  I’ll be back soon, Carm.”

The connection started to crackle again and broke up Marek’s next words.  Carm gripped the phone, leaned her head against he wall and closed her eyes.  “I’ll be here waiting, Marek.  I love you.”

Static crackled on the line, but Carm heard just before the line went dead, “I love you too,
cheri
.”

For the second time that day tears flowed down Carm’s face and her heart pounded in her chest.  Only this time it was for a completely different reason.

He loved her.

Carm hung up the phone and slid to the bamboo floor.  Wrapping her arms around her shins and resting her head on her knees she let the tears come.  Joy and elation poured from her as well as fear for the love of her life and for her sister.  She purged the guilt from her with a river of tears. 

    Everything that had been building inside her came out as she sat huddled on the kitchen floor.  Carm gave in to the urge to have a good, purifying cry and sobbed against her bare knees.  She cried for her sister and the baby she was bringing into the world all by herself.  She cried for the miracle she’d been given in Marek, his love.  She cried with fear for the dangerous position he was in right now and the fear he might not make it home.  And she cried to rid herself of the guilt of having her finding her dreams and a good man who loved her while her sister, her best friend, has delivering the child of a man who’d abused and abandoned her in such a cruel manner.

Carm sat there until the sun sunk low outside the windows and cast the room in a warm, golden glow.  Until all the tears were gone and she couldn’t cry any more. 

Then she picked herself up off the floor and reached into her pocket for the calling card she’d placed there earlier that morning.  First she dialed her house.  No one answered, so she called information and got the number to the local hospital.

After being passed through operator after operator Carm was finally connected with her sister’s hospital room.  Melanie picked up the phone on the third ring.  For twenty minutes Melanie gave Carm an update on her sister’s situation and talked about the options Kate was facing.

Just as Carm was about to hang up Melanie cut in, “Wait, Carm.  Kate just woke up and wants to talk to you.  Here she is.”

Carm heard the phone shuffle and felt her heart lurch when she heard her sister’s voice.  “Hey, Carm.”

“Hi, sweetie.  Melanie says you haven’t had the baby yet.  That’s good.  She also said they’ve been pumping you full of injections.  Are you handling it alright?  I know you hate needles.”

Kate gave a weak laugh.  “They’re awful, Carm.  And the shots burn like hell in my arm.  But, they are helping the baby develop and they’re keeping her inside, so I’m not complaining.”

“Her?  Are you saying it’s a girl, Kate?”

“The ultrasound this afternoon says so.  I’m having a baby girl, Carm.”  Kate started to say more but broke off on a sob and couldn’t.

Even though her heart was breaking Carm kept her voice strong and clear.  “You’re going to be fine, sis.  And your baby girl is going to be fine.  I’ll be home as soon as I get the package tomorrow, OK?  So, don’t you worry.  I’ll be there before you know it.”  Carm took a deep breath.  “Now, get some more rest.  I love you and I’ll be home soon.”

She hung up the phone and let her shoulders slump. 
Talk about an emotionally draining day.  I need comfort food.  Where does Landon keep the chocolate?

TWENTY FOUR

It was finally over.  Marek slouched in the front seat of Landon’s pick-up and breathed a sigh of relief.  The son of a bitch had been caught and all his goons rounded up.  It took over twenty-four hours, but Carillos Andrade finally got his.

Now it was time for Marek to go to Carm.

Except he had to check his place out first.  He’d been warned that some of Carillos’s men would probably hit his place once their boss called them and told them of the snooping around he’d been doing.  That was fine with Marek.  As long as Carm was safely away when they did it, he didn’t give a rip.  It was only stuff.  He could replace that but he couldn’t replace Carm.

His need for her almost overwhelmed him.  It felt like he would crumble up and die inside if he didn’t get to hold her in his arms soon.  Tell her how much he loves her.  Feel her soft curves mold against him as he buried deep between her thighs. 

He needed the woman more than he needed air. 

Landon jolted him out of his thoughts.  “You’ve got a nasty cut on your forehead, Bro.  The butt of Carillos’s gun nailed you good.  You gonna be alright?”

Marek gingerly touched the bandage over his left eyebrow and grimaced.  “I’ll be fine, mon.  The medics looked it over and stitched it up.  The fat little bastard got a cheap shot in on me.  That’s alright, though.  He cried like a girl when he was arrested.  Did you see that?  Seriously bawled like a baby.  He sure didn’t look so tough then.”

Landon laughed, the sound rough and gravelly.  “Yeah, I saw that, dude.  Looked like he was going to pee himself when the police surrounded him with guns drawn.  I thought it was damned ballsy of you to offer yourself as bait, man.  But, it worked.”

Marek rolled his head along the headrest and grinned at Landon.  “
Oui
, it worked.  As soon as I realized how much he hated me for going straight and becoming successful I knew it would be easy.  Did you hear the shit he railed at me?”

Landon snorted and turned the Ranger down Marek’s long paved drive.  “I especially liked the one about you being nothing but an educated son of a whore and a blue bollocked Brit.  I thought that was beautiful. Real poetic and inventive.”

“Wasn’t it just?” Marek replied dryly.

They came to a stop in the circular drive and Marek gave his house a once-over.  It looked fine from the outside.  But, who knew what damage had been done on the inside.

They both climbed out and walked the brick path to the front door.  Neither was surprised to find the door jam splintered.  Pushing the door open, Marek stepped inside and sucked in a breath.  It looked like a hurricane had come through the house.

Everything had been tossed around; pottery lay shattered across the floor.  The paintings in the entryway had been slashed.  A thought occurred to Marek and he stepped over a busted antique bombe chest and sprinted to the living room, his heart lodged in his throat.

It was still there.  The bastards left it alone.  His dolphin sat unharmed in the corner of the room, fluid and graceful in a room of total chaos.  Plants were up-ended and soil was strewn everywhere, his leather couch was slashed all to hell.  But, his dolphin—Carm’s favorite piece in his house—had been left untouched. 

Marek felt like kneeling and kissing the thing.

Instead he reached out a shaky finger and skimmed it over the smooth blue surface and grinned foolishly.  He glanced over his shoulder at Landon and said, “They didn’t touch it, mon.  They fucked up the rest of my house, but they didn’t get my dolphin.”

Unsure of the significance Landon just nodded and rocked back on his heels.  “Sure thing, Bro.”  He jestured over his shoulder with a thumb.  “Shouldn’t you go check out your office?”

Marek dropped his hand and turned around, the grin still on his face.  “
Oui
, I should.  But, even if they totaled everthing in there, I’ve got all my business backed up on this handy little memory stick I carry around on my keychain.”

He pulled out his keys and flashed the slender black cartridge.  “I never leave home without it, mon.”

Landon just shook his head and smirked.  “I should’ve known.  C’mon cowboy, let’s check out the rest of your place.  See what else these yahoos trashed.”

With a backward glance for reassurance that the dolphin really was safe, Marek strode past Landon to investigate the rest of the house.  They were both confused and shocked to discover that the entryway, the living room and his office were the only rooms that had been ransacked. 

They checked out the house thoroughly, but nothing else had been touched.  It almost looked like they’d run out of time and had to abandon their fun.

Not that he wasn’t greatful for it, because he was.  It was just damned odd.

Though he wanted to get to Carm more than he wanted to breathe they spent the next forty-five minutes cleaning up and clearing out his first floor.  He didn’t want to bring Carm back to her knew home with half of it looking like a whirlwind had blown through.  Give her anything else to worry about. 

When they were finished they were both sweaty and tired.  But, the worst of it had been cleared out.  Marek made a call before they left for Landon’s and had people on their way to finish cleaning before he closed the door behind him.

Marek glanced down at his Rolex and swore.  “
Merde.
  It’s already noon, mon.  I need to get to Carm.”

Landon opened the driver side door and laughed.  “Whoa, would you look at Marek?  All reved up and rearing to go to his little lady.  That’s so cute.”

Marek bit his tongue . . . for a moment.  “Screw you, Landon.  Your turn’ll come around someday soon, mon.  We’ll see who’s laughing then.”  He climbed inside and punched Landon in the arm.

“Not in this lifetime, Bro.  Love and me don’t mix.”  Squealing the tires, Landon peeled down the drive, the sound of male laughter trailing behind on the breeze.

                   
# # # #

Carm glanced out the window for about the twentieth time.  Still no sign of Marek.  She’d already run into town on the scooter to the post office.  The package was waiting for her when she got there.  She had all the proper identification now and had booked a flight out that left at three o’clock.

All she needed now was her husband.

Glancing anxiously at the clock on the wall again, Carm swore when she saw the time. 
Twelve-O-Five.
  Why wasn’t he back yet?