DeliciousDanger (19 page)

“Uh-huh.” He shifted slightly on the bed, the muscles in his
face tightening at the discomfort. “You shouldn’t move.” She was instantly
concerned.

“If you could just raise the head of the bed a little I’ll
be fine.” He studied her face carefully.

“Kelly, I want you to know I’ve never connected with a woman
the way I have with you. There’s something special here. Go on, admit it.”

“It must be Xena,” she joked.

“I don’t think Xena made this happen.” He took her hand and
placed it over his groin. There was no mistaking the thick swelling of his cock
beneath the bedclothes.

“Rick!” She tried to snatch her hand back, looking over her
shoulder.

“They’re gone,” he laughed. “Or at least too far away to see
anything. Come on, lean over here and kiss me. Please? I’ve thought about it
more than you can believe.”

“Oh, if this is any indication, I can believe it.”
Nevertheless, she pressed herself against the bed and leaned down to touch her
mouth to his. Rick nibbled at her lips, then licked them, tasting them with a
rough, silk tongue that demanded entrance into her mouth. She opened for him
and his tongue swept inside like a marauder, taking everything she had to give.

Chills and heat raced in tandem over her body, her breasts
throbbed, her nipples ached and she felt moisture at the apex of her thighs.
She dueled with his tongue, tasting the flavor of him that, despite the
hospital essence surrounding him, was distinctly Rick.

They were both breathing heavily when they broke the kiss.

“You’re better than all the medicine in the world,” he told
her. “And a damn sight prettier to look at than Troy.”

She caught her breath. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Hell no. I want a lot more of that. And I’ll have it if I
have any say in the matter.”

“Not in the shape you’re in,” she told him.

He lowered his voice. “Maybe you could minister to my body
like you did in Maine.” He grinned. “Now pull a chair close to the bed and tell
me what’s been going on in your brain. Dan told me about the calls you made to
him. I want details. If you and Xena are going to be my security detail I want
to know how it works.”

Xena, still in her place next to the bed, gave a gentle
bark, her eyes moving from one to the other.

“Think she’s telling me I’m out of line?” Rick asked.

“Actually I think she’s giving us her blessing.”

“I knew that dog was smart.”

* * * * *

Rick couldn’t believe how lucky he was. Focusing on the
debacle in Iraq instead of Kelly had become a real problem. How could a woman
he’d just met take up so much of his mind? Be so prominent in his thoughts.

He’d been lying here in Dogwood House, fighting the pain,
doing everything Troy insisted on so he could heal quickly. Memories of their
two nights together had been better for him than any medicine. He’d just been
waiting for the right moment to call her, see if he could finagle a way to get
her down here. He must have had good karma in another life because here she was
delivered up to him like an early Christmas gift. He could hardly believe it.
Ostensibly she was there so Xena could be an early warning system in case of
danger. His partners believed whoever was after him wouldn’t be defeated by
ordinary security methods.

And here was Xena, his early warning system, his defender.
And with her, the redhead he wanted more than any other woman in the world.
This was his chance to let her know he wanted to build a relationship with her.
He couldn’t afford to blow it.

As he feasted his eyes on her sitting next to him and
listened to the soft lilt in her voice, he knew this was the woman he was meant
to be with.

* * * * *

“But I can’t help you,” Zarife protested to the man at the
other end of the cell phone call. He had been dragging his feet on the orders
to find where Latrobe was sequestered. After checking all the hospitals and
clinics he’d done nothing else, afraid to call too much attention to himself.
“I already told our common friend. I am not in a position to do anything and I
cannot afford to jeopardize my situation.”

“Now you listen to me,” Greg Jordan told him. “Without my
boss, your family never would have scored the big hit they did. They’d still be
whining in their tents about what Saddam stole from them. So don’t tell me what
you can or can’t do.”

“But if I start asking questions, someone will get
suspicious,” he cried. “People never talk about that agency. They have very
powerful friends.”

“Then we just have to find a way around it, right? I know
for a fact you’re plugged into many of the Washington circles. That’s how my
boss found you. And found out so much about you. And your family.”

Zarife paced back and forth in his living room. Even though
he was alone he couldn’t keep from looking over his shoulder and glancing out
the window. He would give anything not to be having this conversation. He
wondered what his father would say if he knew what was happening.

“Are you there?” Greg prodded. “This man, if he puts all the
pieces together, could pull the plug on everyone. Including your father.”

“I will do my best but you should not rely completely on me.
Surely you have other contacts.”

“And I’m working them all. Every one of them. But that
doesn’t mean you can screw me over on this. You’re an important piece of the
pie.”

“I understand. I will see what I can do.”

Zarife slammed the cell phone onto the table. What a mess.
What a damn mess. He needed to speak to his father ASAP.

He felt his shoulders sag with relief when he heard his
father’s voice on the phone. He’d waited nearly two weeks for the man to call
him, his patience wearing thin each day and his nerves growing more ragged. But
they’d agreed the elder al-Dulami would call him when he had things under
control.

“It is so good to hear from you,” he said. “I have worried a
great deal.”

“All is well,” his father assured him. “Better than could be
expected, as a matter of fact.”

“Do you know they want me to find Rick Latrobe for them?
I’ve received two different calls.”

“Can you do this?” his father asked.

Zarife’s grip on the phone tightened. “I don’t know. I told
them if I start asking questions about this man, I’ll call unwanted attention
to myself.”

“Find a way to do this. We cannot afford to leave Latrobe
alive.”

He needed to change the subject. “Are the plans in place?”

“Yes. We are ready to recapture what is rightfully ours. The
first attack will take place in three nights. Once that first village is ours,
we will move forward through our former territory and reclaim each site one by
one.”

Excitement coursed through Zarife’s veins. It was finally
happening. All the years of planning, of searching for the right connections,
were finally paying off. “How soon shall I join you?” he asked.

“You must stay where you are until the territory is
secured,” the elder al-Dulami told him. “You are our eyes and ears to the
political scene in the United States. You will be able to give us firsthand
reactions and collect information we need.”

Zarife tried not to let his disappointment show in his
voice. He didn’t want to be slogging along at his boring job, pretending to be
something he wasn’t one minute longer. He wanted to be where the action was. To
share in the thrill of triumph.

But he was an obedient son and would do whatever his father
thought would be best. Would give the best results.

“All right,” he said. “But please call me and let me know
how the first raid goes. I wish you success.”

* * * * *

He hadn’t wanted to call Zarife. As a matter of fact, Greg
Jordan wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. Any link to what was
about to happen over there could only mean more trouble for him and he had more
than his share at the moment.

Employing a number of disguises, he’d checked out Rick
Latrobe’s house, the perimeter of the airfield where Phoenix kept its small
fleet and the building where the Phoenix Agency offices were located. He’d even
gotten himself hired onto the crew that cleaned the building, hoping for a
chance to get into the office, only to be told Phoenix had its own crew and
their floor was locked from outsiders.

He was paying what he considered exorbitant sums of money to
two men he trusted implicitly, men who could scour the underbelly of politics
and black ops to see if they could find anything. Men who tag-teamed with him
to check likely places. So far everyone had come up empty, including Zarife.

But time was fast running out. Noise was being made and Rick
Latrobe had to be eliminated before the noise got too loud to turn off.

Maybe just this once he’d catch a lucky break.

Chapter Nine

From Kelly’s point of view her stay at Dogwood House was
nothing if not interesting. It was obvious from the first day that Rick had his
own ideas about how things were going to work and it had nothing to do with
Xena’s psychic powers. The first challenge came in the discussion of where she
would sleep. Janet had set aside a guestroom for her but Rick refused to hear
of it.

“She stays in here with me,” he insisted.

Kelly laughed. “Xena’s your guard, not me.”

“But where Xena stays, you stay. And she’s not leaving my
side.” He reached down to caress the dog’s head. “Right, girl?”

Xena woofed.

“See?”Despite his pain, Rick had a glint of mischief in his
eyes. “She agrees with me.” He was holding her hand again, something he seemed
to do most of the time, and tugged her forward. “I wish this bed was big enough
for you to crawl right in here with me,” he whispered.“My body needs some of
that special attention.”

“Rick! People are watching us.”

“Good.” One corner of his mouth turned up in a grin. “I want
them to be so jealous of me their eyes will turn greener than yours. Now how
about another of those healing kisses?”

“Healing?” she teased.

“Oh, yeah. You have no idea how much better they make me
feel.”

“Honestly. Sleeping in here would definitely generate a lot
of questions.”

“Bring ‘em. I don’t care who knows about us.” His expression
turned serious. “Listen, Kelly. You know we’ve got something really good going
on here. I don’t care who knows it. Do you? Am I jumping to conclusions here?”

She swallowed a sigh. “Don’t you think things are moving a
little fast here? What if we’re making a mistake?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Is that why you closed up your place
temporarily and hightailed it down here to find me? Because we might be making
a mistake?”

“No, but…”She nibbled her lower lip. “Maybe I should sleep
in the sitting room. That’s pretty close.”

Rich chuckled.“It might get a little crowded. That’s where
Troy sleeps.”

“Oh.” She glanced over at Troy who was doing his best to
swallow a grin.

“Come on. I need you in here, pretty girl.”

Kelly had to laugh, he looked so much like a little boy
asking for an early Christmas present.

“Okay, okay. You win.”

She wasn’t really looking forward to bunking on a rollaway
but she had to admit, she wanted to be in the room as much as he wanted her
here. Besides, she had a feeling that little by little Rick would coax her into
the oversized hospital bed he was in, the moment he felt well enough to share
it with her.

When she got ready for bed that night in the huge adjoining
bathroom her mind kept straying to the unbelievable connection she and Rick
shared through Xena. The past couple of days she’d been reading about people
who’d connected like this, channeling through an animal in a conscious state
with living entities and formed strong, lasting relationships. Was that what
was happening here? Were Xena’s thoughts being relayed to Rick through her? Was
that why he was so amenable to everything?

She spent so much time in the bathroom brushing her teeth
and her hair and arguing with herself that Rick hollered, “Either you come out
of there or I’m coming in to get you. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for
my collapse, would you?”

“Coming,” she called back. She spritzed a little cologne on
her pulse points, as much for confidence as anything else.

When she walked back into the bedroom Rick’s eyes widened
and the blue of his irises darkened to almost navy. She was immediately
conscious of how thin the material of the sleepshirt actually was and of her
normally contained hair now floating in long waves almost to her waist.

“Come here,” he commanded, his voice soft but firm and he
reached out a hand to her.

I shouldn’t be doing this. He has a major wound that
needs to heal.

“I want to touch your hair. I need to touch it. Bend your
head down. Please, pretty girl.”

When she leaned forward he ran the fingers of one hand
through her thick tresses.

“Like fine red silk,” he whispered. “So soft. I could touch
it forever.” When he draped it forward over her shoulder the tips of his
fingers touched her breasts, which were barely concealed beneath the fabric of
her nightshirt. Instantly her nipples hardened. His hand drifted across the upper
slope of her breasts, back and forth, then down to her throbbing nipples.

“God,” he breathed. “You don’t know how good you feel. I’d
love to strip you naked right now and touch every inch of your body. Do you
have any idea what you do to me? Here. Give me your hand again.”

Before she could realize what he was doing, he tugged her
hand under the covers and placed her open palm directly over his cock. Her
fingers closed automatically around the swollen shaft, feeling it pulse beneath
her touch.

It amazed her than in his debilitated condition she could
elicit this kind of reaction from him.

“Rick, I don’t know if this is… People are…”