Hidden Agenda (14 page)

Moaning softly, Eve closed her eyes and languished in the strength of Matt’s fingers as he lathered her hair and body with a medicinal-smelling liquid. His touch was impersonal as his hands grazed her breasts, and again when he drew a cloth between her thighs.

He drained the tub, refilled it, and washed and rinsed Eve a second time, confident that he’d cleansed her thoroughly. He’d witnessed what some of the tiny little tropical insects did to the human body—internally and externally.

“I’m going to give you something for the pain,” he said quietly against her ear.

Eve nodded slightly, smiling. “Thank you.”

Matt wrapped her in a large bathsheet and carried her to his bedroom. Placing her on the bed, he pulled one of his T-shirts over her naked body and eased her gently between the sheets. Minutes later, he held a glass of water to her lips as she swallowed a tiny pill.

All of Eve’s senses were dulled within twenty minutes. The pill had taken effect, and she slept in Matt’s bed and in Matt’s arms until the sun rose in the sky, verifying the beginning of a new day.

E
ve woke to a dull, throbbing pain over her left ear and a ribbon of waning daylight threading across the embroidered sheet. Her mouth felt as if it had been filled with dry, fluffy cotton. A faint odor of tobacco hung in the air, reminding her that Matt was not far away. Her fingers grazed the small lump along her hairline, and she winced and remembered falling. Closing her eyes, she recalled what had followed.

Matt was there, then he wasn’t. He was there again, his hands moving gently over her body. He’d been warm and comforting. He’d whispered calming words, soothing away her panic and fears, and she hadn’t protested when he undressed her and bathed her.

Whatever embarrassment she’d felt once he observed her nakedness dissipated quickly. Matt’s large hands massaged her sore muscles with the impersonal
touch of a physician. He’d applied an antiseptic cream to the scratches on her palms before cradling her to his chest, where she finally succumbed to the drugging effects of the pain reliever.

“Do you want me to fix you something to eat?” His disembodied voice came from somewhere in the bedroom.

Eve turned her head slowly, searching for him in the darkened space. “I thought you couldn’t cook,” she teased. Her voice was still heavy from sleep.

Matt moved from the chair in a corner and made his way across the room. He stared down at Eve, then sat down beside her. “I’m sure I can find something in the freezer.”

She nodded, swallowing several times to moisten her throat. The freezer contained a cornucopia of containers with prepared and frozen soups, sauces and desserts.

“I’d like that, thank you.” She didn’t see his eyes soften with his acknowledged love for her.

Leaning over, Matt press his lips to her silken cheek, his nose nuzzling her ear as he inhaled her sweet, feminine fragrance. “Eve. My wife,” he whispered, his voice filled with awe. “You are beautiful—all over. And one day I’m going to taste all of your ripe fruit even if it means that I’ll burn in hell for breaking my vow that I’ll never consummate this marriage.”

A soft gasp escaped Eve and her heart pounded wildly as she watched Matt rise and walk out of the bedroom. A new and unexpected warmth flooded her body. Could she hope that there would be no annulment? That he was willing to share his future with her?

She loved Matt, but could she afford to take a
chance on discovering happiness with him, then have it snatched away whenever he decided to embark on one of his “secret missions” and risk losing his life?

Maybe, just maybe, she could take the chance and the time given to her—to them.

Matt handed Eve a tray and settled down beside her on the bed, supporting his back against the mound of pillows along the headboard.

“It looks delicious,” Eve said, examining the tray filled with a bowl of beef stew, a saucer of sliced cheese and crackers, and two glasses of milk. “Where did you get the milk?”

“It’s powdered.” Picking up a glass of milk, the heavy gold ring on the third finger of his left hand glinting in the glow of the bedside lamps, Matt quickly drained the glass. He noticed Eve staring strangely at the remaining glass on the tray. “It’s not half bad.”

She wrinkled her nose. Powdered milk reminded her of boarding school. If it wasn’t powdered milk, it was powdered eggs, potatoes, or dehydrated vegetables.

She took a sip of the milk, her eyebrows shifting in surprise. It was delicious. “What’s in it?”

“It’s a secret recipe.” Matt’s luminous eyes glittered mysteriously as he stared at her beneath lowered lids.

Eve felt her breath halt in her chest. Once again she found herself caught in Matt’s smoldering, sultry, male magnetism. She felt the power in his muscled shoulder pressing against hers and the potent masculine scent of his cologne. His lean, sun-browned face was shadowed with the stubble of a beard as black as the
thick hair covering his scalp. The long lashes framing his eyes highlighted their brilliant topaz and emerald colors. His sensual mouth curved into an unconscious smile, and she wondered if he knew how much she desired him.

“What are you looking at, Eve?” he questioned softly.

“You.” Her chin came up slightly in a challenging gesture.

Matt came closer without moving. “What about me?”

She smiled and wiped away the residue of milk ringing his upper lip with her finger, but Matt’s hand moved with incredible speed, capturing her wrist. He stared at her hand, then drew her forefinger into his mouth, sucking the tip of it in an agonizing slowness that fired her body like molten lava. His straight teeth tightened, not hurting her, but not allowing her escape.

Eve felt the heat from his mouth all over her body. Matt continued the sucking, his tongue flicking across the sensitive tip while her womb contracted with the erotic rhythm. Her eyes widened until Matt saw into their black depths. He quickened the motion, increasing the jolts of passion rocking her body.

Her breathing was short and raspy. Matt released her finger, and she escaped from his rapacious tongue; he’d begun to fulfill his promise to taste her, and she would not permit herself to imagine what his mouth would claim next.

She managed to eat the beef stew without spilling it. Each time she raised and lowered the spoon, her hand shook as she fought the powerful virility Matt exuded.

“I love to watch you eat,” he said, taking the tray from her lap and placing it on a side table.

Eve stared up at him in surprise. “Say what?”

Matt gathered her tightly, pulling her over his chest. She could feel the steady pumping of his heart against her breasts. The sheet twisted around her waist and served as a barrier between her naked thighs and his denim-covered legs and hips.

“You have a sweet little mouth, Eve,” he crooned in her mussed hair.

For once, Eve did not have a comeback. She lay in Matt’s arms, refusing to think about anything else except that for the first time in her life she truly felt protected.

She wanted what she had with Matt, at that moment, to last—forever, if that was possible.

“After this is over I’m leaving Mexico, Eve,” he informed her. “I have a buyer for the hotel, and I’ll be returning to the States as soon as the sale is finalized.”

“What will happen to Mateo Arroyo?” she questioned, her warm, moist breath feathering over his throat.

“He will cease to exist,
Preciosa
.”

Raising her head, she looked down at Matt. “What will happen to Eve Arroyo?”

He stared up at her for a long time. “She will also cease to exist,” he stated firmly.

She was numbed by his statement.
Fool
, she thought. What did she expect? She’d hoped and prayed for what was beyond her grasp. Matthew Sterling would not be a part of her future. As smoothly as she could, she eased herself from his embrace.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.

“I need to brush my teeth.” She also wanted to put on more clothing, and put some distance between herself and the man she had married.

“I’ll bring you what you need to brush your teeth.”

“What I
have to do
in the bathroom you can’t help me with,” she said over her shoulder.

“I have quite a reputation for being versatile,” he said teasingly at her departing figure. Eve hadn’t turned around, but he was certain she was smiling.

Amusement flickered in his own eyes, and he felt relaxed for the first time since he found Eve facedown in the mud the day before.

Reclining on the bed, he folded his arms under his head and closed his eyes. His confession to Eve washed over him..
.I’ll burn in hell for breaking my vow that I’ll never consummate this marriage
. He knew he’d shocked Eve when she’d gasped. However, it was time for him to stop lying to himself
and
to her. She deserved to know how he felt about their liaison, and now that she knew all Matt had to do was wait for her to come to him.

Eve left the bathroom, her fingers trailing along the wall for support. A wave of dizziness had hit without warning, and her knees buckled.

“Matt.” Her voice was weightless as a mist.

Within seconds he was at her side, swinging her up into his strong arms. His black eyebrows nearly met in a furious scowl. “I told you to let me help you.”

She covered her forehead with the back of one hand. “You couldn’t help me with—”

“I could,” he interrupted savagely. “You forget that I’ve seen and touched everything you claim as private, Señora Arroyo.”

“Don’t be vulgar, Matt,” she admonished through her pain.

He cursed under his breath, implying what she could do with his vulgarity. Her eyes widened in
surprise. “There are times when I have to be vulgar, cruel, and immoral, if it means staying alive. That’s what I become whenever I accept a job from your uncle. And I’ll be whatever I choose to be until all of this is over.”

Another wave of dizziness shook Eve, bringing with it a film of moisture, and she moaned. “Matt… I’m going to be sick.”

“You’re going to be just fine,” he reassured her. He placed her gently on the bed, pulling a sheet up over her trembling body. “I’m going to give you one more pill.”

Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head. “No more. You’re turning me into a junkie.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Eve. Two pills won’t turn you into an addict.”

Eve continued to protest, but Matt would not relent. She swallowed the pill, and half an hour later she lay slumped over his chest. “I hate you, Mateo Arroyo,” she slurred.

Matt kissed the top of her head. “Sure you do,
Preciosa
. If this is the way you hate, I want to see how you love.”

She struggled, unable to keep her eyes open. “You’re taking advantage of me. You fill me with drugs, then threaten me. Just wait…wait until…”

“Until what, baby?” he whispered to a now sleeping Eve.
Until you come to love me as much as I love you
, he added silently.

All he wanted from Eve was her love, while he was willing to give her financial security, a father for her son, and the passion he had always withheld from any woman he’d ever known.

* * *

Eve woke up ten hours later, blinking and trying to orient herself. The first sight she saw was Matt’s bared, broad back, her gaze fixed on the colorful tattoo of the red bird soaring above crimson-tinged gold flames. She also examined the path of the long scar, a symbol of an incident which had almost cost Matt his life, or a serious disability.

“How do you feel?”

Matt’s voice, soft and quiet, startled Eve. “How did you know I was awake?” She had opened her eyes while not moving.

Matt shifted, turning to face her and pulling her into his embrace. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he whispered, “Your breathing changed.”

Her slumberous gaze swept over his features, missing nothing. She examined the deep hue of his skin and realized that his dark coloring wasn’t entirely from the hot Mexican sun; his coloring was a luminous contrast to the brilliant gold and green of his eyes, eyes that studied her and analyzed her reaction to him.

“How do you feel?” he repeated.

Eve managed a slight smile. “Wonderful.”

He shifted a black eyebrow. “No pain?”

“No pain,” she confirmed softly.

“Does that mean you can take care of yourself now?”

She ran a forefinger down the middle of his chest, leaving a thin path in the thick mat of hair. “Exactly. Now can you get me a robe so that I don’t have to continue to model your T-shirt. I’m beginning to feel like Eve in the garden before the Fall.”

Matt’s arm curved around her waist, pulling her
half-naked body flush against his. “There shouldn’t be any modesty between a wife and her husband.”

“There’s a difference between modesty and brazenness,” Eve said against his shoulder.

“I’ll show you brazenness,” Matt challenged. He cradled her to his chest, sat up, and swung his silk-covered pajama legs over the side of the bed. “It’s time you began acting like a wife.” He took purposeful strides that took him from the bedroom to the bathroom.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her heart pounded uncontrollably.

“You’ll see,” he stated mysteriously. “We’re going to share a shower. You’re going to wash my back and I’ll wash your back, then…”

Eve stared up at his smooth cheek rather than his broad, bared chest. It was obvious that he’d shaved while she slept. “Then what?”

Matt lowered Eve to her feet. His hooded gaze caressed her face. “Then anything you want to happen will happen,” he answered cryptically.

Her breasts rose and fell in a shuddering tremor, bringing Matt’s gaze to the full, firm globes of flesh under his T-shirt. “We can’t, Mateo.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Why not, Eve? There’s nothing and no one to stop us.”

“It will complicate everything.”

He hesitated, trying to form the words to tell Eve that sleeping together would be the least complicated aspect of their liaison. How would she react when she discovered that he was masquerading as a drug trafficker? When she discovered that he had no intention of terminating their marriage?

“It will only become complicated if you want it to be,” he argued as he pulled her to his chest.

“Matt, I—I’ve never been one for gratuitous sex.” She found it difficult to remain coherent.

His mouth searched for hers, finding it and drawing the last bit of resistance from her. “We’re married,” he reminded her.

“I know,” she murmured between the light, nibbling kisses he brushed across her lips. “But—”

“But nothing,
Preciosa
. I want you. I want you the way a husband wants and needs his wife,” Matt continued. “I’ve promised to honor you, protect you, and love you.”

Eve was caught off guard by the passion in his voice as she registered what he’d just confessed, and through the roar of her pounding heart in her ears she focused on a single word.

“Do you, Matt?”

He laid his palm against her cheek, savoring the feel of her silken skin, one finger toying with the brilliant diamond hanging from her lobe. “Are you asking if I love you?” She nodded slowly.