In Bed with the Enemy (5 page)

“Oh, that's a wonderful hobby for a child,” she said dryly. “Very safe.”

“At least I didn't blow up anything.” He grinned. “Unless you count the time I made my own fireworks and blew our mailbox off the post, trying to test a homemade cherry bomb.”

“You didn't.”

“Sure did.” He laughed. “You should have seen it. I put the device inside the mailbox, and when it went off, the damn thing flew a good twenty feet in
the air, the flag spun around a couple of times and the flap fell off.”

Elise laughed so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes. “What did your dad say? Was he upset about the mailbox?”

“Gunny was helping me test it,” Cole said, laughing and shaking his head. “After it landed, he walked over to see what was left, then looked back at me and asked, ‘Think you used a little too much gunpowder in that one, son?”'

As their laughter subsided, the feel of his warm palm caressing hers, and the sound of his deep laughter had heat spreading throughout her entire body. When they worked the El Paso case two years ago, why hadn't she noticed how nice his smile was, or how funny he could be?

As she sat trying to sort out the Cole she'd thought she knew from the man sitting across the table from her, he absently began to trace lazy circles over her wrist with his thumb. Her pulse skipped a beat and a shiver coursed through her. And that wasn't good. Not at all.

This was Cole Yardley, ATF maverick, and the last man she should be shivering over. Even if they hadn't irritated each other from the moment they met, her golden rule about dating other federal agents would prevent her from seeing him.

Slowly extricating her hand from his, she made a point of glancing at her watch. “I hate to cut this short, but if I intend to get a couple more hours of auditing done tonight, I'd better go back to work.” Good heavens, had that breathless voice really been hers?

He checked his own watch, then nodded and rose from his chair. “I need to get going, too.”

“You kids have a nice evening,” Mrs. Carter called from the kitchen door. “I'll see you for breakfast in the morning. We start serving at six.”

“Thank you,” Elise said, turning to smile at the older woman. “But I'll probably just call and have some coffee sent to my room.”

Turning back toward the exit, she started to bid Cole a good evening, but he was nowhere in sight.

 

Cole sat in the SUV on a road several hundred yards from the back of Ricky Mercado's place, looking through a pair of night-vision binoculars. In the past two hours, he'd watched the man replace the boards on his back steps, down a couple of beers and cuss a raccoon every time the animal poked its head out from beneath the porch. But there had been no signs of suspicious activity, and nothing to indicate that Mercado was anything more than what he appeared to be—a regular guy working to renovate his house.

Lowering the field glasses, Cole rubbed his eyes. He hated surveillance. It had to be the most boring part of his job. But if he got the lead he was looking for, it would be well worth the long hours of sitting in the cramped confines of the truck. The sooner he got the goods on Mercado, the sooner he could go back to Vegas and forget about the woman who had him so tied up in knots he didn't know which end was up anymore.

It started with that kiss in the country-club parking lot and it hadn't stopped since. Every time he was
around her, he had to fight the urge to touch her, to pull her into his arms and kiss her again.

But what really had him questioning his own sanity was his reaction to the interest Mercado had shown Elise this morning when she'd served him with the court order. Ricky Mercado had turned the charm on so thick with Elise that Cole had damn near choked on it. And that bothered him. A lot.

The ruse he had created that he and Elise were more than just co-workers was exactly that—a farce. Cole had no interest in the woman beyond keeping her safe from that snake Valente. Did he?

Cursing, he picked up the binoculars and once again trained them on the house. He didn't want to think about how charming she'd been at dinner this evening, or how her laughter and the softness of her skin had made him want to do more than just kiss her.

Movement at the back of the house had him straightening in his seat as he watched Mercado go inside and shut the door. Watching closely for the next thirty minutes, Cole could tell that the man was calling it a night. With no curtains on the windows, he could easily see Mercado move from room to room, turning off lights downstairs. When he entered one of the rooms upstairs, then shut off the light, Cole figured Mercado had gone to bed.

But that didn't mean it wasn't a show to divert the attention of anyone who might be watching. Mercado could still leave, or meet with someone at the house under the cover of darkness.

Cole decided to give it a couple more hours before he went back to the inn. He had a feeling that he'd
spend a sleepless night anyway just knowing that Elise was in the next room, lying in bed, probably dressed in something sexy as hell.

His groin tightened, causing him to cuss a blue streak. He wasn't the least bit attracted to Elise. He just wished like hell his body would remember that fact.

 

Elise spoke to the night clerk at the desk as she walked through the lobby on her way to the inn's courtyard. It was almost midnight and she'd spent all evening comparing the accounts of the deceased heads of the mob and Ricky Mercado's records to the Mercado Trucking and the Superior Produce Company books. She needed a breath of fresh air to clear her mind before she turned in for the night.

The moon and stars lit her way and she had no trouble following the winding paths through the well-kept beds of cactus and native Texas wildflowers. When she reached the back of the garden, she climbed the steps of a gazebo and sat down on the wooden swing suspended by chains from the center rafter.

As she sat enjoying the faint scent of bougainvillea drifting on the cooler night air, she wondered where Cole had gone for the evening. She hadn't seen or heard from him since he disappeared so mysteriously from the inn's dining room earlier in the evening.

“What the hell do you think you're doing out here at this time of night by yourself?”

Elise jumped at the unexpected sound of Cole's angry voice. “Good heavens, you just frightened me half to death,” she said, placing her hand to her chest.

“You should be afraid,” he said, sounding angry.
He walked up the steps and over to sit beside her on the swing. “You have no business being out here at night by yourself.”

“You're kidding, right?”

“No, I'm not.” The moonlight filtering through the open sides of the gazebo shed enough light for her to see his stormy expression, and she had no doubt he meant everything he said. “What if Valente or one of his henchmen saw you out here alone?”

“What if they did? There's a fence around this garden.” She shook her head. “There isn't even a way to get in here without going through the inn's lobby.”

Cole snorted. “Hellfire, woman, the picket fence around this little pea patch isn't more than four feet high. Don't you think someone could climb the damn thing?”

“It's not a pea patch. It's a flower and cactus garden,” she corrected.

“Whatever,” he muttered.

“And why would anyone climb the fence when the garden is open to anyone?”

He made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. “For an FBI agent, you are without a doubt the most naive woman I've ever encountered. What if Valente wanted to kidnap you? Or worse?”

“Why would he do that? You said yourself he turned over a doctored set of the trucking and produce company books,” Elise argued. “He's quite confident that I won't find anything to link him or his companies to the gun smuggling.”

“Have you ever heard of a criminal insuring that nothing is found?” He shook his head. “From now on, if you want to go traipsing around outside your
room after midnight, let me know. I'll take you for a walk.”

“Oh, really. You'll
take
me for a walk like an obedient pet?”

“Okay, so I'll accompany you.” His voice sounded a little less angry.

“Let me clue you in on something,
Caveman.
” So angry that she found it impossible to sit still, Elise rose to her feet. “I'll go where I want, when I want, and without you. Is that clear?”

He stood up to face her. “Not if it's pitch-black dark you won't,
sweetheart.
”

“Yes, I will.”

“No, you won't.”

“Watch me.” She started to march down the steps of the gazebo, but he caught her by the arm.

“Elise, listen to me.”

Cole's tone of voice was almost urgent, and he'd used her name. She could have easily resisted turning back if he hadn't done that. But his deep baritone saying her name sent a shiver straight through her, and she could no more stop herself from facing him than she could pluck the stars from the sky.

“What?”

He started to say something, then shook his head and pulled her into his arms. Before she could react, his mouth came down on hers as he crushed her to him, and the heady feeling of his lips once again pressed to hers took her breath.

Every cell in her body tingled to life as he coaxed, demanded and persuaded her to respond, and Elise found herself opening for him, urging him to deepen the kiss. She might have been shocked by her reac
tion, but rational thought was beyond her capabilities. Cole's firm lips moving over hers, the tip of his tongue seeking entry, left her with nothing but the ability to feel.

Hunger, swift and hot, swirled through her and she curled her fingers in his soft, knit T-shirt to keep from melting into a puddle at his big, booted feet. The rock-hard muscles of his chest quivered beneath her hands and an answering tremor coursed through her. But when his tongue invaded the inner recesses of her mouth, the taste of his desire, the heady sensation of his tender stroking, sent a warm current flowing through her and caused her knees to give way.

When she sagged against him, he caught and held her close, allowing her to feel the firm insistence of his arousal as he shamelessly pressed himself into her lower belly. His breathing harsh, he broke the kiss, then leaned back to look down at her. The need, the burning passion she saw in his hazel eyes sent a shiver of delight straight to the most feminine part of her.

He stared at her for endless seconds before bringing his hands up to tangle his fingers in her hair. “When I found you missing from your room…” His voice trailed off as if he was unable or unwilling to put into words what he'd felt. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. “Please, promise me you won't go out at night like this again, unless I'm with you.”

If she'd been able to form words, she'd have told him that she'd do no such thing. But even as her mind resisted his ridiculous request, she nodded her agreement.

 

Cole glanced at the clock on the beside table, then forcefully punched his pillow. It would be getting light soon, but he hadn't so much as closed his eyes. Every time he did, he remembered the cold emptiness that had gripped him when he'd opened the door between his and Elise's room, only to find she wasn't there. In that split second when he'd realized she was gone, a thousand different scenarios had run through his mind, and all of them had ended with her fighting off John Valente's slimy touch.

Throwing the sheet back, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, sat up, and propping his arms on his knees, rested his head in his hands. What the hell was wrong with him? And what had possessed him to grab her and kiss her until they both came close to collapsing from lack of oxygen?

Why was he feeling this way about her? She was nothing like the calm, agreeable women he was normally attracted to. Elise Campbell had an acerbic tongue, an argumentative streak that drove him nuts, and her stubbornness would drive Job over the edge.

Sighing, he stood and walked into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. He didn't need this. He worked alone. And that's the way he liked it.

But the thought of Valente laying a hand on her, whether from anger or lust, caused Cole to grit his teeth against the pure fury burning at his gut. Why was he so consumed with the need to protect her from Valente?

He'd tried telling himself that she was too inexperienced in fieldwork to know how to deal with the head of the Mercado crime family, and that all he wanted to do was make sure she didn't get into some
thing she couldn't deal with. But there were other, more intelligent, ways he could go about it than grabbing her and kissing her senseless whenever he got the chance.

Hell, it was no wonder she insisted on calling him Caveman. The only thing he hadn't done was throw her over his shoulder to drag her back to his bed. And he'd even mentioned doing that to her.

He shook his head, walked back to the bed and stretched out. Staring at the ceiling, he blew out a frustrated breath. In the past three days, he'd displayed less smarts than that of a day-old jackass.

But the memory of Elise's sweet lips beneath his, the feel of her soft body pressed to his, had him feeling more protective, more territorial than he'd ever felt in his life. And he had the disturbing suspicion that until this case was brought to a close, that emotion was only going to intensify.

E
lise yawned as she tried to concentrate on the columns of figures in front of her. She'd been trying for the past hour to find a discrepancy between Carmine Mercado's accounts, those of his successor, Frank Del Brio, and the records of the Mercado Trucking Company. On the surface, everything looked to be in order, but even though the numbers added up, there was something that bothered her. She couldn't put her finger on it just yet, but she knew whatever it was, she'd find it.

Giving up for the moment, she leaned back in the chair and rubbed her eyes. Part of the reason she was having trouble concentrating was due to her run-in with Cole last night in the inn's courtyard. The memory of his kiss, the way she'd clung to him, caused her cheeks to burn and a languorous heat to flow throughout her body.

Had she lost her mind? How could she be heating up over a man she didn't even like. And how could she have ignored her hard, fast rule of not fraternizing with anyone she worked with?

But as she thought of Cole holding her, kissing her like she'd never been kissed before, her lips tingled and her stomach fluttered as if a flock of butterflies had been released inside.

Finding it hard to sit still, she pushed away from the desk, stood up and walked over to stare out the window at the inn's garden below. The pretty, white gazebo at the back of the courtyard was hidden from view by the canopy of live oak trees surrounding it.

Why Caveman Cole? What was there about him that she suddenly found so…tempting?

He was the same overbearing man he'd been two years ago. Wasn't he? She nodded. Of course he was. Why was she even doubting it? And why was she finding it so hard to forget about him—his smile, the deep, rich sound of his laughter and the feel of his firm male lips on hers?

A delicious tension suddenly gripped her body, and her knees didn't want to support her. Walking back over to the desk, she marked her place on the printouts, jotted down the figure on the calculator screen, then shut it off. Some things were better left unexplored and her sudden attraction to Caveman Cole Yardley was one of them. What she needed was something to get her mind off the man and back to the business of finding the paper trail she was sure connected the Mercado family to the gun smuggling ring.

Glancing at her watch, she walked over to the bu
reau to pull out a hot-pink spandex sports bra and matching shorts. She shoved them into a canvas gym bag, then as an afterthought added her swimsuit and a clean change of clothes. She'd work off the unwarranted tension in the Lone Star's fitness room, then swim a few laps in the indoor Olympic pool for good measure. By the time she finished, she'd be relaxed and ready to get back to finding the link between the guns being funneled to the El Jefé terrorists in Mezcaya and the Mercado crime family.

She smiled as she grabbed her car keys and headed for the door. With the entire town shutting down for the weekend, and converging on the club for its annual summer festival, she was sure Ricky Mercado and John Valente would be present. She might have the opportunity to observe them doing something that led to a break in her investigation.

And the sooner that happened, the sooner she could go back to Virginia and distance herself from Cole Yardley. Maybe then she'd regain her good sense.

 

The huge indoor swimming area was relatively deserted when Elise finished her workout and changed into her two-piece swimsuit. Most everyone was outside on the country club's patio and lawn enjoying the outdoor-barbecue buffet, and choosing their partner for the relay games that would follow immediately after lunch.

A young couple passed her on their way out, leaving her alone with a man swimming laps in the huge pool. As he neared the end where she stood, she found herself staring at the way the corded muscles in his arms and back bunched and flexed with each stroke.
The man had a very impressive physique and she could tell he was in the habit of working out regularly. When he reached the side and did a perfect underwater turn, his powerful legs pushed off the side of the pool, propelling him through the water much like a torpedo, and well into his next lap. Having been on the swim team all through high school, she recognized the smooth way he sliced through the water with a minimum of disturbance as the moves of a very experienced swimmer.

But there was something about the man that was familiar, something that made every nerve in her body tingle to full alert. As he reached the near end of the pool, and she got a glimpse of his face, it suddenly dawned on her why. Caveman Cole was the man performing the strokes so expertly.

Great! She'd come to the country club to try to avoid thinking about him, and here she stood, tingling over his fantastic body.

Deciding to leave before he realized she'd been watching him, Elise cringed when he reached the opposite side of the pool, then, stopping to hold on to the side, called her name. “Hey, Campbell. Want to race?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Think I could beat you, huh?”

“Not in this lifetime,” she said, laughing.

He leisurely swam over to the side where she stood. “Then what's stopping you from showing me?”

“I don't want to damage your fragile male ego, Caveman.”

He laughed. “Sounds like you know you can't win and you're using that as an excuse.”

She shook her head. “It looks like I'm going to have to show you,” she said, reaching for the sarong wrapped around her waist. “Just remember, I tried to save your ego the crushing blow of being beaten by a woman.”

As she unwound the long gauzy cloth from her trim waist, Cole tried his damnedest not to stare. The two-piece suit was modest compared to most bikinis, but on Elise it couldn't have looked more provocative. He tried to concentrate on how the deep, jewel-blue suit contrasted with her auburn hair. But it was the way the top cupped her full breasts and the bottoms clung to her shapely hips that had him feeling as if he might never take another breath.

When she tossed the wrap on a lounge then walked to the edge of the pool, he gulped. Her long, slender legs were perfect for wrapping around a man and holding him to her as she drained every ounce of energy from him. His body responded and he was extremely glad that he was already in the pool.

Diving neatly into the water, she surfaced beside him, and he wondered what he'd been thinking when he'd goaded her into this race. How the hell was he going to be able to swim, let alone win, in his condition?

“Are you ready?” she asked, smiling as if she knew something he didn't.

Stalling, he shook his head as he tried to bring his body back under control. “We haven't decided on the number of laps, or what the winner gets.”

“How about two laps?” she asked.

“Think that's all you can do?”

“You wish!” Her delighted laughter echoed
throughout the pool area. “I was just trying to take pity on you since you've been swimming for a while.”

Cole grinned. “Don't worry about me, sweetheart. I can hold my own. Let's go four laps.”

“So what do I win when I beat you, Caveman?”

“I'll buy your dinner for the next week.”

“And if you win?”

He reached out to wipe a droplet of water running down her cheek. “I haven't decided yet.”

Her easy expression disappeared. “I don't think I like not knowing—”

“Ready, set, go!”

He took off before Elise could protest his noncommittal answer. In the unlikely event that she beat him, he figured he'd go easy on her and let her buy him a beer. But she didn't know that and he wasn't about to tell her.

When he made the first turn at the opposite end of the pool, he wasn't at all surprised that she was right behind him. He'd slowed his normal pace in order to let her think she at least had a chance of winning. But by the time he'd completed three laps and started on the last leg of their race, it came as no small surprise that she was right with him. She was a stronger swimmer than he'd anticipated.

She pulled ahead and he found himself having to draw on his reserves to catch up. Just as they reached the side of the pool, he gave it all he had, but she managed to touch the edge a split second before he did.

“You've done…this before,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

Nodding, she wiped the water from her eyes and grinned. “I was on the swim team all four years in high school, and state champion in my senior year.”

“You tried to hustle me.”

“No, I didn't,” she said, shaking her head. “You were the one who challenged me.”

“Yes, but you failed to tell me about swimming competitively.”

She shrugged. “Get over it, Yardley. I won fair and square.”

When she started to haul herself up on the side of the pool, he stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. “But I would have won if I hadn't gone easy on you.” At the feel of her wet skin beneath his palm, it suddenly didn't matter who won. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he pulled her close.

“Wh-what do you…think you're doing?” she asked, sounding more breathless than she had right after completing their race.

He smiled. “I'm collecting the consolation prize.”

“This isn't smart, Yardley.”

“Probably not. But then, we cavemen aren't know for being overly intelligent.” Before she could protest further, he lowered his head and captured her mouth with his.

The water lapped at their chins and, careful to hold them above the surface, Cole leisurely savored her lips as he reacquainted himself with their softness. When Elise brought her arms up to circle his neck, he pulled her more fully against him and the feel of her bare abdomen and lush breasts pressed to his chest sent a shock wave straight to the most sensitive part of his anatomy.

When she sighed at the contact, he instinctively knew she was experiencing the same intense sensation he was. Taking advantage of her acceptance, he slipped inside to taste the sweetness that was uniquely Elise. Boldly stroking her tongue with his, he teased her into a game of advance and retreat, then coaxed her into exploring him as he'd explored her. The tension between them rapidly increased and when she brought her legs up to wrap around his waist, it felt as if the blood in his veins turned to liquid fire.

Her smooth thighs held him captive as she tentatively acquainted herself with him, and it was all Cole could do to keep them afloat. Never in his life had his arousal been so swift or as intense as it was at that very moment.

Deciding that they'd both end up drowning if he didn't put a halt to things, and damn quick, Cole broke the kiss. “Damn, sweetheart, remind me to make bets with you more often.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he wished he could call them back. The passion in her emerald eyes faded instantly and she unwrapped her legs from around his waist as she tried to put distance between them.

“I…I need to—” She stopped as if searching for something that needed her immediate attention. “…get back to work.”

With his arm still wrapped around her waist, he ignored the signal to release her and shook his head. “Everything in town is closed up tight for the summer festival. There's not a whole lot either of us can do for the rest of the weekend, but maybe watch Mercado's activities here at the Lone Star.”

She rested her hands on his shoulders as if she intended to disengage from his embrace. “I have accounts to go over and entries to compare.”

Her palms heated his wet skin and made him wonder why steam wasn't rising from where she touched him. He kissed the tip of her cute little nose. “Have you found anything you'd like to share with me?”

Her eyes narrowed a split second before she pushed away from him and hauled herself up onto the side of the pool. “So that's what this was all about. You thought that by kissing me you could gain information about the case I'm building.”

How the hell did she get that idea? “No, Elise. I kissed you because—”

“Oh, come on, Yardley.” She glared down at him as she grabbed a plush towel. “Do you think I was born yesterday? Your actions speak for themselves. But you're forgetting something.”

“What's that?” he asked, fascinated by how gorgeous she was when she was angry.

She shook her head. “We're not sharing information. Or don't you remember your statement that you work alone?”

He watched her vigorously dry herself. The towel skimmed over her creamy skin and touched places he wished his hands were touching. His groin tightened to an almost painful state and he sucked in a sharp breath. What the hell was wrong with him? Elise Campbell didn't even come close to the type of woman he preferred. So why did he want to throw her over his shoulder, take her to a nice secluded place and find out if she was as passionate when she made love as he suspected she'd be.

Cursing under his breath, Cole kicked away from the side of the pool without a backward glance and started swimming laps as fast as his aching muscles would allow. If he swam long enough, maybe he'd be able to forget that kiss, and the fact that he was harder than he'd ever been in his life for a woman who was quickly driving him out of his mind.

 

When Elise walked into the ladies' locker room, her knees felt as if the cartilage had been replaced with soft rubber. Cole Yardley was the most arrogant, insufferable soul she'd ever encountered. But he kissed like every forbidden fantasy she'd ever had and made her want to forget all about her rule of never becoming involved with a co-worker.

Stripping off her suit, she stepped into the shower, and closing her eyes, stuck her head beneath the spray. She hoped the warm water would wash away all thoughts of the man and how alive he made her feel when he pressed his rigid body to hers. Her lower stomach fluttered and a coil of tension tightened deep inside her feminine regions at the thought of his bare skin touching so much of hers.