In the Dead of the Night (14 page)

“Thanks.”

She tucked a loose curl back into her bun. “Is the young woman going to be all right?”

“Yes, just sleeping.”

A bit of turbulence shook the plane, and the stewardess grabbed the seat in front of her to steady herself. “The pilot was concerned she was disturbing the other passengers.”

“She won’t wake until well after we’ve landed.”

“All right. Do you need anything else?”

A strong drink
. He shook his head and applied the ice pack to his eye. She walked off down the aisle. He didn’t drink much, and he was especially careful on assignment, but about now, he could use a really stiff anything.

He turned to Dale.
“You know you could’ve just given her the sedative without asking my permission.” He couldn’t help the way his voice sounded so irritated.

Dale’s mouth turned up into a devilish grin.
“Yeah, but then I would have been the villain. Besides, where the lady’s concerned, you make all the decisions. That’s the deal on this assignment. Boss said it was your call.”

It didn’t matter that Dale was right.
Allan still wished Dale had taken the initiative and given her the shot without Allan having to give him permission.

He leaned against his headrest, with one hand on the ice pack and the other on Jenny’s bare shoulder.
Somehow he had to convince her to marry him before that bastard, Randy Stevens, showed up.

Thurman Wilson wiped the sticky fresh red blood off his sword, then turned to Caruso. “They were supposed to wait until Angel was in place. What the hell did they jump the gun for?”

A groan from his henchman lying on the deck, clutching his bloodied chest, elicited a snort from Thurman.
He jerked his sword at Caruso. “Where are they taking Jenny now?”

Thurman turned to watch his henchman.
The dying man shuddered. His face turned pale and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as the waves crashed against the beach down below.

Caruso’s face remained emotionless.
“Don’t know, boss.” He pulled a cigarette out, then guarded it against the steady ocean breeze as he attempted to light it. “They haven’t told Angel where they’re taking her yet. Hush, hush, for the moment.”

Thurman sheathed his sword.
“Hope that’s not a sign they suspect there’s a leak in their organization.”

“Never can tell.
He said he doesn’t think they suspect anything. They just had to move her quickly after these fools bungled it.”

Glancing down at the henchman, Thurman took a ragged breath.
The man’s eyes no longer blinked, and his mouth gaped wide open. “Do they know about her money yet?”

“Yeah, boss.”

“Damn. They’ll go by the book. They’ll have one of the agents marry her, then move her money to where I can’t get at it.
Damn
.” Thurman kicked the dead man in the stomach with the toe of his boot. “What about that girlfriend of hers, Roxie Adams?”

“Vanished.
As soon as they got hold of Miss Brant, the girlfriend disappeared.”

“Damned A.T.A.”

Caruso flicked his ashes over the weathered gray cedar deck railing. “They’ve moved the parents, too.”

Thurman nodded.
“Anything further about her memory loss?”

“According to Angel, she still doesn’t remember anything.”

“What about the barhop?”

“Meeting me later tonight.
You still want me to take her to that seedy dive on 1
st
Street?”

“Yeah.
Teach her to meet guys on the Internet.” Thurman smiled. “I’ll meet up with you at midnight. Keep her warmed up until I get there.”

Caruso tossed his cigarette to the beach.
“All right. Come on, Marco.” He rolled the dead man off the deck. Marco fell with a thud to the beach ten feet below. “I’ll dispose of him first, then pick up the girl. See you in a bit, boss.”

Thurman could almost taste Jenny’s
sweet mouth and feel her soft curves against his body. His body instantly awakened with desire for her. He had to have her money…just had to, but no matter what, she wasn’t getting away from him. Damned A.T.A. No way were they keeping her from him.

No doubt they’d told her what a villain he was.
But did they tell her he’d been one of the good guys, too? He smiled. Doubtful. No one wanted to admit that they’d made a mistake with him. And no one would believe Angel was still working for them, and him, too.

He walked into his bedroom
and deposited the sword next to the bed. He wouldn’t need it again tonight. Not for the hot time he’d have with his new babe. Depending on how good she was he might keep her around for a little while. Just until Jenny returned to him. Or not.

The other had been too scrawny.
The scanned picture over the Internet of this one looked pretty fine. He would just have to see if she felt as fine naked squirming beneath him. If so, she would be one of the lucky ones and live longer than just one night.

***

When Allan and his agents arrived at the condo in South Padre Island, it was already three in the morning. Everyone was tired. Jenny still slept from the sedative Dale had given her, and four new agents were already in place to allow the others a good night sleep.

Allan carried Jenny to the bedroom of the third floor while Dale hurried to pull the covers aside for her.
Allan pulled Jenny’s sandals off, then covered her with the blue and white floral bedspread. She still wore the evocative black dress, sexy as any piece of lingerie she could have worn.

Allan kicked off his shoes.
He sat on the cot on the other side of the room. “Have a good night’s sleep. See you in the morning.”

“The two of you will work things out.”

“There’s nothing to work out, Dale.” Allan hadn’t meant for his voice to be so harsh.

Dale smiled.
“Yeah. I mean about the marriage thing.”

“Tomorrow, Dale.”

“See you then.”

Dale left the door to the bedroom open, and another man poked his head inside.
He had dishwater blond hair and penetrating blue eyes with a football quarterback’s build. “Name’s Lantham. You need anything, just holler.”

“Thanks.
Just shut the door, would you?”

“Sure thing.”

Allan placed his gun under his pillow, then stripped down to his boxers. Like he said, he wasn’t sleeping with the lady. On the other hand, he’d expected to be sleeping on the couch, not on a cot at an entirely different island.

His head barely hit the pillow before he fell asleep, but it wasn’t long after that he heard noise in the room.
He listened intently for the unfamiliar sound he’d heard. Whipping out his gun, he waited.

Was it the air conditioner turning on that disturbed him?
Sounds like that usually didn’t. It had to be something else. The outdoor lights to the condo cast a dim light into the room, the same level as that of a nightlight. No one was in the room but Jenny and him.

Then Jenny moaned.
She was having a nightmare. Suddenly, she sat up in bed and reached for the table beside the bed.

She yanked at the drawer
and ran her hand inside it.

Shoving
his gun underneath his pillow, he hurried to the bed. “Jenny?”

She stared at him, her eyes glazed, no sense of re
cognition in them whatsoever. Taking her hand from the drawer, he encouraged her to lie back down.

The door to the be
droom opened. Fully dressed, Lantham stood in the doorway. “Anything wrong?”

“No.
She’s just having a nightmare. We’re fine.”

Lantham nodded, then closed the door.

Allan returned to his cot when she seemed to sleep. The woman had caused him to lose a lot of sleep the last few days. Crawling back under the covers, he closed his eyes.

An hour later he heard the drawer open again.
The air conditioner was running again, and Jenny sat up in bed and fumbled in the drawer.

He c
rossed the floor to the bed, pulled her hands from the bedside table, encouraged her to lie down, and shut the drawer. Staring at her for a few seconds, he finally shook his head.

Skirting the bed, he
made his way to the other side. He lifted the covers back, trying not to disturb her, then moved in close to her. When she was within reach, he pulled her against his chest.

Whatever her reoccurring nightmare was, maybe his holding her tight would make it go away.
In any event, the bed was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the cot, and
maybe
she wouldn’t keep disturbing his sleep if he held her close.

Wrong.
Just her sweet scent and soft curves stirred up his adrenaline. Snuggling against him, she turned up the heat. He had to wake before she did and make sure he was in the cot before she caught him with her the next morning.

At least t
hat was the plan.

***

Jenny snuggled next to his warm body, enjoying his well-toned muscles against her breast. He smelled so good, all spicy male, and warmed her right up. But in the dim morning light, she suddenly jerked awake and sat up in bed, realizing she had no idea who she snuggled against.

She stared at Allan for a moment, his mouth slightly curved upward as he reached for her in bed.
But his eyes remained shut.

Jumping
out of the bed, she grabbed her pillow and hit him on the head with it.

He yelled and bolted upright.
The door to the bedroom slammed open and a blond-haired man, unshaven, wearing denims and a T-shirt, bolted into the room with gun readied.

Crying out, she
held her hand to her breast, her adrenaline pumping at time and a half. “Jeez, who are you?”

“Lantham, ma’am.”

She frowned at him and folded her arms. “We’re fine.”

As fine as two people could be who were in the kind of situation they were in.
To think Allan had lied to her, wouldn’t tell her the truth, then was sleeping with her in bed. She groaned in total exasperation.

Allan rubbed his bare chest and yawned.
“Yeah, Lantham. I’ll take over from you in a little bit.”

“Smith said he would.
That you had to spend some time with the lady alone.”

She hmpfed
. “That’ll be the day.”

Allan motioned with his hand for him to leave.

Lantham smiled, then closed the door.

“What the hell do you think you’r
e doing in my bed?” she asked, her voice on edge and raised a bit.

Lying
back down, Allan clasped his arms behind his head. “I like less dramatic morning wakeups, honey, really. And all of the guys will hear you if you don’t pipe down a bit.”

She stormed to the dresser
and jerked a drawer open. When she found it empty, she turned to Allan. “Where are my clothes?”

“The guys probably didn’t bring your bag up yet.
We got in kind of late last night.” He yawned again. “And you kept me up most of the night.”

She glared at him.
“Doing what?”

“I have no idea what you were doing.
Only whatever it was, I couldn’t sleep. What did you have in your bedside drawer at home?”

“How do I remember?”

“You kept trying to get to it. And you were moaning in your sleep. So I joined you in bed to chase your nightmares away.”

She thought for a moment, but couldn’t recall any nightmare she’d had.
“Right.” Any excuse to get close to her. She headed for the closet. Not finding anything in there, she yanked the door to the bedroom open and let it slam against the wall.

Lantham blocked her at the front door to the condo.
“What can I help you with, ma’am?”

“I want my clothes.
Have whoever has them bring them to me at once.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Folding her arms, she glared at him and wouldn’t budge.

Allan walked toward her, dressed only in his trousers.

“Got some coffee, Lantham?”

“Yeah, in the kitchen.”
Lantham punched some numbers into a cell phone. “Smith? Have you got the lady’s clothes?” He nodded. “Okay, she’s expecting them. Uhm…” He glanced in the direction of the kitchen. “I don’t think either had a very good sleep last night. Yeah, see you in a few.”

“Want some coffee, honey?” Allan called out from the kitchen.

“You’d better be calling your partner, honey, Allan, because if you’re calling me by that term of endearment—”

“What?
Are you going to give me another black eye?” He stepped into the living area with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Cream or sugar?”