Love Beat (21 page)

“You sure about this?” Below the rail his grip on my hand tightens. ”You mean you want to…?”

I nod. As the drinks arrive he passes me one. Something flickers in his eyes. Triumph? Relief?

He waits for the barman to move away then murmurs low. “Look, Tunis, I’m running a tight operation here. I can’t have you and your team going off at tangents.”

I take a long sip, barely listening. I’ve just invited him to finish what he started. The gleam in his eyes tells me he’s back on track while I’m in free fall.

But I’ve made my decision.
This is what he likes. Stay with it
. And for once I’ve called the shots. His shots, granted, but still… One small step.

So now I’m a little bit in control too. “That’s no reason to lose your temper. Maybe you should loosen up a little.”

He downs his drink and spreads his hands on the counter. “Okay. I’m sorry it was too hard. I forget you’re new to this. If you must know, I was afraid. You scared the living shit out of me, going off like that.”

Cade Fitzlean
afraid?
I take a gulp of my drink.

“And now, if you’ll drink up, we have to get back upstairs.” He smiles slowly, his hand stealing round to my back and slipping downward. I wince as he gives my left buttock a squeeze, and his smile fades. “Lively down there? Serve you right. You’re still in session. We’ll go back up now and finish it.”

As if in a dream, I follow him into the elevator and feel his arms close around me. His knee presses between my legs as the doors slide shut.

He kisses me hard, ramming my head back against the wall and releases my lips only when it arrives at our floor with a loud
ping.
He pulls me out with him, striding along with his hand gripping mine in an iron clasp. He wrenches open the door and pushes me inside, slamming it shut behind him.

“Did anybody ever tell you”—he advances slowly, his eyes raking over me—“just how sexy you look in that dress?” He reaches around me with a swift lunge and jerks down the top half of the zipper, baring my breasts and trapping my upper arms as he peels it down toward my waist.

He stoops and fastens his mouth on first one breast then the other, hauling at my nipples with his mouth, sending the blood rushing to my head. “And did anybody ever tell you”—his murmur reaches me as his lips move against my breast, his low growl sending a tremor through me—“how damn sexy you look
without
it?”

With a violent jolt he jerks the zipper all the way down and peels off the dress in a single, flowing movement. I sigh with pleasure as he runs his hands over my flanks, catching my breath when he fondles my tender backside.

“Turn around. I want to see.” He swivels me round by the shoulders and in the mirrored wall opposite I see the trace of his hands on my punished rear glow in crimson, glowing patches, the marks on my thighs two angry red stripes. He caresses them gently, running his finger along the lines, making me shiver.

The sight of them is strangely arousing, glowing against my skin, cruel reminders of a contact so fierce it left stains but so violently arousing I’m still weak from the force of it.

He buries his face in the dip where my neck meets my shoulder. “Tunis, Tunis… I want to fuck. You?”

“Mm.” Too overcome to speak, I breathe against his ear, feeling his erection spring free as he swiftly unfastens his trousers.

Just then his phone signals. He snatches it out of his pocket and glances at it with a frown. “
Shit
. That call from Japan. Forgive me, Tunis, I have to take this. Back in five.”

Chapter Sixteen

I curl up on the quilt as five minutes drag by then another five. Still no sign of Cade. I sigh. It’s too late to call home.

I use the time to freshen up, check my makeup and slip into a thin satin robe.

Maybe the dungeon will be free. Is that what he wants? I shiver, part scared, part thrilled at the thought of what he might do.

Or maybe we’ll just make love…

His call’s taking an age. Or is it just me? I’m getting impatient. Needy. Starting to resent the many other claims on his time.

At last I lean back on the pillows with a sigh and relax. He has a lot of demands on his time this week. I’m lucky he’s given me so much of it. Business has to come first. That’s how he makes money.

All at once the door crashes open. He’s standing in the doorway glaring at me.

I sit up, rigid with alarm.

He’s whey-faced, his hair tousled like he’s repeatedly run his hands through it. For a second I wonder if he’s been drinking.

“Where are they?”

I spring off the bed as he advances slowly into the room, his eyes burning into mine. This time there’s no warmth. His look could snap steel.

“Who?”

“Don’t play with me. So this was the point of the little diversion, was it?”

I clutch my satin robe together. Faced with his fury, it’s a flimsy protection. “Cade, stop this. What’s the matter?”

For a long moment he looks at me then closes his eyes briefly and takes a deep breath. “Okay, we’ll take it slow.”

I decide to start with what I know. “There was a problem with the call from Japan?”

“What call? There was no call.” His eyes bore into mine. “Sonja’s message said she’d set one up but the call was a hoax, and now she’s disappeared. And Alford tells me your boyfriend’s missing too. We think he’s got her. Look at this.”

He flicks a remote at the wide TV screen in his sitting room and scrolls through some channels until the screen becomes grainy. We’re looking at security footage from a camera downstairs. There are various random shots of guests in corridors, in the dining room and the grounds.

He pauses the film to enlarge a frame.

“This is from the past three days.” His voice is low, clipped, his profile rigid.

The image is fuzzy but I make out Sonja and Jake at the end of a corridor. They seem to be arguing. He lunges at her, and she darts out of sight. He appears to follow.

“There’s more.” He scrolls through more film and it pauses again. This time, Sonja’s walking slowly through the entrance hall. Jake’s following, his expression set, and he appears to call after her. She glances back over her shoulder then hurries out of shot. She looks scared.

In another shot they’re together, but all at once he snatches at her arm and she tries to break free.

I frown. “But you’ve kept Sonja pretty busy lately. Maybe she was just in a hurry. There were other people around. There could be any number of reasons—”

“Always trying to defend him.
What is it between you
?” His tone is deliberately sarcastic, mimicking me asking him about Nera.

“Just because you dislike him doesn’t make him a psycho—or a kidnapper. Maybe it was all about his camera.”

He gives me a strange look. “Then we found these in his room.”

He takes an envelope from his jacket and tips the contents onto the bed.

It’s a set of contact strips of tiny black and white film. I peer at the images, trying to make sense of them. They look like shots of a glamour model, but slowly I realize they’re all of Sonja. In some, she’s in flimsy lingerie—in others she’s nude. She looks natural, happy, meltingly pretty—and entirely unaware she’s being watched.

Jake—a voyeur?
I look up, appalled and speechless.

“He must have used a long lens. And he’s doing it to get back at me.” He gives me a simmering look. “Mason told me you were whispering in the car on the way to the christening. Simmons was saying he wanted his own back. What do you know about all this, Tunis?”

“Nothing. Truly. And I can’t believe…” I stop mid-flow as I recall his exact words.

I’ll get my own back someday. Don’t you worry…

My stomach turns to ice. Back then I thought he was joking. Now the photos take on a new and terrifying significance. I stare at them, horrified. “But I’ve known him for years. He’d never harm anyone…”

How sure
am
I? He has mood swings. He gets fixated on things. For years I’ve put it down to his talent. Could it hint at something more sinister?

Is it this place?
Beat Hall’s affecting all of us. I should know. My arrangement with Cade is only days old and it’s taking over my life. When he’s in a room, I can hardly take my eyes off him.

Ben and Mel are changing fast—and becoming deeply involved. But we’ve all forgotten about Jake. Creative, moody—maybe it affects him too.

“What about Sonja? Did you pick up any clues from her? She’s been looking very run-down the last day or so.”

“Has she?” Cade’s cramming shaving things and a couple of shirts into a small case. He snaps it shut and pauses as he catches my eye. “How should I know? I’m her employer, not her doctor. Maybe it’s her period.”

“
Cade.
That’s a dreadful thing to say. Surely you notice when your staff are ill?”

He gives me a withering look. “I pay her well. She’s good at her job, and she keeps personal stuff to herself. She’s one in a million. And if he’s done anything to her, I’ll kill him.”

He means what he says. I feel a shaft of fear. “But Jake would never hurt her.”

He glares at me. “No? He tried to kill you. And there are other ways—ransom, torture… Fuck knows. If he wants to get his own back on me, she’s a good place to start.” He glances at his watch. “I must go. Alford’s got a fix on Sonja’s phone. We think they’re in London. It’s only an hour by helicopter if we get a move on. We might even get there in time to find them and put a stop to this.”

“Have you called the police?”

“Are you joking? I don’t want police involved. I’ll let my security people handle it. And I’ve got contacts in Interpol. We’ll know if he tries to leave the country.”

“Wait—I’m coming with you.”

He’s already halfway to the door. He glances back, exasperated. “That’s crazy. You stay here. You’ll just be in the way.”

I dart in front of him, barring his way. “No, I mean it. Let me come too. I can talk to him. I know Jake better than anybody. If he’s…ill, then maybe I can make him see sense. Strangers might only make things—worse.”

I break off, as the fleeting image of Sonja’s pale, shell-like face swims before me.
Suppose something happens to her?

“Please, Cade. Take me with you.”

* * * *

Ten minutes later, in jeans, trainers and a borrowed jacket, I’m following him out onto the helipad. Alford, Mason and a grim-faced pilot are waiting for us. The helicopter looms like a menacing insect, its metal flanks gleaming in the spotlights, the propellers already in slow spin.

This time it’s not a celebration. Faces are grim. Words are curt. Their terse exchange means little to me, muted references to wind-speeds and direction and mention of clearance to fly over Green Park. In minutes we clamber up into the helicopter, strap ourselves in and are rapidly airborne.

As the roar of the engines fills the cabin, Cade leans across and shouts in my ear, “It’s definite. They’re in the capital. We’ll try there. Once she’s safe, we’ll worry about Simmons. Here, put these on.”

He hands me a pair of ear defenders and puts them over my head, his face very close to mine. “And if anything’s happened to her, I’ll never forgive you.”

The helicopter makes short work of the distance back to London. In the dark it’s hard to make any sense of the landscape. I peer in despair at the network of streetlights far below us, stretching in glittering strings across the black countryside, thinning out along the motorways and blazing into full glory in the towns.

In the cabin the men look tense, their profiles etched in the glow from the controls. Next to me Cade looks set and grim, his jaw rigid, his elegant profile etched in soft light, his eyes in shadow. From time to time he glances at me, the glitter in his eyes far from friendly.

In the window all I can see is my reflection, white-faced and terrified.

Soon we reach the capital and the view clears. I see a giant H sketched below us and realize we’re coming in to land on the roof of a tall building near a dark swell of trees.

Cade leans over and shouts into my ear again. “Alford thinks her signal comes from here. If not, we’ll try the other hotels in Park Lane. It’s round here somewhere.”

As we land I see a reception committee lined up, their hair blowing in the rush of air from the propellers. The deputy manager and a couple of security guards greet Cade respectfully and lead us down into the hushed sanctuary of the hotel corridors.

The manager is a small, round man with a thin mustache and frightened eyes. I get the impression he and Cade have met before. Cade’s leaning toward him, his voice low. “And they checked in when?”

I strain to make out the words, but they’re walking too quickly for me to keep up easily. After descending two floors, they pause outside a bland, anonymous-looking door.

“This is their suite. And I’ve no need to remind you, Mr. Fitzlean, we’d be glad if you could resolve this quickly. Needless to say, a police intrusion—” His voice drops to an anxious whisper. Cade silences him with a faint lift of his hand.

I touch Cade’s arm. “Are they in there?”

He nods. “Keep your voice down. Alford wants to break in.”

“No.” Four startled faces fix on me. “Let me try first. Anything sudden might be—dangerous.”

Cade’s eyes flicker and he gives a brief nod.

I step forward and knock gently on the door. After a few seconds I hear a faint scuffle from inside. I knock again. “Sonja? Are you in there? It’s me, Tunis.”

After a long, agonizing pause, the door opens a sliver. Around me there’s an instant quiver of movement, as four testosterone-fueled, angry males prepare to attack.

I hold them at bay with an up-raised hand, and they grow still. “Sonja?”

The door opens a little wider, and I see Sonja, pale and tousled. She looks terrified. She’s clutching a toweling bathrobe tightly under her chin.

I scan her anxiously for any signs of blood, injury or bruises. Apart from her white face and wild hair, she looks normal. “Can I come in?”

* * * *