Mine To Hold (11 page)

Noah’s fury burned even hotter. “If that
happens, you call me. Understand?”

The warden’s gaze dropped to the torn
pictures scattered on the floor. “I know what he is,” Jeremiah
said. “And if I had my way, he’d stay locked up forever.” His eyes
lifted. Held Noah’s. “If he ever gets free, he will kill that
woman.”

“No,” Noah swore, “he won’t.”

***

“All right, Claire…” The rumbling masculine
voice was followed by a light rap on the office door. “It’s
quitting time for the night.”

Claire glanced up and found herself staring
into Drake Archer’s green gaze. She’d been aware of him covertly
checking on her during the day. He hadn’t actually spoken to her
until now.

Since the guy had a tendency to unnerve her,
she’d appreciated his silence.

Claire shut down her computer. Well, Noah’s
computer. She was in his office, in his suite, and she’d spent the
day pouring over marketing plans for the hotel in D.C. She wanted
to prove to Noah that she could be useful to him.

And not just as a bed partner.

Drake stepped into the room. The light
glinted off his dark, blond hair.

Claire tensed.

“Why do you do that?” Drake asked her,
frowning. “I’m not going to bite.”

She wasn’t sure she believed that.

She’d met Drake and Noah back in Chicago.
Actually, her first image of Drake was rather twisted. Stained in
blood. One thing remained clear to her, though.

Drake Archer is dangerous.

“It’s not the first time an old friend has
asked me to keep an eye on his girl,” Drake added with a roll of
his broad shoulders. “And Skye doesn’t jump when I get within ten
feet of her.”

She rose to her feet. “I’m not Skye.”

His gaze slid over her. “True, but this is
the same city she used to love. This is the place where I watched
her.” His head tilted a little to the left as he seemed to savor a
memory. “Skye was one hell of a dancer.”

Claire had actually seen Skye once on stage.
He was right—Skye was phenomenal.

“You remind me of her,” Drake added as he
kept studying her. “Something about the eyes. No, the fear in your
eyes.”

Warily, she eased around the desk.

“What are you afraid of, Claire Kramer?”
Drake murmured. His voice was low, rumbling. His face was all hard
lines and angles. Danger. When she looked at Drake, she thought of
darkness and of the threats that waited in the night.

Some women might like that wild edge that
clung to him. It just made her nervous.

What are you afraid of?
His question
had made her tense. “Don’t you know?” Claire asked him. Noah did.
Trace did. Surely Drake had been told about her past, too.

But Drake shook his head. “Some. Not all.
Your past is your own.” His lips twisted. “I sure as hell don’t
want anyone looking at my past. It’s bloody and full of death.”

“So is mine.”

The silence stretched between them.

“Then why don’t we just screw the talk about
the past and just focus on the present?” Drake suggested. “And in
the present, you sure have my boy Noah twisted up.”

She did?

Was that good or bad?

“Noah’s not like me and Trace. He holds
himself back. He’s damn smart. He knows that a woman can destroy a
man faster than anything else on earth.”

Drake sounded as if he were speaking from
personal experience. “I’m not looking to destroy Noah.”

“Good.” His smile flashed. “Because then I’d
have to destroy you, and I think I rather like you.”

He’d just threatened her. Claire’s fingers
curled tightly around the edge of the desk.

“I don’t have a lot of friends in this
world,” Drake continued. “Noah is one of the few people who has
always stood by me, no matter what screwed up shit I did.”

Just as Noah was standing by her?

“But don’t let his appearance fool you,
sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.
Helplessly, Claire
shivered. Only one other man had called her by that endearment.

“Noah is a hell of a lot more dangerous than
most people believe. I’ve always thought that, if someone were to
wreck that perfect control of his, Noah York might just be the
deadliest man I’ve ever met.”

“Why…” She pulled in a deep breath. “Why are
you trying to warn me away from him?”

“Because I think you might be the one to
wreck that perfect control.” He crossed the room until he stood
just two feet away from her. Not touching her, thank goodness, but
still too close. “He doesn’t keep them, you know.”

Now she was lost. “Keep what?”

“His women. He sleeps with them, gets the
lust out of his system, then he lets them go. He doesn’t like to
have the same lover twice in a row.”

Her heart seemed to freeze in her chest. Noah
had been with her, and as soon as they’d returned to New York, he’d
rushed out of town.
Away from me?

“He usually pushes his lovers aside, but here
you are, all snug in his suite, and he has me playing guard duty
for you.” He gave a low whistle. “That’s new, and it’s
dangerous.”

He was wrong. “I’m not a threat to Noah.”

“Aren’t you?”

She shook her head.

“Good. Because, as I said, I like you.”

Then what did he tell to the women he
didn’t
like?

“Even if you do have that injured, delicate
bird thing happening.” He waved his hand at her. “Do something
about that, would you?”

She could only blink. “I’m not an injured
bird.” Now that was just insulting.

He smiled. “That’s better. You had some bite
in those words.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m in the suite.
Completely safe for the night.” She’d been safe all day. “I think
you can probably leave now.”

“Why would I leave the suite? I just ordered
room service for us. The room service menu in this place is damn
good. Noah made sure of that.”

Uh, yes, Claire had realized that
quickly.

“Come on. It will be here any moment…” Then
he turned his back and took about four steps before he hesitated
and said, “I promise, I won’t bite. Noah’s already marked you as
his. I know how to keep my hands to myself.” After that little
announcement, he kept walking.

She didn’t follow him.

Noah’s already marked you as his.

She rubbed her chilled arms.

***

Noah opened the door to his suite and slipped
inside the dark interior to—

“Three a.m., hoss…sure didn’t expect to see
you come dragging in at this hour.”

A light flipped on near the couch. The
illumination spilled on Drake’s features. The guy was lounging
against the cushions, looking quite at home.
Too
at
home.

“What the hell are you doing in my suite?”
Noah demanded. Since he’d known that Drake was in New York, he’d
gotten the guy to keep an eye on Claire.

Not spend the night in the same suite with
her.

Drake grinned. When Drake grinned, it made
Noah nervous.

“I was getting to know your Claire,” Drake
said. “That woman likes her secrets, doesn’t she?”

Claire…she has secrets. A darkness inside.
With her, what you see isn’t what you get.

Noah shut the door behind him. “What do you
mean?”

“I mean getting the woman to talk with me was
like pulling teeth.” He shook his head and stayed sprawled on the
couch. “I don’t think she cares much for me.”

“Usually you don’t have a problem charming
the ladies.”

“No.” Drake glanced toward the shut bedroom
door. “But I don’t think she’s one for charmers.”

Noah dropped his bag. He was so tired his
bones ached, but he’d been determined to get back to Claire as fast
as possible.

“Want to tell me about your mystery
trip?”

Now Noah was the once glancing toward the
bedroom door. “Is she asleep?”

“She’s been that way for a few hours now.
Tried to get her drunk with some wine,” Drake confessed. “Didn’t
work. The woman didn’t even touch her glass.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “We need to be clear on
something.” He’d thought it was obvious when he asked Drake to
watch Claire. “You don’t fuck with her, understand?”

Drake laughed softly. “But you do.”

“Only me.” He tossed aside his jacket.
“Claire is—”

“A broken bird, a woman who needs your
protection.” Now Drake was mocking.

“No,” Noah snarled. That sure wasn’t what he
saw when he looked at Claire. “She’s a survivor. She’s been through
hell, and I want to make sure she never has to suffer again.”

Drake seemed to absorb that. “And you’ll do
anything to keep her safe, is that it?”

“Yes,” he rasped.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” Now Drake
rose and paced toward Noah. “I don’t give out advice often, but for
you, I’ll make an exception. Seeing as how we go back so far…and
you’re one of the few people who can—”

“Actually stand your psychotic ass?”

“Understand me,” Drake muttered. He heaved
out a sigh. “You were smarter than Trace and I were. You didn’t get
wrapped up in a woman. You kept your distance. You played it
safe.”

Noah waited.

“You need to keep playing it safe. Opening
yourself up to a woman like Claire, that is a big mistake. She’ll
rip your world apart, man.”

Noah didn’t speak.

“When Trace almost lost Skye, you saw what it
did to him.” Drake’s face hardened as worry glinted in his eyes.
“Do you really want that shit to happen to you?”

His back teeth had clenched so hard they
ached. “I have no intention of losing Claire.”

“Aw, hell, it’s already too late for you,
isn’t it?”

It had been too late for Noah the moment he’d
met Claire—and she’d taken a swing at him in that Chicago
alley.

“What are you doing?” Now real concern was in
Drake’s voice. “Don’t let her push you too far.”

But how far
was
too far?

“Reporters were at the Towers most of the
day, trying to get to her. They even asked me if she was involved
in the death of a certain Senator Colby Harrison.” Drake’s brows
rose. “Seems he died in D.C., right during your recent little visit
there with the tempting Claire.”

Noah fired another fast glance at the bedroom
door. “When she was sixteen, Claire’s boyfriend killed her parents.
He put a gun to Claire’s head, and he was going to kill her,
too.”

“
What
?”

“That boyfriend was Ethan Harrison, Senator
Harrison’s younger son. Instead of just admitting that he had one
screwed-up kid, the senator tried to paint Claire as a seductress
who’d led the boy down the wrong path.”

Drake rocked back on his heels. “She said her
past was blood and death.”

“It is.” Her future
wouldn’t
be. “The
senator harassed her for years, and now she’s free of him.”

Drake absorbed that, then muttered, “Free,
right at the same time you two hook up.”

Noah didn’t let his expression change.
“Sometimes, that’s how fate works.”

“Don’t be cute, Noah…
did you do
it?”

“If I had, then I wouldn’t be so worried
about keeping a watch on Claire.” He did
not
want Claire
overhearing this conversation. “Before she moved in here at the
Towers, someone trashed her hotel room at the Hamlet. That asshole
Ethan Harrison, he’s been watching her—
from prison.
He’s got
a PI on her. Ethan had photos of her, recent damn photos, all over
his cell.”

“So that’s where you went on your little
trip.”

“I needed to see him with my own eyes. Needed
to talk to him.”

Drake assessed him. “You were measuring your
enemy.”

It was the way they’d worked when they were
in the military.
Know your enemy. Learn his weaknesses. Exploit
them.

Take out that enemy.

“He’s as obsessed with her now as he was nine
years ago.” Actually, the guy might even be more obsessed. Time
should have made the bastard let her go.

The bedroom door squeaked open. “Noah?”
Claire slipped out of the darkness and into the light of the main
room. A smile swept over her face. The smile that he loved. The one
that started with her lips, that flashed her dimples, and made her
eyes shine.

Every muscle in his body locked down.

“I don’t think he’s the only one obsessed,”
Drake said, voice low. “I’m telling you…watch yourself. Because
you’re headed for an implosion.” Then Drake raised his voice as he
drawled, “I’ll be seeing you again soon, Claire Kramer.”

Then he left them.

Noah drank in the sight of Claire.

“How was your trip?” Claire asked him as she
crept toward him. A few seconds later, she stood in front of him.
Her hands lifted, then hesitated.

He didn’t want Claire to hesitate when it
came to touching him. He started to reach for her, but Noah locked
his muscles down. He wanted the next move to be hers.

After a moment, she pressed herself against
him. Hugged him. It only lasted a moment, but he felt the impact of
that embrace rock through his whole body.

“I’m glad you’re back.” Her words were faint
as she drew back. She put her hands behind her. Stared up at him
with those big blues that always seemed to make him a little
weak.

I missed you, Claire.

When he’d never missed anyone, not until
her.

This wasn’t about just repaying some debt
anymore. Wasn’t about trying to fix the hole in Claire’s life that
her sister’s death had left behind.

It was about more.

“Did you finish your business?” Claire asked
him.

He put his hand on her cheek. Like touching
silk. “Not yet,” he told her. “But I will, soon.”

Her breath caught as she stared up at him.
“Noah?”

“I need you.” So badly that his whole body
seemed to be burning. He hadn’t been able to get back to her fast
enough. She’d been the only thing he could think about on the
flight home.