Until the Dawn (7 page)

Until the Dawn

computer and found an encrypted document. I couldn’t get into it no matter what combination I tried. Promise me you’re not mixed up in this some way.”

Dan curled his fingers into fists. “Shit, shit, shit. That’s what I was afraid of.”

“Tell me,” she insisted.

“Listen, Maddie. I’m not involved in this and I hate it that you could even think for one minute I could be. We’ll get to that another time. But the person pulling the strings has set me up so all roads lead to me. That’s why I had to disappear.”

She had to ask, “What leads you to think one of us would be involved?”

“The paperwork, what is left of it after the fire, indicates that the weapons are meant for an action directed by someone named Triska, or Truske or something close.”

“Well, that does it then. It’s a mistake.” She stared at Dan when he didn’t move a muscle. “Come on, now, let’s be reasonable here. Trask is the Speaker of the House.”

“He comes from south Texas.”

“Yes, but that’s no reason to suspect him of this! This is—”

“Treason.” Dan looked grim as death.

“I won’t believe it.” She stood. “Trask is a hard-ass, a pillar of the party, a rock of south Texas and you just can’t accuse a man of doing this thing! And the staff? Before we’re hired, every one of us has to hold a top secret clearance!” She waved a hand.

Dan caught it. “Hey, hey, honey! I agree with you. But I have to learn the truth. And I have to know who put an encrypted file on my computer to throw suspicion on me.”

“And you need proof.”

He nodded. “I do.”

The doorbell rang.

Maddie jumped. “Oh, my god.”

Dan was at the door, peering through the eyehole. “A woman? Are you expecting a guest?”

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Maddie ran a hand through her hair. And looking down at how she was naked as a jaybird, she put out a hand. “Yes. That’s my best friend from college. Nikki Welles.

She’s here to spend the night.”

Dan scowled. “I don’t know about this.”

“I do. Let her in. Introduce yourself. She’ll find it intriguing you’re here.

Meanwhile, I,” she pointed upstairs, “am having a shower and a change of clothes.”

Dan was shaking his head. “Bad time to have her here, Maddie.”

She had one hand to the banister, the other gripping the flashlight she’d fished out of the hall table drawer and her blouse dangling in front of her naked body. She almost snorted. “Tell me about it. She’s a private detective, by the way, Mr. CIA, Transportation Expert. Let her in, for heaven’s sakes. She knows I’ve been missing you—and she wants to help.”

“No!” Anger and torment warred on his face. “You confided in her?”

“Yes! And I trust her. She lives in south Texas these days, by the way. So you never know what good could come of this.”

“You are one wild woman.”

The doorbell rang again. Insistently this time.

“I know,” Maddie told him. “Open the door, darling. Let my friend in.”

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With obvious reluctance Dan opened the door and gaped at the woman standing there. Maddie, standing behind him, laughed softly. People usually stared the first time they saw Nikki Welles. At least five ten, her body was encased in a black leather jacket and pants that showed off her lean strength. Straight black hair was pulled into a ponytail that hung down her back and her face was defined by high, slashing cheekbones and deep-set black eyes that had a “Don’t fuck with me” look.

A mischievous smile curved her lips as she looked at Dan, then at Maddie standing nearly nude on the stairs and back at Dan again.

“Well,” she drawled. “Am I here as an observer or am I supposed to join the party?”

Maddie laughed. “Neither. Sad for you.” Then she sobered. “Nicole Welles, meet Dan Foreman. My missing person. We have a problem, Nikki. Let me throw some clothes on and we’ll tell you about it.”

Dan turned and looked at her. “Maddie, I’m not sure—”

“Trust me,” she interrupted. “We need help and this is just the person to provide it.”

Nikki stepped into the foyer and Dan closed the door. “Why is your house dark?

Didn’t you pay your bill?”

“Part of the story. Dan, can you find some candles in the pantry and get us some light? I’ll be right down.”

By the time she’d thrown on a pair of jeans and joined Nikki and Dan in the kitchen they were huddled at the table where six candles burned in holders.

“So did you tell her?” Maddie asked, looking from Dan to Nikki and back again.

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“I wormed it out of him,” Nikki told her. “Reluctantly, I might add.” She grinned.

“I told him I had more ways to torture him than any terrorist he’d ever meet.”

Maddie’s answering smile was weak. She was consumed with worry for Dan and a growing unease about Paul Trask. In her hasty shower she’d run through everything she knew and realized whatever was going on was bigger than she’d imagined.

“Pardon my bluntness, Nicole, but I don’t know you and I think discussing this with you is a big mistake,” Dan muttered. “The more people who find out where I am, the harder it is for me to disappear and do what I have to.”

“If disappearing’s what you want,” Nikko told him, “I can make that happen.”

“Yeah?” Dan cocked a skeptical eyebrow. “You a magician or something?”

“Better. I have a big ranch in a remote area of Texas and the transportation to get you there. If you have a base of operations where no one can get at you, you can do whatever you have to.”

“Texas?” Dan looked at Maddie, who’d dropped into the chair next to him. “Is she for real?”

Maddie nodded. “Her private security agency does very, very well. And she also has experience and connections in this area that we don’t have.”

“
I
do,” he argued.

“Apparently not if you’re on the run. So let her help us, please?”

Maddie waited while Dan drummed his fingers on the table the way he did when he was mulling things over in his mind.

“All right, I’ll consider it,” he said at last. “First, tell me how we get out of this house without being seen.”

“I will but I have a question,” Nikki put in. “Dan, you’re already MIA, but Maddie, won’t people miss you if suddenly you aren’t around?”

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Until the Dawn

Maddie shook her head. “Actually, this is the best time for me to be gone. It’s the last week in July. Congress declared an early recess and everyone in our offices is either getting ready to leave town or they’ve already gone.”

“Okay, then.” Nikki pushed back from the table. “Then here’s what we’ll do.”

* * * * *

Dan and Maddie stood in the huge bedroom staring at each other.

“I can’t believe she actually did it,” he said at last. “Got us here right under everyone’s noses. And what a perfect place for a hideout.”

“I told you she could help.”

His smile was rueful. “Remind me never to get on that woman’s bad side. I’d hate to have her after me.”

Maddie chuckled, but it was more a sound of relief than humor.

“Her headquarters is in San Antonio which is why the ranch is in Texas, but she has contacts everyplace in the country. In the world.”

Dan looked at her, curiosity flashing in his eyes. “Exactly what kind of ‘private security’ work does she do?”

“I think you’ll have to ask her. But it’s pretty high powered, I know that. And she gets paid very, very well for it.”

“Well.” Dan brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “She certainly gets my vote.”

Getting out of her townhouse had been complicated but effective. Nicole had called a local contact who had shown up in a pizza delivery truck. The delivery person who left was Dan, while the contact hid in the trunk of Maddie’s car. She and Nicole left together, driving to the hotel where Nikki was staying. They left her car with the valet and made a show of going into the hotel. From there they went to the hotel garage where another of Nikki’s contacts picked them up and drove them to a private airport in suburban Maryland.

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The Nemesis jet ferried them to an airport outside of San Antonio. Then it was a quick helicopter ride to the ranch truly in the middle of nowhere.

“Is this really a working ranch?” Dan wanted to know.

Maddie nodded. “It makes a good cover. She’s got an excellent foreman and the place makes money. She also has a training facility here with a gun range hidden in a wooded section of the property.”

Dan whistled. “She’s thought of everything. She must be making a bundle.”

Maddie grinned. “Ya think?”

He reached for her and pulled her toward him, his hands cupping her face. “Right now I don’t want to think. Right now I want to remember that we’re alive and at least temporarily out of harm’s way.”

When his mouth came down on hers, Maddie’s senses were flooded with the most incredible desire. Just the hungry touch of his lips and fresh cream filled her cunt and her nipples hardened. She opened her mouth for his invading tongue, dancing her own over it. Every pulse point in her body thrummed in anticipation.

His mouth slid to her cheek, then her jawline and her throat, nipping at the soft skin then soothing it with the tip of his tongue.

“Will your friend come looking for us?” he asked, his voice vibrating against her skin.

“No.” She had a hard time formulating an answer with the thick erotic fog wrapping itself around her. “She’s…busy in her office here.”

“Good.”

And that was the last thing either of them said for a long time.

Dan put his mouth to better use, licking and kissing her neck, her shoulder, the valley between her breasts. Unbuttoning her blouse, one careful button at a time, he kissed each section of skin as he exposed it. Maddie simply clutched at him, her body liquid and her legs trembling. Nimble fingers unclasped her bra and slid the straps 54

Until the Dawn

down her arms, his tongue following the path on first one arm then the other. She shivered beneath his feathery touch. How was it that this man could reduce her to a shimmering pool of need so quickly?

With the scrap of lace and satin that passed for her bra tossed to the side, he pulled each throbbing nipple into his mouth, sucking on it until it swelled to the point of pleasure-pain. His teeth nipped lightly, tugging at the swollen buds then soothing each one with a flick of his tongue. Each nibble sent shivers of arousal through her body and a fresh release of cream in her very hungry pussy. As he concentrated on tormenting her nipples, his big hands squeezed the firm flesh of her breasts and she moaned into his mouth.

Desperate to feel his skin against hers, she tried to unbutton his shirt but her hands were shaking too badly. Finally in frustration she ripped it open, the buttons popping everywhere, and curled her fingers through the soft pelt of hair on his chest. Her fingers searched through the curls to find his flat nipples and she tugged on them, eliciting a strangled sound from him that vibrated against her breasts.

Dan lifted his head and pulled her against him so that they were together skin to skin. Cupping her breasts in his warm palms, he moved them back and forth against his body, the soft curls of his chest hair abrading the sensitive skin. His mouth was on hers again, tongue probing, demanding, flicking everywhere inside that liquid well. She was drowning in sensation and so crazy for him she thought she might implode. Her skin felt too hot, what clothes she still wore too tight. Through layers of fabric she could feel the thick, heated shaft of Dan’s erection branding itself against her.

“Naked,” she gasped. “I want us naked. Now.”

“I love it when you’re wild like this.” His voice was heavy with a need that matched hers. His hands dropped to her waist and unerringly found the button on her slacks. The fabric whispered over her legs as it dropped to the floor and pooled around her feet. Dan slid one hand into the front of her bikini panties and cupped her mound, one long finger pressing between the wet folds of her pussy. He rubbed it up and down, 55

Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

dragging it over her throbbing clit. He made a soft sound of satisfaction when her honey coated his skin.

Maddie held onto his arms as she kicked away her shoes and stepped out of her slacks. Two fingers plunged into her heated channel, sliding in and out, impaling her as she struggled to take them deeper. Oh, god, she wanted his cock inside her. Right this minute.

“You are soaked.” He pressed the palm of his hand against her clit as he continued to stroke her with his fingers. “I love it.”

“Dan.” The word was half moan, half plea. “Please.”

She fumbled to open his pants but again she couldn’t make her fingers work.

Dan’s laugh was husky. “Let me, or I’ll have no clothes left at all.

He slipped his fingers from her cunt and quickly disposed of his pants and boxers.

Before kicking them to the side he retrieved his wallet and fished out a condom.

Her eyes widened. “Do you keep an endless supply of those with you?”

He shook his head. “I wish. If we keep this up we’re going to need to stock up on some supplies.”

Maddie looked down and saw the heaviness of his sac beneath the swollen cock with its dark purple head. She reached for him, her body trembling with anticipation.

Wrapping her slim fingers around his hard length, she stopped him from rolling on the latex.

God, he is so huge. How do I ever take him inside me?

Fascinated, she rubbed her thumb over the bead of liquid that had formed at the slit. As she stroked him from root to tip, he groaned.

“Shit, Maddie. Careful or it will be all over before we want it to.”

Ignoring her protests, he moved her fingers away, cupped his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her to the bed, juggling her for a moment as he pulled back the quilt 56

Until the Dawn

before laying her down on the sheets.”Jesus, you are so wet, Maddie. I love the feel of that hot, wet pussy. And the taste.”