White Diamonds (25 page)

Drago pulled her gently to stand in front of him and wrapped his long arms around her.  He unlocked one of the safes and revealed its contents.

“Drago!”

“In total, there are $25 million American dollars.”

Kara turned and looked up at him.  “Where did you get it?  Is this from Grant?”

Drago’s smile faded.  “No.  This is money from my homeland.  My parents died trying to escape Lithuania, but they died for no reason.  Their money was already out of the country…with me.”

“But where does Grant fit in with all of this?  You don’t need to work at all with this amount of money.”

“As long as I work for Mr. Latham, I can remain in America.  I am not a citizen, but I have no country to return to.”

Kara rested her head against Drago.  The top of her head barely reached his chest, but wrapped in his arms she felt as if she were wrapped in a cocoon.  “But why Mr. Latham?  He’s very controlling.”

“It’s not so bad.  But I hate the way he uses women for pleasure and then discards them when a new one comes along, like tonight with…”

“With Denise?”

“Yes.”

Kara craned her neck to look into his eyes.  “When will it be your turn, Drago?  When do you get what you want?”

“I would never use women the way Mr. Latham does.  I want more.  I need more.  I want a woman to love.”

“Have you met someone?”

“Yes.”

“Who is it?”

Drago didn’t answer.  He leaned down and kissed the lips of the woman he held in his arms.  Kara stood on tiptoes to return the loving kiss she had not been expecting.  It felt good and right, unlike the rushed kisses of Grant.  When he backed away, she tried to pull him back, but he stopped her.

“I shouldn’t disappoint Mr. Latham.”

“Why, Drago?  He’s with my best friend.  He won’t care.  He wants you to be happy, doesn’t he?”

“But you belong to him.”

“Now wait just a minute.  I don’t belong to anyone.  I can be with whomever I choose, and I choose you.”

Drago pulled her to his broad chest and stroked her long hair.  “You’re a beautiful woman, Kara, but…”

Kara put a finger to his lips.  “Please, Drago.”

The big man looked down into the beautiful blue eyes of the woman he wanted and could not deny that he wanted her now.  He had wanted her since he had first driven her to see Grant.  He lifted her into his arms and laid her down upon the bed.  After locking the door and adding the extra lock which Grant could not unlock, he stood at the side of the bed and slid the buttons of his pressed shirt one by one through the slits, revealing the thickness of his chest.

To Kara he looked like he had been chiseled from stone and she reached for him.  The silk dress that she wore was removed from her heated body, and she lay beneath the man whose hardness was pressed against her.  Unzipping his pressed trousers, she slid her hand along the thick erection, her eyes begging him to make love to her.  He kissed her full breasts, taking each nipple into his mouth as Kara moved beneath him.  Kara pushed the trousers over Drago’s hips and as far down along his legs as she could reach.

With one hand, Drago slid them off and parted Kara’s legs beneath him.  When a thick finger entered her, she clenched around it.  “Yes, Drago,” she whispered.  She was wet and more than ready to be penetrated.  Drago continued with his fingers, watching Kara’s body respond as she climaxed.  When she felt the girth and length of him enter her, she gasped.  No one had awakened her sensuality as Drago had.  She had never made love before Drago.  Before Drago, it had been sex without feeling, but this was so much better.  She wrapped her legs around him as he thrust into her, until he, too, felt the overwhelming climax of making love.

He collapsed on top of her, sinking her body into the softness of the bed.  Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her lightly on the lips and laid his head on the pillow above her.  Kara could feel his heart beating against her breasts and she kissed him on the neck.

“I didn’t know, Drago.”

“I love you, Kara.”

“Yes.”

“But what can I do?  You are Grant’s.”

“No, Drago, I’m not.”

Drago rested on his elbows and played with the curls at the ends of Kara’s long hair.  “I cannot take you from Grant.”

“I’m not his!”  Kara tried to get through to him.  “Dammit Drago, I want you,” she blurted out.

“You do?”

“Yes.”

He kissed her on the lips with a passion she had never experienced.

“This is your house, isn’t it, Drago?”

“Yes.”

“And the island?”

“It is mine.  My parents bought it as a place for me to be safe.  How did you know?”

“It was the way you reacted when you were forced to say that the house and the island belonged to Grant.  Do you feel safe here?”

“Yes, and now I feel loved, too.”

“Why does Grant say the house and island belong to him?”

“He says it’s best that way.”

“Sure, best for him.  Do you want to know what I think?”

“Yes.”

“I think he’s using you, Drago, to impress women.”  She said it softly.  She didn’t want to hurt him, but he seemed naïve to the ways of the wealthy and powerful.  “You can make it on your own, Drago.  You don’t need him.”

In Drago’s eyes there was a faraway look, as if he were dreaming.  “I don’t want to be alone.  I’ve been alone long enough.”

“You could have me, if you wanted.  We could go anywhere, do anything.”  Kara’s eyes were pleading.  She wouldn’t let Drago get away.  She couldn’t.

“Forever…you would be with me?”

“Yes,” she promised.

“What about school?  You are a future doctor, no?”

“There are plenty of medical schools and there is plenty of time as well.”

***

A giggling and intoxicated Denise held tightly to Grant’s arm as they made their way down the hallway.  As they passed Drago’s room, Kara and Drago heard their drunken voices and they held each other a little closer.

“Drago?  Drago!”

Drago quickly pulled on his trousers and haphazardly buttoned his white shirt.

“Shall I go with you?”

“No.  I will return soon.”

Kara pulled the covers up over her head.  She couldn’t bear to hear what she assumed would be a fight.  She heard a couple of doors slam and then the turn of the doorknob to Drago’s room.

“Drago?”

“Yes, Kara.”

She uncovered her head and looked at him.  “You weren’t gone long.”

He sat down on the bed and explained what had happened.

“He’s leaving with Denise?”

“Yes, Kara.  I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.  I have what I want.  But what about the house and the island?”

“He knows the truth and he has much more to lose than I.  I’ve never had a reason to cross him…until now.”

His smile said what words did not.  Kara had no idea when she had agreed to Grant’s proposition that her leading man was waiting patiently to have her for his own.

Stolen Wife:

              After Krissy crashes her car into a tree, she remembers nothing of her past.  The young physician in the emergency room has been waiting for a woman just like her… beautiful, young, but most importantly a woman to be the test subject for his latest invention.  Convincing Krissy to travel abroad and to a country where rules are easily compromised, the physician’s plan goes well… at first.

***

They called him an aimless wanderer, but not all who wander are aimless.  He was new to the city and new to Krissy’s world.  She had heard about him, his polite manner, his unassuming intelligence, his soothing way with those who sought his help.  The minute she heard his voice she was drawn to him.  Meeting him would be nearly impossible, or so it seemed.  He was of a much higher social class than she.  Lost in her daydream of the man she knew only from a black and white photograph, Krissy swerved to miss a cat crossing the road and smashed her brand new car into a tree.

She awoke in the emergency room of the hospital where she worked, not remembering a thing.  Through blurred vision she recognized the man standing over her, the look of concern in his eyes that formed a squint as was indicative of those from his native land.  When he spoke, his voice was soothing, like a love song, and Krissy slowly opened her eyes to its timbre.

“Don’t try to force it, Krissy.  The light is very bright in here.”

Krissy closed her eyes and sighed silently as the young physician held her hand.  “Krissy…you called me Krissy.”

“Yes.  That is the name on your license found in your purse by the officer on the scene.”

Krissy tried hard to remember what had happened, but her past was as unfamiliar to her as her present.  Her heart began to beat faster and she struggled to sit up but was soon met with strong hands holding her down.

“Krissy, you must remain calm.  You were in an accident and are not yet stable.”

She opened her eyes, desperately searching for answers in the eyes of the kind physician.  “Who is Krissy?”

The doctor glanced quickly at the nurse hoping not to upset Krissy, but the woman deserved to know the truth.  “You suffered an unusual brain injury, Krissy, but you are in good hands.”

Again she asked, “Who is Krissy?”

“You are Krissy.”  He looked down and smoothed a finger across her wedding band, lifted her hand and kissed it gently.  “And you are my wife.”

Krissy held up her hand and stared at the shining band of gold.  The nurse opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly silenced by the doctor.  “Please get Krissy some ice chips.”

“Yes, doctor.”

Krissy looked intently at the man whose face she recognized from a small photograph and whose voice she recognized from the hospital when she had been lucky enough to take his call regarding a patient.  She was drawn to the young physician, infatuated by him, but when had she married him?  “I…don’t…”

“You don’t remember yet, Krissy, but one day you will.”  He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek.  “It’s going to be fine, Krissy.”  He winked at her, quickly dismissed the nurse, and added a light sedative to Krissy’s IV bag, smiling as she gradually drifted off to sleep.  When he stood, the nurse was writing in Krissy’s chart, but the young physician yanked it out of her hands.  “I’ll take that.  Thank you.”

The terse words were all that was needed.  Dr. Chen was well known for his moodiness, and his outbursts toward members of the opposite sex, be they fellow physicians or nurses, were familiar to anyone who had ever worked closely with him.

A very different Dr. Chen was known to his patients and any others he wished to fool for his own gain.  No one knew about his past and no one would ever know as long as he stayed one step ahead of it.  Krissy’s accident had been a godsend, and her memory loss could easily be sustained given the right medications administered by none other than the doctor himself.

It was midnight when Krissy’s eyes knew light again, and just as planned, Dr. Chen was by her side.  “Honey, feeling better?”

“I think so.”  She sat up and leaned against the pillows.  “I still don’t remember who I am or where I belong.  Will my memory return?”

“Soon, dear, soon. There are steps we can take.”

Krissy’s eyes brightened at the beautiful face and the reassuring words from the comforting doctor.  “I’ll do anything.  Name it.”

Closely monitored for the following week, the pretty young woman with the flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes grew strong enough to return home.  When Dr. Chen signed her discharge forms, he was careful to prescribe ongoing treatment with the experimental drug that would ensure her selective forgetfulness, a forgetfulness selected by none other than himself.

“Let’s go home, honey.”

Krissy remembered nothing about the house she was driven to by the man who claimed to be her husband, but it was beautiful and tastefully decorated with antiques and silk damask drapery.  It appeared that no one lived in the Victorian style home where everything was in its place including the daily newspaper folded neatly on a table beside the door.

“This is nice.”

“You insist on keeping the house in fine order, Krissy, which is an attribute many of my colleagues envy.”

Krissy smiled at the complimentary words, though she had no recollection of ever having been in this house.

“Come, I’ll help you up the stairs to the bedroom.  It is time for your medication.”

Krissy smiled at her dedicated husband and took his hand as he walked beside her to the second floor.  Immaculate best described the master bedroom.  Decorated in soft pastels, the room had a calming effect on Krissy.  She lay down on the bed, and the man claiming to be her husband undressed her slowly, his warm hands gliding tenderly along her slight frame and arousing a desire in her that had long been forgotten.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had made love and she could have sworn she had never made love with this man.  The hands on her hot skin were foreign to her which made her desire for the man even greater.  She moaned softly and closed her eyes as she lay naked upon the bed.