Bound By Passion

6

REID TURNED TO face Nell and blocked her view of the car. “Don’t look at her again and stay right where you are. I’m going to get out and come around to your door.”

Nell’s mind raced almost as fast as her heart while Reid took his time extricating himself from the front seat and circling the front of the car. She summoned up the image of the woman who’d approached her on the sidewalk and compared it to the quick glimpse she’d gotten of the driver. The same hair, the glint of gold at her ear. It was her all right. Though Nell badly wanted to, she didn’t look at the gray car again. Another vehicle drove past. In the rearview mirror she could see it was a big SUV with at least half a Little League baseball team packed into it. In her peripheral vision, she saw it follow the gray car into the drive-through lane.

Then Reid opened her door and extended his hand to help her out. When it closed over hers, the effect on her system was instantaneous. She stilled in her seat. All thought of the autograph lady faded from her mind as it filled with Reid. Just the sight of her hand lost in his had all of her senses heightening. She noticed the contrasts first. His hand was larger, broader, and his skin made hers look even paler. His palms were hard. She felt the pressure of each one of his fingers as they tensed on hers. There was power there. Danger. It pulled at her in a way nothing else ever had. Her body heated so quickly the hot afternoon sun felt cool on her skin. When she looked up to meet his eyes, she saw the same intensity that she felt in the grip of his hand. The gray of his irises had darkened. His hand tightened on hers and for a moment she thought he would help her up and then right into his arms.

She had to find out. Her mind was already racing forward, anticipating what would happen when her body was pressed fully to his, what she would feel when his mouth closed over hers.

Before she could move, he stepped back and shifted his gaze over the top of the car. Then he dropped her hand and closed the door. She made some kind of sound, but he was already moving around the front of the car. Biting down hard on her lip, Nell desperately tried to gather her wits. The time it took for him to insert himself into the front seat again helped. A little. But her heart pounded so hard and so fast she could hardly hear him when he finally spoke.

“She’s gone around the corner, and she’s trapped by the two cars that pulled in behind her. She’s probably expecting us to go in.”

His words and the brusque tone helped her to focus on reality. And on the woman who’d followed them from D.C. A woman who had played a role in nearly killing her sister.

Gripping the steering wheel, she forced herself to relive that horrifying moment when she was racing toward Piper, hoping and praying that she’d get to her before that car did. That did the trick. What she was feeling about Reid and what she wanted to do about it had to be shoved to the back burner for now. They had bigger and much more dangerous fish to fry.

“She can’t afford to stay too close or to follow us into the restaurant. She has to be careful I don’t recognize her,” she said.

“Good point,” Reid acknowledged.

“Still she’s taking a risk. We could leave right now and be out of sight by the time she gets through the drive-through. But there may be another reason why she can afford to let us out of her sight for a few minutes.”

“What are you thinking?”

Nell turned to face him. “She might not be our only tail. And you’re thinking that, too. Aren’t you? That’s why we’re still sitting here instead of going into the restaurant, isn’t it?”

Surprise flickered in his eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“I should have thought of it sooner,” she said.

“Why would you?”

“Because one of my guilty pleasures is watching TV shows about crime fighters. I’m addicted to this one about this ex-CIA agent who’s been burned from his job and is working for private clients in Miami. He and his pals use the double-tail strategy all the time. Police use it, too.”

“So does the Secret Service,” Reid said in a dry tone. “Let’s put your theory to the test. If I’d set up the double tail, the second car would have pulled to the shoulder on the interstate and will be waiting to pick us up when we return. Back out and use the entrance to get us out of here.”

Nell started the car, shot it into Reverse, then drove out the same way they’d come in. Turning left, she headed back toward the interstate. Three cars were waiting in a line to make a turn onto the highway. Other than that, there was no traffic, and no one had followed them out of the restaurant. “We’re clear.”

When she put on her signal to turn onto the interstate ramp, Reid said, “Keep going. You have a GPS system in the car, right?”

She glanced at him as she reached for the button to activate it. “What’s the plan?”

“My guess is that the second tail is waiting for us near the entrance ramp, and your autograph hound won’t panic until she picks up her drive-through order and notices that our car is gone. Her first call will be to the second tail. Keep your eye on the restaurant in your rearview mirror, while I find us a back-road route to Albany.”

“Albany?” It was her turn to feel surprised.

Reid’s fingers were busy on the console. “Just as soon as we’re sure no one is following us, we’re going to use an hour of the forty-four or so we have left to pay a visit to Deanna Lewis.”

“She’s still in a coma.”

He pushed a button. “True. But I’d like to see her in person and talk to the staff. If we’d stayed on the interstate, we would have had to drive around Albany. This way our tail or tails won’t know about our visit. Any sign of the gray car yet?”

She checked the rearview mirror. “No. And the three cars exiting from the toll area all headed in the direction of the restaurant. We’re still clear.”

“Turn left at that intersection ahead.”

Once she made the turn, Reid pulled out his cell. “Keep your eye out. I’m going to text gray car’s license plate to Duncan.” After a moment, he continued, “Can you describe the woman who asked you for the autograph?”

“Sure.” After glancing in the rearview mirror again, Nell pictured in her mind the woman who’d come up to her in the café. “Long dark hair pulled back from her face with a gold clip. Not pretty, but very attractive. Early to mid-fifties, but she takes some care to look younger. Makeup, manicure and expensive clothes. She was wearing a silk shirt, gold necklace and earrings. And a ring on her left hand with some kind of insignia. Maybe a coat of arms.”

She felt Reid glance up from his cell phone to look at her for a moment.

“Do you look at everyone you meet that closely?”

“I suppose,” she said. “I never know when I might need those details for a character I’m writing.”

“Did you notice anything else?”

“She spoke with a slight accent. British perhaps.”

For the next fifteen minutes, there was silence in the car except for the low throbbing beat of the Beatles retrospective on the radio. With the road stretching out before her like an endless ribbon, Nell found her mind arrowing back to those few world-stopping moments in the parking lot when Reid had grasped her hand to pull her out of the car.

Earlier, when they’d made that pinkie wish, she’d nearly convinced herself that he hadn’t shared that hot explosion of desire that she’d experienced. But during that space of time when she’d been anticipating the kiss she’d fantasized about for years, she hadn’t been mistaken about his response. His intention. She couldn’t have felt what she had if he had felt nothing. She’d taken enough chemistry in school to know the basics. Two substances had to interact for combustion to take place.

Just thinking about what might have happened if he’d kissed her triggered flames that licked along her nerve endings.

Breathe. She could barely feel her fingers on the steering wheel.

Focus. After checking the mirror again, Nell allowed herself a sideways glance at Reid. He was texting back and forth with Duncan. Doing what needed to be done. And what she needed to do was drive to Albany. But sooner or later, they were going to have to talk about what was going on between them and what they were going to do about it.

Just the thought of “doing something” was enough to release the floodgates again. She felt the torrid liquid heat flowing through her system, enough to make her shiver.

“You okay?” Reid asked.

It’s all good, she told herself. “I’m fine,” she said.

On second thought, perhaps it was best that they didn’t talk about what was happening between them at all and just get to the doing it part. At any rate, now wasn’t the time or the place. There were much better settings.

Once more, she checked the mirror. No sign of a gray car or any other vehicle. A glance at the GPS screen on her console told her that they were still ten miles from the outskirts of Albany. With nothing but a constantly unrolling ribbon of road in front of her, Nell increased the pressure on the gas pedal and thought of where at the castle she and Reid might have their “talk.” Or not.

In the little fantasy she wrote about Reid all those years ago and buried in the metal box, the setting she’d chosen was in the gardens. She had to avoid the stone arch. Because the fantasies she’d spun about him had nothing to do with happy-ever-afters and everything to do with slow, teasing arousal and hot, unbridled chemistry.

Or at least, that’s what she’d known about those things at eighteen. The gardens had always been her favorite on the castle grounds. There was one particular spot that had been her secret place—one she’d escaped to when she wanted to get away from her sisters and even Aunt Vi. She’d even plotted out the first draft of It’s All Good there.

Little wonder her favorite place had come to mind when she’d written down her most secret and sexy narrative. There’d be moonlight, of course. A full moon over the lake and lots of stars. And the heady scent of flowers, some of which had been planted by Eleanor herself.

With the image fully delineated in her mind, she risked a quick glance at Reid. In her current reality, he was fully dressed in his Secret Service suit, all neat and tidy except for the loosened tie. He wouldn’t need all those clothes in the garden. Not any of them, if her story line went according to plan.

She pictured taking his shirt off, exposing that tanned skin an inch at a time. The moonlight would play over it as she ran her hand over his shoulders, testing the smooth, firm flesh and the hard muscle beneath. Then she’d draw the shirt slowly down his arms until it hung from his wrists, trapping them. Yes, that would be good, she thought. He wouldn’t be able to touch her as she began to explore his flesh with her mouth.

Nell? That would be the only word he’d say. The same way he’d said it when he had first seen her in Piper’s apartment. It would have the same question in the tone. And this time she’d have the answer.

“Nell, are you all right?”

She tensed her fingers on the wheel and jerked herself back to her current reality. Then she slammed on the brakes to avoid running the red light ahead of her. “I’m fine.”

“You seemed to be a thousand miles away.”

Less than fifty, if she was judging the distance to the castle gardens correctly. “Just thinking.”

“Here’s more to think about. Duncan had some luck running the plates. The gray car is registered to a Gwendolen Campbell. And she spells it the same way one of Eleanor Campbell’s older sisters did.” Reid filled her in on the family lineage Cam had told him about that morning.

“What are the chances that two hundred years later we’d be tailed by someone who just happens to have the same name as Eleanor Campbell’s sister? Right down to the spelling?”

“Duncan’s going to do what he can to check her out. In the meantime, he’s filling Cam in on the latest, and one of them will inform Daryl Garnett, so he’s fully briefed when we arrive at the castle.”

As the light turned, Reid noticed that the road had widened into four lanes. They were still on the outskirts of Albany, but he could see the capital buildings in the distance to his left, and the traffic had grown heavier. To his right he noted a sign that they were approaching a hospital.

“Well, with the CIA on our team both here and in Scotland, we ought to know more soon,” Nell said. “In the meantime, we know that Gwendolen Campbell is definitely involved in this. The question is, how involved? Who is she working with besides Deanna Lewis and the man or woman who tried to run Piper down? And who’s running the show?”

He shot Nell a sideways glance. He couldn’t have put it better himself. Her questions were spot-on. “I should have seen she had to be a player when you first mentioned your autograph lady. Maybe the key player. More than that, we’ve been assuming that the us Deanna Lewis was talking about to Piper involved just two people, that Deanna had one partner. There could be three. But there could be more. That possibility should have occurred to me sooner.”

“Well, if you want to play the blame game, I should have figured it out, too.” Nell changed into the right lane. “I make up plotlines. And her request for that autograph had perfect timing. Plus, she looked so normal. All I saw was a woman who wanted me to sign a book for her granddaughter. And that makes her perfect for the role of villain.”

She took a right turn toward the hospital. “I should have seen it. I was just too focused on Piper after the attempt. I wouldn’t have even thought about the woman again if you hadn’t probed.”

The difference was Nell had good reason for her distraction. Someone had tried to run down her sister. But Reid had only one reason for his lapse. Nell. He’d been thinking about her and wanting her ever since he’d seen her again. He couldn’t seem to get any distance or perspective. It wasn’t just the sexual attraction—although it was there, a steady burn in his blood. A strong part of his distraction was due to the fact that she’d changed in very surprising ways. He was constantly being delighted and fascinated by the way her mind worked.

“Something’s bothering you,” Nell said.

Then there was her talent for intuiting things about him: the way he was feeling and what he was thinking. Not even his brothers could do that.

And if he kept wondering how she could or what she might do next to surprise him, he wasn’t going to be able to protect her.

“No one’s following us.” She turned into the hospital parking lot. “This was a great idea. Our quick exit from the fast-food restaurant bought us some time. At the castle, Daryl Garnett is with Aunt Vi, and from what Piper and Adair say, Vi is in very good hands. So even if autograph lady or one of her partners gets annoyed that we’ve taken this detour, I think everyone should be safe for the moment.”

“You’re the one I’m worried about. You’re distracting me from this investigation, and that puts you in danger.”

Nell’s heart gave a little flutter, but she managed to keep her hands steady on the wheel as she drove down the line of cars and pulled into a parking space. Saying a little prayer that her voice would work, she faced him. “I can take care of myself. If it makes you feel any better, you’re distracting me, too.”

Reid frowned. “That only makes the problem worse. We have to sort this out and find a solution.”

Nell knew exactly how she wanted to solve their problem. The image flashed into her mind of the scene she’d created earlier—the two of them in Eleanor’s moonlit garden. She could almost feel the smooth taut skin of his bare shoulders beneath her hands. Reminding herself to breathe, she said, “The clock is ticking. We should discuss this after we get to the castle.”

“We’ll settle it now, in just a second. Stay right where you are.” Reid opened the car door and climbed out to scan the lot.

While he did his bodyguard thing, Nell remained seated, gathered her thoughts. So much for the little garden in the moonlight scene. In that particular setting, she hadn’t planned on doing a lot of talking. None at all, in fact. But any heroine worth her salt could adapt to the changing circumstances. All she had to do was tell him what she wanted.

Him.

When he climbed back into the car, he seemed to fill every inch of space until he was all she was aware of. His eyes were the color of smoke shooting up from a fire, dark and dangerous. And his lips were so close. The air in the cramped space had turned sultry. Stifling. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his mouth. It seemed to be the softest part of him; still, it looked firm and unyielding. What would it feel like pressed against hers? Gentle? Rough? Another inch and their lips would make contact. How long had she yearned for the moment? All she had to do was lean forward and...

Hard hands gripped her shoulders, making it impossible for her to move.

“I want you, Nell. I can’t seem to change that. But one thing I can control. Nothing is going to happen between us.”

She felt as if he’d upended a bucket of ice water on her head.

Wanna bet? If she could have moved her lips, she would have said it out loud. She might even have stuck out her tongue. Neither was her best move if she wanted Reid to start thinking of her as a woman. A woman he was incapable of resisting. She needed another strategy. Fast.

“Nothing,” he repeated as if he could read her mind.

She recognized the steely determination in his tone, and it only added fuel to her own resolve. During that long-ago summer, he’d used that same tone to convince her that she could reach any goal, conquer any obstacle. She’d obeyed him like a slave, taken any risk he’d challenged her with. Those days were gone.

“Why not? We’re both adults. We want each other. What could be the harm?”

For an instant his hands tightened on her shoulders, and she was sure he was going to pull her closer. He gave her a hard shake.

Then he dropped his hands clenching them into fists. “You’re family. Dammit, Nell, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Nell’s temper flared. “You know what your problem is, Reid? Like the rest of my family, you’re making some very false assumptions.” She poked a finger into his chest. “One, you believe I’m still a little girl, someone you have to take care of. You’re wrong. I can take care of myself.”

“Maybe. But you deserve someone who’ll offer you more than I can. You deserve what your sisters have found with my brothers. You’ll expect that. Everyone in the family will. I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t be able to offer any woman that.”

She poked him again. “You’re wrong about my expectations, too. The last thing in the world I want is some kind of permanent involvement with a man. I’m three years out of college. I have to concentrate on my career. Besides, I tried the whole falling-in-love thing a few years back, and it drained too much time out of my writing schedule, not to mention the effect it had on my GPA. Even if I was ready for something long-term, you’d be the last man I’d choose.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re overprotective just like the rest of my family. It’s bad enough that I’m stuck working with you to find the necklace. I intended to do that on my own.”

After a beat of silence, his eyes narrowed on her. He was listening now. “The man you fell in love with—he hurt you.”

“Yes, but I got over it. I’m a big girl. You’re going to have to get used to that.”

Another beat of silence.

“Is there anything else I got wrong?”

“Yes. You’re absolutely wrong when you say ‘Nothing can happen between us’ because something already has. Back in the parking lot of that restaurant, I wanted to kiss you. And you wanted it, too. We’re both thinking about what it would be like. I’m imagining one thing. You’re probably envisioning another. In one of my books, this would be a plot point. The characters would have to make a decision. Either they find out and deal with the consequences, or they keep thinking about it. I would assume that, in your job, it pays to know exactly what you’re up against. Right?”

“Close enough.”

But he wasn’t nearly close enough. The heat of his breath burned her lips, but she had to have more. And talking wasn’t going to get it for her. If she wanted to seduce Reid, she had to make the move.

Finally, her arms were around him, her mouth parted beneath his. And she had her answers.

His mouth wasn’t soft at all but open and urgent. His taste was as dark and dangerous as the man. That much she’d guessed. But there was none of the control that he always seemed to coat himself with. None of the reserve. There was only heat and luxurious demand. She was sinking fast to a place where there was nothing but Reid and the glorious sensations only he could give her. She wanted to lose herself in them. Her heart had never raced this fast. Her body had never pulsed so desperately. Even in her wildest fantasies, she’d never conceived of feeling this way. And it still wasn’t enough. She needed more. Everything. Him. Digging her fingers into his shoulders, she pulled him closer.

Big mistake. In some far corner of Reid’s mind, the words blinked like a huge neon sign. They’d started sending their message the instant he’d told her that they would settle what was happening between them now. He’d gotten out of the car to gain some distance, some perspective. Some resolve. But the brief respite had only seemed to increase the seductive pull Nell had on him.

He’d been a goner the moment he’d stuffed himself back into the front seat.

Long before that.

Oh, her argument had been flawless. Knowing exactly what you were up against was key in his job. Reid heartily wished it was her logic that had made his hands streak into her hair and not the feelings that she’d been arousing in him all day.

For seven years.

The hunger she’d triggered while she’d been talking so logically felt as if it had been buried inside him forever. Then once her lips had pressed against his, he forgot everything except that he was finally kissing her. Finally touching her hair. He hadn’t imagined how silky the texture would be. One hand remained there, trapped, while the other roamed freely, moving down and over her, memorizing the curves and angles in one possessive stroke.

She was everything a man could wish for; as small, slim, and supple as he’d imagined. And he’d imagined a lot.

Her lips were soft, too. Inviting, accepting, arousing—just as he’d fantasized. The first taste had been sweet. Just as he had expected. But when he changed the angle and used his tongue to probe farther, to tease and to tempt, her flavors grew darker, stronger, hotter. And beneath all those layers, he tasted not surrender but demand. He had no choice but to answer it, taking them both deeper until all he knew was her. His desire only grew until it was huge and consuming. Not to be denied. He wanted her—no, he needed her the way a man needed sleep after a day of labor; the way he needed water after a drought.

Unable to stop himself, he took more. Her hands were on his shoulders, gripping hard. He wanted them on his bare skin so that he could feel the softness of her palms, the scrape of her fingers. Even through the layers of clothing, she made him burn.

Reid knew he had to get a grip or that burn would sear right through him and leave a scar. No other woman had ever seduced him this way: body, mind, soul. He’d never allowed it. He shouldn’t allow it now. But he couldn’t stop himself from releasing her seat belt. His hands gripped her waist, lifted.

A series of staccato blasts from a horn had him dropping her back into her seat. Reid glanced around, spotted a sedan two slots down in the row facing them with its lights blinking, the horn blasting. Behind it, a woman fumbled with her keys and managed to quiet the alarm.

Emotions shot through him. Relief that the noise had been caused by a woman who’d accidentally set off her car alarm. Fear that it could have been worse. Anger at himself that he’d let Nell so thoroughly distract him again.

He brought his gaze back to her. “Now we know what it’s like.” And the knowledge could change everything if he let it.

Perhaps it already had.

Nell felt like a diver resurfacing layer by layer from a very great depth. Her head was reeling. Good thing he hadn’t asked a question. Since her lips were once more not taking commands from her brain, she wouldn’t have been able to answer.

In contrast he seemed to be doing fine—except for the grunt he made as he extricated himself from his side of the car. She waited where she was, praying that her brain cells would click on and that she’d be able to move by the time he circled to open her door.

When he did, he didn’t offer his hand as he had at the fast-food restaurant. Instead, he stepped back while she made it out on her own. She tested her legs, while she pressed the remote to lock the door.

“One more thing,” he said.

She met his eyes.

“Now that we know what it’s like, we’re going to put it in a file and forget it.” Then he turned, scanned the area and gestured her forward.

Wanna bet? Once more she was grateful that she didn’t trust herself to speak. What she knew was that she now had two conflicting narratives to deal with. In one her goal was to find a long-missing necklace, and in the other, her goal was to seduce Reid Sutherland. Plot and subplot. All she had to do was find a way to weave them together.