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He didn’t want her to trust anyone, including him.
Just as the thought materialized, so did a wave of nausea and Calli slapped a hand over her mouth, leaping toward the bathroom. Tomorrow, she thought. She would deal with her stupidity tomorrow. She only hoped she would never see him again.
Sunlight blared through a slice between the drapes and Calli groaned, rolling to her side and covering her head with a pillow. Her mouth tasted like road dust and her brain throbbed, reminding her of last night. How could one drink make her feel this crummy?
After a few deep breaths, she slithered from the bed like the idiot she was, stopping long enough to order coffee from room service before stepping into the shower. She didn’t bother to regulate the water and suffered the ice-cold blast before making it warmer. She never wanted to leave. It was safe under the water, away from the hurt blooming slowly in her chest. Damn you, Angel.
Gradually, her headache lessened and she could actually move without making it worse. No, she decided as pain buffeted her brain. She would stay in here, because looking at herself in the mirror would only relive the memory of Angel’s heartlessness. Funny, she thought, that she could remember his passion more than his cruelty.
Gabe caught the waiter as he made to set the tray by the door. She’s in the shower, he realized instantly, hearing the running water through the paper-thin walls and half-open window. Pushing a hefty tip into the server’s palm, he took the tray and gave the teenager a leer that spoke volumes. The youth smiled and nodded, then after a moment’s hesitation, unlocked the room.
Gabe set the tray down and closed the door. He noticed her clothes scattered over the floor and collected them in a pile, trying to ignore the red stocking shaped from her leg and the memories that came with it. Tossing them onto the dresser, he wondered why the hell he was here. Sure, he could have left her car at Damien’s, let her find a way to get it back, but Gabe felt as if he’d slunk out from under a rock, like the slimy perverts he’d been protecting her from for the past four days.
Since last night, he’d focused his concern on the one drink she claimed to have had and the strange result. After discreetly taking her keys, in case she got any wild ideas during the night, he’d gone back to Damien’s after leaving her, done some checking, and linked her artificial intoxication to a drink she hadn’t bought for herself. A man of vague description had walked it over to her from the bar. It was just too suspicious for Gabe’s comfort and he felt that her admirer might have slipped her a drug.
Calli was in trouble, more than she’d ever hoped to find. And if she would quit trusting strangers, quit trying to find danger, it just might not find her. Gabe muttered a curse, hating himself for what he’d done to her, hating that he couldn’t find another way around her stubbornness to keep her safe. She was just too willing to test the limits of the wrong people. Including him.
The phone rang and instinctively he snatched it up.
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing there at this hour?” Daniel O’Hara demanded.
“My job.” Gabe stared down at her keys in his hand, then clutched them in his fist. “Did you find anything else?”
“No. Does she know who you are?”
Guilt stabbed through Gabe as he glanced at the bathroom door. He dismissed it, remembering the disgusted look in her eyes when he’d talked nasty to her. “You paid for discretion.”
“Your voice says otherwise, Gabe.”
Gabe hated the fatherly warning in Daniel’s tone. “Let’s just say she won’t be trusting me or anyone else for a while.”
“It’s a sweet failing of hers.” A sigh came through the phone and Daniel’s worry with it Whether it was for himself and his company or Calli, Gabe couldn’t be sure. “She has the memo.”
Gabe groaned, plowing his fingers through his dark hair. “Great.” How was he supposed to get it? His gaze scanned the room, stopping on her purse, then a leather satchel lying on a luggage rack. “I’ll see what I can find.”
“That cat burglar experience comes in handy in your line of work, huh?”
“Shut up, Danny.”
Daniel cleared his throat.
“I’ll call if I have something to say.”
Daniel scoffed. “I’ll be old by then.”
Gabe made to hang up when Daniel’s voice caught him.
“Hey, Gabe?”
He put the phone to his ear again, noticing that the shower had stopped. “Make it quick.”
“Don’t hurt her. She’s like a daughter to me.”
Gabe closed his eyes Wonderful. Daniel might be just the owner of some dessert company, but he was one mean man when crossed. And Gabe owed him big already.
“What are you doing here, talking on my phone?” Calli demanded, tightening the sash of her robe.
His expression blank, Gabe held out the receiver. “Someone named Daniel?”
Calli’s features reddened and she grabbed the phone, turning her back on him. She could feel Angel’s gaze move over her terry-cloth robe and she pushed it higher around her neck. While in the bathroom, she’d heard muffled voices and could have sworn Angel was talking to Daniel long before she entered the room. But what would he have to say to her boss? Daniel was likely giving him the third degree, she decided, highly annoyed with both of them.
“How did you find me?” she snapped, her plan to hide out in New Mexico obviously ruined.
His laugh was soft. “Well, hello to you, too.” Calli made an apologetic sound. “It wasn’t hard. What happened to Acapulco?”
“Nothing. It’s still there, I think.” She heard him chuckle. “I just changed my mind and decided to drive.” She already knew how he’d found her. For emergency’s sake she’d left this number with her landlord and Daniel was the one who’d told her about the quaint small town. “Is there something wrong? Why did you track me down?”
There was a hesitation and then, “I was worried when you didn’t show at the company suite in Mexico. Your team asked about you.”
Daniel was lying and she couldn’t for the life of her understand why. “What’s the matter?” she asked with soft concern, plowing her wet hair back off her face.
“Nothing, kid. Nothing. Who’s the guy?”
Calli glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Angel was sprawled on her bed, folded arms pillowing his head, ankles crossed. The arrogant creep, she thought. She picked up an ashtray and threw it at him. He batted it away, then resumed his position. She gestured for him to get out.
He simply stared back.
“He’s the waiter.” His gaze went fiat. “A real pest,” she said meaningfully. “And I have to get rid of him.”
“Be careful, Calli.”
Another man playing knight-errant, she thought, and her first impulse was to vent her anger and hurt on Daniel, but he didn’t deserve it. He was the best thing to happen to her career since her graduation from the Culinary Institute and she didn’t want to dump on him.
“I will,” she said finally. “And tell the seven wizards that just because I’m on vacation doesn’t mean they are, too.”
“I will,” Daniel laughed “’Bye, Calli.”
“Later, boss.” She hung up, her fingers flexing on the receiver before she shoved them into her robe pockets. She faced Angel. “Get out.”
He said nothing, his cool gaze assessing her as if he’d palmed every inch of her naked body.
“You have to know you’re the absolute last person I want to see. Or are you just a sadist?” He kept quiet and she wanted to kick him. “Why are you here?”
Leaning up on his elbow, he dangled her keys.
Her forehead wrinkled. She’d had them last night. She was sure of it. “You stole them?”
Angel swung his long legs off the bed and straightened. Calli stepped back, and he arched a brow at the sudden move, studying her.
She was afraid. Good. Lesson achieved.
“You could have left them at the front desk.”
Gabe shrugged. Sure, he could have, but he’d needed to see her, needed to see for himself that he hadn’t smashed that untouchable energy of hers.
Calli held out her hand and he dropped the keys into her palm. They were warm from handling She turned away, staring at the keys, then him. He had to have taken them from her purse. She hated to think he’d taken anything else.
As casually as she could, she poured herself a cup of coffee, realizing he’d gotten inside by way of the waiter. She would have to speak to the hotel management about that.
“So, are you a thief, as well as a...molester?”
He stiffened. “The car’s outside,” he said. The sound of his raspy voice shivered through Calli.
She gulped hot coffee and met his gaze in the mirror. “Leave, Angel.”
He moved up behind her. She clutched the cup defensively. “How’s your head?”
“What do you care?”
“I don’t.” He did. But he didn’t want to. She was a case, an assignment, nothing more; protect her, get the memo back before Daniel’s competitors came after her for it. And if Daniel could find her this easily so could they. Gabe had never guessed the dessert business was so bloodthirsty. “I don’t.” He shrugged big shoulders. “Just making conversation.”
“Should have tried that last night.” Instantly Calli wished the words back and set the cup down with a sharp click.
He moved up behind her and still she wouldn’t face him. “Wouldn’t have been as much fun.” God, he nearly puked on those words.
“Jeez,” she mumbled, eyes downcast. “I hate to see what you think is pain, then.”
Guilt tightened his features and he was glad she wasn’t looking at him. Gabe didn’t know what possessed him then, but he leaned down and scented her, his face close to the bare nape of her neck. She didn’t smell like soap or shampoo, but of Calli, of innocence and energy and life. He wanted some. Just a little to warm his dark dreams. “You liked it.”
“You have no idea what I like, Angel, honey. But it certainly isn’t you!” Her voice fractured, fresh wounds mirrored in her eyes. “Get out,” she sneered.
Angel caught her arms in a gentle hold and pulled her back against him. Calli went still as glass, instantly sensing a difference. His long body was hard against her back, her soft buttocks, and raw desire burst like a newborn star. Calli struggled against it, against the urge to open her robe and let him touch her.
Gabe felt it, too; her quickening breath, the sudden tightness of her small, naked body beneath the thick terry cloth. Blood rushed to his groin. His fingers flexed on her arms. He didn’t want to know what she was feeling that easily, didn’t want to be such an intense part of it. Yet he turned her to face him, tipping her chin till she looked him in the eye
His fingers sank into her hair as he covered her mouth with his. Calli immediately fought. But his kiss was different than the last; gentle, probing. Unhurried and seething with suppressed desire. Her heart thundered against the wall of her chest. Her knees softened Her resistance melted a fraction more, but instinct born in survival, in a little girl left to fend alone years ago, kept her from giving him what he coaxed to the surface.
She tore her mouth away, breathless.
“No. No!” She pushed him back. He went only because he chose to, she knew. Sweet mercy. How could she fall for this again? She leveled a scathing glance at him. “Last night must be fuzzier than I thought, if I keep walking into your traps,” she muttered more to herself as she scooted a safe distance from him.
Calli faced the fact that she was highly attracted to him, that she trusted him no matter how hard she tried not to or how serious he was about wanting her gone. Yet even in her confusion, which was threatening to dissolve any guard on her self-preservation, a familiar awareness drew her back to him, to the darkness and secrets he wanted to shield from her, from the world. She promised herself she would fight it. But then she glanced at him and was swallowed in those hard green eyes devouring her willpower like a panther with a defeated victim. His gaze slipped to the neck of the robe, to her skin, and she was acutely aware of her nakedness thinly shielded, aware of him and how erotic his touch felt on her body. Her breathing increased, a deep, pulsing ache spreading up her thighs as he simply looked at her. She broke her gaze, frantically grasping for some anger, some disgust. But it just wasn’t there.
Frustrated, she threw her hands up. “All right, I give up. I know when I’ve been licked.”
“So,” came the dark rasp. “Last night is coming back to you.”
She sputtered, swinging around to see him pause at the door, his tanned hand on the frame as he looked at her. An odd half-smile tugged at his lips, his gaze caressing her. White-hot heat spiraled through her, making her mad.
“You’re twisted, Angel.”
“Remember that.”
Calli didn’t know what to make of the shadow shifting over his expression.
But Gabe knew. And he was even more certain of himself now. Now that her faint smile offered forgiveness for the despicable cruelty he’d played on her last night. He didn’t deserve forgiving, but he was glad he had it. God. He had to keep away from her. Touching her brought him a bizarre freedom that he would keep destroying in slow increments until he destroyed her, too.
He wasn’t good enough for a woman like Calli. Not for her kisses, her smiles and for damn sure, not her bed.
Southern New Mexico was beautiful, full of exquisite little shops brimming with unique and very expensive items. Calli decided to hurt her credit card. Mega-shopping was an instant balm to her bruised feelings. Angel had vanished and although she decided it was just as well, giving herself time to get her act together, she actually missed his pesty brooding self. She’d had plenty of time to think about him and his invasion into her life. And why he’d bothered to bring her car back, clearly a gallant gesture, when he’d warned her not to trust him? She remembered the crude way he’d spoken to her, his matter-of-fact manner about the scene he played on her. And that’s exactly what it was, she thought. A scene. Designed and executed especially for her ohso-delicate constitution. A warning. He didn’t know her well enough to realize that it would take more than his less-than-subtle charm to send her packing.
Sighing dispiritedly, Calli fingered a silk blouse and knew she trusted too easily. The nuns had taught her to see the best in everyone. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have insisted Daniel let her hire Rodrigez straight out of prison. Rodrigez had proven that his prison training was valuable and had become her number one chef. More importantly, though, it had shown she’d been right; there was good in the former armed robber. It was a break she could afford to give now and she understood how infrequently those came along Like Rodriguez, she had no family and since she was a child, had depended only on herself. Even under the care of very loving but strict nuns, she was always alone. Being a ward of the church until she was eighteen had its moments, albeit very few, but she’d never met anyone as enigmatic and ominous as Angel.
She was attracted to him, by more than the quiet restrained power he exuded. And he scared her, his empty eyes, his vacant expressions. Sometimes, it was like no one lived behind those beautiful pale green eyes. Yet despite her fear, her lack of knowledge about men like him, she was drawn to him, as if only she could feel an invisible lure.
Was it his secrets she found so intriguing? And what had Daniel said to him on the phone? They’d spoken before she entered the room, she was certain. Angel was hiding something. What it had to do with her was beyond comprehension. Or maybe it was as she’d first imagined, Daniel feeling protective and questioning him?
She pushed open the door of a kitchen store and smiled. She was in heaven and moved from rack to shelf, seeking the odd gadget she might not already have in her own kitchen. She hadn’t worked in over a week, which meant she hadn’t cooked. And she wanted to test out a new recipe batting around in her head Finding nothing to sufficiently satisfy her buying spree, Call! settled for a red cobbler’s apron with the words I Cook, You Clean emblazoned in white. She laughed to herself. Who was going to clean up after her? She lived alone.
Juggling the handles of four bags, Calli left the shop and immediately bumped into a man. She dropped one of her packages and bent to retrieve it just as he did. She thanked him, then straightened and stared into a pair of warm brown eyes “Gee, I’m glad I don’t have to pay for that loot,” he said, gesturing to her bags.
Calli smiled. “I’ll hate myself when the bill comes, I just know it.” She started past him.“Thank you.”
“You look like an expert shopper.” He paused and she waited for him to continue. “Think you could help me select something for my sister’s birthday?”
Indecision creased her brow. “I don’t know...”
“I’m afraid I’m a failure at getting her anything she doesn’t return.” His tone pleaded.
Calli bit her lower lip. Harmless, she thought, we’ll be in public.
“Clothes or jewelry?”
Relieved, he chuckled to himself. “Find me a woman who can resist jewelry and I’ll marry her.”
She looked him over, smiling. “Sorry, pal, you’ll have a long hunt,” she said, then gestured to her car. “Let me get rid of these.” Leaving her packages in the car, she liked that he kept his distance, remaining on the pathwalk to wait for her. She didn’t want this guy too close. Though he seemed nice enough, and in the past week she’d certainly hung out with people who were far more menacing, Angel’s warnings vibrated in her mind. Along with the memory of his touch. A soft smile bowed her lips as she walked back to him.
“Something funny? You look, I don’t know—” he shrugged “—satisfied?”
Not quite, she thought mischievously, but said, “It’s nothing.” She gestured up the walk. “I saw a wonderful Indian jewelry display up here.” He met her pace and made introductions on the way to the store. Braiden Murdock, engineer, businessman in town for the week, she discovered, and Calli mentally classed him in the “yuppie, financially stable, now-looking-for-a-wifebefore-he-got-too-old” department. Especially when he started the conversation with the “Are you married? Don’t you want a family?” lines. Like she was on a schedule?
Minding her manners, in minutes Calli had the store owner displaying his creations for Braiden. Calli bought a pair of turquoise cufflinks for Daniel and earrings for herself. As the shopkeeper wrapped items and had them shipped for Braiden, he asked if he could repay her with lunch. Calli stared into his chocolate-brown eyes, thinking he was a gentle, considerate man and she would enjoy his company, but a voice whispering, He isn’t Angel, interrupted her thoughts. Extremely annoyed with the invasion, she agreed.
A half hour later, she smiled at his wide-eyed look.
“You’re a chef?”
“Don’t look so surprised. Women can cook, or have you been sleeping for the past two thousand years?”
He laughed quietly, leaning back in his chair and toying with his fork. “So. Give. Where can I try these culinary talents?”
“London, Pans, Rome, New York, Dallas.” His brows wrinkled in confusion “Excalibur Confections,” she supplied.
His eyes widened. “The pastries? The ones with the gold sword charm through their centers?”
She nodded. Excalibur was the elite dessert, like Godiva was to chocolates, each dessert wrapped in gold-embossed paper. The gold sword charm was her idea. Customers needed a little pleasure, even after the last bit was gone.
“I eat them whenever I can afford it.”
She peered over the edge of the table at his stomach. “Not worried about fat or cholesterol, huh?”
“I run to do penance for those goodies,” he said, gesturing for the waiter.
Penance A Catholic boy, she thought. He paid the check and they left the restaurant. Discreetly, she stepped away from his touch at the small of her back and for an instant wondered why she’d let a guy like Ike paw her as if she were covered in fur, yet wouldn’t let Braiden lay a finger on her.
Outside, he waved and a gray limousine slowed to a halt in front of them. Whoa, she thought, more than financially stable.
“Can I give you a lift to your car?”
“The whole thirty yards?” She laughed lightly and shook her head, then offered her hand. He clasped it, tugging her closer. He stood within the open door of the limo.
“Join me for dinner.” That it sounded like a demand set her teeth on edge.
“No, thank you, Braiden ” She tried to pull free, but his grip tightened. Suspicion crept up her spine.
“Come on.” He ducked into the car, making her lean down a bit. Calli caught a glimpse of the plush interior, the bar, TV, laptop computer, and mostly, the mini-fax with a picture of a familiar face curled over the machine. “You already know I don’t bite.”
“But she does.”
Calli jerked her hand free and whirled around. Angel. He was braced against the stone wall near the restaurant entrance, one leg bent, booted foot flattened against the wall. His arms folded over his chest, he had Dare me written in every taut muscle. Something in her heart said, Yes! But her mind scolded her, reason screaming that she shouldn’t be so pleased to see his stubbled mug.
His green gaze shifted from her face to her lunch date hanging half out of the limo. Pale eyes glittered and his long legs took him to the side of the car. He loomed over her, sparing her a flash of a look, then maneuvered his body along the hmo, making her either step or be pushed back.
“Dammit, Angel!”
His hands braced on the door frame and the roof, he ignored her and peered down at the man, studying him briefly. From what Calli could see, Braiden simply stared back.
“She’s busy.”
Calli politely tapped his shoulder.
“Calli, are you all right with this?” Braiden asked.
Gabe smirked.
Calli wanted to punch Braiden herself, but Angel blocked her. “It’s all right,” she said tiredly. She ought to be used to Angel butting in by now.
Gabe leaned down into Braiden’s face, his voice so low she couldn’t hear.
“Try that again,” he rasped, each word clipped and razor sharp as his gaze, “and I will kill you.”
The other man’s features stretched tight. Message received, Angel thought, then stepped back and made to close the door, forcing Braiden to jerk his legs inside or be crushed. The limo peeled away from the curb. Gabe watched it leave the posh gallena, then turned to Calli. She was already walking to her car.
His gaze swept the body-shaping, lemon-yellow tank dress to her tanned bare legs and yellow-heeled shoes. His breath hissed out between clenched teeth. She looked good enough to eat.
His gaze shot to the limo. That was too damn close. It was only pure luck that he’d hung around a little longer than he’d planned. She hadn’t a clue, he decided, and wondered what she would think if she knew her firend had been trying to kidnap her.
Three
She really had a sweet behind, he thought before he stirred himself and started toward her.
“Be warned, Angel,” she said the instant he was near. “I won’t be responsible for what I may say—” Her gaze slid meaningfully to the teeth marks she’d left on his neck. “Or do right now.” She unlocked her car and slid into the seat
But he stopped her from closing the door. He noticed that her hands shook.
She glared up at him. “Do you mind?” He gave her that passionless stare she was beginning to really hate, his long body bent, hand on the car roof. She sighed back into the seat and spoke to the ceiling. “You have made this my worst vacation in years.”
“Slumming wasn’t good enough, so you went after bigger game?” He nodded toward the restaurant.
She was insulted and her look told him she was fresh out of patience. “I realize this may come as a complete shock, Angel. But I’m not on a manhunt. In fact, after this week, the last thing I want is another man in my life. I have at least eight—no ” She put up a hand. “Make that nine,” she added, delivering a glare that carved the flesh from his bones. “Nine men who can’t keep to themselves and leave me alone!”