Protective Custody

“When that car exploded and I couldn’t see you, I thought…” He released her arms only to gently cup her face in his hands. His thumb glided across her cheek, sending shivers down her spine. The breath of his reluctant sigh whispered across her lips. “I thought I’d lost you.”

Nicole steeled herself against what she wanted to feel. Just words. That’s all they were. She couldn’t trust Ian with her heart any more than she could trust her life to the bastard who was trying to kill her. She understood Ian’s probable motivation—revenge. Would he take this opportunity to do to her what she had done to him three years ago? If he only knew…

Ruthlessly squashing the tiny spark of hope his words elicited, Nicole encircled his wrists with trembling fingers and attempted to remove his hands from her face.

Ian swallowed…hard, the play of muscle beneath tanned skin doing strange things to her stomach. “I can’t lose you again,” he murmured.

“You never had me,” she assured him with forced contempt.

He laughed softly and raised one dark brow in mock speculation. “I can recall having you at least four times, Nicole.” That eclectic accent he had gained from growing up in half a dozen European countries thickened as his voice lowered to a more seductive level. His fingers slid around her neck and urged her closer still, his thumbs working a sensuous kind of magic. “I remember every detail of every moment we spent together. Each time we made love proved more intense than the last. Don’t try to tell me you’ve forgotten.”

He pressed a silky kiss to her cheek, Nicole shivered as much from his words as from his kiss. “Stop,” she whispered hoarsely.

He stopped but didn’t pull away. His lips remained only a hairbreadth from her skin. “You want me to stop?”

“Yes,” she lied. Nicole didn’t have to look to know he smiled, she felt it. Electricity crackled between their heated bodies.

“And if I refuse?”

Nicole closed her eyes and released a shuddering breath. She shouldn’t have come to him. Did she really expect to be able to spend five minutes with the man and not want him? Only a few hours ago she had eluded death for the third time in less than two weeks. And right now all she could think about was how it would feel to make love with Ian again. To have him touch her in that slow, thorough manner of his. To have him whisper sweet things to her in that lightly accented voice. To make him believe that she hadn’t meant to hurt him three years ago—that she had only been doing her job.

What if she had died today?

Nicole blinked. She would never have had the opportunity to make things right with Ian. She lifted her gaze to his, watched the renewed desire turn those silvery depths to a deeper, gunmetal gray. One last night. They could have one last night together and then she would disappear from his life forever. She would face whatever the future held for her…alone. If death awaited, Nicole decided she would just have her taste of heaven now.

She moistened her lips and smiled up at him. “Well,” she said languorously as she began to slowly unbutton his shirt. “I suppose that leaves me with no choice.” Nicole slid her hands inside and over his muscled chest, the feel of that sculpted terrain making her weak with want. How she had missed him. No man would ever be able to make her feel the way Ian had. Would this thing between them still be as it once was—even after what she had done to him? Nicole cleared her mind. She didn’t want to think…she wanted to feel. To touch…to forget.

He remained absolutely still as she plunged her fingers into his long, dark hair and pulled his head down to hers. She nipped his lower lip with her teeth, then traced that sexy cleft in his chin with her tongue. He moved then. His hands slid over her shoulders and down her back, caressing, arousing her naked flesh. And then his mouth captured hers.

His kiss was slow, thorough, tantalizing, with a kind of erotic finesse only Ian possessed. Her heart thudding with anticipation, Nicole watched the intent expression on his face as he deepened the kiss. Then her eyes closed with the ecstasy she could no longer deny. Desire burst inside her like shattering glass, sending tiny shards of heat throughout her. Her head no longer hurt, her muscles no longer complained of their bruising. All conscious thought vanished. Ian’s masterful hands squeezed her bottom, then pulled her against his thick arousal. Nicole shuddered with the need now gripping every fiber of her being.

She wanted his bare skin against hers—now. Nicole jerked his shirt open, scattering the remaining buttons across the lush carpet. She reveled in the feel of his strong back as she slid the material down, then pressed her body to his. Smooth and hot. His skin singed hers as their bodies melded. Ian groaned his approval deep in his throat, the sound urging Nicole’s own frenzied desire. She tugged his shirt from his slacks, then slowly peeled it off his body.

He lifted her against him and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his lean waist. His mouth continued to torture hers, his tongue delving inside, tasting, tempting, then retreating. That slow in-and-out pace foreshadowing what she knew would come. Her legs tightened around him, pressing the moist heat between her thighs more firmly into his hardened length. This was what she had fantasized about a thousand times in the last three years.

Ian carried her to the bed and lowered her gently onto the tangled sheets. His body aligned over hers, he looked down at her, those amazing gray eyes analyzing her too closely. Nicole struggled to read the emotions cluttering his face. Sadness, maybe, or pain…almost. Had he missed her half as much as she had missed him? Did he want her as she wanted him?

“You do have a choice,” he said softly.

Nicole tried one last time to decipher that distant look in his eyes, but to no avail. “I know,” she whispered, then smiled. “I choose this.” She unbuttoned his fly, then lowered the zipper. His eyes closed on a tortured groan as she eased his slacks and briefs over his hips, then caressed him intimately. Her own need suddenly careened out of control. Instinctively her body arched against his, the resulting friction making her cry out with want. One solid yank was all it took for Ian to relieve her of the tiny, strappy panties.

And then he was inside her, filling her, turning her world upside down. Their movements turned frantic, out of control. His powerful thrusts propelled Nicole closer and closer to the climax that had begun the moment he touched her. Ian kissed her again, hard and fast. He murmured desperate words in a language she didn’t understand. She gripped his broad shoulders, trying to hold on longer…to make it last. But she couldn’t, one more thrust and she tumbled over the edge. Heat and light and pleasure cascaded over her, swirled inside her. Ian followed close behind, driving into her one last time.

His taut body relaxed, his forehead rested against hers, their ragged breathing the only sound in the room. “You should rest now.” He brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “I’ll keep you safe.”

Nicole nodded, suddenly feeling totally exhausted all over again. “I trust you, Ian,” she murmured, her gaze holding his. “I trust you with my life.”

“Sleep, Nicole,” he insisted gently. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

IAN PARTED the blinds and checked the parking area outside his town house once more. Still no sign of Martinez. He paused to listen for Nicole. The sound of water spraying in the shower continued. Good. He wanted her occupied until after Martinez arrived.

He had spent the entire night watching Nicole sleep, memorizing each delicate feature of her sweet face. She was as beautiful as ever. Her body slender and feminine, yet toned and amazingly strong. Ian swallowed back the emotions he knew he should not feel. Merely touching Nicole aroused him to the point of insanity. The sudden image of water sluicing over all that satiny skin made his groin tighten. He closed his eyes against the memory of her scent, her taste. Nicole did things to him…made him feel things he could not begin to describe. Ian sighed and shook his head slowly from side to side. This could not be.

He was a fool.

His foolishness had cost a life once before, he refused to risk a repeat of that mistake. Ian plowed his fingers through his hair and crossed the room once more, silently cursing his compunction every step of the way. He had paced this room for the past ten minutes.

Guilt gnawed at him for feigning sleep when Nicole had awakened this morning. She had kissed him tenderly on the cheek, then slipped quietly into the bathroom to shower. And what had he done? He had immediately called Martinez and hastily dressed. Nicole would not be happy when he informed her of his plan. But her displeasure was of no consequence in the matter. Ian understood what had to be done. He knew no more now regarding her case than he had known yesterday when she had left Victoria’s office. But he did know with complete certainty that he could not stay objective where Nicole was concerned. And her survival depended on the kind of objectivity and focus he lost all sight of in her presence.

The moment he had set eyes on her in Victoria’s office, Ian had experienced a sense of rage unparalleled by anything he had ever known before. She was the last person on the planet he would have helped do anything. Or so he’d thought. When that car had exploded, and he hadn’t been sure if she were dead or alive, the truth had hit him like a bullet between the eyes. He still had deep feelings for Nicole. The past changed nothing. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her forever.

But, after last night, Ian realized that he could not determine the threat to her safety with her so close. It was true three years ago and it was still true today: when he was with Nicole, he could not maintain the necessary focus required to perform his mission. Taking that kind of risk was out of the question. She would simply have to go into hiding with Martinez while Ian did what had to be done.

The issue was closed in his opinion. Nicole would do exactly as he instructed. He set his jaw determinedly.

Or else.

The anticipated knock came just as Ian turned to retrace his path across the room. He repositioned the Glock tucked into his waistband at the small of his back, then made his way to the door. He breathed a sigh of relief when he checked the peephole and found Martinez on the other side. Finally. Ian opened the door only wide enough for Martinez to enter, and quickly closed it behind him.

“Thanks for coming on short notice.”

“No problem, man.” Martinez, the Colby Agency’s newest investigator, scanned the room. “Nice place.”

Ian nodded. He wasn’t accustomed to having visitors in his home, but there was no getting around it this time. The spray of water in the other room stopped. Ian glanced in the direction of the bedroom door, Nicole would appear at any moment. He was out of time. Without preamble, he related the details of her case as he knew them to Martinez.

“Good morning.”

At the sound of Nicole’s voice Ian turned slowly to face her. He did not relish the next few minutes. “Good morning,” he returned with a tight smile. An unfamiliar sensation squeezed his chest at how vulnerable she looked in an old pair of his sweats, her long blond hair still damp from her shower.

Her gaze darted from Ian to the other man, then narrowed with suspicion. “I didn’t know you had company,” she said stiffly.

Ian glanced at the man standing beside him. “This is Ric Martinez.” Ian leveled his gaze on Nicole and steeled himself for her fury. “He will be keeping you company at one of our safe houses until the investigation is over.”

Pain, then anger stole across her features. She gave a jerky nod. “I see.”

Ian took the four steps that separated them. “It would be a conflict of interest for us to work together,” he explained quietly.

Nicole lifted her defiant chin and glared at him. “Whose interest, yours or mine?”

Irritation flared. “It would be in both our best interests for you to cooperate with Martinez.” He matched her insolent expression. “And that’s what you’re going to do.”

She shoved a handful of hair behind her ear, the fight-or-flight urge already evident in her posture. “Last time I checked this was still a free country.”

Ian snagged her arm when she would have pushed past him. “If the story you told Victoria is true, then walking away from our help would be a serious mistake. Someone has tried to kill you three times already, Nicole. You’re not leaving alone.”

She glowered first at his offending hand, then at him. “Just try and stop me, Michaels.”

His grip tightened. “Don’t be a fool, Nicole.”

“Miss Reed, I think maybe you should listen to him,” Martinez suggested soberly.

Her disdainful glare flicked to Martinez. “This isn’t your fight.”

He held up his hands stop-sign fashion and backed off. “Whatever you say, lady.”

Ian pulled her closer to him, an unspoken demand for her full attention. “You know the rules of survival as well as I do,” he ground out.

“Why don’t you tell me about the rules, Michaels.” She struggled against his hold, but he tightened his grip, angering her all the more. “What was last night all about, huh? Survival or retribution?”

One beat turned to five, the tension growing thicker with each. “You had a choice, you decided,” he reminded coldly. “I have a choice this morning, and I have decided.”

“Go to hell.”

“I’ve been there, Nicole. Don’t you remember?” Watching Solomon die and knowing he was responsible had been pure hell for Ian.

She blinked, but not before he got a glimpse of the regret in those wide blue eyes. Nicole sighed defeatedly. “Fine,” she relented, then lifted a repentant gaze to his. “I suppose you know what you’re doing, Ian. And I—” She shrugged halfheartedly. “I’m just totally confused.”

Ian relaxed his brutal grip on her arm and exhaled his own burst of relief. “Good. Martinez will stick close to you and I’ll work the investigation.”

“And what will I be doing?”

“You’ll lie low until we know exactly what’s going on. That’s standard operating procedure. You know the drill.”

Nicole nodded. “Sounds as if you have everything covered.”

Ian held her gaze, urging her to understand. “I will do whatever it takes to neutralize the threat to you, Nicole.”

“Well.” She smiled, her lips trembling with the effort. “I guess we should get going then.” She glanced in Martinez’s direction. “No point dragging this out.”

“You’ll be safe as long as you do exactly as I tell you,” Ian assured her.

She paused and turned back to him. That crystal-blue gaze softened, grew misty. “No kiss good-bye?”

Ian’s chest constricted with regret and something else he refused to acknowledge. Before he could stop himself, his hands went immediately to the face permanently etched in his memory. The feel of her skin ripped him apart inside. How could he let her out of his sight? But, how could he permit this thing between them to get in the way of what had to be done?

As if in slow motion, he lowered his head, his mouth yearning to mate with hers. His eyes closed at the first brush of their lips. Nicole’s arms slid beneath his suit jacket, around his waist, caressing him as she had last night…as she had in his dreams so many times.

She had the weapon in her hand two endless seconds before his body accepted the command to react. Nicole backed away from him, her expert aim shifting quickly to Martinez. “Get your hands up where I can see them,” she demanded sharply.

“Think, Nicole,” Ian suggested calmly, while mentally cursing himself for the idiot he was. He never made mistakes like this. Only with Nicole. “You came to me for help. How can we help you if you won’t let us?”

“Just yesterday you refused to help me. Now I’ve decided I don’t need your brand of help, thank you very much.” She moved cautiously toward the door, skillfully alternating her focus between him and Martinez. “Your keys,” she said to Martinez when she reached the door.

He shrugged as if he didn’t understand, his olive skin a good deal paler than when he arrived.

“Your car keys. Give me your car keys,” she ground out impatiently.

“Okay, lady, just stay cool. My brother is going to kill me. That Explorer’s brand new.” Martinez reached for his pocket with his right hand.

“Wait! Hold your hands up high and turn all the way around,” Nicole instructed curtly.

Martinez glanced uneasily at Ian. Ian nodded for him to do as she said. Martinez turned around slowly, his hands held high. The form-fitting muscle shirt, which he wore tucked into his jeans left no doubt that the man was unarmed. Ian swore silently. He should have warned Martinez to be fully prepared. Not that it would have done any good since Ian obviously had been ill-prepared himself.

“Now give me those keys—with your left hand,” Nicole ordered.

Martinez complied without hesitation.

Nicole reached behind her and opened the door. “Nobody moves until I’m out of here. Nobody.” She allowed Ian one final look before she stepped across the threshold and slammed the door behind her.

Ian hissed a four-letter word. How in the hell had he fallen for that old trick?

“Hey man, are we going after her or what?” Martinez asked uncertainly.

“Go out the back. See if you can get around behind her to cut her off,” Ian told him roughly as he stormed across the room. Dammit, the woman was going to get herself killed. She knew better. Nicole knew the code of survival and protection. So far she had done nothing but act like a frightened civilian, breaking every rule.

Ian cursed again when he stepped into the early-morning sun. Fortunately it was Saturday and his neighbors would likely still be in bed at this hour. He quickly scanned the seemingly deserted street. But his neighbors weren’t the concern at the moment. He shook his head in disgust. Nicole was a damned open target standing there fumbling with Martinez’s keys. His gut clenched.

“At this rate you won’t make it very far, Nicole.” Ian took the steps two at a time.

Nicole’s head jerked up. Instantly, she focused a bead on him with her left hand, while continuing to try and manipulate the keys with her right. “Stop right there, Michaels.”

“I suppose you’re going to shoot me if I don’t.”

Her head came up again. Ian smiled when her resolve visibly faltered. “I didn’t think so,” he concluded aloud, his supreme annoyance making his voice sound more lethal than he had intended.

He walked right up to her, the muzzle of the Glock pressed into his chest. “Give me the weapon.”

“No way. I don’t need any help,” she said tightly, her eyes suspiciously bright. “I decided last night that I wasn’t going to involve anyone else in my problems.”

“Was that before or after we made love?” Ian held her gaze. His entire being reacted to the uncharacteristic fear he saw in her eyes.

“It’ll be better this way.” She drew in a shaky breath, but firmed her grip on the Glock. “Now get the hell away from me, Michaels. People are dropping like flies around me. First my director, then Daniels.”

“No.”

“Now who’s being the fool?” Lowering her weapon, Nicole jerked the vehicle door open and slid behind the wheel. “Goodbye, Ian.”

Without warning, glass shattered, the sound echoing in the otherwise quiet street. Fragments from the truck window sprayed in Ian’s direction. Simultaneously, something propelled him back a step, the impact and burn clicking an instant recognition in his brain and sending him diving for cover. Thankfully Nicole was in the vehicle. He hoped like hell she stayed put. Ian hit the ground. A stab of pain knifed through his left shoulder and radiated down his arm.

The squeal of tires and the roar of an engine pierced the still morning air. Then the report of Ian’s Glock, three shots in rapid succession, echoed. Nicole was returning fire. Ian swore savagely and pushed to his feet. Nicole whipped around and quickly surveyed him.

“Where are you hit?” Worry traced lines across her face, her gaze darted back to his left shoulder. “Damn,” she breathed. Gingerly she pushed his jacket away to view the damage.

“It’s nothing.”

She gave him a look. “Yeah, right.”

Ian gritted his teeth when she unbuttoned his shirt partway and pulled it from the wound. He winced inwardly. “I am now fully convinced that you’re trying to get yourself killed, Nicole. Why didn’t you stay in the truck?”

“Shut up, Michaels.” She grimaced. “You need a doctor.”

“I got a partial on the license plate,” Martinez reported breathlessly as he skidded to a stop next to Nicole.

“We have to get Ian to a hospital.” She tugged him toward the passenger-side door of Martinez’s borrowed truck as she spoke.

Ian manacled her right wrist and halted her forward movement. “I’ll take this.” Before she could protest he relieved her of the Glock, then tucked it into his waistband beneath his jacket. “And don’t even think about leaving my sight.”

“Fine,” she snapped, her eyes shooting daggers at him. “As long as you get in the damned vehicle.”

Martinez quickly brushed the glass from the driver’s seat and dropped behind the wheel. “My brother is definitely going to kill me,” he muttered.

“Drive, Martinez,” Nicole ordered as she slid in next to him, “or he won’t get the chance.”

Chapter Two

Blood…

Oh God.

Nauseated and feeling more than a little faint, Nicole stared down at her bloodstained hands. This was by no means her first time to exchange gunfire with a hostile, nor was it her first up-close encounter with spilled blood.

But this was Ian’s blood.

The hospital’s medicinal smell didn’t help. Nicole swiped her palms against the baggy gray sweatshirt she wore. She squeezed her hands into tight fists and dropped them to her sides. Moistening her dry lips and careful not to make eye contact, she slowly lifted her gaze to the man seated on the examining table. He sat on the very edge, poised, intent, as if anticipating the need to make a tactical move at any given moment. His torn and bloody shirt lay on the exam table behind him, the damaged suit jacket next to it. Nicole closed her eyes against the panic that still threatened to suffocate her each time she relived those few seconds between the sound of the gunshot and the moment she confirmed with her own eyes that Ian wasn’t mortally wounded.

The sound of Ian’s smoky voice as he answered some question the doctor asked dragged Nicole back to the here and now. Young and obviously nervous, the doctor pulled another suture through the nasty wound on Ian’s shoulder. He kept muttering something about the injury looking like a gunshot wound to him. Poor guy, Nicole thought to herself, he had to be an intern. Otherwise Martinez would never have had him even half believing that idiotic story about Ian’s falling into a window.

Ignoring the doctor’s concerns, Ian did nothing to lessen the thick tension. His dark, brooding presence would unnerve a war-zone veteran. He had refused the offer of pain medication, and, in that arrogant, dangerous tone of his, had ordered the doctor to do what he had to do as quickly as possible. The wound wasn’t so bad, Nicole told herself again. Just a nasty slash through skin and muscle. Had the angle been slightly different Ian might be in surgery now—or worse.

Shuddering with a chill that went bone-deep, Nicole wrapped her arms around her middle. Ian could have been killed. And it was her fault. She should never have gotten him mixed up in this. How could she drag him into her problems with no regard for his safety? Had she been so absorbed in saving her own skin that she hadn’t thought through the consequences of her actions? Nicole let go a heavy breath. She closed her eyes and willed the mixture of fear and frustration to retreat. Ian was going to be fine, she told herself again. He was safe.