Risky Engagement

“How long have you lived in Albuquerque?” he asked to get the ball rolling.

“I got a job there after grad school and decided to stay. I love the climate. The people. The mountains. The incredible sunsets. Seems I’ve spent almost as much time traveling recently as I have at home, though. I almost cringe when I have to get on a plane these days.”

Wolf pumped her for information, subtly, smoothly, and hid a smile of satisfaction when she took another taste of her drink.

“Whew! This is potent.”

“Not that potent. It goes down easier after the first few sips.”

“I’ll bet.” Her nose wrinkling, she set the glass aside. “It’s hitting my empty stomach like a sledgehammer. I’d better stop with this one and head to my hotel.”

So much for his plan to get her sloshed. No matter. He wasn’t about to let her wiggle out of his net now.

“So let me buy you dinner.”

Chapter 2

Nina blinked at Blackstone’s unexpected invitation. An automatic refusal formed on her lips. Before she could voice it, his cell phone emitted a low, vibrating hum.

“'Scuse me.” He slipped a sleek little jobbie out of his pocket and held it at an angle. “Sorry, I need to read this text message.”

“No problem.”

His face remained impassive as he scrolled the screen. She couldn’t tell if the news was good or bad, but the brief interruption gave Nina time to reconsider his surprising offer of dinner.

She had to admit it was tempting. Extremely tempting. She didn’t need her string of degrees—or the intent look in this sexy stranger’s eyes—to make the leap from drinks to dinner to a quick tumble into bed.

The mere thought made her throat go tight. It affected other parts of her, too. Parts that hadn’t felt this sudden sizzle in way too long.

No surprise there. She was a biologist by training and a medical researcher by profession. She knew she possessed a normal, healthy sex drive. One that she and Kevin had made the most of. At first.

In the later stages of their engagement, their lovemaking had been less adventurous. It went decidedly flat when she began to suspect he’d courted her more for what she could do for him in the business arena than in the bedroom.

Maybe … Maybe this was just what she needed. An hour or two or three of hot, sweaty, completely mindless sex. What better way to get over the humiliation of Kevin’s lies? How better to revalidate herself as a woman?

Ha! Who was she kidding? Inviting Blackstone back to her hotel had nothing whatsoever to do with validation, and a whole lot to do with his impact on her pulmonary system. The mere thought of peeling off his T-shirt and popping the snap on those wrinkled khaki’s constricted her lungs and put a lump the size of Rhode Island in her throat.

Unfortunately, the biologist in her didn’t have to delve very deep to compile a comprehensive list of diseases she could pick up by exchanging bodily fluids with a total stranger. Even one as hot as Rafe Blackstone. Especially one as hot as Blackstone. With a stab of real regret, she groped for the tote bag hooked over the back of her chair.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass on dinner, too. Let me pay for the drinks.”

“I’ll get them.”

“Really, I want to. I’ve enjoyed our—”

“I’ve got it covered.”

Oooh-kay. She dropped her wallet back into her tote. That was twice today she’d stepped on it: first with the guys who’d fixed the fuel line on her rental, now with Blackstone. Guess she shouldn’t have let his bristles and rumpled shirt mislead her into thinking he would appreciate a woman who preferred to pay her own way.

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

She started to decline the offer. The vendors milling outside the bar, waiting to pounce, changed her mind. With the sun gone down and the crowds of tourists thinning out, they would swarm all over her. Why not let this lean, tough-looking gringo deal with them?

Which he did, with a few well-chosen words. He also took her arm to weave a path for her through the grumbling souvenir hawkers. His hold was loose but oddly possessive. To Nina’s consternation, the feel of his callused palm raised goose bumps over every exposed inch of skin.

She covered her involuntary reaction with a nod toward the rapidly darkening sky. “Cools off fast when the sun goes down, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” he replied, and promptly tucked her closer into his side.

His scent enveloped her. The seductive blend of sun-warmed skin and healthy male sweat retriggered the erotic sensations Nina was so determined to repress. Gulping, she tried to focus on the dramatic red-and-gold streaks in the dark sky, the raucous beat of music coming from the restaurants, anything but the man beside her.

She failed miserably and breathed a distinct sigh of relief when they reached the parking garage. Easing free of his hold, she punched the button for the fourth floor.

“Thanks again for the drinks.”

“I’ll ride up with you.”

She turned to him with a polite but firm no on her lips. He spiked it with a shrug and casual remark.

“This part of town is usually pretty safe, but a couple of tourists were mugged in this garage a few days ago.”

Common sense prevailed. Parking garages in any part of the world could be risky. No sense tempting fate.

Which was exactly what she was doing by prolonging her brief association with Blackstone. She wasn’t fooling anyone, herself included. The tingling awareness of his proximity, the delicious feeling of temptation rode all the way up to the fourth floor with her.

They stepped out into cavernous gloom. Their footsteps echoed as Nina led the way up the ramp, glad now that she’d accepted Blackstone’s escort. The garage had emptied considerably since her arrival. Probably because most of the businesses in town that didn’t cater exclusively to the tourist trade had closed for the day. Her rental now sat by itself at the end of the row.

Digging the keys out of her tote, she clicked the remote. The lights flashed, the locks popped, and she turned to her escort once more. He was close. A little too close. She put on a cool smile.

“Thanks again. I enjoyed—”

“Let me have the keys.”

“Excuse me?”

“Give me the keys. I’ll drive you back to your hotel.”

Okay, enough is enough. Lifting her chin, Nina shook her head.

“Look, I don’t know what signals you think I sent there at the bar, but you read them wrong.”

“Give me the keys.”

When he took a step closer, crowding her against the car, fright exploded in her chest. How stupid was this? How stupid was she?

She threw a wild glance down the ramp. Nothing moved. Not a single person walked to or from a car. No headlights stabbed through the gloom. She was on her own here.

Her throat clogged with fear, she tried to recall any of the moves from the self-defense courses she’d taken over the years. All she could remember, all she could think of was to yell her head off and gouge her attacker’s eyes with her car keys.

She fumbled the pointed ends between her fingers, balled her fist, and screamed for help. Or tried to. She didn’t emit much more than a squeak before Blackwater clapped a hard hand over her mouth. His other hand batted away the arm she’d brought up in a vicious arc.

She fought him, using every bit of her strength, but he was too big, too strong. Reaching behind her, he ripped open the car door and shoved her inside.

Her heart hammering in terror, Nina landed in a sprawl across the driver’s seat. Pure instinct brought her knee up and her foot lashing out. Blackstone dodged the kick aimed at his groin, and took it on the outside of his thigh instead.

“Calm down!” he got out with a grunt of pain. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Right. Uh-huh. Sure.

She wasn’t about to take his word for it. With his unyielding presence blocking the exit, she scrambled over the center console and made a desperate lunge for the passenger door. Cursing, he dropped into the driver’s seat and wrapped fingers of steel around her upper arm. A swift yank jerked her back down.

“Listen to me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then let me go!”

“Not yet. And not here.” He kept her in place with an iron fist. “We need to talk, Dr. Grant.”

Dr. Grant?

The title penetrated her wild fear. She hadn’t used the honorific in conversation. She was sure she hadn’t. She rarely did, and then only in professional circles. So how did he know?

“Who are you?” she panted. “What do you want to talk to me about?”

“I’ll tell you at the Mayan Princess.”

Oh, Lord! He knew where she was staying. Had he followed her from the resort? Been following her the entire day?

He couldn’t have! She would have spotted him out on that winding, dusty road before her rental broke down.

If it had broken down. What if he’d sabotaged her car? Anticipated that she’d be stranded out there in the middle of nowhere? Which she would have been, if she hadn’t trudged a mile through the hot sun to Sebastian Cordell’s hacienda. Or was that part of his diabolical plan, too?

The questions hammered at her as he eased his brutal grip, but she decided not to stick around for the answers. She made another grab for the door handle, only to hear the door locks snick.

“Child protective locks,” he commented laconically as she tugged futilely on the handle.

Grinding her teeth in frustration, she sank back against the seat. Her cell phone was in her tote, she remembered. With a dead battery. Her last hope she thought as her abductor keyed the ignition, was the garage attendant.

Except there wasn’t one. The booth where she’d forked over a fee when she’d entered was now empty. Apparently, anyone who drove in after the main businesses and shops closed got to park free.

Nor was there a police officer anywhere in sight when they pulled out of the garage and hit the streets. Nina seriously considered hammering on the window to attract the attention of the people out for a late evening stroll. A return of her common sense—and gradual subsiding of panic—subdued the impulse.

Blackstone said he didn’t intend to hurt her. He also said he’d tell her what he wanted from her at the Mayan. That meant he had to pull up at the entrance to the posh resort, where the extremely well-trained parking valet, doorman and desk clerks all knew her by name. Blackstone could hardly waltz into the resort with her and waltz out again, leaving behind her dead and/or mutilated body and a small army of people who could ID him.

Could he?

She’d more or less reassured herself on that point by the time the resort appeared in the distance. She’d also worked up as much reluctant curiosity as distrust. What the heck did this man want with her? She was pretty sure now it wasn’t sex, and was shocked by the contradictory feelings that realization generated.

“Turn here,” she muttered as they approached the long, winding drive that led up to the resort. When he flipped on the directionals, the lingering remnants of Nina’s fear eased. He really was taking her back to the Mayan. She let out a low sigh of relief.

The resort was the latest in a string of San Cabo resorts that included Westin and Ritz Carlton and other high-priced escapes. Constructed to resemble a Mayan temple, the main building sat on a cliff overlooking the sea. Tall palms lined the drive leading up to it. Lit by floodlights, they provided an exotic approach to the stunningly dramatic pyramid gleaming against the night sky.

As Nina had anticipated, a valet came forward when the car rolled to a stop. He had to wait for Blackstone to hit the lock release to open her door. When he did, she scrambled out with considerably more haste than dignity.

“Buenas tardes, Dr. Grant. Did you have a good drive this afternoon?”

“I’ve had better, Ramon.” Determined to establish a record of events, Nina pointed to the driver rounding the front end of the car. “This is Señor Blackstone. Rafe Blackstone. He’s visiting me. For a short time.”

Ramon took the hint. “Buenas tardes, Señor. Will you need this car when you leave? If so, I will park it here by the entrance instead of taking it down to the lot.”

“Here’s good.” Blackstone slipped him a folded bill with the car keys and took Nina’s elbow. “Lead the way.”

She did, making sure to repeat his name to the doorman and the clerks on duty in the breezeway that served as a reception area.

“There’s a waiter over there by the pool,” Blackstone drawled. “You want to introduce me to him, too?”

“You think this is funny?” she huffed. “Somehow, I don’t find kidnapping amusing. Neither, I suspect, would the local police.”

“Police down in these parts take a different view of things, but you can call them if you want. Ask for Chief Inspector Mannie Diaz. Tell him you’re with me.”

“Well, for …!”

Thoroughly indignant, Nina came to a dead stop. Hands on hips, she faced her tormentor.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a cop back there in town instead of scaring the crap out of me?”

“I’m not a cop.”

“Oh. Well.” That set her back a bit, but she recovered quickly. “So what are you?”

“We’ll talk about that in your suite. Where is it?”

“You don’t know?” she said snidely. “You seem to know everything else.”

Ignoring the comment, he urged her through the open-air lobby to the pool beyond. It was one of four at the resort. Two catered to families, the other two to adults only. The one on this level was an infinity pool, its floodlit waters seeming to flow over the edge and drop straight into the sea far below.

Instead of booking her into the main hotel, Nina’s superefficient assistant had reserved one of the casitas that clung to the cliffs behind the pyramid. They were quieter and more private—qualities Nina had very much appreciated until this moment.

Some of her nervousness returned as she led the way down several flights of steps and around bougainvillea-draped walls. The only sounds to disturb the evening quiet were the soft music emanating from hidden speakers along the walkways and the ever-present murmur of the sea.

By the time she’d reached her casita, however, her indignation had returned. Along with it came a healthy bout of anger. Fishing her key card out of her tote, she unlocked the door and marched inside. The spacious, beautifully decorated unit featured tile floors, a fully equipped kitchen, one bedroom with a master bath to die for and a small Jacuzzi tucked in a corner of the balcony that was suspended over the sea.

Nina didn’t give her uninvited guest time to admire the ambience. Flinging her tote on a sofa covered in muted jungle print, she folded her arms across her chest.

“All right, Blackstone. If that’s really your name. What’s this all about?”

“It’s really my name,” he confirmed, glancing around. When those laser blue eyes came back to Nina, they sliced into her like a scalpel. “And this is about your friend, Sebastian Cordell.”

“Huh?”

Of all the things she’d expected … Okay, she hadn’t known what to expect. But this certainly wasn’t it.

“Are you talking about the older gentleman I met this afternoon?”

“I’m talking about the man who invited you into his hacienda this afternoon.” His jaw hardened. “As for whether or not he’s a gentleman, you tell me.”

This was getting way too bizarre. Frowning, Nina tapped a foot. “Before I tell you anything, I want some answers. Who are you and who do you work for?”

“I told you my name. Most of the time I run a marine construction company.”

“Other times?”

“I do independent consulting. Hazard elimination. Debris removal. That sort of thing.”

The sideline seemed legitimate. It was just the way he said it. As though there was more to removing debris than hauling it off in dump trucks or barges.

Nina’s foot tapped again. “I want to see some ID.”

With a sardonic shrug, he extracted a well-worn leather wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open to a California driver’s license.

There he was. Rafael Conall Blackstone. Height, 6’2’. Hair: black. Eyes: Blue. Weight: a really buff 180.

“‘Conall’?”

“My grandmother’s Irish.” A gleam flickered in his eyes, quickly come and just as quickly gone. “It translates to ‘strong wolf'.”

For some reason, the fact that he had a grandmother made him seem more human. Less dangerous. Which she knew was really absurd. Like murderers and rapists didn’t?

“My turn.” He slid the wallet back into his pocket. “What were …”

“Not so fast, Blackstone. I’m not finished yet.”

Impatience rippled across his face. Making an obvious effort to contain it, he hooked one of the high stools from the marble counter separating the kitchen from the dining area and swung it around.

Nina gave a huff of disgust. “Make yourself comfortable, why don’t you?”

He did, with one long leg braced against the floor tiles and the other propped on the stool’s rung. “What else do you want to ask me?”

“Oh, just a few little things. Like how you knew I hold a PhD. And where I’m staying. And that I met Sebastian Cordell this afternoon. Oh, yes—one more. There’s also the question of why in hell you didn’t ask me about this guy in town instead of kidnapping and scaring the crap out of me!”

He had the grace to look a little ashamed. Not much. Just enough to suggest he didn’t go around abducting women every day of the week.

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that. To tell the truth, I planned to pour a couple more margaritas down you, get you loose, and pump you for information there at the Purple Parrot. When that didn’t work, you forced me to resort to more direct measures.”

“What information?”

“For starters, how you know Cordell.”

“I don’t know him! Or I didn’t, before my car broke down this afternoon.”

“Pretty convenient, how you arranged for it to break down so close to his compound.”

“'Convenient'?” Nina echoed, incredulously.

“'Arranged'?”

Thoroughly flummoxed, she groped for the other bar stool and yanked it closer so she could plop down. This whole thing was becoming more absurd by the moment.

“Why would I ‘arrange’ a breakdown?”

The rueful note disappeared from his voice. Hard and sharp-edged, it cut through the air between them.

“Maybe because Sebastian Cordell has something to sell. Something you might want,” he added, his eyes locked on hers. “You and a number of other entrepreneurs.”

The small sneer accompanying the last word brought Nina’s chin up with a snap. She’d worked damn hard to establish her company. She’d sunk every penny of her savings into start-up costs, then borrowed heavily to purchase the building Grant Medical Data Systems now operated out of. The first months—the first years—had been scary as hell.

But she’d pulled it off. By sheer luck and perfect timing, she’d gotten in on the ground floor of a burgeoning and very necessary industry, and now turned an extremely healthy profit. One no one could sneer at!

Bristling, she poked a finger at Blackstone’s chest. “You listen to me, fella. I’m going to say this one time and one time only. I did not arrange to have my car break down. I did not use it as a ploy to meet Sebastian Cordell. And I am not interested in whatever the man has for sale.”

“Then why …”

The shrill ring of the phone sitting at the end of the counter cut him off.

“That,” Nina announced, with fierce satisfaction, “is most likely Ramon, checking to see if he should move the car to the parking lot. I’ll tell him to call you a taxi.”

“Not yet.”

“Yes, yet! This conversation is over.” Glaring at him, she snatched up the receiver. “Hola.”

The smooth, cultured voice that came through the earpiece made her swallow. Hard. With a helpless look in Blackstone’s direction, she responded to the gracious inquiry.

“Yes, Mr. Cordell, I made it home safely.”

Every muscle in Blackstone’s body went taut. His narrowed gaze drilled into Nina as she clutched the receiver.

“What? Lunch tomorrow at your hacienda? I … Uh …”

Chapter 3

Wolf’s gut twisted. Cordell! The prey he’d been sent to take down. The same bastard suspected of extracting top secret information from a United States senator. Now oozing his poisonous charm into Nina Grant’s ear.

And here Wolf had come so close to believing the woman. Almost swallowed her tale of a breakdown. Damn near let her air of righteous indignation and melting, brown-sugar eyes convince him she’d flown down to Cabo on vacation as she claimed.

Yet.

The terse message Ace had texted a little while ago indicated they’d come up empty at their end. OMEGA could access a host of databases, public, private and otherwise. Wolf knew damn well they’d run Nina Grant through every one. Yet none of the agency’s wizards had been able to turn up a connection between Grant and Sebastian Cordell. As far as they could tell, she was clean.

Until this moment, everything in Wolf concurred with that assessment. He’d lived on the razor’s edge so long he’d learned to trust his instincts where people were concerned. The short time he’d spent with her had him ninety-nine-percent convinced Nina Grant was the busy exec on vacation she claimed to be. The finger she’d poked in his chest moments ago had just about clinched the matter in his mind.

He had only a second to decide whether to go with his gut-level assessment. A mere heartbeat, while she looked at him, wide-eyed and stuttering, to come up with an answer to Cordell’s invitation.

“Yes,” Wolf hissed. “Tell him yes!”

He could see the doubt in her face, the distrust. Her knuckles were white on the receiver, her body taut with indecision. He was sure she would refuse his urgent request when she cleared her throat.

“Lunch sounds delightful, Mr. Cordell.” Her eyes remained locked on Wolf’s. “Twelve-thirty it is. No, no need to send someone to pick me up. I’ll drive myself. What? Oh. Right. I guess I do need your phone number in case I get lost or stranded again. Let me get a pen.”

Wolf had Cordell’s numbers. All of them. But he kept silent while she hunted down a pencil and jotted a string of digits on a paper napkin.

“I’ve got it. Thanks. I’ll … I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He was in! Or she was. Wolf contained his fierce elation as she hung up the receiver and stared at it blankly for a few seconds.

“I can’t believe I just did that.” Her eyes lifted to his. “Why did I just do that?”

“I can’t speak to the why,” he said slowly, “but I’ll tell you this. A whole bunch of folks will be real happy that you did.”

“At the risk of repeating myself … why?”

He sifted the details in his mind, sorting out what he could and couldn’t tell her, and decided on the varying shades of the truth.

“I told you I freelance on occasion.”

“Right.” Her forehead crinkling, she repeated the line he’d given her. “At which time you specialize in eliminating hazards and removing debris.”

“One of those hazards is Sebastian Cordell.”

“Aha!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a grin tugged at the corners of Wolf’s mouth. “Aha"? Who said “aha” these days, outside of a slapstick comedy? Dr. Nina Grant, apparently.

She looked indignant again, like a tabby cat who’d been about to pounce and got its whiskers pulled instead.

“So that story about being into marine construction was just that?” she huffed. “A story?”

“No, that part’s true. I do this as a sideline.”

“Some sideline!” Frowning, she chewed on her lower lip for a few moments. “So why do you consider Sebastian Cordell a hazard?”