Bound By Passion: No Desire Denied / One More Kiss / Second-Chance Seduction

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.

7

NELL STOOD IN front of a long glass window. Beyond it Deanna Lewis lay in a narrow hospital bed flanked by serious-looking machines that beeped and blinked continuously. A nurse was in the room replacing an IV.

Ever since they’d left the car, Reid had slipped back into the role of Secret Service agent. He’d introduced himself and shown his badge to the young officer who was standing guard at Deanna Lewis’s door. Officer Jameson had been polite, but he’d asked them to wait while he contacted his superior officer.

Signaling them to join him, the young man said, “Sheriff Skinner over in Glen Loch has cleared you.”

Reid nodded to him, then turned as the nurse opened the door. “How is Miss Lewis?”

“There’s been no change in her condition since the surgery.” The woman’s name tag read Nancy Braxton. Nell estimated she was in her late twenties. Leading them back into the room, Braxton continued, “Dr. Knight stops in to see her every day. He’s confident that she’s healing, but there’s no way to tell when she might come out of the coma.”

“And there have been no visitors?” Reid asked.

“No. The police have been quite explicit about that. The only people who have been allowed in this room are doctors, nurses or members of our volunteer staff.”

“There was a reporter from the New York Times who stopped by last week,” Officer Jameson said from the doorway. “I told him about the no-visitor policy.”

“A reporter?” Reid asked.

“Very polite young man. James Orbison,” Jameson said.

“Can you describe him?” Reid asked.

“Medium height, short brown hair, slender build,” Jameson said.

“Cute,” Nurse Braxton added. “He wore preppy clothes, and the glasses added a geeky aura. Sexy.”

Jameson glanced at the nurse with a raised eyebrow. “Sexy?”

Braxton shrugged. “Just saying.”

Reid interrupted the byplay. “Anything else you can recall?”

“He said he’d written an article about Castle MacPherson a little over six months ago,” Jameson said. “He’d convinced his editor to let him do a follow-up piece once some of the Stuart sapphires were discovered.”

“You didn’t let him visit Ms. Lewis?”

“No. He did see her through the glass. No way to prevent that. And he had questions about her condition. But I told him that he’d have to talk to Sheriff Skinner over in Glen Loch if he wanted any further information. He said that the sheriff was next on his list.” Jameson’s gaze shifted to Deanna. “She’s such a pretty little thing. It’s hard to believe that she threatened to kill someone.”

Nell agreed with the young officer’s assessment. Even with her head wrapped in bandages, Deanna Lewis was pretty. Hooked up to all the tubes and wires, she looked fragile and defenseless. Yet she’d taken out Duncan with a Taser shot and then kidnapped Piper at gunpoint.

“You mentioned that members of the volunteer staff are allowed in the room,” Reid said. “Who are they exactly?”

“Oh, we have an amazing group of people who volunteer their services here at the hospital,” Nurse Braxton said. “Many of them are senior citizens, but we also have college students who are required to do community service as part of their degree programs. Since Deanna didn’t have any family visiting, Dr. Knight asked the woman who runs the service if she could find someone to spend time reading to her. He believes that the sound of a human voice often speeds the recovery of coma patients.”

“And the volunteers do that?” Reid asked.

“One volunteer,” Nurse Braxton said. “After her first visit, she said she’d try to come back every day. But the day before yesterday, she said she had to go out of town for a couple of days and not to expect her back for a few days.”

Nell glanced at Reid, and she could tell what he was thinking. She asked the question. “What did this woman look like?”

“Brunette, tall and very attractive. In her early fifties, I’d say. Well dressed. Good jewelry.”

“Did you notice a ring on her finger?” Nell asked.

Nurse Braxton nodded. “Yes. A gold one with a kind of crest on it. I remarked on it. She said it was the family coat of arms.”

“Gwen was on her name tag,” Officer Jameson said. “She signed in as G. Harris.”

Reid turned to him. “Was she ever alone with the patient?”

“No, sir. I always left the door open when she came, just as I’m doing now. All Ms. Harris did was read to her. The same book each time. A children’s story with pictures. Sometimes she’d read it more than once.”

“Do you remember what the story was about?” Nell asked. But she was pretty sure she already knew.

“It was a fairy tale about this Scot who stole his true love away from her family, brought her to the New World and built her a castle with a magical stone arch. Made me think of the one over at Castle MacPherson.”

* * *

NELL WAS ASLEEP beside him when Reid turned down the dirt road that wound its way to the castle. He’d updated Duncan and Sheriff Skinner in Glen Loch before they’d left the hospital and then insisted on driving Nell’s car.

If Gwen Harris showed up again at the hospital, Officer Jameson or whoever was on guard would contact Skinner discretely. Reid and Nell hadn’t discussed what they’d learned; in fact, they’d barely spoken since they’d left the traffic of Albany behind. He could tell that, before she’d drifted off, she’d been doing exactly what he was doing—running through the possible explanations for the information they had gathered from their visit to the hospital. Nell’s subconscious mind was probably still busily looking at the various story lines while she slept. The problem was there were too many possibilities, and so far they couldn’t prove even one.

As the car crested a steep hill, he shifted his attention to the view. Below lay a postcard snapshot of Castle MacPherson tucked into the mountains on a rocky promontory overlooking a quiet blue lake. The image perfectly matched the one he’d carried around in his mind for seven years. The three stories of gray stone stood sturdy and strong, the sun glinting off its windows. Gardens stretched to the west, high cliffs to the east. He even caught a glimpse of Angus’s legendary stone arch at the edge of the gardens before the road took the final steep dip that ended at the castle drive.

As he pressed down on the brake for a sharp curve, he glanced over at Nell. She slept like a child, her hand tucked beneath her cheek on the car door. Keeping her safe had to be his top priority, but he wasn’t at all sure he could keep her safe from him.

File it away and forget it.

Excellent plan. Too bad he didn’t have a chance in hell of sticking to it. When they’d tried that experimental kiss, desire seemed too tame a word for the gut-deep, soul-searing arousal he’d experienced. That wasn’t the part that scared him the most. What did was that, at some point while he’d been kissing her, he’d wanted to give her more. He’d wanted to deny her nothing.

If that woman in the hospital parking lot hadn’t accidentally set off the alarm in her car, he would have made love to Nell right in the front seat of her Fiat. He’d never done anything quite that reckless in his entire life. Not even when his teenage hormones had been at their peak.

Just the thought of it tempted him to pull off onto a side road, find a spot that was a bit more private and finish what he’d started in the parking lot. Reckless and impulsive were qualities he ruthlessly suppressed. Now Nell was making him want to set them free.

Even more troubling was what he had felt when she had mentioned the man she’d fallen in love with. Jealousy. The coppery taste in his mouth, the wrench in his gut—both had been unprecedented.

He might be able to get out of this unscathed. If he dropped her at the castle and never saw her again. That scenario wasn’t open to him.

But if they started down the path where their desires were leading them, he didn’t see a happy ending for either of them.

He didn’t want to hurt her. She was young and idealistic, and she had this incredibly sunny outlook on life. There was no way she wouldn’t expect a happy-ever-after. And she should have it. In many ways, she’d always reminded him a bit of his mother. He’d seen, perhaps more than his brothers ever had, the kind of pain she’d suffered when she’d learned that their father had never loved her. Reid never wanted to be responsible for hurting anyone the way his father had hurt all of them. Better not to go there. Nell deserved someone who would love her and have a family with her.