Whispered Lies

EIGHTEEN
PRINCESS?

Gabrielle had never cared for being treated like royalty growing up, but from Carlos’s lips princess sounded so intimate.

An endearment.

She caught his warning about “a man like me.” A man she couldn’t get starry-eyed over, but she was beyond caring.

She wanted this man. Tonight was hers to take. “What’s it going to take to get you deep inside me?”

He stilled, again, and tense silence swirled around them.

Had she said the wrong thing? She hated being so inexperienced, but then his fingers curved around her breast, lifting the nipple to his mouth. He suckled her and all thoughts ceased.

The burst of heat that streaked across her skin pooled between her legs.

She might die if he stopped. A low moan of yearning seeped from deep inside her chest. She clutched his shoulders, clinging to him and her sanity with the same fierce grip.

His fingers cupped her other breast, then his lips were there, his tongue torturing her nipple. She squirmed, needing more, so much more.

The nimble fingers left one breast and drew circles along her abdomen, lower, teasing the curls. She pushed up off her knees and he swiped a finger up her thigh, inside her, dipping in again and again.

Mon Dieu! She shuddered and cried out, spinning toward a flame that threatened to burn her to the core.

Then all at once he touched that point where everything in her body was now connected. He teased up and down with torturous control, so agonizingly slowly she was close to losing it. Then the movement changed to a swirling friction.

“Please, please…” She couldn’t finish the thought. For the first time in her life, her mind was of no help.

He whispered sweet words in Spanish, assuring her she was beautiful and desired. The room filled with his ragged voice, which stirred something deep inside her. Something wholly feminine she’d never felt so completely before. His masculine smell, hot and damp from sweat glistening against his skin where her body met his.

His fingers crazed her wet heat.

She arched, strung tight with a need so demanding she expected to rip apart from head to toe.

He moved to her side, one leg hooked around hers, spreading her legs apart. His mouth found hers, kissing hot and hard. When his tongue pushed between her lips and rushed to hers, he pressed his finger deep inside her, then pulled out, then repeated the motion, mimicking it with his tongue.

She gripped his shoulder, clinging for her life, so close to losing her mind she didn’t realize he’d quit kissing her until his mouth replaced his fingers.

The tongue that had tangled with hers now brushed back and forth over her most sensitive spot. Her heart raced. A frenzy of nerves scrambled for release. She arched up.

Her body clenched tight, then shattered, free from the strain.

Stars blistered across her vision.

His tongue pressed her for more.

Unable to refuse him, she cried out again and again until her muscles quit contracting.

Spent beyond her wildest imagination, she could only lie there, her chest moving with each long, exhausted breath.

Then he was holding her, cuddling her to him the way she’d always dreamed the man she’d love would do. Carlos whispered in her ear how special she was, how hot she made him, how much he wanted her.

But he never pushed for more as he held her close while she found her way back into her body again. His big hands wrapped her against his warm chest. Gentle lips touched her forehead, her cheek, and brushed her lips.

She rubbed her hips against him like the wanton woman she was at the moment.

He answered by reaching a hand between her legs from behind to tease her, then plunged two fingers inside.

How could she want more after that?

She didn’t know, but there it was.

He laid her down on the mattress. “Don’t move.”

“As if I could.”

His deep chuckle rumbled all the way to the bathroom just before the light flashed when he opened and closed the door. Her mouth went bone-dry at the vision of his gorgeous backside in that moment.

He rummaged through something, then flipped off the light on his way back.

What had he been looking for…

Protection?

“Did you have a condom with you?” She was cheered and suspicious at the same time. Had he really planned on this?

“I always carry a few,” he admitted, answering her unspoken question.

She heard the hesitation in his voice, as if he thought he’d insulted her. Not even.

“I would have been sorely disappointed if you hadn’t.” She reached blindly until her fingers encountered his sheathed erection.

The growl that followed had an edge, warning her he wouldn’t hold back much longer.

She didn’t want him to.

She was more than ready for him.

He kissed her, moving his lips to her ear and whispering, “Exceptional is too understated for you. I’ll have to search for a better word.”

She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting a tear to streak loose. This man could touch a place inside her she’d shielded from others for a long time. No man had ever gotten close to her, not even Roberto. She’d been too young to know the difference between love and lust the last time.

She knew the difference this time.

When Carlos moved between her legs and kissed the inside of her thighs, all sane thought fled.

She gasped, gripping fistfuls of the plush duvet. The muscles inside her legs were taut, ready to snap. His mouth moved away, kissing a path to her navel.

He leaned over her and kissed her sweetly at first, then with heat. The tip of his erection prodded her, pulsing against her slick opening. He waited, then thrust a little harder.

Warmth rushed her when he pressed deeper. She locked her legs around him. He plunged all the way inside, filling her, then pulled back.

With each stroke of him sliding deep within her, his fingers worked magic, driving her back to that edge where she wanted to leap off into oblivion again. She met him stroke for stroke, determined that he reach the same mindless plane where he was sending her.

He moved his arms to support his body above her. She clutched his biceps that flexed hard beneath her fingers, his breathing harsh.

“I need you so much,” she rasped on a strained breath, then he moved one hand between them and fingered that one spot, taking her breath.

Her world broke into a thousand pieces. She cried out his name until she couldn’t anymore.

With both arms supporting him, Carlos lifted away, then shoved deep, again and again, powerful strokes. He growled his release, pumping relentlessly as he climaxed. Nothing would ever be as incredible as making love to him.

Carlos shuddered, finally collapsing and rolling to the side, taking her with him so they stayed joined.

He kissed her tenderly, his lips barely touching hers.

“I need to tell you something.” She ran her fingers across his face and damp forehead where she brushed a lock of hair back, wishing the lights were on so she could see his face.

“What?” he asked with a hint of concern.

“I don’t just do this…I mean, I haven’t done this since my divorce. Haven’t really dated.”

Carlos wasn’t moving again, his breathing as quiet as his thoughts. “I know you aren’t the kind of woman to play the field, but what stopped you from at least dating?”

“For one thing, I withdrew after divorcing Roberto and didn’t want much to do with men for a while. Then I had a couple near-miss accidents that scared me so I couldn’t risk meeting someone.” And she sure as the devil wouldn’t have met anyone who made her feel the way Carlos did, but she wasn’t saying that.

“Attacks on your life by the scumbag?” Carlos interjected.

“Yes.”

“Why do you think your ex is behind the accidents?”

“Because when we split up, he had an insurance policy on me for twenty million dollars we took out right after getting married that stays in effect as long as the premiums are paid. He made it very clear what would happen if I tried to cancel it.”

Carlos hugged her to him and muttered, “That bastard. But he has to know he’d be suspect even if you died in an accident.”

“No, he blackmailed me into keeping a joint life-insurance policy so it looks like we have one on each other, like we had an amiable breakup and kept those policies. If I hadn’t, he would have trashed me and my family in the tabloids, which would have had a devastating impact on my father.”

His lips touched her forehead sweetly, then he pulled back. “You were loose as Jell-O a minute ago and now you’re tense. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.” He added a kiss to soften the gentle demand.

“I should have more experience by now. Roberto wasn’t much of a lover and rarely came home at night. I feel like I’m stunted in this department and I hate not excelling at something.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he whispered in a voice so erotic goose bumps pebbled along her skin. His hands ran along her back, stroking her. “Making love with you felt like a gift being shared. As for being good at something, I’m afraid to think how much better you could be in bed.”

Her glow of happiness returned.

Carlos embodied everything a woman could want in a man.

A man of honor.

A man capable of helping her take down Durand Anguis.

CARLOS SPUN THE shower faucets off and snagged the towel folded on a shelf above his head to dry off. The hot water had done nothing to help him regroup after the last few hours of making love to Gabrielle. He should sleep like the dead tonight, but damn his body, he wanted her again.

She wouldn’t be able to walk if they went another round.

Humming on the other side of the curtain let him know Gabrielle was still in the room with him.

Guilt jumped him the minute his lust cooled. He shouldn’t have stepped over that line and made love to her. Not just because of his position with BAD.

Because she was no onetime wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of woman. He hadn’t thought she was, but neither had he been prepared for just how much she’d come to mean to him. How much he didn’t want her hurt by anyone.

Especially by him.

He’d guessed she hadn’t been with many men before she told him. One other man, to be exact, and the scumbag might as well have been nonexistent if not for the emotional scars he’d left.

Carlos smiled. She’d told him to surprise her. He might have done something more provocative with an experienced woman, but his instincts had been right to warn him to take care how he made love to Gabrielle.

He never expected to care for another woman. Not after watching one die sixteen years ago.

Pain and pleasure rolled around in his heart, banging the organ with an ache for his lost love and desire for the woman who gave life to something dangerously close to joy.

He’d enjoyed plenty of women, sweet ladies he’d met who clearly wanted no more than he had-a few days of rousing sex.

But Gabrielle was not like any other woman he’d met. Tonight with her had been different in a way that was hard to ignore. She was spectacular and naïve at the same time.

He flinched over recalling how he’d thought the same thing after making love to sixteen-year-old Helena when he’d been seventeen.

Helena Suarez, Salvatore’s goddaughter.

Her face had faded over the years, but not the painful memory from the last time Carlos looked into her eyes as the life seeped from her body.

And Helena had died because she’d been involved with him.

He wanted Gabrielle now with that same burning desire he’d had for Helena, but this time as a man who knew the risks they both faced.

Gabrielle would never be safe around him.

The best thing he could do to protect her would be to convince her to stop sending intel on people like Durand Anguis to security agencies and for Joe to put her into the WITSEC program if they could figure out how to do it without causing an international clash over hiding an heir to a dynasty.

That was if Carlos could prevent BAD from handing her over to Interpol.

“Are you going to come out?” she asked. The snicker of laughter that followed had him smiling.

“How about grabbing my phone for me?” He had to get her out of the room so he could put a shirt on. Getting into the shower without exposing the tattoo on his chest had been a chore in itself.

“Sure, sweetie.”

He peeked past the curtain. The minute she cleared the door into the bedroom, he was out and pulling clothes on.

Sweetie. That was something his aunt would have said to her husband when Carlos’s uncle had been alive. He’d been the only role model of a decent man in Carlos’s life. His uncle had told him once that a woman was a gift from heaven to be cherished.

Gabrielle deserved so much more than he could offer, but that didn’t change that she felt like his gift from heaven. He swallowed, hating the decisions racing toward him any day now. What was he going to do when it was time to take her back to Joe? He owed Joe and BAD for saving him from destroying any hope of living out his life a free man. He’d walked away from Durand when it became clear his father was grooming him to run the family business, built on murder and torture. He saw it all so clearly the day Helena died.

So how was he going to keep Gabrielle safe and fulfill his commitment to BAD? He’d face that decision when the time came, but he was not going to let anyone harm her.

But she was in danger the longer she stayed around him because anywhere Carlos went was an unsafe zone as long as Durand lived.

“Where’s your phone?” she called.

He stuck his head out the door and waited until she turned around to point at his duffel bag, then at his ear to remind her they might hear.

She mouthed Oh and went to the duffel. By the time she returned, he was dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt. He combed his fingers through his hair, then closed the door and turned on the faucet for the sink before he punched Korbin’s number.

Korbin answered. “Any news?”

“We confirmed that Amelia is expected back, so she hasn’t disappeared yet. What have you got?”

“A stiff back from sleeping outside with an unaccommodating partner.”

Carlos chuckled. “Couldn’t convince her you were willing to skip ahead to the R’s?”

“No, I told her-”

The phone must have been snatched out of his hand because Rae was on the line. Gabrielle watched him with a curious lift of her eyebrow and arms crossed over the tank top she wore.

With no bra.

Carlos looked up at the ceiling to keep his mind off her and no bra.

Rae’s tired and annoyed voice came through the line. “If I were disposed to do something so stupid as to have sex with Korbin, he’d be too bloody drained to do his job. I doubt he could handle what I have to offer.”

Carlos caught something that was a cross between a comment and a growl. “What did Korbin say?”

“Some nonsense about being up for the challenge. He should keep his mind on the mission, which reminds me, Gotthard wants to talk to you and Gabrielle. How’s she doing on the computers?”

“So far so good, but what she excelled at was getting us in here. She was right about the tight security clearance. They wanted to boot me, but she pulled the Tynte power card and stood her ground.” He smiled at her round-eyed expression.

Gabrielle’s cheeks pinked with embarrassment. Cute, definitely cute. She deserved the compliment, and he hoped her success here played in her favor when time came for Joe to make a decision on her future.

“No kidding?” Rae sounded just as impressed.

“I’ll touch base as soon as we know when we’re leaving.”

After hanging up, Carlos told Gabrielle to wait in the bathroom. He went out to his duffel and dug out a headset rigged with a splitter so he and Gabrielle could both talk to Gotthard.

Once he had two earpieces wired into the phone, he got Gotthard on the line.

Before they started sharing data, Gabrielle asked, “How is Mandy?”

“She’s still in a coma, but her vitals are better.” Gotthard moved on to the job at hand. “The remote access Gabrielle set up for me while she was coding the programs is working perfectly.”

Carlos looked at Gabrielle, surprised she hadn’t mentioned how much she’d done for BAD while in the IT area, but they hadn’t had the chance to discuss much since leaving there.

“Hunter and I have been chasing lineages,” Gotthard continued. “From what we can tell, Linette, Gabrielle, Amelia, and two other students currently MIA have similar markers from their ancestry. Have you ever heard of a D-ange-ruese line in your family history, Gabrielle?”

“No, but I never searched either.” She stared in thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “I meant to tell you two something. I don’t know if this is significant or not, but Amelia, Joshua, and Evelyn have student identification numbers that identify them as being physically challenged.”

“That was in their bios, but it isn’t consistent with you, Mandy, and, I assume, Linette,” Gotthard pointed out.

“True,” Gabrielle muttered. “Was there any other connection, Gotthard?”

“Only that so far each of you with this D-ange-ruese notation is either firstborn or an only child.”

“What else have you got on the teens?” Carlos asked.

“The other two not accounted for are Joshua Williams, the son of a Massachusetts congressman, and Evelyn Abrams, the daughter of an international financial broker in Israel. According to the online schedule, Amelia is due back tomorrow. Joshua was listed as visiting friends in Germany, and his passport went through the Frankfurt airport so that seems to check out. Evelyn is listed only as visiting family in Israel, and her passport was logged at the Tel Aviv airport. But Joshua and Evelyn should be checked in by tomorrow morning. All the teens, Linette, and Gabrielle have ancestries that can be traced back practically to Noah’s ark, all five are exceptional students with high IQs, and all five come from families that are above reproach. All except Mandy, who was a hellion and adopted. She doesn’t fit the MO.”

“What do you think this means?” Gabrielle stared past Carlos’s shoulder, focused, as that brain of hers processed information.

“I don’t know.” Gotthard sounded as though he hadn’t rested in days, which was probably the case. “We can’t come up with any scenario that makes sense, and that worries us the most since the Fratelli’s attack last year on the U.S. never culminated in a threat or demand. Retter found leads on the attacks on the Venezuelan oil minister, but doesn’t trust them.”

“Why not?” Carlos put his arm around Gabrielle when she shivered.

“Retter said the leads were too easy to find and follow, like they might be planted, but the local sentiment is real, and most believe someone in the U.S. is financing the attacks. This could be all about some plan to cripple the U.S. by inflating the fuel problems in America to a crisis that rivals last fall when gas prices shot through the roof and the stock market was crazy, but no scenario makes sense so far. I’m sending photos and bios on Mandy, Amelia, Joshua, and Evelyn next, but nothing on Linette just in case Gabrielle’s laptop is ever compromised. We’d have no way to warn Linette. You’ll have everything in ten minutes.”

Gabrielle thanked Gotthard before Carlos cut the connection. He wished the hope in her heart wasn’t written so plainly across her face. Gotthard probably had as slim a possibility of finding Linette online as Gabrielle and hated the false hope his teammate’s efforts spawned.

“Why don’t you see what the chef whipped up for your highness?” Carlos got a wry look for that, but she headed for the living room wearing a gray tank top and black warm-up pants, damp hair hanging loose around her shoulders.

Her lack of vanity surprised him for someone with her background. The aristocrats he’d known were more like Hunter, who spent a fortune to have every hair planned out for the day.

She was so intent on snooping through the dishes he snuck up and dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder.

She jumped and almost head-butted him.

He caught her before she knocked the food off the table. “Hungry, Miss Saxe?” Then he glanced up at the shelf where the activation light glowed on his jammer, indicating they could talk freely.

When she turned around, a chocolate-covered strawberry hovered near her mouth. She held it between two fingers, and instead of biting down she ran her tongue over the tip and sucked the chocolate on the strawberry.

He went rock hard and whispered, “If you want to eat any of that food, you’d better stop teasing me.”

A wicked gleam twinkled in her eyes.

Seeing her feminine confidence return warmed him. Her ex-husband had to be some kind of idiot to have gone looking for something more than this woman. He should have his head spun around to face backward just for undermining her femininity.

If the bastard ever got close to her again, he’d get more than his body rearranged.

“I am hungry,” she finally admitted after eating the strawberry and licking her fingers.

If she didn’t stop licking things with that tongue, he’d run out of condoms tonight. He’d only brought his standard four.

Wasn’t as if he’d expected to use them on this trip.

She laughed and pulled out of his arms. “Let’s eat or I will be…what do you say? Cranky?”

“That’s for sure.” He couldn’t believe the change from timid to relaxed. Men just never realized how easily their words and actions could break a woman’s spirit or power up her confidence. Gabrielle was brilliant, heir to a fortune, and had protected herself alone for the past decade.

But what had she been doing during that time to know so much about the Anguis? Where was she getting her information?

“Here’s yours. I’ll take a water if you don’t mind.” She handed him a plate loaded with carved beef that would probably melt in his mouth, a potato soufflé, green vegetables with almonds, bread, and a radish shaped into a flower.

He grabbed a cola and bottle of water from the minifridge, then sauntered over to the sofa. She bounced around the serving table, clearly delighted, as if she never dined so well. She pranced over to the sofa with a plate piled just as high as his and plopped down with the one-person buffet in her lap.

Then ate without hesitation.

When Gabrielle paused, she licked her fingers again. She lifted her head, eyes bright as those of an elf on a mischievous mission. Dimples winked when she smiled, and she covered her mouth shyly with one hand, hiding cheeks round with food.

But that she hadn’t been the least bit concerned over devouring a full plate in front of him tugged on his heart.

What was he going to do about Gabrielle?

He couldn’t keep her with him, but neither could he let Joe and Tee send her to Interpol. If he went against BAD, he would have no refuge left in this world because he would be hunted as a threat to the organization.

Hard decisions were as much a part of his life as breathing. He’d make this one when the time came.

AN INSISTENT BUZZ interrupted his sleep.

Vestavia came awake, instantly assessing his surroundings as he always did even in his Miami penthouse, as he was now. He read the caller ID, then lifted the phone receiver to stop the noise before it woke Josie.

“What’s going on?” He cradled the phone against his ear with one hand and used the fingers on his other to toy with Josie’s hair. She slept like an angel beside him. His contact at the École d’Ascension wouldn’t have called unless he had an emergency.

“We’ve had a small glitch here, Fra Vestavia,” his contact warned.

“As in?” Vestavia asked quietly. Josie snuggled close and burrowed into the pillow. His gaze strayed to the solid-gold pocket watch that rested on a rectangular onyx pedestal on the nightstand. A birthday gift from Josie. She’d found the antique treasure in Switzerland last year.

“Our computer systems have crashed,” his contact at the school continued. “No one on our IT staff has been able to resolve the problem so we brought in outside help.”

“Who?” Vestavia ignored Josie for a moment and stared out the window where stars winked in the black sky over the ocean.

“That’s the good news. It’s an alumni we’ve been in communication with for over a year about a custom program she’s written that will upgrade all of our systems without needing so many fingers involved.”

“So she’s cleared to visit the school?”

“Absolutely. I’ve personally reviewed her records. She was a quiet little geek of a prominent family. Actually she was one of the D-ange-ruese line, but her mother’s death was suspect so you struck her name from consideration. Her father is a respected member of the French government and rumored to be our next prime minister.”

“I’m not crazy about it,” Vestavia grumbled. His man inside the École d’Ascension was completely trustworthy, and the school had been a favorite Fratelli hunting ground for many generations due to its security and exclusivity, but this broke protocol. “Keep an eye on her and inform me immediately about anything unusual.”

“Of course.”

“What is the status of the three students?” Vestavia asked, swinging the conversation back to his utmost concern.

“Everything is in order. They are all listed as off campus with permission, except for the last one.”

“As soon as the last teenager is picked up, you’ll receive word to adjust her records to reflect a voluntary leave.”

“I had a call from one parent this week.”

Josie stirred awake and moved over to stroke Vestavia’s hard cock. He tensed, then managed to answer, “Which one?”

“Someone on staff at the Fuentes estate checked to see that Amelia’s leave was approved by the school. I assured them it was, that she’s an exceptional student, and that Amelia indicated when she left that she’d be visiting a friend in Germany. They accepted that without question.”

“The next girl will be the last one, and everything must be in place by this Thursday,” Vestavia emphasized. “The U.S. economy and infrastructure will be put to a real test by next Tuesday for the presidential elections. We’ll see if this country is the superpower it contends.” He hung up as Josie’s skilled hands pushed any lingering stress from his body. With the success of this next test, he’d have the North American Fras agreeing to anything he suggested.

But he still had to find the mole and Mirage. An informant could be anyone close to a Fra, which included women.

Josie was the most capable woman he’d known in the order. He sucked in his breath when her lips closed around him and hoped like hell she wasn’t the leak.