Authors: Fern Michaels
Charming Lily (11 page)
“Hey!” Matt bellowed.
“What do you want?”
“I want to talk to you. Now!”
“Later, Mr. Starr.”
“My ass, later. Now means now!” Matt waited, his head pounding. “In case you forgot, I'm the guy with the money. Now, goddammit!”
“All right, all right. What is it?”
Matt strained his eyes to see in the darkness. “I want to cut a deal with you.”
“That's pretty funny, Mr. Starr. Look around. You're tied up. We're walking around. What kind of deal could you possibly offer us?”
“More money for my freedom. More money than you will be able to suck out of my private accounts. If it's your plan to head off for some banana republic and live happily ever after, it ain't gonna happen, gentlemen. There isn't that much money in those accounts. I know how you can get a million dollars in minutes. It will be a simple matter to transfer it electronically. I can do that. Only if you let me go.”
“That's not going to happen, Mr. Starr. Now that we know you have an extra million, we're going to want that, too. No deals.”
Matt sucked in his breath. He felt like his head was swimming in Jell-O. “A million dollars is a piss in the bucket when you have to divide it three ways. How long do you think it's going to last you in that banana republic?”
“Then what the hell did you bring it up for?”
“Because I want you to let me go.”
“Go back to sleep, Mr. Starr. Tomorrow is a whole other day.”
Shit, had he just done what he thought he had? Stupid is as stupid does. How was he going to get the million dollars he put in Lily's account? Hell, for all he knew she could have taken the money and split when he didn't show up for the wedding. Maybe he should go back to sleep and let the rest of the drug wear off. That was the easy way out. He needed to stay alert in the hope of hearing something that would help him later on.
“Where are we?” he demanded.
“Even if we told you, you wouldn't know. This is the last time I'm going to tell you to keep quiet.”
Matt clamped his lips tight. He wished he knew how long it was since his abduction, if Dennis and Marcus had announced Digitech's Open Door 2001, and what reaction it generated if they had. That thought forced him to think about Marcus and his betrayal. He felt heartsick that a friend, a man he'd brought into the company because of his knowledge and expertise, would turn on him for money. He'd paid him a staggering salary, given him stock options, all manner of perks, company-paid car, a Porsche, astronomical bonuses at year's end, and, as of last week, the man had nothing to show for it except maxed-out credit cards, overdrafts at three banks, piles of debts, mortgages, and a demanding, greedy wife. Marcus Collins had sold him out. Or he thought he had.
Little did Marcus know that Matt had been onto him from the minute he'd heard he was slowly, little by little, cashing in his stock options. That had been the red light, all the warning he needed to start looking into Marcus's private life. He wished now that he had taken Dennis into his confidence, but he hadn't. Instead, he'd let the rumors flourish that Dennis was leaking company secrets so he could lull Marcus into a false sense of security.
Considering his present circumstances, there was nothing he could do but go to sleep. Maybe he would dream of Lily. He always dreamed of Lily because he loved her. Would always love her. Forever and ever and even then. Such a silly little phrase, but it was one the two of them came up with years and years ago, before he'd lit out on her.
Matt closed his eyes, and she was there, the love of his life, asking him if he was going to break her heart again.
He cradled her head to his chest, and whispered, “I'd break my own before I broke yours, Lily. It won't happen. You're my reason to get up in the morning. Nothing on this earth gives me more pleasure than to wake and see you lying next to me. You are my life. I love you more each day. I didn't think that was possible, but it is.”
“I love you just as much. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you. I wouldn't be able to go on, Matt. You've become a part of me. I can't wait to have babies so we become a family. I'm going to be such a good wife to you. I don't know about that corporate-wife thing, but at home you won't have a thing to complain about. I'm going to make love to you every single day. I promise to tell you I love you a hundred times a day, and I will mean it each time I say it. I can't wait for January 1. Mrs. Matthew Michael Starr. Would you mind if I keep my name? I'd like to be Lily Harper Starr. Legally that is.”
“Whatever you want
” he said, nibbling on her earlobe.
” he said, nibbling on her earlobe.“Ooohh, that feels so . . . delicious. Do it some more.”
“If I do, what will you do for me?” he teased.
Lily whispered in his ear.
Matt groaned. “Show me.”
Matt kicked off the spread. Earlier the sheets had been crisp and white and unwrinkled. Pristine. Like Lily. Now they were damp and wrinkled. He didn't care. The instant Lily rolled over, his body covered hers. There was a wild mating possessiveness to his embrace when he gathered her in his arms.
For one split second he felt a head rush and a small speck of alarm and didn't know why. He felt like he was embarking on unchartered waters which was silly because he'd made love to this incredible woman hundreds of times and each time it was better than the time before.
His lips found the pulse at her neck. He licked at it with slow, tantalizing motions and was rewarded with Lily's sigh of pleasure. She curled into him so his lips could trail down to her breasts. She snuggled deeper, her fingers curling the wiry furring on his chest, felt her involuntary tremor. He could feel her shiver in ecstasy when his tongue slid into the warm nectar of her mouth.
“More,” she murmured. “More, more.”
He felt powerful with her words and marveled at how she suddenly took the initiative, sliding smoothly on top of him. He felt her smile when he groaned with pleasure. The heat of his body mingled with hers, setting off a banked fire he'd been holding in reserve.
She teased him then, nibbling at his ears, whispering wondrous things in his ear while she explored the wet, slick length of him. “You're so beautiful
” he murmured. Her hot breath seared his skin making it impossible to think. All he wanted was to feel, to taste, to live.
” he murmured. Her hot breath seared his skin making it impossible to think. All he wanted was to feel, to taste, to live.Her body was warm honey, her mouth a raging volcano he sought to conquer. “Do you like this?” he moaned.
“Oh God, yes, yes, yes.”
His hands moved, sliding up and down the sides of her body. Needing the closeness of her, he drew her hard against him as she moaned, arching her back. He kissed her eyes, her lips, fiery kisses that trailed along her jaw, down to the valley between her breasts. The burning heat from her body transferred itself to him, scorching his skin. She was a brushfire gone wild, a raging forest fire that only he could extinguish. Her bright eyes were burning, the only bright color he could see in the dim room.
“Now,”
he whispered fiercely.
he whispered fiercely.
“Yes,” Lily whispered in return.
Her body was exquisite, her responses delicious, but it was the expression on her face, the rapture and pleasure he saw there that drove him forward. He read total joy and a hint of wonder in her clear gaze, saw a lone tear in the little hollow under her eye. When relief came to both of them, her name exploded from him like a gunshot in the quiet room.
Matt's eyes snapped open. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered when all he could see was darkness.
He lay for a long time trying to get the dream back, but it wouldn't come. “I love you, Lily,” he said brokenly. “I love you so much it hurts.”
Don't think about Lily. Think about something else. Something that won't hurt as much. Think about something that will make you angry and cause your adrenaline to surge. Marcus. No, not Marcus. You don't want to get blind-faced angry. You can always think about Marcus later when you give him his walking papers. Think about business and how you saved the day before Marcus got his hands on the last thing he needed to peddle it to his competitors. Think about your good friend Dennis and his loyal friendship. Think about XML, short for Extensible Markup Language that will add new powers to the World Wide Web. In easy terms it will become the standardized way of storing raw data and text, spreadsheet numbers, employee records, and pricing lists. The “structured data” can then be imported and instantly manipulated by software programs and devices that had nothing to do with creating the stuff in the first place.
XML. Something he and Dennis had been working on for years along with every other software company, the high-tech equivalent of the bar code. Net surfers will be able to excerpt numerical tables and text from a web page and then paste them into a word-processing application on a PC, which will then allow the PC user to edit or annotate the text or manipulate the numbers. Think about where it stands today when a PC user cuts and pastes from a website, text loses its formatting, and spreadsheets become impossible to manipulate. Think about how you got there first. Later you can think about how Marcus tried to steal the software. Later, later, later. Always later.
Damn, he was boring himself to death. He hoped the world wouldn't be bored when it was finally time to announce XML.
His thoughts drifted back to Lily. He wondered what she was doing and where she was. They had become so attuned to each other this past year, he had to wonder if she suspected something might have happened to him. Would she look for him? Or, would she take the easy way out and believe he got cold feet? His stomach churned at the thought. What about Gracie, the other love of his life. Where was she? Was she roaming the highway looking for him? The thought was so devastating he wanted to throw up.
The only thing left to him was to throw the whole mess out to the universe and wait for whatever would be. When he had been overwhelmed in the past, he had done it, and it worked for him. There was no reason to believe it wouldn't work for him now. Besides, what did he have to lose? Not a goddamn thing. He bellowed at the top of his lungs. “It's all yours! It's out of my hands now.”
He listened to the two pairs of running feet. “What the hell was that all about, Mr. Starr?” one of them barked.
“I just threw it all out to the universe,” Matt said tightly.
“What? You threw what where?”
“This whole mess. I threw it out to the universe. Now all the forces in the world will come down on you. It works.”
“That's a crock.”
“Mumbo-jumbo crap. Shut up now and go to sleep. I can't believe a man like you believes in that spook stuff.” Matt was pleased to hear the man's jittery voice. He ran with his ball.
“That's exactly why, you idiot.” He started spouting words that meant nothing. “I deal in energy fields and the high-tech world twenty-four hours a day. How do you think I got to where I am? When you throw it out to the universe, all kinds of shit begins to happen. You go back to where you were and wait for those things to happen. I'm going to go to sleep now. I have divested myself of your problems. You can deal with it from here on in.” To clarify his point, he rolled over and pretended to snore.
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