Desert Ice Daddy (15 page)

Christopher hesitated. He didn’t know Akeem all that well, Taylor realized. He’d been all alone in the dark, scared, traumatized from being kidnapped.

“We’ll catch you together.” She moved over and reached her arms up. “We are here now, honey. You don’t have to worry about anything. You can trust Akeem. We can trust him.”

“Are the bad men here?” He still hung on. “I’m scared of the bad men, Mom.”

The fear in his voice squeezed her insides. “The bad men are gone. They can never hurt us again.”

And then he shifted, and the next thing she knew, he was dropping into her arms, into Akeem’s arms, which he held below hers to support them. She held Christopher as Akeem held the both of them. She soaked in the moment and let relief wash over her. The rush of emotions was making her knees go weak.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I couldn’t find Uncle Flint.” He snuggled into her, burrowing against her chest, his arms so tight around her neck that she couldn’t breathe.

Which she didn’t mind at all. She could do without air. She couldn’t do without Christopher.

“I’ve got you, honey. I’ve got you,” she said, then couldn’t stop saying it. “I’m here, baby. Everything is okay.”

The sound of a chopper came, approaching rapidly. Her heart beat wildly, adrenaline rushing into her limbs all over again.

Then that first rush of fear hardened into resolve. She had her son back. Nobody was going to take him away from her this time.

“Get down.” Akeem was covering them with his own body as soon as she squatted.

But he stood again after a few moments, and she recognized the sound of this chopper, too, the F28F Falcon Flint sometimes used to herd cattle. Next to Christopher’s voice, it was the sweetest sound she’d heard in days.

“That would be your uncle Flint,” Akeem told Christopher and picked up his torch, grabbing her hand and leading them out into the open. “You are safe now. We are going home.”

The chopper circled, then began lowering to the ground, the noise of the rotors too loud now to speak and be understood, so she couldn’t thank him again.

But Akeem’s eyes caught hers for a moment over Christopher’s blond locks. And held.

Everything they’d gone through in the past three days was there in the air between them. Even the words they had left unspoken.

And she realized that maybe, just maybe, Akeem
Abdul was better than all of her girlish fantasies. She had trusted her own life and her son’s to him. Maybe she could trust him with her heart.

“So you think it’s all connected?” Flint asked after the police and Gary had taken off. Gary had stayed sober for his son’s return. Maybe there was hope for the guy yet. Dr. Hardin, the ranch’s very own physician, was gone now, too, having cleared Christopher and checked out Taylor and even Akeem, although he had resisted to the bitter end.

Taylor’s pleading had done him in. There wasn’t much in this world he could deny those cornflower-blue eyes.

“There was this guy in a chopper before Flint got there. He shot at us at first, but when I returned fire, he took off,” he told his friends.

“And?” asked Jack Champion, another member of the Aggie Four.

The three of them were together again, and like every time they gathered, Viktor’s absence was a tangible presence in the room, something they all thought of but
none would speak about. They were sitting in the living room at Diamondback, the house quiet around them.

“Just didn’t seem like he was fighting all that hard for the money,” Akeem explained. “Or that they had been in a rush to get the money in the first place. The front men, Jake and the rest of those lowlifes, yes. But I almost feel like the boss, whoever the bastard is, was playing for time.”

“For what?” Flint asked. “What did time get him? He didn’t get anything.”

He gave that some thought, sitting in silence that was disturbed only by the faint whirring of the air conditioner. Suspicion built with each new thought. “If we’re right and the boss was directing not just his men on the ground, but also had some influence with the police, he could have sent the cops to bust up that first exchange at the boulders.”

“If he didn’t want an early exchange, why did he agree in the first place?” Jack asked. “Would have been a hell of a lot simpler just to say no when you asked.”

“He didn’t agree. I negotiated that with his guy on the phone.” Akeem rubbed his thumb over his eyebrow as he thought. “What did we miss out on in the past couple of days?”

“Other than the horse auction in Saudi you were so hell-bent on? How much potential profit did you lose on that?” Jack was somber, that famous smile of his that sent women swooning on a regular basis nowhere in evidence these days.

Akeem shrugged. His business mattered little when
compared to Taylor and Christopher. But he would definitely look into that. He hadn’t advertised that he would be bidding, but neither had he kept it a secret. It would be easy enough to find out who won the horses he’d had an interest in. “I’ll do some research on that and let you know if something looks off there. What else?”

“I was supposed to go to Rasnovia.” Jack grew even more thoughtful. “Our latest venture there hit a snag. Antitrust stuff. It’s insane, just made-up charges that are coming out of nowhere. We’re not that big. I was supposed to testify.”

“Right.” Akeem remembered now. He’d meant to talk to Flint about that when he’d driven out to the ranch then forgot about everything but helping Taylor when she’d run through that front door and into his arms.

Rasnovia
.

Now that had some potential. There’d been a lot of trouble there lately.
Viktor.
His thoughts darkened. He hated to keep secrets from his best friends, but he could not do otherwise this once, not after having given his word.

Soon.

He told himself to be patient. It wouldn’t take long before those secrets were revealed to all.

“I have to be back in Greece for an eight o’clock meeting in the morning. Then I have to make it over to Rasnovia to see what I can salvage from the antitrust hearing I missed.” Jack was standing already. He clapped Akeem on the shoulder affectionately as he walked by. “Good to have you back in one piece.”

“Thanks for rushing to the rescue,” Akeem said.

Jack’s choppers had been out there, too, combing the desert, going up in the air tonight against a police order. Having them around meant that they could divide the area up among them and Flint, which allowed Flint to find Taylor, Christopher and him that much sooner.

“Let us know what happens,” Flint called after Jack, then leaned forward on the couch as the screen door banged closed behind their friend. “Do you think that’s it? Rasnovia? We owe it to Viktor’s memory to help that country. I’m not going to let anyone stop us from doing that.”

“I think we need to check out the possibility.” Akeem could think of a whole list of Rasnovian politicians and businessmen who might resent their interference in the country. There were a couple of budding capitalists who were keen on gaining financial advantage, and didn’t much care about the means.

“Sounds like a place to start.” Flint sounded bone tired after working twenty-four/seven to get around the police in the past two days, and get into Hell’s Porch. He hadn’t been able to get the chopper in the air until today, but he’d been out there in his truck, every day, searching. He
looked
bone tired.

And so was Akeem. “I should get going, too.” He glanced toward the stairs one last time before he stood.

Flint got to his feet as well, emotions filling those famously hard eyes all of a sudden as he drew a deep breath. “I never said thanks.”

“You don’t have to.” He hesitated. “You mind if I
check in on Taylor and Christopher?” He found it hard to leave without seeing them safe one last time.

Once they’d returned to the ranch in the chopper, the police and Dr. Hardin had separated them quickly enough, then Christopher had been packed off to bed and Taylor had gone up with him, stayed up with him. She probably wouldn’t let her son out of her sight for a long time to come. He couldn’t blame her.

“You should stay the night,” Flint said. “Look at yourself. You’re not fit to drive.”

Which was bogus, and they both knew it. Flint had seen him drive and do more than that in worse shape before. They’d gotten into a few scrapes during their college years.

“I should—”

“It’s been a long time, Akeem. Don’t wait so long again.”

The air seemed stuck in his throat. Did Flint know he lusted after his little sister? And he didn’t mind? “You think—”

“She’s my sister. You’re my best friend.” Flint shook his head with a grin. “Guest bedroom is up the stairs, to the left.” And walked away toward his wing of the house where Lora Leigh no doubt waited for him in bed.

He stopped before he would have turned the corner. “If you leave, do me a favor and set the alarm on your way out. Well, set the alarm either way, once you’re done thinking. But if you do go up those stairs—” he flashed a meaningful look “—I do expect there to be a wedding.”

Akeem was too stunned to say anything back.

He stood on the spot for minutes after Flint was gone. He wanted Taylor, had always wanted her, wanted her forever. There had never been a doubt in his mind about that. In the past couple of days, he had realized that she was different now than she’d been before. And if possible, he loved her even more.

But would she have him?

Only one way to find out.

He walked outside to his pickup that one of Flint’s men had found the day before and had fixed and driven back to the ranch. He retrieved something from the locked glove box, then something else on second thought, broke the prettiest rose off the bush by the door and strode back inside. He set the alarm that he’d never seen Flint use for as long as he’d owned the ranch. The events of the past couple of days had changed all of them, he supposed.

He sped his steps as he moved up the stairs, passing straight by the guest bedroom and going for Taylor’s.

Her door was open. She sat cross-legged in an armchair, watching Christopher, who was sleeping spread-eagle in the middle of her bed in Spiderman pajamas, atop the quilt.

Her gaze lifted to him. “Are you okay? You should have gone to the hospital so they could have given you some serious drugs.”

He took in the beautiful sight she presented, her blond hair freshly combed and falling over her shoulders, and emotions welled in his chest. “Not to worry. Dr. Hardin gave me something that just about knocked me out. I
think it was horse medicine.” He was only joking. Flint kept the doctor on staff at the ranch for employees. Horse medicine was Lora Leigh’s territory, actually.

Taylor grinned and stood, her wispy cotton nightgown falling just above her knees, moving gently around her body as she came to him.

His heart picked up rhythm.

“Are you staying the night?” She stopped when only a foot separated them.

Now that she was here, within arm’s reach, a team of the finest Arabian horses couldn’t have dragged him away. He handed her the rose. “Help me get settled in?”

She smiled and walked with him across the hall. “There are toothbrushes and whatnot in the bathroom cabinet.”

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her trim waist. “I’m going to ask for more than a spare toothbrush tonight, Taylor. I want you to know that I—”

She swayed toward him slightly. His brain shut down. He kissed her.

His head spun, and he didn’t think it was from Dr. Hardin’s potion. Taylor was soft, warm and willing in his arms. He’d waited nearly ten years for this, but it had been worth every second. And he was never going to let her go again. Which he would tell her as soon as they were done kissing. Which might take a while yet.

He took his time tasting her lips, no reason to rush now. For the night, she was his to savor, and he would make sure she stayed his for the rest of their lives.

He nibbled her bottom lip, then kissed the corners, licked the seam of her mouth. And she opened on a sigh.

His hands explored her body while his tongue explored hers. There were no more reservations between them. The emotions swirling around them were too great to ignore or fight. And neither seemed to have the inclination to do that kind of battle.

He didn’t break the kiss as he lifted her and carried her to the sprawling bed. He’d showered after they’d gotten back, and was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans on loan from Flint. Getting rid of them took no time at all.

When it was Taylor’s turn, she helped him pull her nightgown over her head.

Enough moonlight came in the window to give him a visual he wouldn’t soon forget. He dipped to kiss her as he covered her breast with a hand.

“Christopher?” he asked when they broke apart, remembering all of a sudden. He was treading new territory here.

“Sleeps like a log. Takes after Flint,” she said.

And he grinned at that, remembering their frat days. He’d shared a room with Flint back in the day. She was right. A stampede wouldn’t wake that man.

He got up and closed the door, locked it before he took off his underwear and walked to the bed, then stopped. “If he wakes up…”

“He never does.” But she pointed to the baby monitor on the nightstand that she had brought over without him noticing it.

He’d been that lost in her eyes.

Worrying about a child was a strange feeling, but not strange bad. Christopher was a great little kid. Akeem looked forward to having him in his life. Fatherhood was no doubt going to bring some challenges, but he was looking forward to them. Looking forward to providing Christopher with some little brothers and sisters in time, too.

But not just yet. He should probably propose first. Except that Taylor was slipping out of her yellow lace underwear, and speech escaped him for the moment, his logical brain failing him on every level. He was lucky to be together enough to reach to the floor and pull a silver foil pack from his back pocket.

He touched her, tasted her and filled her. And experienced pure perfection for the first time in his life. Making love to Taylor McKade was sweet. And hot. Right. Crazy. The tight heat of her body seemed to have been made just for his.

He claimed her mouth, then her breasts, then her mouth again. And she gave as good as she got, making him wild with the small movements of her hips, the way she arched her back for him, the small sounds that escaped her throat when he reached deeper yet.

Their bodies soared together on the passion they wrought, twined together long after the last muscle spasm was spent.

Once his heart rate returned to within shouting distance of normal, he opened his eyes and touched her face, kissed her eyelids. Their bodies were still touching
everywhere. “This is not just a quick thing.” He kissed her lips. “I need to tell you how serious I am about us.”

“Flint got to you, didn’t he?” she asked with a dreamy smile as she pulled back to look into his face. “He can be a pest. It’s the older-brother curse. I’ve tried to fight it. It’s futile. What did he threaten you with?”

“Shotgun wedding at dawn,” he said gravely.

Her eyes flew wide. “Wha—”

He grinned and kissed her again, covered her face with kisses. He took care not to leave out anything, not her eyelids, not her cheekbones, not the line of her chin. “Okay, maybe not at dawn. We could probably talk him into giving you time to at least pick a wedding dress.”

“What a terrible thing to say! I’m going to need a lot more time than that. Why, the caterer alone…” She went silent. “Is this a—”

“Yes.”

He slid off the bed and picked up his jeans, reached into the other back pocket. She rolled to her side to watch him, coming up on her elbows.

And her cornflower-blue eyes went wider yet when he went down on one knee, naked as a jaybird, with a diamond ring held on his outstretched palm.

“I’m hardly the always-professional businessman you might think I am. That’s a media image the company’s PR people work on. I lose my cool all the time. I lost my patience that day when I gave Gary a ride home. I’ve done things—You’ve seen some of the things I’ve done. I swear I’m not the kind of man you would ever have to be scared of.”

“I know,” she interjected.

“You do?”

“I’m grateful that you protected me in Hell’s Porch. Whatever you did to Gary before that, let’s just say I’m not that upset over it. I feel safe with you. I feel my son is safe with you. You saved both of our lives. I love the warrior inside you just as much as I love your gentle heart that worries about being forced into violence.”