Getting Lucky (5 page)

“So was my nefarious plot successful?” Lily asked when he finished. “Did my cooking turn you into Mr. Mellow?”

“Yep.” And surprisingly, it was true. He’d spent the morning at Camp Pendleton getting the South American contingent situated for their training program, and he was now officially on leave. Add to that a stomach full of exceptional food, and he really did feel pretty damn mellow.

“Good.” Lily passed him a sheet of paper that had been folded in half.

“What’s this?” He took it and shook it open. Recognizing his sister’s handwriting, his eyebrows furrowed. Then he read it, and his head snapped up. He didn’t like the sound of this at all, and he pinned the curvy little blonde sitting across the table in his sights. “Okay, spill it.”

Lily drew a breath and then released it in a long sigh. “The reason that Glynnis isn’t here is that she’s gone up to Washington state…to meet her fiancé’s family.”

Zach reacted every bit as badly as Lily feared he would.

He cursed succinctly as he pushed to his feet with such force his chair tumbled over. Slapping his hands on the tabletop, he leaned his weight on his splayed fingers and thrust his face forward until they were nose to nose. “I don’t
believe
you, lady. You’ve known exactly where she is all this time and you’re just now getting around to telling me?”

They were so close she could smell the chutney on his breath, hear the clicking pop of his TMJ joint as his teeth clenched and unclenched. His tension was contagious, but she forced herself to meet his furious eyes serenely. “I only just discovered the note.”

“So if you hadn’t found it, you wouldn’t have ever told me?”

She lifted her chin. “Your sister is an adult, Taylor. It isn’t up to me to tell you her business. If she’d wanted you to know, she would have said so—and considering what a control freak you are, I wasn’t exactly bowled over when she didn’t.” She gave him a level look. “As it turns out, you’re still a control freak, but apparently one she wants kept informed, so here’s the scoop. The young man’s name is David Beaumont. They met when he was down here on business, and they’re driving up to his home in Washington state so Glynnis can meet his family. Then they plan to get married.” A corner of her mouth crooked up in a faint smile. “I’m sure you’ll be invited.”

“The hell you say.” Pushing off the table, Zach straightened and glared down at her.

“Then again, maybe not, if that’s going to be your attitude.”

“Hell, yes, it’s my attitude. Damned if I’ll allow some two-bit hustler break my baby sister’s heart!”

“For Pete’s sake!” She stared at him in exasperation. “You haven’t even met David. He loves her!”

“Loves her money, you mean.”

“No, Rambo, loves
her
. I’ve seen them together, and—” She found herself abruptly talking to thin air when Zach turned on his heel and strode from the room. She followed him to the den, where he was flipping through an address book.

He made a sound of satisfaction and picked up the telephone. Seeing her standing in the doorway he gave her a smug smile. “I knew I could trust Glynnis to jot down his cell phone number.” He punched out the numbers.

Then the smile dropped away and he banged down the phone. “Shit. Out of the service area.” He shot her one of his my-wish-is-your-command looks. “What’s the Beaumonts’ phone number?”

“I have no idea. The only thing Glynnis gave me was his address.”

He dialed information, and she watched his face turn grimmer yet as he tried unsuccessfully to talk the operator into giving him an unlisted number. He then reached for the yellow pages, pausing only long enough to glare at her. “I want that address,” he snapped. “I’ll book a flight to Seattle for now, but I expect the exact address in my hand before I leave.”

The impending air-traffic controller’s strike popped
into Lily’s mind. She opened her mouth to tell him about it, then pursed her lips closed. As if he’d believe her anyway. But judging by his language when he slammed down the phone a short while later, she’d say the strike was no longer imminent.

“The hell with it,” he suddenly declared. “I’ll drive.” He looked at her. “Get me that address.”

“Yes, master,” she said as he stalked away—presumably to go pack for his trip.

As she headed down the hallway to her room, Lily fully intended to get Zach his address, and then get the heck out of his way. The threat he posed to Glynnis and David’s wedding plans was none of her business. Glynnis was a big girl; if she was old enough to get married, she was certainly old enough to stand up to her brother regarding her choice of husband.

This is actually a good thing for me,
she assured herself as she tried to remember in which box she had just packed her address book.
Heck, it’s a reprieve, extra time to find a new place to live without Mister Personality breathing down my neck.

She pushed aside the guilt that tickled the edges of her conscience. She and Glynnis had hit it off, and she truly thought David was good for the younger woman. But Glynnis’s problems with her brother were her own, and none of Lily’s.

“Lily!” The impatient shout came from outside, and she crossed the room to snap open the shutters. Zach stood on the parking apron outside the garages, glaring up at her window. As soon as he saw her, his hand slapped down on the roof of a black SUV with tinted windows. “Hurry up with that address!” he yelled.

Irritation shot through her as she stared down at his hard, belligerent face. He really was a bulldozer. She thought again of Glynnis and the fragile happiness she’d had the past couple months with David. He was wonderfully gentle with her—and the two of them would be no match at all for Zachariah Taylor. It was a crying shame, really. True love was hard enough to find without GI Joe roaring around smashing everything apart.

She glanced at her open suitcase and made a decision. Probably the worst decision of her life, but one she knew she would follow through on just the same.

“Oh,
poop
!”

Z
ACH DRUMMED AN IMPATIENT TATTOO AGAINST
the top of his Jeep. What the hell was keeping Lily with that address?

He was too edgy just to stand around cooling his jets this way; he had to act before his sister made a mistake it might take her years to recover from. Realizing Lily had wiggled her way into Glynnis’s life had been bad enough. But he didn’t even know how long his sister had been gone, and the lost time that little golddigger had cost him by keeping Glynnis’s news to herself could well make the difference between him getting to Beaumont’s house in time to stop this farce or not.

Considering what a control freak you are, I wasn’t exactly bowled over when Glynnis didn’t tell you her plans,
whispered Lily’s voice in his brain, stilling Zach’s fingers on the rooftop. Then, slapping both hands against the hot metal, he pushed away and began to pace.

Bullshit. It had nothing to do with control; he just
wanted to protect his little sister. Someone had to prevent her from making the biggest mistake of her life.

Experience was on his side, and this time the situation was even worse than usual. Glynnis was too bighearted for her own good, but no one had ever brought her to the point where
marriage
sounded like a good idea. Zach thrust his hands through his hair as he paced. Somehow this Beaumont guy had gotten her to that stage, though. Somehow he’d convinced her he was the man for her, the one she could trust to supply her with the happily-ever-after she’d always wanted. Zach had to save her from getting her soft, generous heart stomped into paste. For if she’d been crushed in the past when she’d discovered she’d been used by the people she’d trusted, what would it do to her to learn her true
love
was playing her for a fool?

Love
. Zach made a rude noise. As if
that
was an emotion anyone could trust.

Turning to pace in the other direction, he saw Lily headed his way. “It’s about damn time,” he snarled, so busy trying not to notice the ultra-girly hip-swinging, breast-bouncing walk of hers that it took him a moment to register she was burdened with a purse and train case and was pulling a suitcase in her wake. “What the—”

She sashayed right up to the passenger side of his Jeep, opened the door, and tossed her stuff in the backseat while he stood there with his mouth open. Looking at him across the top of the SUV, she gave the vehicle a slap. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.” And she climbed into the car.

He ripped open his own door and leaned in to glare at
her across the seats. “What the
hell
do you think you’re doing?”

“I would think that would be obvious even to you.” She gave him a cool look out of those clear blue eyes. “I’ve decided to go with you.”

“Over my cold and rotting corpse, lady.”

“Works for me—that’d save me a trip. But failing that, your sister has a real shot at happiness with David, and I’ve resolved not to let you wreck it for her.”

“You’ve
resolved
,” he said scornfully. “What, you afraid you’ll lose your meal ticket if I talk some sense into her?” His brain tried to tell him there was a flaw in that logic, but he couldn’t puzzle it out over the roar of his anger. And that made him even more livid, the knowledge that she could make him lose his temper without any effort at all. No one else had ever been able to do that. “Haul your little butt out of my car.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll haul it for you.” He straightened, fully prepared to follow through on his threat.

“Not if you want David’s address.”

Zach had to remind himself he was disciplined, that a soldier did not react without thinking. He’d already tried calling Rocket, but his friend must be serious about this being a vacation and had turned off his cell phone for the trip up to Coop’s. Zach bent back down and looked at Lily. “I’ll have that address if I have to tear your purse and bags apart to find it,” he said flatly. He gave her a slow up-and-down appraisal. “If I have to strip you naked.”

She didn’t even blink. “Could be fun, I suppose—but it still won’t get you the address.” She tapped her tem
ple. “It’s in here, bud. So unless you’re a mind reader…”

Swearing in defeat, he climbed into the Jeep and slammed the door.

Miguel Escavez raced back to the car he’d won off a soldier yesterday and started the engine. When Master Sergeant Taylor drove away from the opulent oceanfront property a moment later, Miguel patiently waited until the other man reached the bend in the road before pulling away from the shoulder to trail in the black SUV’s wake. His impulse to follow the commander from Camp Pendleton this morning had paid off with even faster results than he’d expected—a sure sign his mission was just.

But then, he’d never doubted that for a moment. He was, after all, Miguel Hector Javier Escavez, only son of the mayor of Bisinlejo. And this was just one more in a series of signs he’d received already. Why, just last night he’d won a fortune from several of the gringo soldiers.

That filled him with satisfaction—and for more reasons than simply the money that enabled him to finance his plans. They thought because he came from a small Colombian village he was dumb, that he was a—how did one of them put it?—a spic. Miguel spit out the car window. Arrogant fools. How many of
them
spoke two languages? He had learned English from Father Roberto, the mission priest who had also taught him the finer points of five-card stud. If the Norte Americanos were so damn smart, how was it that most of their recently cashed paychecks had ended up in
his
pocket?
They knew nothing. He was an important man; his life was charmed.

At least it had been until the American soldiers had sent everything spinning out of control. He had
admired
Taylor when the marine had first come to Bisinlejo, but now the master sergeant was his enemy. Pedersen, under Taylor’s command, had sullied Emilita, but it was the master sergeant who had compounded the insult by demeaning
him
—Miguel Escavez—in front of the entire village. And of the two transgressions, that was the one he couldn’t forgive.

Taylor must pay.

Miguel smiled to himself, for having seen the marine’s eyes go hot when the blond woman had jiggled her breasts and swung her hips crossing the courtyard, he knew what to do. He hadn’t been close enough to hear the conversation inside the car, but clearly the
puta
was the commander’s woman.

The church preached an eye for an eye, so retribution seemed simple enough to Miguel. He had lost his woman. Emilita may as well be dead for the dishonor she’d shown him, and he held Master Sergeant Taylor directly responsible. He would therefore see to it that the marine lost his woman in exchange.

It was only just.

Lily eyed Zach’s grim profile. They’d been traveling for over two hours, and he hadn’t said a word to her. Not one. Not wanting to be the first to cave, she turned to stare out at the almond groves whizzing past the window. But a few minutes later she found herself turning
back to him again. “Are you going to sulk all the way to Washington?”

The glance he spared her before returning his attention to the long, straight stretch of freeway should have singed the eyebrows right off her face. “You blackmailed me into letting you come along. I don’t feel a burning need to entertain you as well.”

“Oh, yeah,” she scoffed. “You being such an entertaining guy and all.” If personalities equaled looks, Zach Taylor would be a dung beetle. It seemed the height of unfairness that instead he could probably get work as an underwear model, darn him.

Being a sociable woman, though, she didn’t think she could bear thirteen hundred miles of the silent treatment. So she wracked her brain for a subject he might respond to. Beauty makeovers were probably out. Politics and religion were risky at the best of times, and the weather had been consistently fair for the past several days—not a lot to discuss there. Food was always a good topic, of course, but Zach struck her as more the
let’s-eat
type than the
you-have-got-to-tell-me-how-you-prepared-this
kind of guy. That left just one subject—the relationship between Glynnis and David. And the only thing discussing
that
was likely to get her was a huge headache.

Heck, silence wasn’t so bad.

Another thirty miles farther on, though, she couldn’t stand it any longer. As they blew past a long row of evenly spaced eucalyptus trees, she shifted in her seat to face him once again. “David Beaumont isn’t the cad you’re making him out to be, you know.”

Zach grunted.

Lily had never realized such a brief sound could convey so much skepticism. “He’s not,” she insisted. “Not unless he’s the best darn actor in the world—and, frankly, I don’t think anyone could sustain an act that good twenty-four hours a day for several days running. Which is what he’d have to do since he and Glynnis planned to take their time and see some of the sights along the way. Don’tcha think in that case Glynnis would figure out for herself he’s not the man for her?” This time she didn’t even get a grunt in response, and she swallowed her sigh. “I doubt it will come to that, though. I know it was a pretty fast decision since they’ve only been dating for a couple of months, but David struck me as simply a decent guy who fell head over heels in love with your sister and thought he was the luckiest man on earth when she returned his feelings.”

“I guess I can just turn right around and go home, then.”

His tone, of course, suggested otherwise, and blowing out a disgusted breath, she gave up. In the silence that followed, she shifted in her seat, trying to restore circulation to her travel-deadened bottom and legs. Gradually she became aware of another discomfort. She looked over at him. “I need to use a restroom.”

He emitted another of those charming sounds and she turned her attention back to the scenery outside the window, determined to hold her tongue for real this time. She would patiently await the next service station if it killed her. She was nevertheless relieved a short while later to see a sign announcing a rest stop at the next exit, for she was beginning to grow uncomfortable.

Zach whizzed right past it.

Lily’s temper climbed into the red zone, and she had to clench her teeth against ranting and railing and telling him exactly what she thought of his crummy tactics. For that’s what this was—a way of letting her know he hadn’t wanted her along in the first place and he wasn’t about to allow her so-called “blackmail” to dictate the terms of the drive. She forced herself to breathe deeply until she found a measure of control. Then she stroked her hand admiringly over the fine leather of her bucket seat. “Nice upholstery,” she murmured. “What a shame my bladder’s about five minutes away from destroying it.”

He looked over at her, and his charcoal-ringed gray eyes seemed to weigh her determination. “Okay, hold your water. I’ll find you a bathroom.”

Service stations were few and far between along this stretch of farm country, however, and Lily was practically dancing in her seat by the time Zach roared off the exit and rolled to a stop in front of a gas pump. She left her door hanging open in her rush to the restroom.

When she came out several minutes later, Zach was just reseating the nozzle in its holder. Pulling his wallet from his back pocket, he headed for the small minimart. “You’d better come in and pick out what you want to eat, because I’m not stopping again.”

Most of the store’s offerings ran toward grease, salt, and sugar, but Lily selected a bottle of water, two apples, an orange, and a small package of presliced cheese. She added a candy bar at the counter. Then she fished through her purse for her wallet, but by the time she’d dug to the bottom and located it, Zach had already paid for everything.

“C’mon,” he said and strode back to the Jeep.

She sighed as she picked her way over the cracked concrete parking lot in her needle-heeled shoes. This was going to be a
long
trip.

Miguel hurried to pay for his petrol, watching through the market window as the sergeant major drove out of the lot. Where the hell was he headed?

This wasn’t what he’d anticipated. He’d expected Taylor to take his woman out for a meal in the small beach town where he lived. Or maybe up to Los Angeles. He certainly hadn’t expected him to just keep driving and driving and driving. Miguel had nearly run out of petrol before Taylor had finally pulled in here—and then he’d counted himself lucky that this was America, where gas pumps lined two sides of the small market. In Bisinlejo they had one pump—and the truck to fill
that
only came once every couple of months or so. Here he was able to fill his car at the same time as the commander and still avoid being seen.

Shoving his change in his pocket, he headed for his car. He didn’t want to let Taylor get too far ahead. If the marine took an exit before Miguel could catch up, this would be a wasted trip, and he’d have to wait for another day to start all over again. He’d just as soon not have to do that. Too bad he hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to the blonde this stop, but Father Roberto used to say that good things came to those who wait.

And he had all the time in the world.

Lily had no idea what time it was when she awoke several hours later to find the Jeep had finally stopped
moving. It was pitch dark, and she struggled upright when she heard sounds coming from the back of the vehicle. “What?” she mumbled, trying to shake off the stupor that still had her in its grip. Her bottom was numb, and her neck had a crick in it from falling asleep sitting up.

“We’re stopping for the night,” Zach’s deep voice rumbled from the direction of the cargo space.

“Oh. Okay.” Yawning, she reached for her purse with one hand and the door handle with the other. “I’ll give you some money for my room.”

He gave a short, unamused laugh, and that was when she woke up enough to look around and realize this was no parking lot of a nice hotel, or even a cracked courtyard of the fleabag, motor-court variety. They were in the middle of nowhere.