Shadow Alpha (18 page)

She would have fallen if Lijah hadn’t reached out to steady her. “For Christ’s—! Lighten up, Dair,” his tone had hardened perceptibly.

“Take-your-fucking-hands-off-her!” Dair growled in warning.

Kat was totally startled by that growl. She was also starting to feel a little like a bone being fought over by two snapping and snarling predators.

Lijah’s brows rose under the brim of his Stetson. “Like that, is it,” he mused as he slowly released Kat’s arm.

Dair knew he was behaving like a complete asshole. Worse, like a
jealous
complete asshole. And Lijah knew it too.

It wasn’t a feeling Dair was familiar with.

Or one that he wanted to be familiar with either.

It was just that it was too soon to see another man’s hands on Kat, after the hours the two of them had just spent together.

That’s all it was.

He turned to look at the small jet parked on the tarmac a short distance away. “All fueled and ready to go?” It wasn’t the same jet as yesterday; if Sergei wanted to continue to chase them then Dair had no intentions of making it easy for him.

“As instructed.” Lijah was back to being his usual businesslike self, although the speculation remained in those dark eyes as he looked from Dair to Kat, and then back again.

A speculation, curiosity, Dair had absolutely no intentions of satisfying. Not only did he not kiss-and-tell, but he had also drummed into his men the importance of remaining emotionally detached from a ‘client’. Not a great example for Dair to reveal he’d broken his own rules.

“There’s a couple of bags in the chopper, if you could get those while I go and check out the jet? And I suggest you dispose of the sick bag in the chopper before you leave.” He nodded tersely to Lijah before striding off towards the plane.

Without giving Kat so much as a second glance—or thought—she noted impatiently. How much longer was Dair going to keep this up? Indefinitely? Or just until
he
considered he’d made her suffer enough for her stupidity?

“His bark is much worse than his bite,” Lijah assured her dryly as he took the cases down from the chopper.

Kat raised her brows. “Is it?”

“Not really, no.” Lijah grinned down at her from his several inches over six feet in height.

About the same age as Dair, his face was even harder—if that was possible—and all sharp angles, with those piercing indigo eyes giving away none of his thoughts.

He shrugged. “But if I had to choose anyone to watch my back then Dair’s the one, every time. He’s just pissed right now because he screwed up. Big time.”

“
He
screwed up?”

“Oh yeah.” Lijah nodded as he put the suitcases down at his booted feet. “He knows it too. Given a choice he would also rather sit and wait for that bastard Orlov and put the guy out of his misery—sorry,” he winced. “I forgot for a moment that he’s your husband.”

“Ex-husband,” or no husband, Kat acknowledged inwardly, as the two of them had never been married in the first place. “And please don’t apologize, I try to forget it all the time too,” she added with a shudder.

“That so?” Lijah mused.

“Yes.” Kat hadn’t taken her eyes off Dair as he walked around the jet checking that everything was ready and working for their flight. Not the same jet as yesterday, she recognized, but smaller, sleeker. Faster? “And Dair didn’t screw up, I did. It was the GPS on the cell phone I stole that told Sergei where we were.”

“A cell phone Dair should have instantly spotted and destroyed,” the other man dismissed. “Cheer up, Kat,” he cajoled. “Whatever’s eating Dair, he’ll get over it. He always does. Never known him to bear a grudge. Well just the once, but she deserved it, from what I heard—”

“She?” Kat echoed sharply.

“Yeah—never mind.” Lijah picked up the two suitcases again as Dair strode towards them. “Remember,” he told her softly. “Bark’s worse than his bite.”

Kat had no idea if that was true or not—it certainly wasn’t true in her experience so far. But the short respite had given her the chance to regain her balance, and control of her roiling stomach as well as her dignity, and the mention of the ‘she’ from Dair’s past was the final boost she needed to meet his steely gaze as he rejoined them.

She lifted her chin in challenge. “I suppose it’s too much for me to ask where we are? Or where our ultimate destination might be?” It was too dark for her to see much at all, except they appeared to be on a small patch of flat open land rather than an actual airport; if asked Kat would guess that this exchange of air transport was being done under the radar.

“You suppose correct,” Dair confirmed tersely as he took the bags from Lijah. “Fly the chopper to the usual place, then take a commercial flight back to the UK and stay put in the office. You know what to say if anyone comes looking for me.”

The other man looked unconcerned by Dair’s list of instructions, which meant Dair’s show of authoritative superiority had been for Kat’s benefit, not Lijah’s. He needn’t have bothered; Kat knew only too well who was in charge. Well…out of the bedroom. In it they seemed to have been taking turns.

Which was strange, when Dair was always such a controlling bastard out of bed.

“Bye, Lijah,” she drawled ruefully, receiving a mocking nod of acknowledgement in return before he strode over to do his own check on the helicopter. “Do I take it you’re flying us this time?” Kat almost had to run to keep up with Dair’s much longer strides over to the jet. “What happens if for some reason you keel over onto the joystick—or whatever it’s called?”

“We crash,” Dair didn’t even glance at her as he stowed their cases in the hold.

“Dair!”

He shrugged as he waited for her to ascend the plane’s steps ahead of him. “Would you rather I lie to you?” He closed and locked the door behind them.

“A little sugarcoating might have been nice!”

“I didn’t think you were a ‘sugarcoating’ sort of woman.”

Kat wasn’t sure how she should take that. She hadn’t exactly shown herself in a good light with the cell phone, but Dair might at least give her some credit for following him out of the clinic and through those dark woods without complaint. She had remained pretty calm during that car chase too, and jumping on a moving plane.

Dair’s attitude now implied that none of those things made up for the cell phone incident.

“Is this another one of Lucien’s expensive toys?” she decided to opt for a safer subject as she moved to sit in one of the four leather seats; this jet was more compact than the previous one, but just as luxurious.

“No.” Dair paused beside her seat. “This is one of my expensive toys.”

Kat’s eyes widened in surprise. She had assumed, because Dair worked at the security company he also owned, that he did so because he needed to. Obviously she had been wrong.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he added mockingly, as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.

Which he probably did, she acknowledged wearily.

“Get some sleep, if you can,” he continued hardly. “Because when we reach our destination you have some serious explaining to do.”

“I don’t—”

“I’ve warned you against lying to me, Kat.” His eyes glittered hardly. “And the way Sergei had you locked away, and is chasing after you now, isn’t normal behavior. What the hell did you do, Kat? Steal the family jewels or something?”

“There are no family jewels,” she snorted. “And what jewelry Sergei gave me I left behind in the safe.” Including, she presumed, the engagement ring and wedding ring she had thrown at him during their final argument.

“Then what the hell does he want from you?”

Kat turned away. “Shouldn’t we get out of here as quickly as possible? Before someone realizes we’re here at all?”

She had a point, Dair accepted as he moved forward to the cockpit. Just as he knew her desire for him to go had nothing to do with the two of them leaving here as soon as possible and everything to do with putting an end to their conversation.

He hoped she realized it was a conversation that was only
delayed
, and not forgotten.

Dair’s temper hadn’t improved in the slightest by the time the plane touched down at the private airfield long hours later. It was now forty-eight hours since he had last slept, apart from a few catnaps in bed with Kat, and his eyes felt as if they had grit in them, and his shoulders and back were aching from the tension of flying for so many hours.

You’re getting too old for this shit, Grayson
, he cautioned himself derisively as he stood up and went through into the cabin.

Despite the fact that he had landed the jet just minutes ago, Kat was still fast asleep in her seat.

He had put the controls on auto-pilot a couple of times, coming through to the cabin to get himself a coffee, but also to check on Kat. She had been asleep every time. Or pretending to be, no doubt in an effort not to resume their previous conversation.

She was definitely asleep this time, he realized, his tension easing a little as he stood beside her seat looking down at her. She looked amazingly beautiful, considering what the two of them had been through the past thirty-six hours; even without the marathon sex it had been hell on the stamina.

Dair, on the other hand, knew he looked a mess; his face felt drawn with fatigue, his eyes must be bloodshot from so many hours of concentration, he could do with a shower, and his clothes were creased to hell and back.

Despite the puking—twice—Kat had been amazingly resilient through all of this, and she hadn’t made a single complaint during the helo ride, despite feeling ill.

Kat was quite a woman.

And he had been hard on her earlier.

Too hard?

Yeah, probably.

No, make that definitely, Dair acknowledged as he ran a frustrated hand through his already tousled hair.

He now knew the reason not to get personally involved; it warped judgment and made decisions less than logical. He warned his men against it all the time, and they had kept to that rule and never lost anyone yet—they always brought everyone home. Because they had all stayed cool, focused, and remembered the rules.

Dair had no intentions of losing Kat because he had broken those rules.

Which was also the reason Kat was going to tell him everything she’d been holding back from him once they reached the safe house. And sooner rather than later—

“I know you’re there, Dair.” Kat raised sleepy lids to look up at him as she straightened in her seat. “Are you going to tell me where we are now?” She turned to look out of the window beside her.

Dair shrugged. “I don’t think that’s going to be necessary once we leave the airport and get on the boat.”

She gave a groan as she looked up at him. “A boat this time? Dair, I really don’t think I can—”

“I’ve never known a woman yet who can resist Venice,” he drawled dryly.

“Venice?” Her expression instantly brightened.

“Never fails.” Dair nodded derisively. “Whereas, in reality, it’s just a city that is slowly sinking into the murky depths of—”

“Hush your mouth, you Philistine.” Kat reached up and placed her finger against his lips to silence him. “Venice is reputed to be the most romantic city in the world!”

He arched a brow. “I thought that was Paris?”

“Venice, Paris, who cares; I’ve never been to either place!” She unfastened her seat belt and stood up to run a tidying hand through her slightly mussed hair. “My father didn’t like to travel,” she explained at Dair’s questioning look. “And Sergei only went to England with me a couple of times. I’ve traveled to more places with you in the past two days than I have in my life before!”

“No European shopping trips with your girlfriends?” he mocked.

Kat gave a scornful laugh. “Having had the last names Markovic and Orlov pretty well ensured I’ve never had too many of those.”

A childhood with Dimitri Markovic as her father couldn’t have been a lot of fun, and her marriage to Sergei sounded as if it had been just as lonely, and even less fun.

Dair had traveled all over the world, first in the army, and then with his own company; he couldn’t imagine having had the stultifying life Kat had suffered through so far.

“Are we too late for carnival?”

She was like a kid let loose in a candy store, and Dair hated to disappoint her, but… “That was last month. But there are still a lot of tourists about.” It was one of the reasons he had chosen Venice as their next hide out; hopefully they would meld in with the rest of the crowd, just two more English tourists left to enjoy the city after carnival.

“Pity,” Kat sighed her disappointment. “I’ve always imagined how wonderful it must be to go to one of those masked balls Venice is so famous for.”

Attending a masked ball sounded like a security nightmare to Dair. At the same time as he hated seeing that disappointed look on Kat’s face. “Masked balls don’t just happen at carnival in Venice, Kat.”

Her face lit up again. “Does that mean we can go to one?”

He gave an inner groan. Kat. A masked ball. Sergei. Possibly dressed as another one of the guests. Not likely, but still…