Kitabı oku: «Rescue Me»

CHAPTER ONE

“THIS ISN’T THE way to the church.”

Had she not been contemplating her impending marriage to a man several years her father’s senior and fighting off a headache made worse by the cloying scent of the wedding bouquet at her side, Maddie Mallory might have noticed earlier the detour the limousine had taken. Noticed that they were heading away from central London and the centuries-old church where she would say I do in a little over fifteen minutes’ time. She might even have grown a bit alarmed.

As it was, she glanced beyond the tinted windows searching for road signs verifying the change of route, but everything seemed normal outside the limo’s claustrophobic interior. Car horns blasted, lorries drove too close to other vehicles, cyclists took their lives in their hands weaving in and out of the traffic, and pedestrians played vehicular dodge as they zigzagged across the busy road. Yes, a normal Friday afternoon in the nation’s capital.

Except it wasn’t normal. Not for Maddie. It wasn’t normal to be signing her life away to become someone’s wife, at least on paper.

She glanced over her shoulder, some part of her celebrating the diminishing blur of the church’s steeple as they travelled away from it. For one exhilarating moment, she wondered if she was being kidnapped. Whisked away from this farcical wedding and all it entailed.

The relief that trembled through her was palpable.

If only...

Of course, her failure to show up at the church and go through with the sham ceremony in front of the distinguished guests meant her father risked everything.

Since she was largely to blame, it fell to her to rectify the situation now. But did the price have to be so high? Marrying a man she didn’t care two hoots for? Signing away her freedom?

Which reminded her...

Shifting layers of organza and satin out of the way, Maddie leaned forward and pushed aside the glass privacy panel to get the chauffeur’s attention. “Didn’t you hear me? I said this isn’t the way to the church.”

When the man showed no indication of having heard her, let alone answering her, Maddie met his dark gaze in the rearview mirror.

The peak of his uniform hat shaded his forehead, but the slash of eyebrows above a considered glance from steely grey eyes moved through her like a distant bitter memory. It coiled in her stomach, shivered in her limbs and sent awareness from her breasts to her core.

Was she finally losing it? Had she conjured him up in her fevered brain? Because no way on earth could it be him. She was seeing things.

Shit. This was no time for hallucinations. Most certainly not the kind that involved Gabe Harrington. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t be in her current predicament.

She wanted to blame him entirely, but really she was the one who’d messed up. Big-time. Largely because she’d been unable to hold her stupid hormones in check. Instead of keeping her eye on the ball, she’d hooked up with a man who had given her the most devastatingly erotic week of her life—before taking what he really wanted.

The limo turned at traffic lights toward City Airport, cutting through the tunnel of unwanted memories. This was most definitely not a detour to her nuptials.

Panic started to edge along her spine. What the hell was happening?

She leaned farther forward, virtually poking her head through the opening. “You’d better stop this car right now.”

Still no reaction.

Turning, she reached for the door handle and tugged hard, but it wouldn’t budge. Was she really being kidnapped? Abducted? Had she somehow brought her fevered wishes into reality?

She tried the door again, pushed the button for the window release, but that was locked, too. Rapping on the windows to get attention from passers-by would be futile, since nobody noticed much of anything but their own business in London.

The limo had picked up speed and was nudging the outskirts of the airport.

Maddie searched around, looking for her phone. She had a vague memory of putting it in the bag which Laura, her bestie, had taken to the church for her. All she had was the stupid bouquet.

“Stop this bloody car,” she shouted. “Or I’ll have you up on charges.”

In the mirror she met his gaze again. Dark eyes glittered back at her, making the ominous feeling escalate.

“And just how do you intend on doing that, princess?”

Everything inside her went cold. It couldn’t be. Just couldn’t be. Yet that voice, trickling over her like warm rich chocolate, with just a hint of bad boy beneath the cultivated exterior, was unmistakable. As was the deep grey gaze, the one that had slid over every inch of her naked body while she’d lain depleted beneath him.

Hell.

She was definitely hallucinating. Had slipped into some kind of parallel universe. It was the only explanation. Or maybe she was dehydrated. People saw weird things when they were dehydrated.

It was difficult to breathe. All the air seemed to have been sucked out of the car’s interior. Brilliant. Add hyperventilating to the dehydration. This was exactly the time to lose her bloody mind.

When his focus turned to the road again, putting his profile in shadow, she could think a little straighter. There was no way it could be him. What the heck would he be doing driving a bridal car? He’d be brokering some deal in the Far East, or New York, or wherever else he could dip his talented fingers into some lucrative pie. She’d obviously superimposed Gabe’s face on the driver, heard his disembodied voice projected by her own imaginings. She even thought she could smell him. That masculine, citrusy cologne he favoured, mixed with the intoxicating scent of...him.

Briefly, she closed her eyes. Fire shot through every nerve ending, making her senses reel. Her heart squeezed so tightly she thought she might pass out.

Hell, but life was cruel, choosing this moment to make her remember one of the happiest yet most painful periods of her life.

Opening her eyes, she forced herself to focus. She had enough problems right now without resurrecting old wounds, especially when they had the power to slice her in half.

All that mattered was getting to the church. Except they were so far away from it now, and the car’s doors and windows were locked. And...

The limo came to an abrupt halt at a red light. His gaze lifted to hers again, and despite her determination to focus on the present, she was immediately transported back to heady nights, tangled limbs, hot kisses. Of lying naked with him alone on a yacht off the coast of Monaco, the sun beating down on their sated bodies. Of the trickle of champagne over her breasts, sinking into her navel, dripping between her opened legs. The feel of his hot, wet tongue licking along the Moët’s path, the thrust of his rigid cock inside her as she gave herself over to his adept skills...

“Your veil’s slipped, princess.”

Maddie jerked. The heavy sarcasm dumped her straight back into the middle of the dark pit she had fought to crawl out of.

It was him. Gabe Harrington.

“What?”

“Your veil,” he said and tapped his own head. “It’s skewed.”

Instinctively, she reached up and adjusted the veil, her heart hammering both from the effects of her erotic memories and from having the source of them show up completely out of the blue.

The bastard.

“Very much like your halo,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Except that’s not skewed, it’s totally invisible. Covered by a chauffeur’s hat. Fallen on hard times, have you? The touch-shit-and-turn-it-to-gold Gabe Harrington forced into chauffeuring brides to church? I hope it pays well.”

The words projected like bullets across the space that divided them, propelled by each thunderous beat of her heart and the desperate need to lash out.

She couldn’t see his mouth in the mirror, but his eyes crinkled at the corners and did ridiculous things to her stomach.

“Except, as you’ve no doubt worked out, you’re not going to the church, are you?”

She tried to think, fought to remain calm as the car sped off when the light turned green.

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing.”

“Saving you.”

She glared back at his reflection in the mirror. “Kidnapping me, more like. Is that how you get your kicks now? What? Did the property investment business lose its charm? Or did you just run out of people to swindle.”

He had the audacity to laugh. Full out. It cut through her ribs like the sharpest blade. How could he find humour in what he’d done to her father? To her?

“Let’s just say I consider it my public duty to save a woman from doing something that can’t possibly be in her best interests.”

Indignation rose thick and fast. She was so sick of people—men—telling her what was in her best interests. “Oh, I get it. One week spent fucking me and you think you’re an expert on what’s good for me, on what I want?”

“I know you don’t want a man old enough to be your frigging grandfather.”

Arrogant bastard. “So what’s this theatrical display really about? And don’t give me any bullshit about it being in my best interests. As I recall, you don’t do other people’s best interests.”

“Maybe things change.”

“But you don’t. You’re not the type. If you must know, you’re keeping me from marrying a man who has given me more respect and consideration than someone like you would ever be capable of doing.”

“I don’t remember you complaining.”

“There wasn’t much in the way of opportunity. Seeing as you had me on my back every damn minute you could.”

“And again. I didn’t hear any complaints.”

The bastard was right. She couldn’t deny it. No man had ever made her feel the way Gabe had. She suspected no man ever would.

“I suggest you save yourself the trouble of having to bail yourself out of jail and get me back where I belong.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled all out now. “Exactly the point of the exercise.”

Shivers ran down her spine, not just because they were passing through the airport’s gates, but she guessed he planned to take her back to Monaco.

She glanced at the dashboard clock. Far too late now to get to the church and slide Oscar’s ring on her finger. She didn’t want to think about the consequences of that, nor did she particularly want to focus on the overwhelming feeling of relief that rippled through her. Not that she would let Gabe know that.

“The minute you stop this car and let me out, I’m going to have you arrested.”

* * *

Gabe might have laughed at the futility behind Maddie’s threat, but he’d caught the worry in her tone. He remembered how her voice changed when she was upset, how she tried so hard to stop the tremor that snatched her breath away.

He hated the cloak-and-dagger approach, but it was the only way. She wouldn’t have listened to reason, would have charged in with guns blazing if it meant helping her father. He wasn’t in possession of all the facts, although he knew enough to put two and two together. Maddie wasn’t the type to get herself hitched to a man she didn’t love.

So, until he did know all the facts, he intended to keep her from making one hell of a mistake.

“How are you planning to alert the cops?” he asked conversationally as he pulled off his hat. “Send up a distress flare?”

He glanced in the mirror and saw the fierce burn in her amber eyes. If she lifted her chin any higher, that damned veil would slip off completely.

She opened her mouth to say something, probably uncomplimentary, then glared at him before slumping back in her seat and turning to look out the side window.

Her blond hair was drawn sharply back from her face in an elegant updo, making him remember how he’d enjoyed taking the tie from her hair whenever she’d worn it in the ponytail she favoured. It had become a kind of battle of wills for them. He loved the feel of the silky strands between his fingers, loved curling the satin locks around his fists and drawing her head back to kiss the delicate skin of her throat.

Despite her savvy wit, her steely strength, her sharp intellect, there was a vulnerability about her. It made him want to protect her. To act like a fucking knight in shining armour. Which was why he was here now. He had been powerless to resist.

She might have considered it sarcasm when he declared that he intended to save her, but that was exactly what he was doing. Hearing she was to marry had pushed his buttons like nothing else ever had, but then he’d discovered who the groom was and fury had sent him into a tailspin.

What the fuck was she thinking? A woman as vital and passionate as Maddie tying herself up with a conniving fucktard like Oscar Kingston? No freaking way. Not while Gabe drew breath.

He pulled into the hangar and parked up. One of his engineers came forward while others sprang into action near his jet.

“All ready,” the engineer said when Gabe opened the driver’s door. “We’ve got a slot in fifty-five minutes.”

The engineer slid a look toward Maddie sitting in the back seat, her arms still folded and a look of stoic determination on her face. “Everything all right, boss?”

“All good,” Gabe said. “We’ll go straight on board. Weather okay?”

“Yeah. Smooth sailing all the way.”

Not bloody likely, Gabe thought as his engineer went off whistling a happy tune. Maddie looked fit to spit nails.

He opened the car door and leaned in. Resting one hand on the soft leather at her back and the other on the edge of her seat, he brought his face close to hers. His gaze dropped to her mouth, those plump, kissable lips he loved to torture. The same lips that could so easily return the favour, wrapping around his cock and propelling him straight to the promised land.

She shifted away, looking him up and down as if he were the devil incarnate.

“Behave yourself, princess. You’ll hurt my feelings.”

Defiance shining bright in her beautiful eyes, she held his gaze. “I don’t give a flying fig about your feelings, you bastard. And there’s no way I’m getting out of this car.”

She turned her head away, the movement wafting her fragrance until it settled in his nostrils. He’d read somewhere that smell could transport a person back through the past and toss him slap-bang into a memory. That happened now, launching him back two years to when Maddie had pressed up tight against him, her naked body warm and languid following a bout of especially athletic lovemaking. The musky scent of her arousal remained thick in the air, and her damp heat pressed against him as she gyrated softly against his hip making those little purring sounds of contentment.

Fuck. He wanted that again. Wanted Maddie wrapped around him, over him, under him. He wanted to be inside her, pushing her to the limits, until neither of them could think straight.

“I could make you get out of the car,” he said, battening down his inappropriate arousal. “Maybe even put you over my shoulder if I need to.”

She whipped her gaze back to his. “Huh. You can try, but I’ll bring the whole airport running with the noise I’ll be making.”

“Not if I gag you first.” Her eyes went wide, but he didn’t see fear—he saw excitement. “You’re not completely averse to that, as I recall.”

Her cheeks flushed, her breasts rising and falling as her breathing picked up. He was having trouble with his own damn breathing, and his cock went rock-hard now, pressing painfully against his fly.

“Hard to forget, isn’t it?” He didn’t know why he was baiting her, tormenting himself. The answer throbbed in his trousers. “You weren’t able to scream. And boy, did you love to scream. Especially when I went down on you. Couldn’t get enough of that, could you, princess?”

Pink slashed high across her cheekbones. “I don’t recall you being especially silent on occasions,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Especially when I had your cock in my mouth. Couldn’t get enough of that, could you, lover?”

His breathing lodged in his throat, his trousers growing unbearably tight. He curled his fingers deep into the soft leather upholstery, when really he wanted them curling around her. He wanted his hands, his tongue and his cock on her. In her. Every damn thing. Every damn where.

“Maddie...”

“I hope you’ve got a good lawyer, because you’re going to need one when I’m done pressing charges for kidnapping and molestation.”

“I haven’t touched you.” He let that hang in the air. “And I’m not going to touch you...unless that’s what you want.”

She turned her head away, but he held her chin between his fingers, bringing her back to face him. “You’re getting on that plane.”

She stared back at him. “Looks like you’ll have to make me, then, doesn’t it? But let me warn you, I can scream loud enough to alert most of London. Being abducted on the way to your wedding can do that to a girl.”

“Give it a rest. You weren’t going through with it out of choice.”

Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it.

No argument? He took it as a sign of progress. For now. “Okay, so this is what we’re going to do. We’re getting out of this car and walking over to the plane. Got that?”

She brushed her tongue along her lower lip, making his cock throb. “I have to wonder why you’re doing this. What’s in it for you?”

The six-million-dollar question.

“Get on that plane and maybe you’ll find out.”