Kitabı oku: «Fevered Nights»

To Natalie. You’ll always be my “Baby Girl” even if you are all grown up now.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to sailing expert Joni Dahlstrom of Lynn Creek Marina for all the information about sailing. I appreciated you taking time out of your busy day to answer my questions. I can’t wait to go sailing with you!

And, as usual, thank you to my dearest critique partners and plotting helpers, Pam, Linda, Von and Barb. And a huge debt of gratitude to my editor Kathryn Lye.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Acknowledgments

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

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19

20

Extract

Copyright

1

“I DON’T WANT to do this.” Waiting behind a backdrop, Piper rebelliously sneaked a peek at the crowd waiting on the terrace of the South Beach Yacht Club. The members of this club were conservative, distinguished. The movers and shakers of Miami.

“Don’t worry,” Piper’s assistant, Ragi Bhagat, reassured. “All you have to do is look beautiful and present the trophy.”

Hah. Piper clenched her fists. Story of my life. Looking beautiful was all she’d ever been good for. But it paid the bills.

Ragi swept Piper’s long hair around to one side and flicked an imaginary piece of fluff off her linen dress. “You’ll be fine.”

Piper wasn’t so sure. The last time she’d been in Miami she’d caused a horrible front-page scandal. Her photo had been splashed on the cover of every tabloid, along with a salacious headline about the “notorious bad girl’s” arrest at the cruise terminal. That had only been four months ago.

“Smile.” Ragi shoved a three-foot-tall, double-handled gold chalice into her hands.

Piper staggered under its weight, barely righting herself on her four-inch wedge espadrilles. After throwing Ragi a mutinous glare, she pasted on a smile and climbed the stairs to the dais, positioning herself just to the right of the podium with the microphone. The yacht club sat on a hill overlooking the water, but despite the ocean breeze, it was bloody hot for May.

The woman at the podium was wrapping up her speech. “And thanks to everyone who participated in the regatta, we’ve raised three-hundred-and-seventy-five-thousand dollars for a children’s hospital in Miami.”

Applause erupted and the woman stepped back, extending her arm to her left. “And here is the winner of the race to receive his trophy, Lieutenant Neil Barrow!”

More applause exploded, even louder and more raucous, as a rugged man bounded confidently up the stairs to shake the woman’s hand. His gray Go Navy T-shirt had a triangle of dampness down the front and under each arm. Dog tags hung around his neck. His sandy brown hair was slightly longer than she thought a military man’s would be, and a few curls clung to his neck and temples. He flashed a smile to the crowd, and then placed his hands low on his hips and glanced at Piper.

He did a classic double take as he swept his gaze down her body and back up again to meet her eyes. She caught the gleam of appreciation and...surprise.

What? He didn’t think lingerie model Piper would spend her day at a charity event? Well, that was why she was here. To clean up her image, right? Though visiting the hospital this morning had been both enlightening and painful. So many children. There’d been that young boy who’d reminded her of Nandan. Her brother had been the same age the last time she’d seen him.

“Piper!” Ragi whispered loudly from behind the backdrop. “Hand him the trophy.”

Piper pasted on her most brilliant smile and stepped forward, offering the trophy to the man. As he took it from her, she leaned in to kiss his cheek, but he turned so that her lips touched his. After a split second of shock he pressed closer, switching the peck into a real kiss.

His lips were warm, gentle, inviting. Then they opened to deepen the kiss. Her breathing hitched, and a heat that had nothing to do with the weather consumed her as his mouth took hers.

The audience burst into applause. Someone whistled shrilly.

Snapped from her daze, Piper pulled away. Her heart was pounding. She touched the back of her hand to her flaming cheek. Was she getting a fever?

The lieutenant’s eyes twinkled as he lifted his head to focus on her. “Have dinner with me tonight,” he whispered.

The bubble popped. Piper sighed. What had she expected? She’d just let him give her a sensational kiss. In public. She brought the arctic to her expression. “I’m busy.”

His brows drew together. He seemed taken aback. Obviously he’d expected her to accept. Maybe even skip dinner altogether and jump right into his bed. But that was the old Piper.

He shrugged, then faced the crowd and grinned, lifting the trophy above his head. The applause roared to life. There was a palpable energy rising from the gathering. Bulbs flashed from journalists’ cameras, and cell phones were held aloft to video the events.

The naval officer’s biceps flexed as he pumped the trophy up and down in a traditional sign of victory. He waved to the people a final time then jogged down the platform steps. No opportunistic speech about his involvement with the charity? Nothing about his commitment to poor, sick children?

The woman emcee reclaimed the microphone and announced the charity race would officially end with the gala ball on the terrace at eight. The crowd dispersed. Piper was scheduled to attend the gala ball. Get her photo taken with the hospital administrator, the mayor and whoever else could help repair her reputation. Must play nice if she wanted her contract with Modelle Cosmetics renewed.

She headed down the steps of the platform and toward the club’s lounge. Someone’s hand touched her shoulder and she turned.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to offend back there,” the navy guy said with a lopsided grin. “Just got caught up in the moment.”

Offend? A few months ago she’d have already had him in her hotel room by now, going at it hot and heavy. Piper offered him a tight smile in return. “It’s fine.” She went to leave.

“So give me another chance? I swear I can be a gentleman.”

Piper stilled. Yeah. Sure. “Look, I know you think that because of what you’ve read about me I’m—”

“Read about you?” He frowned.

She studied him. “Right. You don’t know who I am?”

“Should I? I’m sorry. I’m out of the country a lot.”

Out of the country? As if maybe he lived on a ship? Even still. Could he be for real?

“Honestly. I have no agenda but dinner.” He lifted one shoulder and smiled. “And maybe a good-night kiss.”

His smile jolted through her. She looked into his eyes. Warm brown eyes that reminded her of burnished copper. Eyes that seemed genuine and untroubled.

What would that be like? To spend time with someone who wasn’t using her for their own selfish reasons. But that kind of person didn’t exist.

Still, she was so bored with this whole reformed-bad-girl act. And she absolutely did not want to stand around at that gala tonight pretending to make nice. “Okay.”

“Really? I mean, great. The club’s dining room? Say...an hour?”

Nodding, she turned away, her heart thudding again. Would she never learn to think before she acted? Despite his assertions, the guy probably thought he could get her into bed. Failing that—and he would—he probably wanted his name and picture linked with hers in the papers. His fifteen minutes of fame.

Ragi would be furious that she’d made this date. She’d insist on Piper schmoozing at the gala first. The PR firm had been scrambling to find events where she could make appearances and restore her image. So far, the approach had been working. Just last week Modelle had hinted that they would consider renewing her contract when it expired next month.

She’d signed on as the spokesperson for the makeup company when she was a fresh-faced seventeen-year-old. New on the scene. A rising star in the modeling world. Under the thumb of her agent, Ms. H, Piper’s reputation had been unblemished back then.

Now? Well, she’d had a few troubling years. And Modelle insisted their models’ characters be above reproach. After Piper’s arrest in the cruise terminal, Modelle had threatened no new contracts. Since then, Piper had been conspicuously well behaved.

Yet here she was, back in South Beach. Maybe she should send the naval officer a note, canceling.

* * *

“NOW, THAT WAS WALKING, talking trouble right there.” Neil’s buddy Clay lifted his shot glass toward the platform workmen were disassembling outside.

“The trophy girl?” Neil plunked down on a bar stool and ordered a beer. He glanced through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the yacht club’s dining room. The curvy beauty who’d handed him the trophy didn’t look like trouble. Regal. Haughty even. Although that could’ve been the slight British tones in her Indian accent. But there’d been something...fragile about her, as well. And passionate. That kiss had sizzled. “What’s up with her? One minute she’s kissing me for all she’s worth and the next she’s freezing me out.”

“Well, what’d you expect? Her last boyfriend was a French billionaire.”

Neil paused with his beer bottle halfway to his lips. “Why? Who is she?”

Clay’s jaw dropped. “You been living under a rock? That’s Piper.”

Neil gave him a blank look. “Piper who?”

Clay shook his head in disbelief. “She’s a famous model. You’ve never seen her in those Desiree’s Desire commercials?” Clay whistled. “And that bikini she wore on the cover of SportsWorld last year? She’s the most notorious bad girl on the planet.”

A lingerie model? Oh, yeah, he could easily picture her in something sexy like that. Neil’s body heated. He was going to have to start paying more attention to lingerie.

“She snubbed the Queen of England,” Clay said, counting off with his fingers. “Crashed a Lamborghini.” Another finger rose. “Dated and then cheated on Hollywood royalty Brad Benton and last but not least was detained by port authorities, returning from Mexico a few months back.”

“Whoa, Bellamy, you read all those celebrity rags while you’re at the salon having your nails done?”

“You’re a real funny guy, Barrow.” Clay spoke with the long, lazy drawl only someone raised in the Deep South can own. “I hear all that stuff from my mother. She lives and breathes it.”

Neil grinned. It felt good to get Clay Bellamy on the defensive for once. “Your mother’s a saint.”

Clay’s eyes narrowed. “The woman you met is real different from when she raised me.”

Neil sipped his beer as he studied the sunset through the wall of windows. Clay never talked about his childhood in Alabama. Neil could only guess it hadn’t been idyllic. But then, whose was? His own mother fell into the same category. She only seemed like a saint to the public.

Though Neil didn’t mind donating his time to her charities, he preferred swinging a hammer for Build a Home rather than racing some rich dudes up and down the Miami coast. But at least it helped the children’s hospital foundation. One of his mother’s high-profile pet projects that looked good on the resume of a senator’s wife.

Would he have asked the trophy girl out if he’d known she was a famous model? She was mouthwateringly gorgeous. Creamy caramel-colored skin, delicate cheekbones and full lips. Her long, straight black hair fell almost to her waist. She was tall and slender, but not bone thin like the runway models he’d seen. Her sleeveless pink dress hugged some substantial curves.

But it was her eyes that had captivated him. Neil couldn’t get the image of the woman’s luminous light green eyes out of his head.

And whether she actually showed tonight or not, he intended to enjoy what was left of his week’s leave. Take his mind off Lyndsey and the divorce. Or rather, the almost divorce. Had she signed the papers yet? His attorney had assured him it was just a formality. He was supposed to overnight the final papers to Neil as soon as Lyndsey signed. Neil wanted the whole mess over with.

He tore his gaze away from the purple-and-pink-streaked sky and cleared his throat. “Well, sorry to ditch you, bro, but the lingerie model’s meeting me here for dinner in...” He glanced at his watch. “Ten minutes.”

“Hmm, what do you know? Straight Arrow Barrow hooking up with bad-girl Piper. This calls for a toast.” Clay gestured to the bartender for a refill of his shot glass. “I guess our weekend plans to raise hell are getting off to a good start.”

“You’re the one who said we’d raise hell down here, not me.”

Clay shrugged. “I thought it’d do you some good. You been living like a monk since the separation.”

“Didn’t know you cared, Bellamy.”

That remark earned him a rude gesture. But the idea of veering from the straight and narrow appealed to Neil. And an affair with the hot cover model would be the sweetest cure for the contagion that seemed to have spread in his soul ever since he’d returned from a tour in Afghanistan to find his wife in bed with her lover.

Despite a lifetime spent trying to do the right thing, nearly killing himself to be the best, to make his father proud, all his efforts had come crashing down nine months ago.

Though now he could see that things had been crumbling for years.

Clay thumped the second shot glass upside down on the bar next to the first one. “Least now I can fly back to Little Creek knowing you’ll be just fine down here for the rest of your leave.”

Neil chuckled. He and Clay had been pals since BUD/S, standing next to each other in lineup, two last names starting with B. Surviving the training course in Coronado, freezing their petunias off Hell Week. Going through all that alongside another guy tended to cement a friendship.

Clay clapped his shoulder. “Man, an affair with the Piper. Just come up for air every once in a while, okay? You want to be able to walk after your leave is over.”

Neil’s beer slid down the wrong pipe and he choked and coughed while Clay slapped him hard on the back.

“Jeez, Bellamy. You work hard at being crude or does it just come natural? I’m down here for a little R and R, that’s all. I’m going to hire a boat and do some deep-sea fishing, maybe sail down to the Keys...”

Clay raised his brows. “Fine, but this weekend our objective was to find us some women and go wild. And since you’re already mission accomplished, I’m down one wingman tonight.”

“Tomorrow we’ll hit that honky-tonk you wanted to check out. Now get out of here.”

Clay stood and saluted. “Suh, yes, suh!” Then pivoted on his heel and headed for the exit. As Clay took off, in walked the long-legged model in a slinky short black dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination. She’d actually showed.

But now that he knew who the woman was, he couldn’t see the dinner going anywhere. The illustrious Piper probably wouldn’t give him the time of day. He was no Brad Benton. Besides, celebrity models and navy SEALs lived worlds apart, right?

Still, she’d agreed to dinner. So who knew?

When Piper passed Clay, his friend turned around to walk backward, wiggling his brows behind her back.

Neil ignored him. His attention was riveted on Piper. She brushed her long hair behind one ear and gave him a hesitant smile. Neil swallowed.

Oh, he sure hoped she wanted to be bad tonight.

2

PIPER WAS DETERMINED to be good tonight.

But looking into the navy lieutenant’s flashing eyes, she had to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. He’d changed into a dark suit with a crisp white dress shirt. But no tie. And he smelled nice. Clean, musky, subtle. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He pushed away from the bar at her approach, and there was a sense of carefully controlled power in his stance. She guessed the military training must be ingrained in him. He was older than she was. With the crinkles around his eyes, she’d say he was in his early to midthirties.

He nodded toward the dining room. “Would you like to eat here or...?”

“Are you a member?”

“Me? No, I live in Virginia.” He smiled. “But I know a guy who is.”

She paused. Surprisingly, Ragi had readily approved of Piper’s impromptu date, suggesting that she bring the lieutenant to the gala. It seemed he was a decorated SEAL whose father was a US senator. Being seen on his arm would be worth more than a dozen pictures with the Miami mayor. So her job tonight was to get her name linked with a military hero’s.

But to do that, she’d have to mix and mingle and she’d have to use this guy for a photo op. Suddenly Piper found herself longing—just once—to have a normal dinner with a normal guy away from all the craziness of the paparazzi.

Normal. She didn’t even know what that meant.

Panic flared momentarily as she realized she’d never been on a regular date. How messed up was that?

What would they talk about? What did one do on a normal date?

She glanced at the white linen that covered the tables, topped with gleaming silverware, flickering candles and fresh flowers. The bank of windows looked out over the sparkling ocean. Soft music played in the background. Now was as good a time as any to find out about a regular date. Ragi would be upset if she skipped the gala. But hadn’t she’d earned a night of harmless fun?

She met his gaze. “Here sounds nice.”

He offered his bent arm and she slipped her hand around his elbow as he led her to a table by the window. She could feel the hard muscle beneath her fingers, and she liked the way he held her chair as she sat and then scooted it in for her before taking his seat across from her. She wasn’t used to being treated so...respectfully.

A waiter handed them menus, and the lieutenant ordered a bottle of wine before she could tell him not to. One glass wouldn’t hurt, right? She lowered her menu to meet his gaze as the waiter left. She knew men liked to talk about themselves. No reason this one should be any different. “Do you do a lot of sailing, Lieutenant?”

“Neil.” He shrugged. “When I can. I like to sail down to the Keys.”

“Those are the islands south of here? Is that really where Jimmy Buffet lives?”

Smiling, he nodded. “Yep, and lots of other celebrities, too. But the best thing is the sunset. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a sunset in the Keys.”

“I’d love to see that.”

“Maybe I can take you while we’re both in town.”

Ah, so he did want to get her into bed. Why was she surprised?

He cleared his throat and she realized she’d waited too long to respond. She smiled. “And did you sail your boat down here from Virginia for the regatta?”

“No, a yacht company sponsored me, so I sailed one of their racers.”

“Oh.” She nodded and studied her menu. Where was that waiter with the wine?

“My family does own a yacht, but it’s moored in DC,” he offered.

She glanced up. “And that’s where you live?”

“In DC? No, but I’m not far. I standby at Little Creek, Virginia.”

“Standby?” She knew nothing about the American military. Or the British one, either, for that matter.

“When we’re not deployed or attending a special training school we’re waiting around to be deployed. We can be playing pool at this bar called Barney’s one minute and the next thing you know we’re on a plane headed for an op.”

“That sounds a lot like my life in a way. I never know where in the world my next assignment might be.”

He chuckled and started to scan his menu.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sometimes I never know where in the world I’m going to be, either.”

English wasn’t her first language, but she caught the play on words and smiled. “I believe your assignments are undoubtedly more dangerous, Lieutenant.”

He looked up from his menu. “Neil.”

She got caught in the warm copper color of his eyes. How could his stare feel so intense and yet convey such warmth? It made her want to squirm and at the same time lean closer. But she did neither. “Neil,” she acknowledged with a small smile.

The waiter returned, poured their wine—which Neil accepted without tasting—and took their orders. Piper reached for her glass. Without the menu as a barrier, she felt exposed. Strange. She didn’t often feel awkward around men. But then, the men with whom she usually kept company were acutely adept at playing the game. This man...wasn’t. And she realized she didn’t know what to do with that.

The silence had gone on too long. “What do you do—”

“My buddy says your—” They spoke at the same time.

He nodded at her. “You go.”

“What do you do in the navy?”

“Whatever they tell me to do.” His sheepish smile softened the sharp answer.

Piper blinked. “And how long have you been doing that?”

“Since I was twenty. Uh, fourteen years, now.” His eyes widened. “Wow, saying that out loud makes me sound really old.”

“And why did you join the navy?”

“Well, I sure didn’t want to be a jarhead.”

Piper frowned. “Pardon?”

He winced. “Sorry. It was a joke. Jarheads are marines. We have a bit of a rivalry with the marines. No, it was my uncle. After Korea, the military knew they needed a more unconventional type of soldier for counterinsurgency. My father’s older brother was one of the first SEALs. He died in Vietnam.”

She raised a skeptical brow. “And this was the reason you wanted to follow in his footsteps?”

Neil’s gaze drifted off. “I was alone a lot as a kid. One day I found a trunk in my grandparents’ attic with a bunch of old letters. On one of them was a picture of these guys in jungle camo, and a Purple Heart medal. There was also this gold pin of an eagle perched on an anchor, holding Neptune’s trident and a pistol in his claws. It’s the pin that navy SEALs get after they complete training.

“When I asked my grandfather about it he told me the things had belonged to my uncle Greg. Uncle Greg had written the letters to his parents from Vietnam. I practically memorized them. They taught me the only important things I needed to know in life.”

Piper was taken aback at his sincerity, and couldn’t have stopped herself from asking the next question if she’d tried. “What are the important things in life?”

His focus shot back to her and he tilted his head. “Honor,” he stated with conviction. “Duty.” He thrust his chin out. “And love.”

Piper blinked, feeling her eyes sting. If she’d ever believed in those things, she’d lost faith in them long ago. After all, she’d failed at all three. Avoiding his searching gaze, she reached for her glass of wine and took a sip. She cleared her throat. Somehow this didn’t feel like a normal date. “I guess knowing how to sail well comes in handy in the navy?”

He shrugged. “Knowing how to swim certainly helped. It was about the only thing that got me through BUD/S.”

“BUD/S?”

“Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training.”

“Oh. So you blow things up underwater?”

“That’s part of the job, I guess. Sometimes.”

“Then, I can see why you’d have to be a good swimmer.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Yeah.” He nodded. “You do.”

She grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling I’ve said something incredibly stupid?”

“No.” He looked alarmed. “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”

“It’s all right. You wouldn’t be the first.” She forced a small smile. “Or the last.”

Instead of agreeing with her, he narrowed his eyes and scrutinized her face. “No one should ever make you feel stupid.”

Piper’s mouth dropped open. She had no idea what to say to that. This man had only just met her, didn’t know her at all, yet he’d touched a raw nerve with such precision and then soothed it in the space of a few seconds.

He took a sip of his wine and the food arrived. Grabbing his knife and fork, he ignored the salad and dug into his steak with gusto. After he’d swallowed a bite, he looked up. “All I meant about the swimming was that unlike my buddy, I was usually last at everything at BUD/S, except for that and diving.” He forked another bite of steak and popped it into his mouth.

“I find that hard to believe.”

He stopped chewing and met her gaze. She’d been staring at his chest, wondering if it was hairy or smooth. Despite his average height and build, she sensed strength in his every move. Power lurking beneath the surface. Just thinking about the muscles that bunched under his suit coat made her want to slide it off and run her hands down his arms.

Her face heated. She concentrated on her salad, picking at the spinach.

“That really all you’re going to eat?”

“If I want to continue to work.”

Funny, she wasn’t the least bit interested in food right now. Usually, limiting her caloric intake was a struggle. When she’d first arrived in London, she’d wanted to stuff her face every chance she got. But Ms. H had controlled her diet with an iron hand from the beginning.

It had seemed a ridiculous paradox to her at first; living in such luxury and yet still going hungry. But at least she’d been allowed to send money back to Nandan.

“Doesn’t seem right.” He shook his head. “Making women think that putting on a few pounds is the end of the world. Most guys I know don’t give a rat’s...behind about that.”

She bristled. “It’s my job.”

He winced. “I didn’t mean—” He sighed and gave her that lopsided grin. “I seem to be having an off night. Usually I’m a lot more suave than this.”

When his white teeth flashed and his eyes twinkled like that it was impossible to remain immune to his charm. Besides, it was a reassuring concept. To think that she could quit modeling and eat whatever she wanted, as much as she wanted, and the world would still spin on its axis. Her shoulders sagged. “I shouldn’t be so sensitive. Tell me more about BUD/S.”