Mackenzie's Pleasure (30 page)

a gentle sound of reassurance. He could feel the thud of her heartbeat against him, the rhythm

hard and alarmingly slow. He held her tighter, his face buried against the richness of her hair.

"Is she all right?" Chance asked as he, too, stepped over Art Sandefer and approached

his brother and new sister-in-law. Other people were coming into the room, people who tended

to the wounded man. Mack Prewett was one of them, his eyes sharp and hard as he

watched his former superior.

"She'll be fine," Zane murmured, lifting his head. "She shot Sandefer."

The brothers' eyes met in a moment of understanding. The first one was tough. With

luck and good care, Sandefer would survive, but Barrie would always be one of those who

knew what it was like to pull that trigger.

"How did he know which room?" Zane asked, keeping his voice calm.

Chance sat down on the bed and leaned forward, his forearms braced on his knees. His

expression was pleasant enough, his eyes cool and thoughtful. "I must have a leak in my

group," he said matter-of-factly. "And I know who it is, because only one person knew this

room number. I'll take care of it."

"You do that."

Barrie stirred in Zane's grip, her arms lifting to twine around his neck. "Zane," she

said, her voice faint and choked, shaking.

Because he'd felt the same way, he heard the panic in her voice, the despair. "I'm

okay," he whispered, kissing her temple. "I'm okay."

A sob shook her, then was quickly controlled. She was soldiering on. Emotion swelled in

his chest, a huge golden bubble of such force that it threatened to stop his breathing, his

heartbeat. He closed his eyes to hold back the tears that burned his lids. "Oh, God," he said

shakily. "I thought I was too late. I saw Sandefer walk in before I could get off a round at him,

and then I heard the shot."

Her arms tightened convulsively around his neck, but she didn't say anything.

Zane put his hand on her belly, gulping in air as he fought for control. He was

trembling, he noticed with distant surprise. Only Barrie could make mincemeat of his

nerves. "I want the baby," he said, his voice still shaking. "But I didn't even think about it

then. All I could think was that if I lost you—" He broke off, unable to continue.

"Baby?" Chance asked, politely inquiring.

Barrie nodded, her head moving against Zane's chest. Her face was still buried against

him, and she didn't look up.

"Barrie, this is my brother Chance," Zane said. His tone was still rough, uneven.

Blindly Barrie held out her hand. Amused, Chance gently shook it, then returned it to

Zane's neck. He had yet to see her face. "Glad to meet you," he said. "I'm happy about the

baby, too. That should deflect Mom's attention for a while."

The room was filled to overflowing: hotel security, Las Vegas police, medics, not to

mention Mack Prewett and the FBI, who were quietly controlling everything. Chance's people

had pulled back, melting into the shadows where they belonged, where they operated best.

Chance picked up the phone, made one brief call, then said to Zane, "It's taken care of."

Mack Prewett came over and sat down on the bed beside Chance. His face was

troubled as he looked at Barrie, clutched so tightly in Zane's arms. "Is she all right?"

"Yes," she said, answering for herself.

"Art's critical, but he might make it. It would save us a lot of trouble if he didn't."

Mack's voice was flat, emotionless.

Barrie shuddered.

"You were never meant to be involved, Barrie," Mack said. "I began to think Art was

playing both sides, so I asked your father to help me set him up. The information had to be

legitimate, and the ambassador knows more people, has access to more inside information,

than can be believed. Art went for the bait like a hungry carp. But then he asked for

something really critical, the ambassador stalled, and the next thing we knew, you'd been

snatched. Your dad nearly came unglued."

"Then those bastards in Benghazi knew we were coming in," Zane said, his eyes going

cold.

"Yeah. I managed to shuffle the time frame a little when I gave the information to Art,

but that was the most I could do to help. They weren't expecting you as early as you got

there."

"I couldn't believe it of him. Art Sandefer, of all people," Barrie said, lifting her head

to look at Mack. "Until I saw his eyes. I thought
you
were the dirty one."

Mack smiled crookedly. "It rocked me that you figured out anything was going on at

all."

"Dad tipped me off. He acted so frightened every time I left the house."

"Art wanted you," Mack explained. "He was playing it cool for a while, or we would

have had this wrapped up weeks ago. But it wasn't just the information. Art wanted
you
."

Barrie was stunned by what Mack was saying. She glanced at Zane and saw his jaw

tighten. So that was why she hadn't been raped in Benghazi; Art had been saving her for

himself. He could never have released her, of course, if she had seen his face. Perhaps he

would have drugged her, but more likely he would simply have raped her, kept her for

himself for a while, then killed her. She shuddered, turning her face once more against Zane's

throat. She was still having trouble believing he was safe and unharmed; it was difficult to drag

herself out of the black pit of despair, even though she knew the worst hadn't happened. She

felt numb, sick.

But then a thought occurred to her, one she would have had sooner if concern for Zane

hadn't wiped everything else from her mind. She looked at Mack again. "Then my father's

in the clear."

"Absolutely. He was working with me from the get-go." He met her gaze and shrugged.

"Your dad can be a pain in the rear, but his loyalty was never in question."

"When I called him this morning—"

Mack grimaced. "He was relieved to know you loved him enough to call, despite the

evidence against him. Your leaving the hotel stirred up a hornet's nest, though. I thought we

had everything under control."

"How?"

"Me," Chance interjected, and for the first time Barrie looked at her brother-in-law. She

didn't drool, but she had to admit that his good looks were startling. Viewed objectively, he

was the most handsome man she'd ever seen. However, she far preferred Zane's scarred,

somber face, with its ancient eyes.

"I checked into another hotel under Zane's name," Chance explained. "You weren't

listed at all, but Art knew you were with Zane, because he'd checked the license plate on that

rental car and traced the rental to Zane's credit card. We didn't want to make it too obvious for

him, we wanted him to have to work to find us, so he wouldn't be suspicious. When he found out

you'd married Zane, though, he stopped being so cautious." Chance grinned. "Then you went

for a walk this morning, and fubar happened. The pay phone you chose was right across the

street from the hotel where I'd checked in, and Art's people spotted you immediately."

Across the room, the medics finally had Art Sandefer ready for transport to a hospital.

Zane watched the man being carried out, then cut his narrowed gaze to Mack. "If I'd known

about you a little sooner, most of this could have been avoided."

Mack didn't back down from that glacial stare. "As far as that goes, Commander, I didn't

expect you to have the contacts you have—" he glanced at Chance "—or to move as fast as

you did. I'd been working on Art for months. You made things happen in one day."

Zane stood, effortlessly lifting Barrie in his arms as he did so. "It's over now," he said

with finality. "If you gentlemen will excuse me, I need to take care of my wife."

Taking care of her involved getting a third room, because the suite was in bad shape and

he didn't want her to see it. He placed her on the bed, locked the door, then stripped both her

and himself and got into bed with her, holding their naked bodies as close together as

possible. They both needed the reassurance of bare skin, no barriers between them. He got

hard immediately, but now wasn't the time for lovemaking.

Barrie couldn't seem to stop trembling, and, to her astonishment, neither could Zane.

They clung together, touching each other's faces, absorbing the smell and feel of each other

in an effort to dispel the terror.

"I love you," he whispered, holding her so close her ribs ached from the pressure.

"God, I was so scared! I can't keep it together where you're concerned, sweetheart. For the

sake of my sanity, I hope the rest of our lives are as dull as dishwater."

"They will be," she promised, kissing his chest. "We'll work on it." And tears blurred

her eyes, because she hadn't expected so much, so fast.

Then, finally, it was time for more. Gently he entered her, and they lay entwined, not

moving, as if their nerves couldn't stand a sharp assault now, even one of pleasure. That, too,

came in its own time... her pleasure, and his.

"Twins," Barrie said, her voice still full of stunned bewilderment as she and Zane

drove along the road that wound up the side of Mackenzie's Mountain. "Boys."

"I told you how it would be," Zane said, glancing at the mound of her stomach, which

was much too big for five months of pregnancy. "Boys."

She gave him a glassy stare of shock. "You didn't," she said carefully, "say they would

come in pairs."

"There haven't been twins in our family before," Zane said, just as carefully. In truth,

he felt as shaky as Barrie did. "This is a first."

She stared out the window, her gaze passing blindly over the breathtaking vista of craggy

blue mountains. They lived in Wyoming now; with Zane's two-year tenure as sheriff in

Arizona over, he had declined to run for election, and they had moved closer to the rest of

the family. Chance had been after him for those two years to join his organization—though Barrie

still wasn't certain exactly what that organization
was—
and Zane had finally relented. He

wouldn't be doing fieldwork, because he didn't want to risk the life he had with Barrie and Nick

and now these two new babies who were growing inside her, but he had a rare knack for

planning for the unexpected, and that was the talent he was using.

The entire family, including her father, was gathered on the mountain to celebrate the

Fourth of July, which was the next day. Zane, Barrie and Nick had driven up two days

before for an extended visit, but today had been her scheduled checkup, and he'd driven her

into town to the doctor's office. Given the way her waistline had been expanding, they should

have expected the news, but Zane had simply figured she was further along in her pregnancy

than they'd thought. Seeing those two little fetuses on the ultrasound had been quite a shock, but

there hadn't been any doubt about it. Two heads, two tails, four arms and hands, four legs

and feet—and both babies definitely male. Very definitely.

"I can't think of two names," Barrie said, sounding very near tears.

Zane reached over to pat her knee. "We have four more months to think of names."

She sniffed. "There's no way," she said, "that I can carry them for four more months.

We'll have to come up with names before then."

They
were
big babies, both of them, much bigger than Nick had been at this stage.

"After Nick, it took a lot of courage just to think of having another baby," she continued.

"I'd geared myself up for one.
One. Zane,
what if
they're both like Nick?"

He blanched. Nick was a hellion. Nick had a good shot at turning the entire family grayhaired within another year. For a very short person with a limited vocabulary, their

offspring could cause an unbelievable uproar in a remarkably short period of time.

They reached the crest of the mountain, and Zane slowed the car as they neared the

large, sprawling ranch house. A variety of vehicles were parked around the yard—Wolf's

truck, Mary's car, Mike and Shea's Suburban, Josh and Loren's rental, Ambassador Lovejoy's

rental, Maris's snazzy truck, Chance's motorcycle. Joe and Caroline and their five hooligans

had arrived by helicopter. Boys seemed to be everywhere, from Josh's youngest, age five, to

John, who was Joe's oldest and was now in college and here with his current girlfriend.

They were adding two more to the gang.

They got out and walked up the steps to the porch. Zane put his arm around her and

hugged her close, tilting her face up for a kiss that quickly grew heated. Barrie glowed with a

special sexuality when she was pregnant, and the plain truth was he couldn't resist her. Their love

play was often extended these days, now that pregnancy had once again made her breasts

as sensitive as they had been when she'd carried Nick.

"Stop that!" Josh called cheerfully from inside the house. "That's what got her in that

condition in the first place!"

Reluctantly Zane released his wife, and together they went into the house. "That isn't

exactly right," he told Josh, who laughed.

The big television was on, and Maris, Josh and Chance were watching some showjumping event. Wolf and Joe were discussing cattle with Mike. Caroline was arguing politics