Authors: Lynde Lakes
Now, they both tugged urgently at his clothes, flinging garments aside. When they stood naked, he kissed her deeply with the sweet, gentle kiss only possible from a man in love.
Dane drew her down until she felt the soft carpet beneath her buttocks and thighs. Then her back. The shimmering firelight reflected on the angles and planes of his face. In this light, his eyes looked like black diamonds. She perceived their promise of pleasure. Yes. Pleasure now—pain later—when he was out of her life. But making love with the man she loved right here, right now, was worth the price.
The heat from the burning logs was a candle flicker compared to the raging fire Dane had kindled inside her.
Soft music drifted from the stereo. The air was faintly scented with roses and burning cedar. Champagne lingered on her tongue along with the taste of Dane, mingling to intoxicate her.
When Jill thought his kisses couldn’t be deeper or hotter they took more of her, demanded more. Though she was vaguely aware of the rain pounding on the roof, her sense of surroundings began to fade. There was only the stirring touch of Dane’s hands, his mouth. Her body, coiled tight with desire, trembled with waves of need—she didn’t care about time, about anything but reveling in the heat of each level of passion, before he took her higher.
She tried to draw his body down against hers. He resisted, holding back.
“Now, Dane, now!”
She watched his face, shadowed and highlighted by the flames, as he restrained his own urgency. “Are you sure?” His voice was husky.
The room fell away—there was nothing but their race toward ecstasy in a glow of steamy heat. She felt herself going over the edge at the same time Dane cried out her name. With fingers locked, they rode their climax together.
Even when she came back down from the powerful orgasmic world and felt the carpet beneath her, her senses reeled.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
To awaken in Dane’s arms felt so right. Starting a new day with the man she loved was better than the first time, better than she’d ever imagined possible. Dane massaged her shoulders, the small of her back, her hips, gently touching her everywhere. Kissing her everywhere. For a few blissful moments, she pretended it would always be like this. She stretched luxuriously, telling herself it could work out—it had to work out—she was in love. Being in love was such a euphoric feeling that she wondered why she’d fought it so desperately. Then she remembered. Being together forever wasn’t in the cards for them. Damn her job—his job.
“Sorry. No time. There’s something important I have to do right away.” His voice was different, firmer, as though he’d made an important decision.
Asking him about breakfast had been absurd. She didn’t have time to eat either. She had a meeting at the Bureau in an hour and would barely make it as it was.
****
“Angelo’s being moved to Central Jail today at eleven,” Ray told Jill and the five others attending the meeting.
Jill leaned forward and said, “He may have friends on the outside waiting for a chance to spring him. The transfer has to be made with no slip-ups.”
“No way!” Ray shoved a thick file toward her. “That would be a waste of your talents. We have well-trained guards for that. We won’t need you on this case until we go to court. Here’s your new job.”
She shook her head and refused to accept the file. “There
is
no other case for me. Not until this one’s wrapped.”
Ray looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “Okay. You deserve to be in on this to the end. Hang on to this file. It’s your next assignment—another psycho.”
Jill sighed and took the file. Did she really want to spend the rest of her life chasing psychopaths?
****
Under Dane’s lab jacket, sweat soaked the armpits of his shirt. He was shaky, but no one seemed to notice. The file folder under his arm slipped—he adjusted it. The tray and syringe he carried were compliments of hospital supply.
If his buddy, the disgruntled supply attendant, were better paid he wouldn’t be so easy to corrupt. Jerry had helped him before and he would again, as long as the expense account held up. Dane took a deep breath. So far so good. His white coat and stethoscope had gotten him past both the floor guard and the sentry on Angelo’s door.
Dane entered, knowing the hardest part was yet to come.
The guard inside sat by the window reading the newspaper. He looked up, studied Dane for a long second, then went back to his paper.
“Whatever you say, officer.” Dane pretended to give the shot, then while leaning close to examine Angelo’s eyes he whispered, “Want to make the news, Buddy?”
“What’s in it for me?” Angelo mouthed silently. His sly expression told Dane he enjoyed the game of putting something over on the guard.
Angelo looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. As Angelo began to spill his guts, Dane flipped on his pocket recorder and scribbled down backup notes.
****
Jill entered the room flanked by four armed guards. There was something familiar about the tall, lean man in the white coat bending close to Angelo.
He turned.
Dane!
For an insane instant she contemplated not giving him away.
Angelo laughed. “Looks like the jig’s up, Mr. Smart Ass Reporter.”“Reporter?” the guard by the window jumped to his feet. Before Jill fully realized what had happened, the guard had Dane in a hammerlock.
Damn him. He was as insane as the psychos. She’d known from the beginning it was impossible for them to have a lasting relationship, but a tiny part of her had hoped that somehow... But he would always do anything for a story. Anything. She couldn’t risk being his direct pipeline to FBI confidential information.
****
Jill sat in her office, wishing she could stop the uneasy thoughts that thundered in her head. Dane and Angelo were both in Central Jail, different cells but the same hellhole. She tapped her desk with a pencil. She’d heard the stories. No matter how hard she tried to bury her fear, violent images surfaced—the attorney with a broken neck, the ex-cop with a slit throat. A few days in jail had killed them. Damn Dane! Although he had to learn he couldn’t break the law, she didn’t want him in jail.
It was just her luck to fall for a man whose personality was a tangle of contradictions. He was both responsible and reckless, steady and erratic. A man like that would drive any woman crazy.
There was no one she could talk to about this—Ray and the other agents wouldn’t understand. She realized with a jolt that her only close friends were other agents. It was the nature of the work. Girl-talk with other women had been out since the day she took the job. Loose talk killed fellow agents and ruined cases. Few women wanted a friend who was always closed.
Until that moment, she hadn’t thought that much about how small her world had become. She even had to be guarded with Tess, never sharing herself entirely. The intimate hours with Dane were the only times in years that she’d completely lowered her defenses. Dammit, once or twice in her life she just had to go with her feelings. She needed his love like she needed air to breathe. She had accepted the cost without knowing just how great it would be.
Damn you, Dane, I was happy with my life until you gave me a taste of more
.
“There are rumors. If he doesn’t get out today, he’ll be lying in his grave by tomorrow. He’s marked for an insider hit tonight.”
She forced herself to be an agent, while her heart screamed to be a woman in love. “How do we know this information is worth anything?”
“He told me you’d ask that. You have his word.”
“His word!” Jill hadn’t meant to shout.
“He said that might not mean much to you either. But Dane’s life is on the line here. Do you believe his crime is serious enough to die for?”
Within twenty minutes, Jill met with Ray and other FBI brass. They believed the threat on Dane’s life was a ploy. She had to make them understand. “We can’t take that chance.”
Ray leveled his look at Jill. “Jailed reporters try to pull this stuff all the time. You of all people should know he’s not above trying anything to get what he wants.”
Her face burned. “He’s never lied when he promised information. This case would still be unsolved and Tess would be dead if he hadn’t jumped in. He’s a man of action. That’s just how he is. Yes, he stepped over the line.”
“All right,” he said finally. “Go see him—hear him out. I’ll work on a release from this end. But tell him it had better be worth it.”
“Thanks, Ray,” Jill said, fighting an overwhelming urge to kiss his cheek. Grabbing her jacket, she headed for Central Jail.
The waiting room was stuffy and smelled of unwashed bodies and mildew. If the air conditioning was working at all, it was on its last leg. She fanned herself impatiently. After about five minutes, the deputy returned from the cell area alone.
Her drive to Memorial was a blur. She was speeding, zigzagging in and out of traffic, screeching to stops, while tears flowed down her cheeks.
She trembled, feeling very cold.
Let him live
. Nothing else was important. With all the horror she’d encountered in her job, she had never experienced anything like the fear she faced now, knowing he was fighting for his life, fearing he might not make it. Wanting to be there with him to will him to live. As she made turns, her clammy hands slipped along the round of the steering wheel.
If only she’d listened when he asked for an interview. Being the hard-nosed agent, she hadn’t given him hope that she would try. If she had, he wouldn’t have taken stupid risks, and wouldn’t have ended up in jail. She knew intellectually that he’d chosen his own path—she wasn’t to blame. Blame didn’t matter.