Sin and Sacrifice (15 page)

He searched her eyes for
answers she didn't have to give him. Evelyn's grief subsided by
slow degrees and she felt her chin tremble with suppressed emotion.
Leaning on Rhett, literally and figuratively, felt
right.

Without warning, Rhett
lowered his mouth and claimed hers. A gentle brush turned into a
hot slide of tongue that sought entrance. Entrance that she gave
him. He tasted like exotic spices and heat. A small groan betrayed
her, a sound he drew in and absorbed while cupping the back of her
head to keep her close. That he could be so tender after all the
things she'd seen him do only exacerbated the desire pooling low in
her belly. They might never have had harsh words earlier, never had
an ounce of tension between them as gentle as he handled
her.

Changing the angle, he came
in again at another slant, drawing her into a thorough exploration
that left her clinging to him; he felt like marble under her
pressing palms, never swaying or losing balance when she came flush
against him. As if nothing could ever shake the foundation he stood
on. A low growl shook his chest and she responded by arching into
him, gasping against his lips when his grip tightened in her
hair.

The opening of the door to
the suite startled them both. Her more than him. She stepped away
with her fingers touching the damp curve of her lips, eyes locked
on his. In that split second before he pivoted on a boot heel,
Evelyn understood that she'd rocked him as much as he'd rocked her.
He wore his desire openly and there was more than lust lurking in
his gaze. Something deeper.

Maybe she was just losing
her mind.

“
Rhett?” Christian
asked.

“
In here,” Rhett said,
leaving her room with long strides.

Evelyn used the time to get
herself together. Turning back to Galiana's suitcase, a fresh pang
surged through her. In the other room, she heard Christian and
Rhett speaking in low voices but she couldn't make out what they
were saying. If they weren't careful, Rhett's partner and boss were
going to find out things were becoming more complicated than they
imagined.

She found Galiana's stash
of cash and pushed the fold into the pocket of her jeans. There was
an extra credit card she hadn't had on her at the time of her death
that Evelyn also kept. All the girls knew the passwords to each
others accounts for safety reasons, and if she couldn't get into
her own account, she might be able to access Galiana's if she
needed to.

Every time she thought
about her sister, her stomach rolled into knots.

Hearing the door open and
close again out in the main room, Evelyn's curiosity drew her to
the archway. Rhett stood there with his hands on his hips, staring
at her as if he'd been about to walk in.

“
We need to talk,” he
said, and gestured to one of the couches.

Safer out here than in the
bedroom, she thought. Evelyn nodded and crossed the room to sit on
the edge of the cushion. Her mouth still felt bruised and raw from
his kisses.

“
What's going
on?”

“
Christian's suspicious of
a trio of men he spotted while he was making his rounds,” Rhett
said, getting right to the point. All the warm desire she'd seen on
his face had vanished in favor of sharp concern. “He wants us to
stay alert up here, ready to move at a moment's notice. I'd advise
you to rest while you can though. The situation's too fluid not to
take advantage of every second we can to refuel.”

Despite his concern, Rhett
exuded a sense of calm that, in any other circumstance, would have
soothed any and all her fears. The recent torture though, the
attack by the boat, kept her from getting too comfortable. Alarm
shot through her at the thought that the Templars were closing
in.

“
What do you mean,
suspicious of a trio of men? They can't already be here, can they?
How will he know for sure?” The questions spilled out before she
could stop them.

He must have heard her
angst because he came over to place a hand on her shoulder. Rhett
was so tall that she had to crane a look way up to see his
face.

“
It's his job to know what
to look for, hm? Let him work. Right this second it's just a
feeling, so we're still okay. Once my boss and Dracht and their
team get your friends out of there, they'll be coming back here.
Extra eyes, extra ears.” Rhett stared down at her and squeezed her
shoulder lightly.

“
Will they be bringing my
s—friends?” That was the second time she almost slipped and said
the wrong thing.

Rhett arched a brow.
“Probably not. It's not a good idea to make one big target out of
all of you, Miss Grant.”

So they were back to Miss
Grant and Agent Nichols. Evelyn's lips thinned, though she knew
that it was best to keep a professional distance with his partner
coming in and out all the time. That knowledge eased the rankle at
the formality he fell back on.

“
I'd like to be able to at
least talk to them when I can.” Evelyn fretted over Dragar and
Dracht questioning her sisters only to get a different story than
she'd given Rhett. Not good. Not good at all.

“
I don't see a problem
with that. We'll know more as the night goes on. Get some rest.” He
stepped away toward the small kitchenette.

Evelyn watched him go,
remembering all too well what his mouth had felt like on hers. She
wondered if he was thinking of her that way, too, or if he'd
already put her from his mind.

The look he speared back
through the room when he opened the small fridge for a bottle of
water assured her that no, Rhett had not put her from his mind at
all.

Even in the middle of the
night, she could hear noises from the market street below. People
talking, people laughing, the random shuffle of shoes on asphalt.
She wondered if the city ever slept. She also wondered if any of
those bodies winding through the market were Templars. If they
were, why were they waiting so long to strike?

On her back on the bed,
fully clothed with her shoes on, Evelyn stared up at the dark
ceiling. Her thoughts swirled around the safety of her sisters, the
kiss with Rhett, and future plans that she couldn't quite grasp.
She didn't know what direction to go in anymore, wasn't sure how to
function without Rhett and Christian's help. She and her sisters
needed them until they could slip back into the obscurity they
preferred. Would Rhett be satisfied with that when it was all over?
--would
she?

The answers that came
immediately to mind unsettled her. Rhett wouldn't just walk away
from this and neither would the US government. They were involved
too deep now, too invested in revealing the truth. If they caught
the Templars and questioned them, there would be no hiding what
they were.

And what then? How would
she explain? The lies and deception would be impossible to
overlook. Even if she figured out a suitable lie and the government
didn't uncover the oddities in their backgrounds, she knew the
Templars would probably out them. To save their own skin, they
would sing like birds.

Saying goodbye whatever the
outcome did not set well with her, either. After only a few days,
Evelyn was already torn about her feelings over Rhett. Not one to
fall in love at first sight, she still wanted the option to at
least get to know him better.

Turning her head to the
side, she saw the glowing numbers of the clock on the
nightstand:
2:15.
Exhausted, she closed her eyes and at least tried to rest. If
Christian had come and gone to relieve Rhett, she'd never heard
him.

The next thing she knew,
weak fingers of light spilled in through the cracks of the curtains
over the balcony doors and the scent of food filled her nose.
Blinking awake, she saw Rhett standing at the side of her bed with
a tray in his hands.

Sitting up, she glanced
through the room, bleary eyed.

“
Good morning,” he said
with too much crisp authority. He sounded like he'd been awake for
hours. “I brought you breakfast.”

Evelyn knuckled her eyes
and propped her back against the pillows. He set the tray over her
lap in that efficient way he had that always made her feel like he
was one step ahead of the rest of them.

“
Thank you. You didn't
have to--”

“
I know. Eat, and then
we'll have a short chat.”

A short
chat
. Evelyn snapped a look at his face.
He smelled fresh from a shower, hair still damp, whiskers bristling
along his jaw. In dark, plain clothing, he'd slung the holster over
his shoulder with the guns tucked into the sheaths. She wondered if
he had information about her sisters.

“
Did you hear from your
boss?” she asked.

“
Just eat, hm?” he said,
giving her a look that said he wouldn't tell her anything until
she'd replenished her energy.

Pancakes, two slices of
bacon and scrambled eggs stared up at her from the plate. A small
glass of orange juice sat to the side. Suddenly, she realized she
was ravenous. Picking up her fork, she dove into the meal that
seemed home made rather than ordered up from room
service.

Rhett must have had
Christian gather supplies and cooked it himself.

She watched him cross the
room to scoop back the drapes and tie them off to the side of her
balcony doors; through the panes, she could hear the bustle of
early shoppers and merchants in the street market below. He didn't
open the doors themselves, standing with his hands propped on his
hips while he surveyed the building across and what he could see of
the milling crowd. Searching for threats. Calm and in control, he
didn't act suspicious and yet there was no denying that he was
alert and attentive.

She didn't think much got
by Mister Rhett Nichols.

He turned with a sharp
pivot and slanted her a vague smile that she couldn't read. “I'll
be out here when you're done.”

“
I'll be out in a little
bit.”

He left, closing her door
behind him. The man was an enigma, government agent or not. Last
night he'd kissed her and this morning she half expected him to
start whipping out the 'Miss Grant' again.

Ten minutes later, she set
the tray aside with fully three quarters of her meal demolished.
Awake, but still needing coffee, she made quick work of a shower.
From her luggage she found another pair of jeans and a lemon yellow
shirt with tiny white piping to wear. Leaving her hair to dry into
natural waves, she folded all the spare cash she could find from
the luggage, the identification and credit cards, into her
pockets.

Done with that, she gave
Galiana's luggage a last touch, stifling the knot in the back of
her throat, and left the bedroom.

Don't think about it
now.

More sunlight poured in
through the open balcony doors in the living room, drenching the
suite in a warm glow. Rhett made a strong silhouette outlined
against the bright day, one arm up on the door frame. She couldn't
tell from this angle exactly what he was looking at, but he seemed
as serious and as intense as he'd been in her room.

“
All set?” he asked before
she could announce her presence.

How did he do that? She
started to frown and then smiled to herself. If he wasn't so
astute, she probably wouldn't be alive.

“
I am. What's going on?
What did you find out?” Perching on the arm of a chair was as
comfortable as she could get until she knew more about what
happened to her sisters.

He turned around and leaned
his back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. It
made him look broader, if that was possible. She tried not to
openly stare.

“
They didn't get your
friends, Evelyn.” Straight up, with a scrutinizing stare, lips thin
with displeasure.

Whatever stray thoughts had
started to slide through her mind cut off at the news. She looked
at his eyes.

“
What? Why
not?”

“
They weren't there went
the agents went in. Some time during the night, they were moved
through an underground tunnel beneath the church. We didn't know it
existed until they did a thorough search.” Rhett seemed grim about
the news.

Evelyn's stomach lurched.
“Well surely they can track them? I mean, if it's a tunnel, then it
leads somewhere.”

“
They did that. The
basement it emptied into was the building next to the church, an
old mortuary no longer in use. They didn't find your friends there,
either.”

Evelyn got up off the couch
and started pacing. “I don't understand. Was that just a
preventative measure on their part? Did they have some other goal?
I mean, it seems strange to me that they would just up and move
them.”

Rhett shook his head,
watching her. “We haven't figured it out yet. But they're working
on it. Believe me when I say Dragar and Dracht know what they're
doing.”

Evelyn wanted to snap and
say she didn't think any of them knew what they were doing; it
served no one, least of all herself, to give in to that kind of
knee jerk reaction. If she lost control and allowed anger to rule,
she'd only end up offending the only people trying to help them.
And, the devil on her shoulder reminded her, she wasn't telling
Rhett and his co-workers the truth. Not the whole truth.