The Tycoon's Marriage Exchange (18 page)

She smiled, feeling a warm thrill run right through her heart.  “I’d love that very much.” 

Kallista
finished dressing, in casual clothes this time,
while Hector pulled together something to eat from the fridge.  He admitted that he had no idea how to cook, but his housekeeper always left something ready for him to just heat up.  So when
Kallista
came downstairs in leggings and a comfortable shirt, initially concerned about being so casual around him, she sighed with relief when she spotted him in a worn pair of jeans and a shirt, which couldn’t be considered old or tattered, but at least it was untucked so he looked somewhat relaxed. 

He was lighting a fire in the fireplace when she walked in and shyly smiled in his direction.  He immediately walked over to her and kissed her gently, reassuring her that everything was still okay.  He handed her a plate filled with a stuffed chicken
breast
, wild rice and some sort of strange vegetable that
Kallista
knew she wasn’t going to eat, now that she didn’t have to pretend any longer.  She curled up next to him on the soft sofa and they talked about everything.  He asked her about her friends and she openly told him about Dana and Stasha, her best friends from college.  He remembered her call so early that first morning back from their honeymoon and she laughed, nodding her head that yes, that had been Dana checking in for the first time in months. 

“She’d been hunted by some drug dealers or mafia type people all the way to
Odar
but after her wedding, her husband helped her track them down.  All the hit men, and there had been several, had been
flushed
out and imprisoned for attempting to assassinate the queen, apparently a vile offen
se according to the Sheik of Odar
. 

“I can imagine how Hassan
would feel.  He’s not a man to mess with,” Hector mentioned.

Kallista
turned her head and looked up at him.  “Do you know him?”

“We’ve done some business together.  He’s a good man.”

Kallista
was amazed at how far ranging
Hector’s
business acquaintances are.  “I consider him a good friend, actually,” Hector admitted. 
“
One of only a few.” 

That was news to her and she was thrilled. 
“So you
wouldn’t
mind if we went to visit?  I was going to ask if I could travel there for a long weekend, but….” She was suddenly worried about asking for his time.  She
wanted
to be with him, loved having his arms around her, but she also
knew he was a very busy man.  “F
orget it, I know you probably have lots of meetings scheduled.”  She looked down at her plate, her heart beating painfully in embarrassment. 

He smiled gently as he heard her unspoken question. 
“Would you like to visit Dana?  To make sure she’s okay?”

Kallista
laughed softly and looked into the fire.  “That would be great.”

“Would you mind if I went with you?  I’d rather not have you out of my site for that long,” he finally said. 

Kallista
’s head snapped around and she stared at him hard, wondering if he was just being nice. “
A
re you sure?  I don’t want to be a burden to you!”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand.  “Please, be a burden.  I’d love it!”

Then she remembered that Hector was rarely nice.  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.  “Oh, you’re a wonderful man!” she cried.  “I really do love you!  And you’re a genuinely nice man!”

He chuckled at her excitement, pulling her onto his lap as he held her close.  “Don’t let that get out to my competitors.  You’ll ruin my reputation.”

She snuggled against his chest, burying her smile in his warm, spicy scented neck.  “I promise, I won’t let the secret out!” 

Chapter
9

Kallista
smothered a yawn and snapped a few more pictures.  It was dark, she was tired and cold and
more than a little
irritated that the morning was turning out to be a waste of time.  She’d gotten a tip that a large shipment of drugs was coming into port this morning.  So far, the best she’d gotten was a few good pictures of the sun rising over the rusted out tankers piled up in the ship yard.  No drugs, no shipments, no bad guys.  Just boredom
and lost sleep
. 

She slumped down against one of the large, metal containers and copied her digital pictures to her phone, then sent them to her home e-mail address.  At least she’d have a few good pictures of rust, she thought.  Maybe one or two would be good sunrise pictures she could
use as background material. 

She slipped her phone back into the side of her
denim
jacket, in
to
a special pocket she’d created that wouldn’t fall out when she was running or jumping around.  She’d lost several other cell phones that way, either having them drop into water, crash onto cement or
asphalt
or just jiggle out with unknown impacts while she was rushing from one place to another.  The pocket was padded so she was less likely to knock it against something, and had a zipper
over the top
to hold the phone in place. 
Ever s
ince she’d sewn
this kind of
pocket
inside
several of her work jackets, the worst that had happened to her cell phone was it running out of power.  Usually at inopportune times, but then again, there wasn’t really a good time for a phone to lose power so that was sort of a redundant thought. 

She was just about to get up and head back to her car, prepared to call her contact and rail at him for sending her on a wild goose chase, when she was suddenly knocked
on the back of her head
, a spear of pain shooting through her skull.  She tried to talk, but the words wouldn’t form. 

As her eyes
blurred, she vaguely saw
the cold, hard pavement come closer and closer as she fell
.  H
er last thought before she lost consciousness was that she wished Hector were here.  He wouldn’t let this happen to her!

When she woke up, her head felt like it had been split open and she was in a dark room with
dim lights hanging from above her head,
cement walls and cement floors.  She would have looked up to check out the ceiling
more,
searching
for an escape route
, but her head hurt so much at even the smallest movement so she decided that knowing about the floors and walls was good enough for now. 

“So, the little busy body is
finally
awake,” a male voice said from one corner of the darkness. 

She thought about turning to find out who was talking, but it took too much energy.  When she tried to lift her hands up to find out why her head hurt so much, she realized that her hands were tied to the
old, wooden
chair she was sitting on.  “Where am
I
?” she asked, her voice scratchy and thin. 

“You’re in a safe place.  At least for now.”  The voice was coming closer and he didn’t sound amused.  “Who are you and what were you doing down on the docks?” he demanded.

Kallista
thought as quickly as possible but her mind wasn’t able to come up with a good reason.  “Can you tell me who wants to know?” she asked. 

She heard the tsking sound behind her and it sent a shiver down her spine.  “So quickly we forget!”  She heard his footsteps come around to face her.  “Surely you remember me!”

Kallista
’s eyes widened as Rolf Peterson came into view.  “What are you doing here, Rolf?  I thought you were out of town this week?”

He rolled his eyes.  “So we’re going to play it that way?”

She looked back at him confused.  “Play it what way?”

She gasped when he backhanded her, snapping her head to the right and another dagger of pain rose through her whole body, making her almost gag with the
nausea
that welled up in response.  “I don’t understand.”

“You were taking pictures!  What were you taking pictures of?” he demanded, holding up her digital camera complete with the zoom
lens
.  “The memory card is empty.  The card shows that you just sent the pictures somewhere!  Tell me who has them, and maybe you’ll live to see your parents again.”

Kallista
could see the truth in his eyes.  There was no way he was going to let her go. 

She looked down at her camera and considered her options.  She had to protect her parents and Hector.  There was no way she was bringing them into this mess.  She opened her mouth to say something when the ringing started. 

Rolf looked around, his eyes frantically searching her bag and jacket to locate the ringing.  “I thought you searched her stuff for a cell phone!” he roared, his hand tossing her camera onto a metal table
Kallista
hadn’t seen before.  On top was her denim jacket and her bag containing her other cameras and notebook.  Thankfully, the notebook was all in code, looking like a daily schedule of meetings with friends.  The names of the friends were coded
and were actually the names of the drug traffickers she had pictures of as well as the times she’d seen them and where.  The code to interpret the dates and times was back in Hector’s house on her laptop. 

He ripped open seams in her jacket, growling until he located the phone.  When he saw the name on the screen, his eyes snapped to
Kallista
’s face.  “Why the hell would Hector
Christophe
be calling you?”

Kallista
swallowed the fear and her chin went higher.  “He’s just a friend,” she lied. 

Rolf watched her carefully and, after a moment, shook his head.  “You’re lying.  This man means something to you.”  He shoved the phone at her ear and pressed the connection.  “Answer it,” he whispered violently. 

Kallista
hesitated, wondering how she could warn Hector that she was in trouble, without him coming
to
her rescue.  She didn’t want him hurt, needed to keep him safe.  “Hello?” she asked carefully.

“Honey, where are you?  I’ve been calling for the past hour trying to locate you.”

Kallista
closed her eyes, frantically trying to come up with an answer.  She remembered their conversation from last night and an idea came to mind.  “Oh, just having coffee with Dana.  We’ve had similar experiences so we’re just catching up,” she said, closing her eyes and praying that he would understand her message. 

“Okay,” he replied immediately.  “Have a good time.  But don’t forget that we’re meeting for lunch today.  You promised to talk to the caterers and arrange the dinner menu.”

Kallista
had no idea what he was talking about.  There was no dinner to be organized that she knew about and she hadn’t scheduled anything with his caterer.  All of his business functions were organized by his events coordinator at his office who was a miracle worker.  “I know.  I haven’t forgotten.  Let me finish up with Dana and I’ll head over to lunch.  I won’t be late.”

“That’s fine.  I won’t either,” he replied. 

She almost cried when there was silence, indicating that he’d hung up from his end.

Rolf’s sneer told her that he knew Hector was more than just a friend now.  “So, you’re on sweet terms with Hector
Christophe
.”  He walked in front of her, his eyes watching the tears stream unwillingly down her cheeks.  “Interesting chain of developments, wouldn’t you say?  That man just cost me a great deal of money, and there are some irritating law enforcement officers looking into my business affairs because of his interference.”  He tapped her phone against his chin as he contemplated his next move.  “Perhaps
it’s
time that I paid him back for that little irritation, don’t you think?”

Kallista
shook her head. “Leave him alone.  He hasn’t done anything to you!”

“Except he forced several of my business acquisitions to collapse recently.  They were some of my more lucrative enterprises, which is why I’m here, on these stinking docks right now trying to make back some of my money!”  He was screaming by the end of his tirade and
Kallista
cringed, pulling back as far as her bindings would allow. 

“I’m sorry.  I had no idea.”

“You should know!
” he screamed next to her ear, spittle flying onto her cheek and she cringed involuntarily.  “
I wanted your father’s business!  He had the delivery routes I needed and Hector
Christophe
came in and mess everything up.  So how about if we figure out an interesting way to…
.give as good as I got, don’t you think?”

A strange man with a bald head and a ripped tee shirt stuck his head into th
e room.  Rolf spun around to glare at
him.  At the man’s nod, Rolf’s smile grew wider.