Dark And Dangerous (21 page)

Chapter 23

 
Nathan
came out of the meeting room early. It was the damnedest thing, he thought. He
had kissed Kayley to prove her wrong when she had said she wouldn't notice he
was gone, and because he had wanted to.

 
He just hadn't counted on it having the same
effect on him. He hadn't been able to get her out of his mind during the
meeting. Hadn't been able to cool his blood after the kiss.

Her taste had haunted him,
making his blood run hot.

 
It had made him edgy and unfocused. Something
he never was.

Finally he just gave in,
leaving a surprised Damian to finish the meeting.

 
He closed the door behind him and went to
find Kayley and do something about his unquenchable need for her.

He was just about to walk
past David, when he stopped him.

 
"You told me to watch Kayley,"
David started, "she didn't take very kindly to that."

 
"You told her?" Nathan frowned.
"I told you to be discreet."

 
"I tried, but she got suspicious when I
asked her where she was going."

 
"She went somewhere?" Nathan asked
alerted. "You didn't let her leave, did you?"

 
"You didn't tell me to keep her here,
and I don't think I would have been able to anyway." David smiled.
"That's a very determined woman."

 
"Yeah, she is." Nathan grinned.
"Where did she go?"

 
"She informed me that she was going for
a walk on the resort grounds."

 
"Typical," Nathan muttered.
"Can't just do the sensible thing and stay inside."

He swiped his security
card and pushed the button for the elevator.

 
"And she told me to inform you that you
could go to hell," David added from behind his desk.

 
"I bet she did." Nathan grinned.

 
"And if I'm any judge I think she would
like to help send you there personally."

 
"She does have a temper. I guess I'll
have to find her and change her mind."

 
"What's this?" David's brows
creased as he looked at one of the computer screens on his desk.

 
"Problem?" Nathan asked, noting
that it was the screen showing the resorts security cameras.

 
"There's trouble in the art exhibition.
It's Kayley."

 
Nathan's heart leapt with fear and his
stomach turned over. He was behind David's desk to look at the screen in two
long strides. Cold fear ran down his spine at what he saw. Kayley was crouched
behind one of the exhibitions, half hidden from his view. Just inside the room were
two men dressed in black. One of them held a gun in his right hand. And he was
walking straight towards the spot where Kayley was hiding.

 
Acting quickly, Nathan reached the elevator
in two running steps, pushed the button and was inside the second the doors
began to open.

 
"Call security," he barked at David
and pushed the button for the ground floor.

He had never felt more
helpless or futile than he did while the elevator made its way down. It felt
like an eternity to him, though in reality it only took a matter of seconds.

He was out of the door,
and running towards the art wing, before the doors were completely open. Nathan
sprinted through the halls, fear gripping his throat, and for the first time in
his life damned the resort for being so large. He didn't notice the stunned
guests who stopped and stared after him. In that instant the only thing that
existed for him was Kayley.

 
He burst into the exhibition room, surprising
the two men. He saw in an instant that they had found Kayley and was standing
over her, pointing the gun right at her as she sat helplessly kneeling on the
floor.

 
The man holding the gun swung it around
wildly, and fired a shot after Nathan. It whizzed through the air, hitting one
of the wooden sculptures. Splinters flew like deadly arrows through the air,
one of them grazing Nathan's arm.

 
Acting quickly, Kayley reared up grabbing the
arm of the man with the gun, and yanked it down, knocking it against the corner
of one of the exhibition tables.

 
He screamed with pain and rage at the impact,
as the gun clattered to the floor. Before Kayley had time to react or move out
of the way, he whipped back around, swinging his arm, and connected with her
face. Kayley's head jerked back with the force of the blow and she tumbled to
the ground.

 
Nathan was already running forward, but he
wasn't quick enough to block the blow aimed at Kayley as the other man jumped
him. Fury exploded through him, so hot it nearly turned his vision red. In an
instant, he plowed his fist into the other
mans
face,
making his head whip back violently. Before he had a chance to regain his
control, Nathan kicked him full-force on the front of his knee. The bone made a
horrible loud snapping sound as it broke, and the man crumbled to the floor
screaming.

 
Nathan didn't hesitate for a second before he
leaped towards the other man. He saw in a split second the man reach a hand
inside his jacket.

 
Frozen with fear to the spot on the floor
where she had fallen, Kayley saw it too. "Watch out. He has another
gun," she screamed.

 
Terrified, she watched Nathan charge him
anyway. Nathan swung out breaking
the
mans
nose with a hard right handed blow. Blood splattered everywhere, but the pain
didn't seem to have any effect on him. If anything it made him more violent as
he plowed a fist into Nathan's face.

Kayley watched horrified
while blood welled from Nathan's lip. Agilely he dodged another blow, twisted
and returned it with one of his own. The force of the impact made the other man
stumble.

 
Using that to his advantage, Nathan pummeled
his fists into
the
mans
abdomen and grabbed his arm, throwing him to the ground with a force that
knocked the air out of his lungs.

 
Nathan planted his knee on
the
mans
back and grabbed a fistful of his hair,
yanking his head up.

 
"Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you
now for hurting Kayley?"

 
"Because he isn't worth it." Damian
appeared in the doorway, flanked by two of the resorts security guards.
"Secure them," he ordered the guards and pointed to the two men Nathan
had immobilized. "And bring them to the security room."

No sooner had Nathan
handed over the man to the guards, then he was crouching in front of Kayley.

 
"You okay, honey?" he murmured and
framed her face gently with his hands, forcing her to look at him. Her eyes had
the glazed look of on setting shock and she was trembling so much she had to
bite her lip to keep her teeth from chattering.

 
"Oh, baby." He wrapped his arms
around her, pulling her against him.

 
"Is she hurt?" Damian asked from behind
them.

 
"I don't think so." Nathan scooped
her up in his arms. "I need to get her upstairs and in some dry clothes.
She's soaking wet."

Oblivious to the stares
and murmurs from guests and staff, he carried her through the resort.

Neither Damian nor Nathan
said anything until they were in the elevator and the doors were closed.

 
"The police is on their way,"
Damian said. "I'll keep them occupied until you're ready to see
them."

 
"Thanks." He met his
brothers
eyes over Kayley's head. There was no doubt Damian
was angry that Nathan had left him out. But he also knew that no matter what,
Damian had his back.

The second the elevator
doors slid open Nathan was out.

 
"Is she all right?" David jumped up
when he saw them.

 
"Yeah," Nathan said without pausing.
He headed straight for his suite, followed by Damian, and only stopped long
enough for Damian to open the door for him.

Without a word, he carried
her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them, and continued into the
bathroom. Gently, he set Kayley down on the bathroom counter and framed her
face with his hands, tipping it up to him. His eyes raked her face, taking in
everything from her still glazed eyes to her red cheek and swollen lip. Rage
burned in his stomach and was fought back ruthlessly.

 
"Are you hurt anywhere, baby?" he
asked softly.

Trembling
to
much to speak, she shook her
head slightly.

 
"Thank God." For a moment he gave
in to his relief and leaned his forehead against hers. He had never been
so
scared in his life as he had when he had seen the video
footage from the security camera.

 
Taking a deep breath, he straightened and
looked down at her. "We need to get you out of these clothes before you
catch pneumonia." He began to peel of her clothes, suffering with every
scrape and every bruise he discovered on her. When he had undressed her
completely, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the large shower.

Setting her down, he
turned the spray on hot and quickly peeled of his own clothes and stepped in
beside her.

 
She was shaking and her skin was icy cold, he
thought, and drew her into his arms again.

It took several minutes
before the warmth slowly began to seep through her and the shaking slowly
subsided.

Kayley felt chilled to her
bones and was grateful for Nathan's warm body fitted against hers, and the hot
water running over her in hot liquid streams.

She barely noticed as her
body began to warm and melt against Nathan, but he did.

Putting one hand under her
chin, he tipped her face up to his and studied her closely.

 
"Feeling better?"

She nodded, still not
trusting her voice.

 
"Good." She looked much better, he
thought. Her color was coming back. "What the hell did you think you were
doing?"

Taken off guard, she
blinked. "I
—
"

 
"I told you they might still be after
you, and I told you to stay out of trouble. Did you think I meant make it easy
for them?"

 
"I didn't
—
" she began and was cut off.

 
"You could have gotten hurt. You damn
near did."

 
"I
—
" Again he cut across her.

 
"What the hell were you thinking?"
he asked again, and took her mouth in a hot kiss, pouring all of his anger,
need and fear into it.

Rocked by it, Kayley
opened to him, taking the kiss deeper, answering with a need as hungry as his.

 
She reveled in it as Nathan ran his hands over
her and through her hair, leaving a trail of need in their wake. Demanding
more, Kayley streaked her hands up Nathan's chest, into his hair and down his
back. His blood pounded with need at her touch.

 
He tore his mouth from hers and roamed his
lips over her skin, inciting and exploring. He trailed hot moist kisses down
her, caressing and plucking gently at her breasts until she whimpered with
need.

 
"Please, Nathan. I need
—
" Her words were cut off as his lips moved
further down, over her stomach to the center of her need. Her legs nearly
buckled beneath her and she had to grab onto his shoulders to steady herself.

 
In a swift move Nathan straightened, scooping
her up in his arms and took her smoothly. Pleasure exploded through her,
whipping her over the edge she was teetering on and sent her flying.

 
Nathan waited until the first aftershocks of
the orgasm had subsided, before he began to move within her.

He watched her eyes fly
open and nearly close again as pleasure swamped her once more.

 
"Look at me, Kayley," he demanded,
his voice raw with restraint.