Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) (18 page)

“The doc said he’d get here in two or three days.  We just need to keep feeding her the drugs he prescribed,” it was a man’s voice.

“But what if that doesn’t stop the contractions,” a woman asked.

“He said they would.”

“Isn’t it bad for her,” the woman persisted.

“I don’t think he gives a shit, do you?  All he cares about is the baby.  Come on, selling these babies is what gives us our great salaries and bonuses.  You need to stop your whining and do what you’re told.”  Darius listened, but the woman didn’t say anything else.

“Help.  Hurts.” 

She had such a thick accent, Darius hoped she hadn’t understood what they had been saying.

“We’re going to give you a shot, it should make you feel better.”

“No more shots.  Get sick.”

“Hold her still,” the man said.  Something fell to the floor.  The pregnant girl must be struggling.  Darius so wanted to go in and bust some heads.  How had Rylie survived not shooting everyone and taking those sixteen girls out of the farmhouse?  This waiting around was about killing him.

“She’s out.  That should last for a few hours.”

“When is the couple who are buying the baby going to arrive?”

“They’ll be in Vancouver in three days.  That’s why the doc wants to hold off her delivery.  They want the baby to be as shiny and new as possible.”

Darius thought he might throw up.  He crept out of the closet and peeked into the room again.  They were monitoring some of the machines and making notes in the girl’s charts.  He went down the hall to what looked like an office and let himself in. 

Bypassing the desk, he headed straight for the file cabinet.  He used the small flashlight he had brought with him.  It wasn’t until he opened the third drawer that he found the files that showed the information on the purchases.  It looked like eleven babies had been born on the island.  Using his phone, he took pictures of each of the documents as fast as he could. 

When he heard the man and woman walking down the hall towards him, he had just finished.  He slid the drawer shut and hid under the desk, praying they didn’t intend to come into the office, and if they did, that neither planned to sit at the desk.

The office door opened. 

“Ginger, why won’t you go out with me again?” the man whined.

“Easy, because you’re married.”

“That didn’t stop you before.  You said you liked the excitement.”

“That was before your wife started calling and harassing me, Larry.  Now tell me what we’re going to do if the drugs don’t work on that woman.  Are we just going to let her die?”

“It’s okay if she dies.  I was told to just make sure the baby doesn’t die.  Hell, it wouldn’t be the first time one of the mothers ended up dead.” 

“I guess not.”

“So are you going to go out with me?” Larry persisted.  “I told my wife to stop calling you.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.  What’s more, on our next vacation I plan to take you to Barbados, first class tickets, and everything.”

“Oh Larry!” she squealed.  “Let’s go back to my room.” They left the office.

Darius waited for ten minutes and then let himself out the door, determined to get back to the house and Rylie as fast as he could.  They needed to stop this shit. 

***

R
ylie wasn’t in the bedroom when he got back.  He found a note propped up in the bathroom.

Dare, I know you went for your pre-dawn jog.  Albert and I had some urgent business to discuss.  I will see you at breakfast.

Sylvia

Darius showered and dressed in one of the fancy outfits he bought with Jack and went on the prowl.  He found her in the library having an intense conversation with Albert, which immediately ceased when he arrived.

“I heard a rumor about an early breakfast.”  He grinned.  Albert scowled.

“You heard wrong.”

“Dare, I hate it when you leave the bed and don’t even say good-bye,” Rylie purred.  She looked every inch, Sylvia Hessman.  From the top of her perfectly coifed hair to the Louboutin heels she was wearing.

“Mr. Lawrence, Sylvia and I were in the middle of a very delicate conversation.  If you are truly hungry, please find Carver and he will make sure you have something to eat.  In the meantime, I must ask you to leave.”

“I was really hoping to find out more about how the antiquities business was run, are you sure I can’t stay?” Darius wheedled.

Rylie got up from her chair at Albert’s desk and glided over to him.  She looked into his eyes and gave him a charming smile.  “Seriously, Dare, some other time you can join us.  Maybe next week when we are putting together our collection of jades.  Right now Albert and I need some privacy.”  She stroked her hand down his tie.

“I’ll just get some juice and a banana.  I’ll wait to have breakfast until you’re ready.”  He couldn’t help himself, he bent down, intent on messing up her perfect lipstick.  Okay, tasting and kissing Rylie was the main reason for the kiss.  She must have seen his intention because at the last moment she turned her head.

“Musn’t get overheated.  I have work to attend to, Darling Dare.”  She patted his chest and turned back to Albert, effectively dismissing him.  Damn, she was good.

He went in search of sustenance.

By the time she got back to the room, he’d already eaten two ham sandwiches.  He had a third waiting for her.

“I don’t think I can stomach anything,” she said as she slipped out of her shoes.

“You have to eat.”  He brought the food to the bed where she had landed face first.

“It almost didn’t work.  It still hasn’t.  I have to arrange a wire transfer this morning of five million USD, into his bank from Terrence Jarlson.”

“You named Aiden after cheese.  That’s so cool.”

“That would have been Jarlsberg, you idiot.  I named him Jarlson.  Anyway, I have to arrange the transfer.”

“How in the hell are you going to get that kind of money?”  Rylie turned her head and rested them on her folded hands.

“Oh, ye of little faith.  I’ve been playing around with all of Albert’s accounts since we first started.  I’m transferring the money from one of his offshore accounts.  Serves the fucker right that we use his own money.”

“Won’t he notice?”

“Not the way I do it.  I just show it that the bank has deducted the money from the account so that they can put the cash into a safety deposit box for safe keeping.  The paranoid bastard has done that from time to time.  Voila, I have fifteen million dollars to play with.”

“Fifteen?  I thought we only needed five.”

“Five today, for this morning’s transfer.  Trust me, Terrence Jarlson is definitely going to need more in the next couple of days.  So are we as we play out this con.  Now tell me what you found out.”  She pushed up and held out her hand for the sandwich.

He handed her a napkin and the sandwich and watched as she took off the cheese, and started to eat. 

“We have three days at the most before the baby is going to be delivered to a couple in Vancouver.”  Rylie nodded and continued to chew, motioning with her hand that he should continue.

“They’re giving her some kind of drug to delay the labor.  Apparently they want the baby to be as close to a newborn as possible.”

She set down her sandwich and looked at him in horror, then tears started to well.  “They never think of these women as people, do they?”

Darius sat down beside her and held her close.  “No, they don’t.  They’re just commodities, that’s why what you’re doing is so important.  Without you, they would have just been forgotten. Turned into property and eventually thrown away.”

“I would never let that happen.  Never,” her voice fierce.  She gripped the front of his shirt and stared up at him.  “If something happens to me, you have to promise you’ll save them.  All of them.”  Darius’ gut clenched.

“No!  Nothing is allowed to happen to you.  If they are important, you’re at the top of the pyramid.  Your family needs you.  You know Sawyer and Charlotte can survive, but what about Georgie?” 

“You said you would loan me money.  Remember?  Well, they won’t need it.  I have that covered.  But could you check on them?” her voice was just a whisper, her eyes begging him.

“Here’s why you’re the absolute top of the pyramid.  I don’t know how or why, but you’re mine.  I know it’s too soon to talk about love, because it would scare both of us, and have you running to Oklahoma and me running to San Diego.  But Rylie, I’m in deep, dark like with you, and give it two more days I think I’m going to be in deep, dark love with you, and if you run, I’m running after you.  So you’re not allowed to have anything happen to you during this operation, have I made myself perfectly clear?”

He had watched as her eyes got wider and wider with every word he had said.  “Dare, you can’t be.”  She reached out to touch him, then grabbed her hands back.

“No!  You touch me.”  He pulled her hands to him and laid them on his chest.  “Always, Rylie, I’ll always want you touching me.”

“You can’t, you don’t really know me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”  He hauled her against him and tilted her chin so their eyes were inches away from one another, their breath mingling.  “Rylie Jones is the bravest woman I have ever met, and I’ve met some brave fucking women.  She has a heart as big as Oklahoma and Texas combined.  She kisses like a fucking dream, and she would, and has, done more for people in her short life, than most saints have done.”

“That’s what I mean, you don’t see the real me.  I’m the lactose intolerant, grumpy in the morning, no-make-up, computer nerd.” 

“That makes you more you.  But there is one bad thing.”

“What?”

“You’re leaving me hanging here.”

“Dare, you’ve got to know how I’m feeling.  I’ve been wearing my heart on my sleeve every time we’ve been behind closed doors.  You’re my hero.”

“Not the same thing, honey.”

Rylie twined an arm around his neck, her fingers threading through his short cropped hair, making him shiver.

“Okay, then let me tell it to you this way.  If I thought t we had a chance in hell at working, I would tell you I could fall in love with you too.  But we don’t Dare.  Let’s be honest here, okay?  You have your bigger than life, life.  You’re a SEAL in California.  When all this is over, and I get out alive, I’m going back to my overworked, hectic life no one in their right mind would want to have anything to do with.  And it’s not just my life.  I keep telling you, you’ve gotten the wrong idea about me,” she insisted.

“You’re wrong, and we’re going to put that kind of thinking to a stop.”  His mouth crashed down on hers, strong and soft, taking and giving.  Her nails bit into his scalp, and he wanted to howl in pleasure.  He unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it out of her skirt.  When he tried to pull her blouse and jacket down off her arms, she just tightened her hold on his neck.

“I want you naked.”

“Huh?” She looked up at him with passion glazed eyes. 

“Let go, honey.  We’re getting undressed.”  Rylie’s gaze sharpened.

“I’ll finally get to see you naked?”  She grinned and pulled off her shirt and coat.  There she was in a peach camisole, and he couldn’t think.

“Dare?”

“Hmm?”

“You promised me naked.”  He found the hook on her skirt and then slid down the zipper. 

“I know I promised you naked, Rylie.  But I think you’re wearing thigh highs.  Can you please keep those on for me?”  He’d be lucky not to die of a heart attack right now.

“That’s not what I mean, I want to see you naked.”

He looked down at her, and she was now wearing nothing but a peach camisole and sheer stockings and he was struggling to breathe.  “What?” he asked.

“God dammit, Dare, take off your fucking clothes!”  He shouted with laughter, which made her scowl bigger.

“Oh shit, you’re serious.”

“Damn right I am.  Strip SEAL boy.”  Darius pulled the tie over his head, and unbuttoned his shirt and felt his head swell at her look of eagerness when she eyed his chest.  “Now the slacks.”  He shed his pants and briefs and stood in front of her naked.

“I think you’re as into this as I am.”  She smirked.  He grasped his erect cock and stroked it while looking at her resting on the bed.

“Take off the camisole, Rylie.  But do it slowly.”  She gave him a sultry smile and did as he asked.  Darius swore every drop of blood in his body tried to rush to his dick.  No woman ever looked more beautiful.  He stepped forward and rested a knee on the bed.  She reached for him, but he grabbed her hand and laced their fingers.

“But I want to touch you.”

“Another time.  Sometime when I won’t go off like a roman candle.” 
Which might be never
.  Darius settled them onto the bed so they were nose to nose.  Her hand trembled in his. 

“Don’t make me wait.  Don’t tease.”  He pulled out the condom he’d placed under the pillow while she’d been talking to Liu and showed it to her.  She grinned and tried to grab it.

“Let me put it on you,” she asked.

“You are not touching my Johnson, woman.  We’ve discussed this.”

“For this to work, your
Johnson
is going to eventually have to touch my
Jones
.”  He snickered, and she bit his jaw.  He kissed her, her satin lips and soft sighs working magic on his soul.  Soon both of his hands were skimming down her torso, lingering at those places that brought more music, until he found the curls he sought.  It was too much, he had dreamed too long.  In one move, he was exactly where he wanted, his head between her thighs, her legs resting on his shoulders. 

“Please don’t.  This doesn’t work for me.”  He smiled as her mind and past lost a fight with her body.  Because she was certainly enjoying this every bit as much as he was.  She thrust against his lips and tongue as he reveled in pleasuring her, loving her wet welcome.  Rylie didn’t say anything more, but as if he could hear her thoughts, she continued to struggle with a reforming reality.  Finally...

“It’s good, but only because it’s you, Dare.”  Her heels dug into his shoulders, and he thrust fingers into her tight sheath as he applied the subtlest bite imaginable to her clit, and she wailed.