Honeymoon To Die For (25 page)

He cursed. “You’re hurt.”

She glared at him. “I don’t know why you’re so angry.
I’m
the one in pain and I’m not cursing a blue streak.”  She moved off at a slow limp, muttering under her breath about overbearing men.

Ryder rolled his eyes and caught up to her. When he put an arm around her waist she stiffened until he said, “I know you’re tough, but you need ice on that. Lean on me until we can get it.”

Heaving out one long breath, she relaxed.

“Tell me what happened,” he coaxed in a calmer voice than he’d thought possible.

“I got jumped down the road, but I got my licks in and managed to break away.”

“Got a description?”

“Caucasian male. Six feet. Two ten, maybe two fifteen. All muscle. Smokes strong cigarettes. Something European. Wore black all over and a stocking cap.”

That could be anyone. What was the chance that someone on the Slye team got a look at Bianca’s attacker? Sabrina had said the FBI didn’t want Slye anywhere around the Van Dyke home, but that wouldn’t stop them from setting up an observation point.

“Must be Kearn’s people again,” Bianca offered and grimaced when she stepped wrong.  

Ryder tightened his hold on her to take more weight off her leg. He wished he could tell her that Kearn’s people hadn’t kidnapped them, but he couldn’t betray Sabrina’s trust. He seriously doubted Kearn’s boys would have sent someone to grab Bianca. They might not be happy about Ryder being out of prison, but he just did not give J. K. Kearn’s sons that much credit for initiative.

He fully expected them to sell the company at some point.

Of course, if they did and Hubrecht bought it, that would only improve the government’s case against Ryder.

He circled back to his original question, but changed it up. “Why did you leave without telling me?”

She tried to shrug, which was hard to do when he held her so close. And it was forced. “Just needed to get some air and exercise.”

Lie. Had to be about her job, but Ryder was shocked that Murdock would set up a meeting when someone could have seen her.

Unless ... Ryder’s gaze went to the iPod.

So she had a way to communicate with the FBI. Slick, as long as no one in VDE figured it out. But she couldn’t do this again. He would not have another person’s death on his head. He couldn’t have prevented Kearn’s, but he could keep Bianca alive if she’d just do as he told her and tell him what the FBI was up to.

When the guard gate for the Van Dyke home came into sight, Ryder leaned over and said, “Don’t leave the house alone again.”

She bristled, muscles tightening across her shoulders and back. To her credit, she smiled when she told him, “I am the one calling the shots. Not you. And I can clearly take care of myself. You should just worry about getting me inside VDE.”

“Be patient. If we push it now, Hubrecht and his security will get suspicious of me then
I
may lose access. Give me today to figure my way around there and I’ll get you in by the end of the week.”

“That’s not soon enough. I can’t spend a week playing trophy bride.”

Just as they reached the gate, he said, “Trust me. You’re not trophy bride material.”  

Bianca would never be some man’s arm candy.

She was too much woman for a man who wanted a subservient female. Ryder liked that about her even when she frustrated the hell out of him. She’d handled some cretin who’d jumped her and taken Ryder’s head off when he’d yelled at her.

She could be so damned adorable sometimes.

She turned to him with a clenched-teeth smile. “Don’t be late getting ready for work,
D
ear
.”  Then she stepped away from him, entering the gate.

Why was she pissed off now?

What had caused that?  

Women could be so damned
aggravating
sometimes. Most of the time.

Ryder paused to inform the security guard that Bianca was not to leave unescorted again. He hurried to catch up with her. But the minute he put his hand at her back, she hissed, “Don’t touch me.”

Facing a hostile enemy whose language he didn’t speak was easier to figure out than a woman on a good day.

CHAPTER 23

Bianca finished a long shower. Her muscles felt better but her temper still threatened to explode.

Trust me. You’re not trophy bride material.

She glanced over at the mirror. Scary wet hair stuck out everywhere. She had the blistered-red splotch of a handprint on her cheek and cuts everywhere from shoulder to ankles.

Granted, she wasn’t prime runway material, but did Ryder have to put her shortcomings in such blunt terms? She was having enough trouble keeping her footing in this operation without him echoing Bernard’s words.

Not specifically, but the insinuation was clear.

Bernard had said she was too uptight, too much of a prude, too critical ... too everything a man didn’t want and not enough of what men liked. He’d been a jerk, but she still wondered how much of what he’d said was true.

When Ryder had hovered above her last night, she’d been swept away in the moment. Clearly caught up in a fantasy of her own making.

She must have imagined that look of desire in his eyes.

If that’s so, then why’d he kiss you?

Because he’d felt guilty about waking up out of control. For those few minutes, she’d imagined she was special. That he saw only her and no one else.

And that she’d been enough.

She looked away from the mirror, unable to stare at the fool who’d fallen victim to Ryder’s crazy-hot silver eyes. Must have been lack of sleep and getting kidnapped that had turned her brain to mush.

That and having Ryder’s ripped body covering her from head to toe.

Her nipples puckered at the memory.

She shook her head at herself. She was law enforcement and he was a prisoner. Possibly one who had been wrongly accused, but until she had hard facts she needed to keep her head straight about their roles.

Flipping her towel into the corner, she pulled on the robe she’d grabbed on the way in here rather than take the time to figure out what she wanted to wear today. To shop.

Kill me now.

Murdock would probably go nuts later when his people reported that Bianca was putting in hours of research at Sax Fifth Avenue when she was supposed to be breaking into the VDE computer network.

Using her computer skills wouldn’t happen unless she got inside the building.

She ran a brush through her hair enough to get it off her face, wrapped the thick navy blue robe around her and walked out of the bathroom. The perpetual acoustic music had switched to blues. Bonnie Raitt was singing about loving a man.

Dressed in a white button down shirt and gray dress pants, Ryder leaned against the wall next to the window. He held a cell phone at his ear. “She
is
an amazing woman.”

Bianca walked toward the closet, acting as if she hadn’t heard him. Was Ryder trying to get on her good side by talking her up to the team?

Wait a freakin’ minute.

He didn’t have a cell phone.

She spun around. “Is that my phone?”

He was smiling at something being said. “Okay, here she is.”

She was going to murder him in his sleep. Marching across the room, she snatched the phone out of his hand and glared a death threat at him. “Hello?”

“Hi, baby.”  Bianca’s mama bubbled over with happiness. “I sure do like your young man. He’s a sweetie.”

Bianca changed her mind. She wasn’t going to kill Ryder. She would take her time coming up with a slow and painful way to make him pay for talking to her family. “He’s something all right. Why’d you call, Mama?”

“I need to know when you’re comin’ home. Everybody wants to throw you a party.”  

Bianca rubbed her forehead where the mother of all headaches had set up camp. “I’m going to call you on Monday to let you know. Remember?”

“Yes, but we’re so excited. You can’t come home this weekend? Everybody is anxious to meet him and see you.”

“I’m tied up right now.”

“But you’re on your honeymoon.”

The honeymoon from hell. “Something came up that I need to take care of. Let me get that done and I’ll call. Promise. Just wait for me to call you, please?”

“Okay, baby. I don’t mean to be botherin’ you.”

Just give me the worst daughter on the face of the earth award.
“You’re never a bother, Mama, but it’s hard to talk with people around. I don’t like them to know my personal business.”

“That’s fine. I’ll wait.  We’re just bustin’ a gut to show you two off. Daddy’s braggin’ to everyone that you’re all grown up and married.”

Bianca should have talked to them before doing this, but even if she could’ve shared any of this, the FBI deal had gone down so quickly there’d been no time to go home before starting the mission. She hated lying to her parents, even for national security.  

Bianca ended the call and turned on Ryder. “Why did you answer my phone?”

“Because I didn’t want you to miss the call if it was your parents.”

She’d been prepared for some smart comeback, not a sincere reason, though she wasn’t certain why she’d expected that. Ryder had proved over and over that he wasn’t that way. Why did she keep going to the worst possible scenario as a default when it came to Ryder?

He watched her as if he braced himself for a rant.

She wanted to hold on to her anger and nurture it, but if she took an honest look at everything she’d have to admit that he’d only told her the truth about not being trophy material, and he’d acted with consideration by answering her phone.

Underneath all the turmoil in her head, she knew where the anger originated. She wanted to be the woman a man like Ryder looked at as if he couldn’t live without kissing her and making love to her. She’d let her insecurities get a foothold and mistaken a simple kiss for more than it was.

Dropping the phone in the pocket of her robe, she nodded. “Thank you for catching the call.”

From the surprise that broke through his stern features, she’d robbed him of whatever reaction he’d planned on. He blinked, then straightened away from the wall. “You’re welcome.”

She chewed on her lip then decided
what the hell?
“I really would like to come to VDE today.”

Ryder crossed the room, stopping inches from her. “I know you would, but you don’t know how quickly Hubrecht can change his mind about even my being there. I thought you’d have realized by now I wasn’t kidding about his security measures. This could turn ugly in the blink of an eye. Give me a chance to make sure it’s safe for you—to find a way to get you in.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him but she had Murdock breathing down her throat.  She had orders to get inside VDE
today
. Period.  

She whispered, “You think Hubrecht ordered Kearn’s death, don’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be worried about my safety.”   She turned away with her arms crossed.

Ryder’s arms came around her. He lowered his face next to her ear. “I know you need to get inside and I’m not saying Hubrecht is guilty of anything to do with Kearn, at least not yet, but when I was seventeen I had a friend I ran the streets with. Hubrecht made it clear he didn’t like it and told me to cut him loose. I refused. Two days later, L
arry
and his family disappeared.”

She turned in his arms to face him. “Did anyone report it?”

“L
arry
wasn’t kidnapped or killed—at least I don’t think he was. He left me a note written in his handwriting that his father had a job materialize on the other side of the country and the family had to move in twenty-four hours. House sold. Gone. L
arry
said keeping in touch would be too much trouble.”

She tried to come up with a reasonable scenario. “Maybe a headhunter came through with a job offer his father couldn’t turn down.”

“L
arry
’s father stocked machinery parts in a warehouse. Not a lot of head hunters broker labor positions. I had no way to find L
arry
once he left, which means
Hubrecht
paid to get rid of my friend.”

What kind of parent did that?

One with more money than parenting skills.

No wonder Ryder trusted no one. Her hands were flat against his chest. She felt the steady thud of his heart. How was she going to get inside VDE without putting Ryder in a tight spot or drawing unwanted attention from Hubrecht?

Ryder moved his head until they were nose to nose. “If I thought it was a better idea to bring you in
to
the office, I would.”

“I understand.”

“I’m not just saying that, because I don’t like leaving you on your own today.”  His hand came up to her injured cheek then he gently kissed the puffy skin. “You have no idea how much I want to kill the person who hurt you. If you came in the office and anyone threatened you, there would be bloodshed.”

Her heart banged her ribs at that declaration.

How had he managed to twist her heart into a pretzel with so few words? Because Ryder didn’t say something unless he meant it and, when he spoke, it came out with steel conviction.

She didn’t doubt that he’d back it up, too.

Why would he jeopardize his freedom by igniting a conflict at his father’s office?

For the same reason he came to free her from Kearn’s people when he could’ve escaped.

She had better get over this ridiculous attraction, but that would be easier to do if he didn’t have his hands on her and wasn’t saying things that turned her insides to mush. She’d become immune to sexy-looking men after her time with Bernard, so it wasn’t Ryder’s undeniable hot looks that drew her to him.

It was the man inside that packaging. Ryder’s character was carved with a lethal edge and confidence ran through his blood.

And he was honorable.

In all the pages of research Bianca had pored over, there had been only one dishonorable act—killing Kearn—and Ryder denied having pulled that trigger.

Daddy had taught Bianca she had sound instincts and to trust them. Hers were telling her she held the destiny of an innocent man in her hands.