Honeymoon To Die For (8 page)

Besides, Ryder’s family would notice if something as simple as a kiss looked forced. She and Ryder could use the practice.

Ryder hadn’t pushed for more, just continued the gentle assault that was shredding her sanity.

Her fingers gripped his back, feeling cut muscle. What would this body look like without clothes? Maybe wet from a shower. Water dripping down all the contours, down a gorgeous ripped body.

Naked?

She was thinking about Ryder
naked
?

That is so not happening.

Ryder’s hand moved around between them. His thumb brushed her breast and she made a noise that squeezed out part pleasure and part plea.

Holy shit.

She’d opened her mouth to speak when he kissed a sensitive spot behind her ear and she shivered.  

Ryder growled like a wolf on the hunt that had just gotten a whiff of his prey.

This was out of control.
Again.
 

She put her hand on his chest and pushed back.

He let her, but kept her within his arms. There was no way to read this man when he shuttered his expression the way he was doing right now.

But Ryder’s gaze dropped to her mouth.

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. What now?

He released her to sit back, but kept his arm looped across her shoulders.

She’d only been kissed by two men. One
man
actually, since the first one had been a high school crush. An amateur.

Bernard had been far more experienced sexually, but he’d never kissed her the way Ryder did. If Bernard had, she might not have been such a failure as a significant other.

Her heart thumped furiously. So Ryder could kiss. Not a big surprise given his reputation growing up. She willed the crazy stirring in her body to settle down.

Nerves and the situation had to be causing that since she’d never felt anything like it before.

The rotor whine changed and the pilot said over his shoulder, “Landing in five minutes, Mr. Van Dyke.”

“Okay.”

Bianca turned to Ryder as he dipped his head, watching her face until he was close enough to whisper in her ear.

“I don’t know what Hubrecht is up to, but we’re not headed toward the family home. I’m guessing we’re going to VDE headquarters and that concerns me.”

“Why?” She kept her voice just as soft.

“I have no idea what the minister relayed to Hubrecht. If Hubrecht has any reason to question the validity of our marriage, regardless of paperwork and vows, he’ll think it’s some sort of a set-up or sting. He’s not stupid and I have no idea what kind of reception we’ll have.”

She hadn’t expected a roadblock to their mission this soon and waited for Ryder to finish.

“I know you’re trained, but let’s be reasonable about this since both of our lives are at risk. I’ve had far more time in combat situations than you’ve had in the field. Let me assess the situation once we get there. If it goes bad, do as I say and I’ll get you out alive.”

He was talking about splitting up? “I appreciate your offer to get
me
out, but I already told you, I go where you go, and vice versa.”

Ryder’s fingers tightened on her shoulder and frustration clouded his face. “The FBI is tracking me with the chip. It’s not like they can’t find me. What I’m telling you is that we’ll
both
get out if we can. If not, you can’t escape if you’re dragging dead weight.”  

He thought his father would kill him?

Was Ryder really trying to convince her that he would step into the line of fire if
she
were in danger, when her research had him practically convicted? To believe that would force her to see Ryder Van Dyke as an honorable man.

And then she’d have to question whether Ryder had really killed J. K. Kearn.

How was she supposed to even consider the possibility that someone else had shot Kearn? To do so would be admitting that her research team—her investigation—had produced faulty results.

The pilot’s voice intruded. “On approach to land.”

Before she could compose a reply, Ryder turned away from her, distant again.

Every time she thought she was gaining ground in understanding him, he sucked back into himself.

She looked straight ahead, gripping the edge of her seat for an anchor.

Was this what field agents had to do when playing a role? How did they manage to keep their feelings out of the mix and still come across as natural? Especially with a man as dark and confusing—not to mention sensual—as Ryder.

Bianca had better lock down her emotions or he’d use that weakness against her. He did have more experience in combat situations, but that didn’t intimidate her so much as the fact that he was a pro when it came to seducing women.

He’d gotten further with her than anyone else had on the rare dates Bianca had agreed to in the last four years.

She hadn’t prepared herself for the possibility of being attracted to Ryder, and at some point, she’d have to come to terms with how she
could be
attracted to a killer. But they could use this little burst of chemistry to their advantage as long as she kept her britches on, as Mama would say.

No reason to worry about that, is there now?

Shame brought a flush of heat to her face, and she quickly looked out the left side of the chopper to hide it. Bernard had hurt her in many ways, but the very worst had been when he’d laid the blame for his cheating on Bianca at her own feet. Because she was frigid.

How could she argue when she’d found sex painful at best?

Ryder sat back and she turned to see a dark shadow cross his face when he muttered, “Van Dyke Enterprises.”

His jaw bunched with an emotion that filtered up to his eyes. She’d seen that look in the prison. The raw despair that had broken through his cold indifference when Murdock had threatened to leave Ryder locked in isolation if he didn’t deal.

She could better handle Ryder’s anger than his desolation.

No, no, no!

A feeling of empathy for this man was about as useful to her as socks on a rooster. She was
so
not going there.

She couldn’t help her natural curiosity though. It had served her well in the research department, and it made her want to dig around in Ryder’s mind. Finding out what made a killer tick would be endlessly useful to a law enforcement officer, no matter what agency she worked for. But the “not welcome” sign that had curtained his gaze for the last two days warned her not to go excavating.

The helicopter approached Van Dyke Tower in the area of Atlanta known only as Buckhead. The thirty-two-story, glass-and-bronze structure designed by a Danish architect housed the brain center of Van Dyke Enterprises, or VDE, on the top ten floors.

Their weapons manufacturing plant was north of the city near Suwanee, Georgia.

Once the helicopter set down, the pilot killed the rotors, pulled off his headset and flipped switches to shut the engine down. When the rotors wound down, he climbed out with Ryder right behind.

Ryder turned to help Bianca, who cursed her narrow dress again. She’d have worn pants and a jacket, but the team felt a mauve dress said
wedding day
more than a dark business suit. Before she could step down, Ryder cupped his hands on each side of her waist and lifted her to the ground. Slowly.

His eyes held her gaze the whole way.

And there went her heart, beating fast as a happy dog’s tail.

Wind batted hair around her face. Ryder lifted his hands and pushed the hair back, holding it there when he leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips and whispered, “Ready?”

Not if he was going to keep doing stuff like that. She hated to admit he was doing a good job in this charade, but it was true. And it was knocking her equilibrium out of whack.
No way out now.
She nodded. “Let’s do this.”

On the way across the roof, Ryder leaned over and said, “Don’t look around as if you’re watching for anyone and smile while we’re talking as if I’m saying something intimate.”

When she complied and glanced at him the way she thought a new bride would, he said, “From this point on, assume that everyone is suspicious of us.” He paused to wave at someone coming out the access door to the building. “Except Terrence. He’s a friendly, but don’t lower your guard even around him, since he’s under Hubrecht’s thumb.
I
n a tight spot, he’ll tell Hubrecht anything you say. Can’t blame him. Just a matter of survival.”

 “Good to see you.” Terrence walked up, hand extended. Ryder took it and shook.

His adoptive brother was attractive in his own right, but he was too thin and timid looking for her tastes. Especially when he stood next to Ryder’s imposing presence.

“You too, bro,” Ryder answered.

Terrence’s eyes were filled with sadness. “I’m sorry I didn’t come more often.”

Waving a hand to dismiss his concern, Ryder said, “I know you caught hell from Hubrecht every time you did visit.”

“It was bearable.”  Terrence’s narrow face widened with a polite smile. “I was thrilled when I heard about your release. Where’ve you been for the past couple days?”

Ryder quickly ended any further talk about prison when he put his arm around Bianca. “Are you really asking me that with a woman this gorgeous standing next to me and wearing my ring? Terrence, meet my wife, Bianca.”

Bianca was so struck by Ryder’s easy description of her as gorgeous, she almost missed Terrence talking to her.

His brother extended his hand with stiff politeness and judged her lacking with his next glance. “So nice to meet you, Bianca. We’re all interested in finding out more about you.”

That did not sound like “welcome to the family.”  It sounded like “what are you after?”

Crud. She’d been so worried about convincing everyone she was Ryder’s new wife and not an FBI spy that she hadn’t even thought about how they were more likely to see her as a gold digger.

But that’s what she read in Terrence’s chilly gaze.

How was she going to win over the only person Ryder considered an ally?

CHAPTER 6

Ryder read the lack of belief in Terrence’s face. Not that his brother doubted the wedding, but Terrence had been burned more than once by women who were after the Van Dyke fortune, and his natural default would be that Bianca was an opportunist. Coming to her defense right off the bat would be the worst move for Ryder to make around family, but he didn’t care for anyone slighting his wife.

Whoa.

Bianca was
not
his wife, his significant other or girlfriend. She wasn’t even his
friend
. Not really.

She was his enemy, forced into this awkward alliance, and that was all.

Denied female companionship for half a year, then kissing her again and approaching second base in that helicopter had screwed with his head. The little head.

Yeah, he was letting his dick affect his perception.

Reality check
. This woman hated him and wanted to see him rot in prison. Best to remember that, even when he was making nice for this little charade they’d set up.   

Bianca was not any happier than he was right now. And she had to be tired of smiling, but she beamed expectantly at Terrence. “What? No hug?”

Terrence’s expression slipped. He mumbled, “I, uh, we don’t ...”

Ryder was just as shocked at what she was suggesting and could appreciate the panic on Terrence’s face. This family did not display emotion in public and hugging was considered a plebian action.

“Well, Darlin’, where I come from, we hug family,” Bianca said with an accent that could sweeten tea. She stepped forward and put her arms around Terrence, who held his arms out from his body at first then curved them around her much like someone would hug a porcupine. A look of bewilderment flushed his face, but after a few seconds Terrence smiled, too.

Ryder would never have bet on that.

Backing out of the embrace, Bianca hooked her hand around Ryder’s arm with a possessive hold and gazed up at him as if he’d just handed her the moon.

And damn if he didn’t suffer a moment of stupid ego by speculating on how hard it would be to give it to her.

He’d had women bat their pretty eyelashes at him since he first grew hair on his face and had never let it faze him. Prison had short-circuited his brain.

He hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d called Bianca gorgeous. She was beautiful.

She was also sworn to take away his right to breathe free air, and he’d fight to the death to keep it.

But their bodies had apparently held a détente in the back seat of that bird, because for the past few minutes, every time Bianca so much as brushed against him he’d started getting hard. And he couldn’t keep his hands off of her because he had to play the newly married game to the end. Make Hubrecht believe they were in love.

To keep them both alive.

Maybe he should just throw himself off the edge of the building right now and save Hubrecht the trouble.

 “My, my, Ryder,” Terrence murmured, saving Ryder from that decision. His brother arched an imperial eyebrow. “You’ve certainly found an affectionate one. Well done.”

“Thanks, bro.” Ryder had tasted her
affection
in the chopper when she’d given him the
do something
look after he’d caught her watching the pilot.

Okay, maybe she was a much better actress than he’d thought. Maybe she’d only been reacting to his kiss for show, but right now he didn’t care. Ryder hadn’t shared a kiss like that in so long he had the pathetic urge to do it again just to see if he’d been kidding himself that she’d been just as turned on as he was.

Terrence stepped to the side and lifted a hand toward the access door. “I hate to be the messenger, but father is waiting for you.”

Ryder snapped back into the game. “Why’d he have us come here first instead of going home?”

“He didn’t say. I can only surmise that he has questions about what happened regarding your release. Plus, you haven’t seen him since you were discharged from the Army.”

That had been intentional.