Killer Secrets (57 page)

legal son dead, she'll have to have a few DNA tests, but it
will be relatively easy for her to claim his

estate. And we need his files."

"He's dead?" She looked up at Ian in surprise.

"Tehya," he said simply. "He was distracted
with you, he didn't see her step into the kitchen. She

emptied the Glock in his chest."

A daughter had killed her father.

Had Ian killed his? She continued to stare up at him, the
question in her eyes.

"It would appear DHS warned Diego months ago that he
could end up tasting one of my bullets," he said

coolly. "He escaped during the chaos. The last word we
had on him was that his DHS handler was

escorting him back to Colombia. They're revising his
agreement with them. With any luck, he'll never

torture another SEAL."

It didn't sit easy with him, she could see that, but she
could also see the acceptance in his eyes.

"We're heading back downstairs," Reno announced
then. "We have a carrier headed this way and a

copter ready to escort us home. I should be home in time to
wake my wife and newborn son with the

news that Ian's home and all's well." He nodded to
both of them. "Be ready to roll."

Durango team strolled from the bedroom, leaving her alone
with Ian and Daniel.

"Jason's called me back, he even promised me a
vacation." Daniel grimaced. "Can you hide the wrist

until I collect my bonus? It's really not my fault you were
hurt this time, Kira. And I'm telling you,

Caroline is going to make me quit if Jason decides to
bruise my face again."

She rolled her eyes at his pitiful, hangdog expression.

"Jason won't know about the wrist until you get your
bonus," she promised, almost shaking her head at

him. "But you really need to have a talk with
Caroline, Daniel. Bodyguards get bruised sometimes."

"By the bad guys," he growled, disgust suddenly
weighing heavily in his voice. "Not by the damned boss

because the charge doesn't know how to keep her butt out of
trouble."

She grinned at that, then glanced at Ian. He was no more
amused than Daniel was. She cleared her

throat, wrinkled her nose, then picked at the tattered,
bloodstained material of her dress. Damn, it was

ruined.

"Get on out of here, Daniel," Ian ordered him
then. "You should have a few days before Jason gets a

look at her. By then the bruises should be . . . Well,
worse anyway."

Yeah, she was bruised. She could feel a nice one forming
beneath her eye and had already glimpsed the

ones on her arms. No doubt about it, Jason was going to
have a healthy little meltdown over this one.

She was quiet as Daniel made his way out of the room, the
door closing behind him, leaving her and Ian

alone, the silence in the room weighing heavily between
them.

She lifted her eyes to meet his, saw the edge of sadness
and pain and wanted to weep.

"I talked to DHS while you were out," he told her
softly. "Diego was warned months ago about what

could have happened tonight. I'm amazed he didn't murder
both of us before Sorrell arrived."

She shook her head. "He loves you."

Ian shook his head at that. "I don't know if that
knowledge should terrify me or reassure me. One thing's

for certain, he's out of my reach. His new agreement with
DHS will curtail many of his games with

government agents, according to the director. I have to
content myself with that."

"And will you?" She ached for him, ached for the
loyalties that tore him in two and the knowledge that

the man who sired him was more a monster than a father.

"I won't go gunning for him." He shrugged.
"He stays away from us, I'll stay away from him."

"Us?" she whispered. Until that moment she hadn't
realized how terrified she had been that Diego would

separate them, that her disagreement over Ian's decisions
would drive him away.

"I wasn't going to kill him." He gave his head a
brief, hard shake. "I wanted to, Kira. I wanted to so bad

sometimes it boiled in my gut like acid. But you were
right, killing him wasn't my responsibility. The

agreement I suspected he made with DHS tied my hands and I
knew it."

She breathed in slowly, deeply. "None of this is your
fault, Ian," she told him softly. "Fuentes, Sorrell,

Nathan. You couldn't have prevented it."

"I would have, if I had known Nathan was alive before
I did. I would have gotten him out of there, no

matter what it took." No matter how many times he had
to sell his soul to Diego. Kira understood that;

she would do the same thing if it were Jason or Daniel.

"So. What do we do now?" she asked almost
fearfully.

He stared down at her silently. "What do you want to
do?"

"Love you forever," she whispered.

Some of the tension seemed to ease from him then. "It
won't be easy for a while, you know. The press is

already converging on the island. The papers in the States
were carrying pictures of us together a week

ago. We've already caused a sensation. 'The deserter drug
lord and the society princess.'" He sneered at

the caption description.

She eased up in the bed, her breath hitching as he
immediately eased her into his arms.

"The press will love us once they learn the
truth."

He grunted at that. "I'm not reenlisting. There's no
way I'd be effective now and I'll be damned if you're

going to be off causing trouble somewhere without me
keeping an eye on you. I'd go insane."

"My job is done, Ian." She stared up at him then,
knowing in her heart it was over now. "I wanted

Sorrell, and now he's eliminated."

His eyes narrowed. "Home and hearth and white picket
fences?"

She would have been angry at the disbelief in his tone if
she hadn't glimpsed the hunger in his eyes as

well.

"I like white picket fences." Hope bloomed in her
heart, the dream she had pushed aside, a home to

share with someone who knew her, body and soul. A life that
didn't involve bloodshed and disguises, and

maybe, just maybe, a baby. She would like to have a family
with this man, a man who understood her,

who loved her.

"I like white picket fences too." A grin tugged
at his lips. "I have a place, in Texas."

"I know," she drawled. "And I love it.
There's even a white picket fence."

He chuckled, the sound rough, almost tentative, as he laid
his forehead against hers, his tobacco-brown

eyes, edged with hidden flames that had nothing to do with
rage, warming her from the inside out. "Go

home with me?"

"You couldn't chase me off with a stick."

"No sticks," he promised, lowering his lips to
hers. "But don't discount a spanking, I told you to stay put

under that desk."

"I like it when you spank." Her laughter
dissolved a second later beneath his kiss, beneath the passion

and the love that suddenly filled her soul and burned
through her mind. "I love you, Ian, desperately."

"I love you," he breathed against her lips.
"Forever, Kira. With all my soul, I love you."

He had thought he had secrets from her. A man alone,
fighting alone. He realized in that moment that

from the first, this woman had seen past those secrets,
seen into his soul, even when he couldn't see it

himself.

He cradled her to him as the painkiller Daniel had injected
her with earlier drew her eyes closed again.

Held her as she slept, and for the first time in his life,
he realized how empty his life had been before her.

He had had secrets that could have killed her, that could
have killed him. And now, he had someone who

could share the secrets, fight by his side, and love in
return.

For the first time in his life, Ian no longer felt alone.
And he realized that as long as he held Kira in his

arms, he would never be alone. He was home.

Read on for a sneak peek
at Lora Leigh's next scintillating Bound Hearts novel

Wicked
Pleasure

Coming May 2008 in trade
paperback From St. Martin's Griffin

CHASE WAS WAITING IN THElobby of the hotel when Cam strode
through the entrance. The black

suit his brother wore did nothing to alleviate the aura of
power and danger that surrounded him. The

wicked scar that slashed down the left side of his cheek
definitely helped the impression, but it was the

icy green eyes, the unsmiling lips, the expression that
seemed carved from experiences that suggested

hell, that did it.

Cam was his brother, his twin. And sometimes Chase wondered
if he even knew who or what his

brother was. He definitely didn't know what had created the
dark visage that strode to him.

"She's not going to appreciate a late-night
visit," he told his brother as they headed toward the elevator.

"Too bad," Cam growled. "Roberts waylaid me
at the party. The slick bastard. He should be in film

rather than Congress. His acting ability beats the shit out
of his ability to help run this fucking country."

Chase winced. Cam was cussing. That was never a good thing.

"Blindsiding Jaci like this isn't going to help,"
he advised him as the elevator doors slid closed behind

them. "She is a little demon when that temper of hers
is roused, you know that as well as I do."

And she was liquid fire when other parts of her were
aroused. Chase could still taste the sweet syrup

that had flowed from her body, even seven years later. And
he knew Cam had never forgotten.

"I want eyes on her twenty-four seven," Cam
ordered. "If Roberts even thinks about contacting her, I

want to know about it."

"Cam, you can't control her life here." The elevator
doors slid open.

As they stepped out of the cubicle, his brother turned to
him. The green ice in his gaze flickered with a

hidden flame. The intensity of the color was no longer flat
with whatever emotions or memories he fought.

The color was wild and vivid, shocking Chase with the
emotions that seemed to swirl just under the

surface.

"I have no intentions of controlling her life,"
Cam stated. "I'm going to
become
her life, Chase.
There's a

difference."

For a second, Chase stood in shock, staring at his brother's
back as he strode quickly down the hall to

the suite Ian had reserved for the interior designer.

Cameron had never claimed anything or anyone as his. Not
since they had lost their parents, since their

lives had gone to hell at the tender age of thirteen
beneath the less than gentle care of their maternal aunt.

Hearing him claim something, someone, now was enough to
almost cause him to miss that twisted

expression of need on Cam's face as he turned away.

Hell, Jaci didn't need to see Cam like this. Chase didn't
need to see Cam like this. Brimming with fire

and lust and a need that Chase had never imagined filled
his brother.

"Cam, damn it," he muttered, moving quickly
behind him. "Do you think this is a wise move right now?"

Cam stopped in front of the hotel room door and glanced at
his brother impatiently.

"What's so unwise about it?" He'd waited seven
years for her to grow up, to find them, and now Chase

wanted to wait?

"She's not exactly extending an invitation for us
together," his brother snorted. "She actually stated we

should find someone else to play our games with."

"You pissed her off." He lifted his hand to knock
on the door.

"And you're not going to piss her off more?"
Chase asked, his voice filled with a hint of disbelief that

didn't make sense to Cam.

He turned back to his brother, glaring at him. "Look,
I let you talk to her first, I let you bring her home,