Her brow furrowed slightly, but relaxed as her breathing deepened.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, pretty sure she was already sleeping and didn’t even hear him as he climbed off the bed. After a trip to the bathroom, he pulled his briefs on, palmed the gun, and took a quick turn topside.
Just past midnight, everything was quiet. Everything but the panicked, confused, hopeful, terrified tangle of emotions constricting his chest. He braced his hands on the railing to stare out over the water, drawing in long, slow breaths and letting them out with equal control. The dull ache in his arm became a painful bite with each clench of his fingers on the smooth metal rail. An ineffective distraction during the damned hopeless battle to keep the truth at bay.
He gave in with a low groan of surrender.
That last sex-satisfied smile of hers grabbed hold of his heart with the strength of a bald eagle snagging a fish. He hadn’t seen it coming. Didn’t want to be caught.
It was more than obvious they were all wrong for each other. She craved order and dependability; events in his life proved he was far from dependable. In time, she would resent him for disrupting her neat little life, and he’d succeed yet again in being a colossal disappointment. And that wasn’t even taking into account his Hollywood lifestyle.
Clear as the star-filled sky above, as opposite as their worlds were, as different as they were, it’d never work.
Wouldn’t it?
That insidious little voice in his head refused to be swayed by logical reasoning. Earlier, Halli had made a decision to live in the moment before it passed her by. He understood that sentiment wholeheartedly.
Maybe you aren’t completely different.
He considered that and thought, maybe not. He had no idea how the day would end. Plans could go awry, as they often did. Rules could be broken. Murderers couldn’t be counted on to follow any particular code of ethics. These moments with her could be all he had. Did he really want to waste them by arguing with himself as to why they’d never be together?
Though not normally a snuggler, Trent returned to the bed, replaced the gun on the headboard, and snuggled with Halli. Held her small, fragile, amazingly strong body close to his and prayed to God he didn’t let her down, too.
Chapter 21
Foot twitching a mile a minute, trying to contain his restless energy, Ben glared across his luxurious prison, wondering how the day would unfold and thinking if he was this unnerved, Halli must be going crazy between taking care of Rachel and worrying about him. If only he could talk to her again. Tell her not to worry, that someone must’ve decided he wasn’t such an escape threat and untied him from the chair. He had a guard outside the locked door and on the balcony, but at least he could move around again. Maybe even make a plan. Halli loved a good plan.
He surged off the bed and headed toward the window, anxious for the sun to rise above the mountain peaks and get this day over. Hopefully, Trent Tomlin had reassured his sisters and kept their minds off the whole nightmare. Halli’d always had a thing for the guy’s movies, and being in television herself, maybe they’d wiled away the sleepless night hours talking shop.
He, on the other hand, had been cursed with erotic dreams of his sexy Italian captor on his lap and woke to discover dawn had yet to break. Now, fifteen minutes later, the sky was just beginning to lighten to the East.
In mid-reach to sweep aside the curtain for a view of the lake, a low-pitched voice on the balcony made him draw back against the wall. An English-speaking, Italian-accented voice. These guys didn’t speak English without good reason, and some didn’t speak it at all. Why was this one?
Ben strained to make out the words.
“…standing guard like one of his fucking flunkies. I believe he has suspicion, so the sooner this is done the better. Is everything set up like we agreed?...Good. After the trade and money transfer, I will finish the job and make sure it looks like a deal gone bad…No, do not worry about him. It is a simple matter to insert doubt in his mind.”
He lowered to the floor and crawled to the other side of the busted window. Back to the wall, he peered through the slim opening provided by the curtain lifting every few seconds in the morning breeze. No lights lit the balcony. The weak glow of impending day revealed only a shadowed profile, dark hair, and dark rimmed glasses. A cigarette tip burned bright, providing brief illumination before arcing down out of sight, and a thin plume of smoke streamed into the cool morning air.
Nino.
“No…she poses no more problem than we anticipated…Relax. I said I will take care of her and Lapaglia, and I will.”
Ben’s heart thumped hard against his ribs. She. Halli? Rachel? Oddly, he didn’t think so. Something about the man’s tone. The only other woman he’d seen here at the villa was Eva. Given the reference to Alrigo Lapaglia, the logical conclusion was the bastard plotted to double cross the others. Indignation rose up on Eva’s behalf, until it hit him he could play this information to his advantage.
“No,” Nino stressed out on the balcony. “Follow the plan and remain out of sight. Do not fuck this up Roselli.”
Who the hell is Roselli? Ben leaned his head against the wall and noticed the darkness of the room had faded to g
ray. He returned to the bed and considered the scant but useful knowledge he’d gained. Yes, this could definitely work in his favor.
His first instinct was to tell Eva, get her on his side, use what he’d learned to ‘buy’ her help. Question was, would she negotiate?
Or did he put his money on Alrigo? Surely he’d like to know his right hand man was planning a con larger than Ben’s own parent’s had ever attempted. What he’d just overheard could save his life, if the heads-up resulted in Alrigo being grateful enough to set him free.
And if he’d read things wrong? Though what he’d heard was pretty hard to misinterpret, if he had, his gut and his head told him Eva was the better bet. The easier con, if it came to that. She couldn’t have been faking every emotion he’d read in her eyes yesterday. The first kiss made sense; a distraction until she could restrain his arm again. Humiliation over how easily she’d accomplished that was firmly thrust aside so he could focus on the second kiss.
After his lust had dulled, allowing for clear thinking, he’d bet his freedom the second one had been more than her simply showing him who was boss. He’d sensed an honest attraction sizzling in the air between them. Real desire warmed those almond colored eyes of hers. And when he’d asked her the likelihood of him surviving this damn thing, she’d seemed genuinely distressed before retreating behind her mask.