Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

"You're sighing."

"Because I thought we were going to get off easy, but we aren't." She watched the clouds moving above them, spinning and drifting as if they hadn't a care in the world, but inside those clouds, her fluffy animals were gone.

"No, Evan was bound to figure out who had you. He's got money, Airiana, and he's willing to use it to get what he wants. He buys people, and anyone willing to aid Sorbacov would be just as willing to help Evan. Theodotus had a plane waiting in Colombia. The pilot knew the plan was to take you from Mexico up the South American coast to rendezvous with the plane. If Evan offered him money, why wouldn't he give him that information?"

"How would Evan know who to go to for information?" Curiosity nearly took her attention from the patterns forming above her.

"The underworld is all connected," he said, starting on her other foot. "It isn't that hard to know who the major players are. Each of them is fed information through their pipelines. Some are extensive, some aren't." He gave a small shrug. "Once you're in that world and you've acquired a reputation, everyone knows what you will or won't do for money."

"Like you."

"Like me."

"So we're going to make a run for it."

He nodded. "The yacht is. We're going to bail."

She scowled at him over the water bottle. "You said no swimming. We're done with swimming. We are done, aren't we?"

"Circumstances have changed."

"I'm switching sides. Suddenly I feel a bout of loyalty coming on to dear old Dad. Just how bad could it be living in Russia?"

"Russia is beautiful," Maxim said. "They would welcome you with open arms."

The laughter faded as she studied his face. "But not you. Not after all you've done for your country. They'll kill you."

"Eventually. But it isn't my country killing me. It's one very powerful man."

Her heart turned over. "Maxim, you can't just accept death like you do. You have to fight this man. You're willing to fight for me. You have to be willing to fight for yourself."

He ran his fingers down the side of her face in a little caress. "Who says I'm not willing? I'm just not willing to put others in jeopardy with me."

Maxim took the cold pack from her to inspect the damage done to her face. "You're developing a wonderful shiner. When your family sees you, they're going to think I'm the kind of man who beats his woman."

Her heart skipped a beat. He probably hadn't even noticed he'd referred to her as "his woman," but right then, when they were alone and the world was quiet and peaceful, she wanted to be his.

Airiana smiled up at him. "They know what a tough girl I am. If you hit me, I would hit you back."

He picked up her hand and placed it palm to palm with his, studying the difference in their sizes. She laughed. Her hand was dwarfed by his. His fingers closed slowly around hers, one by one, almost as if he was waiting for her to pull free.

"I love the sound of your laughter," he said. "You make life a fun adventure rather than a daily job." He brought her hand to his mouth and nibbled at the pads of her fingers. "I've never done this before, you know."

Her breath caught in her lungs. Maxim wasn't given to revelations about himself. She stayed very quiet. Waiting. Hoping for more.

"Men like me have to stay alone. We can't trust anyone. Anyone could be the assassin sent to end us. We form relationships only for information. No one ever is close to us. I don't sleep when I'm near others." His mouth curved in a humorless smile. "I'm like a mole, I crawl into a hole and close it over my head if I need rest. There isn't a moment when I don't have a weapon on me and a contingency plan to escape a situation."

Airiana didn't know what to do or say, so she stayed silent, willing him to keep talking. She was hearing things he'd never told anyone else. Personal things. Reasons, of course, why he could never be with her. He didn't realize that in revealing details of his life to her, he was acknowledging she meant more to him than he was willing to admit aloud to her.

Maxim opened her fingers and pressed his mouth into the center of her palm. She nearly jumped and jerked her hand away, but managed to remain still. Deep inside, in her most feminine core, she'd felt the intimacy of his tongue stroke. Her gaze jumped to his in a kind of dazed wonder. Did he even know what he'd just done? Probably.

"I want to lie down with you and fall asleep. Just once."

As a declaration of love, it didn't seem like much on the surface, yet she felt elated, almost giddy inside with joy. She knew he wanted her physically. There was no doubt in her mind that given the opportunity, he'd make love to her. Somehow, admitting that he wanted to sleep with her seemed so much more of an intimacy.

His teeth teased at the pads of her fingers. "Someday, Airiana, if I live through all this, I'm going to do that. You'll have to leave your window open for me and I'll just slip in. You won't even know I'm there."

She would know. They both knew if he came into her bedroom, he would make love to her. And she would welcome him.

"That sounds good to me. I prefer my window open."

He frowned. "What kind of security system do you have?"

She rolled her eyes at him. The revelations were over, and he was back to being Maxim Prakenskii, all about living in a fortress. "You sound just like Levi and Thomas," she said. "If they had their way, we'd have a fourteen-foot fence with barbed wire on top and machine guns every few feet."

He frowned at her. "What's wrong with that?" His strong teeth bit down on the pads of her fingers. "I think that's a very good plan."

"You would."

"And dogs. You need a pack of very large dogs patrolling your property."

"I'd like that. We've been talking about it for a while now, but so far, no one's figured out the breed we want."

"My brother Gavriil loves dogs. I hope when he finds a safe place to settle down, he'll have several," Maxim said.

"What about you? Do you like animals?"

He shrugged, his features totally expressionless once again. "I wouldn't know one way or the other. I don't have pets, if that's what you mean. I never have had one." He let go of her hand and was up, slipping into the shadows easily, as if he belonged there.

She knew Gorya was on his way up the stairs with their lunch.

13

NIGHT appeared to fall quickly out at sea. The sun vanished, pouring liquid gold into the waters, turning the horizon orange and red in a spectacular display, and then that fast it was gone. Airiana gripped the railing hard and looked down at the dark waters. Just minutes before the ocean was bright and jeweled, sparkling even, and now it held a sinister quality, as if below the surface all kinds of predators lurked waiting for an opportunity to pull the yacht beneath the waves.

She shivered. More than anything, she wanted to go home. Sea Haven was magical and peaceful and she needed her family. She wasn't the adventurous type, no matter what Maxim might think. She lived much more in her head than others thought. Right now, Maxim had driven out the numbers and patterns and mostly she just fantasized about him.

She found it rather humiliating that she couldn't get him out of her head, although now she knew for certain that she was in his and that made it all much more bearable. If she had to suffer--he could as well.

A wave leapt up, splashing along the railing, surprisingly high, the sound like a loud slap. Across the water, in the distance, she could see lights and that was somewhat comforting. Knowing they were close to a shore--and to people--left her feeling as if there was hope that she would get home soon.

Theodotus had been just as cooperative as Maxim predicted, insisting to the captain that they turn the boat around, that he had arranged for a plane much closer than their first destination. He'd been very persuasive, and as far as she could see, the captain and crew seemed to take everything Theodotus said as gospel.

The wind tugged at her hair and brought with it news. She could feel the air stretching around her like a map, showing her the location of anyone out on the decks. She lifted one

hand to tuck strands of flyaway hair behind her ear as she turned to face the two men dressed in white coming toward her.

She recognized Gorya immediately, and the man with him was the first mate, Boris something, she remembered. She sent them a small smile. "It suddenly turned very dark out there," she gestured toward the open sea. "You're probably used to it, but it's a little scary for me."

The men kept walking straight toward her and she felt her heart accelerate with each purposeful step they took.

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"You need to come with us now," Gorya said. "For your own safety. The captain wants you off the deck."