The Moon That Night Read online

  She held her breath as he touched one after another, lightly, reverently, with the tips of his fingers. When he grazed her left nipple, she arched to meet him. Then his hands were all over her, everywhere at once. From her face to her thighs, her breasts to her belly, her fingertips to her toes. Everywhere his fingers went, his mouth followed, licking and kissing.

  Her body was on fire, her breasts tight and achy. Slick moisture pooled between her legs and she thrust upward with her hips to meet him. He ran his fingers up between her thighs and settled there at her center. The moment he touched her, felt her wet swollen flesh, he moaned and dipped a finger inside her warmth. Then his tongue followed, teasing and tasting.

  “Riley,” she whimpered, writhing against him. “Take me now.” She ran her hands through his soft hair, pulled him upward and kissed him, tasting herself on his lips. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arced to meet him.

  “Oh, Kate,” he groaned as he slowly sank into her. Then he stopped, buried inside her, rested his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes. “What have you done to me?”

  “Nothing more than exactly what you deserve.” Smiling, she opened even wider for him, bringing him even deeper.

  He sucked in a sharp breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, with the kind of restraint and patience she’d never experienced from a man, Riley moved against her softly, sweetly, in and out, again and again, building the tension inside her higher and higher.

  “I don’t want you controlling this,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to hold back with me.”

  “I’m not holding anything back,” he said with a smile.

  That smile. She ran her fingers over his lips. “You don’t need to protect me. I’m not fragile. I can handle you. You won’t hurt me.”

  “I know, Kate. I know. This is exactly what I want.” Instead of the reckless sex they’d shared in Moscow, Riley made love to her as if time no longer mattered. He gave her everything he had to give in the most tender of ways.

  “Can we make this last forever?” she whispered against his lips.

  “Make tomorrow never come? I wish.” He gently thrust one last time into her before shuddering to completion.

  She hung on to him, coming with him, not knowing what tomorrow would bring and no longer caring. This moment with Riley inside her, his arms around her, his breath mingling with hers, was all that mattered. If she had anything to say about it, she was going to be facing many tomorrows with Riley by her side.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  RILEY LAY IN BED watching Kate sleep. They didn’t have much time before the rendezvous with March and he didn’t want to spend any more of it with his eyes closed.

  Kate, on the other hand, was making up for lost time. She’d been sleeping like the dead, other than a long and luxurious interlude of lovemaking halfway through, for the past ten or so hours. In this relaxed and quiet state with her flawless skin and pink lips, she looked almost angelic. Certainly and unequivocally innocent. A small, feminine noise escaped from deep in her throat, sounding damned close to a purr, and she smiled just enough so that the dimples in her cheeks appeared like magic.

  What could this amazing creature possibly see in a beat-up, wrung-out old soldier like him?

  But then he imagined her awake, and the sound of her expressive voice and boisterous laughter echoed in his memory. The stern look on her face when she was angry and the way her left eyebrow arced when she was being sarcastic came to life in his mind. Kate an angel? Hardly. She was always opinionated, sometimes cuttingly acerbic and often downright bossy.

  She was also strong, sexy and amazingly self-sufficient. She was right. He didn’t need to protect her—most of the time, anyway. She’d gone toe-to-toe with him like no other woman he’d ever known. But what surprised him the most was how tender, affectionate and loving she could be. With Ally. With him. The things they’d shared together in this bed came over him in a rush. She was a balm to every bruised and battered piece of his soul, and he couldn’t imagine ever again wanting any woman other than this one lying by his side.

  As for his age? Didn’t matter. She’d been right. He’d been using it as a smoke screen. If anything, the fact that he was older only made them more perfect for one another.

  He was so screwed it wasn’t even funny.

  So now what? If he managed to make it out of this mess alive, then what? When his cell phone rang—a harsh, shrill sound in the stillness—he was almost glad for the diversion.

  Kate opened her eyes, and the bubble of tranquillity they’d created in this hotel room popped in an instant. For a moment they stared at each another. The caller had to be either Trace or March. No one else had the number.

  He reached behind him and glanced at the display.

  “Is it Trace?” she asked, her voice hopeful.

  “It is.” Quickly he answered. “You got Jenny?”

  “Not yet,” Trace said. “But we’re in position. March is leaving now.”

  Probably to watch the parking lot.

  “Is he taking Jenny with him?”

  “No.”

  “Figures.” He glanced at Kate. “All along, he hasn’t been planning on handing her over.”

  “Don’t worry, Riley. There are at most two men guarding Jenny. They’re going to be outnumbered. In half an hour I’ll have her. She’ll be safe.”

  “Text me when you’ve got her.”

  “Will do.”

  Riley clicked off his phone.

  “Trace thinks he’ll be able to get to Jenny this time?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “That’s good.”

  “But there’s a good chance I won’t know whether or not Jenny’s safe before I head to meet with March. I’m going to have to go through the motions, so I’ll need that Chaos statue after all. Let’s go get it.”

  In a short while, they were inside the potter’s studio. Riley stood in front of the small kiln, holding his breath as Kate checked the gauges. “Can we open it yet?”

  She nodded, her face a mass of concern. Unlocking the door, she swung it open and glanced inside.

  “Well?”

  “The arm broke off.” She lifted the pieces out of the kiln and turned them over in her hand, examining it.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “Yes.” She went to the worktable and found some quick adhesive. Within minutes, she’d secured the arm.

  “That’ll work,” Riley said. “And it looks a lot like the other ones, if you ask me.”

  “It’s the best I can do.” She glanced at him.

  “That doesn’t sound good. What’s wrong with it? You were pretty pleased with it before the firing process.”

  “I was hoping less time firing would compensate for what the electric kiln would do.”

  He waited for her to explain.

  “It’s too hard.” She handed it to him. “Feel it.”

  “Like a rock.”

  “Exactly.” Her shoulders sagged. “A piece that’s supposed to be as old as this one would be more fragile. In fact, you’d be able to scrape the surface away with a fingernail.”

  He unwrapped one of the statues he’d stolen from the church near Rome, and pressed his thumbnail against the rough base. If he pressed hard enough, he could easily scrape the surface. He glanced at her. “It’s all up to Kozmin now.”

  “And if Kozmin doesn’t show?”

  “I’ll think of something.”

  THEY WENT BACK TO THE HOTEL to wait for March to call with the meeting place. They ordered room service and Riley made himself eat to keep up his strength, but the food sat in his stomach like a bowling ball. Kate only picked at her salad, due in part to the fact that March was an hour late.

  “Why doesn’t he call?” Kate said pacing.

  “He’s messing with me. Something March loves to do.” Suddenly his cell phone rang and he glanced at the display. “It’s him.”

  “Time to get this over with,” she whispered.

/>   “Riley here,” he said, answering the call.

  “Do you have all the statues?”

  “Yes.”

  March relayed an address that Riley wrote down on the pad of paper on the bedside table. “There’s a parking garage, but it’s under repairs,” March explained. “Park on the street. Be there in half an hour.”

  “Let me talk to Jenny.”

  “She’s fine. Don’t worry about her.”

  Riley paced inside the hotel room. “I want to talk to Jenny.”

  “I don’t have time to deal with this right now. You can talk to her in an hour.”

  “March—”

  “Walk up to the roof of the garage. I’ll be watching. Bring the statues. You can talk to her then.” He disconnected.

  Immediately Riley tore off the paper and dialed Kozmin’s cell number. When his call went directly into voice mail, he left a message, detailing instructions with the address and time Riley would be meeting March. In truth, all Kozmin cared about was getting March, so whether or not he’d be on time to save Riley’s ass was anyone’s guess. And Riley was guessing not.

  He disconnected the call and glanced at Kate.

  While he’d been on the phone, she’d dressed and brushed her hair back into a ponytail. She was set to go. “This is it,” she whispered.

  “Showtime.” He nodded. “March wants me to walk onto the roof of a parking garage.” Without the protection of a car, he was completely vulnerable.

  “I can wait nearby in our rental car. As soon as you have Jenny, you make some kind of a signal, and I gun it toward you.”

  “Too dangerous.”

  “For who?”

  She wasn’t going to listen to reason. There was only one thing he could do. He walked out onto the balcony and waited for her to join him.

  The moment she stood next to him at the railing, he turned toward her and looked into her eyes. What if this was it? What if he never saw her again? “I want you to know, Kate…this last week…I…”

  Lacking the words to express what he was feeling, he wrapped a hand behind her neck, brought her toward him, lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her. Need tightened in his groin. How ironic to find this woman now, at this strange stage in his life, to find someone he knew in his heart he could love.

  She groaned and pulled back as if sensing his thoughts. “Oh, no.” She shook her head. “You are not saying goodbye.”

  “I need to stay focused with March. I can’t be worrying about what might happen to you.”

  “That’s what you said to Ally,” Kate said, shaking her head. “I am not a child.”

  “Oh, I know that now.” He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. Every inch of her screamed wildly passionate woman. “But you’re still staying here.”

  “No! I won’t—”

  He spun away from her and back into the hotel room. Sliding the patio door closed, he quickly flipped the lock.

  “Riley, let me in!” She yanked on the handle and pounded on the door. “Don’t do this. Don’t you dare do this to me.”

  “I have to, Kate.” He rested his forehead against the glass and formulated his next words. “If I don’t make it back, do me a favor and check in on Ally every once in a while. She likes you. She could use you in her life.”

  “Riley, don’t. Don’t do this.”

  He had to get out of here before he started second-guessing himself. “I’ll call the hotel right before I head in to see March. They’ll let you out.”

  “That’ll be too late,” she said. “March expects me there.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t do this. Don’t leave without me.”

  Grabbing the bag holding the statues, and one of the guns from the stash they’d gotten from Angelo’s friend, he spun around and walked out the door.

  “DAMN YOU, RILEY!” Kate pounded the glass. “When I get my hands on you, I’m going to… I’m going to…”

  He was going to face March alone. If Kozmin didn’t show, he might not make it out of that parking garage alive.

  The anger burning in her gut sputtered out. She rested her cheek against the door and let the emotions course through her. A sense of helplessness settled like a heavy weight on her shoulders. She felt soft and vulnerable and weak.

  This was what hours lying in a man’s arms making love did to her. This was what Riley did to her. This was what falling in love did to her. Unbelievable. She was falling in love for the first time in her life, and it sucked the big one. Why would any woman in her right mind want this?

  Maggie did. So did Shannon. Both strong women. Both blissfully in love.

  She took a deep shuddering breath. Clearly it didn’t have to be this way. She could be—she would be—soft and strong at the same time. If Riley didn’t like it, that was too damned bad.

  She straightened and glanced around the balcony. Somehow, some way she was getting out of here. If there had been a table and chairs she could have made short work of that glass door, but there was nothing on the balcony except the railing.

  The railing.

  Quickly she went from one metal post to the next, hoping to rattle one loose. One way or another she was getting off this balcony, and after this was all over James Riley was going to look her in the eye and tell her he wanted her in his life. Because she wanted him in hers.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THROUGH BINOCULARS Riley watched the parking lot from the adjacent building. He couldn’t see March, but that didn’t mean the asshole wasn’t there. Pulling out his cell phone, he tried again to reach Kozmin, but the call went directly to voice mail.

  He glanced at his watch. Jenny didn’t have the time. He had to move, and he had to move now with or without Kozmin.

  He placed a call to the hotel and gave them Kate’s room number. “I don’t have time to explain. Have security go to the room. You have a guest locked out on the balcony.”

  If he made it out of this alive, Kate was going to be madder than hell at him, but what surprised him was that he was going to want to find a way to make it right. Damn, but she’d gotten under his skin.

  This was it. He walked into the parking ramp, took the elevator to the roof, positioned himself at one end and waited.

  There was no point in trying anything fancy. He didn’t have the manpower. Either Kozmin was going to fulfill his part of the bargain or he wasn’t. One way or another, this was all going to be over in fifteen minutes. Tops.

  A BLACK LIMO PULLED ONTO the roof and slowly made its way toward him. Riley didn’t move. He could see the driver and recognized him as one of March’s men, but that was it.

  The limo stopped about thirty feet away, the back door opened and Coben appeared. Two other men followed, and finally March stepped outside.

  “Hello, Riley.”

  “Where’s Jenny?”

  “Don’t worry. She’s safe.” He cocked his head. “Put the statues on the ground.”

  Riley set the box containing the statues in front of him and then backed away. Coben came forward and picked up the box.

  “Where’s Kate?” March asked.

  “Someplace safe.”

  “Predictable. Again.”

  March’s art expert, the short, scrawny man Riley had seen back in D.C., climbed from the back of the limo, and Coben handed him the box.

  “Authenticate them, Stanley,” March ordered. “After we turn the merchandise over to my buyer, you can collect your fee and be on your way.”

  “There are only three statues here,” Stanley said, carefully examining the contents of the box.

  March barely reacted. “Where’s four and five, Riley?”

  “On their way.” Come on, Trace. Call me.

  “The deal was all of them. Here, now. Or Jenny pays.”

  “We had some difficulties in Russia. Grigori Kozmin is Vasili Belov’s chief of security. But then, you knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you sent me to Moscow.”

  “I don’t care what
kind of problems you had with Kozmin. I need all the statues and I need them now.”

  “It’ll get here when it gets here,” Riley said, stalling.

  March pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. “You have until the count of three, Riley. Produce the Russian statues, or my men will start snipping off Jenny’s fingers.”

  KATE RACED THROUGH Istanbul’s crowded streets as fast as she dared. Riley didn’t think he was going to make it out of this alive. That’s why he’d left the car keys and taken a taxi to meet March. Well, she wasn’t more than ten minutes behind him. That sliding door had taken her longer than she’d expected to break, but she’d finally gotten a rod loose from the rail and broken the glass. She’d found the address of the parking ramp indented on the pad of paper by the phone and had grabbed a gun on her way out the door.

  She turned onto the street where the parking ramp was located. Halfway down the block she found the entrance to the ramp blocked. The garage was under repairs. Too bad. She drove right through the barricade and made her way through the vacant floors, hoping she wasn’t too late. For the first time ever, she was hopeful she could have the kind of life her sisters had, and Riley was the key. If he didn’t make it out of this mess alive, her piece of heaven would be gone forever. She couldn’t let that happen.

  A STREAM OF SWEAT DRIPPED down Riley’s back, but he stood firm. “You’re going to have to make a deal with your buyer. I can’t give you what I don’t have.”

  “Not good enough. Get Jenny,” March said into his phone even as he glared at Riley. “I don’t care if you’re having problems! Get her. At the count of three. Cut off a finger. One. Two—”

  “One of these statues is a fake,” Stanley said.

  March turned toward his art expert. “Now, that I didn’t see coming.” He laughed, still holding his cell phone. “How do you know?”

  “It’s a fair imitation.” The man adjusted his glasses. “But typically, on pieces this old, the clay should flake off with the scrape of a fingernail. This one’s too hard. That means it’s been recently fired.”