Kristen Harris was desperate to uncover the truth about who she had been before her memory was stolen from her. Her search had led her to the New Orleans waterfront and the most compelling–and perhaps the most dangerous–man she could ever have imagined….Blu Dufray seemed to know every dark and deadly secret from the French Quarter to the Louisiana bayou country–and every way to stir a woman's deepest desires. And even as he helped her chase away the shadows shrouding her past, he was making her dream of a future–in his arms….But what if the truth of her past threatened this growing love–and even their very lives…?
The question had Kristen wringing her hands. All she wanted to do was go to him and curl up in his strong arms. But would he still want her once he knew everything?
She turned away. A moment later, his hand was on her shoulder. “What else, angel? What’s so bad that you can’t tell me, can’t even look at me?”
Kristen felt him move close and, with easy familiarity, wrap his arm around her. Then his heat surrounded her, and memories of last night’s passion flooded her senses. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she had no right to love Blu Dufray, to want him this badly.
He bent his head. “I’ll help you, no matter what. Nothing you can say will make me walk away.”
Kristen turned in his arms and gazed up at him. “Are you sure…?” she whispered.
Dear Reader,
Once again, Silhouette Intimate Moments brings you six exciting romances, a perfect excuse to take a break and read to your heart’s content. Start off with Heart of a Hero, the latest in award-winning Marie Ferrarella’s CHILDFINDERS, INC. miniseries. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you root for the heroine to find her missing son—and discover true love along the way. Then check out the newest of our FIRSTBORN SONS, Born Brave, by Ruth Wind, another of the award winners who make Intimate Moments so great every month. In Officer Hawk Stone you’ll discover a hero any woman—and that includes our heroine!—would fall in love with.
Cassidy and the Princess, the latest from Patricia Potter, is a gripping story of a true princess of the ice and the hero who lures her in from the cold. With Hard To Handle, mistress of sensuality Kylie Brant begins CHARMED AND DANGEROUS, a trilogy about three irresistible heroes and the heroines lucky enough to land them. Be sure to look for her again next month, when she takes a different tack and contributes our FIRSTBORN SONS title. Round out the month with new titles from up-and-comers Shelley Cooper, whose Promises, Promises offers a new twist on the pregnant-heroine plot, and Wendy Rosnau, who tells a terrific amnesia story in The Right Side of the Law.
And, of course, come back again next month, when the romantic roller-coaster ride continues with six more of the most exciting romances around.
Enjoy!
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
resides on sixty secluded acres in the northwoods of Minnesota with her husband and their two energetic teenagers. A former hairdresser, today she divides her time between the family-owned bookstore, writing romantic suspense and traveling to locations for prospective books.
Her first book, The Long Hot Summer, was a Romantic Times Magazine nominee for Best First Series Romance of 2000.
Wendy loves to hear from her readers. Write to her at P.O. Box 441, Brainerd, Minnesota 56401. Or e-mail her at cattales@brainerd.net.
To Jenni,
for her amazing strength and wisdom,
and for her youthful energy and blunt honesty
—every mother should know when she’s wearing
ugly shoes and the wrong color lipstick. And because,
as favorites go, you like this one best.
Always, with love…
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Salvador Maland pulled back the white satin sheet and slipped into bed next to his wife. When he focused on the nightgown that covered her nakedness, he said only one word. “Why?”
“Amanda’s cutting another tooth,” Kristen carefully reminded him. “If she needs me tonight, I want to be able to go to her quickly.”
It was a viable excuse, one Salva couldn’t contest. Everyone knew their daughter had been fussy for the past two days; it was amazing how a tiny two-and-a-half-year-old could disrupt even the most rigid of households. And the Maland home, located on a small island in the Caribbean just off the coast of Belize, was the most well-guarded, efficiently run home Kristen had ever seen.
“Then this isn’t about this morning. You’re not punishing me, are you? Because if that’s what this is about, I swear—”
“It’s not,” Kristen assured, though Salva’s cruelty before dawn had made her final decision easier.
She was so tired. Tired of being afraid. Tired of being on her best behavior or else. Tired of asking herself the same questions over and over again—such as who was this man who claimed to be her husband? And why had she agreed to marry a man she couldn’t remember falling in love with?
But if she knew that, she would also know the standard information a healthy mind takes for granted. She would know her own birthday and remember her parent’s faces. She would know where she’d grown up, and if she’d shared her childhood with other siblings.
Oh, Salva had given her answers. Three years ago, when she’d opened her eyes and found herself naked in his huge brass bed, he’d assured her that there was nothing to worry about; she was safe, at home with her loving husband. Then he had filled in the blanks: she was Kristen Harris from St. Petersburg, Florida. She was twenty-one, and as far as he knew, she had no family. He suspected her real name wasn’t Harris, he told her, because she had been eluding the police at the time they’d met.
That particular news had shocked her, and seeing that it had, Salva had patted her hand and assured her that whatever mistakes she’d made were unimportant. That he and the island were her future—the perfect safe haven for a fugitive on the run.
Salva’s words had made sense. Still, Kristen had insisted on seeing a doctor. The next day her husband had sent for a neurologist. Dr. Eden—George to her husband—had explained her condition, calling it retrograde amnesia. In Kristen’s case, the blow to her head in the boating accident had been the culprit for her memory loss. In most cases the amnesia wasn’t permanent, Dr. Eden had attested. There was, however, no medicine or treatment to reverse her condition.
Three years later, Kristen was still playing a waiting game, still unable to remember anything past the morning she’d opened her eyes and learned she was the wife of a perfect stranger. A very dangerous stranger.
“Then you forgive me, Princess?”
Kristen blinked out of her muse. “Forgive you?”
“For this morning.”
She would never forgive him for that or for any of the other times he’d forced himself on her. But Kristen carefully nodded, her gaze drifting over the imposing naked body that lay beside her, knowing full well that whether she forgave him or not had nothing to do with the outcome of the next few hours.
In the moonlight, all six feet, two inches of Salvador Maland radiated danger and authority. He was the perfect male specimen—a tropical tan on an athletic body, and sinfully handsome. His commanding dark eyes almost too exotic for a man.
The island women thought him breathtaking. Kristen thought him frightening. The man behind the model’s build and the sculptured perfection was the epitome of arrogance—second only to his violent temper, which he demonstrated daily by making the maids cry and the guards shake in their boots. More than once Kristen had found herself backed into a corner pleading for mercy for herself or Amanda. And there, standing over her, wearing a smug expression while she squirmed like a vulnerable fish on a deadly hook, was this stranger who called himself her husband.
“I forbid you to leave this room tonight.” He raised his arm to rest his sleek, shaved head in the palm of his hand. “Amanda has a competent nanny. She doesn’t need you sitting up with her or walking the floor.”
Kristen had learned she was pregnant only a few short weeks after she’d opened her eyes and found herself on the island. As if dealing with an empty head and a strange husband wasn’t enough, for the next several months she had endured severe morning sickness. Seven months later she’d given birth to a little blond angel Salva had insisted they name Amanda after his mother, the island’s wealthy Creole grande dame, Miandera Maland.
In the beginning Kristen had wanted to believe Salva. She had wanted the island paradise to be her and Amanda’s refuge, and she had wanted Salva to be their savior—the hero every woman dreams of marrying. But as time passed it became clear that Salva was as dangerous and unpredictable as the jaguars that prowled the wildlife preserve at Cockscomb. He was a ruthless man, and his island paradise Kristen’s prison—a prison she ached to escape.
“Did you hear me? You will not leave my side tonight. Is that understood?”
“Salva, be reasonable. Amanda’s a baby. These rules of yours—”
Like a snake striking on instinct, he wrapped his fingers around Kristen’s neck. She fell silent, knowing what it would cost her if she challenged Salva’s authority further.
Her quick submission brought a gleam of satisfaction to his confident dark eyes. Slowly he traced her small, fragile mouth with a blunt-tipped finger. “Amanda will learn her lessons eventually.” His smile broadened, his eyes turning carnal. “And you, my lovely, have waited long enough to be rewarded for being so forgiving. Lie back, Princess.”
Dread swept over Kristen. “Salva, I don’t feel—”
His long fingers slid down her neck, squeezing and cutting off her protest, demanding that she flatten out on the bed. “You’re amazing,” he praised. “So fragile, and so remarkably perfect. From the moment I saw you, I knew I had to have you.”
Lavish compliments—this was the way it started—the prelude to several hours of enduring a woman’s worst nightmare. Dread seized the moment and Kristen began to beg. “Salva, please… I’m bruised and—”
“Shh. This morning I was angry,” he reasoned. “Tonight that’s not the case. I don’t enjoy hurting you, Princess.”
“But you do hurt me!” She regretted the words the minute she said them. His gaze turned brittle, and Kristen could see his temper begin to slowly build like a determined island storm.
“Are you thinking of denying me, Princess?” His eyes lit up, ready for the challenge.
She shook her head.
He leaned forward and brushed his lips over her mouth. His breath scalded her with the sickening scent of mint. “Mother says you’ve cast a spell over me. It’s true I’m unable to get enough of you. It’s been three years and I still…” He paused, his hard gaze studying her young face. “Are you a witch then, capable of bringing me to my knees? Or simply the most perfect creature a man could ever envision owning? I ask you, witch or wife, Princess?”
“Wife,” Kristen answered, motioning to the wine that sat on the nightstand. “A dutiful wife.”
He seemed pleased with her answer and, too, that she’d remembered the wine. He reached out and spread her long pale hair over the white satin pillowcase. “You’re my beautiful princess,” he mused out loud, then whispered, “and I’m your king.”
“I’m no princess,” Kristen refuted. Just a wife with no memory, she thought. A trapped wife, desperately seeking answers.
His cold hand covered her breast and squeezed, then slowly, possessively, he worked her nipple into a hard knot with his thumb. As he kissed her, his powerful gaze penetrated her soft brown eyes.
What was it? Kristen wondered. What was she reading in his eyes? Was it suspicion? Had she been careless earlier when she’d slipped into his private office? Had she failed to wipe clean her fingerprints when she’d taken the gun? Or was he simply testing her…again?
Kristen forced herself to snuggle against her husband’s naked body. Anything to distract him, she thought—even this.
“I need to see you,” he insisted, and quickly made a rag of the expensive nightgown.
Stripped in a heartbeat, Kristen squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart hammered against her chest and her breath caught in her throat. The desperate keening sound that escaped her lips was mistaken for passion and with a satisfied grunt, Salvador Maland lodged himself inside her. “Much better, Princess. Much better than this morning. Much…”
Kristen had been waiting, listening for her daughter’s birdlike voice to call to her. The moment she heard it, she slid from the bed, retrieved her robe, and left Salva sprawled on his stomach in a deep sleep. In Amanda’s room, she dismissed the nanny. “I’ll stay with her, Celia. You go back to bed.”
The nanny’s eyes widened, and Kristen knew why— Salva had given her strict instructions to stay with Amanda the entire night. “No, Mrs. Maland. No, no! I can’t leave.”
“It’s all right. My husband will sleep through the night. I’m sure of it,” Kristen said, recalling the two empty bottles that sat on the nightstand in their bedroom—a testimony to her husband’s passion for expensive wine. She ushered the young girl into the hall. “Don’t worry, Celia. I’ll see to Amanda’s fussing, and you,” she leaned to whisper, “if you’re not tired, should check on Captain Carmichael. He may be in need of a little distraction from his nightly guard duty.” She smiled, then winked at the pretty nanny.
The young dark-haired girl blushed. “Thank you, Mrs. Maland. You are so generous and kind.”
As soon as Kristen was left alone with her baby daughter, she lifted Amanda into her arms. “We need to hurry, sweetheart.”
Within minutes Kristen had Amanda dressed and sitting in the middle of the bed. The child resembled her mother, from her pale blond hair to her petite bone structure and delicate mouth. She was a shy little girl, with sweet brown eyes. Her mommy’s eyes.
Kristen went in search of the small black bag she’d stashed earlier in the far corner of the closet. From the bag, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt, and dark deck shoes. She dressed quickly, and while repacking the bag with necessities for Amanda, her fingers grazed hard steel.
Kristen hated guns, but the .22 derringer she’d hidden in the bag looked almost toylike in size, thus not so menacing. She’d actually chosen it because it was the smallest gun in Salva’s private collection and the one that might go unnoticed the longest. Then, too, it hadn’t looked all that complicated to load or shoot. No, she didn’t intend to use it on anyone. But the gun would be good for intimidation’s sake if necessary. No one needed to know she had never fired one before—that is, that she remembered.
Convinced she was doing the right thing, Kristen moved on to the next stage of her plan. With trembling hands, she forced herself to do the unthinkable—an act no mother would ever consider if she had a choice. She drugged her beloved Amanda with a small chip of one of her prescription sleeping pills.
Twenty minutes later Kristen shouldered the black bag, lifted her sleeping daughter into her arms, and slipped soundlessly down the grand hall of the Maland estate. She already knew where the guards would be and which escape route to take out of the house.
Praying Celia had lured Davis Carmichael away from his post at the front gate, she left the house. She had made friends with the guard dogs the first year on the island—her kindness rewarded this day by reaching the iron gate without alarming man or beast.
Unattended… Silently, Kristen thanked Celia for enticing Davis into one of the private gardens. Lifting her sleeping daughter’s foot, she punched the sequence of numbers she’d written on the sole of Amanda’s shoe into the electronic keypad. As the gate opened Kristen blinked back tears and hurried to the sailboat docked a quarter mile down the beach. She didn’t question her knowledge of sailing as she boarded the sleek vessel and stowed Amanda safely below; she simply thanked God for gifting her with a means to escape.
Minutes later the boat moved away from the dock. A few minutes more and Kristen hoisted the white sails to catch the tropical breeze. A mile from shore, she pulled the photo from her pocket. It was one of six she’d stolen from a file in Salva’s office. She didn’t know the man in the picture, but her husband must— Salva had gone to a lot of trouble to have the picture blown up to cover one entire wall in his office.
In the moonlight she studied the reckless-looking man with the shaggy black hair. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. His sun-baked muscular chest and massive biceps looked as if they’d been carved from a slab of iron. His long, oaklike legs were crammed into well-worn jeans, and his feet were bare.
He had the look of a fisherman.
The unexpected assumption simply popped into Kristen’s head as she searched the photo. The background was out of focus, but the iron man was hunkered down over a hydraulic winch used on a fishing boat.
Hydraulic winch?
How did she know what he was repairing? Or that the winch was part of a fishing boat? Had she suddenly remembered something connected to her past?
From the moment Kristen had planned her escape, her destination had been St. Petersburg, Florida. It made sense. Salva said they’d met there.
But now…
She flipped over the photograph, anxious for another memory to pop out of thin air. On the back was written the name “Blu Devil,” and beneath that “Algiers, Louisiana.” Once again she brought her gaze back to the man in the photo, willing him to speak to her in some way.
Was it possible she knew him, possible he knew her? There had to be a reason why she’d been drawn to his picture besides his good looks.
Kristen had waited three years for a clue as to who she was. And now, suddenly, here it was. She could be trading one nightmare for another, but if there was a chance the Blu Devil was the answer to her prayers…the smallest chance.
Salvador Maland ground Davis Carmichael’s face into the quarry stone beneath his feet while his mother, Miandera, watched. “You’ll die slowly, Carmichael, screaming for a quick end. But it won’t come. Kristen’s gone and you say you don’t know who invaded my home and abducted her. How can that be? You were the guard on duty.”
“No more! Please, no more!”
Ignoring his plea, Davis was kicked in the ribs again where he lay on the terrace bleeding and moaning in pain. Close to becoming unhinged, Salva screamed, “No more, you say! There will be plenty more. She’s gone, you bastard! Gone!”
Another vicious kick stole the guard’s breath, the third rendered him unconscious. Salva motioned to the two guards who stood awaiting his instructions to take the man away.
“Yes, take him,” Miandera insisted. “Then clean up this mess.”
While the guards stepped forward to carry Davis Carmichael away, Miandera tangled her arm around her son and led him out of the gate toward the beach. Nearly as tall as Salva, Miandera Maland was sparrow-thin, and her sleek black hair was the longest on the island—reaching past her knees. Her skin was a golden brown from years spent in the Caribbean, her makeup as spare as her European smile.
As they walked the sandy beach, Salva admitted, “Kristen hasn’t been off the island since I brought her here, Mother. She hasn’t been out of my sight for more than an afternoon in three years. Dammit, how could something like this happen?”
“You feel betrayed. As you should, darling. The guards have failed you…us. They will be punished,” she assured him. “And Kristen, if she left on her own, also must be punished.”
Salva jerked to a stop and gazed down at his mother. “Are you suggesting that she’s left me? That she snuck off in the night while I slept?”
“We must consider every possibility, darling. There was no forced entry. The dogs didn’t even bark. And there’s been no ransom request.”
“Would that make you happy, to learn that she’s betrayed me? You never liked her.” Salva turned his hot anger on his mother. “Answer me! Are you happy that she’s gone?”
“Nothing that pains you would make me happy, darling. And my granddaughter is also gone, remember?”
His mother had been jealous of Kristen from the moment she had laid eyes on her. But when Salva had told her about the baby that he and Kristen were expecting, Miandera had quickly tempered her animosity—a true Maland heir was rare, something to covet, to cherish and protect.
“I’m sorry, Mother.”
“I have every confidence that you will return my granddaughter to me unharmed.” Miandera reached for her son’s hand and clasped it as they continued along the beach. “I did warn you, however, darling, not to fall in love with such a young girl. I do not say this to sting your pride, but Kristen never really came around as you had hoped—youth can be so fickle. She never understood the Maland way. And her lack of memory has been a problem from the beginning. She admitted once, she wished she could remember falling in love with you.”
Salva refused to react to his mother’s criticism, or discuss Kristen’s young age or lack of memory. “Someone has breached the compound and taken them,” he reasoned. “I’m certain Kristen didn’t leave on her own, Mother.”
“I hope you’re right, darling. But the sailboat is gone. For what purpose would kidnappers steal the boat?”
“As a diversion, of course.”
“That’s possible, yes.”
They walked on.
“I saw the bruises yesterday, darling. The ones on Kristen’s arms. I only thought she may have left because—”
“She bruises easily, Mother.”
“I’m not criticizing you, darling. Some women need a strong hand. I suspect your young bride is one of those women.”
Salva refused to believe Kristen would leave over a few silly bruises. And yet, they had searched the entire island without gleaning a single clue.
“The yacht is ready,” Miandera supplied in her husky voice. “All Porter needs is a destination. Where will you search first?”
“I have a phone call to make, then I’ll decide.” Salva stopped and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. Seconds later he heard the voice of a man he had hoped never to talk to ever again.
“Crawford’s Boat Tours.”
Salva didn’t identify himself. All he said was, “She’s missing.” It was a long shot, but he needed to ask anyway. “Have you seen her?”
“No. Don’t tell me the bitch is on her way back here?”
“I don’t have a confirmation on that just yet, but she is gone.”
“Still empty-headed?”
“Yes.”
Salva turned away from his mother’s questioning gaze. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Kristen stopped taking her medication and started to remember. He only knew for all concerned, he had to get her back before that could happen. And he had to do it while keeping Miandera on a short leash. There were things he hadn’t told her. Things his mother must never find out.
“What about your kid?”
“Gone, too,” Salva answered.
“In your line of work it doesn’t pay to have weaknesses, Maland. The bitch is your weakness. You should have had your fun with her, then killed her.”
Salva didn’t want to hear what he should have done. Three years ago he had simply taken what he had wanted and damned the consequences. It had always been the Maland way. His little princess had, indeed, become his weakness. But he wasn’t prepared to give her up—not at any cost.
“She’d only come here if she started remembering. Let’s hope Little Krissy stays stupid.”
“You have my number. Day or night, call me if you see her.” Salva disconnected the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Facing his mother, he said, “Tell Porter we’ll hold one more day. If I haven’t received a ransom note, and Kristen still doesn’t turn up on the island, I’ll head for St. Petersburg.”
“And the Blu Devil? What of our plans for him?”
“We put them on hold for the time being.”
“On hold? But we’ve already done that too many times. You promised—”
“Be patient a little longer, Mother. A Maland’s promise is his honor. I give you my word that the Blu Devil will die. But first, I will see that Kristen and Amanda are brought back to the island. And, if there is punishing to be done, I will see to that, too.”
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