Bride of the Tiger by Heather Graham (best large ereader .txt) 📗

why he’s ignoring your existence, but I appreciate very much what you tried to do, and I’m concerned that you could have been hurt.”

Sam flushed—his face crimson against the white of his hair. “I’m fine. Just a little dusty. A shower will take care of everything.”

Sam wasn’t going to give her a chance for any more questions. He waved quickly and disappeared into an elevator with an already closing door.

“Someone should find George and tell him what happened,” Ashley murmured, and whether she was in earnest or merely wanted to escape the two of them, Tara didn’t know. But the redhead gave them a weak smile and disappeared into the lounge.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rafe asked Tara, looking her over thoroughly. “Maybe I should have taken you to the hospital—”

“I’m fine. I haven’t got a scratch on me!” Tara snapped.

“Oh.” He gazed at her again, more intently and seemed to stiffen. “Shall we talk upstairs?”

“Definitely.”

They went up in the elevator, standing apart, exchanging not a word. Rafe opened his door.

Tara stepped in first. Rafe followed, pulling his dusty polo shirt over his head and tossing it in the corner.

“Should I order drinks?” he asked.

“Yes, I think you probably should,” Tara said coolly. She wasn’t feeling cool at all. She didn’t know if she was still terrified—Tine was here! Alive! After her!—or merely devastated.

She didn’t think that she could take it if everything she thought she knew about Rafe was a lie.

He walked to the phone and requested room service, gazing at her questioningly. She didn’t speak, so he just ordered a bottle of rum and some Cokes.

He set the phone down and stood there, watching her with his jaw set, but a little warily, too, she thought. He knew what was coming.

“All right. What?” he asked.

“You don’t need to ask that.”

“Apparently I do.”

“Okay. Sam was on the ship. Sam was following me today. Sam was with you in the restaurant. If this man is your uncle, why was he hiding on the ship?”

“He wasn’t hiding.”

“You gave me an engagement ring. Most men would introduce a handy relative to the woman they claimed they intended to marry.”

He didn’t blink. He just stood there in his jeans, feet slightly apart, muscled chest bare, flesh a little dusty. She almost lowered her eyes from his. He had that tiger look again. A look of cunning, of sleek power.

“Is he or isn’t he a relative?”

Rafe cocked his head slightly. “He is—and he isn’t. He worked for my father, and he works for me. But he met me the day I was born, so he’s definitely family.”

There was a knock at the door. Room service had arrived. Rafe let the man in, signed the bill, then fixed two drinks.

Strong drinks, Tara noticed. Well, he wasn’t going to make her veer from her purpose.

He intended to, though. He handed her a glass that held far more rum than Coke and demanded a little harshly, “I don’t think that Sam is really the important question at the moment. Someone just attempted to abduct you.”

“I’m very aware of that.”

“Are you? Good. There’s safety in awareness.”

“Rafe, what’s going on!”

Tara realized then that neither of them had sat down. Nor were they touching. They were very carefully circling each other. For a moment, she thought that she was going to burst into tears. She didn’t want suspicions. She wanted to run into his arms and believe that he could protect her against the Tines of the world forever.

And—oh, God!—she wanted to believe that he wasn’t another Tine himself!

“Tara, I made Sam come in and eat lunch with me because I knew that you were in there—I overheard you tell your taxi driver to take you to the Oak Room. And I asked him to come on the trip for the same reason that I asked him to follow you today—to keep an eye on you.”

She swallowed, feeling a smothering sensation come over her. He couldn’t be like Tine, watching her, following her, spying on her.

“And you arrived so opportunely today because Sam called you to tell you that I’d left the hotel?” she asked him incredulously.

“Yes.”

“Where were you, really?”

He hesitated. “At the police station. I wanted to see if anything new had been discovered. If they thought that there was any possibility that Tine was still in the country. All right! Yes, damn it! Sam was watching you, with orders to tell me if you left the hotel.”

“Why?”

“Why?” It seemed as if his temper suddenly snapped. “You little idiot, that’s obvious!”

“Don’t call me an idiot!”

“You went off, alone!”

She shook her head. “I went to the glass factory, to a place that’s always full of tourists—”

“And you almost met your ex-lover again. I didn’t interrupt something you were looking forward to, did I?”

She remained deathly still; the only sound in the room was her sharp and horrified gasp.

She didn’t say anything to him; she merely set her drink down on the bedside table and turned around sharply, heading for the door to her room.

“Tara!” He caught her arm, bringing her back around, closing his arms around her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”

“No! Let me go!”

“I can’t, Tara! I’m sorry. I just get frightened now and then myself. My God. I love you so much—”

Something inside her snapped, too. It was the shattering truth of the day. She was in Caracas and Tine was in Caracas, and he was going to get her if he could. She was overwhelmed by a memory of the past that she couldn’t bear. A memory of being held and forced, helpless beneath a greater strength.

She panicked. She gasped out inarticulate words and beat against his chest.

And Rafe didn’t understand. He knew only that he loved her, that deep inside he was very afraid. He was afraid that she could be taken, that he wouldn’t be there to help her.

Fear that he was a fool. That she didn’t really want his help. That he had given his heart and soul to some beautiful temptress, the same one