No Holds Barred Page 8

  But she hadn’t. Still, she might have hidden a map or a drawing into one of the books. The fact that one of the sapphire earrings had shown up would only fuel the person’s determination. Obsession was never good news. In fact, there was a strong possibility that what he was beginning to feel for Piper might be headed down that path.

  The question was, did he have any chance of preventing that? An impossible question to answer when he didn’t know if he could keep his hands off her once she walked through that door.

  Work, he thought as he shifted his gaze to the seven boxes of files that he’d had the deliveryman line up along the wall. The only strategy he had open to him was to keep them both focused on the work they’d come here to do.

  * * *

  PIPER STOPPED ON THE LANDING the second she saw that her aunt Vi was in the foyer, and she wasn’t alone. She recognized the couple who’d arrived earlier in the SUV, and she took a minute to study them. The man was tall in his late thirties with sandy-blond hair and handsome, photogenic features. His suit was Italian, she guessed, and probably tailored especially for him. The pretty brunette standing next to him was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and carried a very professional-looking camera.

  Alba growled at her side.

  Vi glanced up the stairs and made a quick hand signal to the dog that silenced her. Then she smiled. “Piper, you’re just in time to meet Mr. Arbogast and Ms. Lewis. They’re from Architectural Digest. They’re doing a feature article on the castle, and they’ll be doing a photo shoot tomorrow.”

  The man smiled up at her, and by the time Piper reached the group, he had his hand already extended. “Russell Arbogast. This place is such a find.” His smile was warm as were his eyes, and the slight accent added to his charm. “We’ve been running a series on Scottish castles, and when we came across the article in the Times, we called your sister immediately to book a shoot. I’m so glad we did. The photos they ran don’t do it justice. Deanna here will remedy that.”

  “Yes,” the woman said. Her smile was just as warm as Russell’s.

  Piper might have extended her hand to Deanna, but Russell hadn’t let go of it yet. Not that he was holding it captive. His grip was light, the sensation was pleasant. Piper couldn’t help but recall how different her reaction had been when her fingers had accidentally tangled with Duncan’s on the hood of his car.

  “We’re going to do the official shoot tomorrow,” Russell continued. “I like to make a preliminary visit just to get an overview. And Deanna here likes to take candid shots so that she can more efficiently map out the plan for her assistants. Your aunt has given us a tour, and we understand you’re here with Mr. Sutherland on a working vacation. Perhaps after Deanna and I get settled in at the Eagle’s Nest in Glen Loch, we could set up a time for an interview. I’d love to be able to include some of your memories growing up here in my article.”

  “I don’t see why we can’t arrange something,” Piper said.

  “Good.” Russell gave her hand a quick squeeze before he released it. “Good. I’ll be in touch.”

  After closing the front door, Vi turned to her. “They love the castle. I can’t wait to tell Adair. She’ll be thrilled. She set up the whole thing.” Then she glanced at her watch. “Goodness. I have to get started if I’m going to get to Albany in time for my presentation at the bridal fair. Duncan’s in the library with those boxes he had delivered. He’s turned off the security for the terrace door so that you can work in there.”

  Vi scooped up a sweater and her purse from a nearby table. “Lock the door after me and key in the alarm when I leave.”

  Piper found herself doing just that. Then she narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t like her aunt to just hurry off like that—without offering her coffee or homemade scones or something. But Vi MacPherson was no dummy. Could be she’d picked up on the attraction that was sizzling in the air between Duncan and her. So she was giving them some privacy.

  “Time to put it to good use,” she murmured to the dog as she led the way down the hall. When they reached the library door, the dog pattered on past her into the kitchen and Piper watched her stretch out in a patch of sunlight.

  Okay, the verdict was unanimous. She and Duncan needed privacy. Hadn’t she already decided how to put it to good use? Straightening her shoulders, she opened the door and stepped into the library. Books were everywhere, spilling off the shelves into random piles on the floor. Dust motes fought for space in the shafts of light that poured in through the tall windows and sliders. And she could see Duncan’s silhouette at the far end of the room. He was seated at a desk, his back to her. And still she felt the incredible pull on her senses.

  She looked at him and she wanted. It was that simple. That primitive. Her throat went dry as dust. And she wasn’t even aware that she’d started walking toward him until she passed the fireplace.

  “I’ve lined up the cases my unit has been able to attribute to the RPK,” he said without turning.

  Piper stopped and glanced at the boxes that were lined up neatly along the wall between the fireplace and where he was sitting.

  “I thought I’d start with the most recent. You can start at the beginning and we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”

  “Good plan,” she said. And he’d started without her. The lid on the box closest to his desk was open and he had file folders stacked beside him.

  “Vi said you didn’t have breakfast so I fixed a plate for you,” he said. “You must be hungry.”

  She was, but not for food. Still, when she glanced over and saw the tray her heart did a funny little bounce. It held a carafe of coffee, two cups, a plate of her aunt’s scones with honey and a couple of bananas. She’d taken care of herself for years, ever since she’d left the castle to go to college. But Duncan wanted to feed her. Pizza and wine last night, bananas and scones this morning. She moved to the table, picked a banana up.

  “While you eat, I want to talk to you about us.”

  The words, the way he’d said them, had her forgetting all about the banana. A replay of the scenes of the morning flashed through her mind. Duncan standing in the driveway telling her to join him when she was dressed. Duncan informing Russell Arbogast that she was here on a working vacation. And now, Duncan providing breakfast and lining up her work for her. Clearly, the plan was to keep their relationship strictly professional.

  To hell with that.

  And he still wasn’t looking at her. She glanced down at the banana and stifled the urge to throw it at him.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let’s talk.” They were going to do a lot more than that.

  He turned to look at her. She stopped short when she saw he was wearing glasses, and everything inside of her went into a meltdown. They made him look even sexier, which just wasn’t fair. She could hear her brain cells clicking off.

  “Take those glasses off. They’re killing me.”

  “Killing you?” He took them off and set them carefully on the desk.

  Piper felt her knees again. “I have a few things to say to you.” At least she had when she’d been talking to Alba. “White knight,” she managed.

  “White knight?” Duncan swiveled his chair toward her and stretched out his legs. “You’re going to have to explain.”

  Okay, the glasses were gone, but that incredible body was still there. And right now, just looking at him with those long legs and the hands steepled together had her tapping into all of her mental reserves.

  She fastened her gaze on his face. “You and your brothers have all inherited the white knight gene. You like to ride to the rescue and save damsels in distress.” She paused to point the banana at him. “You don’t have to take care of me or feed me. I can take care of myself and I make my own decisions. I agreed to come up here and work with you on the Lightman files and look for those sapphires, but we also agreed on something else. I get to decide if we’re going to explore what’s…what’s happening between us.”

  He opened his mouth, but she jabbed the bana
na in his direction again. “I know what you’re going to say. I’m in danger, and if we decide to pursue what we started when we kissed in the alley yesterday, we might get distracted. It might be safer and more productive if we just put that all on hold until we can figure out who’s sending me flowers and find another part of Eleanor’s dowry. Plus we have to find something that will put Lightman back in jail.” She waved her free hand at the boxes. “Have I hit the highlights?”

  A little uncomfortable and totally fascinated that she’d read him so clearly, Duncan could see why Abe Monticello had hired her. She had a knack for summation that would be a boon to any trial lawyer. Then she stepped fully into one of the shafts of light from the glass behind him, and he became almost as fascinated by the way the sun played up the different colors in her hair.

  “Well?” she prompted.

  “What?”

  “Are you following me?”

  He put some effort into gathering his thoughts. “Except for the white knight part, everything you’ve said has crossed my mind.” In fact, the ideas had been spinning on a nonstop carousel ride through his head since she’d crossed the driveway to him that morning. “I’m worried about you.” He told her about the phone calls he’d received from Detective Nelson and his boss. “The person who staged that little scene in your apartment is not giving up. I don’t want to put any added pressure on you.”

  “How’s this for pressure? I can’t stop thinking about getting my hands on you.”

  “Ditto.” And the only way he was preventing himself from doing just that was by clamping them around the arms of his chair.

  “Then why are we talking?” She glanced down at the banana she’d been pointing at him and suddenly tossed it over her shoulder. “I’m betting it’s a lot more distracting to think about having hot monkey sex than it is to actually have it.”

  Monkey sex. Duncan’s mind took one long spin.

  “You said it was going to be my decision. So, I’m proposing that for the time we are here at the castle, we simply offer each other sex on demand.”

  “Sex on demand?”

  “Yes. My college roommates used to rave about their buddy-sex arrangements. Today, I think they call it friends with benefits. We just make sex available to each other whenever we want it. It’s perfect for us and our current situation. No strings. No expectations. Anyplace, anytime, any-way-you-want-it sex.”

  Duncan felt his mind take another spin. He was skilled at getting into people’s minds, but Piper’s had to be the most fascinating one he’d ever encountered.

  “If we can do it anytime we want, maybe we’ll get it out of our systems. At the very least, I can think about RPK or the jerk who sent me those flowers instead of how I’m going to keep myself from jumping you.”

  When he said nothing, she frowned at him. “Well, what do you think?”

  He registered the annoyance that laced her tone, but thinking had pretty much gone by the wayside. Not that it had done him much good so far. Thinking was what had kept him hesitating. Thinking had kept him away from her for seven long years. “Is there a difference between monkey sex and buddy sex?”

  It took a full two beats for her to answer him. Then a grin lit up her features. “I can’t say I’m an expert at either.” She stripped out of her T-shirt as she walked toward him. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the red lace bra. Until she pulled down her jeans and he saw the matching bikinis. And any brain cells still working clicked completely off when she climbed onto his lap and took his mouth with hers.

  He had no choice but to wait out the first jolt. Then he greedily absorbed the second and third as she threaded her fingers through his hair and began to use her teeth on his lips—teasing, tormenting, torturing.

  Nipping on his earlobe, she whispered, “I’ve been wanting to do this since I walked into the room.”

  Ditto. He wanted to say the words out loud, but her mouth was busy on his again.

  “Oh, mmm,” she murmured as if she’d just discovered a flavor she’d been craving.

  He certainly had. You, he thought. Only you.

  Sensations simply battered him and he relished each one. The softness of her thighs pressed against his waist. Her scent, feminine and filled with secrets. The low husky sounds that hummed in her throat and sizzled straight to his loins. The scrape of her nails as she flipped open the buttons of his golf shirt, then tugged it loose from his pants.

  Together, they stripped off his shirt. Then her hands were on his flesh, inciting, arousing, demanding. Each trace of her fingers, each press of her palms brought a pleasure so intense, a weakness so delicious that he began to ache. She was aggressive in a way he’d never imagined or dreamed. She bewitched him in a way no other woman ever had.

  When she drew back enough to slip her hands between them and tug open his belt, his fingers tangled with hers to free him. She found him, caressed him, and he lost his breath and probably part of his mind.

  “Now,” she said.

  Her command triggered explosions inside of him. He thought he’d been prepared, but anticipation and reality were worlds apart. He covered both lace-covered breasts with his palms, heard the quick intake of her breath, felt the thunderous beat of her heart. And need clawed through him. She’d had a point about the white knight analogy, he thought. For the first time in his life, he’d wanted to just sweep a woman away on his charger to a place where he could keep her safe and make her his. More than that, he wanted to pull her to the floor and ravage her the way a warrior might claim the spoils of war.

  But first, he wanted more. He needed more.

  “My turn.” He could barely hear the sound of his voice above the pounding of his blood, but he slid his hands down to her waist and stood, bringing them both up and out of the chair. In one quick step, he braced her against the bookshelves and began to take what he needed.

  * * *

  EVEN THOUGH HIS HANDS MOVED like lightning, each quick, impatient caress sent a separate thrill rocketing through her. This was the part she’d never gotten to in the fantasies she’d penned. How could she have known?

  More. Had she said it or merely thought it?

  His hands moved between them to flip open her bra. Then he lowered his mouth and devoured. Each flick of his tongue, each scrape of his teeth brought a sharp, edgy shaft of pleasure.

  Too much. Too much. Her heart had never beat so fast. Her body had never pulsed with so much life. But even as she reeled in a tidal wave of pleasures, all she craved was more. More.

  Suddenly his mouth was gone. So were his hands.

  She dug her nails into his shoulders and dragged in a breath. “Don’t stop.”

  But he was already carrying her away from the bookcase and suddenly her feet were on the floor.

  “I want to slow things down,” he said.

  “Why?” She gripped his shoulder and rose up on her toes. “Fast was great.”

  He framed her face with his hands. “Because I’ve waited seven years, and you did say something about any way I want it?”

  When she nodded, he drew them both down so that they were kneeling and facing each other. “Let me show you.” He combed his fingers slowly through her hair, drawing it back from her face. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the day of our parents’ wedding. You had your hair all twisted up in a fancy knot and I wanted my hands in it. I wanted to taste you, too.” Lowering his mouth slowly to hers, he did just that. But not the way he had before. His lips barely brushed against hers before he traced their shape with his tongue. And just like that, he opened up a whole new world of sensations.

  There was none of the flash and fire she’d felt before. Just softness and a glorious warmth that seemed to be turning her blood thick. Each time the heat threatened to flare, he would withdraw and change the angle of the kiss as if he were searching for the perfect position and was determined to find it. Her mind began to spin. Each time he changed the pressure of his mou
th, heat, glorious waves of it, shimmered right through to the marrow of her bones. When her muscles went lax and her hand dropped from his shoulder, he lowered her slowly to the floor.

  “Can’t think,” she whispered.

  “Don’t,” he murmured against her mouth. “Just feel.”

  Starting with her throat and shoulders, he took his fingers and mouth on a journey down her body. Tasting, teasing, tempting. Sensations swamped her. Each one carried her further and further beyond what she’d ever imagined. Shouldn’t she have known that the brush of a fingertip over the tip of her breast would make her tremble? Or that the scrape of a fingernail at the back of her knee could make her moan? Or that the feathering of his breath at her waist would make her heart skip and race? No one had ever made her want or need this way.

  Fire and ice rippled over her nerve endings at the same time that a flame flickered to life in her center and sent sparks spreading in a slow burn through her system. When he slipped a finger into her, she gasped his name as the unspeakable pleasure rushed through her. Then she fell weightlessly, bonelessly, and even as she did, he used his mouth on her and sent her soaring again. And again. There was nothing, no one but him. He could have asked anything of her. She would have refused him nothing. But all he did was give her more.

  * * *

  WHEN HE DREW BACK, HE WATCHED her in the thin shafts of sunlight as he hurriedly dealt with the rest of his clothes and slipped on protection. Her skin was sheened with moisture, her hair spread out on the floor, her eyes dazed and on his.

  “Now,” she whispered.