“Mac—” Lucas began.
“She’s my best friend and I love her.”
There was a beat of silence. Mac thought she saw something in his eyes, but then it was gone.
“You can’t fault her logic,” Tracker said.
“Thank you.” Mac sent him a crooked smile.
“Anytime,” Tracker said. “You gonna finish your home fries?”
Mac pushed her plate toward him.
“You hardly ate anything,” Lucas said with a frown.
“I ate a lot,” Mac said. “I knocked at least two inches off the top of this mountain.”
“No bickering, kids,” Tracker managed to say around a mouthful. “Whoever they think they’ve got, the way I see it, our job is to get in there and get her out.”
“The question is how to do that,” Lucas said.
Tracker sighed. “You always ask the tough questions.”
“There ought to be a lot of confusion when I show up as the real Dr. MacKenzie Lloyd.”
“No.” Tracker and Lucas spoke in unison.
“You can make your move then, while I’m distracting them,” Mac insisted.
“You can’t show up as yourself. It’s too risky. And it could put Sophie in even more danger,” Lucas said.
“Then I’ll come as Sally.”
“Sally?”
“Sally made quite an impression on the staff at the Wainright Casa Marina. Lucas even introduced me as his wife,” Mac said. “I bet Mr. Falcone won’t be surprised if you bring me. And I can help.”
“She could be right,” Tracker said.
Lucas hesitated for a moment, then said, “We’ll have to lay down some ground rules.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
IT WAS NEARLY DAWN when Lucas rose and slipped from the bed. Moving quietly, he went into the living room of the suite at the St. Francis. Through the wide expanse of window, he could see the lights winking on the Golden Gate Bridge.
A quick glance at his watch told him that it would be at least four hours before Tracker would arrive, and the time could best be utilized by sleeping.
But sleep did not seem to be a possibility as long as he was in the same bed with Mac. He couldn’t seem to be anywhere near her and not make love to her. It hadn’t even mattered that she’d been asleep when he’d finally lost the battle he’d been waging with himself and crawled in next to her. Immediately she’d snuggled her backside into him so that they were lying side by side, nestled like spoons in a drawer. And immediately, his body had responded, growing hard.
It had been the same trusting way she’d slept with him in Florida, except, this time, he hadn’t been gentleman enough to just watch her. Just thinking of how he’d slipped his arms around her and eased his hand beneath the elastic of her panties was enough to have his body hardening all over again.
She’d been so soft and warm, as if she’d been waiting just for him. She hadn’t awakened right away, moving only slightly as he’d eased her panties off. She’d stirred again as he’d probed her from behind and then entered her. But she’d only fully surfaced when he’d begun to thrust into her with long, slow strokes. Even now he could hear her soft cries, urging him, pleading with him to go faster.
He hadn’t.
Instead, he’d touched her, brushing his fingers under her breasts and lightly over her nipples, then down her torso and lower. Then he would begin the whole process again. He’d purposely kept the pace slow, building the pleasure and then retreating until it had become so intense that neither one of them could bear it. Only then had he allowed her to climax. When she’d cried out his name, he’d finally sought his own release.
Afterward, she hadn’t been able to stop trembling. He’d held her close until she’d drifted off to sleep again. It had occurred to him that he could have gone on holding her just that way for a very long time.
The problem was that while his mind had found some kind of contentment, his body hadn’t. She’d barely dozed off when he’d wanted to wake her again.
Lucas made his way to the couch. He couldn’t stay in the same bed with her and not want to take her again. And again. At least if he stayed on the couch, one of them could get some sleep. He frowned down at the cramped space thoughtfully. Maybe if he hung his feet over one edge, and his head over the other…
Settling himself on the sofa, he twisted one way, turned the other, then tucked one arm beneath his head.
In his mind, he tried to focus on the plan that Tracker had outlined before they’d left the diner—where Mac had barely touched her food, he recalled with a frown. Of course, the food there hadn’t been the best introduction to San Francisco cuisine, he thought ruefully. He could think of several restaurants he wanted to take her to the next time they visited.
The next time?
The two words had him rising again and pacing to the window. Oh, there was going to be a next time, all right. He was going to make it happen.
Because he was almost sure he was falling in love with her.
Slowly, he lowered himself to the arm of a chair. If it hadn’t been directly behind him, he might have sat down right on the floor. He hadn’t planned on falling in love. In fact, he’d spent most of his life making sure that it would never happen.
Hadn’t his father always said that it was more fun when it sort of sneaked up on you and blindsided you? He’d always thought his father a fool for letting it just happen—for not building up a sort of protective armor against it.
His own armor hadn’t been able to stand up against Mac.
And just how did she feel about him? Oh, she was enjoying the sex part. There wasn’t enough dishonesty in her to be faking that. And, after all, that had been what her whole little experiment had been about—acquiring the skill that it would take to keep a man’s eye from wandering.
But he hadn’t been thinking about contributing to her research on the plane or just now in the bedroom.
All he’d been thinking about was Mac. There were so many women inside her. Not only was she Dr. Lloyd, the focused, serious-minded scientist, but she was also Mac, who wouldn’t be left behind when her best friend was in danger. She had the loyal, nurturing nature of Lania, yet there was a very passionately playful and reckless side to her that was very much like Sally.
His gaze shifted to the bedroom door. And there was also a part of her who was Fiona—a part that desperately needed to be loved, without restraint, without inhibitions.
And heaven help him, he was in love with all of them.
Rising, he moved back to the sofa and stretched out on it again. He would do something about that once he made sure that both Sophie and Mac were safe. Twisting, he settled himself into the cushions. He had an idea that rescuing his sister was going to be an easier task than getting a restful night’s sleep on a piece of furniture that seemed to be designed for children.
VOICES PIERCED the dream Sophie was having.
“She’s got to be awake. It’s been over twenty-four hours.”
Instantly, she tried to clear her mind. How long had she slept? It was hotter now than the last time she’d awakened. In her earlier investigation, she’d figured out that she was lying on burlap bags filled with sand. And the place where she was being held was isolated. All she’d heard besides the voices of her captors were the sound of birds and the buzz of insects.
The floor beneath her shook.
“The drug we gave her was more powerful than we thought.”
The man who’d spoken was so close she could smell his breath. Strong hands gripped her shoulders and drew her into a sitting position.
“She’s faking.”
Sophie couldn’t prevent the wince when the blow struck her cheek.
“C’mon, lady. Wake up.” The hands on her shoulders shook her roughly.
“I need her signature on the papers.”
She hadn’t heard that voice before; it didn’t belong to either of her captors. Suddenly, Sophie frowned. Or had she? There was something familiar…
Hands shook her again until her head snapped. She felt the wig being pulled off.
“You fools.”
She knew that voice. Where had she heard it before?
“You’ve got the wrong woman.”
“HOW LOVELY,” Mac said as the limo Lucas had hired wound its way along a drive banked on either side by multicolored flowers. Even as she said the words, she knew they were inadequate. Lavish was closer to the mark. And the place was certainly well guarded. They’d been stopped at a set of heavy iron gates, and a uniformed security guard had verified their invitation by calling the main house.
The buildings where the wine was made were just as Tracker had described them, sleek and modern in structure, their tall gray windows glinting in the afternoon sun. But it was the villa itself that had sparked her comment. The modern, three-story structure of gray wood and glass was large enough to be a small hotel.
“Falcone has some very lucrative business interests,” Lucas said.
Mac blinked. It was the first sentence Lucas had addressed directly to her since they’d been in the diner the night before. He hadn’t even spoken when he’d come to her bed and made love to her.
Made love to her. That’s what it had felt like. Everything he’d done to her on the plane and in the hotel last night had felt as if he was making love. Last night he’d been so tender, so gentle that she’d thought it was a dream at first. And it had been so erotic. No one had ever done anything like that to her. Just thinking about it had her blood heating and her body melting again.