Page 38 of Dangerous Secrets

Though no one was listening, Arkady curled around the cell and lowered his voice. “It’s me. So far so good. Things are going well. The sea is calm.”

“Good. Very good.” And Vassily cut the connection.

Arkady smiled and leaned over the railing. The moon left a bright path to the horizon. Just a few short miles away was Italy. He’d never been to Italy but he loved art and music and had always dreamed of seeing Florence and Venice.

There were still 100 canisters of cesium 137 left back in Krasnoyarsk and Vassily had plans for every single one. For a total of ten billion dollars. But after they were all gone, Arkady would ask the Vor’s permission to spend time in Italy. Perhaps be the Vor’s ambassador to the various mafias in the country.

He looked down. The Adriatic was completely calm. He dangled his hand over the railing and let go of the cell phone. A second later it disappeared into the sea with a soft plop.

Arkady watched the rings of disturbed water flow outward and then waited until the water was calm again.

With one last look at the starry night sky, he made his way below deck, ready for the long journey.

Chapter Eleven

Parker’s Ridge

November 21

The snow plows had already cleared the roads, so driving back was a snap, certainly compared to the trip over. But even if they hadn’t cleared the roads, Nick could handle it. There was very little he couldn’t handle behind a wheel.

It wasn’t a skill he had ever intended to show Charity, but he’d had to break cover on the way over. It had saved the little old lady’s life, but he just hoped that Charity’s worry allowed her to overlook the fact that it wasn’t normal for a perfectly average, staid stockbroker to know how to drive a car at 80 miles an hour in a snowstorm.

So he made a point of driving back very slowly, even though every cell in his body wanted to get back to her house as fast as possible so that he could get back in her as fast as possible.

“Thanks so much, Nick,” she said quietly. He kept his eyes on the road ahead. Not because of the danger, but because if he looked her way, he’d just keep on looking.

Not even he could drive down icy roads with his head turned to stare at the most desirable woman he’d ever seen. It was bad enough driving with a huge boner so strong the muscles in his abdomen and the long muscles in his thighs were pulled tight. It seemed as if every muscle in his body was centered around his groin. All his blood, too.

They’d end up with the front fender wrapped around a tree, covered in shards of glass, if he stared the way he wanted to. Not how he wanted this evening to end up. Well, not evening, he thought after a lightning fast glance at the dashboard. It was three in the morning and the weekend was officially over.

“You’re welcome.” He kept his voice as quiet as hers.

“I’m so grateful to you. You saved my aunt’s life. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“Yeah?” Nick’s hands tightened on the wheel. “That’s nice to know. Really nice. So, since we’re on that subject . . . how grateful?”

“I beg your pardon?” Nick could feel the air displacement as she swung her head around to look at him. He kept his eyes resolutely on the road but he had excellent peripheral vision. Her pretty pink mouth was pursed in an O of astonishment.

“You heard me. How grateful are you?”

“Oh. V-very.”

“That’s good. Because we were interrupted at a very important point when your uncle called. You remember what point we were at, don’t you, Charity?”

He could almost feel the heat of her face, glowing in the darkness. “Oh, yes,” she said softly.

“That’s good. What point were we at?”

The heat intensified. Great. He was burning up, himself. It’s good that they were in this together.

“We were, um?—”

“Yes?”

“We were—you know.”

Her whole body was glowing with heat now. It came off her in waves. Nick didn’t know why he was pushing her. She was wildly uncomfortable with this conversation. Hot as she was in bed, she was also very ladylike. He’d never heard her swear, ever, let alone say ‘fuck’. So this wasn’t easy for her.

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