BEVERLY BARTON - Dangerous Deception

“I LIKE THIS ,” Audrey said, the evening breeze gently caressing her face and tousling her hair.

“You like what?” Dom asked as he stopped walking, turned her in his arms and gazed down into her eyes.

Tilting her chin, she looked up at him. “Everything. The beach, the starry sky, the ocean waves, the feel of the sand under my feet.” She stood on tiptoe and wound her arms around his neck. “Strolling along the beach, just the two of us, not talking, just…being.”

He pulled her closer. “You know what, Audrey Perkins, you’re an enigma to me. I can’t figure you out.”

She sighed heavily. “I’m not all that complicated.”

He chuckled. “The hell you’re not. Honey, you’ve got to be the most complicated woman I’ve ever met.”

“How can you say that when you just met me? We don’t really know anything about each other, do we?”

“I know that your father is one of the richest men in America, that you’re a married woman, that for some reason you’re here in Palm Beach all alone.”

She eased her hands from around his neck, then turned away from him. “Since I find you very attractive and I’d really like for you to kiss me, that has to mean you’re absolutely no good, that if I give in to temptation, you’ll just wind up using me, and—”

Dom grabbed her upper arms and whirled her around to face him. “I’m not the kind of man who uses women.” He released his tenacious hold on her, reached out and tenderly stroked her cheek. “I’m one of the good guys. I would never hurt you.”

“I’d like to believe that, but I’m afraid my track record speaks for itself.” She clasped his hand. “I seem to attract the rotten apples. The users, the takers, the…” She sucked in air, released his hand and blew out an exasperated breath.

They stared at each other, moonlight, sandy beach and scenic ocean view fading into a blurred background so that all Dom saw was Audrey, and all she saw was Dom.

“I’m going to tell you the truth,” Dom said. “I want you. I’d like to take you upstairs to your suite, strip you naked and make love to you all night.”

Her gaze locked with his. Her breathing grew heavy, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. Her lips parted on an indrawn breath.

“If I let that happen, how do I know—”

He laid his index finger over her lips, momentarily silencing her.

“I didn’t say it had to happen. I just said it’s what I’d like to happen.” He lifted his finger from her lips and trailed it over her chin and down her throat, stopping just short of inserting his finger inside the low-cut neckline of her dress. “We’re both experienced adults. We’ve both had one-night-stands before this. Sex without commitment. No promises. No binding ties.”

“Just sex.” She spoke so softly that he barely heard her.

“It’s your call, Audrey.”

She went rigid, then broke eye contact.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing. I—I…Why don’t we just walk for a while longer, then go back to the hotel and get drinks in the bar, maybe talk and dance and…”

“Whatever you want.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?”

He took her hand in his and squeezed tenderly. “I came to Palm Beach on an assignment that I’ve completed. I’ll be flying back to Atlanta tomorrow, but tonight I’m all yours. If you want to walk and talk and dance, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Tell me something.”

“What?”

“Are you married?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Ever been married?”

“No.”

“Ever been in love?”

“Yeah, a couple of times. Or at least I thought I was.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“The first time, I was seventeen and she preferred my older brother.” Dom hadn’t thought about Lori Kaye in years, didn’t even know what had happened to her after she married and moved off to San Antonio. “The second time I was older, smarter. We were actually engaged for six months before we realized it just wouldn’t work. We wanted different things from life.”

“I’ve been in love twice,” she told him.

“Your husband and—”

“Uh-uh.” Once again, her entire body stiffened, as if any reminder of who she was, of the fact she had a husband, disturbed her in a way Dom didn’t understand. “Both times I made a huge mistake and paid dearly for it. I don’t intend to ever fall in love again. No one is ever going to use me or hurt me.”

Was it his imagination or had he actually heard genuine pain in her voice?

He tugged on her hand. “Come on. Let’s walk, then we’ll get a drink and afterward go dancing. If not here, then we’ll find some other place.”

When she clung to his hand, he got the oddest feeling that at least for the time being she trusted him. Trusted him not to hurt her, not to use her.

HE DIDN ’T KNOW THE MAN , had never seen him before, but it didn’t matter as long as he paid him in cash. He wasn’t particular about who hired him or what they hired him to do, as long as the price was right. Hell, he’d knock off his own grandmother for enough money.

“The job needs to be done tonight.”

“Why so fast? I might need time to plan—”

“My client is willing to pay twenty-five thousand if the job is done before daylight tomorrow and if the murder looks like either rape or robbery was involved. Take your pick.”

“I don’t mix business with pleasure. I’ll make it look like a robbery.”

“The death should be quick and painless. Is that understood?”

“Yeah, sure. I can slit her throat or shoot her in the head. Does your client have a preference?”

The tall, slender man shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll need half up front and the other half when the job is done.”

“I have the entire amount, in cash, in this briefcase,” the man told him. “And I also have a gun in my pocket.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and clutched the weapon, showing the imprint of the pistol through the material of his jacket.

“Give me the particulars. Who you want killed, where I can locate them, any problems I might encounter.”

“Her name is Audrey Bedell Perkins. She’s staying at the Palm Beach Classico Hotel, in suite number six-ten. She’s a petite redhead. Early thirties.”

“Somebody hates this bitch enough to want her dead, but they don’t want her to suffer. Got it.” He held out his hand for the money.

The guy hesitated, then set the briefcase on the edge of the bed, flipped it open and dumped the cash. “If the job isn’t done by daybreak—”

“It’ll be done.” He eyed all those beautiful greenbacks. “If the lady’s alone, it’ll be a piece of cake.”

THE BAND PLAYED a soft, jazzy number, giving the dancers a break from the fast, frenetic beat of the last tune. Dom pulled Audrey into his arms, leading her into the slow, intimate dance. They had shared drinks at the Classico Hotel’s Mermaid Bar before deciding to take her rented convertible and find a place where the music didn’t stop at midnight. The Beachcomber stayed open until dawn, giving customers live music, a dance floor and a bartender who made a mean margarita.

“Having fun?” Dom whispered in her ear.

“Mmm…” Resting her head on his chest, she cuddled closer.

He nuzzled the side of her face, then kissed her ear. She shuddered. “Are you about ready to head back to the hotel or do you want to stay and close the place down?”

“Let’s finish this dance before we go,” she said.

“Whatever you want, honey.”

“Whatever I want,” she repeated in a sleepy, little girl voice.

He held her, loving the feel of her, the scent of her. She was small and slender yet nicely rounded. The girl’s got meat on her bones, his father would say. The more time Dom spent with Audrey, the harder he found it to believe most of the things he’d read about her in the Dundee report he’d been given. Yes, she was guarded, didn’t seem to trust easily and apparently loved to party, but he hadn’t seen any evidence of her being a first class bitch. He suspected that beneath that I-can-take-care-of-myself exterior strength lay an inner core of kindness and vulnerability. If his gut instincts were correct, somewhere along the way, someone had hurt this woman, hurt her badly.