Leopard's Blood

  She'd itched. That was one of the worst things--a full-body itch. When she'd looked down, she'd seen something moving beneath her skin, like a parasite, alive and seeking a way out. It had pushed against her, her skin rising and lowering as it moved around her. Every muscle had screamed in pain.

  She remembered the feeling of doom. The need to exit the car. It had been so strong she'd managed to clumsily push the door handle. The driver had glanced back over his shoulder, a look of horror on his face at what he'd seen. Then she'd been flying out of the vehicle as it sped into one of the tight turns overlooking the sea. She'd been in another body, the cat leaping a good thirty feet and clearing the road to land in the grass on the other side. She'd turned briefly, crouching as the car blew apart, pieces of the vehicle raining down into the ocean below.

  She'd been so scared as the leopard ran, going into the grass, instinctively heading for home. He has betrayed you. Sonia would never forget that either. Those were Gatita's first words to her. That quiet, very calm statement. Making it a fact, one she hadn't been able to dispute with the car in the ocean.

  Gatita had taken her to the small guesthouse where Sonia had stashed the bag she kept with clothes and money, just as her mother had instructed her to have prepared. She had two ready now, one in her house and the other buried down the road. She'd gotten them to the Everglades and Gatita had taken over, telling her what to do and how to do it. Later, she'd caught a ride from a trucker, heading to Louisiana. That had sounded good to her. She'd ridden in silence, crying silent tears, but he hadn't asked questions. When they'd stopped for gas, or a food break, she'd used the restroom, checking carefully first to make certain no cameras could catch a glimpse of her. She'd never gone inside to eat, just told the driver she wasn't hungry. He'd brought her food without a word.

  When she'd told him to let her off near the swamp, he'd objected, but finally pulled the truck to the side of the road. He'd offered her money, which she'd turned down, and then he was gone. He'd been nice, leaving her to absorb all that had happened.

  "I heard them. My husband and father-in-law. My husband said the marriage wasn't legal and then they talked about killing me." The moment she'd overheard the conversation between Sasha and his father, she'd really stashed money, as much as she'd been able to get her hands on in preparation. She'd wiped out the accounts that morning and had hoped to get away from her driver at the mall where she was going shopping, return unseen, get the "go" bag and disappear for good. "I took my time planning how to leave, getting as much money together as I could. I wanted to do it before I left, so they didn't have a starting point to track me."

  "That is so horrible. Couldn't you go to the police?"

  Sonia shook her head. "Like you, that's not an option for me. He owns a few cops, and I don't know which ones. He could get to me. It's better that he thinks I'm dead. It's safer."

  "Are you certain they think that?"

  "I read all the papers, everything I could get my hands on. It was sad, my poor husband, a widower so early in his life. He was thirty-three and his young bride had died. They found pieces of her burned clothing, but not her body. My father-in-law loved me like a daughter, poor man. They really played to the press."

  Molly took a deep breath and let it out. "I really hate that men did this to us and we can't make them pay. I have to live in fear for the rest of my life, and so do you. Why?"

  Sonia forced a small grin. "Bad judgment? I think we're in the same boat there. We went for the wrong men and now we're in a mess."

  "I love that little accent, the way you twist your words. Has Joshua noticed it?"

  Her heart reacted with a small thud. "He has mentioned it. Just last night." What else had he found out about her? Her age. He'd been clever going about it. How long she'd been married. When her mother had died. He worked with Donovan in security. They had to investigate the people they were going to go after. That meant he had the resources to have her investigated. Were the things she'd told him enough to ferret out who she'd been married to?

  "I bet he loves it."

  Sonia nodded a little absently. "That's what he said, but he's always saying things like that. He compliments me quite a bit."

  "I wouldn't mind a few compliments," Molly said with a soft, almost dreamy sigh.

  "Bastien doesn't compliment you?"

  At the mention of the detective's name, Molly blushed again. "He does, but he flirts so much with other women, I think it's just what he does naturally to anything female."

  "He's seeking you out. How many other women has he dated around here? Surely you got the gossip on him."

  She shook her head. "I've never asked."

  "Well, I did," Sonia said. She crooked her fingers until Molly was leaning across the table very close. "I asked Jerry, and he gets all the good gossip on everyone. He said Bastien flirts with anything in skirts, but he's never taken a woman out that he can remember. Not in four years. If he's seeing anyone, she isn't from around here. He got it from Charity at the grocery store that he's smitten with you. That's the word she used. Smitten."

  Molly's wild blush turned to a deep rose. "He's not smitten. He just sat with me because neither of us had anyone else to sit with and it gets lonely always eating alone."

  "He has sat in here dozens of time alone and never once ate with anyone else that was alone. He's into you. Seriously into you."

  "You think?"

  "I know. Call him up and ask him out. Women can do that."

  "Not this woman. If he wants me to go out with him, he has to ask, and he'd have to be okay with meeting me at our destination. I'm not going to be the trusting soul who gets in trouble again. Once was enough for me."

  Sonia glanced at her watch. "I've got to go, honey. I'm going to be late if I don't get a move on. I told the work crew I'd be out there this afternoon."

  Molly caught her wrist as she tossed bills onto the table. "Just be careful, Sonia. Just in case. Sometimes rumors are grounded in fact. Maybe ask Joshua about how he knows Elijah Lospostos, just to be safe. Where did they meet--that sort of thing. I don't want you getting hurt again."

  Sonia knew her heart was already at risk. If Joshua wasn't who he said he was, she was afraid the consequence was going to be worse than what it had been when she'd discovered her husband of almost two years didn't really love her--that he never had. She'd been too young and too desperate and shocked to know what love was. She'd been grateful to Sasha and she'd needed him. She'd loved him, she knew that, but not the way a wife should love her husband. Maybe over time she would have come to love him the way she was supposed to.

  Joshua talked to her more than Sasha ever had. They spent hours on her bed, the plans she was drawing spread out for him to look at. He had a few good suggestions, but mostly he liked what she envisioned and gave her the go-ahead each time. Sasha would never have even glanced at her drawings. He would have told her they needed someone far more experienced than she was. Joshua complimented her all the time. Sasha rarely had. Joshua loved her paintings. Sasha had told her she needed more work before they could ever be shown in public.

  "You've got that goofy look on your face again," Molly said. "I'm getting envious. I want that look on my face."

  "Then ask Bastien out. Go to bed with him. I recommend sex highly."

  Molly laughed. "I have a toy."

  "Not the same, I can testify to that." Sonia jumped up, waved and rushed out, hurrying to her truck. She hadn't been late once. She wanted Joshua to take her seriously. She loved what she did, and she was good at it.

  As she pulled onto the highway, she glanced back and noticed the dark SUV that had been parked just down from her truck. She recognized it immediately. Joshua's men favored the four-wheel-drive, tinted-windows kind of vehicle. This was one she'd seen two of them use. One was named Kai and the other Gray. They were close friends of Joshua and came from the rain forest in Borneo. She'd noticed them more than once when she was in town. Now she had a sneaking suspicion they were foll
owing her.

  She turned into the main gates of Joshua's estate. The guard post was there, still unmanned. That always made her feel good. The surrounding fence blocked off all roads other than the one from the swamp to the back of the house. Joshua hadn't built the fence, someone else had. That someone else had also put in the guard shack. The gates were open and no one was there, no grim-looking men walking around looking all kinds of scary. Still, the SUV followed her up the drive to the main house. She waited for the two men to exit their vehicle before she got out of hers. Smiling, she walked right up to them.

  "Are you following me?"

  They exchanged a glance over her head, and then Kai nodded. "Yep."

  "Why? You do know I'm perfectly capable of finding my way from point A to point B without help. I also, just to make you feel better, have GPS. If I break down, or get a flat, I'm fairly well-versed in knowing how to fix things. I keep the tank filled. It's very sweet of you to worry, but I can handle things all by myself."

  "Gotta talk to the boss, Sonia," Gray said. "He gives the orders, we just follow them."

  She nodded. She didn't like bodyguards. She'd had that. Those guards hadn't been there for her protection, they'd been there to make certain she didn't get away. She should have been suspicious when Sasha and Nikita had sent her off to the mall with just a driver. Not once had that ever happened before.

  I was suspicious. Gatita was smug.

  You smelled conspiracy.

  That too. Now there was the impression of amusement.

  Why did Joshua send them after me?

  To make certain no one hurts you.

  Is that what his leopard told you? Gatita was such a little hussy. Every night she wanted to go running with her mate, and if Sonia was too tired from work, she sulked, so Sonia made certain she was never that tired.

  Gatita settled down again. Yes. But I talked to their leopards as well. I don't leave your protection to chance. Not anymore.

  That shocked Sonia. She had no idea the other leopards communicated with one another. She also hadn't realized that Gatita blamed herself for what had happened.

  That wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault. She waved at the two men and went into the house. You know that, don't you? You hadn't even emerged. What made you come to the surface when you hadn't had a heat?

  I sensed a conspiracy. I sensed you were in danger. I began to listen whenever you were around those people. They aren't nice.

  No, they aren't, Sonia conceded. I got us into that, not you. You saved us.

  I will always save you, even from my mate.

  Unexpectedly, there was burning behind her eyes. She loved her leopard.

  I love you too. Now go fight with your man the way you always do. You won't win, but he likes the argument.

  He does not.

  He thinks you're very sexy when you argue with him.

  Oh my God. How could you possibly know that? Wait, don't tell me. Shadow told you.

  Sonia stomped up the stairs to the first small bedroom, which would be the nursery. Joshua was adamant that they restore the nursery. He said they would need it. She always ignored those statements. She had no way to respond. She wasn't going to fantasize any more than she already did.

  She walked through the master bedroom and looked around. She'd never gone in Joshua's room before. It was huge, almost as large as her entire second story. The front and back windows were glass. She looked closely and thought maybe it was bulletproof glass. If so, Rafe Cordeau had spent a fortune on it. The French doors were similar to the ones in her home, but again, these were custom-made. The upper verandah stretched wide and long, giving Joshua a good view of the swamp and river. Tree branches led straight to the wrought iron railing, making it easy for a leopard to make the jump from the tree to the house.

  Joshua's bed was made and his clothes put away neatly. The room looked lived-in, but clean. Very clean. She hadn't seen a maid go in other than once. That time, the woman had come out with sheets, presumably to wash them. Sonia ran her hand over the duvet spread across his bed. It was masculine, a black and red Asian theme. She liked it.

  His scent was all over the room, making it difficult not to breathe him in. She didn't want to be surrounded by him, but it was impossible not to be. She forced herself to keep walking right on through to his office. She knocked on the doorjamb, although the door was open.

  "Joshua?" She poked her head in, half expecting him to be angry with her for disturbing him at work. Sasha would have been angry. Now she knew why. He wouldn't have wanted her to know his businesses weren't legitimate.

  Joshua was frowning at his computer, his shaggy blond hair falling across his forehead, making him look more like a surfer than a businessman. His head came up; the frown was gone and his smile spread light across his face. "Sonia." He jumped up. "Come in, baby. What a surprise. You've never come near my private lair."

  Her heart jumped at his words. Just looking at him sent that liquid heat dampening her lacy little boy shorts, the ones she wore comfortably under her jeans. Her nipples burned and ached, pushing against the lacy bra. She wore a simple T-shirt, but it was tight and she knew not only would he see her arousal, but since he was leopard, he would smell it.

  His smile widened until his look bordered on arrogance. He had every right to be arrogant where she was concerned, she conceded. He didn't have to do much, just smile at her and she was ready, but that wasn't the point. She refused to smile back. "You're having me followed."

  "Of course." He didn't deny it. He leaned his butt on the desk, arms folded across his chest, faint male amusement evident in his eyes.

  "That's your answer? 'Of course'? Be serious, Joshua. Why in the world would you have two men follow me around? Don't you have jobs for them to do? Are you getting desperate because Donovan Security has no work for anyone right now?"

  "Their sole job is to follow you. Their sole purpose is to keep you safe at all times."

  She shook her head. "No, their sole purpose is to keep you safe. You, Joshua. For whatever reason you've acquired enemies, and I get that, someone would be after you, not me."

  "Someone tried to kill you, not me."

  "I've seen the scars on your body. You have more than slashes from a leopard fight. You have knife scars and bullet scars. I don't have any of those things. In fact, I doubt you'd find too many scars on my body."

  "You have one just above your left knee. A small indentation."

  She made a face and waved that away. "I fell off my bike when my father was trying to teach me to ride."

  "And the larger one on your left forearm?"

  She was silent for a moment, and then she sighed. "Really, Joshua, don't change the subject. We're talking about why you have Kai and Gray following me."

  "No, you're talking about it. I'm looking at you. My God, you're beautiful. I'm a very lucky man. Come over here and kiss me."

  "I'm not going to kiss you. We're going to talk about Kai and Gray and you're going to call them off."

  "Come here and kiss me. You wouldn't want me to be so distracted that I'm ruined for the rest of the day."

  "I'm working. I'm not your girlfriend when I'm working. Those were the rules we set down. We talked about this."

  His smile widened. The lines of strain instantly disappeared. He looked young and almost carefree. He also looked so hot she thought about stripping for him, seducing and claiming him right there, draped over his desk. Instead, she gave him her deadliest glare.

  "Baby, I listened very carefully to the nonsense you laid out, but if you remember, I didn't agree. I just listened."

  "Silence is agreeing."

  "Silence means I think what you're saying is bullshit, I won't agree to it in a million years, but you're cute as hell and I want my cock buried in your body with every breath I take."

  "Bullshit? You think my rules are bullshit?" She wanted to pull her hair out; at the same time, she thought having his cock in her mouth and driving him insane might be
another alternative.

  "Yep, total bullshit. Come and kiss me."

  She put her hand on her hip, deliberately scowling, trying to appear as if his demand didn't slice through her, as if her blood wasn't already hot and her body aware of him. "Not. Going. To. Happen. Well"--she held up her hand when he shifted his weight on his feet and set her heart pounding--"it might . . . might . . . if you agree to call off your men. Otherwise, kisses are going to be out until you do." She could never go without kissing him, and that was a fact.

  He moved then, fast like he did, blurring speed, catching her around the waist as he sprinted, tossing her over his shoulder, his momentum taking him halfway across the bedroom before she even realized she was over his shoulder, upside-down. He had a very nice butt and she swatted it hard, trying not to laugh. She loved the way he played. Sasha had not been playful, but she'd put it down to his being older than she was. She guessed that Joshua was at least ten years older than her, but he took the time to play and laugh.

  He tossed her on his bed and came down over her, pinning her there with his superior weight. She pressed her lips together and turned her face to the side. "Not kissing you, Joshua Tregre. Not now. Not ever. Unless you call those men off."

  "They stay, and you're kissing me." His warm breath stirred the tendrils of hair escaping her fishbone braid. He'd shown off his skills in the morning after they'd showered.

  "It's against the carpenter code. There is one, you know. The third rule is no kissing on the job." She did her best to sound superior and snippy.

  He blew warm air in her ear and then caught her earlobe between his teeth, biting down gently. "I call bullshit on that one as well." His lips moved against her ear as he whispered to her.

  She almost turned her head but realized at the last minute that was what he wanted. She clamped her lips together and pressed into the pillow, trying not to laugh. It took a minute to get herself under firm control. "You can't call bullshit on everything. We need rules if I'm going to be working in your home every day."

  "Fine. You want rules, the number-one rule is when you get your gorgeous ass to work, you come find me and kiss me." He bit the spot between her neck and shoulder. Hard.