"I could, if my goal was to eventually file criminal charges against you. But I'm not."

"Because you're not with any government agency, are you? If you were, you'd simply obtain a search warrant and access the safe deposit box yourself. Or use the Patriot Act."

Kira shrugged. "You don't understand what's at stake. To go through legal channels at this time simply isn't possible. We'd be showing our hand, and we can't afford to do that right now. We're this close." She held out her hand and made her index finger and thumb form a C. "But you're about to blow all of our hard work. Rhyse Taylor is on the move. No doubt he now knows all about your discovery as well. He's heading this way. He's coming for you, Nicole. He wants what you found."

Nicole's eyes widened in fear. She pictured the computer paper with the jumble of letters and numbers, the bundle of cash, and the Chinese stocks. She wished she'd had a chance to Google the name of the company on them. Why were they so important to everyone?

"All I need to know is what was inside the box," Kira went on implacably. "If the evidence your father collected isn't in there, we need to move on. Quickly."

A lightbulb flickered on inside Nicole's head. This was her modus operandi. Incite terror and fear to extract information from victim.

"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes. "I bet he is. How would anyone else know about the safe deposit box?"

"They're watching you. They've been watching you, just like we have," Kira replied smoothly. "But we're the ones wearing white hats."

"Then show me some proof you are who you claim to be! But you can't do that. Because you're not. If you really were legit, we'd both be sitting in an office down in DC right now and a bunch of guys in suits would be tossing all sorts of legal threats my way."

"I've already explained why I can't go that route," Kira replied, her voice growing strained. She stood up and pulled a disposable lighter from an end table's drawer and began lighting a dozen smaller candles set in an iron candelabrum within the woodless fireplace. "As I said earlier, you really do have a wild imagination. No matter what I showed you or told you, you'd always be skeptical, always thinking I was up to no good. I won't waste any more precious time trying to prove to you otherwise. I need a drink. Do you want something?"

"A hacksaw would be nice."

Kira smiled at the comment and walked out of the room.

Nicole replayed the last few minutes of their conversation. Could Rhyse Taylor really be coming for her? A tiny chill ran down her spine.

"Why not spare us both the pain that'll no doubt result from your refusal to cooperate?" Kira returned carrying a tray laden with two winegla.s.ses overflowing with a golden yellow liquid. "C'mon, Nicole. I'm not asking you to do anything that would betray your father's memory. All I need to know is what you found locked up inside the box. You'd be free to go within minutes." As she lowered the tray onto one of the end tables, she spilled some of the wine but quickly dabbed at the liquid with a napkin.

"Do you give the maid a day off when you know you'll be bringing a captive back to the house?"

The storm was still raging violently, and every so often a burst of thunder would shake the frame of the expansive structure. Nicole could actually feel the vibrations of the booming explosions filter down the wooden beam and reverberate against her backbone.

"Anyone I bring back here comes willingly. Very willingly," Kira answered in a silky, mocking tone. "You being the exception, of course."

"It's my turn to ask you a question." Nicole tried to appear calm and poised but was in fact recovering from the unsettling vision of Kira strolling through the front door and kissing another woman. "Why would my father have hidden evidence in a safe deposit box in a bank? Why not mail it to the police or CIA or leave it in a conspicuous location so it would be found?"

"Finally, we're getting somewhere." Kira took a sip of wine. "Maybe he didn't really think he'd be killed. And maybe he didn't know whom he could trust with whatever he'd collected. What did Luke leave for you?"

"Will you undo these handcuffs?"

"I get the feeling you're toying with me, Nicole." She took a step closer and another sip of wine, her blue eyes narrowing speculatively. "What was in the box?"

Nicole leaned back against the wood beam. Those stocks must be worth a fortune. It could be the only reason everyone was doing cartwheels to get to them. Again, her eyes took in the craftsmanship of the house and the opulent artifacts hanging from the walls. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. There wasn't any evidence inside it. No folders filled with incriminating pictures, no lengthy list of gun deals to Arab sheiks."

Kira frowned into her gla.s.s. "I knew you would make this difficult." She sighed, shaking her head as if in regret. "Here, have some wine. It's been a long day for both of us. Maybe you won't remain so stubborn with some alcohol inside of you."

Nicole drew herself erect.

Normally, she found the taste of wine bitter, but her mouth was dry. With her hands bound behind her back, she had to depend upon Kira to hold the gla.s.s to her lips. She felt an electric jolt as a warm, feminine hand was placed along her jawline and some of the sweet liquid was slowly poured into her mouth. The act was intensely intimate and Nicole swallowed with difficulty. She watched as Kira then took a sip from the same spot on the gla.s.s her lips had just touched. A powerful flutter as strong as the thunder pounding the house shook her innards.

"I'll give you one more chance to tell me."

"Get a warrant," she sneered defiantly. Liz had been right. She had changed. She was done with ducking and hiding. From the truth, from everyone, even Rhyse Taylor. If he was coming for her, she would face him head-on.

"So be it, you leave me no choice." Kira set the winegla.s.s down atop the table.

"What're you going to do?" Nicole asked. "Beat me up?"

"At some point tonight, you'll probably wish I had." A burning determination glittered brightly within her blue eyes. "With the way it is between you and me, I suspect a soft, lingering touch will coerce you into telling me what I want to know far more proficiently than any amount of brute force."

Chapter Sixteen.

Nicole's eyes rounded in panic, Kira's words and intent ringing loud and clear inside her head. Her heart slammed wildly against her rib cage.

"You can't mean to-to-" she stuttered, shook then bowed her head, her brain unwilling to even sort through her vocabulary to give utterance to the notion.

"Seduce you?"

"Not possible!" Nicole hissed, more frightened by her body's reaction to the picture Kira's threat evoked than if the woman had told her she was to be tarred, feathered and dumped in the Potomac.

"Is that a challenge? Anyway, I think we're at a point where we can admit that if it came to the actual act," Kira stated in her low throaty voice, the dark fringe of her long, black lashes concealing the emotion in her eyes, "both of us would be willing partic.i.p.ants."

Nicole felt her face color. "You're delusional!"

"You want me, Nicole," Kira finished confidently, "far more than you'll ever admit. Even to yourself."

Nicole raised her eyes only to find Kira studying her. "I don't!" she practically yelled.

"Liar."

The softly spoken accusation had more of an effect on Nicole's frazzled nerves than if a hot branding iron had emblazoned the word into her skin. Was her need so obvious?

"We're both strong-willed," Kira said, her gaze soft as a caress, "but you maybe more so than me, if such a phenomenon is even possible." She reached forward, lightly fingering a loose tendril of chestnut hair curling along Nicole's cheek. "You've spent your whole life hiding, Nicole, and I've spent mine running. I sense we're equally fearful of this power we have over each other. I know I've never experienced anything like it, and I confess, it scares me."

For one long, blissful, gullible moment, Nicole found herself falling for it hook, line, and sinker, but she remembered who she was dealing with.

"You really are incredibly arrogant," Nicole said scornfully. "Did you really think I'd be that easily duped? You'll have to do better if you expect me to swoon at your feet."

"Tell me, Nicole, what is it I'd have to do to make you swoon?"

Nicole became fl.u.s.tered. She hadn't expected her remark to be thrown back at her like that. "Okay, I get it. You worked up a psychological profile on me, discovered what would make me tick, and played me like a sheet of music: Quiet, introverted graduate student, death of my father at a young age-"

"Attracted to women," Kira added huskily, folding her arms across her chest and drawing Nicole's admiring eyes to the inch of alluring cleavage the cut of her dress displayed.

"That needn't be a factor, especially to you," she responded testily. She suddenly realized she was in way over her head and way, way out of her league. If she weren't tied up, she would've taken off running, even if the storm outside was a category four hurricane.

"So you're finally going to admit your s.e.xual preference?"

"In case you're trying to use that particular angle to get me to capitulate to your demands, let me save you some time and energy. You're not my type."

Kira's blue eyes turned hard. She turned her back and took another long sip of wine. "I'll just go forward then with the business at hand, which is to get what I want."

Another round of lightning illuminated the house. The lights flickered several times before finally fading to complete blackness. They both stood quietly in antic.i.p.ation of the electricity returning, but it quickly became clear the storm had at last won the battle with the power lines. The candles that had been lit earlier bathed the darkened room in a warm yellow glow. At once, the air became thick and the mood portentous.

"Will you tell me what I want to know?"

Nicole physically recoiled. "You'd actually go through with this?"

"And here I thought you finally understood my true nature." Kira spoke tersely, her face in the shadows. She took a step forward into the candlelight, a certain menace in her gait. Nicole was alternately thrilled and frightened. Try as she might, she couldn't keep fighting the magnetic pull between their bodies. It was if every molecule in her had an intelligence of its own and each wanted nothing more than to surrender to the overwhelming longing that had plagued her since the day they met.

"Whatever you do to me," Nicole rasped in an unsteady voice, "I'll never tell you-" but she was silenced as Kira moved in, reached out, and grabbed hold of her necklace all in one fell swoop. "What are you doing?"

Kira held the delicate piece of jewelry in her palm, carefully examining both sides of the small silver pendant before allowing it to gently fall back down upon Nicole's chest without comment. The smooth knuckles of her hand, however, remained still against the bare skin of her sternum.

Nicole dared not breathe, fearful that the air in her lungs was the only thing keeping her heart from exploding inside her chest. Surely, if Kira couldn't hear it pounding violently against her ribs, then she could certainly feel it.

"I really hate you," she heard herself growl with unbridled hostility, hating the woman for making her so weak.

A sly smirk twisted Kira's mouth, as if Nicole's sneering declaration greatly pleased her. "I seem to recall you telling me that once before. Right before you let me kiss you." She then proceeded to trail one slender fingertip from Nicole's necklace up to the delicate hollow at the base of her neck, pausing as if mesmerized by the small indentation there. With a soft, almost feather-like touch, she traced the delicate outline of her clavicle, following the fragile bone even as it disappeared under her blouse.

A wave of heat rippled inside Nicole. She couldn't contain the broken gasp that escaped her lips. Kira ignored her reaction and continued the sensual caress, her finger mapping a heated path to where the bra strap hugged her shoulder. Their eyes met and locked. Kira placed that one agonizingly arousing finger under the elastic fabric, gave it a gentle tug, then lazily followed the silky band of flimsy material downward until both her finger, and the heat of her hand, rested just above the swell of Nicole's breast.

"Do you even know what your eyes are saying to me, Nicole?"

Nicole childishly squeezed them shut. She tossed her head back and inclined her chin challengingly. "My hands are chained behind my back and I'm being openly fondled against my will!"

Without pause, Kira took a step backward, grabbed the key Bogie had left on the table, then leaned all her slight weight into Nicole as she leisurely reached around the wooden beam and fumbled with the handcuffs. A loud click indicated the locking mechanism had been undone.

"You're free," Kira whispered into her temple, but Nicole remained motionless, unsure what part of her ached more-her wrists from the ordeal with the tight metal still encircling one hand or her loins from the brief but unforgettable collision of their bodies.

"Let me see your wrists," Kira implored quietly, grasping both of Nicole's arms in a strong but tender grip and bringing them carefully around the wooden support. After gingerly removing the other cuff and laying the shackles, along with the key, back down on the end table, she bent to examine the soft tissue the hard, cold steel had irritated. Her brows drew together in an angry frown.

"The skin isn't broken but your circulation has suffered some. Bogie will have some explaining to do." The pads of Kira's thumbs stroked the vulnerable undersides of Nicole's wrists. It felt as if she'd been given a dose of opium, or at least what she imagined the effect of the euphoric drug would feel like.

"Are you okay?"

Nicole shook her head. Her voice was lodged somewhere in her stomach and if she attempted to speak now, nothing more than a high-pitched squeak would have sounded.

"What is it?" Kira questioned, genuine concern in her voice as her fingers continued their intoxicating magic, slowly traveling up and down the sensitive flesh of Nicole's forearms.

"What are you doing to me?" Nicole demanded, her mouth dry and body throbbing in places she never knew existed.

"Besides proving you're a liar?"

Nicole lost her battle with gravity. She had no choice but to use the beam that had imprisoned her for balance. "This isn't fair, Kira."

"I warned you already that I don't play fair. Are you finally ready to concede defeat?"

"You'd do this to me just to get me to," her voice was pained, filled with hurt, "to tell you what I found at the bank?"

"You misunderstand, Nicole," Kira divulged in a s.e.xy drawl. "I don't care about anything else outside of hearing you admit you want me, hearing you beg in a voice ragged with need for me to take you and then pleading with me to do it all to you again and again until your body shakes from exhaustion. Morning will come soon enough and then you and I will take a trip to the bank. But tonight is all about this," she paused, as if searching for the right word, "chemistry, electricity, whatever label you want to use to describe what this energy is between me and you. If I don't kiss you soon, I may go crazy with this want, but if you think I'm going to force you, no matter how much you unconsciously try to make me, I won't."

Nicole felt that old familiar heat seeping into her cheeks. Kira had seen right through her charade. But she was even more shocked by Kira's staggering revelation that her own desire was so intense, she'd be willing to lay her proverbial scepter down and call a truce until morning's light.

Still she struggled.

She wasn't the type of person who could casually engage in a one-night physical encounter, particularly with someone whose ethics were so ambiguous. And then there was the little matter of her heart...

"Must you deliberate every decision you make, Nicole?"

Was it Nicole's imagination or had Kira taken a step even closer?

"Surrender to it," Kira purred somewhere close to her ear. "Let me hear you say you want me."

Nicole's senses seemed to go into nuclear meltdown. She felt herself begin to sway, falling into forbidden arms, yielding to some unidentified law of physics that had yet to be discovered and studied. "I do," she heard herself whisper.

"You do what?" Kira persisted, reaching out and tracing the soft line of Nicole's cheek with the back of her hand.

Nicole closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth of the light, magical touch. Nothing mattered anymore. The bogus hijacking, the threatening letters to her mother from the IRS, the tapping of her phone lines. Every lucid thought vanished from her head. There was no yesterday, no tomorrow, only the now.

"I do. I want you..."

Kira gently pulled Nicole into her arms and simply held her in a loose embrace for a long moment. Nicole remained absolutely still, absorbing her heat, breathing in that wonderful perfumed scent of her hair and skin, delighting in and memorizing the supple, delicious curves molding into her own feminine contours.

"Come with me," Kira commanded, her voice thick and unsteady as she took Nicole's hand and pulled her the short distance to the sofa. The votive candles in the fireplace candelabrum flickered luminously, casting shadowed swaths of gold and orange across the room. Nicole's entire body was aching with want, making the muscles in her limbs weak. She fell back against the plush leather of the cushions like a rag doll, the lack of light making her mahogany-colored eyes large, dark pools of desire as she watched Kira carefully drop down next to her.

"I could get lost in your eyes, forget everything," Kira admitted, her gaze intense as she turned slightly to close the s.p.a.ce that separated their bodies.

Nicole moved closer, just as eager, but nervous and shy, unsure of her next move. Her breathing was shallow and uneven, her heart thudding wildly. One of Kira's hands found the small of her back, propelling her upward, while the other languidly cradled the tender column of Nicole's neck, tilting her face.

"If you don't want this, tell me now."

Nicole fluttered her lashes shut, saying nothing. She felt the warmth of Kira's breath a second before the slight weight of her moist, pink lips pressed down upon her own. The kiss was light, like a sigh. Kira moved leisurely, grazing feather-like kisses along the bottom swell of Nicole's mouth while her fingers moved from their position around her neck to brush up and down the curvature of her spine. The contact was tantalizingly persuasive and she fought to restrain her desire, savoring the sweet fragility of the intimacy for as long as she could, but her hands seemed to have a will of their own, a need that couldn't be curtailed. She reached out, but Kira sensed her intent and covered her hands with her own, then held them tightly to her.

"If you touch me now, I'll lose what little control I have."

Nicole shivered. The husky declaration was almost as arousing as her touch. Kira reclaimed her lips, her kiss more urgent now. Nicole released a low, drawn-out moan when Kira pushed her down into the sofa, her heated length coming to nestle horizontally atop Nicole, their pelvic bones converging. Kira's tongue entered her mouth, its velvety tip tentative at first, exploratory, but then it began a coaxing rhythm, flooding Nicole with a hot, liquid fire. They moved against one another, matching the measured cadence of their tongues.

A few minutes later, Kira broke the kiss, raising herself slightly and looking down into Nicole's flushed features. There was a glint of something indefinable within the blue eyes boring into Nicole's, a curiously deep longing that had absolutely nothing to do with the physical demands of their pa.s.sions. Nicole opened her mouth to speak-what words she'd been about to confess she had no idea but Kira silenced her with a smothering kiss that removed any ability she had to access that part of her brain where language and words were cached.

Nicole's hands were released and she delighted in the freedom, running shaky fingers along the s.e.xy lines of Kira's back, her waist, her hips before slipping them into the loose, l.u.s.trous strands of blond hair framing the oval of her face and taking great pleasure in their silky texture.