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Her breath caught anew. How had she thought he wouldn’t notice? He’d spent an inordinate amount of time exploring every inch of her body, much to her shameless delight. Of course Sakis’s astute gaze would’ve caught the slightly puckered flesh where the sharp, white-hot lance of the inmate’s blade had stabbed deep and ruptured her spleen.
‘I...I was attacked. It was a mugging.’ That at least was the truth. What she couldn’t confess was where she’d been when it had happened.
His fingers stilled then he swore hard. ‘When?’
‘Two years ago.’
He cupped her jaw. ‘Was your attacker caught?’
Brianna shut her eyes against the probing of his. ‘Yes, they were caught. And there was even some semblance of justice.’ If you could call six months’ solitary confinement for a prisoner already serving life ‘justice’.
That seemed to satisfy Sakis. When she risked a glance at him, the harshness she’d heard in his voice was not evident in his face. ‘Good,’ he breathed as his fingers resumed its bone-melting caress. ‘I’m glad.’
Before she could draw another breath, his head dropped and his lips touched the puckered scar. Her skin heated then burned as his lips, then his tongue moved over her flesh.
She expected him to ask about her ankle tattoo, the one she’d caught him eyeing on the plane. But he seemed to have regained his zealous exploration of her body.
Her breath hitched as his mouth wreaked blissful havoc. Within seconds, her brain ceased to function.
* * *
Brianna woke to the sound of movement in her bedroom. Struggling up from an exquisitely saucy dream featuring Sakis, she opened her eyes to find him standing at the foot of her bed, his gaze on her as he secured his cufflinks.
The look on his face immediately gripped her attention. Gone was the lover who’d whispered ardent words of pleasure and worship against her skin last night. In its place was Sakis, billionaire shipping magnate. But, as she watched, she saw the mask slip to reveal the stress he hadn’t completely banished.
‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘There’s been a development.’
Brianna sat up and pushed her hair from her face. ‘What?’
His fingers stilled on his cuff. ‘The bodies of two crew-members have been found.’
Shock and grief rocked through her in equal measures. ‘When did you find out?’
‘Ten minutes ago. They were found two miles away where converging tides had hidden the bodies. The investigators think they drowned.’
She started to throw the covers off, experienced a fierce wave of self-consciousness and talked herself out of it. This wasn’t the time. ‘Give me ten minutes to shower and I’ll come with you. I... We need to see about getting them home.’
He rounded the bed and stopped in front of her. One hand caressed her cheek. ‘It’s been taken care of. I woke my head of HR. Those men died on my company’s watch so they’re my responsibility. He’s arranging everything, but I’m meeting the families this morning to express my condolences...’ He stopped and breathed in deep.
A wave of sadness washed over her. ‘It wasn’t the outcome any of us wanted. Which two were found?’
‘The deputy captain and the first officer.’
‘So there’s still no sign of Morgan Lowell?’
‘No.’
Which meant they still had no answer to what had happened to the tanker. ‘I’ll do my best to keep it out of the press but there are
no guarantees.’ She strove for a semblance of professionalism—professionalism which became precarious as his arms banded around her waist and pulled her closer. Desire’s inferno raged through her body.
‘It’s all been handled. Foyle assures me there’s a procedure to dealing with this. We can’t do anything more.’
‘So for now I’m redundant?’
‘Never,’ he breathed. ‘You will never be redundant to me.’
The intensity of his answer sent alarm skittering over her skin. She was in danger of fooling herself again. In danger of believing that Sakis was beginning to want her, to need her the way she’d once dreamed of being needed.
