Teresa Medeiros - Once An Angel

was nothing. And why shouldn't you? You never had to let some fat Sicilian pig maul you with his

sweaty hands in the hopes he might give you a loaf of bread afterward for your trouble!"

Justin turned his face away. "I never knew, ' he whispered. "I swear I never knew."

He was completely unprepared when the sharp heel of Nicky's boot slammed into his jaw, knocking him backward. Before he could react, Nicky rolled up. Striking with the speed and cunning of a serpent, he snatched the pistol from Justin's waistband and leveled it at him.

Justin stood, backing away. Nicholas followed, scooping up his hat as he rose and tilting it back on his head at a rakish angle. His grip on the gun wavered wildly. "You ruined everything, you rich brat. Together we could have had the world."

There was a sigh then, softer than the wind, and they both turned to find Emily standing in the sand, the moonlight pearling off the barrel of the derringer cradled in her palm.

Emily looked so beautiful with her skirts blowing in the wind and her hair tousled by its fingers that

Justin wanted to weep. He was surprised she couldn't hear the crack of his heart breaking.

Nicky slowly lowered his pistol.

She moved toward Justin, the gun never wavering in her grip. The moonlight polished her skin to porcelain and shaded her piquant features to an inscrutable mask. Only her eyes were alive, sparkling

with an inner flame that burned bright and hot.

"I was hoping you'd leave me the pleasure of shooting the bastard," she said.

A grin spread across Nicky's face. He tossed Justin's pistol aside, pulled out a handkerchief, and scrubbed at his palm as if the weapon had defiled it. "The pleasure is all mine, cara mia."

Justin faced her as he should have seven years earlier- with his arms spread wide and his heart in his hands. "It's all right, darling. Killing me won't stop me from loving you."

She took another step toward him. A single tear slipped from her lashes and tumbled down her cheek. Her thumb toyed with the hammer; her voice was as soft and lethal as a caress. "Now you'll know what it's like to die a thousand miles from home at the hand of someone you love."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong. I am home. And I'd much rather die by your hand than his."

"Go on. Shoot him," Nicky urged. "Before he kills the both of us like he killed your father. Oh, they

were a fine pair, those two. Always had their heads together, laughing about something, shutting me out like I wasn't good enough for the likes of them. What really happened the night he died, Justin?" he taunted. "Was it truly an act of mercy, or perhaps a lover's quarrel?"

With no warning Emily swung the gun around and aimed it at Nicky's head. "Nobody talks that way about my daddy."

The derringer exploded in a smoky blur.

Nicky's hat flew off. He rubbed his head, his expression of bewilderment almost comical. "Do you

know how much that hat cost, you stupid little bitch?"

"More than your coat?" she queried politely, cocking the derringer and firing again. She winged his coat, tearing a blackened hole through the armpit. When she steadied her arm, the pistol was pointing straight

at his heart.

"You don't have to do this, Emily," Justin said very softly, inching toward her. "We can have him put away for a very long time."

Tears were streaming down her face in earnest now. "Not long enough," she said, raking back the hammer.

Nicky's eyes rolled wildly, but his attention was not on her. It was as if he could hear something they could not. They froze, listening. It was the silence. There was something wrong with the silence. In that instant of Emily's hesitation it had become a living, breathing thing. The shimmering leaves of the rain forest quivered and sighed, alive with knowing eyes. Justin's skin crawled.

The brush exploded in a screeching mass of lithe bronze bodies. Justin dove for Emily, pressing her to

her knees, forcing her face into his chest, wanting to spare her the sight of the familiar tattooed faces contorted into demonic masks of fury. Their ear-shattering cries for revenge drowned out the roar of

the sea. Hordes of sun-browned feet stampeded around them in a beat more primitive than drums or thunder. Someone was screaming. It might have been Emily or it might have been him.

Nicky's hysterical wail rose above it all. "For God's sake, you savages. Not the suit. Don't tear the

bloody suit!"

Justin lifted his face from Emily's trembling throat. A writhing mass of natives had Nicky by the arms

and legs. Justin stared mesmerized as they dragged him howling and bucking into the forest, leaving

only his panama hat flattened in the sand.

The screams and howls slowly died. For a wavering moment the silence was broken only by the

whisper of the waves and the shrill cry of a kiwi.

Someone was watching them. The hair on Justin's nape stood erect. He turned his head to find a lean figure squatting beneath the shadow of a punga tree. Their gazes met across the moonlit stretch of

beach, man to man, friend to friend. Then the native lifted his hand and melted into the arms of the

brush without so much as a rustle of his flaxen skirt.

"Never underestimate the resourcefulness of an English valet left to his own devices," Justin murmured into Emily's hair.

She nuzzled against his chest, loath to surrender the comfort of his strong arms around her. He tasted so good -salty and gritty and real, as a man should taste. Her convulsive shivers slowly abated. She tilted her face to his, laughing and crying at the same time.

"Oh, Justin!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck.

It took her a moment to realize something was wrong. He knelt rigid in her embrace. She drew back fearfully. "You didn't really think I was going to shoot you, did you?"

"The thought did occur to me."

"But you were so wonderful, so gallant about it." She gazed up at him through a puddle of besotted

tears. "Why, you smiled at me like an angel."

He pried her arms off his neck and stood, brushing the sand from his knees. "My manners at guppoint have always been impeccable."

He walked to the edge of the waves and stared out to sea.

Emily trailed after him. "I had to do it, you know." She waded out in front of him, heedless of the foam washing over her skirt. "It was your face." Reaching up, she cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Your beautiful face. It's so expressive. I had no choice. You could have never maintained the charade. Nicky would have seen right through you. To make him believe I hated you, I had to make you believe it, too."

The planes of his face were cold and stony now. Only his eyes revealed the depths of his stormy thoughts. "You did an admirable job."

Emily dropped her hands. She paced back and forth through the waves, frantic to make him understand. "Saleri started harping about this land grant he claimed you altered to cheat him and Daddy out of their shares of the mine. He was going to use it to have you put away for life. I was afraid if he came here alone and got his hands on it, he would destroy it, or, even worse, doctor it himself to have you brought to trial for my father's murder."

Justin's voice was chillingly devoid of emotion. "Are you sure that's why you came with him?"

She wheeled to face him. "What do you mean?"

His eyes narrowed. "Maybe somewhere in your mind was just the tiniest smidgen of doubt. Maybe you wanted to see that land grant for yourself and find out if I really did murder your father."

"No!" She lifted her sodden hem and stumbled toward him. "I believed in you. I swear it. You're all

I ever believed in."

Snorting in disbelief, Justin scooped up a shell, then drew back his arm to toss it into the sea. "What

were you going to do after he took you to the land grant? Shoot him in cold blood?"

She grabbed his arm, not even realizing herself the full import of her words. "I didn't even think about what would happen next. I knew you'd come for me."

The shell slipped from his fingers. He slowly swung around to face her. "And if I hadn't come?" he

asked brutally. "If I had decided a woman like you was hardly worth chasing halfway across the world?"

She bowed her head, wondering if he would ever understand or be able to forgive her for her own dark passions. She lifted her head, her heart in her eyes. "I would have done what I had to do. He killed my father."

A strange expression passed over Justin's face, then was gone, leaving it as impassive as before.

He ran his thumb over her cheek to flick away a tear. "Then you'll understand when I do what I have