Obviously he didn’t linger in the shower, wishing that he wasn’t alone.

“Okay” was all she said.

“Better hurry. It’ll get cold.”

In the presence of a deep freeze, what wouldn’t?

Part of Grace knew that she was being unfair, that she hadn’t exactly jumped Faroe’s bones or even tried to. But most of Grace just wanted to smack Faroe for never following through on the smoldering looks and equally hot touches.

Screw him.

She almost laughed out loud. That was the problem, wasn’t it? She could hardly screw an unwilling man.

With a muttered word, she pulled on one of the hotel’s terry-cloth robes, buttoned it at the neck, and cinched it firmly around her waist. Barefoot, she walked into the suite.

A candlelit meal for two waited. The golden flames flickered over plates of steak, salad, fruit, cheese, and puffy rolls. The scent of food told Grace that she was hungry for more than sex.

You’re a high-octane woman.

As usual, the son of a bitch was right.

The SOB in question was sitting deep in the shadow of an easy chair he’d dragged over to the window, staring through binoculars. The floor-to-ceiling glass looked out on the grandstands and the dirt track of Hipodromo Tijuana. Beyond, the city fell away into the bright lights of commercial and high-end real estate. The dimly lit shadows that pocked the glitter were colonias and barrios, where trash and poverty, rage and hope lived in unholy matrimony.

The candlelight wasn’t for a romantic dinner. It was to keep anyone from seeing Faroe at work with the binoculars.

“See anything useful?” Grace asked.

“Not yet.”

She sat at the table, poured herself a little red wine from the uncorked bottle, and began eating. A bite of steak told her that it had been seared over a wood fire. The Caesar salad was delicious and authentic down to the raw egg in the dressing. The wine was a Mexican varietal she didn’t recognize but liked at first taste.

Faroe walked over, poured himself a glass of wine, and sat across from Grace. A single look told her that he’d showered, shaved, and was dressed in new jeans and a dark green guayabera that was the exact color of his eyes. The same soap she’d used must have been in his shower, too. He smelled of sin and sex.

One out of two ain’t bad, Grace told herself bitterly.

Silently the two of them devoured the food. Not until the last savory bit was gone did Faroe say a word.

“We have two hours until we meet Hector,” Faroe said. “Unless whatever you’re keeping from me is really complicated, that should be plenty of time.”

Grace’s head snapped up. “What are you talking about?”

“You. You’re hiding something, something that has to do with this case. Not good. Not good at all. I don’t want to go up against Hector with a partner who’s lying to me.”

Her stomach knotted. She pushed away from the table so fast that she nearly knocked over her wine.

“Where are you going?” Faroe asked.

“To get dressed.”

He moved quickly, blocking her, forcing her to meet his eyes. She backed away like she’d been burned.

“What is it?” he asked. “You’re acting like you’re afraid of me.”

“I’m the one who tracked you down, remember?”

He shrugged. “You were desperate. I was the only outlaw you knew.”

She watched as he took a gliding step toward her. Candlelight flickered over his face, his eyes, heightening the intensity that was so much the core of him. She wanted to back up more. She wanted to step forward until she could taste him.

She didn’t move.

“At first I thought that it was the outlaw in me that scared you,” Faroe said, watching the pulse in her neck. “But the longer we’ve been together, the less that flies. You’re not a woman to be frightened without reason.”

“You’re an intimidating man.”

“Bullshit, amada. Not where you’re concerned. You wrap me around your little finger with a smile or a tear.”

Her eyes widened. “You could have fooled me.”

“I could have, but I didn’t. And I won’t. Can you say the same to me?”

She was in the middle of the room and she felt like her back was to the wall.

“I thought so,” he said softly, watching her frantic pulse. “What are you hiding from me?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

She just shook her head.

“When we face Hector, there won’t be any room for secrets or games between us,” Faroe said. “It’s called divide and conquer. Don’t do that to us. Don’t do that to Lane.”

29

TIJUANA

SUNDAY EVENING


SILENCE GREW, STRANGLING GRACE. Numbly she watched Faroe circle her, blocking any escape to the hallway. She couldn’t move. She could barely think.

Then rage burned through the numbness.

He could have made this easy.

He didn’t.

“I misjudged you,” she said through thin lips. “You’re brilliant, ruthless, skilled in things I’d rather not imagine, and a blind idiot who couldn’t see the truth when you put your arm around it!”

Faroe picked through her words, looking for meaning. “I don’t understand.”

“Ya think?” She glared at him and thought of how sweet it would be to just smack the ignorant, arrogant man.

Faroe blocked Grace’s open hand before her palm hit his cheek. Then his fingers circled her wrist and held it, restraining her without hurting her.

Shocked, she looked at her hand as if it belonged to someone else. “I wanted to smack you, but I can’t imagine I actually tried to. What’s happening to me?”

“Good things.”

“Good? Good? I tried to hit you!”

“I didn’t know how hard I was pushing you. Now I do.” He kissed her hand and gently forced it back to her side, held it there, keeping her close. “You’re too tightly wrapped, amada. You’re going to explode if you don’t let out whatever is eating you alive.”

“Whatever is-my son is a hostage! Isn’t that enough reason?”

“I thought so. I was wrong. Tell me the rest of it.”

She tried to wrench her hand out of Faroe’s grip. He was too quick, too strong. She tried to turn against his grip. His arm circled her, held her still.

Close.

“And the next time you want to clock someone,” he said, smiling slightly, “don’t think about it. Just do it. That way your body language won’t telegraph your intentions.”

He was only inches away. She could feel his breath across the damp strands of hair that clung to her face. The dreamy, delicate kiss he brushed over the curve of her neck made her shiver. In the shadowy light his expression was calm, focused, and his eyes watched her much too intently.

She wasn’t as good at cat and mouse as he was.

“A long time ago, you told me that you weren’t a very good liar,” he said. “Remember?”

“No,” she lied.

“You said you doubted that you could fake anything important, particularly not in bed.”

A ripple of emotion went through her. She closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t betray herself.

Her lies.

“That was a long time ago,” she said in a low voice. “Things change.”

“Not everything. Not your core.”

His hand opened the button at the neck of her robe, then dropped to the sash. The bowknot came undone with a single tug.

She grabbed the lapels of the robe, holding it closed. Part of her wanted Faroe so much she ached. Part of her still wanted to smack him. All of her was in chaos. Caught between conflicting emotions, she trembled.

Faroe’s left hand tugged at the edge of the robe and pulled it slowly aside. The terry cloth was rough against the back of his hand. Her skin was smooth, warm, her nipples dark pebbles eager to be touched.

“You were right,” he said. “Your body doesn’t lie.”

“Damn you,” she whispered.

“I can live with damnation if I have you.”

He shifted so that both hands cupped her breasts, teased her nipples. Then his right hand slid down and across hot curls, found moisture, dipped lightly, then again. Heat spilled into his hand.

“This is truth, amada,” he said against her lips. “In this we don’t have secrets and never did. That’s why you haunted me. No other woman came close to what you gave me in those few days.”

Grace didn’t have to say there had been no other man like Faroe for her. The truth was hot and wet in his palm.

“See?” he murmured, brushing kisses over her lips, her chin, the taut tendon in her neck. His free hand took one of hers and pressed it against his erection. “No secrets. I want you. You want me. Same as sixteen years ago. One look and neither of us looked anywhere else.”

Her eyelids lowered halfway as she slid her palm down his hard length. She didn’t try to conceal the hunger shivering through her.

“The only difference between now and then,” he said against her mouth, “is that I’m smart enough not to let you slip through my fingers again. This time I’m going to see where it goes.”

Grace took his kiss and gave it back to him with interest, until both of them were breathing raggedly and struggling to get closer still. Then she tore her mouth away.

“Is this what you want?” she asked.

“You know it is.”

“Is it all you want?”

He smiled almost sadly, kissed her eyelids, tasted the faint salt of tears she hadn’t shed. “No. I want the rest of the truth. Sixteen years ago I believed you set me up. It was the only thing that made sense, until after the trial, when I was quietly told the setup came from my side of the street.”