Share
Called Out
When he opened the bedroom door, Caitlyn was seated on the foot of the bed. Her hands rested, relaxed, in her lap, and her eyes fixed without seeing on a random spot on the floor. She’d showered, and looked the better for it without the smudges of wiped off blood from the day before, but she was still dressed in her filthy clothes. Now that she was clean, every mark and bruise on her body conveyed the full impact of what she’d been through in aching detail.
The fine hairs on the back of Duke’s neck lifted and stood on end suddenly and he cursed himself in his head. She was waiting. Something was very wrong.
“Darlin’?” Her eyes lifted and focused as he drew her replacement luggage into the room, then shut the door behind him. When she eyed the new suitcase, he explained. “It’s—they destroyed yours. Had Allie pick you up a replacement that she thought you might like. Your clothes are still here.”
“Something from her bag of tricks?” she said softly, but t
Related chapters
Italy With A Duke Brooding
Duke lay along Caitlyn’s side, his bicep pillowing her neck. It had taken a boring wander through the villa’s library, then a long walk through the guarded forest around them, and finally a sedative before she’d relaxed enough to drowse. His fingers twisted into her hair and he pressed a kiss against her unbruised temple, solely so he could inhale the scent off her. His entire life, he’d lived essentially without fear, trained to protect, prepared to die. Which suited him just as well. Fear pissed him off. The paralyzing characteristics of it pissed him off, and he had no use for that kind of emotion. Not in his line of work. But now, he knew what it meant, how it felt to be vulnerable. He’d become all too familiar with being afraid in a way he didn’t like. He slid his hand across her flat belly, gripping her hip gently to pull her closer against him, feeding his warmth into her. Under the effect of the sedative, she never stirred. What the hell am I going to do? He’d wracked his br
Italy With A Duke Blatant and Subtle
The kitchen was busy, with small packs of Jay’s men coming and going. Distracted by all the activity, Caitlyn retreated with a plate to a far corner, watching the goings-on with a keen eye. There were a lot of men here. Big men. With a lot of weapons. An army to protect one woman with only one thing of value. As Rachel entered the kitchen, she saw heads turn to follow the pretty blonde. One of them was Jay’s. Immediately, his chair slid back and he was on his feet following her, despite the plunging mercury surrounding her. “Hey, princess.” Even in the noisy room, Caitlyn could hear him clearly. “Let me fix you a plate. Or something else if you don’t like what’s here already.” Pivoting sharply, Rachel heaved a barely tolerant sigh when he crashed into her, then threw his hands off her hips where he’d caught and steadied her. When she glared up at him, his lazy smirk widened. Beside Caitlyn, Duke leaned in and whispered, “He’s got a thing for her.” She snorted at the understateme
Italy With A Duke Vengeful
Having seen the kind of security detail that Allie and Jay employed, even for their traveling army, Caitlyn knew there was no way the protection at her lab had ever been enough to keep someone out. What she and Alex had always counted on was the fact that little was known about the kind of research they were doing. That few would understand its potential, even if they did.Yet the connection that Allie had found had ties to arms dealers. And Agent Richards had told her the group that had helped him kidnap her was some sort of terrorist organization. What she’d seen as she’d slipped past was that her enemy was a billionaire recluse.One with a penchant for a lot of illegal activities.Unseeing, she drifted by rote towards the room she was sharing with Duke. For an organization based in Europe to have learned of her work, there had to be some more personal connection—a family member of one of her patients, maybe the family member of one of the lab employees. She turned the handle to the
Italy With A Duke Predictable
Duke had been expecting the worst almost since the moment he’d recovered Caitlyn. But he’d been especially on edge after their last conversation. She’d fumed moodily but silently in the circle of his arms for perhaps another half hour, then she’d fallen asleep.That was a mercy he’d be denied long into the night.The situation was simple. He couldn’t let her kill anyone else, especially not the way she intended. He’d been in this business long enough to know how revenge paid out with Karma in the end. All his connections—all Jay’s connections—they could only do so much if she used her signature medical treatment to outright kill someone.Even the kind of scum they were talking about now.It wouldn’t matter that she’d eliminated someone that the planet was well rid of—she’d be wasting her life’s work, undoing all the good she’d already done for the world and all of it she had yet to do. All to kill a man who was probably sanctioned in at least some capacity by at least one government.
Italy With A Duke Unpredictable
A thick white fog swirled through Caitlyn’s returning consciousness, writhing with the tumbling flow of wild emotions and overpowering perceptions. It glittered with silvery motes of light, a colorless sky full of dreams, sailing and bobbing like the spume of waves. With a blind eye, she watched them each in turn, letting the cascade of memories sweep over and into her. The sparkling particles caressed her like waves, some gentle with forgiveness and others that scraped across her agonized recollections with painful regret. From some long-forgotten corner of her mind, they drew the early yearnings as her childhood friendship with Alex had morphed into what should have been a lifetime of love. Only now, the pristine white stained with a dark ripple of black varnished red with guilt knowing his reaping came at her own hand. But his killer had come. He’d come for her exactly as she’d known he would. Suspended in that deathless instant when her heightened senses had detected the impact
Italy With A Duke Warlord
Caitlyn hadn’t ridden in a helicopter since medical school during clinical rotations, when she’d volunteered as an EMT physician for eight weeks. She hadn’t regretted it. The helicopter flight to the picturesque costal city against strong wind coming from varying directions hadn’t been pleasant with a throbbing headache and the rush of adrenaline nauseating her. She doubted even without those and the gusty winds that the noisy, shuddering machine would have been much better. It didn’t help that it was dark either. There was little to focus on in the gloom to help keep the vertigo from adding to her queasiness. At least not until the moon-kissed spume of the waves off the Adriatic came into view along the coast. Not long after, the golden glow of the street lamps and windows of the terraced, hilltop city appeared, and mercifully, soon they were landing. Escorted again on both sides, she quickly lost her way inside the twisting stone corridors of the fortress perched at the summit of
Italy With A Duke Wildcat
“Son of a bitch!” Duke snarled, flinching as the medic examined him at the roadside of the foreign street in the middle of the darkened Tuscan forest. He winced, muttering another vehement curse at the pain that shot through his shoulder and into his head. The medic turned to Jay, waiting a few steps off. “Dislocated, and he’s got a concussion. But considering the damage to the vehicle, he’s pretty lucky. I can close up the cut on his head with a butterfly.” Jay’s ice blue eyes flashed in the bright blue-white light off his cellphone. “You’re out of this, Duke. Sidelined. You got it?” “Like hell he is!” Rachel snapped and started towards Jay with enraged steps. His glacial blue eyes swiveled towards her at the same time that Duke’s piercing green ones did. A lazy smirk spread slowly over Jay’s face as he eyed the spitfire blonde, clearly enjoying the prospect of this fight. Sweet Jesus, Duke thought. The shit that turns some people on… “You’re not in charge here, princess.” Jay dr
Italy With A Duke Wildcard
For a long minute, Dex’s gaze followed Jay’s retreating figure into the darkness and he debated going after the other man to free Rachel. Chivalry demanded it, but his instincts didn’t. Despite what she had done, Jay wasn’t angry. Determined, definitely—Rachel could drive a man to that, Dex knew well. But the read he got wasn’t that she’d be coming to any harm. Jay Ellis might not be the kind of man that one looked up to, but he had enough honor and enough pride that he wouldn’t force himself on a woman or ever strike one. And he got the distinct impression that Rachel wasn’t entirely resisting him. His instincts weren’t so casual about the rest of their situation. Propped on the trunk of the totaled car, Duke debated with the medic. “It’s not broken. You’ve already said. So you could pop it back into place, right?” “Sir, I’m not a doctor. And I’ve never dealt with anything more than a break.” “But you know enough anatomy that you can put it b
Latest chapter
