The Rogue And The Rich Girl. Christine Pacheco

      He reached across Ace, extending a hand. Ace pushed the man’s hand back. Nicole frowned at Ace.

      “Perhaps I should make some introductions, first. Ricardo, this is Nicole Jackson. With WorldNet. Nicole, my friend, Ricardo Maldanado.”

      Ricardo quickly dropped his hand to his side, as if the threat of her touch offended him. She turned the full force of her scowl on Ace. He’d known this would happen. But why? She wanted answers. Now.

      “Later, Nicole,” he promised. “You can have a piece of me later.”

      “You bring her here?” Ricardo demanded, waving his arms like the dodo bird he’d spoken of. “Are you loco? This is too much, even for you.”

      “What did you want me to do? Kick her out of my plane?”

      “That would be better than bringing her here, no?”

      “I don’t think the lady likes parachutes.”

      “No. No.” The man frantically shook his head, then glanced over his shoulder, his wide-eyed alarm clear. “Is too dangerous, Señor Ace. You must take her away. Pronto.”

      A shiver of fear, unlike anything she’d ever felt, started at the base of her spine and spiked its way up, until it shimmered at her nape. “No,” Nicole said. She clutched Ace’s biceps and felt the tension coiled in solid muscle. She’d come too far; her future, and everything she’d always worked for, was on the line. She couldn’t quit. Couldn’t lose. “I must meet with Governor Rodriguez. Please.”

      Because it vanished so quickly, she might only have imagined the momentary melting in Ace’s glacier-cold eyes.

      “Relax, Ricardo. I’ll take care of the señorita.“

      The man shook his head in jerky motions. “No, no. Is too risky.”

      “That’s my business, Ricardo. Besides, the lady here knows what she’s getting herself into.”

      Under the faded shirt he wore, she felt Ace’s muscles bunch and constrict. “Tell that lazy brother of yours to get his butt over here with the taxi.”

      Ricardo clasped his hands together in the motion of prayer and lifted them heavenward. He rolled his eyes. “Madre de Dios.”

      “You’ll be meeting Her soon enough if you don’t do as I say, Ricardo. “Comprende?”

      “Ah, sí, sí.” He bobbed his head, then hurried away.

      With the man’s absence, the cockpit felt even smaller, the air lightning-charged. Frogs croaking and crickets chirping provided the only relief from the eerie silence.

      “Satisfied?”

      Ace had put himself on the line for her. And she had the uncomfortable feeling his help came with a price.

      He turned slightly, his muscle flexing. She realized her hand was still wrapped around his upper arm. With a start, she unfurled her fingers and pretended the queasy feeling deep inside was from the flight and Ricardo’s strange reaction, and not from the powerful effect Ace exacted on her.

      “I didn’t lie, did I? You really do know what you’re getting yourself into? You know what you’re up against?”

      “You?” she asked, strangely breathlessly.

      “Me?” He shook his head. “Hell, honey, I’m the least of your worries.”

      His voice contained a grainy undercurrent of urgency that made her uneasy.

      “A lot of people don’t want you here, Nicole. That should have been obvious by the meeting you just had with my friend. I can guarantee you my enemies won’t be so gracious.”

      “What’s going on here?” Tendrils of apprehension held her in their grips.

      “A small revolution, Nicole. Sparked by you and your client.”

      She gulped and the blood drained from her face.

      “Ricardo’s right. If you had any sense, we’d get the plane refueled and be outta here before anyone knows you ever landed. You can be safe and sound in your bed, probably in your penthouse apartment, before another sun sets.”

      Ace shifted. The hilt of his knife reflected prisms of light from the faint runway lamps. She was in a hostile land, entrusting her life to a virtual stranger. Ace hadn’t candy-coated facts. Though the governor extended an invitation, others wouldn’t be so kind.

      And the man she’d hired to help her wasn’t on her side. Fear was suddenly very real and very intimidating.

      She heard the crank of a car’s engine and loud oaths. After several tries, the engine caught, choked, then rushed on. A moment later, a taxi with a missing headlight and twisted fender screeched to a halt beside the plane.

      Ace leaned forward, his shoulder brushing the softness of her breast.

      His presence disturbed her, made her undoubtedly aware of being a woman. Made her fear she would never again recoup the control she’d lost to her enigmatic protector.

      She sucked in a breath. Deeply.

      When he sat back up, she saw something glimmer in his hand. Her heart missed a beat.

      In his palm, Ace cradled a large pistol. Dread coiled deep inside.

      “It’s your call, Nicole.”

      Three

      “Well?” Ace watched while a war of indecision waged on her suddenly pale face. He’d scared her. Intentionally. Cabo de Bello was beautiful. Deceptively beautiful.

      The governor had managed to keep the opposition subdued...so far. But for how long was anyone’s guess.

      He saw Nicole shove away the fear and force grim determination in its place. She’d set a goal and refused to be deterred. It was a noble, if stupid, trait. The same kind of naïveté had gotten him into trouble. Thank God he was too old for that anymore.

      “I want to stay.”

      “Yeah. I expected as much,” he said. “Let’s go.”

      After grabbing his small arsenal of weapons, the duffel and her suitcase, he joined her on the tarmac.

      Ricardo and his brother, Poncho, glared, and Ace scowled at both men, patience at an end, and snapped, “Ricardo, put my plane in a hangar. I don’t want anyone knowing we’re here.”

       “Por favor, Señor—”

      Ace cut off protests with a wave. A lot of islanders didn’t want WorldNet’s progress. Sweatshop working conditions were good for no one, except owners.

      Yet here he was, with a woman who represented each of the things Ricardo and Poncho hated.

      Nicole’s appointment with Governor Rodriguez wasn’t until the morning. Since Ace and Nicole would both have rooms in the mansion, Ace planned to make use of each minute. And as he’d told her, he intended to use whatever tactics he needed. Fair. And foul.

      Slyly, he grinned.

      Why fly to Rosie’s when he had Nicole? After all, he’d felt a response ripple through her when he’d outlined the length of her cheekbone. She’d fought it, but her breath had caught. She was aware of him, just as he was aware of her.

      “Ready?” he asked Nicole.

      She nodded.

      Poncho and Ricardo exchanged uneasy glances, then Ricardo shrugged as if in hopelessness. After tucking his gun into his waistband, Ace turned to see Nicole slide into the taxi gracefully. No easy trick, he knew.

      “Watch the hole,” he warned. “Part of the floor on that side has rusted through.”

      “Oh.”