A Silverhill Christmas. Carol Ericson

of the source of those riches? You think I’m a chick who wants revenge on a player?”

      “In a word—yes.”

      She laughed again, this time doubling over at the waist, her long hair almost touching the leaves on the ground.

      No wonder Alexi had dumped her—she was insane. As nuts as Alexi was, he wouldn’t have the patience for another lunatic…even one whose looks put those women in his hot tub to shame.

      She unfolded her body, wiping the tears from her face. She sniffled as she wound her hair around her hand and tossed it behind her. “Oh, it’s much worse than that, cowboy.”

      His brows shot up. This woman was throwing him more zigzags than that mountain road he’d traveled on his way up here. “Worse? Did he double-cross you in a business deal?”

      “You don’t listen too good for a secret agent, do you? I told you, I have a personal issue with Alexi, not a business one. I don’t have anything to do with drugs, or arms or any of Alexi’s other sleazy endeavors.”

      At least she had no misconceptions about Alexi or his business. “So what is it?”

      She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “I have the dubious distinction of being the ex-Mrs. Alexi Zherkov.”

      Rio’s mouth dropped open. Mad Prince Alexi’s mysterious former princess. In the flesh.

      From his research on Alexi these past six months since the CIA had hired him to get something on the arms dealer and bring him down, Rio had learned Alexi had an ex-wife somewhere. He’d even heard that Alexi had chosen an American for his bride, but Rio’s attempts to track her down and discover any more information had met with a brick wall.

      Alexi kept mum about his personal life, as did those surrounding him. Rio had gotten close to only one informant, and he didn’t belong to Alexi’s inner circle. The mole had told Rio about an American ex-wife named Victoria. If he had known any more than that, he’d taken it to his grave after the Landespolizei had dragged his body out of the Rhine River near Munich.

      Her bright gaze searched his face. “So you see, you can’t tell me anything about that SOB down there that I don’t already know. And I have as much right to be on this hillside as you do, spying on him, waiting for him to slip up so you can take him down. I don’t know why you boys in the CIA think you can get him now. You’ve been trying for years without much luck.”

      He studied her pale face from beneath half-lidded eyes. She thought he was CIA. He wouldn’t bother to correct her. She hit the nail on the head with one statement. The CIA had been trying for a long time to trip up Alexi. That’s why the Agency hired him—to try more unconventional methods.

      “So you’re Victoria.”

      She nodded slowly, her chin dropping to her chest. “You’re good, cowboy. I’m practically a state secret back in Alexi’s country, good old Glazkova. What else do you know?”

      “That’s about it.” He spread his hands wide. “Why don’t you fill me in, and while you’re at it, tell me why you’re stalking your ex-husband.”

      “First off, you might as well get the name straight. I’m Tori not Victoria.” She opened her arms. “Have you ever seen anyone less like a staid, proper Victoria?”

      She thrust one curvy hip to the side, and Rio’s eyes followed as if pulled by a magnetic force. In the muted glow of the flashlight, his gaze tracked over Tori’s luscious body. A riot of red curls tumbled over one ripe breast snug in a thin T-shirt raised above her jeans and showing a strip of her flat, hard belly.

      He swallowed. Nope, nothing staid or proper about her.

      Leaves crackled above them and Rio froze, killing his light. A thwacking noise disturbed the silence of the hillside. Tori hissed and Rio held a finger to his lips.

      A man uttered a curse in a guttural tone and another male voice answered him as the two voices floated over them in the night air.

      “I don’t see nothing down there.”

      “Tim’s working lookout on the balcony, and he said he saw a light on the hillside.”

      Damn. He’d been careless. Rio slid the butt of the flashlight into his belt as his gaze traveled back to Tori, her hand bunched into a fist against her hip. Too many distractions.

      The voices, sounding closer, continued. “That light could’ve been anything. Tim sent us on a wild goose chase for nothing.”

      “You wanna climb over the side and check it out?”

      “Hell no. You wanna slide down that hillside and hit those rocks on your way into the ocean? My loyalty to Alexi only goes so far.”

      “I’ll tell him you said that. I’m going over.”

      Even if Rio could find sufficient cover for himself and Tori, he couldn’t allow Alexi’s goons to discover his backpack with his weapon inside. He’d have to grab that, and then they’d have to…leave.

      He nestled his lips close to Tori’s ear and whispered, “Do what I tell you to do and just maybe I can save your life.”

      She drew a quick breath and jerked away from him. “How are we going to get out of here?”

      He held up his hand to her, palm out, and crept toward his pack, hunching forward. As he expected, leaves and twigs crackled beneath his hiking boots. This time when Rio heard the click, he knew someone had released the safety on a real gun, not a lighter.

      One of the men said, “There’s something down there. I’m going to check it out.”

      Rio grabbed his backpack and spun around, lurching toward Tori. He gripped her arm, yanking her along a jumbled path.

      She whispered, “Where are we going?”

      A crack resounded behind them, and the bright beam from a powerful flashlight skimmed across their legs.

      Rio rounded the corner of the makeshift trail, pulling Tori behind him. When the ocean stretched below them like smooth glass, he knew they’d reached the escape route.

      Gripping Tori’s hand, he pulled her to his side. He then removed his hiking boots and flung them skyward. “We’re following those boots.”

      Her perfect lips formed an O, but before she could utter a sound, Rio pushed off from the side of the hill with his bare feet taking the former Princess of Glazkova with him into the inky blue Pacific.

      Chapter Two

      Tori hit the water feetfirst and tunneled into its warm embrace. When she and McClintock had made contact with the ocean, the force ripped her hand from his. She bobbed to the surface and toed off her sneakers while she twisted her head around looking for the maniac who had pulled her off a perfectly good hill into the sea.

      She screamed as a dark shape emerged beside her.

      “Shh.” McClintock grabbed her flailing arm. “They didn’t see us. There’s a beach around this bend. Can you swim?”

      “You’re asking that question now?” Tori’s legs felt like lead as she treaded water with the heavy denim of her jeans clinging to her.

      “You looked like an athletic woman.” He sluiced his dark hair back from the sharp planes of his face. “This way.”

      She paddled after the form slicing through the water, and then pulled up straight and yanked off her jeans. She didn’t plan on drowning within sight of Alexi’s palatial rental. That would give her ex too much satisfaction.

      McClintock floated on the surface of the water and called back, “You okay?”

      Free of her jeans, Tori skimmed through the calm ocean toward him. “As long as there are no sharks out here, I’ll be fine.”

      When she drew abreast of him, he placed his