"Do you think they'll be really harsh on him?"

"Well, back when I worked for the CIA, we'd have killed him for being such a pain, and Retter might yet. He's got a lot of the old school in him."

Marianne felt the color drain from her face.

"But his boss, Joe, is a bit more understanding about such things, so it's hard to say. I figure the worst thing that could happen to Kyle is nothing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he must have thought a lot of you to keep them actors and all on their toes. He had to have known that sooner or later Mr. Zimmerman would call in Joe to come get him. So to my way of thinking, he must have thought you were worth the trouble that's now coming his way."

Before Marianne could speak, Aislinn Zimmerman came running into the lobby. She was followed by an extremely tall, devastatingly handsome man. There was an air of refined elegance to the man, who wore an expensive tailor-made suit.

"Oh, Marianne!" Aislinn exclaimed. "Thank goodness they found you.

We have been worried sick."

The man with her rubbed his brow as if Aislinn's dramatics were giving him a headache.

He held his hand out to Marianne. "Hi, Ms. Webernec. I'm Wulfgar Zimmerman, and I just wanted to tell you personally how sorry I am for your ordeal."

So this was the mysterious owner of Rose Books. He was devastating and rumored to be one of the richest men in the world. Marianne shook his hand. "There really is nothing to apologize for. I've had the time of my life."

Aislinn snorted. "Yes, but that was before that lunatic, Kyle Foster, ruined it."

"You're the one who put her here, Ais," Wulfgar said calmly.

Aislinn turned on her brother with a snarl. "Well, the next time the island is occupied by them, I wish you would put something down on paper."

He arched an elegant brow. "Forgive me, but I thought the word occupied on the schedule was self-explanatory."

"I thought you meant it was occupied by our people, not theirs. You're supposed to put training down when they're training here."

"Excuse me," Sam said, interrupting them. "But I take exception to that. Me and Roscoe are always here, and we definitely fall under the them category."

"You're you, Sam," Aislinn explained. "You don't count."

Sam looked extremely offended by that.

Wulfgar shook his head. "You'd better stop while you're behind, Ais.

You're just getting in deeper at the moment."

Aislinn ignored the men and took Marianne's arm. "Don't worry, hon.

I'll take care of this mess. We'll extend your stay another week and get back to your fantasy."

"It's okay, really," Marianne said. "I've had a great time with Kyle."

She stared up at Wulfgar, hoping to make him understand. "Look, I don't want Kyle to get into trouble. Had he not shown up, I was ready to call you and ask for the fantasy to be canceled."

"Really?" Wulfgar asked.

She nodded.

He looked at his sister, who appeared horrified. "Well, how was I to know Brad was having an affair with Spencer?"

"I don't want to go into that again, Ais, but this is the last time I leave a fantasy package up to you."

"Fine," Aislinn snapped. "I don't want to do another one anyway. You get entirely too cranky when the guest goes AWOL. So I leave it up to you from now on. I'm through." Aislinn stalked out of the hotel and left Marianne alone with Wulfgar.

Wulfgar gave her a patient stare. "Tell me something, Marianne. What could possibly make this story turn out to be a happily-ever-after for you after everything that's happened?"

Marianne opened her mouth to say having Kyle as her own, but the minute the thought occurred to her, she realized something.

Mr. Zimmerman might be a billionaire magnate. But he couldn't give her the one thing she needed.

Only Kyle could do that.

And right now she had no idea if he even wanted to.

Chapter Five

Kyle searched all the likely places Retter might have stashed Marianne.

He was out of options.

Disgusted and angry, he leaned back against a palm tree at the edge of the beach and raked his hands through his hair. If he closed his eyes, he could feel Marianne with him. Feel the touch of her hand on his skin. The warmth of her body under him.

He just wanted to see her one more time.

"C'mon, Kyle," he said to himself. "Think through this. You've never given up on anything in your life. You can do it."

Nothing had ever been more important to him.

He had to find her.

The best hiding place is always the most obvious. No one will ever think you're dumb enough to put something there. Kyle froze as Joe's words from training went through his mind.

Most obvious...

Surely Retter wouldn't have done that. He was never obvious. The bastard loved being complicated and vague.

But the more he thought about it, the more sure he was that Retter had chosen someplace easy. After all, Retter wouldn't think he'd think to look there.

Running as fast as he could, Kyle headed back to his hotel. Time seemed to slow down as he ran. He couldn't remember anything ever taking longer.

Please let me be right...

If he was wrong, then he was totally screwed.

As soon as he reached his hotel, he went crashing through the door, only to find Sam sitting at his desk, watching TV There was no one else in the place.

No one.

Damn it to hell!

It had been a stupid thought.

His heart heavy, Kyle actually wanted to cry in frustration. What would he do now?

"Welcome back, Mr. Excitement," Sam said, looking up from the TV "Heard you've had a high time with them weirdos from the other side of the island. I told you not to go over there, didn't I? Told you they'd do strange things to you." He paused as he adjusted his glasses and frowned.

"You okay, boy? You don't look right."

Kyle couldn't speak. All he could do was struggle to breathe past the pain in his chest. One that had nothing to do with his mad sprint and everything to do with what he'd lost.

"Where's Marianne, Sam? Have you seen her?"

Please tell me she's here...

Sam scratched his cheek. "Well, she was here a while ago, but that Mr.

Zimmerman from the publisher came and took her away."

Kyle's heart leaped with hope. "Where did he take her?"

He shrugged. "Marianne said she wanted to finish out her fantasy. I'm not sure what that means."

She must be on the other side of the island again, which meant he could find her.

Sam opened up the small red Igloo cooler at his feet and pulled out a cold beer. "Here," he said, twisting the cap off. "You look like you could use a drink."

"No, thanks. I've got to find her."

Sam nodded as if he understood. "You know, I had a woman I loved once. Long time ago." He sighed dreamily. "Her name was Ethel Burrows. Oh, she was beautiful. Smart. Quick as a whip. She made me feel like I could fly."

Kyle frowned at his words, wondering why Sam was sharing this with him when Sam usually shared very few personal things. "What happened to her?"

A sad, faraway look covered Sam's face. "Me mostly. I didn't ever tell her how I felt about her. I was about your age and working for the CIA all the time. I was afraid to take a wife. Afraid I'd get killed or she might be in danger. Either way, I knew I wouldn't be home much to be with her. I didn't think it would be fair to her to be married and have to go off on missions while she stayed behind with my kids." He pierced Kyle with a dark, meaningful look. "I never stopped to think about what would happen if I didn't die."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, at the time I had fourteen more years of active service before they sent me to the desk or retired me. Fourteen years seemed like forever when I was twenty-eight. It didn't dawn on me that I'd be spending more years than that alone, wondering what would have happened to me if I'd just asked her to marry me." Sam reached over to scratch Roscoe's ears.

"But that's okay. I've got Roscoe here to keep me company in my old age."

Kyle stared at the man and his dog, and in that instant he saw a very sobering future for himself. One he didn't want to even contemplate.

"Thanks, Sam."

Sam nodded at him and started drinking the beer he'd offered him.

"Don't make my mistakes, Kyle. Go find your woman and tell her what she means to you."

Kyle tore out of the hotel and headed for the other side of the island.

He had a destiny waiting for him, and come hell or high water, he was going to find it.

At least that was what he thought. By five o'clock Kyle knew it was hopeless.

Marianne was nowhere on the island. Nowhere.

He'd searched every place he could think. Every corner, every cranny.

It was as if she'd vanished off the face of the earth. Of course, none of the busboys or actors from the other side would help him. Hell, they barely spoke to him after the trouble he'd given them while they had tried to find her and he'd scared them off.

It seemed they thought turnabout was fair play.

One of the little bastards had even laughed at him when he'd asked if the man had seen her.

That was okay. He'd stopped laughing the minute Kyle shot out his tires.

At four-thirty he'd finally found Aislinn Zimmerman in Marianne's hotel, debriefing the staff for their next guest, who would be arriving within the next few weeks. The redhead had promptly read him the riot act for screwing up the one and only fantasy her brother had entrusted her to run entirely on her own.

"You want Marianne?" she'd snapped at him. "Then find my brother.

Last I checked, she was flying off on his private plane back to civilization."

Kyle had gone immediately to their airstrip, only to find out Wulfgar Zimmerman was long gone.

Which meant so was Marianne.

Damn it!

Defeated and tired, Kyle walked the long distance back to his side of the island. He didn't stop to say goodbye to Sam, though he should have.

He just couldn't face the old man right now.

So he bypassed the hotel and went straight to the private airstrip they used that wasn't all that far from where he'd been hidden with Marianne.

His throat tightened at the thought.