"You'd better be thinking that."

He rubbed himself against her, letting his body caress hers. "Believe me, Marianne, I am."

Marianne sighed as his kiss swept her into heaven. She didn't even protest when he removed her shirt and laid her back against the scratchy sand. Strange, this didn't look uncomfortable in movies and such, but in reality...

She groaned as Kyle unzipped her shorts with his teeth, then pulled them down her legs. And when he did the same with her panties, she almost came just from the sheer eroticism of the act. He was like a wild predator set loose on her.

One who wanted only to devour her.

What was it about him that made her burn like this? That made her forget the fact that they could be discovered at any moment?

"You do like to live dangerously, don't you?" she asked as he crawled sinuously up her body, nibbling every inch of the way.

"There's no other way to live." His hot breath teased her taut nipple before he opened his mouth and claimed it.

Marianne sighed in satisfaction as she cradled his head to her. His hair teased her skin while his tongue encircled her areola, teasing it to a hard, bitterly sweet nub that made her stomach contract every time he licked it.

The waves ran up the beach, lapping gently against her bare feet while the hot sun heated her almost as much as Kyle's touch did.

Kyle pulled away only long enough to remove his jeans.

Marianne couldn't fathom why a man like this was interested in her.

"Are you sure you're not one of the actors they hired for this?"

"Positive. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. You just seem too good to be real."

He snorted at that, then turned over with her so that she was on top of him. He reached for his discarded jeans and pulled out a condom, which he opened with his teeth, then reached around her so that he could put it on.

"I think you're the only person in my life to ever say such a thing to me. Most people I know curse the day they met me."

"I don't believe that."

She gasped as he lifted her up and set her down on his hard shaft.

Marianne moaned at the feel of him inside her. The tip of his cock tickled her deep, making her entire body throb from the feel of him there.

Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she rode him slow and easy, savoring every lush stroke of his body with hers.

"I can't believe I just met you," she said. It felt as if she'd known him much longer.

Kyle watched her as she milked his body with hers. Her hair fell around her lightly freckled shoulders, which had just a hint of red to them from their exposure to the sun. She was so beautiful there. Like some ancient goddess who had been washed up on the shore to seduce him.

He took her hand into his and suckled the pads of her fingers. He let the salty taste of her skin whet his appetite for her even more.

She was unlike any woman he'd ever met. She was cut from the same cloth as the pure, innocent homecoming queens he had dreamed about in his youth. The women he'd passed countless times on public streets and elevators. Decent women who knew nothing about espionage or lies.

Deceit.

She was the kind of woman who would turn in the wallet that contained a thousand dollars without stealing a single bill.

His head reeled as she quickened her strokes. He reached up for her and pulled her lips to his so that he could feel closer to her.

Let some of her decency creep inside him.

He wanted to crawl inside her body. To find a safe, warm spot where such a thing as goodness lived.

Maybe if he stayed with her just a little longer some of her decency would rub off on him.

She came calling out his name.

Kyle didn't move as he watched the ecstasy on her face. When the last tremor had shuddered through her, she collapsed against him.

He rolled over with her again so that he could take control.

Marianne held him close, brushing the sand from his back as he slid himself in and out of her, thrusting against her in a demanding rhythm.

He was incredible. Powerful. Every stroke went through her, exciting her, and when his orgasm came, he cried out, then lay down on top of her.

She held him there, letting his breath stir her hair as his heart pounded against her breasts.

She closed her eyes and sighed contentedly. "Wow," she said quietly.

"I think I felt the earth move."

He chuckled, but didn't make any move to leave her. "More likely it's just the waves moving the sand out from under us."

She blew him a raspberry. "You're such a spoilsport."

He kissed her lightly on the lips, then pulled her into the surf so that they could bathe in the crystal clear water where little tropical fish swam around their feet.

It was a perfect, surreal day.

"I feel strangely like Jane in some Tarzan movie."

Kyle beat his arms against his chest in imitation of an ape and made a Tarzan cry.

Before she could draw the breath to laugh at him, he bent at the waist and rushed toward her, lifting her up and tossing her over his shoulder.

Marianne shrieked and laughed at his antics. Until she saw the sight of the pink wounds in his back. She had felt them while they made love, but this was the first time she had really seen them up close in the light of day.

Her heart thudding, she touched one long, ragged scar that ran just under his shoulder blade. "What is this from?"

"I think that one's from the razor-wire fence I slid under in Beirut about a year ago. Thank God I had my leather jacket on, or it would have done some serious damage."

"From here, it looks like it did."

"Nah," he said, setting her back on her feet. "It's a flesh wound."

She rolled her eyes. "You're like that psycho knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, aren't you? The one who has his arm lopped off at the shoulder who looks at it and goes, 'Ah, it's just a scratch.' "

"Hey, in the neighborhood where I grew up, any sign of weakness was an invitation to a serious ass whipping."

"And where I grew up, we went to the hospital and got ice cream afterward."

Kyle frowned at her words and the idyllic world she described. "I don't think such a place as that really exists."

"Didn't you ever have anyone kiss your boo-boos?"

He thought about it a minute. "No. My mom was killed in a car wreck when I was five. There wasn't anyone around to kiss much of anything after that."

She shook her head at him, then pressed her lips to the scar on his chest, the one just an inch to the side of his heart that was fresh and pink.

Closing his eyes, Kyle enjoyed the feel of her lips on his flesh. The strange warmth that rushed through him from her actions.

So this was tenderness...

He liked it a lot more than he should.

"Marianne!"

They both jumped at the sound of someone calling from somewhere in the trees.

Kyle moved away from her long enough to scoop up their clothes and hand her hers.

"Wait here," he said, pulling his jeans on.

Barefoot and shirtless, he reached for his weapon, only to remember he didn't have it with him.

Damn. His military training snapped, making him creep toward the sound of the intruder...

Marianne dressed quickly as she wondered what Kyle was going to do.

As soon as she was dressed, she headed off after him. No sooner had she reached the trees than she heard something snap.

A man yelped, then Kyle came running toward her, laughing.

He sobered instantly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he said, clearing his throat. "It was just one of Tyson's men."

"Let me down!" the unknown man's voice rang out through the trees.

She looked at him suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"I put him someplace where he can't follow us or tell Tyson where we are."

Unsure if she should believe him, she frowned. "Are you sure about this Tyson?"

"The Chicken Man is deadly, love. I promise. Come on, we need to go quickly before he sends more guys after us."

Still skeptical, she followed after him as he gathered their clams and shovel and headed off down the beach, far away from where he'd left "Tyson's" man.

They walked down the surf for quite some time before Kyle judged it safe again to dig clams. Once they had the bucket full, Kyle led her carefully up the rocky slope that led back to the wooded area of the island.

"Boo!" she said at one point, making him jump.

"Don't do that," he said in a hushed, peeved tone.

"I couldn't help myself. You look so serious."

"This is serious. One of those bastards could get his hands on you and take you away from me. That's the last thing I want." The sincere anger in his voice set her back.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really."

Marianne bit her lip as warmth gushed through her. She laced her fingers with his and let him sneak her back to their isolated cave where they made steamed clams and made love until the very wee hours of the morning.

They made love until she was weak and breathless, but so well sated that she just wanted to sleep in the shelter of Kyle's arms for eternity.

For the next few days they hid in their cave, running during the daylight from Tyson's men and spending their nights getting to know each other and every detail of their lives.

There was nothing she hadn't shared with Kyle, and as she fell asleep snuggled against him on the fifth day, she knew all of this would end soon. She only had a few more days on the island and then her fantasy was over.

Would Kyle still want her then, or would he put her on a plane and make ready for the next contest winner?

The anger and fear that question evoked startled her.

But what stunned her most was how much it hurt to think of letting Kyle go.

Chapter Four

Kyle and Marianne sat on a blanket on the beach long after dark with a small fire crackling before them. He was leaning back against a large piece of driftwood with Marianne sitting between his raised legs, cradled against his bare chest while she wore his T-shirt.

He adored the sight of her in his clothes, which she had been wearing every day since he'd "kidnapped" her. There was no way he was going to let her return to her hotel room where one of the others might be able to keep her from him.

Not that they could. He just didn't want to have to hurt someone unnecessarily. But he would hurt anyone who tried to pry her away from him even a minute earlier than he had to let her go.