contract bid.
He and Rusty had discussed the situation with Ned Johnson, the FBI agent assigned to the case. The federal government didn't like any type of threats being made that involved one of their pet projects—and the NASP project was a number one priority for both NASA and the Air Force.
Sam Dundee had assured Nick that he would run a check on all of M.A.C.'s competitors and have a complete report faxed to him by Monday morning at the latest. Nick knew he could count on Sam. They didn't make men any smarter, tougher or more trustworthy. Sam was one of the best friends Nick had ever had. They'd shared more than danger during their days with the DEA. They'd shared their pasts, their problems and occasionally their women.
Somewhere in the back of Nick's mind a damned pesty little suspicion wouldn't go away. What if the NASP bid had nothing to do with the kidnap attempt? What if there actually was another motive? Did he dare risk Addy's life by not paying attention to his gut instincts? Often, in the SEALs and as a DEA agent, the only thing that had saved him was his instincts.
He had pretty well ruled out Ginger Kimbrew as a suspect. The woman was too much in love with Rusty McConnell to be a threat. If the NASP bid turned out to be the real motive, Gerald Carlton headed the list, but if there was another motive—money, for instance—then Ron Glover jumped to the number one spot, followed closely by Brett Windsor. And there was always the off chance that Janice Dixon could be helping her boyfriend or… Nick hated himself for suspecting Dina. She was spoiled, self-centered and money-hungry, but he honestly didn't think she was capable of kidnapping or murder.
A loud tapping on his bedroom door drew Nick from his thoughts. Rising up on his elbows, he stared at the closed door. He made no response. The tapping began again, then he heard Addy's whispered voice.
'Nick? Nick, may I come in?'
He flipped the switch on the bedside lamp, positioned himself against the headboard and wiped the sweat off his face with the palm of his hand. 'Yeah, come on in.'
The door opened slowly, Addy peering in before she stepped inside and took several steps toward Nick. Seeing him lying in bed, wearing nothing but a pair of nylon shorts, she halted, staring at him with questioning eyes. 'I—I want to know what's wrong.'
'Why do you think something's wrong?' Damn, did she have any idea how she looked, standing there in the dim light, her titian hair tumbling down her back and onto her shoulders? She was wearing gold satin pajamas that hung loosely on her slender frame, but they didn't disguise the elegant line of her body or the pouting tips of her nipples. Just the sight of her aroused him.
'You haven't spoken two words to me since before lunch today.' With slow, deliberate steps she made her way to the side of the bed.
Nick didn't move a muscle. At least not intentionally. One part of his body had a mind of its own. 'I thought it best if I kept my mouth shut. Once something is said, you can't take it back.'
'You're angry with me, aren't you?' She held her hands, twined together, in front of her. She didn't look directly at Nick, but down at the chenille spread folded back at the foot of the bed.
'You're too smart to try to use Windsor to make me jealous, so why did you?' He reached out, grabbing her wrist, tugging her down onto the bed beside him.
She gasped, but didn't struggle. 'What makes you think that's what I was doing?'
He released her, then waited to see if she'd get up. She didn't. She sat, ramrod straight on the edge of the bed, close to but not touching him. 'You don't care anything about Windsor, and you know he's only interested in Rusty's money, so what other reason could there be?'
'I am not going to become just one more of your women.' Her voice trembled with emotion.
Nick ran his hand up her back, savoring the feel of her rich satin pajama top beneath his fingertips. He knew Addy's flesh would be twice as soft and smooth. She jerked, but didn't pull away. 'What did Dina say to you?'
'What makes you think Dina—'
Wrapping his arm around her waist, he jerked her up the bed and to his side. She faced him then, glaring at him with both expectation and challenge in her glittering green eyes. 'Let's stop playing twenty questions, Red. What did Dina say that made you so upset with me that you used Brett Windsor to hurt me?'
'My kissing Brett hurt you?' There was genuine awe in her voice, as if she were dumbfounded that she held that much power over Nick's feelings.
He grabbed her chin in his big hand, squeezing tightly but not painfully. 'You know damned well that it ate me alive seeing you kiss him that way.'
'Dina told me that—that you and she had been lovers.'
Nick didn't respond. His hand on Addy's back stilled. He took a deep breath. 'Yeah. A long time ago, when I was just a green kid whose raging hormones ruled his body.' He felt her quiver.
'You—you slept with your brother's wife?'
'I slept with my brother's widow. Once.'
Addy released the breath she'd been holding, then reached out to cover Nick's hand that held her chin so firmly. 'Did you love her?'
'Look, Addy, what happened between Dina and me was so long ago that it has no bearing on the here and now. On the two of us.' He didn't think Addy would understand if he admitted the truth. How could he explain to her that there was more than one kind of love, and that what he'd felt for Dina had been the absolutely worst kind—the most destructive kind?
'She thinks you compare every woman to her, that she's still the woman you want.'
Nick flung off Addy's hand and released her chin. He jumped up off the bed, knocking Addy over in the process. She gazed up at him. 'If I wanted Dina, I could have had her a thousand times over.' The truth of his words rang in his ears like a dozen clanking bells. There hadn't been a time in the past twenty-odd years that he couldn't have bedded Dina. Between husbands or even during her marriages. She had no conception of the word 'fidelity,' and in other women, it didn't matter. But in the woman he loved, it was of paramount importance. He'd spent his entire life seeking a replacement for Dina, when in his heart he'd known she was his for the taking. He didn't want her. And he sure as hell didn't love her.
Pushing herself up with her elbows, Addy sat in the middle of Nick's bed. 'I want to trust you completely … in every way, but—but I'm not prepared to take that kind of risk unless I can be sure of you.'
'Sure of me how?' He glared at her, his big bronze body towering over her.
Addy had never wanted to touch a man the way she wanted to touch Nick. He was so utterly masculine that the very sight of him took her breath away. 'If you want me, you're going to have to earn the right to make love to me.'
'I'm going to what?'
'I want to be sure that I'm important to you, that you really care about me, that your desire for me is real.'
Nick grabbed her hand, shoved it against his arousal and held it there. 'That's real, Addy, as real as it gets.'
She felt the throbbing evidence of his desire, and the shocking realization that she had evoked such a strong response in him tempted her almost beyond reason. Almost, but not quite. 'Gerald could get hard, and he could ram himself into me, but he didn't care anything about me. I didn't mean anything to him but a way to get Daddy's money. When I give myself to a man again I don't want to have any doubts that I'm all he wants, all he cares about, above and beyond anyone or anything else.'
Nick dropped his hand. Addy's hand slid down the front of Nick's shorts, her fingers caressing him. He groaned. 'How the hell do I prove something like that to you?'
Addy walked toward the open door. 'I don't know, but I'm sure you'll find a way.'
With that said, she left. Nick stood, watching her as she disappeared into the hallway. Damned stubborn woman. She was asking too much of him. There was no way he could prove himself to her, was there? She was asking for the kind of love that didn't exist—not in his world.
Hell, he'd never had to prove himself to a woman. If she thought that he'd ever come to her begging, then she'd better think again.
Nick fell into the bed, his hot, aroused body pulsating painfully with a need that he knew only one woman on earth could appease. And that woman had just told him that if he ever wanted to find release between her long