“So, still a child at heart?” Anders suggested quietly.

“Maybe,” she acknowledged and then tilted her head and asked, “Why did you join law enforcement?”

“Every little boy wants to save the damsel in distress and be a hero when he’s growing up. I guess I just never outgrew that,” Anders said lightly.

She wasn’t amused as intended; instead, Valerie frowned. “Is that how you see me? As a damsel in distress?”

The question surprised a bark of laughter from Anders and he shook his head. “Hardly. I see you as incredibly brave and strong. You rescued yourself from that house. You didn’t need a hero. You are one.”

Valerie lowered her head as he spoke, and didn’t look back up. It made him frown and ask, “Should I not have brought it up? Does it upset you to talk about it?”

She was silent for a moment, and then raised and shook her head. Her cheeks were a bit pink and he realized she’d ducked her head to hide a blush.

“No. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t.” She glanced to the side, checking on her dog, he realized when he followed her gaze and noted Roxy was sleeping by the chair with Valerie’s towel on it. He supposed the dog had been roaming the yard when he’d come out, but he hadn’t noted her absence then. He’d been too eager to get to Valerie.

“I’m not sure why it doesn’t bother me,” Valerie acknowledged wryly, drawing his attention back to her. “I guess maybe because I was drugged and slept through most of it. I mean, the kidnapping was pretty traumatizing, and the first night out too, but the last night . . .” She hesitated and then admitted, “It felt good to fight back.”

Anders nodded in understanding.

“Mind you, if I hadn’t managed to escape it would have been a different story,” she added wryly.

“You didn’t just escape, Valerie,” he said quietly. “You saved those other women too. Each of them owes you her life. You are a heroine.”

She looked uncomfortable and shifted in the water, and then asked, “Do you think Lucian’s right and the other women won’t agree to a meeting?”

Anders hesitated. He didn’t want to lie to his life mate, but didn’t know how not to. Lucian wouldn’t ask the other women to get together. He couldn’t. When he’d said the women had returned to their old lives and probably wanted to forget, he’d meant they had been returned to their old lives after they’d been made to forget. Their memories had been wiped. They wouldn’t recall anything of what had happened. Bringing them back together would probably undo all of that, but that was risky. They’d wiped them because more than one wasn’t as strong as Valerie and had been ready to crumble. Wiping their memories had been the kindest thing to do. Lucian wouldn’t reverse it unless it was absolutely necessary.

“You don’t think they’ll agree to meet either, do you?” Valerie asked when he remained silent, lost in thought.

Deciding distraction was the best tactic in this situation, Anders pulled her into his arms and kissed her. That was all he’d intended for it to be. A kiss, maybe two, to distract her from a question he couldn’t answer honestly.

He was an idiot, Anders acknowledged seconds later when, after an initial hesitation, Valerie opened her mouth to him. Any thought of stopping at one or two kisses flew out the window the moment she began to kiss him back. He was hardly aware of her arms twining around his neck, his senses were rocking under the impact of what their mouths were doing, and the feel of her body pressing against his in the water.

Groaning, Anders turned her and pressed her back up against the cold tiles of the pool, holding her there with his body as his hands began to roam down her sides.

Had he thought the water was cool when he’d entered? It seemed to be warm now, hot even, as if their bodies were heating it, Anders thought as his hands found her breasts through her swimsuit top and Valerie moaned into his mouth. A sound he echoed as her pleasure rolled through him as well. Eager for more, Anders tugged the cups of her bathing suit top aside and covered her breasts with his hands. The moment he did, Valerie broke their kiss on a gasp of excitement, her legs wrapping around his hips, and fingers scraping over his short hair as he squeezed and kneaded the soft globes. When he removed his hands to clasp her by the waist, she moaned in disappointment, then cried out as he lifted her out of the water enough to clamp his lips on one rosy nipple.

Anders groaned as her excitement shot through him, a punch to the gut. He suckled eagerly at one breast, then the other, then couldn’t stand it anymore and lowered her back down enough to claim her mouth again. Their kiss this time was almost violent, a battle of tongues as he ground his hips forward, rubbing his groin against her. She ground right back and this time he was hit with a double whammy of excitement and need as their pleasure commingled, vibrating through him in growing waves.

Clasping the cheeks of her behind in both hands, Anders squeezed and pressed her even tighter to him, then slipped one hand down to find her hot core. He’d nearly reached that sweet spot and his body was throbbing with the anticipation of it, when he heard his name barked in an unmistakable voice.

Anders froze, torn between groaning and cursing. Then, he slowly withdrew his hand and eased some space between himself and Valerie.

“Sorry,” he whispered when she moaned at the loss. Sighing with regret, he tugged her bathing suit top back into place and glanced past her toward the house. Lucian stood in the open French doors, face expressionless.

“Bring Valerie. The sketch artist is here,” he said simply. He didn’t shout. He didn’t have to. Anders heard him just fine.

Sighing, he nodded, then lowered his forehead to Valerie’s and briefly closed his eyes.

“What did he say?” she asked, her voice shaky.

“The sketch artist is here,” Anders answered solemnly.

“Oh,” Valerie breathed.

“We have to go in,” he added gently.

“Yes, of course,” she murmured, but didn’t move. It was Anders who gently unwrapped her legs from around his hips.

“Sorry,” Valerie muttered, seeming only then to become aware of where her legs had been. She removed her arms then too, grabbing for the side of the pool as if unsure her legs would take her weight, and Anders understood thoroughly. His own legs were a little shaky at that point. He was also sporting one hell of an erection.

“Let me just take one lap and I’ll see you out,” he said, backing away from her and hoping the distance and one lap would give his erection a chance to dissipate enough that it wouldn’t look like he had a tent pole in his swim trunks when he got out.

Nodding, Valerie turned away and pulled herself up and out of the water enough to rest her chin on her crossed arms on the pool rim. It was then that Anders spotted the bandage on her back and recalled her wound.

“I didn’t hurt you when I pressed you up against the side of the pool, did I?” he asked with concern.

“What?” She glanced over her shoulder with confusion, and then seemed to recall her back wound and shook her head. “No. It’s okay, I—oh crap!”

Anders started back with concern. “What is it?”

“I wasn’t supposed to get it wet,” she said with vexation, trying to twist around enough to see her wound. “I forgot all about that when Leigh suggested a swim today.”

“Apparently, so did she,” Anders said quietly, moving up beside her to pull himself out of the water. He stood and turned back, caught her under the arms and quickly lifted her out as well. Valerie’s eyes were wide when he set her on her feet and for a moment he thought it was the strength he’d revealed with the action, but then he realized her eyes were locked on his groin.

Glancing down, he viewed the pop-tent in his trunks and grimaced. Even he was impressed by the size of it. Christ, she’d inspired a small Eiffel tower down there. Sadly, she looked more worried than impressed.

Sighing, Anders moved past her to grab her towel, only then realizing he hadn’t thought to grab one. Shaking his head, he turned to open it for her, but she shook her own head.

“I think you need it more,” Valerie said, biting her lip as she continued to eye his erection.

Mouth tightening, Anders wrapped it around her shoulders and then physically turned her, pointing her toward the house. “Go. I’ll follow in a minute. I just want to swim a couple laps.”

Valerie hesitated, but started to walk when he gave her a gentle push. Anders watched until she reached the French doors with the faithful Roxy following, then turned and dove into the water. He suspected it was going to take more than a couple laps to rid himself of the hardness presently acting like a rudder in the water.

Chapter Nine

“His ears were a little bigger, and his eyes a little smaller,” Valerie said, leaning forward and watching Bryan, the sketch artist, do his thing.

“Better?” Bryan asked, turning the picture toward her after making the corrections.

Valerie peered silently at the image for several minutes, but then nodded her head. The sketch lacked the personality and terror-inducing life of the real man, but she suspected it was as close as they were going to get with a drawing.

The moment she nodded, Lucian leaned over and took the drawing from the sketch artist. He stared at it with a frown and then turned it toward Anders. “Do you recognize him?”

Valerie glanced to Anders, her eyes automatically dropping to his now dry swim trunks. He’d managed to rid himself of the telltale tent in his swimming trunks before coming inside, but it had taken him several minutes and she suspected a heck of a lot of laps to accomplish it. But the fact that it was no longer there didn’t eradicate the image from her memory. Dear God, the man was huge. Or at least he’d looked huge to her out there, but then it wasn’t as if she had a lot of people to compare him to; a boyfriend in high school and Larry were the extent of her experience.

God, she was lame, Valerie thought unhappily. Most women her age had more experience. Didn’t they? She had no idea. Certainly they did if you could believe Sex and the City and some of the other shows, past and present, on television. The female characters seemed to change men almost weekly on those shows.

“No,” Anders said finally and Valerie managed to drag her gaze and mind up to his face as he shook his head. “I don’t recognize him.”

“Hmm.” Lucian peered at the picture for another moment, then let the hand holding it drop. “Well, I’ll have Mortimer make copies and circulate it. I’ll have him fax it to Bastien in New York too. He can have it distributed there. Someone should recognize him.” His gaze moved to Bryan as he finished packing away his things. “If you’re ready I’ll take you back to the airport first.”

Bryan nodded and stood. “All set.” He turned to Valerie and held out a hand. “Ms. Moyer.”

“Thank you,” Valerie responded, shaking his hand. When he then turned to Leigh, she stood up, wincing at the pulling sensation in her back. It was the first bit of discomfort she’d felt since coming in from the pool, but then she’d been sitting in one spot and one position since coming in, her attention focused on the image growing on the sketch pad.

“I’m going to go change,” Valerie said to no one in particular as she slipped away from the distracted foursome and headed out of the room. The bathing suit had dried on her. It would be nice to put on clean clothes that didn’t smell of chlorine. But she also wanted to try to look at her back and see if the swim had done any damage to her wound. Valerie was hoping a fresh application of ointment and a clean bandage would set things right, but if not, it was better to take care of it than leave it any longer.

She had reached her room and just pushed the door closed behind her when someone knocked. Frowning, Valerie swung back and opened it, her eyes widening when Roxy slipped inside leaving Anders on the threshold with ointment and gauze in hand. She was less surprised at Anders’s presence than the fact that she’d forgotten all about her dog.

“I need to take a look at your back,” Anders said apologetically, drawing her attention back from the German shepherd, who had walked over to the bed and dropped to lie beside it.

Valerie hesitated briefly, but then nodded. It had to be taken care of. She knew what could happen to wounds that weren’t cared for properly and she’d be damned if she’d risk dying of an infected wound after surviving that hell house.

“The bathroom?” she asked as she turned away.

“Fine,” Anders said and she was aware of him on her heels as she crossed the room. When the German shepherd started to get up to follow, she put her hand out and shook her head. “Stay Roxy.”