Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(109)

He didn’t mind them looking. He understood it. Charlie’s sex appeal came from far more than her curvy body. There wasn’t any self-consciousness in her movements. She’d accepted herself a long time before. He’d gotten to be the one to usher her into that beautiful state. When he’d first met her, she was gorgeous but shut down. Like a tightly budded flower that just needed a little light to bloom.

She glowed now. She glowed because she loved him.

Something calm had settled in his soul. Some piece of him that had always banged around in his head had finally stopped, finding its natural place because she was here.

“Ian, you need to stop her,” Damon said, his voice tense now. “She’s going to ruin the plan.”

Ian stood up. He was dressed somewhat like his brother. It was comfortable and he had no real intention of swimming this afternoon, so he’d gone along with it. “Plan’s changed, my friends.”

He and Sean made their way across the sand. Following in Charlie’s wake, no one really took notice of them.

“I think that dude is drooling,” Sean pointed out. “You were totally right. They don’t even check the women. What is he thinking?”

“He’s thinking he wants to get laid.” He’d made a quick study of Kamdar. He was known for inviting beautiful women onto his boat. He would find one, likely from watching the shoreline like a Peeping Tom pervert, and then send his men out to bring her to him. But men getting on the boat would likely go through rigorous checks.

The king’s errand boy was, in fact, drooling. He had gotten out of the boat to push it back toward the water, but he’d stopped the minute he’d gotten sight of Charlie.

“So you’re coming from that big yacht out there? Wow, that’s really impressive.” Charlie sounded so sweet and slightly dumb as she pointed out to the mega yacht. So very different from the way she sounded when she was giving him hell. Oddly, he thought she was way sexier when she was mouthing off.

“Yes,” the man replied, his chest puffing out. “This is the boat of my king. It is one of the largest yachts in the world. It is almost one hundred meters in length and has everything you could want. So much luxury. King Kashmir is the greatest king in the world.”

Charlie laughed, a giggly sound. She would make such a naughty schoolgirl. Just put a little skirt on her, put that hair up in pigtails, and he could go to town. “He must be really rich.”

“So very rich. I am very close to the king. Perhaps you would enjoy seeing the boat, meeting him? I could arrange this.”

Yeah, Ian could just bet what that would cost Charlie. The man had stepped up to her, almost touching her. Luckily her husband was here to back her sweet ass up.

He put his arm around his girl as his brother eased behind the man, shoving his SIG in the f*cker’s back.

The driver’s eyes widened, but he didn’t scream. “I view the girl as I would a sister. I was only trying to make sure she was safe. So many bad elements around here, you know.”

Yeah, Ian wasn’t buying that, but he was impressed with the man’s calm demeanor. It looked like the king trained his employees properly. “Look, buddy, here’s what’s going to go down. You’re going to float us out to your king, and we’re going to have a nice long talk with him about the fact that his freaking intelligence department is full of idiots.”

The man shook his head. “I do not know what you are talking about, sir. I work for a Hollywood star. Very big star. Sleeps with many women. Likely has many diseases. You do not want to go there. Very bad. That boat is a floating venereal disease.”

Ian nearly rolled his eyes. “Look, I know that’s not George Clooney out there, so let’s drop the BS. That’s the king of Loa Mali and there are CIA operatives and MI6 agents watching him from the fort. If he wants to find out why, you’ll have to take us all there. I like to tell heads of state how f*cked they are in person.”

“You’re a bloody bastard, Taggart.” Damon Knight was not impressed with his maneuver, that was for sure. His voice had turned rough and angry in Ian’s ear. “If you f*ck this up, our deal’s off. Do you understand me?”

Ian pulled his earpiece out. He didn’t need to hear from the peanut gallery. He shoved it into his pocket though he really wanted to toss it away. He might need the damn thing later. “Yep, they’re pissed as shit at me right now, but I think your king and I can come to some solution without having to involve those busybodies.”

Sean winced a little. He couldn’t pull his earphone out yet. It looked like he was getting the brunt of their frustration. “They’re on their way, brother. Or at least they’re going to try to get down here before we can leave.”

“See, if we don’t head out now, your poor king’s party is going to be swarming with nosy *s. Does he really want that? We’re kind of the good guys here.” He nodded to Sean who shoved the SIG back in his pocket and let the guy go. “See, that was just to get your attention. Let your boss know that we’ll surrender our weapons when we get to the boat. We just want to talk. He’s in danger from several fronts. If he talks to us, it can be a quiet chat. If he waits for them, well, the government gets involved and that can be a shit storm.”

There was a crackle as the radio in the boat came to life. “Bring them, Taral. You might want to hurry. I am watching the fort and they are certainly right about the level of activity up there. And, Taral, don’t leave the woman behind. I am so looking forward to meeting her.”