1
Anne Stuart/MARRIED TO IT
On an early spring day in the south of England, Takashi O’Brien was about to make a very big mistake, and he wasn’t listening to a word his cousin said.
Reno looked out on the idyllic afternoon, the perfect English garden, the daffodils a riot of cheerful yellow. He pushed his sunglasses up to his forehead and glowered at the assembled wedding guests. For once in his life Taka was too busy to give him any shit, and Reno could watch the proceedings with glum acceptance. He’d tried, he’d truly tried to convince Taka that marrying Summer Hawthorne was a disaster. Su-chan wasn’t bad as far as gaijin women went, but the Shinoda family had had very bad luck with Japanese-American marriages. Taka was flying in the face of history and family honor, and on top of that, Taka’s grandfather would probably kill them both.
Which was one bright spot, Reno thought. Anything that annoyed his great uncle was fine with Reno. He pushed away from the window seat and headed out into the garden. The heels of his pointy-toed cowboy boots sank into the damp earth, getting mud on the tooled surface. He looked down with a mutter of disgust. At least it hadn’t been horseshit.
He glanced back at the cottage. Peter and Genevieve Madsen’s sprawling country cottage was crammed with people, and they were all arguing about how to do the impossible. Arrange a marriage between foreigners in record time, circumventing all the tight-assed laws put in place to keep just that from happening. For a moment Reno could actually think fondly of the British and their stupid little rules.
But Isobel Lambert knew how to get things done, and whether Reno liked it or not a wedding was going to take place in the next few hours, and he was going to have to stand by and do nothing to stop it.
It had been raining, and water sparkled on every surface, like shards of diamonds, Reno thought morosely. Like the sparkling diamond Taka had put on Su-chan’s finger. At least he could take comfort in the fact that he’d stolen it from his great-uncle’s house – anything that irritated the old man cheered him up. If he couldn’t stop the wedding then he needed it to be over so he could get back to Japan and his life there. He just …
“Hi.”
Crap. She was out there. Su-chan’s little sister, though she was taller than Taka’s fiancée, almost as tall as he was. Hell, maybe taller if they were both barefoot. The thought of being barefoot with Su-chan’s sister was distracting, and he glowered at her.
She was too young, too sweet-looking, a hell of a lot too innocent. He knew a virgin when he saw one, and one related to Taka, as she would be once the wedding took place, was definitely off limits.
“I’m Jilly,” she said, coming closer, holding out her hand.
He resisted the impulse to snarl. The last thing he wanted to do was touch her. He gave her a brusque little nod, just a slight bob of his head, and turned to look over the greening countryside, hoping she’d leave.
She didn’t. Stubborn, like her sister. “You speak English, don’t you? I thought I heard you …”
“I speak English. When I have to.”
“Well, since I don’t speak Japanese I’m afraid you have to,” she said, just a touch of humor in her voice.
He stared at her. He knew just how fearsome he could be – the tattooed blood drops on his cheekbones, the glittering feral eyes, thanks to custom contact lenses. He’d perfected his bad boy sneer, and his leathers completed the look.
She didn’t look properly afraid. In fact, she looked like nothing but trouble, and the sooner he got out of there the better. Because she was just the kind of trouble he liked best. He started to move toward her when the door to the cottage opened.
“Reno! Get the hell away from her.” Taka was speaking in Japanese, and Reno turned his head, giving his cousin a lazy grin.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her, cousin,” he replied in the same language. “I think she wanted to see if I was as scary up close.”
“Jilly doesn’t scare easily,” Taka snapped. “But if you have any brains you’ll keep the hell away from her, or I’ll be sending you back to Tokyo in pieces.”
Reno shrugged, taking another step toward Jilly, when Taka caught his arm and hauled him back into the kitchen. He flashed a grin at Jilly as he departed, knowing he was safe. He could flirt from a distance – Taka wouldn’t allow him any closer than he could help it. Taka knew his reputation with women, and he wouldn’t let Reno get anywhere near the little innocent.
Not so little. But definitely innocent, and virgins were boring, he reminded himself. He waited until Taka shut the door, closing them both in the deserted kitchen. “What was that all about?” he asked. “Shouldn’t you be with your girlfriend?”
“We’ve got trouble,” Taka said grimly.
“Su-chan come to her senses?” he inquired.
Taka glowered at him. “You don’t have to stay for the wedding, you know. You’re free to head straight back to Tokyo. I don’t know why you insisted on coming with me in the first place.”
“I thought she’d tell you go to hell and you’d need someone to get drunk with.” In fact, that was a lie. He’d known perfectly well that Summer Hawthorne was in love with his cousin, and nothing would keep them apart.
“We’re getting married. In two hours.”
Reno just looked at him, tossing his hair over his shoulder. “That soon? That doesn’t give me much time to stop it. Tell me what the trouble is and maybe I can use that to keep you from making the worst mistake of your life.”
Taka ignored him. “It seems like someone’s trying to take out members of the Committee, and with the three of us together we make a perfect target. Someone sabotaged Madame Lambert’s car, someone took a shot at Peter. Don’t say anything to Genny or Su-chan – we don’t want them nervous, but Madame Lambert thinks they’re going to try again. The sooner we get married and get out of this country the better.”
“Why get married here? Why not take Su-chan back to Tokyo and give her a chance to change her mind?”
“You know why. Grandfather’s still got enough power to stop things. If I bring my wife back into the country there won’t be anything he can do about it.” Taka glanced out the kitchen window toward the garden. “And you’re coming back with us.”
“I’m ready any time you are,” Reno grumbled.
“First, I have to get married. Second, I have to keep you the hell away from my sister-in-law. She’s off-limits.”
Reno’s slow smile should have warned Taka. They’d known each other all their lives – if Taka had half a brain left he would have known that a warning like that would simply convince Reno to do the exact opposite. He followed Taka’s gaze out into the garden. Maybe it was time to try a virgin.
“Forget about it,” Taka said, reading his mind. “You don’t have time, even if you want to risk me strangling you. Genny is organizing rides to the church for everyone and she told me to find you.”
“Church?” Reno echoed in horror. “Why can’t you get married here?”
“Against the law in England. It either has to be in a church or at a registrar’s office, and members of the Committee keep clear of bureaucracy whenever possible.”
“That’s the problem with belonging to an organization of super-spies,” Reno said. “The local cops tend to get touchy.”
“I don’t give a shit about the local cops. I just want to marry Summer and get the hell out of here. And you’re coming too.”
“On your honeymoon? I didn’t think you were into threesomes anymore …”
He ducked as Taka swung at him, slipping out of the way. Just as Jilly walked in the door, and Reno collided with her.
With an armful of warm, sweet, female, who clung to him for a moment. He liked the feeling, a little too much, and he broke away, a little too fast. “So what are we doing now?”
Taka gave Jilly a fond smile. Wait till you see him in action, Reno thought grimly. Then you wouldn’t think your new brother-in-law was so sweet.
“Genny says it’s time to go. We’re supposed to head for the church now.”
“We’ll be along in a moment,” Taka said, giving Reno the kind of look that had always meant an attempted pummeling. The two of them were evenly matched, and for some reason Reno was in the mood for a little mayhem.
“I think I’ll just go on ahead and see if Su-chan’s sister has her sister’s taste in men,” he said in Japanese. He gave Jilly his most charming smile, so charming that she blinked, and then sauntered over to her, threading his arm through hers. “Let’s go to a wedding,” he said in English.
Okay, so he was freaking gorgeous, Jilly Lovitz thought. He was like something straight out of a futuristic video game, with flame red hair down to his gorgeous ass, high cheekbones and wicked, bright eyes of such a vibrant green color that they couldn’t be real. The drops of blood tattooed on those cheekbones looked like tears, and his lithe, sexy, swaggering body in the black leather was the hottest thing she’d ever seen. She’d taken one look at him in Genny’s garden and almost tripped .
He was also most definitely not boyfriend material. Particularly first boyfriend. Summer had already warned her to keep her distance, and she could see why. Reno was walking sex, a Samurai Yakuza punkster, and no match for a teenage brainiac who was old beyond her years.
But he had the most beautiful mouth when it wasn’t twisted into a mocking smile. She’d probably dream about that mouth. But that was all right. Dreams were safe.
“You and Summer will go with Reno,” Genny announced, in full lawyer mode. “Isobel and Taka will go together, Peter and I will go first. Come on, people, let’s go!” She made shooing motions with her hands, and Jilly had to grin. Genny was a born organizer, and for the last few years she’d had no one to organize but Peter.
Jilly looked at Reno, expecting some kind of protest, but his expression was unreadable, his sunglasses firmly in place.
“Where’s Summer?” Jilly asked, as everyone dispersed toward the cars.
“Getting changed,” Genny said over her shoulder. “She’s borrowing my dress and she doesn’t want Taka to see her. She’ll be down in a minute.”
A few moments later the front yard was deserted, only Reno staying behind, leaning against the huge black car left behind. At ease, like a fox guarding a rabbit hole.
“I’m going to see if Summer needs some help.”
“I’m fine,” her sister said, coming down the stairs. “Just tell me I don’t look too ridiculous.”
Her sister was dressed in what looked like an antique wedding gown, all old lace and netting and tiny pearls. It was beautiful, it was also made to fit someone five inches taller and twenty pounds heavier. She was holding it up to keep from tripping on it, and beneath it she was wearing sneakers.
“You look gorgeous,” Jilly said with a grin.
“It’s Genny’s,” Summer said doubtfully. “She really wanted me to wear it. She said it was good luck.”
“I figured as much. And you look perfect.”
“You look like you’re wearing someone else’s clothes,” Reno said flatly, coming up behind her.
Without thinking Jilly kicked back, trying to silence him. She connected, then realized she was wearing Doc Martens. She heard a muffled curse behind her, and she flinched. Maybe not a good idea to poke the sleeping tiger.
“Something borrowed, something blue,” Summer said, only a thread of nervousness in her voice. “Are we going in the old Bentley?”
“It’s the only car left,” Reno said, moving out of her range. “You sure I can’t talk you out of this?”
Summer just gave him a look, and he shrugged. “Let’s go then.”
Even after two months in England Jilly automatically went towards the right side of the car, but Reno caught her arm, steering her away. “I’m driving,” he said. “You and your sister can get in the back.”
“Jilly can sit in the front,” Summer said, lifting her heavy skirts carefully and sliding into the huge back seat. “This dress is too delicate to be near her Doc Martens.”
“Hey …” Jilly protested, but Summer closed the door behind her, leaving her no choice. At least the vintage Bentley was huge – even side by side on the front seat there was no sense of intimacy.
“Put your seat belt on, Jilly,” Summer said from the back seat, fastening her own around the delicate lace dress.
“Of course, but why ….” The Bentley took off with a well-bred roar, and a moment later they were tearing down the narrow country lanes, branches batting at both sides of the car. Jilly closed her eyes, clutched the soft leather of the seat, and tried to distract herself from the sheer terror of Reno’s driving.
Unfortunately the only thing she could think of was Reno’s mouth, wondering what it would taste like.
Not in this lifetime, Jilly. The car accelerated, and she opened her eyes long enough to see the broader main road up ahead. Thank god, she thought. It can’t be too much further.
Except he wasn’t slowing down. Traffic was coming in either direction, a steady stream, and Reno was speeding up.
“Slow down!” Jilly cried, but the powerful engine of the Bentley only shifted lower.
“He knows what he’s doing, Jilly,” her sister said from the back seat, her voice tight with tension.
“He’s going to kill us both …”
“The people behind us are going to kill all three of us if he doesn’t get away from them.”
“What?” She jerked around, to see the huge gray car moving up on them, the smoked windows obscuring whoever was in the car. But there was no mistaking the driver’s intention – he managed to move up quickly enough to tap the rear bumper of the Bentley.
“Ha!” Summer said. “This car is like a tank – no modern P.O.S. is going to stand a chance against it.”
Another tap, and Reno gunned the motor. In a few seconds they’d reach the busy highway, and no matter how tank-like the Bentley was, they weren’t going to survive getting smashed by both sides.
“Hold on,” Reno said. “And stay down.”
Jilly let out a little squeak, sliding down in the seat and clutching the leather. She didn’t want to see certain death bearing down on them, so she closed her eyes, trying to remember any of the prayers she’d learned. All she could think was “oh, fuck!” which probably wasn’t going to save her life or get her into heaven, and her eyes flashed open, just as he hit the highway.
And passed on to the other side, barely missing the traffic.
The car tailing them wasn’t so lucky. She could hear the endless smashing of metal on metal, the horns honking, the scream of tires. She kept her face straight forward as Reno sped down another narrow road, waiting till she could speak in something less than a terrified shriek. “Who the hell was that?”
Reno shrugged, totally at ease with the disaster he’d just caused. “Someone’s trying to close down the Committee. Madame Lambert thinks it’s a group of Italian terrorists, still holding a grudge over something. They’ve been trying to take out Committee operatives for the past few days.”
“But there aren’t any operatives in this car,” Summer said, her voice faint.
“No, but their women are.”
“I’m not anybody’s woman,” Jilly said, disgruntled. “At least you managed to stop them. You can slow down now.”
Reno said nothing, only pressing down harder on the accelerator. They were on one of those narrow little roads with the hedgerows higher than the car. If someone came around the corner there’d be no place to move out of the way. She looked at his face – his sunglasses were covering his extraordinary eyes, his mouth was set, his hands on the steering wheel …
Christ, he had beautiful hands. Everything about him was beautiful, except his attitude, which was bad enough to keep her safe from him. “Okay, keep speeding and kill us all,” she said, getting attitude herself. “Just wake me when we get there.”
He ignored her, taking a sharp right onto an even more narrow road. She heard her sister’s voice from the back. “You know where you’re going, Reno?”
“Yes.”