up with him. ‘Well,’ he said, clapping his hands, ‘we’ll see you all in the morning!’ With that, he scooped the surprised – but excited – Nina up in his arms and carried her from the room.
Mac, amused, held up his glass to the pair as the door swung shut behind them. ‘Here’s to young love.’
Eddie tossed Nina on to their suite’s big bed, making her whoop and giggle. ‘All right, love,’ he said, a grin splitting his face. ‘Get your kit off.’
Nina started to pull off her clothes as Eddie jumped on to the bed beside her, unfastening his belt . . . until he saw her bare arm. The red lump of the scorpion’s sting was still clearly visible. From its size, he immediately knew it was more than a mere insect bite. He frowned. ‘What the hell’s that?’
‘It’s, uh . . . nothing. Don’t worry about it,’ she replied – partly because she didn’t want events redirected from where they had been heading, but mostly because she knew how Eddie would respond.
He wasn’t having it, however. ‘My arse, nothing.’ He examined it more closely. ‘That looks like a scorpion sting! Where the fuck did you get that?’
Nina sat up, half clothed. ‘The Clubhouse,’ she admitted.
‘How did you get a scorpion sting at the Clubhouse?’
‘They . . . ’ She still didn’t want to reveal the truth, now because of her unwillingness to replay what had happened in her mind. But Eddie’s increasingly outraged expression made it clear that he would guess for himself soon enough. ‘They used one to torture me, to find out about the statues and El Dorado.’
‘They tortured you?’ Eddie rolled from the bed and paced across the room, furious, before whirling to face her. ‘Who fucking tortured you?’
Her answer, when it came, was in a very small voice. ‘Stikes.’
‘Stikes? Fucking—’ He was so apoplectic that for a moment he couldn’t speak. Then his voice went unsettlingly cold. ‘Wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, I’m going to find him. And I’m going to kill him. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and put a bullet in his face.’
She knew that he meant it. ‘Eddie, Eddie, it’s okay.’ She got off the bed and went to him. ‘I’m all right.’
‘It’s not okay. That fucker.’ He almost spat the word. ‘He’s going to get what he deserves.’
‘Aren’t you the one who once said that revenge isn’t professional?’
‘Depends what it’s for. And he’s done plenty. Time it stopped.’
‘That’d just make you a vigilante. No better than Jerry Rosenthal back in New York.’
He shrugged. ‘Nothing wrong with that. He’s a sound bloke.’
‘Who’s going to be found guilty of murder.’
‘What, for doing the right thing? Dealing with some rapist scumbag who got off on a technicality?’
‘I don’t—’ Nina forced herself to calm down, lowering her voice and putting her arms round her husband. ‘Eddie, I don’t want to argue. Not now, not after everything that’s happened. I’ve had enough fighting. I want . . . ’ She looked into his eyes. ‘I want you.’ She kissed him. ‘Please.’
His face softened, a bit. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
‘Yeah. I’m fine, and I just . . . I just want to think about something else tonight.’ A twitch at the corner of her mouth quickly broadened into a sly grin. ‘I want you to take my mind off everything except one thing.’
Eddie’s anger faded, replaced by a lecherous smirk. ‘I think I can manage that.’ He turned Nina round and gave her backside a gentle slap to direct her back to the bed. ‘You were taking your top off, I think.’
‘Yeah?’ She peered back at him coquettishly over her shoulder as she undressed. ‘And so were you.’
‘So I was.’ He removed his T-shirt, revealing the bandages and bruises on his body. ‘Ow! Bloody hell,’ he muttered at a twinge of pain.
‘You okay?’
‘Yeah, it only hurts when I breathe. Although . . . ’ He regarded the bed. ‘I think I might want to stay on the bottom.’
‘Lie down, then,’ said Nina. She grinned again. ‘I’ll do all the work this time. You deserve to relax.’
Eddie laughed as he took off the rest of his clothes, then climbed on to the mattress beside her and shuffled round to lie on his back. He stretched, nestling his head into the plump pillows. ‘Oh, God. This is a really bloody comfy bed.’
‘Hey!’ Nina protested. ‘Don’t you dare fall asleep.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Eddie with a huge smile. ‘That won’t happen until after we’re done.’