Hot on Her Heels

“Plates are in the kitchen,” he said, walking to a buffet, opening a drawer and pulling out a corkscrew.

She walked into the big kitchen and hit the lights. There was counter space for twenty, double sinks, double ovens and a warming drawer.

“Your caterer must love working here. All you need are minions.”

“I have minions. It’s their night off.”

She turned away so he couldn’t see her smile, then opened cupboards until she found plates. The flatware was in the drawer below. After grabbing a couple of paper towels for napkins, she returned to the dining room.

He’d put the now-full wineglasses at one end of the table, across from each other. While she set out the plates, he put containers of Chinese food in front of them.

“It’s a historic occasion,” he said as they sat. “Did you want to say a few words?”

“None would be fit for polite society.”

He winked. “I’m not that polite.”

“True.”

He offered her what looked like kung pao chicken. “You’re serious about the leave of absence?”

She scooped the spicy chicken onto her plate. “Absolutely. My new job is you. I know that makes your heart all quivery.”

Instead of serving himself, he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and took a sip of wine.

“I wouldn’t describe any part of me as quivery, but I am curious as to your plan.”

“I told you. Watch, follow, catch you being bad.”

He gave her a slow, sexy smile. “There will be so many opportunities.”

“You think you’re all that, don’t you?”

“I know I am.”

The man had balls, Dana thought as she reached for the egg rolls. Really big ones. And an ego the size of the Titanic. Both of which could work in her favor. If he didn’t think she was a threat, he would be careless. And that’s when she would see the real Garth Duncan.

He served himself from the containers. The overhead lights flattered his dark good looks and his easygoing personality made him an appealing dinner companion. He must have women lining up five deep to get a shot at him and his fortune. Fortunately, she was immune. She could certainly appreciate what she saw, but she wasn’t interested. He wasn’t her type.

“You must be disappointed,” he said. “My interview with the Dallas Police Department didn’t include questionable practices. They were polite and didn’t once beat me with a pipe.”

“Another hope crushed. I’ll get over it. There’s always tomorrow.” She sipped her wine. It was a smooth red that would probably be described as saucy or impatient or something else equally stupid. She just thought it was good.

“Izzy and Skye came to see me today,” he said. “Izzy’s determined to save me from myself.”

“She has more heart than sense.”

“Not a fault you share?”

“I’m heartless,” she said cheerfully.

“Then we have that in common.”

“Lucky us. You might have snowed Izzy, but the rest of the sisters won’t be so easy.”

“I wasn’t trying to snow anyone. Izzy’s decided this on her own.” He leaned toward her. “How do you play into all this? If Izzy’s convinced I’m to be brought into the arms of the family, why are you so determined to throw me in jail?”

“I’ve always liked sports. Besides, Izzy hasn’t convinced me or Lexi that you’re interested in changing your plan. The theory is if you’re really who Izzy thinks, you’ll understand my need to protect my friends. If you’re not, you deserve what you get.”

“You’re not a big believer in gray area, are you?”

“No. I’m not. And neither are you.”

He raised his glass to her. “Be careful, Deputy Dana. If we have much more in common, we’ll have to be friends, and neither of us would be happy with that news.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll never like you.”

He smiled. “Is that a promise?”

“Sure.”

“Good. A challenge. And here I thought it was going to be a dull evening. My mistake.”

There was something in his eyes. Something predatory that made her want to squirm in her seat. She had to remember Garth was just a guy. He put his pants on one leg at a time.

“You expect to get away with things because of your position and your wealth,” she said. “That won’t work with me.”

“Are you saying you’ve never used the fact that you’re a deputy to get out of a ticket?”

“That’s different.”

“No, it’s not. Everyone likes to feel powerful and to feel that they have a certain amount of control in life. The need to be unique and recognized lives in all of us.”

She reached for her wine. “Don’t tell me you’re going to be insightful about the lives of ordinary people.”

“I’m ordinary.”

She rolled her eyes.

He shrugged. “I was. I’ve been there.”

“Remind your cell mate of that when you’re in prison.”

He smiled. “That’s not going to happen and you know it. I’ve done nothing wrong. Not legally.”

“If we exclude the explosion, you’re still guilty of plenty. You’ve started rumors to drive down stock prices, including telling some reporter that executives at Titan World were stealing.”

He passed her a shrimp-and-vegetable dish that smelled delicious.

“How do you know they weren’t?” he asked. “Your assumption is I’ve created the situation from thin air. What if it was there all the time?”

Something she didn’t want to think about. Jed might be a mean old bastard who didn’t give a rat about his daughters, but she’d never thought of him as a crook.

“You’re saying he did export illegal weapons to terrorists?”

“I’m saying you should check out the possibility before you assume anything.”

From everything she knew about Garth, he didn’t bluff. “If you had proof, you’d take it to the Feds.”

“Maybe I’m collecting data. I do my homework, Dana. You should do yours.”

She pushed away her plate. She was here to make things better for her friends, not worse. If Jed was involved with all that Garth had accused him of, there was going to be one big mess to clean up.

“Let’s change the subject,” he said, pouring her more wine. “How’s your father? Florida is a great place, this time of year.”

If she’d been swallowing, she would have choked.

How much did he know about her? And there were variations on the question—who had told him and why? How had he known to go digging? And was he just playing the odds or did he have actual information?

“I wouldn’t know,” she said coolly. “We don’t keep in touch.”

“I’m not surprised. You never confronted him. Some children do—go back as an adult. Face the devil, so to speak. You just wanted to put it all behind you.”

She didn’t know if he was asking or telling and she didn’t care. She could go the rest of her life without seeing her dad and be very happy. There had been too much one-on-one time when she’d been younger.

Her mother had died when Dana had been young—too young to remember her. Dana’s father hadn’t been all that interested in his baby daughter and a series of girlfriends had offered indifferent care. Later, when she’d been six or seven, she’d become a liability. The women who came and went didn’t like a “brat like her” hanging around. Annoyed with Dana for making trouble, her father had started hitting her.

Or maybe he’d just hit her because he liked it.

The beatings had dominated her young life. There were always bruises she had to hide, sprains she couldn’t explain. Maybe her teachers had known, maybe they’d simply looked the other way, but no one ever asked questions.

He’d left one day, without saying a word. She’d been sixteen and so grateful, she hadn’t told anyone. She’d practically moved in with Lexi and her sisters who might have suspected the truth but had never discussed it.

Eventually she heard the old man had settled in Florida. She’d gone to college and never looked back. But how had Garth known?

“You did something with the fear,” he said. “I respect that.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

They stared at each other. There was no judgment in his eyes, nothing to make her uncomfortable, save the fact that he’d obviously uncovered her deepest, darkest secret. Which meant she had to learn his.

She remembered the scars on his body, scars he’d gotten while a prisoner, blindfolded constantly and tortured on a daily basis. Maybe Garth didn’t have any secrets. Maybe he wore the truth on his body every day.

“I would recommend revenge,” he said, “but you’re not the type.”

“I believe in that old Chinese saying. The one that says before you begin a journey of revenge, first dig two graves.”

“Not a problem. I’m sure there’s a Titan mausoleum somewhere.”

Jed had created this enemy, Dana thought, almost able to feel sorry for the old man. He had earned whatever happened to him.

After getting Kathy, Garth’s mother, pregnant, he’d set her up with enough money to take care of her and her baby. It beat marrying her, at least from Jed’s perspective.

Everything had been fine until Kathy developed a brain tumor. Aggressive treatment and surgery burned through her insurance and Jed’s money. Fourteen-year-old Garth had been desperate to save his mother and had gone to Jed to beg for enough to cover a last-chance surgery. Jed had refused and had thrown his bastard son out on the street.

That fourteen-year-old boy had grown up into the man sitting across from her. A man determined to exact painful vengeance. Garth had finally found a doctor willing to do the surgery for free, but by then it had been too late. While Kathy had survived, she’d been left mentally challenged. A friendly, simple woman who adored Garth but in no way realized she was his mother.

“What happens if you win?” Dana asked. “What do you want? The company? Your name on the letterhead? Are you going to run Titan World?”

“No. I’ll break it up and sell it off. When I’m done, nothing Jed worked for will exist anymore.”

“It’s not about the glory?”

“I was never in it for that. I want Jed to pay for what he did, nothing more. You should respect that. It’s all black and white. You like absolutes. It’s why you’re a cop.”

A lucky guess on his part, she told herself. He didn’t really know her that well.

“You’re breaking the law to get what you want,” she told him. “That makes it gray. And going after the sisters is pretty sad. Come on. They’re girls.”

He laughed. “Would you let them hear you say that? They think of themselves as powerful women.”

“They’re powerful in ways you can’t understand, but what you’re doing is wrong.” She eyed him over her glass. “And you know it.”

“Now you’re reading minds?”

“You claim to know me. Why can’t it work both ways?”

“Because I’ve been studying you. Can you say the same?”

“You’re not that interesting.”

“Now you’re lying. You find me very interesting.”

Was it hot in here or was it her? Dana put her wine back on the table and grabbed her fork. Only she wasn’t that hungry anymore and the sensations in her stomach had little to do with the food she’d eaten.

She knew he was playing her. He was good at it and she wasn’t. She didn’t do the game thing. She was direct, maybe too direct. In her personal relationships she said what she wanted. If the guy didn’t want to hear it, he was gone.

But being with Garth was anything but straightforward. Like a perpetual game of cat and mouse.

“Are you in for the night?” she asked as she came to her feet.

He stood. “Yes.”

“Then I’m going. I’ll be on your tail tomorrow, annoying you. You’re heading to the office at the usual time?”

“Yes.”

His dark eyes seemed to see more than they should. Talk about unnerving.

She reached in her jeans pocket for her keys and turned to leave.

“Or you could stay.”

Four little words. Four syllables. Taken apart, they meant almost nothing, but together…

Or you could stay.

Was he asking what she thought he was asking?

Stupid question.

It was a joke, she told herself quickly. It had to be a joke. He wanted her to say yes, so he could laugh at her. He wanted her to consider for even a second that he wanted her. Because men like him were never interested in women like her. It was one of life’s rules and didn’t bother her a bit.

She turned back and met his dark gaze, then raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think so. But thanks for asking.”

Nothing about his expression changed. “If you’re sure.”

Sure that she didn’t want to have sex with him? Oh, yeah. She was beyond sure. She had very specific rules and one of them said she was always in control. He would never allow that and she would never accept anything else.

There was also the issue of not being sure if he’d tried to blow up Izzy and knowing he was doing his best to ruin his sisters, which she probably should have thought of first, damn him.

“I’m sure,” she said.

“Another time, then.”

“Again, I don’t think so.”

He gave her a slow, sexy smile. One that spoke of confidence. It was the smile of a man who knew women.

“I do.”

He was trying to rattle her. He wanted her to react, to question herself, to engage. That so wasn’t going to happen.

She walked to the front door and let herself out without saying anything. But all the way down the elevator, through the lobby and out to her truck, she had the feeling that he was still with her. Not in a scary, stalker kind of way, but almost as if the essence of him lingered.

“He’s just a guy,” she muttered as she started the engine. “Nothing special.”

The good news was there was no one else around to point out it was very possible that she was lying.

GARTH HAD ARRANGED THE meeting for ten. At thirty seconds before the hour, Agnes buzzed to let him know Dana had arrived. Garth stood, interested in seeing her again. If he didn’t know better, he would say she’d been disconcerted the night before. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on his part. Dana was a strong woman—she wouldn’t let herself be vulnerable for any man. Not an unexpected reaction, considering her past.

She walked into his office, her head held high, the set of her shoulders determined. She wore a plain blue shirt tucked into jeans, and boots.

“No uniform?” he asked by way of greeting.

“I wasn’t kidding about taking a leave of absence.”

She didn’t wear makeup or earrings or anything remotely feminine. There was a toughness about her. A wariness. He wondered if she knew her determination to never show a soft side only made him more aware that there was something she was trying to hide.

She was the kind of woman who gave as good as she got. Which made him think about her naked. Not just because he was intrigued by the concealed curves, but because she would expect to take charge. It would be a battle of wills…which was the kind of battle he most enjoyed.

“I hope the Titan sisters appreciate all you’re doing for them,” he said, leading her to the sofas by the corner of the large office.

“We look out for each other. That’s what friends do. Not that you would know anything about that.”

“Speaking of which…” He glanced at his watch. “Nick should be here soon.”

Something flashed in her brown eyes and was gone before he could read it. “Nick’s not coming. Izzy called me while I was driving over. Something came up.”

Garth knew nothing showed on his face. He was a master at keeping his thoughts to himself, so she couldn’t know he was disappointed. Nick had every reason to be pissed as hell at him, but Garth had hoped to lure his former friend to his office with news about Izzy. He’d thought they would have a chance to talk. Apparently Nick wasn’t ready to move on.

Garth knew he only had himself to blame. He’d crossed the line and betrayed a friend. He might regret what he’d done, but he couldn’t change what had happened.

“Then it’s just the two of us,” he said, motioning to one of the sofas.

Dana sat down. He settled next to her and reached for the folder on the glass coffee table.

“I’ve been investigating the explosion on the oil rig,” he said, passing Dana the latest report from his private investigator. “I don’t have proof yet, but I suspect that Jed is at the heart of this. The guy who set the explosion is Cuban—a known expert. Currently he’s working out of Mexico. My people are tracing the payments. He didn’t use a Swiss bank, so that’s in our favor. We should be able to get information on who paid, but it’s taking time.”

Dana stared at him. “Meaning you couldn’t hack into a Swiss bank, but you can get into a different one? Can you give me the name so I don’t put my money there?”

“We don’t hack in,” he told her. “We get information.”

“A subtle difference.”

“Life is nuance.”

“Thanks for the tip, but you’re not the Zen master and I’m not your little grasshopper.”

He stared at her, noting the flecks of gold in her irises. “Someone didn’t get her coffee this morning. Should I order some?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“Since when does coffee imply stupid?”

She glared at him. “You know what I mean.”

“I haven’t got a clue.”

The muscles in her jaw tensed. He’d annoyed her, which was fun on many levels.

“You take yourself too seriously,” he told her.

“You’re getting on my last nerve. I’m armed. Don’t mess with me.”

The thought of her with a gun didn’t bother him in the least.

“We could wrestle for it,” he suggested.

For a second he thought she was going to actually spit in rage. Instead she drew in a breath and picked up the folder.

“Is there anything else?” she asked, her voice tight with suppressed annoyance.

“Yes.” He tapped the second folder. “Some interesting information on Jed. A friend of his does work for the government. Mostly experimental military weapons. Some of the prototypes go missing for months at a time, then they reappear in inventory. Coincidentally, a few months after that, a dozen or so exactly like the prototype appear on the black market, usually in the Middle East. I haven’t connected all the dots, but so far everything leads to Jed.”

Dana’s bravado faded, as did her color. Her eyes widened. “That’s not possible. You’re saying he really is guilty of treason.”

“I’m saying there’s a possibility it’s real. When I have what I need, I’ll turn it over to the Feds.”

Dana still looked stunned. “I’ve known Jed all my life. I can’t believe this. I’ll accept he’s a bastard and treats his daughters like crap, but this is on a totally different level. It’s beyond wrong. Why would he sell out his country?”

Garth no longer cared about why Jed did anything. He simply wanted the old man ruined in every way possible. Having Jed make it easy almost took away from the sweet taste of victory, but it was a disappointment Garth would live with.

“I want to take this to Lexi,” Dana said.

“Those are your copies.”

She picked up the second folder, but didn’t open it. “You shouldn’t have gone after your sisters. They weren’t a part of any of this.”

“A Titan is a Titan,” he told her. It was how he’d started the game—believing they were all the same. Now he wasn’t so sure. Not that he would tell her that.

“You’re a Titan.”

“Only technically. Besides, they’ll be fine. They have you to protect them.”

She raised her chin, as if facing a challenge. “I’m more than ready to take you down.”

“So you keep telling me. Talk is cheap.”

Annoyance tightened her face and he knew she was searching for some scathing comeback. Or something heavy to throw at him.

Dana took her responsibilities very seriously. She would worry about her friends and do anything in her power to protect them. But who looked after her?

She would say she didn’t need protecting, that she was fine. But was it true? Or were there vulnerabilities she hid from the world?

“Is there anything else?” she asked.

“That’s all I have, unless you’d like to arm wrestle for dominance.”

She ignored that and stood. He rose and stepped beside her as she walked to the door. Instinctively, he put his hand on the small of her back, as if to guide her out of the office.

He hadn’t planned the touch. It was something a man did in the presence of a woman. A polite gesture, nothing more.

But as he felt the warmth of her skin through her shirt, it seemed like more. It seemed…intimate.

She glanced up at him, her brown eyes clouded with emotions he couldn’t read but could guess. Wariness. Maybe fear. Which made him want to tell her that everything was going to be all right. As if he could predict the outcome of any of this.

“I can make it to the door on my own,” she said, moving away. “But thanks for trying to help.”

“You’re prickly.”

“Part of my charm.”

Part of the way she protected herself.

He wanted to tell her that she could trust him—that he wasn’t her enemy. But that wasn’t true. He was exactly who she should be wary of—he was her worst nightmare. A man willing to do anything to win.

“Until tonight,” he said.

“It’s not a date. I’m there to watch you. My ultimate goal is to see you in jail for the rest of your life.”

He tapped the folders she held. “Maybe it was, but it’s not anymore. I’m not the bad guy and you know it. But you’re welcome to watch anytime you want.”

Her jaw clenched and then she was gone. Garth smiled as he returned to his desk. Dana made things interesting and he liked that in a woman.

DANA PACED IN LEXI’S office. The fountain and the spa music in the background were supposed to be soothing. Instead it made her want to climb the walls. Or shoot something.

After she was done here, she would go work out for a couple of hours. Maybe take out her frustrations on a punching bag.

Lexi glanced up from the folders. Her normally pale skin had gone white, her eyes were wide.

“Did you read this?” she asked.

Dana nodded. “Scary stuff.”

“I can’t believe it, but even as I say that, there’s a part of me that isn’t surprised. Jed’s ruthless. He’s always been that way. He pretties it up when he has to, but it’s there. Still, he could have killed his own daughter. Did he even care that Izzy was on the oil rig? What about the other lives? But hey, winning is all that matters, right?” Her voice rose as she spoke, her tone got more shrill.

Dana moved to the desk and looked at her. “Deep breaths. Baby on board and all that. Try to stay calm.”

Lexi nodded and exhaled slowly. “I know. I’ll be okay. I’m just in shock. Jed doing all this. Treason.” She sighed. “I need to think about this. We need a plan. The next step. I’m going to need a little time.”

Dana settled across from her desk. “Take all the time you need. You have a lot going on.”

Lexi leaned back in her chair. “I’m having a baby. Women do it every day.”

“I don’t care about them, I care about you. You’re my friend.”

“Thank you. I’m doing okay. This is a stunner, but I’ll get through it. We’re working together and that makes me feel better.”

Dana eyed Lexi’s growing belly. “Just remember what’s important. We can go after Jed anytime.”

“We’re not stopping because I’m pregnant. I’m taking excellent care of myself and Cruz practically hovers.”

“Skye mentioned something about a baby shower.” Dana managed to get the sentence out without shuddering. She wasn’t really a baby-wedding shower kind of person. What was up with the strange games? And why did the food have to be cute?

Lexi grinned. “You’ll be there, honey, if we have to drag you. Don’t think you’re getting out of it.”

“Oh, joy.”

“It could be worse.”

“How?”

“There could be balloon animals.”

“I happen to like balloon animals.”

Lexi laughed. “It won’t be too horrible, I promise. No color-coordinated mints.”

“Is Skye planning the shower?” Skye might run a nonprofit foundation but she was also an expert party planner. Her system of organization rivaled any battle plan the Pentagon put out.