Backstreet Hero

“All right. But if something in your area comes up—”

“I understand,” Tony said, barely aware of interrupting the legendary head of Redstone Security, something few dared to do. Or had the chance to do; as he’d said, Draven wasn’t known for talking a lot.

The size of the relief that flooded Tony at actually getting the assignment set off alarms clanging in the back of his head, but he was too thankful to pay them much heed.

A few minutes later he was back outside the airport hangar that served as operations for Redstone Security. They had always been housed off-site, keeping a low profile away from headquarters for the most part, a strategy that paid off on those rare occasions when a Redstone operative needed to go unrecognized. Plus, the airport location made quick response times easier, when some far-flung part of the Redstone empire needed their attention.

So you’ve got the job, he thought as he got into his car. Now what?

He had no answer. He told himself he should simply proceed as if this were any other job. Redstone Security had a reputation for efficiency, speed and success; all he had to do was live up to that. All he had to do was keep Lilith Mercer safe. No problem.

Never mind that he’d just volunteered to walk into a personal minefield.

He was so going to regret this. But he had to do it. He couldn’t let anyone else take the job. Not this job. Because nobody else had a bigger stake in this than he did. Nobody else in Redstone Security was in his unique position.

Hell, nobody else would believe he was in this position.

Nobody would ever believe that onetime L.A. gang member, repeat juvenile offender, street-tough, tattooed Tony Alvera had been half in love with the elegant, classy, refined, beautiful and near-perfect Lilith Mercer since the first time he’d laid eyes on her.

No, no problem at all.

Chapter 3

Lilith felt absurd, but it was clear to her that Josh wasn’t going to back down. And when Josh Redstone was set on something, it would take more than a mere protest to shift him. Besides, with what she owed him, she would tolerate a lot worse than having someone from security hanging around to placate his fears, however unfounded they might be.

Might, she thought, being the operative word.

Because once she’d read the thoughts in Josh’s steady gray eyes, she’d realized she couldn’t say with one hundred percent certainty that there was no one who would want to hurt her.

“Are you angry with me?”

The quiet question from her office doorway interrupted Lilith’s unsettling thoughts. She looked up, into Liana Kiley’s troubled blue eyes.

“No,” she said to the young woman who had rapidly become indispensable to her in the task of finding and assessing the damage done by Stan Chilton, and had in the process become a friend as well. “I’m not angry. It’s all right, Liana.”

“I couldn’t help worrying, and Logan agreed. I know the people who did this—” the redhead made a general gesture toward the research lab “—are in jail, but still…”

Lilith masked her start of surprise. That possibility hadn’t occurred to her. She’d assumed, as had Josh, that if there was indeed some nefarious plot to harm her, only one person could be behind it. Of course, Liana didn’t know about that person. No one did, except Josh, and at his request, security chief John Draven.

If she had to accept that something was really happening, she wished she could believe it was something as sanitary as fallout from the industrial spying case. That would be preferable to the alternative. But the alternative, unhappily, made a lot more sense.

“Thank you for being worried,” Lilith said. “Although I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“Logan thought it was better to be sure. You’re not upset that he said something to Josh?”

“I wish he would have talked to me first, I could have eased his mind—and yours—but I try not to get angry with people who care enough to worry about me.”

Liana smiled in obvious relief. “What’s Josh going to do?”

“Pester me, no doubt,” Lilith said, with fond annoyance. “Or rather, some unlucky person from security who no doubt has much more important things to do than find a plot where there is none will get that job.”

“A bodyguard?”

Lilith laughed. “Oh, please. That’s the last thing I need.”

“They do that, though, don’t they? Security, I mean? Because Logan would be happy to—”

She stopped when Lilith held up a hand. “I do not need a bodyguard.”

A sudden image flashed through her mind, of the aftermath of the last time a Redstone Security agent had taken on bodyguard duties. In her mind she saw Ian Gamble, dressed in a sleek tuxedo that erased any memory of his usual, casually untidy self, just as his intense expression as he waited for his beautiful bride had erased the memory of his usual, endearingly distracted self.

Ian Gamble, genius inventor, who had fallen in love and married Samantha Beckett, top-notch Redstone Security agent.

His bodyguard.

Yet another in the ongoing string of Redstone weddings.

She shook off the image briskly. “I’m sure he’ll simply have someone look into both incidents, discover they were indeed unfortunate accidents and we will all go on about our business. Which is,” she added, “what I intend to do now.”

“Not just yet.”

The deep voice from the doorway spun Liana around and made Lilith’s nerves jump. Liana greeted the man standing there with a happy exclamation. “Tony! When did you get back?”

Lilith just tried to remember how to breathe.

“Hello, my lovely Liana. This morning,” Tony said.

“Have you seen Logan?”

“Your knight in shining armor with the luck of a thousand men to end up with you? No, but I spoke to him, also this morning.”

Liana laughed. “You’re incorrigible. But that’s what I love about you.”

Lilith smiled to herself a little wistfully; the teasing repartee was so carefree. Tony Alvera was an incurable flirt, and Liana obviously knew it. Although even if he had been serious, it wouldn’t have made any difference; the girl was head over heels in love with her ex-cop.

Lilith wondered if Tony Alvera was ever serious when it came to women. She was reasonably sure, from what she’d observed during his work on Logan’s case, that he would never poach on another man’s territory. Or perhaps that only applied to men he respected, as she knew he did Logan Beck. In any case, Liana was as safe from his predatory charms as if she’d been his sister. That, Lilith was certain of.

“But alas,” Tony was saying with mock drama, “as always, I am too late to win the fair lady.”

Lilith at last found her voice, and her poise.

“Children, children,” she said in mock severity, “take the bantering outside, please. I have work to do.”

Liana laughed, patted Tony’s arm in a way that put her previous words clearly into that sisterly category and went back to her own office.

Tony Alvera didn’t move. And at Lilith’s teasing words or tone, something had flickered in his eyes that had caught her attention. Something that reminded her that for all his easy, practiced charm, this was a dangerous man.

Something you shouldn’t forget, she told herself, although she wasn’t sure why it seemed so important at this moment; since they were both Redstone, he would never be dangerous to her.

For a long moment he stood there, just looking at her. He wasn’t a huge man, just under six feet she guessed, but he somehow managed to fill the room anyway. It must be the combination of obvious strength, the striking looks, dark eyes coupled with golden skin and the rather rakish patch of beard below the middle of his lower lip, and the edginess he radiated at almost every moment.

The evidence that the edginess was for real was clear in the barely noticeable patches of slightly lighter skin on his neck and hands, where she knew gang tattoos had once been.

When she’d first met him, when he’d been assigned to help Liana and Logan, she’d found him disconcerting, to say the least. When she’d learned his story, from Josh himself, she’d found him admirable.

Right now, standing solidly in her office staring at her a little too intently—and for some reason apparently not willing to leave as Liana had—he was nothing less than unsettling.

And suddenly the obvious answer hit her.

“Not you,” she said, nearly groaning it.

His face changed. The transfixing look vanished, replaced by the practiced charm she’d seen him use so effectively before. Not the teasingly flirtatious manner he’d had with Liana; that had been oddly innocent and sincere. This was the demeanor he used to beguile people, mostly women, she was certain, into giving him what he wanted.

Whatever that might be.

That was something that hit a chord deep within her, and not in a good way.

“Sorry, Mrs. Mercer. Luck of the draw.”

She was hideously aware that she’d uttered her gut reaction aloud. And since she wasn’t even sure what had prompted that reaction, she didn’t know quite how to explain it to herself, let alone to the man she’d just unintentionally insulted.

But manners dictated she say something, so she opted for simplicity. And truth, which was never an optional choice for her, not anymore. “I’m sorry. I’m just not sold on this whole idea, and it seems absurd to pull you, of all people, in on such a silly little thing.”

And that was all true, she told herself. It just wasn’t all of the truth. There had been something much more deeply rooted in that involuntary response to his presence. It wasn’t that he wasn’t efficient and effective—he wouldn’t have lasted in Redstone Security if he wasn’t And she had admired how he’d handled Logan’s case, including how he’d dealt with the stubborn, reluctant ex-cop. But that contact had been intermittent. She couldn’t imagine having to deal with his intense presence all the time.

His expression changed again, but only slightly. After a moment he nodded, as if in acceptance of her explanation. But the original, riveting stare didn’t return, and somehow that unsettled her even more. Why, she didn’t know. She was usually unruffled and ever calm; it was the trait most commented on by anyone who knew her. But now—

“We need to talk about what’s happened. Who might want you hurt. I’ll try not to disrupt your life too much. But this is on Josh’s orders, and you know what that means.”

“I know it means anyone at Redstone would walk through fire if he asked, yes.”

“Even if he didn’t ask,” Tony said. “Because he wouldn’t.”

“He wouldn’t have to,” Lilith said, thinking of her own debt to the man who had built this empire.

“No,” Tony agreed.

This, at least, they had in common, she thought. They would both do anything for Josh Redstone. She knew why Tony would; his story was legend at Redstone, along with Draven’s and Ian’s and many others.

And it suddenly hit her that she was going to have to tell him her own story. And that made her feel faintly nauseated.

If only Samantha wasn’t pregnant. She could have told her, much more easily. She doubted the tough, beautiful blonde could have related—she doubted Samantha Gamble had ever been truly afraid in her life—but she would have understood.

The moment the thought formed she was appalled at herself; Samantha and Ian were delighted, if bemused, at their impending parenthood, and to wish that away, even for a split second, for her own benefit made Lilith ashamed of herself.

It was time to get a grip.

“Close the door, would you, please? The fewer people who know about this, the happier I’ll be.”

Tony complied without a word. Lilith walked back to her desk and sat down. Normally she would have taken the second chair in front of her desk, but she needed the bulwark.

Because she had just shut herself into a small room with the one person at Redstone who made her unbearably nervous.

It was going to be a very long morning.

Chapter 4

Just when did you become a masochist?

As he sat in the chair opposite her desk, relieved now that he’d seen for himself that she indeed seemed uninjured, he was very aware that she’d chosen to take her desk chair for the feeling of power or security it gave her, and the benefit of the desk between them. He also knew the answer to his own question. The moment he’d realized Josh was convinced Lilith could really be in some kind of danger, he’d had no choice. Even knowing he was going to regret it.

He already did.

The moment he’d walked in and seen her, all the truths he’d lived with since he’d first met her had risen up to swamp him anew. Lilith Mercer was everything he was not: elegant, refined, classy, cultured. He knew, thanks to the world Josh had opened to him, that he could put on the appearance of all those things. But he also knew that in him they were only skin deep. In Lilith, they went clear to the bone.

And he hadn’t missed her reaction when she’d seen him; she didn’t want him around. It puzzled him for a moment; they had gotten along well enough during his work on Logan’s case, when she had asked him to keep her posted for Liana’s sake.

But this was different, he supposed. This was her own situation, and because of that the contact would be much closer. He probably seemed like some kind of alien being to her, and he couldn’t blame her. He knew who and what he was, and all the polish he’d acquired since his days on the street couldn’t change that. His world and hers couldn’t be further apart.

That hadn’t stopped him from falling like a fool the moment he’d first seen her at the Redstone Christmas party, after Josh had called her in to clean up Stan Chilton’s mess. He knew the image of her in that striking red dress would be with him until he died. Somehow the red had startled him; she seemed so reserved, but someone—he couldn’t remember who, just as he couldn’t remember much of what had happened that night after he’d seen her—had told him it was her favorite color and she wore it often.

He could see why; today she had on the Redstone logo shirt in a more muted shade, and it still set off her hair like golden fire.

He stared at her, all the warnings he’d given himself on the way over lost in some kind of hot haze. If there was anything more absurd or impossible in his life than such a reaction to her, of all women, he couldn’t think of what it was. Not only was she all those things he wasn’t, but she was a Redstone department head and one of Josh’s oldest friends. That she was likely a bit older than he was didn’t bother him, but all the rest did. He owed his very life to Josh, and he would never forget that.

And if that doesn’t work, he told himself in an effort to clear the fog, just remember the last time you felt anything like this for a woman.

That memory—the image of a lovely, lifeless body lying on a cold metal table—managed what nothing else had. The last time he’d let himself truly feel something for a woman, it had gotten her murdered.

Back in control now, his rioting senses jammed back into the cage where they belonged, he repeated his promise. “I know this is a nuisance for you. I’ll try to keep out of your way.”

“I am sorry,” she said, and she sounded more genuine this time. “I didn’t mean to react that way. But this is a bit…below your talents.”

“Some of them,” he said, quashing the thought of other talents he’d like to exercise with her, shoving that cage door shut. “But I’m here, free at the moment, and we’re not…strangers.”

“No,” she agreed. “And you know I was very impressed with what you did on Logan’s case. I know he was…difficult, at that point in his life.”

Tony chuckled, feeling a bit easier now. And pleased with her praise, he admitted ruefully. “Difficult? Yes, like a croc with a toothache is difficult.”

When she laughed in turn, he felt an odd sense of gratification that his rather lame joke had done it. He shoved a little harder on that cage door.

“I just don’t think this is anything serious. I’m not sure it’s anything at all.”

“Then it should be quick,” he said smoothly, determined now to approach the job as if it were any other in-house assignment. “I’ll need to see where that wire was rigged. And talk to the kid your neighbor suspects. But for now, why don’t you tell me why Josh is convinced that you’re in continuing danger?”

She looked puzzled. “He didn’t tell you? Didn’t Draven?”

“I wanted you to tell me. One less filter to go through.”

She lifted one shoulder, somehow making even that half shrug seem elegant. “He has some idea my near-accident last week and what happened this morning are connected, I presume.” She met his gaze then. “He did tell you that much? What happened?”

Tony nodded. “He said you weren’t hurt. Is that true, or were you trying to keep him from worrying?”

“If I was, I obviously didn’t succeed,” she said, her dry tone making him smile in spite of himself.

“Josh is a hard sell when it comes to the welfare of his people.”

“How well I know,” she agreed, at last giving him that smile that could warm a room, the smile that encompassed everything, that drew him to her so impossibly; warmth, charm, grace and the generous spirit that had quickly made her one of the most loved Redstone people. That the smile wasn’t really for him, but rather for the absent Josh, didn’t lessen the impact.

“I’m fine,” she said in answer to his original question. “No serious damage except to my pride and my derriere.”

And a fine one it is.

The thought formed before he could stop it. Although she generally dressed fairly conservatively, her fire and flair coming in the frequent splashes of her favorite red, when she wore jeans as she did today, there was no disguising the fineness he’d just thought about.

Hell, he thought about it every time he saw her, and that alone made him aware of how out of line he was. He couldn’t imagine any other man at Redstone having raunchy, lustful thoughts about Lilith Mercer. Longing, aching, desire, yes, but not the kind of urgent, desperate craving she made him feel.

That everyone at Redstone seemed to think he had a harem of women at his beck and call only made the irony bite deeper. He couldn’t deny that there were women. And although he’d long ago quit trying to analyze why the combination of his looks and demeanor had a rather astonishing effect on some, he couldn’t deny the fact, either.

Nor could he deny that he did, on occasion, use that fact. The only thing he tried to deny, to himself, was how meaningless it all was. What had once seemed like a dream come true, had become…he wasn’t sure what. While if necessary he still turned on the charm to get what he needed, be it information or entrée to somewhere he normally couldn’t get into, the instances where he pursued the connection to the inevitable destination—a willing woman’s bed—had become few and far between.

He wasn’t sure exactly why. He just didn’t seem to have the energy or the desire to continue the facade anymore. He’d wondered if something was wrong with him, if he’d somehow lost the ability to feel any real desire.

Then he’d met Lilith Mercer. And the ferocious kick in the gut and points south had disabused him of that idea forever.

And forever was about how long he’d have to wait for the likes of Lilith Mercer to have a corresponding response to the likes of him.

He gave a final, hard shove to thoughts and urges that had no place here, and this time he locked the damned cage door.

“Tell me,” he said, sounding gruffer than he’d intended. Keeping a leash on his unruly thoughts was proving harder than he’d expected.

Lilith sighed. Lowered her gaze to her hands. That alone had him sitting up straighter; of the myriad things he’d noticed about her since he’d met her, one was that she never avoided, never shrank from any difficult situation. As Josh said, she met it head-on and always gave it her best shot.

And her best shot, Josh had added, was very good indeed.

But she was avoiding looking at him now. He knew better than to think it was anything to do with him. It was something to do with this situation, and his gut was telling him that maybe Josh was right. Maybe there was more to this than just a couple of accidents.

His gut wasn’t liking that idea. At all.

And she still wasn’t talking.

“Stan Chilton’s in jail,” he said, managing a calmer tone this time. “And so is Joe Santerelli, from JetCal. Not to mention the fact that all you’ve done is come in to clean up the mess they caused. You didn’t have anything to do with putting them there.”

She still didn’t look at him. But she answered. “I put together a lot of the data evidence that helped put them away.”

She’d said it, but Tony sensed she didn’t truly believe it. “True enough,” he said, and waited.

“But if they wanted revenge, wouldn’t they go after Draven? Or Sam and Ian?”

“Didn’t work out so well for them last time, going up against those two.”

At the mention of the unlikeliest couple at Redstone a trace of a smile curved her mouth.

That luscious mouth he couldn’t keep his eyes off.

¡Maldita sea!

He knew when he resorted to his native Spanish that he was in trouble. And damning everything at large seemed to require that.

“You don’t think it has anything to do with the spying case, do you?”

The smile faded. He regretted that, but this was more important.

“No,” she said, in a tone of voice he could never have imagined coming from her. Weary, hurt, broken…he wasn’t sure what it was, only that he didn’t like it. Not from her.

“Then what? Or should I ask, who?”

Finally, she looked at him. Her usually bright blue eyes were shadowed now. Haunted, in a way he’d seen only in people in trouble, or in people from his days on the streets.

“Lilith,” he said softly, aware but unable to stop himself from removing the safe barrier of formality of last name only.

“Daniel Huntington.” She took a deep breath. “My ex-husband.”

He blinked. He’d known she’d been married, but also that it had ended before she’d come to Redstone. Long enough ago that it hadn’t concerned him. Realizing he’d been glad to learn that had been his first clue that he was slipping into dangerous territory.

His brow furrowed. “I thought…Then why ‘Mrs.’ Mercer if it’s your maiden name?”

“I dropped his name. People assumed the Mrs. because they knew I’d been married, and it was just…easier.”

And kept men away? he wondered. Not that it would keep some away, but the some it wouldn’t deter would be the kind she wouldn’t be interested in anyway. He knew that much already.

“What about him?” he asked.

“Josh suspects that if these things are more than accidents…he might be behind it.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Past history. But it’s as impossible that it’s him as it is that it’s Stan Chilton or Santerelli.”

He could see that she didn’t want to get into it, so although he knew they’d have to talk about it eventually, he changed tacks. “Where is he? Local?”

“That depends,” she said, finally giving him the level look that was her norm, “on whether you consider Chino local.”

He shrugged off the first thought that hit him; half the kids he’d grown up with were in Chino. At the California Institute for Men. But there was no way…

His thoughts faded as the way she was looking at him slowly registered.

“Yes,” she said, that weariness he’d heard before echoing in her voice again.

“He’s…in prison?”

“Has been for nearly two years.”

He was beyond puzzled. The only thing he could think of was that the man had committed some white-collar crime.

“He’s on the Level I side? Minimum security?” he asked, although he didn’t understand why the man wasn’t in some country club kind of place instead of a hard-core lockup like Chino. Guys from his world went to Chino. Not hers.