by Lexy Timms
Dani stared at him for a long moment. “No reason at all,” she said quietly. “Only, you’re early.”
The non-sequitur obviously caught him off-guard. “He said 9:00,” Luke said, glancing at his watch.
Dani laughed. “That’s sweet. You were raised on a farm somewhere, weren’t you?” She strode off toward the hallway and to the stairs. “David’s still asleep. You can wait here if you want to.” She turned at the bottom step. “That doesn’t mean anything, either. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go change.”
“You look fine the way you are.”
He’d obviously not intended to say that out load. She actually saw him wince a little. It was odd, and even seemed like she was being voyeuristic, like she’d caught him in a vulnerable moment. That was two men in her little world today who had let their guard down unintentionally.
“Not for rock climbing,” Dani said and sighed. That blank look had Bambi written all over it. She thought a moment and mentally shrugged. He’d had sex with her, he’d seen all there was to see. What the hell—keep them off balance and you’ll always have an edge. She turned to face him and rose to her toes. “Pretend I’m on the rock face and the hand hold is waaay up there.” She reached up her right arm as high as it would go. The shirt followed the gesture.
Thank goodness she was wearing that sports bra.
Luke smiled. It was actually a pretty nice smile. Barely leering at all. “I see your point.”
“You saw it yesterday,” she corrected him, and pulled her shirt down. “Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Milligan.”
“I will do my best, Ms. Leonard,” Luke said, and she could swear she heard him put his boots up on the coffee table.
I will not look. I will not look.
Dani did, however, stop halfway up the flight of stairs. “Are you watching my ass, Mr. Milligan?” she asked without turning around.
“Absolutely.”
Dani smiled. Keep them off balance and you’ll always have the edge.
Apparently, he knew that axiom, too.
Chapter Nine
Rock climbing apparently began with a breakneck drive through the city and several misdirections. David drove like a madman, laughing when the car following them finally lost their tail.
“My dad gets a little overbearing sometimes,” he shouted over his shoulder at his passengers, clearly delighted that he’d been able to shake his assigned security detail. In a minivan.
Luke was in the middle seat beside Dani, who had kept on her tight running shorts, adding boots and shirt that advertised a movie which had been out for ten years. The fabric had reached that comfortable stage that told him it was probably a favorite, and clung to her breasts in ways that made him jealous. He made special note of the movie—an action film with a very James Bond-type hero. Luke turned his head to look out the window, determined not to stare.
The girl from the party, Katie, was put up front in the passenger seat, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. She sat, half-turned, her attention completely focused on the people behind her, as if she could ignore the driver and make him disappear.
Behind him were Sam and Linda, two friends of David’s from school. Sam had graduated in the same class as David, with Linda a year behind. Today, he was informed as he got into the van, was a joint celebration of the two young men in congratulations on making it through college unscathed. Or at least not having been expelled which, judging from some of the stories told, was at least a distinct possibility on more than one occasion.
Luke could see Dani reflected in the window glass well enough to see that her expression was growing more and more grim with each story. Interesting. Baby brother wasn’t quite the hero she thought he was. Luke filed the information away for later use, though right now he had no idea what the significance would be.
It was an interesting puzzle, trying to sort out the sibling relationship. He wasn’t entirely sure of Dani’s age; Ray had yet to supply him with much information on her. Old enough to not have been around through David’s college years. But then, from the sound of things, she’d been sent away to school early. What a sad way to grow up, being shuttled between summer camps and boarding schools. Apparently, the death of their mother had left some pretty wide gaps in the Rineheart household, enough so that Dani would take her mother’s maiden name for her own, eschewing her father’s.
Yet, despite this, the siblings seemed to have a somewhat close relationship. Enough so that Dani had panicked at the party last night in regard to him. But was the feeling mutual? Luke turned his attention forward, studying the younger man as he drove. The boy was reckless, crazy enough behind the wheel to where it took a certain amount of steely self-control to not react when they came rather close to a semi changing lanes. David only laughed, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror with a certain challenge that let Luke know he was being put to the test.
Found wanting?
Hard to say. David was smarter than he let on. While the others in the car laughed or screeched as they barreled down the expressway, he never once was out of control. In fact, he would bet that every last move had been calculated since they’d met.
Much as David had feigned surprise over the announcement, he’d known exactly what to say.
Luke glanced around the car. Why was he on this apparently random outing? Why were any of them? Katie was downright unhappy. There was no conceivable reason she would have accepted this invitation. In fact, Luke had noted her last night at the party and would have guessed her attention was entirely caught up with another young man there.
Was she, perhaps, a friend of Linda’s?
Luke twisted to answer something Sam said from the back seat. He studied Linda in that moment, noting the little-girl pout. Her flirting had gone from subtle to outrageous, playing both boys off each other. She’d made a half-hearted attempt at Luke, but had already written him off. Truthfully, Luke was becoming more and more painfully aware of just how he didn’t belong. He had at least ten years on some of these kids.
But even as he laughed over some joke Linda made, Luke wasn’t letting down his guard for one minute. He found himself distrusting the other boy, Sam, more and more as the mile markers whipped past. Here was a guy who was always plotting, looking at all the angles. He got an uncomfortable feeling that maybe people weren’t a high priority for him. He’d met the type before, back in training, a couple of guys who’d washed out before basic had even gotten truly under way. They’d been sadistic bastards, with hard eyes and a sharp intellect. Something that had lent itself to nasty cruelty in the torture of another cadet.
Sam had eyes that made him want to edge a little closer to Dani, not that she needed the added protection. From what he’d seen thus far, Dani was a woman who could handle herself.
But could she handle herself against someone like that?
The idea of being dependent on either of the two men was frankly terrifying. When rock climbing you needed to trust the guy holding the other end of the rope. He wasn’t altogether sure that either of them wouldn’t cut right through it, just to watch someone fall. And that would be before they figured out Luke wasn’t who he said he was.
Katie was talking a mile a minute, like she was trying to settle the focus anywhere but on her. Luke being the nearest target, her inquisition was squarely on him.
“So how did you two meet?” she asked Dani, all nerves and awkward glances.
“Over a drink,” Dani said shortly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, as if to ward off further interrogation.
“I thought you quit drinking.” David gave her a sharp look through the rearview. Luke bit his tongue to keep from telling the fool to pay attention to the traffic, specifically the large truck hauling rock that David was about to rear-end.
“I wasn’t drinking,” Dani muttered. “We just met over one.”
“It’s true,” Luke said, giving David a dirty look as they just missed the truck. The bastard was doing it on purpose. “She tossed it aside.”
Dani shot him an evil look.
“Where was this?” Katie prompted, looking from one to the other uncertainly.
“In the conference room,” Dani said when Luke kept silent. Honestly, he’d been curious himself to see where this particular line of questioning went.
“What conference room?” Linda piped up from the back seat. “You mean at Markland?”
“No,” Luke interjected when Dani shot him a look. “At the hotel yesterday.”
“You only met yesterday?” David said, and ran onto the shoulder of the road. The rumble from the pavement warned them all of imminent demise, but he seemed more intent on looking at his big sister than the road just then. “Shit, the way you two acted I thought you’d been seeing each other for a long time.”
“I just got back to Atlanta yesterday,” Dani reminded him.
“I thought he,” David stuck his thumb at Luke, “came with you.”
“I’ve been working at Markland for six months now,” Luke said when it appeared Dani wasn’t going to come to his rescue.
Sam laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Dani shot Sam a glare that would make a terrorist flinch.
“David wouldn’t know you if you’d been there thirty years,” Sam said with a wave of his hand. “He doesn’t notice the hired help.”
“Sam!” Linda said. She may have sounded scandalized, but she swatted him playfully.
“That’s not true,” David protested as he righted the car and seemed to have it safely between the lines, at least for the moment. “I know a lot of them. I just haven’t been there lately. I was at school.”
“That’s very rude,” Katie said, though Luke couldn’t determine if she was talking to Sam or David. She seemed to be equally unhappy with both of them. Linda’s friend, then. Roped into a double date? He shot a glance over at Dani, who was staring straight ahead, head held so rigid it’s a wonder her neck didn’t snap off at the shoulders when they went around corners. A triple date, then.
“That’s all right,” Luke assured her as the silence lengthened. “No offense taken. As a matter of fact, we hired help really prefer it that way.”
“And why is that, Mr. Milligan?” Linda asked, her voice coy, though by now he suspected that the flirting tone was so automatic with her that, if he responded, she’d probably be horrified.
“We can actually get more done that way, Ms. Jenson. After all, someone has to do the actual work.” He noticed that Dani smiled at that, but hid it under her hand. He could almost feel Sam glowering at him from the back, and he wondered if perhaps he’d made an enemy today. Not that smartest move, perhaps. David nearly took them off the road, he was laughing so hard.
“Touché, Luke!” David cried over his shoulder. “And thank you for making me richer!”
“You’re welcome!” Luke said and shot a smile at Linda, who started in surprise. “You see? It all works out in the end.”
“So I see.” Luke wished he could have given her the bottle of water he was holding. She’d turned cold enough to have formed ice crystals in it. He faced forward again and tried to not watch as the minivan caromed around a curve, two wheels over the line into opposing traffic. David slammed them back into the lane as an eighteen-wheeler roared past them, nearly close enough to dust off the paint. They shook with the passing wind.
“David!” Dani hit her little brother. “Knock it off! I don’t know who you’re trying to impress, but you’re acting like an ass!”
“All right, all right.” To Luke, David sounded like a sulky child. He wouldn’t be controlled by his big sister much longer, but at least for now the drive became less chaotic.
“Perhaps Mr. Milligan should do the driving,” Sam suggested in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “You see, Mr. Milligan, when one has been raised with drivers who take you everywhere you choose to go, one forgets the banalities of operating a motor vehicle.”
“Sam…” Dani hissed.
“I understand perfectly,” Luke said with an affable grin. “It must be difficult being so limited in one’s ability.”
“There are other things that can be done while being driven,” Sam shot back. “There are hours in the business day that can be better spent working in the car rather than driving.”
“I’m sure you’re correct,” Luke agreed, without even bothering to turn around anymore. “And it’s good to find a way to compensate for a handicap.”
He could hear Sam’s breathing behind him. He was reminded of what it had felt like to stand outside the pen that held his uncle’s prize bull. It had breathed in much the same way. But at least there had been a sturdy fence between him and it. He sensed there would be a showdown at some point today. Stupid as it was, Luke welcomed the opportunity. It would be a risk, and could even blow his cover. But it would be so satisfying to feel the little punk’s nose collapse under his fist.
Linda seemed to sense the coming conflict, and leaned forward past Dani to speak to the girl in the front seat. “Katie, when do you go back to school?”
“I…” The poor girl had been spending so much time looking between the three males in the car that she was caught entirely by surprise. “I have to go back in September.”
“You’re not going through the summer this year?” Linda played like she was chatting, but Luke could see the way her hand gripped Sam’s. She was white-knuckled. Sam pulled away fitfully and stared resolutely out of the window.
“No, I have an internship this summer with a sociologist. He’s studying a tribe in New Guinea and I was invited to go with him. I leave in a couple of weeks.”
David shot her a surprised look. “Be careful he doesn’t chase you around the jungle.”
Katie shook her head. “I hardly think so. He’s sixty-three.”
“Good!” David laughed. “You can outrun him for sure!” It was apparently a very funny joke to him; his laughter was loud and raucous. Sam joined in, his pout blown over.
“That’s amazing, Katie,” Dani said with a warm smile. “You’ll love New Guinea. And congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Katie said, but it was a defeated sound as Sam made another comment on the amount of nudity that might be required to blend in with the natives, and maybe she should start practicing now. She seemed to shrink in on herself. She sat back in her seat and stared straight ahead out the window.
“All right, that’s enough, asshole!” Dani said, the big sister coming out in her harsh tone. “Katie, it’s an amazing opportunity. Congrats again.”
Katie turned and smiled, and mumbled something that might have been a thank you.
“We’re here!” David slammed the car into park, jolting them all with the abrupt ending to the drive. Luke looked around in surprise, wondering why he hadn’t noticed when they’d left the highway. Perhaps because David hadn’t slowed the vehicle at all when he had.
“Did the escort find us?” Dani asked, unbuckling her seat belt.
“Nope! When I shake ‘em, I shake ‘em good.”
Dani reached over and slapped her brother’s shoulder approvingly.
Luke shook his head, and climbed out of the car. The particular rock they’d come to climb loomed right over the rough parking lot. It was a sheer cliff four stories high, dotted with holes where pitons and hooks and spikes had marked the passage of climbers. The ground visible at the base didn’t have any obvious signs of people who’d fallen, but Luke was willing to bet there were a number of them.
Not exactly the safest of climbs. Certainly not part of any tourist-approved location that might have involved well-maintained trails, maps, or even Porta-Pottys. This was just…a giant boulder out in the middle of nowhere.
It’s no wonder they’d lost their tail so easily.
The others were disappearing down a trail through the woods that would take them right up to the bottom of the rock, he presumed. Taking the pack offered to him David wandered up the trail, wondering just what the hell he’d gotten himself into.
He was t
he last one at the climb site.
“Just in time, Luke,” David said cheerfully as he approached. Luke looked up in wonder, noting that Dani was already halfway up the face of the rock. What was she, part mountain goat?
“You’re next—get hooked up.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Luke smiled and took a deep breath. Damn, but that thing looked tall from down here. Luke shot a look at David, who was watching him carefully. Assessing him. Looking for weakness.
Either he was incredibly overprotective of his sister, or he suspected that Luke was up to something.
It’d be a lot better for all concerned if he was the overprotective brother. Damn it, Luke, you’ve got a role to play. Play it.
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” he asked, strapping on his gear and reaching for the rope, trying to look the part of the devoted admirer.
Not that it was hard to do.
He stared up at the climbing form of Dani. It felt a little perverted to watch, but damn she was gorgeous, and tightly-muscled. Still, past the internal leering, he had to admit that she was impressive. She barely hesitated, but found her footholds and handholds and climbed up the side of the rock like a spider monkey. No, more like Spider-Woman.
She had the safety rope attached, but it was tied to her belt and the rest draped down from the rock to pool at David’s feet. She was climbing up first to tie it off for the rest.
Luke turned to David and imagined him holding onto the rope. Luke wasn’t about to fall, he was too experienced for that. But an injudicious pull—by accident of course, oops—and he could miss his handhold, or his foot could slip, creating a sad and tragic accident.
He simply didn’t trust David one bit.
Yet the question remained: had he given David reason to distrust him?
David was patiently waiting for Luke, who sat down on a rock to remove his boots and replace them with climbing shoes. He’d probably geared up in record time. “I’ll see if she needs a hand,” Luke said, and jumped onto the face and pulled himself up. He lacked the speed Dani did. She might be more used to this particular face, but he was able to find the crevices with fingers and toes, and he scrambled up after her.