Sexy/Dangerous

by Beverly Jenkins

  After a few moments of silence she heard a female voice ask, “Yes?”

  “I’m here to see Dr. Gary.”

  “He isn’t seeing visitors today. Please call back and make an appointment.”

  Click.

  Surprised by the abrupt ending, Max hit the button again, but this time there was no response. “Well,” she said, not pleased. Ruby was watching her. Ossie was lying on the ground, his head on his black paws.

  Undeterred by the woman’s rude attitude, Max scanned the gate for the best way in. She noticed the thick rusted chains wrapped around the base of the gate and the ancient-looking padlock anchoring them. “You think this is what passes for security around here, guys?”

  Not waiting for an answer, Max walked to the back of the SUV and dug out a pair of long-handled bolt cutters. A few minutes later she was driving slowly through the open gate while Ossie and Ruby loped alongside.

  The narrow road twisted, turned, and climbed. The pines lining the way were so tall that for part of the way the sunny day became shadowy as dusk. Once the trees cleared and the sun came out again, Max was treated to a view of the sparkling blue waters of Lake Michigan that was awesome. Having traveled all over the world, she’d seen her share of beautiful vistas, and this one ranked in her top ten. She studied the house as it came into view. It was a large brick structure with Tudor lines that seemed more suited to an old world city like Boston. Her briefing materials from NIA mentioned that some of the houses along this stretch of the Lake Michigan coast were originally built during Prohibition as summer homes for Chicago’s mobsters. She wondered if this stately old mansion had been one of those. She had a thing for historic architecture, and looked forward to checking out the inside.

  With that in mind, Max led her canine escorts up the wide steps and rang the bell. No response. Keeping her temper in check, she hit the bell again, leaning on it for a good fifteen seconds or so.

  Moments later the door was snatched open by a short, brown-skinned young woman dressed like someone in the Junior League. She had on pearls, a gray silky blouse, a navy skirt, and black patent stiletto pumps. The pearls weren’t real, and neither was the weave, but the hostility in her eyes sure was. She snapped, “We’re not…”

  The words died away as she actually looked at Max and her attire.

  Max didn’t take offense. She assumed the household didn’t get a lot of callers wearing sunglasses, black Stetsons, and green snakeskin boots, so she let Ms. Junior League get a good look, then said, “I’m here to see Dr. Gary.”

  The woman seemed to regain her composure, and with it, her bad attitude. “Dr. Gary doesn’t see anyone. He’s in the middle of a project.” She cast a disgusted look down at Ruby and Ossie. “And he doesn’t do dogs at all.”

  Max had no idea who this weave-wearing young woman might be. The child didn’t look a day over twenty-five, and there was nothing pertaining to her in the Gary file. On one level, Max was glad to see that Gary at least had someone guarding his door, but she hadn’t traveled all this way to be chased off by a Chihuahua in pearls. “Dr. Gary is expecting us.”

  “No, he isn’t. I’m his secretary and there is nothing on his calendar. You’ll have to make an appointment. Have a good day.”

  She made a move to close the door in Max’s face, but Max pushed it, and her, out of the way. “Excuse us,” she said calmly.

  Outraged and wide-eyed, the woman shouted, “You can’t just bust in here!”

  By now Max and the dogs were already past her. Max told the dogs, “Find the doc, would you guys?”

  The dogs split up and took off.

  The woman yelled angrily, “I’m calling the police!”

  Max didn’t break stride. “That’s your choice, but I’d hold off on that if I were you.”

  Max passed room after room. All were empty. No furniture. No drapes. Not even a lawn chair. Why no furniture was a mystery to her, but it would have to wait. She had to find Dr. Gary first.

  Down in his basement office, Dr. Adam Gary was more tired than he was willing to admit. He’d spent the last few days and nights in his lab trying to come up with a way to get the prototype to generate more heat and to do it for longer periods of time. Right now, Black Satin could only produce heat for a little over an hour. He knew he was on the edge of a breakthrough—he could taste it—but no matter how many times he fiddled with the formulas or studied the models generated by his computers, the solution still eluded him. Looking at the equations on the monitor now, all he could say was, “What am I doing wrong?”

  That’s when he saw the dog. It was a big rottweiler, and the sight of it standing in the open doorway where nothing had stood seconds ago rattled him so badly he almost fell off his stool. Wondering how the animal had gotten in and where it had come from took a backseat to getting the hell away from it. His heart was pounding, he was sweating, and his basic instinct was to run, but he knew better. “Go!” he yelled at it. “Get out of here!”

  The big dog raised its head and barked. Adam frantically scanned the paper-strewn office for something to throw or to threaten the canine with, then just as quickly changed his mind. Agitating the animal might provoke an attack.

  Then, suddenly, another rottweiler appeared in the doorway, and beside it stood a tall woman with skin the color of old gold in the sunshine. She was wearing jeans. The thin straps of her low-cut, green tank top showed off bare arms that were sleek and toned. Dark glasses shaded her eyes, and the permed hair showing beneath the black Stetson was short, brown, and softly spiked. Adam was six-foot-three, and she was tall enough to look him in the eyes.

  “Good job, Ossie,” she was saying to the dog, giving it a fond pat. Her soft voice was sweetened by a faint southern twang. Only after thanking the dog did she turn her attention to him. “I’m Max Blake. This is Ossie and Ruby.”

  Before the shocked Adam could recover from that bombshell, Kaitlin marched in, saying, “I told her you were working, and I told her you don’t do dogs.”

  Adam was still trying to make sense out of this. Max Blake? My security expert? Not wanting Kaitlin to know that he didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, he said to her, “I’ve been expecting her.” It was a lie, of course. He’d not been expecting a woman, and he certainly hadn’t been expecting dogs! He looked her up and down. Chandler’s people were supposed to be sending him a security expert, not a woman in a cowboy hat! “Get those dogs out of here,” he growled.

  “They’re clean.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Though Max hid her irritation behind her shades, she didn’t like his attitude or his tone. The angry looks he kept shooting at Ossie and Ruby made her wonder if there was more going on here than just a fear of dog germs. She held off on quizzing him, though. Instead she turned to Kaitlin and asked, “Can you walk them back out to my car, please? The doctor and I need to talk.” Max met his eyes and noted that his held not an ounce of welcome.

  Max’s request had obviously offended Kaitlin, who drawled, “Adam, tell her that I am not a dog walker.”

  “Just go, Kaitlin, so she and I can talk.”

  She huffed in response and crossed her arms.

  Max knelt next to the dogs and said, “Kaitlin’s going to take you guys back outside, so be nice to her, and I’ll see you in a bit.”

  The dogs looked up at Kaitlin with such expectant faces she seemed caught off guard for a moment. Then, with her young pretty face set tight with anger, she turned on her heels and stomped off. The dogs padded along silently in her wake.

  Once she was gone, Adam said to Max, “Nobody told me you were a woman.”

  Hoping to lighten the tension, she tossed back, “You were expecting maybe mouse and squirrel?”

  His stony face said he didn’t care that she had jokes. “Why wasn’t I told?” he asked pointedly.

  Tough crowd, she said to herself. “Because it didn’t matter.” Max took a casual look around the small wood-paneled space. Judging from the racks cut i
nto the walls, it must have served as a wine cellar once upon a time. The space was below ground, and the bright bare bulbs strung across the ceiling for lighting made it feel like a cave. There were a couple of computer monitors, a few tables and chairs, and against one wall sat an old tan couch. Every flat surface was covered with stacks of papers and leaning piles of books.

  “And the dogs?” he asked bluntly.

  She turned back to him and the matter at hand. “What about them?”

  “Do you always take your pets on a job?”

  “They’re not pets. They’re part of my team.”

  “Oh, really?” he drawled, sounding unimpressed.

  “Yes, and their security clearance is probably higher than yours, Doc.” Max didn’t see any beakers or any other nerd gear she imagined scientist types would have around, so she asked, “Where do you do your real work?”

  That seemed to throw him for a moment, and it made her wonder if he’d thought her not smart enough to know this wasn’t his lab.

  He finally answered, “Through there.” He used his head to indicate the small door at the back of the room. “But it doesn’t matter because you won’t be staying.”

  She casually folded her arms and gave him a cool smile. “Oh really?”

  “Really.”

  Max knew from the file that he’d be a good-looking man, but it hadn’t prepared her for his arrogance. “They’re not going to replace me.”

  “Yeah right.” He pulled out his cell phone.

  Max shook her head at his obstinance and took a seat. Removing her Stetson, she finger-combed her short hair. While he waited for the call to go through, she went back to sizing him up. He was built. No Poindexter here. The way his razor-cut moustache flowed around the sexy mouth and down into the jaw-hugging beard gave him a dangerous outlaw sort of look. Had she met him at a club, she would have been subtly and sinuously all over him—until she realized he was a jerk. He looked tired, though. There were dark circles under his brown eyes and weariness in his face. Whatever he was working on must be kicking his butt, she decided, and she wondered when he’d last had a full night’s sleep. Probably the last time she’d had one, she noted as she yawned and stretched. She’d gone from Osaka to L.A. to Texas and here to Michigan in what seemed like a day. Tired didn’t begin to describe how she felt, but the fatigue took second place to knowing Mr. Wizard was going to have to eat his lab coat when he learned that she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Holding the phone to his ear, Adam waited for Myk Chandler to pick up. Adam was convinced he’d have no trouble getting rid of the woman watching him so silently from behind her shades. All he had to do was say the word and her butt would be outta here.

  Wrong.

  “What do you mean, you won’t replace her?” he snapped into the phone. He watched her remove her sunglasses to reveal amused green eyes set in a face fine enough to stop a man in his tracks. Adam blinked. He turned away and forced himself to pay attention to what Myk was saying on the other end.

  “The Department of Defense approved her, so she stays.”

  “And I have no say?”

  “She’s a former Marine. She worked Homicide here in Detroit. She cut her security teeth in the Colombian jungles.”

  “I don’t care about her credentials,” he said evenly, “I want her and the damn dogs gone.”

  “Adam,” Myk said reasonably, “she’s there for security, that’s all. Let the lady do her job so that you can do yours. Okay?”

  For a second or so Adam was too angry to answer, but finally said, “Yeah.”

  “Good,” Myk replied, sounding weary. “Now, anything else?”

  “No.”

  “Talk to you later, then.”

  “Later.” Adam closed the phone and studied the woman seated across the room. This is a disaster waiting to happen, he told himself. A disaster. Determined not to be distracted by how good she looked, and not caring if she heard the annoyance in his voice, he said, “Kaitlin can show you where you’ll sleep. I have work to do.”

  Adam then walked to the door of his lab and without another word closed himself in.

  Max sat in the silence wondering how much jail time she’d get for cutting off the nose of a top-secret government scientist. His attitude toward her didn’t really matter; she’d worked for bigger jerks. She just wished this one weren’t so seriously fine. Sighing at the injustice of it all, she stood up and strode off to find her rottweilers and the Chihuahua.

  Two

  The dogs were outside resting on the grass by the Honda, but Kaitlin was nowhere to be seen. Max leaned down and rubbed their necks affectionately. “She abandoned you all, huh? Well, come on. Let’s go for a walk.”

  She started up the drive and marveled at the stately pines towering over the front portion of the property. They were magnificent, but from a security standpoint, their size and numbers could provide excellent cover for lurkers, so she made a mental note to get Benny up here to install some surveillance cameras. Another problem was that ancient gate she’d used the bolt cutters on. The whole thing, gate, fence, and all, needed replacing yesterday. It didn’t provide an ounce of deterrent. As it stood now, a squirrel could jack the place.

  After a while the meandering walk took Max and the dogs back the way they’d come. On the side of the house, they discovered a crumbling brick archway that led to the rear of the property and onto a very large cement patio that offered a breathtaking view of the lake. “Wow,” she whispered with awe. Behind her was the large wall-sized window of the living room, and she could see Kaitlin watching her from inside. Max ignored her and walked to the edge of the fenced-in patio and looked out. She’d had no idea the house offered such a panoramic view nor that it was built on a sandy bluff that had to be a good fifty feet above the beach below. Gulls circled overhead on the thermals of the gorgeous day. Their cries and the waves breaking against the shore were the only sounds. The peacefulness Max felt was welcome. Having been on the move from country to country for what seemed an eternity, she was glad to have an assignment that might have a slower pace. Yes, she was here to do a job, but she looked forward to sitting out here at the end of the day and breathing in all this serenity.

  The dogs, on the other hand, had their attention dead set on the water. Rottweilers love to swim, and Ruby and Ossie were no exception. Max looked to the left and saw a set of wooden steps carved into the face of the bluff. A metal handrail ran down their length to the beach. “You two want to swim?”

  Both dark heads turned her way and the excitement in their eyes made her grin.

  She gave them the go command with her hand, and they took off down the slope, leaving her to navigate the steps.

  While the dogs played in the lake, Max stood down on the beach and looked up at the house. With her shades on she could see many large windows. She counted three balconies attached to rooms on the second floor. She’d known the place was big, but from down here she saw that it was even larger than she’d initially believed. Were the rooms on the second floor as empty as the few she’d seen on the main floor? She knew scientists could be eccentric, but surely the house had furniture somewhere.

  From a security standpoint, the elevated positioning was a good thing. The steepness of the dune was also good. She wished there was a way to neutralize the steps, however, and planned to think about it. Surveillance cameras would be needed on this side of the house, too, as would motion detectors. If perps were coming by sea, she needed to know before they knocked on the patio door.

  After, the dogs shook themselves dry. It was time to climb back up the bluff to the house. Max jogged up the stairs while the dogs loped up the face of the dune. They beat her, of course, and when she did arrive, every muscle in her body burned from the exercise, but the former Marine was still in excellent shape.

  Max pushed open the large patio door and stepped into the cavernous unfurnished living room. In the center of the empty space stood Kaitlin. Max slid off her sunglasses. The young woman di
dn’t appear any friendlier than she’d been earlier, but Max didn’t let that bother her. “Dr. Gary said you’d show me where we can sleep.”

  “Why are you here?” Kaitlin demanded.

  Max wondered if there was some kind of microbe in the local water supply that made these folks so rude. “I’m the new housekeeper.”

  “What?” Disbelief filled Kaitlin’s face and then she began to laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope,” Max responded easily. “I’m here to cook, clean, and help the doc out any way I can.” Max’s attention strayed to the large stone fireplace built into one wall. It wasn’t in very good shape. The dark grate looked to be filled with dirt, cobwebs, and lord knew what else.

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Max shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what you believe. I’m here. The dogs are here. You and I can either get along or not. Makes no difference to me.” Max waited.

  Kaitlin responded with, “There are three bedrooms upstairs. Take your pick.” That said, she turned, and with her stilettos clicking on the dusty wooden floor, left the room.

  Max shook her head at the woman’s attitude and walked over to let the dogs inside. The dirt on the floors made it impossible to know the wood’s true color or condition, so she didn’t think it mattered if Ruby and Ossie tracked in more. However, once she had the place cleaned from top to bottom that would change, and other arrangements would have to be made for the dogs’ entrances and exits. For now, though, she was content to have them with her as she explored the house.

  Just as she’d feared, the place didn’t hold a stick of furniture. Not in the large dusty library where the books on the shelves were so old that when she pulled one free it crumbled into dust and pieces in her hand; not in what appeared to be an old ballroom where the peeling wallpaper looked to be fifty years old; not in the once grand dining room with its wood-paneled walls and tin ceiling.

  The kitchen, however, held a 1950s gas stove, an ancient refrigerator, and a single enamel sink. There were spaces on the surrounding walls that showed someone had removed most of the cabinets and had even primed the empty areas in between as if planning to paint, but the job must have been abandoned. The two small cabinets that remained hung on the walls like orphans. “This is a mess,” she said aloud. She looked down at the dogs.