Runner: The Fringe, Book 3

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  Chapter Thirty

  While Foster was gone, Jynx watched her waist expand and worried. Michael opened his decadently opulent home to her. She felt like a child let loose in a candy store as she gorged herself on everything in his vast library. When she grew weary of reading, Michael offered other ways to entertain and distract her. No matter how many times she asked, Michael wouldn’t tell her where Foster was or why. He only said that she should not worry.

  “There is a price for everything. Foster is paying the price.”

  Michael dined with her for most meals. He had impeccable table manners and was a skilled conversationalist, but he also had a wonderful sense of humor. When he was near, she felt her worry about Foster ease, but her fear for him never fully left her. At first, she wondered if Michael would try to seduce her, but he treated her as an honored guest. He was indulgent and kind, but clearly, his heart belonged to a woman called Mary. At almost every turn, Michael spoke of how clever, how dangerous, how frightfully inventive Mary was. He never directly said he loved her, but he didn’t have to. And eventually Jynx realized where Foster was.

  “Foster is gone on a contract for you,” Jynx said, considering her mostly gone dinner and wondering if there was more. No matter how much she ate, she was still hungry. “He is working for you and could not tell me why.”

  “Granted.” Michael did not mince words.

  “When will Foster return?” Jynx had a feeling he wouldn’t be back until he located the elusive Mary. And if Mary was even half as good as Michael seemed to think she was, that might be a very long time.

  “Soon, I hope.” When the serving girl, Clara, entered, Michael asked her to bring another serving for Jynx. “I can tell that you’re still hungry.”

  Clara returned and filled her plate and Michael’s coffee cup. She waited until Clara exited. “When we first arrived, you mentioned my child, then went silent when you looked at Foster. Does he love my child, or has he—”

  “I cannot answer that.” Michael sipped from his cup. “It is not my place to confess another man’s heart. Were you so determined, you could always read the answer yourself.”

  She realized Michael was challenging her to use her gift on him. “I couldn’t do that to you or Foster because—”

  “That would be unfair, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yes.” Now she understood why Michael wouldn’t tell her what he’d read in Foster. Begrudgingly, she respected Michael’s reason, even if not knowing continued to torment her.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind. Scary Mary is the Purple Lady of Corona.”

  Duster pulled back from the com link. “No.”

  “Yes.” Foster fumbled to his belt. “Got proof a good six ways to Sunday and—”

  “Don’t go near her.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it. I told Michael I’d find her, not apprehend her. If he wants her, he can come and get her.” Tipping his hat low, Foster added, “How’s my woman?”

  “Fine.” Duster scrunched his face hard. “Don’t tell him.”

  “What? That I found Mary?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Screw off, Duster. I have a deal with Michael, and I’m not going back on my word.” He didn’t have a signed contract, but he didn’t need one with Michael when they had mutual trust. “I’m out here looking for Mary because I’m trading her location to get back to my woman.”

  “Jynx Brennan.” Duster said her name like it was a dirty swear.

  Coldly, Foster considered Duster. “You wouldn’t dare hurt her.”

  “No. Not me.” Duster shot Foster a narrowed eye wink. “What if she wasn’t what you thought?”

  “If you’ve got something to say, say it. Stop pissing in the wind trying to hit me.”

  “What if she was sleeping with Michael while you were out and about on the Fringe?”

  Foster tossed back his head and laughed. “Jynx and Michael? Only if Michael’s lost his mind and Jynx is drugged out of hers. Even then I’m thinking no. Don’t you bother, Duster. You can’t shake my faith in her. Jynx is waiting for me. I know it sure as I know my own name. I had a deal with Michael, and you have no right to—”

  “You’re as bad as he is!” Duster cut him off with sudden venom. “Trusting so utterly in a woman who could betray you in a million ways.”

  “Diane Black is your problem, Duster. Don’t make Jynx and Mary accountable for her crimes.”

  Duster rolled his eyes. “You’re both fools.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m thinking you’re jealous.”

  “No. What I am is smart.” Defeated, Duster sighed. “Hang tight, I’ll go get the other love-struck idiot.”

  A dozen candles sparkled in her bedroom as wafting notes of music filled the sweetly scented air. Bunches and bunches of flowers covered every available space, contrasting the antique ivory color scheme of the room. Jynx stood on the threshold, peering into the flickering shadows. To her delight, Foster sat on the edge of her bed, clad in a royal blue robe.

  Foster cast a sleepy wink. “Hello, Sweets. I missed you.”

  Jynx shook her head, not quite believing her eyes. She hadn’t seen him for over a month. His hair had started to grow back and was just long enough to brush a fringe of bangs along his forehead. He looked sleepy, warm and wonderful. She rushed toward him.

  Foster slid off the bed and met her halfway, embracing her firmly. “Did you miss me?”

  “Where, what—”

  “I had to pay the piper.” Tipping her chin up, he kissed her with sweeping grace. “Was Michael nice to you?”

  “Yes. I’m afraid we bored each other to tears. He didn’t stop talking about Mary, and I didn’t stop talking about you. He gave me a closet full of clothes, and his doctor, Murphy, gave me a complete physical, confirming what Michael had said, and—”

  “Take a breath.” Foster grinned. “Everything okay with the baby?”

  “Yes, he’s fine. I’m fine.” Jynx pulled out of his arms and straightened her shoulders. “You don’t have to worry about playing Daddy. I don’t expect you to.”

  He didn’t say a word, and she was too afraid to say any more. It broke her heart to have her suspicions confirmed. Foster wanted her, not her baby. Heavens. With her ever-swelling belly, he probably didn’t even want her anymore.

  “You don’t have to worry. Michael is letting me work in the lab, so I’m sure I can make a place for myself here. You can go back to your job and the privacy of your ship—”

  “What brought all this on?” His brows made a dark V of confusion above his eyes. “Are you dumping me?”

  “No. I thought I’d make it easier for you to dump me.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because it’s obvious that you don’t want me anymore.”

  His eyebrows rose as he looked down. “See that? For not wanting you, I seem awfully titillated just to be in the same room with you.”

  She glanced to his erection pushing against his robe, then quickly looked away. “You got me back on your ship and didn’t once—”

  “Ah. I get it. I didn’t make love to you then, so you got all kinds of strange ideas in your head. Here I was thinking I was being noble, and instead I just frightened you.” Slowly but surely he pulled her into his embrace, then rubbed his nose to hers. “Remember our first time on the ship?”

  Fast and furious in his big, black leather chair. “How could I forget?”

  “This time, it’s kinda like the first time all over. I wanted it to be special. Look around. Candlelight, flowers, soft music, silk sheets, the whole bit. Michael offered full run of his wine cellar, but in light of this little guy”—Foster touched her belly with a large possessive hand—“I settled on juice.” When he nodded to the bedside table, Jynx noticed two glasses sitting there. “I just wanted it perfect for you this time. That’s the only reason I was holding back.”

  Sagging against him with relief, Jynx wrapped her arms around him. “I feel like an ass.”

  “Naw.
You feel like a warm and sexy woman.” Foster ran his hands along her back. “My woman.”

  Jynx giggled against his chest. “How very caveman of you.”

  Grunting, Foster said, “Me big man. Want lovely woman. Want to tease and please lovely woman.” Waggling his eyebrows at her, he whispered, “But only if my lovely woman wants me to.”

  “Go.”

  As he slid her dress off, Foster kissed and licked and stroked every bit of her. He took his time exploring as she struggled to keep her own animal at bay. Heaven help her, she just wanted to shove him into bed and fill herself with him. All of him. All at once.

  “Your eyes got that dark look in them, Jynx. Like a lady one step from going crazy.”

  “It’s your fault.” Jynx pushed his robe off his shoulders as she stroked his chest. “You’ve got me so charged up at the moment, I feel like a rocket ready to explode.”

  “Yeah?” Foster lifted his brow as he flashed her that sneaky grin. “Got you at my mercy, do I?”

  “Foster, please. Don’t tease me. I honestly don’t think I could take it.”

  He scooped her up and placed her carefully in the amethyst-colored bed. He pulled back and just looked down at her.

  “What?”

  “Your eyes, in this purple bed. You’re so impossibly beautiful, you look almost unreal.”

  Foster snuggled next to her, kissing her as he continued to stroke and tease her body. When she softly begged for more, he rolled her to her back, lifted her knees over his hips, then entered her as slowly as he could. Jynx arched her head back and gave a long deep sigh of pleasure.

  “It’s very mutual.” Foster gripped her hip and thrust gently into her as he peered right into her eyes. “You feel so good.”

  Pressing her legs together tightened her around him.

  “Whoa.” Foster took a deep breath. “Don’t be doing that just yet. I want this to last.” Slipping his hand between her legs, he swirled his fingertips over her clit.

  Pent-up demand brought her to a sharp and sudden climax that shocked them both. Her passage gripped him, and he shuddered.

  “Ah, hell.” Foster tried to hold back but couldn’t. His orgasm rippled through his body. He pulled her tight as he twitched with release. “Crap. That lasted all of what? Two minutes?”

  “So? It’s not like we can’t do it again. And again. We have all the time in the world now.” Kissing him, stroking his face, Jynx realized Foster didn’t quite meet her eyes.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Let me explain.” Foster pulled Jynx to him and wouldn’t let her get out of bed.

  “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?” Fury pinched her features.

  “Yes.”

  She tried to wriggle away, and he finally pinned her to the bed.

  “Listen to me.”

  “No. Is this what it’s going to be like with us? Me forever waiting and worrying if I’ll ever see you again while you keep working for Michael?”

  “Damn it, Jynx, it isn’t going to be like that if you’ll just let me explain.” Looming over her, he said, “I ain’t letting you up until you listen to me.”

  Realizing the futility of struggling against him, Jynx relaxed her body but continued to glare at him.

  “While I was away, some very interesting events took place that you don’t know about. With Roberts. Ah, I see you’re willing to listen now.” Foster let up on her and pulled her into his arms. “The IWOG thinks Roberts caused all of that destruction at the courthouse. Where once she was lauded as a hero for blowing you away, now it looks like she was trying to shut you up from implicating her. Apparently, some rather interesting information came to light about Roberts after we left. They now think she was in cahoots with you.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. Pretty sweet, huh? Hoist by her own petard.” Foster laughed. “And it gets better. They want her back so she can stand trial for her crimes against humanity. Guess who they want to bring her in?”

  Her forehead wrinkled up in confusion; then her eyes and mouth simultaneously went wide. “You?”

  “Yeah. Sweet, huh? For double what they paid me to bring you in. How’s that for payback?”

  “I—that’s—disturbingly ironic.”

  “Are you okay with this? I haven’t signed the contract; we’re still just negotiating at this point. But you have to understand that the IWOG might very well torture then kill her. I wanted to make sure you were okay with that.”

  Trouble darkened her face.

  “Jynx, if you’re not okay with this, then Michael has agreed to keep her imprisoned here. Hell, he was so impressed with you, I think he’d do anything you asked him to.”

  “This is going to sound so cold, but she deserves whatever they do to her. It’s her own fault. So, yes, I think you should do it, but for triple what they paid for me.”

  “Greedy are you?”

  “Not so much. The thing is, they can well afford it, and we’re going to need money in case the IWOG does decide to spread the Tyaa plague around.”

  “That possibly occurred to me, that they want her back so they can finish running what she started, but I don’t think so. The media got a hold of Roberts’s bonafides, and every channel on the Tasher is flashing them around. If the IWOG tries to spread the plague, everyone’s gonna know where it came from. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have it ready in case we get wind of something.”

  Strutting, preening, tipping his hat with a grin, Foster Nash escorted a bound Victoria Roberts past a spectacle three times as chaotic as what Jynx had suffered. Media pundits could barely be heard above the rabble of the screaming masses.

  “You look like a swaggering caveman.” And Jynx loved every second of his bad-boy act, especially since this time, she was on the other side of the drama. She could have watched the spectacle live over the Tasher, but one glimpse of Foster made her burst into incomprehensible tears. Michael had turned the unit off and distracted her with an intriguing board game. Now that Foster was safely back on Windmere, she felt able to view the downfall of her rival. Watching Victoria get her richly deserved comeuppance, especially while Jynx was perfectly comfortable in Overlord’s lair, was sweet indeed. A month ago, if someone had told her this would happen, she would have laughed herself simple. Even though she could never go back to her old life, she didn’t really want to. She had good, honest work here on Windmere, and she enjoyed her coworkers. There was only one lingering question

  “I look like an idiot.” Foster clicked off the vid and settled back on Michael’s couch. They were staying in his palatial home until they sorted out their living arrangements.

  “Hey, I’m watching that!” Jynx clicked the vid back on. “You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to.”

  “Neither do you.” Foster tried to grab the remote, but Jynx held it out of reach.

  “No, but I will. I couldn’t be there to see it live since I’m supposedly dead, so let me enjoy my moment here.” Watching Victoria stumble along the gauntlet, her hair a mess and her makeup smeared, was immensely satisfying. After what that woman had put her through, Jynx felt no shame for enjoying Victoria’s misery. To be hated and hunted for crimes she didn’t commit, to almost die at the hands of her tormenter—this was the least satisfaction Jynx could have. Once the doors of the courthouse closed behind Victoria, her real torture would begin.

  “That hat looks silly on me.”

  “It covers up your shorn locks, though. You couldn’t run the risk of anyone recognizing you from the break-in at the Port Belle courthouse.”

  “That’s why I picked Banna as the delivery place. I haven’t been there for a long time, and I thought it was fitting to take her back to the scene of the crime.”

  “Isn’t that the courthouse where she was supposed to receive her valor award?”

  “Yep. Nice touch, huh?” Foster considered the vid. “I look like an idiot.”

  “A great big hulking sexy idiot.” Jynx flicked the vid off and curl
ed up in his lap. To make his apprehension look convincing, Foster had waited three weeks after he’d returned to Windmere and finalized his contract with the IWOG to take Victoria Roberts in. He’d been gone only a week in travel time, but it felt like forever to her. “No more work for a while, okay?”

  “Well, there is this one other contract.”

  Jynx sighed and peered up at him. “What now?”

  “A marriage contract.”

  “What?”

  “Surprised you, did I?” Nuzzling her neck, Foster said, “Pardon me, Miss Brennan, but would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  As much as she wanted to jump up and down, and possibly burst into tears, she found herself taking a page from Michael’s book. She had to know his reasons. “Why?”

  “Because I want you.” Foster answered automatically, right from his heart.

  “You want to marry the fat lady?” Jynx touched her expanding belly. Now well into her pregnancy, she seemed to have ballooned up overnight. No matter how unattractive she felt, Foster didn’t seem to notice. Since he’d gotten back, he was tracing a finger along her neck, her shoulders or down the crevice of her bottom every time he had a chance. He said he simply couldn’t keep his hands off of her.

  “I got a powerful urge to contract you.” He held her gaze as he kissed her lips. “I’ve got all kinds of ideas on the particulars, but I’m willing to debate the finer points.”

  “You’ve never failed to deliver on any contract, have you?”

  “Nope.”

  Jynx bit her lip as she looked to her belly. She couldn’t make a decision based simply on her own needs. What about her son? That hesitation of Michael’s still bothered her, because she still didn’t understand what he’d read that she didn’t see.

  “I want him to have my name, Jynx. I want that very much.”

  The romantic part of her heart swelled, but she found herself asking, “Why?” Again, she had to know. “When Michael was reading us, he said my child wasn’t yours, which—”